-The Telegraph The government today told a Constitution bench that the right to freedom of speech was for the “benefit” of the public, not the media, as it backed the Supreme Court’s attempt to lay down norms for reporting judicial proceedings. “Freedom of speech is not for the benefit of the press but for the benefit of the public,” additional solicitor-general Indira Jaisingh said, marking a shift from the cautious stand the...

Experts fear that schools will begin forcing children with disabilities to stay at home with the “study from home” clause passed under the RTE Amendment bill by the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. This Amendment adds children with disability to the definition of “disadvantaged groups” and will now be a part of the 25 per cent reservation for the Economically Weaker Section category, under the Right to Education Act. The bill...

The only way to fix the IT laws is to change the way they are made Laws in India relating to the internet are greatly flawed. The only way to fix them would be to fix the way they are made. The Cyber-Laws and E-Security Group in the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEIT, ‘DeitY’ according to their website) has proved incapable of making balanced, informed laws and policies. The...

-The Economic Times The Rajya Sabha on Tuesday passed an Amendment to the Right to Education Act. The Amendment will widen the beneficiary net for disabled children and provide those with severe disability the option of receiving education at home. It will also give school management committees an advisory role in minority schools, both aided and unaided, and will put madarsas and vedic schools and other institutions providing primarily religious instruction outside...

-The Telegraph The Rajya Sabha today passed Amendments that exempt madarsas and Vedic pathshalas, which impart religious teachings, from the Right to Education Act and grant reservation in private schools to disabled children. Another Amendment clarified that school management committees in aided minority schools would function only in an advisory capacity and would not be required to prepare the school development plan. The Amendments will now go to the Lok Sabha. Some aided minority...