When I visited a youth resource centre run by an NGO in Trilokpuri in east Delhi a few months ago, I saw many children from nearby localities attending free Math and English tuition classes. These children studied at government schools in the area. Their families were poor and therefore could not afford the English-medium private schools. Thirteen-year-old Leela explained the situation
Even as United States and the Eurozone battle double-dip recession, Asian giants India and China will help stabilise the world economy, says a recently released UN report. The report, despite the slow growth of 2011, predicts a 7.7 percent growth for the Indian economy in 2012. “India’s economy is expected to expand between 7.7 and 7.9 percent in 2012-13, down from 9 percent
When Harvinder Singh delivered a tight slap right across Sharad Pawar’s face, the resounding echo elicited reactions from all strata of society and political parties. While a slap may not be an accepted form of protest, it did indicate the level of frustration felt by the Indian middle class at an increasingly unresponsive political system. The violence of the action came in for justifiab
India’s rural job scheme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantees Scheme (MNREGs), has got a special mention in a new report released by the World Economic Forum (WEF). “…In emerging economies there is a growing demand to formalise social contracts. India’s National Rural Employment Guarantees Act and Brazil’s Plano Brasil Sem Mis&eac
Look at the national scene unfolding before your eyes and you are sure to be submerged by a spate of negativity: high inflation, plummeting rupee, general economic decline, government in limbo, policy paralysis, corruption and most other ills associated with a flailing state. There are endless debates – in print, on television, in private parties and also on public platforms – on ea
Case: A newspaper reader’s plaint — early morning confusion. Court: Of justice Katju, the press council of India chief. Complainant: The argumentative Indian. Your Honour, I’ll begin with a word of praise for the chair. I have become a sincere newspaper reader ever since you to
The choice between use of public funds for development priorities such as health, education and nutrition on one side and the need to create a larger than life stature by riding on the need to uplift the self-esteem of the Bahujan Samaj by constructing statues of her own and her party symbol, elephant, on the other side – was very easy for Mayawati and led her to blow up a few thousand cr
The UPA government seems to revel in keeping the death sentences hanging and this is what is reflected in the affidavit it filed before the apex court on Tuesday to explain the delay in deciding the mercy plea of Khalistani terrorist Devender Pal Singh Bhullar. Bhullar is a convict in the 1993 bl
Prime minister Manmohan Singh has said the country’s child malnutrition figures are matter of “national shame”. He has said that before and he said it again on Tuesday while releasing a report of ‘Hunger and Malnutrition Survey’, prepared by Naandi Foundation on Tuesday. [
Despite falling poverty and considerable growth, a third of children are stunted and despite higher enrolment, dropout and school quality remains critical. A report ‘Impact of growth on childhood poverty in Andhra Pradesh’ shows that programmes like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan have played an important role in increasing primary school enrolment to 98% of eight-year-olds but drop o
Child malnutrition may have fallen in recent years but 42 percent of the children under the age of five are underweight, according to the Hunger and Malnutrition survey conducted by Naandi Foundation. A report with the survey findings says that the growth of nearly 60 percent children is stunted. This has happened despite the economy growing at more than seven percent since the las
For those who don’t know: justice (retd) Markandey Katju is the closest we have to an elected conscience keeper of the Indian press. As veteran editor Kuldip Nayar reminded the Editors Guild AGM on Saturday, like all moral conscience keepers, the Press Council of India (PCI), which Katju now chairs, wasn’t given control over anything substantive. It’s hardly surprising therefo
In the Indian Science Congress last week, prime minister Manmohan Singh bemoaned the fact that China had overtaken India on various indicators of performance in higher education. It is ironic that while China is ruled by a single party and India is a democratic country, the institutions of higher learning in China have more autonomy at all levels. In India, some of the institutions fear autonom
In Taoist philosophy, quiescence is described as a still state that is unlikely to easily change. Just as the stillness seems here to stay, life happens - forces of shade and light - Yin and Yang - arrive. These seemingly opposite forces churn the stillness, causing mayhem, till an altered quiescent state emerges anew. 2011 has been a churning of Yin-Yang forces over the Indian consciousness.
Youngsters today will have a difficult time imagining long waiting periods to get a telephone connection or buy a scooter. Today, the service providers are queuing up before the consumer. That is the power of competition. But much more needs to be done to curb monopolistic tendencies and promote genuine competition. The Competition Act was passed in 2002, and the Competition Commission of India
Poor airlines companies! First, they flew their lot directly into losses. Now, the DGCA wants to cancel some licences also?! Already in tailspin, Kingfisher Airlines was damned in a report by the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) over several lapses in safety standards. The aviation authority says that the lapses merit a cancellation of licences. It has not spared the stat
In a hurriedly called press conference on Wednesday, the Bharatiya Janata Party tried to wipe clean the egg on its face. A few hours after Mayawati’s tainted former minister Babu Singh Kushwaha joined the saffron party on Tuesday, there were 60 raids on his premises in UP, Delhi and Haryana. While the BJP questioned the timing of the raids, political pundits questioned the party&rsqu
Many years ago in Dubai when the Monday night squash league was fun I remember one match leading 9-0, 9-0, 6-0 and thinking okay, this is a cakewalk. Suddenly, the opponent changed tack and before I knew it he had won the third game and was cruising in the fourth. A team mate, yelled, “Come on, get on with it and show some bottle.” I didn’t, scrambling l
More than anything else, dignity seems to be in short supply the world over. Take dignity as a sum total of basic human rights, or the freedom to shape one’s future, and you will see why the world is angry, why the just concluded year witnessed so many street protests. Though ‘dignity’ seems more a state of mind than a piece of statistics, Social Watch Internati
There are two causes of dread in the gift-giving season. One is, gosh! What do I gift dear so-and-so, and its cousin, gosh! I hope dear so-and-so doesn’t give me that useless gift again. Then there is that unanswered philosophical question: when does the statute of limitation on the New Year end? Do you still stick out a hand, widen your eyes, put on a smile and wish everyone you meet a &
