-The Telegraph   The Union cabinet today accepted a parliamentary panel’s suggestion that a fine of Rs 1 crore, not Rs 50 lakh, would deter institutions from charging capitation fees. The suggestion was part of a report the panel submitted on a proposed law to check unfair practices in universities and technical and medical institutions. The Prohibition of Unfair Practices in Technical Educational Institutions, Medical Educational Institutions and Universities Bill, 2010 — introduced in...

Child malnutrition in Gulbarga and Bijapur districts is a blot on Karnataka's image. Ba Ba Basavanna Anganwadi Hogona Avarekaalu Tinnona Ah, Aaa, Ee, Eee, Bariyona Mane Kadege Hogona (Come, Come, Basavanna Let's go to the anganwadi Let us eat beans And write A, B, C, D, And head towards home.) As Savitri Nimbad sings this ditty, the more than 20 children seated in a circle around her repeat each line in shrill voices. Almost all of them are between three and...

The claim that the Unique Identification project will facilitate the delivery of basic health services is dishonest. AMONG the many reasons cited for India to proceed with the Unique Identification (UID) project – that it will facilitate delivery of basic services, that it will plug leakages in public expenditure, that it will speed up achievement of targets in social sector schemes, and so on – the most specious is perhaps the...

-The Hindu   A Central team of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) has praised the implementation of various health care and nutrition schemes in Rajasthan and expressed hope that the constant decline in infant and maternal mortality rates would help improve the status of health indicators in the State. The 12-member team, divided into two sub-groups, visited Chittorgarh and Barmer districts and reviewed the progress of initiatives taken under the NRHM, mid-day...

Father Cedric Prakash is a human rights and peace activist based in Ahmedabad. He has campaigned for the justice of the victims of the 2002 communal violence on peril of being publicly branded as “non-Gujarati and non-Hindu” by chief minister Narendra Modi. A resident of Gujarat for nearly 40 years, Prakash is the founding director of Prashant, a centre for human rights, peace and justice. He was named Chevalier of the...