-Kafila.org Almost a century ago, Katherine Mayo published a book titled ‘Mother India’ that criticized the Indian way of living, and Rudyard Kipling  spoke of the ‘White Man’s Burden’. These writings reflected the colonial perspective that what colonizers did was in the best interest of the colonized people. Consequently, most well-meaning citizens of colonial powers were alienated from the horrible plight of the colonized. Purpose well served – unopposed exploitation. Years later,...

ASHAs will continue to bear the burden of the government's rural health mission as a new order lists more incentive-based services. On May 31, a Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare order listed additional incentivised duties for accredited social health activists, or ASHAs, but was silent on the issue of regularisation of their employment. ASHAs, who bridge the gap between the rural population and the nearest health care outlets under...

-The Times of India DANTEWADA: Six-year-old Shiva Yadav sang softly to Shahid Khan, about two-and-half-years-old, trying to lull him to sleep. Their mothers — Vime Yadav and Kureshia Begum — were busy chopping vegetables for dinner of 250 children at Dantewada's Aastha hostel in south Chhattisgarh. Vime is a cook and Kureshia works as a peon at the state government-run Aastha. They landed the jobs after their husbands were killed in...

-The Times of India More than 17 lakh lawyers will strike work on Wednesday and Thursday, paralyzing judicial work across the country to protest against the Higher Education and Research Bill piloted by the HRD ministry, alleging that it would take away important academic regulatory powers from the Bar Council of India (BCI).  After exhausting its representations opposing the HER Bill, the regulatory body BCI on Monday said it had no option...

-The Times of India BOLPUR/NEW DELHI: The Prime Minister's office on Monday took serious note of an incident where a Class-V student of Visva-Bharati's Patha Bhavan school was forced to lick her urine as punishment for bedwetting. The PM is the university's chancellor and his office has asked for a report. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights too has slapped a notice on the state government asking for a...