-The Indian Express   Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was simply stating the obvious on Sunday when he said, “Parliament is supreme.” Neither did he depart from a common understanding of the scheme of things under our Constitution when he clarified that it is Parliament’s right to decide on legislation and nobody else can presume to lay down deadlines for bills to be passed. Yet, such had been the abdication of argument...

-Deccan Chronicle   Even as the Right to Education (RTE) Act is yet to be implemented in schools, and the details are being endlessly debated, experts are now wondering whether the government intends to amend the RTE. Legal experts perceive a change in the way this free and compulsory education for all legislation is mandated. There is pressure on the Ministry of Human Resource Development as well several petitions lined up...

-Express News Service   Reacting to Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh's concern over use of force against villagers opposing land acquisition in Orissa for the Posco steel project, a pressure group on Sunday said that the minister should withdraw the illegal clearance given to the company. Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) said: "The minister appealed to the Orissa government to respect 'democracy and dialogue' and refrain from coercion in taking over...

Its elimination is an international obligation, but there is a long way to go to meet the goal While governments and civil society commemorate the World Day Against Child Labour on June 12, over 20 crore children are still engaged as child labourers. More than half of them face the worst forms of child labour. Though India has the dubious distinction of having the largest number of child labourers, this...

-The Hindu   The land acquisition process by the Orissa government for the Posco project in the Dhinkia gram panchayat of Jagatsinghpur district did not make any headway on Saturday following resistance by members of a five-party delegation and villagers. The gram panchayat remained a hostile region for the district administration that had in the past fortnight stepped up the land acquisition process for the steel plant. With children and women at the...