Familiar battle lines emerged on Sunday on the eve of a conference to restore the credibility of the UN's talks on climate change after last year's near-disaster in Copenhagen. Campaigners said the interests of the environment and poor countries would not be sacrificed to help boost the faltering process, while the European Union (EU) called on China, the United States and India to agree to "fair" curbs on their carbon emissions. Nearly...

Manual scavenging persists, but community and political mobilisation of workers has initiated change. Only those who are in denial are surprised by the continued existence in India of casteism and inhuman practices associated with stigmatisation, despite institutions of the state decreeing their abolition. But progress has been made in fits and starts, and agency – in the form of community and political mobilisation – has played a role in their slow...

HRD Ministry asks them to adopt random selection process Guidelines for admission in schools, issued under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, prohibit screening of children and interviewing their parents. The guidelines issued by the Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry have also asked the schools to adopt a random selection process. “The schools have to adopt an admission procedure which is non-discriminatory, rational and transparent...

The Union Environment Ministry on Friday issued a show cause notice to the controversial Lavasa Corporation Limited (LCL), raising serious questions over a number of its constructions that it deems as ‘violations.' Lavasa, India's first hill city, is the ambitious project undertaken by Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) about 45 km from Pune. To be built over 25,000 acres, the luxurious city now faces a serious problem with the Ministry notice. The company...

Jharkhand is one of seven states of India having large number of illiterate persons. The other states, where large number of illiterate persons resides, are Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. Mrs. D. Purandeswari, the union Minster of state for Human Resource Development, informed rajya sabha during the winter session in reply to a member’s question from Mr. Parimal Nathwani. These seven states of India have as...