-The Indian Express For the first time since 2010, slightly more than half (50.5%) of all children in Class 5 can read a Class 2 text book, up from 46.9% in 2012. Close to a decade since the Right to Education Act came into force and after years of flagging dismal learning levels, the latest Annual Status of Education Report (ASER 2018) holds a glimmer of hope. While most children in...

-The Economic Times To observers outside Kerala, Sabarimala is all about misogyny, a misguided mass construing one strand of anti-woman tradition as a pillar of faith. But to those in Kerala, it is increasingly clear that resurgence of caste marks the Sabarimala protests, gender injustice being one element subsumed in that assertion of caste. At the beginning of the 20th century, Kerala’s caste system practised unapproachability. Even proximity could pollute. The Nair...

-The Hindu But shola forests have remained “relatively unchanged” Kochi: The new year heralds bad news for the high-altitude grasslands of the Western Ghats. Over four decades, the country lost almost one-fourth of these grasslands and exotic invasive trees are primarily to blame, find scientists. Though grassland afforestation using pine, acacia and eucalyptus ceased in 1996, the exotics still invade these ecosystems, confirms a study published on January 2 in the international...

-The Hindu NDZ along Kerala coast will be significantly reduced giving room for constructions Kochi: The coastal belt of Kerala is likely to witness a flurry of construction activities which may further deteriorate the quality of the fragile ecosystem. With the notification of the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) 2018, the No Development Zone (NDZ) along the Kerala coast will be significantly reduced giving room for constructions for tourism facilities towards the seaward side...

-The Hindu RTI request for 13 inquiry commission reports rejected The Central Information Commission has slammed the Home Ministry for denying information on 13 inquiry commission reports on communal riots in the country. In response to an RTI request, the Ministry said it was not the custodian of the records sought. Charging the Ministry’s Public Information Officer (PIO) with “causing deliberate obstruction to the flow and dissemination of information…and not furnishing any reasonable...