The implementation of the Right to Education Act will lead to decongestion of classrooms as it lays down strict teacher-student ratio norms. To ensure this provision is followed, the state government is planning to set up new buildings next to schools in which the teacher to student ratio is high. The new aided schools will be built with funds provided, in large part, by the Centre. A state government official, on condition of anonymity, said,...

Atleast 35 people, mostly adults, have died of various infections, including swine flu, at Warud in Amravati district in a month, with seven deaths occurring in the past 24 hours. The town, which is famous for its orange cultivation, is around 100 km from Nagpur. Health officials blamed the high casualty number on a recent policy change. The government centralised purchase of medicines for public hospitals earlier this year citing corruption...

Kerala has done well in the field of higher education and holds much promise. But further policy initiatives are needed to sustain the momentum and prepare for future challenges. Kerala, almost alone among Indian States, has pursued a consistent and in many ways successful higher education policy. It educates 18 per cent of its young people, double the national average, and has universal literacy. It is worth looking at what might...

The Fund Crunch for the government’s rural roads programme appears all set to affect road construction efforts in the worst Naxal-affected districts where the government is contemplating to saturate road requirements — by connecting every habitation — beyond the rigid norms of Bharat Nirman and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY). The Rural Development Ministry, which administers the rural connectivity programme, is learnt to have apprised an empowered group of officers,...

While India’s new Right to Education Act seeks to bring free and compulsory education for all children, it seems to short-change them through an unrealistic vision of the private sector’s involvement. In August 2009, the Right to Education Act was passed in the Indian Parliament with no debate, by the fewer than 60 members who happened to be attending the session that day. Not that the Act was an open-and-shut...