-The Economic Times   Concerned about the lack of awareness about the legal entitlement to basic education for children up to the age of 14, the human resource development ministry has planned out a year-long community awareness and mobilisation programme. The Shiksha ka Haq Abhiyan (Right to Education campaign) will be flagged of on November 11, which is observed as Education Day, from Mewat district in Rajasthan, which has among the lowest...

IT IS one of the inspirational legends of Indian journalism that James Hickey, founder and editor of the Bengal Gazette — this country’s first newspaper, with its first edition going back to January 1780 — was a fearless seeker of the truth, taken to court and imprisoned by Warren Hastings, then governor-general. Reality is a little different. Hickey’s paper was often a gossipy, yellow rag. It thought nothing of publishing scurrilous...

-The Hindu   The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed all States and Union Territories to build toilets, particularly for girls, in all government Schools by the end of November. A Bench headed by Justice D.K. Jain asked all governments to take immediate steps for this and file their compliance report before the deadline fixed by it. In case of any problem, the governments will at least provide temporary toilets for the students by November-end...

Kashmir, which India considers as the core of its unity in diversity, is turning out to be the Great Divider of the activists. Medha Patkar, one of the flag-bearers of the activist armada in the country, today termed Kashmir an integral part of India, leaving a section of her supporters embarrassed and fuming. Patkar, who is also associated with Team Anna whose key member Prashant Bhushan was last week roughed up for...

-The Hindu   Nearly 20 years of campaigning against child labour in the fireworks industry has only driven the practice underground, a fact-finding study in Sivakasi conduced by a group of non-governmental organisations has said. Commissioned by Campaign Against Child Labour – Tamil Nadu, the study was jointly executed by members of Centre for Child Rights and Development (CCRD), NEED, Sivakasi, Human Rights Foundation, Indian Council for Child Welfare, Manitham of Sivaganga, and...