-The Hindu Hundreds of government schools, especially in tribal-dominated districts, have been shut down over the past year. Elizabeth Kuruvilla reports on the closures, the mushrooming of private schools, and the battles waged by tribal villages to keep state-funded local schools open It’s a little past four in the afternoon, the time when schools ring their closing bells in the Hatsesikhal cluster of Odisha’s tribal-dominated Rayagada district. Just before Sekhal Primary School...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Reading the riot act, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said it was "absolutely illegal" for anyone to attack couples marrying outside their caste and warned the government that if it did not bring a legislation to protect such couples, the court would lay down guidelines. Referring a couple of times to the murder of Nitish Katara by the kin of the girl he was in love...

-PTI New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday termed as ”absolutely illegal” any attack by khap Panchayats or associations against an adult man and woman opting for inter- caste marriage. The apex court said if an adult man and woman marry, no khap, Panchayat, individual or society can question them. A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud asked the Centre to give its reponse on suggestions...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The ponds and wells dug under the rural job guarantee scheme have boosted farmers' income by an average 15 per cent, a study has found. The finding by the Institute of Economic Growth, New Delhi, appears to contradict charges that the scheme has lagged in asset creation and been largely a failure. According to the survey, farmers reported an 11 per cent rise in rice and wheat production and...

-The Hindu Open-minded adoption of the RTE Act’s enabling provisions can radically transform school education Free and compulsory education of children in the 6 to 14 age group in India became a fundamental right when, in 2002, Article 21-A was inserted in the 86th Amendment to the Constitution. This right was to be governed by law, as the state may determine, and the enforcing legislation for this came eight years later, as...