As the nursery admissions rush gains momentum in the city, Delhi Directorate of Education (DoE) has defended its position on allowing 3+ as the age for entry in unaided schools. According to its affidavit in the Delhi High Court, the Right To Education (RTE) Act enables the DoE to allow children above the age of 3 years to be prepared for the elementary education. In response to a PIL that has that...

-Express News Service   The Delhi Government served a show cause notice to the Bonded Labour Liberation Front, an NGO run by activist Swami Agnivesh, for the alleged fudging of bills with respect to a grant of Rs 18 lakh given by the government to the NGO. The notice has asked the organisation to return Rs 2.23 lakh of the grant which was given in 2005 to conduct a survey on bonded...

-The Telegraph   Jharkhand’s flagship maternal and child health scheme has attracted the Centre’s attention and may now be replicated in other states. Mamata Vahan was launched in July 2010 by the state wing of the National Rural Health Mission as a free referral transport service to ferry expectant mothers to hospitals, aimed at encouraging institutionalised deliveries to reduce mother and child mortality. Launched as a pilot project in Ranchi — across Mandar,...

Ajay Vir Jakhar is the chairman of Bharat Krishak Samaj, a prominent forum for farmers. Over the years, his group has fought for everything from better NREGA to a better Right to Food Act. When he speaks about farmers, his demeanour is one of an impassioned pleader for their rights. In an exclusive interview with The Times of India, he spoke about how NREGS could be modified to make it...

While some may view the food security Bill as the instrument of combating poverty, this distinction belongs to the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, the flagship anti-poverty programme of the United Progressive Alliance government. The proponents of the food security Bill at the National Advisory Council have promoted it as the instrument of fighting widespread and rising hunger, instead. But what is the empirical basis of the claims of widespread and...