Trigerring a fresh controversy over some provisions of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, a Bangalore school’s circular to parents virtually warns them of what could be in store once the act comes into force. Bethany High School, in a circular dated July 26, a copy of which is with TOI, said: "Under this Act, all private unaided schools will have to accommodate 25% of their strength of children around...

Three months after introducing reservation for SC/STs through a roster system in appointment of cooks for the mid-day meal scheme, the state government has withdrawn the order, following several incidents of boycott of these cooks by students, withdrawal of wards by parents, and even violent protests against their appointment. The official reason given by the Education Department is that the roster system was only applicable to regular government jobs, while cooks...

Can more knowledge about our society, about the individuals and groups who constitute it, be a bad thing? I’ve been wondering about this lately, in the context of two government initiatives to gather more knowledge about us Indians, as caste groups and as individuals. Both of these information-gathering exercises—the proposal for a “caste census”, which has generated a stormy argument, and the merely desultory discussion over the planned Unique Identification...

IN PATNI, a remote village in Satna district of Madhya Pradesh, sevenmonth- old Sandeep is playing in the mud. He finds a pumpkin seed in the dust and promptly puts it into his mouth. A tiny piece of cow dung, a pebble, a fallen leaf and finally the sole of a rubber slipper follow the pumpkin seed. For Sandeep and the children in the 300- odd families in the village,...

The UPA government has betrayed its promise of inclusive growth over the years as a result of which poverty ratios have remained extremely high despite rapid economic growth, says Praful Bidwai. The new National Advisory Council must act urgently on nutritional security and public healthcare, he adds. The reconstitution of the National Advisory Council under Sonia Gandhi, announced by India’s United Progressive Alliance government, is good news. The original NAC died...