As the Right to Information Act (RTI) celebrated the sixth year of its coming, there has been much heated discussion, often emotional, of the benefits that it has brought and also the challenges with which it has confronted government. This debate came to a head with the prime minister’s inaugural address to the Annual Convention of the Central Information Commission on October 14. It is accepted in all circles that the...

-The Economic Times   Maruti's decision to locate expanded production in Gujarat, following strikes at its plants in Haryana, is being widely interpreted as an instance of virtuous policy being rewarded and worker militancy as well as official failure to check it being penalised. Gujarat's industrial peace is the virtue, and its reward is flow of investment to the 'peaceful' state. However, the posited linear relationship between workforce docility and popular welfare...

-The Times of India   A comprehensive report on teaching and learning inside rural primary schools of five states shows a huge gap between expectations and reality, when it comes to learning. It reveals that more than teacher's educational qualification, Gender or work experience what matters most to students is teachers' ability to teach. The study bursts the myth that government schools are overcrowded. Prepared by Annual Survey of Education Report centre...

When Munni arrived in this fertile, sugarcane-growing region of north India as a young bride years ago, little did she imagine she would be forced into having sex and bearing children with her husband's two brothers who had failed to find wives. "My husband and his parents said I had to share myself with his brothers," said the woman in her mid-40s, dressed in a yellow sari, sitting in a village...

-The United Nations   The global demand for secondary education has risen exponentially, says a new United Nations report, which adds that governments, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, are having a hard time keeping up and many children are being left out. The 2011 Global Education Digest, released today by the Institute for Statistics of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), says there are only enough seats for 36 per cent of...