-The Telegraph   The outbreak of Japanese encephalitis in and around Ranchi has assumed pandemic proportions, with authorities at Ranchi Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) reporting 12 child deaths since August 16 till date. Moreover, 36 among the 81 children admitted to the state-run hospital have been confirmed to be suffering from the mosquito-borne viral disease. All 36 are children, between the age group of five and 11 years. Japanese encephalitis, marked by high...

-Daily Bhaskar   Implementation of the Right to Education (RTE) Act that promises to provide every child between 6 to 14 years' of age compulsory education is facing many hurdles. The Act was implemented in April 2010 which makes free and compulsory education a fundamental right of every child. However, providing quality education continues to be a matter of concern in Jaipur. Several provisions of the Act are not implemented or are poorly...

About 9% of the country's population comprises scheduled tribes, with over 700 communities, of which 75 are 'primitive tribal groups'. Yet, we found on a number of field trips to Andhra Pradesh, conditions among scheduled and primitive tribes differ according to policy whims, and little else. In a village in Vijanagaram district, we found two distinct tribes living side by side: Kondavara, a scheduled tribe, and Savara, a primitive tribe. The...

-The Hindu Business Line About two-fifths are never born, one-fifth goes missing in infancy and childhood, and remaining two-fifths do so between the ages 15 and 59 There are close to 4 million “missing” poor women in developing countries each year, says a new World Bank report. India accounts for one million of these women. Expressing deep concern at excess female mortality or “missing” females, World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and...

A band of tribal women from rebel-hit Jehan village, 125km from the state capital, are keeping their men off liquor since the past one-and-half years. An unlikely crusader leads rural homemakers, numbering about 60, under the self-named outfit Nehru Mahila Samiti. She’s a 29-year-old primary schoolteacher, Basanti Tirkey, a Ranchi’s Nirmala College alumnus from the batch of 2004. The mother of a three-year-old son, her husband Antonis Lakra works in the...