-The Hindu Meet held to discuss the discrepancies experienced across the State Bangalore: Glaring discrepancies in the implementation of the Right to Education Act across Karnataka were discussed at a State-level meet convened here on Saturday by the People Alliance for Right to Education (PAFRE). Each district representative prepared a brief note about the ground realities of the RTE and its implementation at the workshop attended by members of PAFRE, teachers, mahila sanghas,...

-The Hindu Even as the Maharashtra government congratulated itself for addressing issues of the transgender population in a draft policy announced earlier this month, one of the provisions of the policy, which states people being transgender can be prevented through medical care, has angered the marginalised community. By this, the government has failed to acknowledge that being transgender is a choice of many people, the community's empathisers say. The draft of the...

-The Hindu The Sunday Story A series of audacious attacks on minorities and their institutions in Dakshina Kannada indicate police patronage for the perpetrators There is a significant body of evidence to show that the rampant acts of vigilantism witnessed in coastal Karnataka enjoy police patronage. Take, for instance, the July 28 Mangalore Homestay attack. While seeking bail from the High Court for journalist Naveen Soorinje, who was listed as an accused by...

-The Hindu Amid criticism that his move to determine minimum qualifications for journalists is based on a misunderstanding of the nature of the profession, Press Council of India (PCI) chairperson, Markandey Katju, called for a ‘healthy debate’ on the issue and lashed out at ‘touchy journalists’. He has also expanded the mandate of the committee, meant to decide on educational standards for journalists, to suggest ways to regulate and supervise journalism...

-The Hindu There is statistical data to show that the height of Indian children is correlated to their and their neighbourhood’s access to toilets You can learn a lot from measuring children’s height. How tall a child has grown by the time she is a few years old is one of the most important indicators of her well-being. This is not because height is important in itself, but because height reflects a...