The judgment last week by the Supreme Court, making it mandatory for the government, local authorities and private schools to reserve 25% of their seats for the economically weaker sections, is one more step in making the right to education a reality for Indian children. The road, however, is long and the journey arduous, as there are still millions who face barriers in accessing education. The Right of Children to Free...

Over the past week, I’ve chronicled my investigative research on starvation in India – a project I’ve been working on with a colleague from the Centre for Equity Studies, a New Delhi think tank. We’ve told stories of people who were forced to eat poisoned roots to stay alive; a family that suffered the deaths of members from three different generations in a span of 24 hours; a woman faced with...

-The Hindu The Campaign Against Sex Selective Abortion (CASSA) has submitted a memorandum to political parties and the State government seeking steps to improve the child sex ratio and sex ratio at birth. Representatives of the CASSA, Human Rights Foundation and Centre for Child Rights Development, met mediapersons here on Tuesday to explain their demands. “In 2001, the mortality rate for girl children was high in 11 districts. Despite the Pre-Conception and...

In a move to empower women, a government panel wants that a mother should be listed as the first guardian for all official purposes instead of a father, arguing that she primarily looks after the children. "Since normally it is the mother who primarily looks after the children, she should be listed as the first guardian ," the Planning Commission's Working Group said in its report.  The panel has recommended a...

Block the loo and train the child. If a recent report of the National Commission of Child Rights is to be believed, barring students bathroom breaks seems to be teachers’ favourite form of punishment. According to the report, “Eliminating Corporal Punishment in Schools”, released earlier this month, almost 18 per cent students are not allowed to go to the restroom as punishment for bad behaviour in class. This is at the top of...