-The Hindu It is premature to speak of a ‘new Bihar' based on the experience of a compressed time-frame Rekindling Governance and Development: Edited by N. K. Singh, Nicholas Stern; HarperCollins Publishers, A-53, Sector 57, Noida-201301. Rs. 699. The editors of this book have gathered a panel of stellar luminaries to valorise their notion of ‘The New Bihar'. Learned, laudatory essays extol the sea-change wrought by the NDA government since it came to...

-The Hindu Equating juveniles with adult criminals is neither scientifically correct nor normatively defensible The August 31 verdict of the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) in the Delhi gang rape case, handing down a bare three-year custodial sentence to the juvenile member, has generated a fresh round of debate on the legality and desirability of juvenile justice itself: why should juveniles above 16 indulging in violent crimes not be treated as adult criminals?...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) chairperson, Wajahat Habibullah, today said he would urge the Prime Minister to ensure speedy rehabilitation of Muzaffarnagar riot victims at Monday's National Integration Council (NIC) meeting. "According to official figures, nearly 44,500 Muslims have been displaced from their villages and have taken shelter in nearby Schools and mosques in Muslim-dominated villages. I will urge the Prime Minister to take up the matter...

Bihar Government's programme of distributing bicycles to School girls may be a modest intervention but is leading to big changes. A new research-based paper, brought out in August 2013, corroborates the success of the programme and testifies that it is leading to improved School enrollment of girls and arresting their dropout rates (See links below to read full paper and earlier studies on the subject).   Based on econometric and statistical models,...

-Down to Earth 'Only nine of 74 nations where most under five deaths occur can achieve goal of 20 deaths per 1,000 live births if current trends continue' In June 2012, at a global meeting convened by UNICEF and the governments of Ethiopia, India, and the US, a target 20 or fewer deaths (per 1,000 live births) among children under five was proposed to be achieved by all countries by 2035. International...