-PTI UNITED NATIONS: The head of a UN agency mandated to defend freedom of expression has called on Indian authorities to investigate the mysterious death of TV reporter Akshay Singh while covering the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh, saying crimes against journalists must not go unpunished. Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) Irina Bokova expressed condolences to Singh's family, friends and colleagues and urged the authorities to...

-The Hindu Universal access ensured, but quality remains a challenge India has made remarkable strides towards ensuring education for all, a new global monitoring report shows. While access is now close to universal, the quality of education remains a major challenge, it says. In April 2000, the governments of 164 countries adopted the Dakar Framework to deliver Education For All commitments by 2015. On Thursday, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation...

-Governance Now The UNESCO report, which points at a direct link between quality education for women and lower child mortality rates, will be released in early 2014 As India has one of the world's highest child mortality rates, the latest UN study says that rate would have been down by three-fifths had women in the country completed secondary education. "If all women in India had completed secondary education, the under-five mortality rate would...

-PTI A top UN official has condemned the murder of Indian journalist Chandrika Rai and asked the concerned authorities to conduct a thorough investigation to bring the perpetrators of the "shocking crime" to justice. Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Irina Bokova, said authorities in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, where Rai had lived and worked, must ensure the murder is investigated. "I condemn the murder...

A UNESCO dossier examines the problems faced by the original tribal inhabitants of the Andaman islands. SINCE the 1780s, a variety of players have vied for space in the Andaman archipelago. Today, apart from the three wings of the country's armed forces, others including rice farmers, timber merchants and academics are trying to push out its original inhabitants from their traditional habitats. For the first time in the past 150 years,...