-The Indian Express ASER’s findings highlight the dismal state of school education. Improving teacher training programmes could lead to better outcomes I remember Rukmini Banerji of Pratham telling us in 2005 that ASER the Annual Status of Education Report — will be a national survey that will hold up a mirror to the condition of education in India and shake us into urgent action. For nine years now, every January, ASER is...

-The Indian Express Gadchiroli: A top Naxal leader who surrendered recently has said that the government’s twin strategy of security with development has begun to hurt the Maoists, leaving the morale of their CADre affected. “The senior leadership of the party (CPI Maoist) is worried over setbacks due to Operation Greenhunt and the various developmental works undertaken by the government in remote areas of districts like Gadchiroli,” Badarpu Mallaiyya alias Shekhar, the...

-The Indian Express The audacity of the Latehar ambush, which ended with Maoists implanting explosive devices inside the corpses of CRPF men, comes amid security forces’ claims that the rebels are a declining force. What was probably the cruellest ever assault on security forces came at a time police in several states were praising themselves for having contained Maoists. Over the last 14 months, Maoist violence had declined partly because they had...

-The Hindu Relentless counter-insurgency operations taken up in all left-wing extremism-affected States seemed to have had the desired impact, as Maoist violence registered a record low in 2012. The downward trend in violence in the last six-year period, could indicate the success of the security forces in pushing the Maoist revolution into a strategic equilibrium stage. Another possibility could be an unannounced tactical retreat from some areas by Maoists themselves to protect...

-Outlook National Minorities Commission Chairman Wajahat Habibullah today criticised former army chief V K Singh for taking to streets against the gang rape of a girl here asking whether allegations of rape against personnel of the force in Jammu and Kashmir have ever been enquired into. A former IAS officer of the Jammu and Kashmir CADre, who was also the first Chief Information Commissioner of the country, said a productive way would...