-The Times of India LUCKNOW: After Bhartiya Kisan Union(BKU), the All India Jat Arakshan Samiti(AIJAS) has also supported the diktat of the panchayat at the Asra village in Baghpat. The diktat puts restrictions on the movement of girls and women. A meeting was held in the village and it was decided that a Mahapanchayat will be held on July 21 in which khap panchayats from other parts of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan...

-The Hindustan Times The Supreme Court will on Wednesday hear the government's plea in the sub-quota for minorities issue. Earlier on Monday, the apex court expressed its displeasure and pulled up the Centre for its casual handling of the "complex" and "sensitive" issue of 4.5% sub-quota for minorities within the 27% reservation for OBCs in central educational institutions like IITs. The Centre on Tuesday placed before the apex court the "relevant" material and...

-Live Mint It turns out that some state officials were using NRHM to enrich themselves The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) was launched seven years ago with the goal of improving healthcare delivery to people in villages, especially the poor, through a generous infusion of federal funds. Local authorities were given a relatively free hand in deciding how to spend the money, with the Centre promising funds with no strings attached for...

The cartoon controversy provides the possibility of interrogating the functioning of the academic system to understand its relationship with the downtrodden masses. A new deliberation is needed in order to make the academic world more sensitive and responsive towards the issues and concerns of the subaltern-oppressed communities. This will be an ethical incentive for the present-day dalit movement in India and can bring greater democratisation to the education system. Harish Wankhede...

School texts that teach young minds that politics is a contentious and critical but reasonable activity, that it is not merely a set of demands and commands, and that politicians have to be responsive and accountable are naturally disliked by the political class. This is the tone of all the Political Science textbooks of Standards IX-XI brought out after 2006. The nurturing of a culture of critical public opinion seems...