-The Hindu Setting up of effective grievance redress and monitoring machinery mooted The Right to Education Act’s guidelines need to be strengthened to help end discrimination in schools, whether based on caste, religion, gender, disability, class or language, by setting up an effective grievance redress and monitoring machinery. This was one of the themes discussed by the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) when it met here on Monday to approve in principle...

-The Hindu The comprehensive reforms suggested by Justice Verma and his colleagues will protect the right to dignity, autonomy and freedom of victims of sexual assault and rape Starting with Tarabai Shinde’s spirited defence of the honour of her sister countrywomen in 1882, women’s movements in India have been marked by persistent and protracted struggles. But despite this rich and varied history, we have in recent weeks found ourselves shocked at the...

-The Hindu To address the rights issue and the skewed sex ratio, girl child-friendly policies get an extra thrust in the 12 Plan document, to be approved formally by this month-end The 12 Plan document of the Planning Commission, to be formally approved this month-end, has recommended setting up of a high level inter-ministerial committee on ‘Care and Protection of the Girl Child’ which will constitute the institutional mechanism for mobilising and...

-The Hindu Let us begin by listening to Mira’s story. When I learnt that I have been granted admission in the college of my choice, fear of being part of the “rest of the world” gripped me. Though confident about my academic abilities, I was terrified at the thought of how the “others” would react to me: a cerebral palsy wheelchair user with a speech difficult to comprehend and a drooling mouth....

“It is a violation of the child's right to be included in education system” Some non-governmental organisations have opposed the recent amendment to the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, which makes home-based education a right for children with multiple and severe disabilities. The clause says: “Provided that a child with ‘multiple disabilities' referred to in Clause (h) and a child with ‘severe disability' referred to in Clause...