The NREGS is restricted. The PDS is targeted. Only exploitation is universal. The rotting of lakhs of tonnes of foodgrain in open yards, while shocking, is hardly new or surprising. Remember the rural poor marching on godowns in Andhra Pradesh in 2001 in similar circumstances? The Supreme Court was quite right in jolting the Union government. “In a country where admittedly people are starving, it is a crime to waste even...

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) is world’s most extensive primary education programme, but is it working? The grim reality that India’s Right to Education is at best working in terms of quantity of schools, and certainly not in terms of quality of education, was first proved in successive Annual Status of Education Reports (ASER), brought out by education NGO ‘Pratham’ through nationwide ground-level surveys. Now a Planning Commission evaluation report confirms most...

What do three members of the National Advisory Council, two members of the Planning Commission, Editors (including the editor and executive editor of this magazine), MPs from across the political spectrum, CII members and the NCPCR have in common? One single demand: no child under 14 should be engaged in child labour. Forty-five eminent members of society from very diverse backgrounds have thrown their considerable weight behind an ongoing campaign...

Taking the first step towards implementation of the Right to Education in Uttar Pradesh, the state government will identify the ‘out-of-school’ children across 72 districts in the state. The Education department, under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), will launch in August a door-to-door survey to identify the ‘out-of-school’ children in the age group of 6 and 14 years of age. In rural areas, the process will also include an undertaking by gram...

As some members object to mention of certain media houses The Press Council of India (PCI) has decided not to forward the detailed report on ‘paid news,' prepared by its sub-committee, following divisions in the Council, with some members objecting to the fact that specific media houses had been identified as offenders in that document. Sources said 23 of the Council's 30 members turned up for Friday's meeting and, with...