Child rights organisations and civil society representatives have written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking his intervention in the selection of the chairperson and members to the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights NCPCR). As the NCPCR, the National Human Rights Commission and the National Commission for Women are important mechanisms set up to play a critical watchdog role, it is imperative to ensure proper and fair selection to these...

One hardly needs a reminder that the Right to Education is different from the others enshrined in the Constitution, in that the beneficiary cannot demand it nor fight a legal battle when the right is denied or violated.  Now that India's children have a right to receive at least eight years of education, the gnawing question is whether it will remain on paper or become a reality. One hardly needs...

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has been mandated to monitor the implementation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009. A special division within the NCPCR will undertake this task in the coming months and a special toll-free helpline to register complaints will be set up. The NCPCR has invited all civil society groups, students, teachers, administrators, artists, government officials, legislators and members...

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered an inquiry by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) into trafficking of children from Manipur and Assam to Tamil Nadu on the pretext of providing them better education. “We would like to have an inquiry into the matter,” a Bench comprising Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justices Deepak Verma and B.S. Chauhan said, while asking the Commission to place its report within...

Today, we have reached a historic milestone in our country's struggle for children's right to education. The Constitution (86th Amendment) Act, 2002, making elementary education a Fundamental Right, and its consequential legislation, the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, comes into force today. The enforcement of this right represents a momentous step forward in our 100-year struggle for universalising elementary education. Over the years, the demand...