-PTI With two years into the RTE and 32 states having notified the rules, government today said they should now also focus on strict implementation of provisions against corporal punishment and detention and initiate curricular reforms. HRD Minister Kapil Sibal asserted that improving quality is critical if the objective of the Right to Education (RTE) is to be fulfilled even as he noted a decline in dropout rates in states like Bihar...

-The Telegraph The economic survey has challenged an international assessment that has ranked India 125, or near-bottom, among 132 countries on environmental performance, but has acknowledged that air pollution has increased to alarming levels. The survey, released by the Union government today, has questioned the methodology of the Environmental Performance Index 2012 that has assigned Air Quality in India a rank of 132, the worst in the world, and similarly low ranks...

Often, municipal corporations carry out flawed projects which go against public interest and only suit vested interests. Use of RTI can help unearth such irregularities. Here’s a startling example... The Mula-Mutha rivers in Pune resemble stinking nallahs, yet the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) had a brainwave of implementing a river navigation project on a 25-odd km stretch from Ramwadi to Kharadi, envisioning boat rides as one of the activities to save...

Proposes inter-ministry contribution for prioritising the issues   Union Minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh has presented a plan to various Central ministries to contribute to the cause of drinking water and sanitation, saying that investment for a healthy population was as important as investing for defence. Mr. Ramesh, who also holds the Drinking Water and Sanitation portfolio, on Tuesday had his proposals ratified at the National Drinking Water and Sanitation Council which...

The National Green Tribunal is the latest to point out that consultants are including “cooked data” in the key environment impact assessment (EIA) reports which determine green clearances for industrial projects. The Tribunal has told the government to come up with a mechanism to ensure authentic data. The Tribunal made its comments last week while suspending the environment clearance given to Scania Steel and Power for the expansion of its sponge...