On Thursday, April 12, the Supreme Court upheld the validity of the provision in the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act — better known as the Right to Education or RTE Act — that makes it compulsory for private schools (including schools that have received no cheap land, one-time subsidy or contribution to ongoing expenses from a government agency) to take in 25% pupils from poor-income backgrounds. It...

While the state government has made it clear that the Right to Education Act (RTE Act) will be enforced from the current academic year, there are many who are still unclear as to what the Act means, especially the people who will be most benefited by it. RTE dictates that 25% of admissions in all private unaided schools (private minority unaided schools have been exempted) will be reserved free of cost...

The high-handedness of the Trinamool government in West Bengal has now raised international concern. This time it's the arrest of Partho Sarothi Ray, a molecular biologist of international repute. National Advisory Council member Aruna Roy and renowned intellectual Noam Chomsky and more than four dozen other prominent scientists and public figures from across India and other countries have written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to get the academician released after...

In upholding the Right to Free and Compulsory Education for All Children, commonly known as the Right to Education (RTE), the Supreme Court signalled the beginning of a new approach to education. It marks a shift from the current institution-centric system to one that puts children and their interests at the core.  Most important, it is recognition of the pivotal role that education plays in a person's life, and that every...

Progressive strengthening of public facilities is the only way to reach medical services to the population as a whole. “The best form of providing health protection would be to change the economic system which produces ill health, and to liquidate ignorance, poverty and unemployment. The practice of each individual purchasing his own medical care does not work. It is unjust, inefficient, wasteful and completely outmoded ... In our highly geared, modern...