Demanding equal educational opportunities for all children, a large contingent of people walked to Bal Bhavan here this past Friday in support of three key demands on the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009. December 11 was the day India ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) to demand the right to education for every Indian child. Regretting that millions of...

The increase in the number of civil cases in a country is its social mascot, as it symbolises the abundance of law abiding civilised citizens accepting the authority of the judiciary to get their grievances redressed. Otherwise, they would have turned to self-retaliation or employed roughnecks, a usual practice in America and Britain enkindled by their criminal heritage, to enforce justice in their own way; hence all civil litigants may...

Corruption kills development and is one of the biggest obstacles to achieving the globally agreed targets to reduce poverty, hunger and other social ills by 2015, also known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), United Nations officials warned today. “When public money is stolen for private gain, it means fewer resources to build schools, hospitals, roads and water treatment facilities. When foreign aid is diverted into private bank accounts, major...

The highly-anticipated United Nations climate change conference kicked off in Copenhagen, Denmark, today with countries issuing urgent calls for action to curb global warming. Over 15,000 people, including government officials and representatives from the Private Sector, environmental organizations and research institutions, as well as 110 heads of State and government – including United States President Barack Obama and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao – are expected to take part in the...

It is to counter the Danish draft that proposed tough action by developing countries Call for setting up of a Global Climate Fund The four emerging economies — Brazil, South Africa, India and China — have recommended the establishment of a mechanism to develop and transfer environment-friendly technology to developing countries, remove barriers in technology transfer and appropriately address issues of intellectual property rights. The BASIC draft proposed by these four developing...