-The Hindu   Success stories from the right to education law give no joy when assessments show that children are ill-versed in the 3Rs and classrooms remain discriminatory Three years ago today, India, for the first time in history, made a promise to its children. With the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education coming into effect on April 1, 2010, every child was guaranteed the fundamental right to eight years of...

-The Hindu   A helpline in Odisha is empowering students to act as watchdogs to monitor implementation of the RTE Act, which completes three years in April "My teacher does not come to school," speaks a little voice on one end of the phone line. At the other end, a woman responds reassuringly, asking for the child's details - name of the school, the district. Within a matter of days, the ‘teacher' is...

-The Hindustan Times A UN report has described India’s water pollution situation as a “time-bomb” while praising social activist Anna Hazare’s village Ralegan Siddhi for using the scarce commodity in a rationale manner. In a stinging remark on water administration in India, the report says India is able to treat just 10 % of its city sewage and industrial waste discharge, the most polluting source for rivers and water bodies. “Presently, only...

-PTI Nearly 2,000 children around the globe, under the age of five, die every day from diarrhoeal diseases linked to unsafe water, poor sanitation and hygiene, with 24 per cent of the deaths occurring in India alone, a U.N. report has warned. Globally, an estimated 2,000 children under the age of five die every day from diarrhoeal diseases and of these some 1,800 deaths are linked to water, sanitation and hygiene,...

-The Hindustan Times Bhopal: Chairperson of the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) Usha Chaturvedi has said that children have constitutional right to free and compulsory education (RTE). The commission will play the role of an alert sentinel regarding implementation of these rights. She added that a separate cell would be constituted in the commission to monitor implementation of the RTE Act. Chaturvedi was addressing a one-day workshop of...