Over the last few decades thenon-party volunteer organisations have been much more effective in Indian public space and more articulate in policy debates than the traditional Left parties. This essay, while recognising the manifold achievements of these organisations, reflects on the serious limitations of the activities of the voluntary sector and argues that when they usurp certain roles they can become a threat to representative democracy. [Pranab Bardhan (bardhan@econ.berkeley.edu) is at...

  The Centre is now seriously exploring ways to bring pre-School education under Right to Education Act to provide free and compulsory education to children between the age group of four and six.   The move has been initiated following a recommendation made by National Advisory Council (NAC), headed by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, which stressed that bringing pre-School education under the ambit of RTE Act would ensure continuity in the child’s education. A...

A war has broken out in some parts of east-central India, especially some regions of the Dandakaranya forests that span across the states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, and Andhra Pradesh. Reportedly, there are thousands of Maoist guerrillas armed with sophisticated weapons confronting a vast array of paramilitary forces assembled by the government of India. Caught in the crossfire are millions of poor, marginalised and historically isolated adivasis. Their habitat, in which...

What are these books about? They were prepared as part of a common syllabus system by the previous government. Under the Tamil Nadu Uniform System of School Education Act, 2010, “Samacheer Kalvi” was an effort towards a uniform syllabus for the four streams of School education in the state: State Board, Matriculation Schools, Oriental Schools and Anglo-Indian Schools, which follow separate syllabi, textbooks and examination patterns, and are under different boards. How...

The Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court challenging the Madras High Court judgment striking down ultra vires the amendment to the Tamil Nadu Uniform System of School Education Act to defer implementation of the ‘Samacheer system'. The special leave petition directed against the High Court judgment dated July 18 is likely to the mentioned for early hearing on Thursday. On behalf of students and parents, caveats had also...