-The Hindu In an effort to reach out to the people who have no voice, the Rajasthan State Human Rights Commission proposes to make linkages to the print media for regular feedback on instances of violation of human rights. The Commission has asked the newspapers with multi editions in the State to e-mail it the instances of violations reported in their local editions so that action could be taken on them. “Most...

-Express News Service Hyderabad, New Delhi: The Andhra Pradesh High Court today quashed the 4.5 per cent sub-quota for minorities carved by the Centre out of the 27 per cent reservation for OBCs. A division bench comprising Chief Justice Madan Lokur and Justice P V Sanjay Kumar set aside the sub-quota while observing that the government’s decision was based on religious grounds and not any other consideration. The verdict may affect admissions that...

The thrust of Prabhat Patnaik's argument (“Parliament's say extends to the classroom,” The Hindu , May 22, 2012) is clear. It is to declare illegitimate the arguments against government action on the recent textbook controversy. What is this hullabaloo about, Patnaik seems to be saying: what is under threat is not the status of critical pedagogy in the textbooks but the jurisdiction of the Parliament. The larger argument within Patnaik's polemic...

A close reading of the Political Science textbook shows that it is complex, moves beyond pat answers, and treats the Constitution as a living document. It was produced in the light of the National Curriculum Framework 2005, which in itself was a major attempt to democratise education, and reverse the National Curriculum Framework 2000 which was casteist and sexist. Kumkum Roy (kumkumr@yahoo.com) is with the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru...

-PTI In a significant ruling, the Delhi High Court has held that marks obtained by a student in Central Board of Secondary Education Board exams cannot be revealed under the transparency law as it would “defeat” the purpose of the new grading system. The court set aside the verdict of a single-judge Bench and the Central Information Commission which had asked the CBSE to reveal marks obtained by a girl in her...