-DNA The high court, on Thursday, issued notices to the special officer and undersecretary to the education department over the income ceiling for free seats in schools for poor students under Right to Education Act (RTE). Petitioner K Nagesh and two others had challenged the RTE rule of fixing the maximum income ceiling at `30,000 per month for getting free seats for general category students ofeconomically weaker sections. In their petition, the three...

-The Indian Express The government has, over the past one month, prohibited 4,139 NGOs from receiving contributions from sources overseas. The largest block of NGOs who have been shackled — 794, or about 19 per cent of the total — are based in Tamil Nadu, ground zero of the NGO-led protests against the Kudankulam atomic power plant. The government has published the list of NGOs who have lost their Foreign Contribution Regulation...

-The Hindustan Times Courts will now view the revelation of children’s identities by the media while covering criminal cases very strictly.   The Delhi high court on Wednesday tightened norms for media reporting in cases involving children. The order came keeping in mind the brazen manner in which the identity of the two-year-old battered child, who died while fighting for her life at AIIMS, and other minors involved in the case was...

-The Hindustan Times Although some detailed exposés of India’s nefarious role in purchasing or leasing agricultural land in other countries — notably in Africa — have been surfacing in the last few years, the full picture of what some critics term a land grab and new form of colonialism has only emerged during the Rio+20 environmental meet in June. The Washington DC-based think tank, the Worldwatch Institute, released a report based...

The Guwahati molestation incident throws light on the violence women face overtly and covertly in India, at home and outside. The shocking incident of the beating and molestation of a young woman by a mob in Guwahati in Assam on July 9 has exposed the ugly underbelly of modern, globalised India, where women face violence, covertly and overtly, at home and outside. The incident has also exposed the lackadaisical manner in...