Lakhs of children waiting to take the entrance test for admission into the prestigious Navodaya Vidyalayas can now finally appear for the take relief as the law ministry has finally said that these schools can be exempted from two key provisions of the Right to Education Act. However, the law ministry has asked HRD ministry to take the precaution of issuing the necessary notification exempting these schools from the RTE...

-The Telegraph   The Meghalaya government today approved the rules for implementation of the ambitious Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, or the RTE Act, 2009. According to the “child-centric” and “child-friendly” act, free and compulsory education should be provided to children in the age group of 6-14 years in Classes I to VII; no child should be held back, expelled or required to pass a board examination...

The murder of Mid-Day's J. Dey is only the tip of the iceberg. If violence against journalists continues unchecked, can a beleaguered press continue to report the way it should? If they are becoming fair game for everybody, it makes you wonder if the media as a sector really has clout. The lawlessness that is currently manifest in public life is turning out to have another dimension to it. The power...

-PTI   It is force versus children in the battle for land to set up South Korean giant POSCO's proposed mega steel project in Orissa's Jagatsinghpur district where the anti-displacement stir has entered the decisive phase. While a determined state government has accused the POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS), a body spearheading agitation, of using the children as a "shield", the villagers sought to differ. "We involve children in the agitation to counter...

-The Hindu   “No positive response seen for enforcement of reservation ” The Union government is working on a mechanism of ‘voluntary disclosure' by the corporate and private sector on enhancement of employment opportunities for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other weaker sections. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told a conference of State Social Justice and Empowerment Ministers here on Friday that the government had taken a number of initiatives to increase ‘affirmative action' with...