Free, compulsory education for children up to 14 years

The Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed the right to education Bill to provide compulsory schooling for all children up to 14 years. Steered by HRD minister Kapil Sibal, the Bill acknowledges the critical role education has come to play in the economy. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill, 2008, will operationalise the fundamental right mentioned in Article 21-A as part of the 86th amendment of the Constitution. The Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha in November 2008 and was pending clearance from the Lok Sabha.

The discussion on the Bill lasted over two hours in the Lok Sabha and was finally passed in its 2008 form, with the minister saying disabled children would also be included in the category of disadvantaged children and that this would be outlined in the “model rules”.

The questions raised by the House were the ones discussed earlier and included financial allocation; problems with government schools,

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Low deficit,11priorities put Pranab on tight rope

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has set himself a basket of 11 priorities to address in the first Budget of the new government. This includes an at least 4% growth rate for agriculture, increasing investment in infrastructure to more than 9% within the next five years, and an integrated energy policy, besides a direct assistance to the poor to create a social safety net.

Latest estimates of government revenue and expenditure show all this will have to be done within the constraint of keeping the Centre’s fiscal deficit at less than 6.5% of the GDP as anything higher could impact sovereign ratings.

The best piece of news that Mukherjee will receive on Monday, as he drives for a quick Cabinet meeting to ratify the Budget before he addresses the Lok Sabha,

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