Empower school principals to truly deliver education to India The Right to Education (RTE) law, and the subsequent Supreme Court judgment, has focused attention on the future of school education in India. The judgment on the provision that requires private schools to offer 25 per cent of their seats to economically weaker sections opens new opportunities for the poor, and that is welcome. But in our fiercely hierarchical society, class-conscious...

Twenty-seven-year-old Amina (name changed) is in the eighth month of her pregnancy. But this immigrant from the Rohingya community from Myanmar is more worried about getting a shelter over her head than the bundle of joy she would be holding in her arms very soon. She is among the 2,500-odd Rohingya refugees who were camping at Vasant Vihar before they moved to Sultan Garhi on May 8. They not only lack...

The Government of India has formally launched the news Guidelines of the MGNAREGA based on the Mihir Shah Committee report. The news guidelines include many new works under conservation activities and it strengthens the hands of the village panchayats and gram sabhas. However, the list of works does not include the activities under the system of rice intensification (SRI) which encourages scientific method of paddy cultivation with better yield in...

-The Hindu Kannada Chalavali Vatal Paksha leader and former MLA Vatal Nagaraj is all set to embark upon one more protest. He will now put up toilet equipment and accessories on display at the Kempe Gowda bus stand here on May 8 to protest against the lack of toilet facilities for rural women. Announcing this at a press conference here on Tuesday, Mr. Nagaraj said that the protest would be taken to...

-Reuters Rome: Governments are failing to fund projects to improve Access to toilets and other sanitation services in poor countries because the subject remains "taboo", a director at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said on Monday. "Who wants to talk about shit?" asked Frank Rijsberman, Director of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene at the $ 34 billion charitable foundation, during an interview with Reuters on Monday. "It's the last big taboo and as...