In the absence of any concrete guidelines from the state governments, schools seem to be clueless about the implementation of the Right to Education (RTE) Act. On Wednesday, a premier school in Gurgaon stalled their nursery admission, saying they will resume the process after they receive guidelines regarding the RTE Act from the government. Delhi Public School, sector-45 in Gurgaon, which had started its admission process from August 2, has stopped it...

A court here Monday awarded life imprisonment to seven people for the 2002 lynching of five Dalits in this Haryana district. All the convicts were produced in the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge A.K. Jain, amidst heavy security. After the sentencing, the accused were sent to Rohtak jail. The court acquitted 19 people in the case Saturday. Those convicted are: Om Prakash Kablana (head of Gaushala village), Shishu Pal Malik, Ranbir...

In a small hamlet in Andhra Pradesh’s Ghatkesar district, 20km from Hyderabad, Indus Academy is one of four schools offering private education for the poor. Run by Career Launcher India Ltd’s foundation, its three single-storey buildings house around 40 children in the age group of 4-10. The walls of the school are festooned with bright-coloured pictures, and the school boasts a laptop, a television, a DVD player and plentiful study...

India lives in its villages, Gandhi said. But increasingly, the people of India are dying on its roads. India overtook China to top the world in road fatalities in 2006 and has continued to pull steadily ahead, despite a heavily agrarian population, fewer people than China and far fewer cars than many Western countries. While road deaths in many other big emerging markets have declined or stabilized in recent years,...

Businessmen and society have a strangely contradictory relationship. The economic activity they generate can be an agent of social transformation and progress — a quick look at the changes in Indian society in the last two decades would be one indicator. Yet, businessmen in themselves are rarely conscious promoters of social progress. This is hardly unexpected. Business inherently seeks a stable environment in which to flourish, so businessmen tend not to...