The Communist Party of India on Tuesday said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's remark about the Supreme Court on grain distribution was uncalled for and the court order has to be understood in the proper SPIRit. “It is not an issue of the Supreme Court exceeding its jurisdiction and transgressing into the domain of the executive. One has to understand the proper SPIRit and the language of the order,” the party's central...

Realising it was losing the turf war with the hyperactive Union Ministry of Environment and Forests on a subject that has become a top priority for the United Progressive Alliance government, the once comatose Tribal Affairs Ministry has, in recent weeks, suddenly begun to assert its rights over its responsibilities. The first sign of this realisation was reflected in Tribal Affairs Minister Kantilal Bhuria shooting off letters in quick succession on...

Members of various NGOsand child rights activists working in the field of free, compulsory and quality education for underprivileged children on Wednesday came out strongly against the private school lobby and accused it of trying to dilute the Right to Education (RTE) Act. At a state-level training for various stakeholders of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 — also known as the RTE Act —the activists...

Members of various NGOsand child rights activists working in the field of free, compulsory and quality education for underprivileged children on Wednesday came out strongly against the private school lobby and accused it of trying to dilute the Right to Education (RTE) Act. At a state-level training for various stakeholders of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 — also known as the RTE Act —the activists...

Traditional Sanskrit schools, known as ved pathshalas, will be exempt from the Right to Education Act and their students will be allowed to later join mainstream schooling, human resource development minister Kapil Sibal said on Tuesday. The assurance came after some of Hinduism's most revered institutions – including the Kanchi Matha, the Ahobila Matha, the Andayan Ashrama and the Arya Samaj – demanded exemption for the pathshalas, as was reported by...