-DNA Many have forgotten the bad news that was delivered about a year back when three reports – the international PISA report, the Wipro-EI Quality Education Study and ASER 2011 – painted a sad picture of the learning scenario in India. The first report ranked our Class 10 children 73rd in the world out of 74 countries. The second said that students in our top private schools were learning more poorly...

-The Indian Express In Jharkhand, a gap between politics of the tribal movement and electoral politics The recent dissolution of the Jharkhand assembly has brought to the fore the political uncertainty that hounds the state, with no leader or party managing to emerge as a viable representative of the people of Jharkhand. How does one interpret this feature, which many argue is unique to Jharkhand? Why is it that Jharkhand, particularly since...

-Economic and Political Weekly State and society both have to transform if we are to reduce violence against women. The past fortnight has seen unprecedented protests in Delhi over the gang rape and brutalisation of a young medical student. It has taken most people by surprise to see the manner in which thousands of people have come out to protest the lack of safety for women in the public spaces of the...

-Outlook Raipur: Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly today passed the Food Security Bill aimed at providing food and nutritional security to around 50 lakh families in the state. Chief Minister Raman Singh told the House that the provisions of the bill ensured that adequate quantity of quality food will be available at affordable prices to nearly 50 lakh families. The new provisions will add a burden of Rs 2,311 crore on the state exchequer. Hailing Chhattisgarh...

-Outlook In the backdrop of the brutal rape of a 23-year-old paramedical student in the city, the Indian Women's Press Corps today met Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and demanded systemic and institutional interventions to check the rising crimes against women in the capital. A four-member delegation of the IWPC comprising president T K Rajalakshmi, general secretary Mannika Chopra, vice president Shobhna Jain and senior columnist Neerja Chowdhury met the CM and submitted...