It's been a year and three months since the right to education became an act (RTE Act), promising free and compulsory education to every child in the age group of 6-14 years. However, the act is yet to be implemented in Uttar Pradesh. The norms of the Right to Education Act say that the appropriate government and the local authority shall establish a school where it is not so established...

Plans to hold an Asia level conference in Delhi in November The National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI), which plans to form an Asia-level alliance to give momentum to the street vendor movement in different parts of the continent, is planning to hold an Asia-level conference in Delhi in November later this year. The organisation hopes the Union Housing and Urban Poverty Ministry will be a key partner for this...

When Sujatha’s husband learned that she had conceived just five months after they got married, he became agitated over what he called her "ill-timed pregnancy". To worsen her husband’s anxiety, a test to determine the sex of the foetus showed she was carrying a girl. Sujatha, a public school teacher, and her husband, a civil engineer – who asked that their full names be withheld – are from well-off and educated...

In contrast to the 1990s, when age-old matters of identity drove electoral politics, it appears that development-related issues such as land acquisition and law and order will play a critical role in the contentious campaign for the UP elections due next year. While this can be attributed to the BSP’s “sarvajan” agenda, it also signals the impact of the market economy and the need to attract private investment, which has...

The United Nations commemorates World Population Day next week against the backdrop of an upcoming landmark event: global population hitting the seven billion mark by late October this year. According to current projections, and with some of the world's poorest nations doubling their populations in the next decade, the second milestone will be in 2025: an eight billion population over the next 14 years. Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, executive director of the U.N....