Computers in primary school classrooms are not inherently a good thing I read with interest the report on the Central Advisory Board of Education on the use of technology in education, and broadly agree with their conclusion that computers should not enter the classroom until upper primary school level. The modern fascination with new technology makes me think of what Henry David Thoreau said: “Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys,...

Row over cartoon demeans the Dalit movement in general and Ambedkar in particular The intellectual-rational capacity of the current brand of Congress leadership has always been in doubt. In the latest episode of fast-track community appeasement by banning a controversial Nehru-Ambedkar cartoon in an NCERT textbook, the ruling elites of our country hit a new low in their political opportunism. Kapil Sibal is, in general, not a popular figure among Dalits,...

-The Hindustan Times The parliamentary standing committee on rural development is slated to submit on Thursday its report on the much-awaited land acquisition bill — with suggestions for tough norms that would make it very difficult to acquire land for industry. The committee, it is understood, has suggested that ‘public purpose’ be clearly defined to prevent profit-making industries from taking advantage of the law under the guise of producing public goods...

-The Telegraph Mamata Banerjee’s suggestion that the government should keep away from land acquisition for private industry has got the backing of a parliamentary standing committee, which has suggested that private enterprises buy plots on their own. The National Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, which was introduced in Parliament last year by rural development minister Jairam Ramesh, had laid down that the government could acquire land only for a “public...

Eminent persons express concern at Kapil Sibal stand Eminent persons, including Romila Thapar, Prabhat Patnaik and Zoya Hasan, have expressed serious concern at the announcement by Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal that cartoons in textbooks considered ‘offensive' by MPs would be removed. They said the matter shouldn't be considered as one of mere executive discretion. In a signed statement on behalf of the Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (SHMT), they warned...