School vouchers should be an integral part of the Centre’s plans to implement the Right to Education (RTE). For the state to spend gargantuan amounts on school education is fine, but to insist that the delivery too would be by the state is meaningless. Surveys have shown that government teachers are absent from their schools and children cannot do simple arithmetic or write small paragraphs after years of schooling. Reforms...

Uttar Pradesh has another reason to hang its head in shame. In the latest survey report released by the ministry of health, under the National Rural Health Mission, UP has been ranked the lowest among all states, with a shortfall of over 5800 rural healthcare centres. According to the data, while states like Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir have bettered their performances in the rural health sector --...

As it stands, the Right to Education Act has several flaws that will prevent its efficacious implementation. Several amendments are called for. Something that cannot work, will not work. This is a tautology applicable to the Right to Education (RTE) Act, which cannot meet the objectives for which it was enacted. There are several reasons for this. First, the Act does not rule out educational institutions set up for profit (Section 2.n.(iv))....

In an upstairs classroom at a residential school in Mal, near Lucknow, the girls are revising for their exams. As the light starts to fade at the glassless windows, each girl takes a brightly coloured plastic lamp and carries it to her space on the floor. There is no electricity, but the lamps are solar powered. They have been donated jointly by Swedish company Ikea and the United Nations Children’s...

State-owned banks in India have been accused of discriminating against the country's Muslim minority. India's minorities watchdog has received a record number of complaints from Muslims who say they have been prevented from opening bank accounts. India's Muslim community is among the poorest in the country. Some bankers say it is not so much their religious background, but their economic status that makes it hard for Muslims to get banking facilities. The National Commission...