-The Hindu The Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) will examine whether developmental interventions and constitutional safeguards - including Fifth Schedule provisions - have come to the aid of tribal people in Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-affected districts in central India. An NAC Working Group (WG) headed by tribal expert Professor Virginius Xaxa - who also heads the Prime Minister's high level committee that is to produce a report on the...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Government has proposed standards for playschools that include the size of the classroom and outdoor space, mandatory use of mother tongue or vernacular language as medium of instruction and student-caregiver ratio. These conditions are part of the 'early childhood care and education' (ECCE) formulated by the women and child development (WCD) ministry and slated to be discussed in the Union Cabinet on Friday. Among the "base...

-The Telegraph Hazaribagh: A 40-year-old mother of two died of starvation at Hazaribagh Sadar Hospital this morning, two days after her daughter died of the same reason at their village home 7km from district headquarters, in a country where National Food Security Bill, 2013, received Presidential assent on September 10. Despite so-called safety nets - existing flagship welfare provisions such as BPL card, MGNREGS and a host of other subsidy, pension, assistance,...

-The Hindu Geeta Dharmarajan, founder of Katha, which has just completed 25 years of reaching out to the unreached in the National Capital. Scrolling down the students' blog of Katha, the non-profit organisation in the National Capital which runs schools for underprivileged children living in 248 slums, I come across a complaint letter by a child addressed to the Chairman, Municipal Corporation of Delhi. The child wants to bring to his notice...

-The Hindu Central law has provisions that only justifies the age-old practice Chennai: There is a law, a court order and a committee. The Centre passed the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Bill, 2012 on Saturday. However, the death of 30 workers in 30 months since February 2012 in Tamil Nadu seems to suggest that nothing is able to prevent the abominable practice. Most of those who died were workers...