Even as the Right to Education came into effect on Thursday, the countdown began for lakhs of unrecognised schools across the country against whom action can be taken under the new law unless they get themselves regularized within the next three years. The task of enforcing this regularization will be humungous if studies indicating the proliferation of unrecognized schools are to be believed. In 2005, in a survey in seven...
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Pathway to food security for all by MS Swaminathan
The proposed Food Security Bill should adopt a three-pronged strategy that constitutes a Universal Public Distribution System for all, low-cost foodgrains to the needy, and convergence in the delivery of nutrition safety net programmes. In his latest budget speech, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced: “We are now ready with the draft Food Security Bill which will be placed in the public domain very soon.” Although no official draft has been...
More »Every day, 1.1bn people poo without a loo by Kounteya Sinha
This is one world No. 1 tag that 'emerging India' would love to shed. Indians comprised 58% of all people across the world who regularly defecated in the open in 2008. That's more than half the Indian population (54%), a WHO-UNICEF report said. While 18% of urban India indulged in the practice, the percentage was as high as 69% in rural parts of the country. Globally, 1.1 billion people still...
More »Workers at Commonwealth Games sites an exploited lot: Panel by Abhinav Garg
In a big embarrassment to the Centre and Delhi government ahead of the Commonwealth Games, a committee appointed by the Delhi High Court has said that workers at Games-related construction sites were not being paid minimum wages and were being made to work overtime for no extra money. The four-member committee was set up to inquire into allegations levelled in a PIL which said conditions of workers at construction sites...
More »Property rights for future migrants by Sanjeev Sanyal
In his recent Budget speech, the finance minister reiterated the government’s plans to make India “slum-free” within five years. This mantra is now being chanted in many urban-related conferences. However, this raises a number of questions. What does a “slum-free” India really mean? Is the removal of slums really desirable? Most importantly, what needs to be done to improve the lives of the millions of urban poor? In this article,...
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