Teacher absenteeism continues, despite several studies conducted and reasons identified. Can something be done? Another Teacher’s Day has come and gone. Like the ones before it, we have had the usual combination of speeches (New Delhi), awards (Mohali), “felicitations” (Mangalore), blood donations (Ulhasnagar), walkouts (Shillong), food poisonings (Mumbai), teacher thrashings (Malda) and black badges (Ludhiana). Barely a week later, we are back to the status quo. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, on whose birthday...

KEY TRENDS   • Section 105 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, which provides for excluding 13 Central legislation, including Land Acquisition (Mines) Act 1885, Atomic Energy Act, 1962, Railway Act 1989, National Highways Act 1956 and Metro Railways (Construction of Works) Act, 1978, from its purview, has been amended for payment of compensation with rigours $ • The amendments have now...

KEY TRENDS   • Maternal Mortality Ratio for India was 370 in 2000, 286 in 2005, 210 in 2010, 158 in 2015 and 145 in 2017. Therefore, the MMRatio for the country decreased by almost 61 percent between 2000 and 2017 *14    • As per the NSS 71st round, among rural females aged 5-29 years, the main reasons for dropping out/ discontinuance were: engagement in domestic activities, not interested in education, financial constraints and marriage. Among rural males aged...

Rotting grain violate the sanctity of food and the people's right to it, Navdanya, an NGO, said here on Tuesday. Criticising Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statement that distribution of free grain would be anti-farmer, the NGO said that, on the contrary, farmers who were ready to harvest their kharif crop would be hurt if the government did not procure enough because it lacked adequate storage facilities. “If the government is unable to...

The Karnataka Unaided Schools Managements' Association (KUSMA) submitted its suggestions on Wednesday for amending the government's Right To Education ( RTE) draft. One suggestion highlighted by KUSMA is responsibility of the school to ensure 'out of school' or 'drop-out' children are given special training to integrate them into class. "Responsibility will burden educational Institutions with a social obligation to implement for which they lack necessary resources," the release said. It...