-The Times of India New Delhi: Transgenders will soon be categorised as "third gender" and be eligible for welfare benefits including reservations in jobs and education. They would also be able to choose their gender after undergoing sex-change surgery. The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill puts the "third gender" at par with weaker communities like SC/STs and OBCs to end discrimination against them. The Union cabinet approved the legislation piloted by social...

-Livemint.com The state government, heavily influenced by the private school lobby, had twisted the law’s rules so much that very few eligible children could jump through its hoops Rohith Vemula’s case brought to the fore the depth of caste and class prejudices institutionally embedded in India’s education system. Babasaheb Ambedkar described these as, “an artificial chopping off of the population into fixed and definite units, each one prevented from fusing into...

-The Times of India New Delhi: Veteran journalist P Sainath has made a strong demand for declaring agriculture a public service. He also believes there needs to be a special session of Parliament to discuss the farmer crisis and the decade-old report of National Commission of Farmers chaired by professor M S Swaminathan. The author of Everybody Loves A Good Drought delivered the inaugural lecture of a monthly lecture series planned by...

-Governance Now The draft for the eagerly awaited new Education Policy recommends amendments in the right to free and compulsory education Act 2009. Among its specific recommendations are:   * The no detention policy must be continued for children until completion of class 5. * At the upper primary level, the system of detention shall be restored subject to the provision of remedial coaching and at least two extra chances being offered to...

-The Indian Express Swiss voted against the idea of a Universal Basic Income. But the debate continues We in India tend to associate Switzerland with fresh-faced girls in dirndls on a beautiful hillside, or with a cabal of silent bankers, but it is in fact a much more interesting country than those clichés might imply. For one, they decide on policy by referendums — if a hundred thousand Swiss sign up to...