-The Times of India NEW DELHI: A fifth of all elementary school teachers in the country do not have the requisite qualifications to teach young children. If this doesn't shock you, take a look at what's going on at the state level. In a wide swathe starting from all eight states of the North-East (including Sikkim), through West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and up north in J&K, the share of...

-The Hindu The parliamentary stand off over the Indian government's effort to ease procedures to acquire land for "public purposes" continues, with the government deciding to re-promulgate the ordinance amending the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. Besides concern about the impact that this would have on the farming community and those dependent on it, another cause for the controversy is the...

-Deccan Herald There have been protests by several organisations of fishermen, including those of deep-sea artisanal fisher folk in several coastal states against the recommendations of an expert committee that reviewed India's marine fishing policy and the existing guidelines for deep-sea fishing in the country's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The Union agriculture ministry's Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries (DAHD&F), through an order on August 1, 2013 constituted an expert committee...

-DNA 38 districts under Green Revolution II affected by slow poison Indian government's ambitious project Green Revolution-II (GR-II) to promote growing rice in the Eastern states of India is bringing arsenic to your plates. As many as 38 districts spreading across six states out of the seven states where the scheme is being implemented are reported to be affected by arsenic. These states are Bihar, West Bengal, Assam, Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand...

Is it the case that lack of Central financial assistance is restricting the growth of Gram Nyayalayas? Available Government documents and reports corroborate this doubt.   Shri Kapil Sibal who was the Law and Justice Minister during the UPA rule while answering a question on 18 December, 2013 said that since the commencement of the Gram Nyayalayas Act, 2008, an amount of Rs. 3425.8 lakh was provided to the states as...