-The Times of India About 15 non-profit organizations went around 60 schools in the city only to find that the right to education is still a distant dream for many. Provisions of the Right to education Act notwithstanding, dirty toilets, shortage of books and staff, broken benches, no playground and absenteeism are still the major issues in many Delhi government schools. The visit follows a recent order by the Central Information...

Anna Hazare’s insistence on going ahead with his fast despite an emotional appeal from the Prime Minister and other top leaders in the Parliament hasn’t gone down well with a section of the civil society. Swami Agnivesh, who has often associated himself with Hazare’s movement on the Lokpal Bill, said the veteran social activist should have called off his fast after these appeals. “What is the fun in prolonging the fast...

As per hallowed newsroom traditions, the bad news first. 1. We have a government and a ruling party that have displayed tactical, strategic, policy and moral incapacities. 2. We have a main Opposition party that, despite witnessing such government and ruling party incapacity, has displayed its own incapacity to do anything intelligent or meaningful. 3. We have a core group of agitationists led by Anna Hazare which has displayed, at best,...

-The Times of India   The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court on Thursday asked the state government that if 'all was well' in the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scheme, why there has been so much of hue and cry. The state, earlier, had denied any NRHM scam and then concededCBI probe in case, the CAG was able to establish, prima facie, swindling of funds. The bench of Justice Pradeep Kant...

-The Economic Times   The latest forecast of the Met office suggesting a weakening of the south-west monsoon during the second half of the monsoon season is not cause for panic. It is the distribution of rainfall across space and time rather than the aggregate percentages that matter for the farm sector. The good news is that both the spatial and temporal distribution of rainfall has been satisfactory so far. A good reservoir...