Her face breaks into a smile when Rukhma Lakshman Kale sees herself on the giant screen in a Unicef film screened at the release of the State of The World's Children report. In the film, the 27-year-old mother of one is shown engaging with girls in village Antapur in Maharashtra's Chandrapur district. Rukhma is a source of strength for these girls, 14 of whom she's ensured go to school. In India...

The budget session of the Parliament began with President Pratibha Patil’s address. All indications point to a normal functioning of this session, unlike the wasted winter session.  This is because the UPA 2 government has agreed to constitute a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to look into the 2G spectrum allocation scam. If the government were to have done this in the winter session itself, then precious time and resources would...

Vikasa organisation, a wing under the National Child Labour Project (NCLP), has taken up a special drive to identify child labourers, in tribal and fishermen areas, and in areas where SCs and weaker section population lives in East Godavari. The identified children in age group of 7 to 14 years (both boys and girls) would be admitted to bridge schools run by NCLP, to equip them to join normal schools. The...

Amartya Sen today said primary healthcare should be more accessible to people and sought the public sector’s support in healthcare. “I strongly say yes to right to health,” the Noble laureate said after formally announcing the launch of Pratichi (India) Institute in Salt Lake. The economist, who has been conducting research and development work in the fields of education, health and gender equality for the past 10 years, said Pratichi Trust, which...

I was awakened early one morning recently by someone who said he was enormously enjoying my on-going debate on economic growth in India. I was very pleased that I had given someone some joy, but I also wondered what on earth he could be talking about, since I have not been involved in any such debate. As it happens, I am getting a steady stream of telephone calls and electronic...