-Livemint.com The report compiled by the World Bank group and Unicef says that South Asia has the second highest share at nearly 36%—with over 30% of extremely poor children living in India alone United Nations: India is home to over 30% of almost 385 million children living in extreme poverty, the highest in South Asia, according to a new report by the World Bank Group and Unicef. The report ‘Ending Extreme...

-The Hindu Business Line Although literacy levels are improving, there’s not enough learning happening. This calls for urgent attention This year, marks the 50th year of International Literacy Day. In 1966, UNESCO declared September 8 as International Literacy Day to “mobilize the international community and to promote literacy as an instrument to empower individuals, communities and societies”. At Independence in 1947, India had a literacy rate of 12 per cent, which stands today...

-Bloomberg When farmers in the scorched village of Horti in Western India were struggling to raise money for a canal, they turned to an unlikely source: a crowdfunding website called FuelADream. The farmers had never heard of crowdfunding before, but a local non-profit group suggested the site and helped them write a proposal that explained how a canal would help feed local families. Within weeks, they had raised Rs 300,000 ($4,490) from...

-The Hindu The amendments to the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, passed by Parliament recently, demonstrate a lack of national commitment to abolishing all forms of child labour. Instead of attempting an overhaul of legislation that has proved ineffective in curbing the phenomenon, Parliament has allowed children up to the age of 14 to be employed in ‘family enterprises’, and created a new category of ‘adolescents’ (the 14-18 age...

-TheWire.in Swaraj Abhiyan founder Prashant Bhushan discusses the Essar tapes and other scams, the role of whistleblowers and his fallout with Arvind Kejriwal. Celebrated lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan has just notched up another victory with the Supreme Court-appointed panel decreeing there was prima facie evidence that former CBI director Ranjit Sinha had attempted to influence the investigation into the coal block allocation scam under the then UPA government. The court’s observation was based...