Sam Pitroda quits as Indian Overseas Congress chief after controversial remark

New Delhi, Sep 12: Madrasas are "unsuitable" places for children to receive "proper education" and the education imparted there is "not comprehensive" and is against the provisions of the Right to Education Act, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has told the Supreme Court.

The child rights body told the top court that children, who are not in formal schooling system, are deprived of their fundamental right to elementary education, including entitlements such as midday meal, uniform etc.

The NCPCR said madrassas merely teaching from a few NCERT books in the curriculum is a "mere guise" in the name of imparting education and does not ensure that the children are receiving formal and quality education.

"A madrassa is not only a unsuitable/unfit place to receive 'proper' education but also in absence of entitlements as provided under Sections 19, 21,22, 23, 24, 25, and 29 of the RTE Act," it said.

"Further, madrasas do not only render an unsatisfactory and insufficient model for education but also have an arbitrary mode of working which is wholly in absence of a standardised curriculum and functioning," the NCPCR said in its written submissions filed before the top court.

The child rights body stated that due to the absence of provisions of the RTE Act, 2009, the madrassas are also deprived of entitlement as in Section 21 of the Act of 2009.

"A madrassa works in an arbitrary manner and runs in an overall violation of the Constitutional mandate, RTE Act and the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015. It cannot be overlooked that a child getting education in such an Institution will be devoid of basic knowledge of school curriculum which is provided in a school.

"A school is defined under Section 2(n) of the RTE Act, 2009, which means any recognised school imparting elementary education. A madrassa being out of this definition has no right to compel children or their families to receive madrassa education," the NCPCR said.

It said most of the madrassas fail to provide a holistic environment to students, including planning social events, or extracurricular activities for 'experiential learning.

In a breather to about 17 lakh madrassa students, the apex court on April 5 had stayed an order of the Allahabad High Court that scrapped the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madarsa Education Act, 2004 calling it "unconstitutional" and violative of the principle of secularism.

Observing that the issues raised in the petitions merit closer reflection, a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud had issued notices to the Centre, the Uttar Pradesh government and others on the pleas against the high court order.

The top court said had the high court "prima facie" misconstrued the provisions of the Act, which does not provide for any religious instruction.

The high court had on March 22 declared the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madarsa Education Act, 2004, "unconstitutional" and violative of the principle of secularism, and asked the state government to accommodate students in the formal schooling system.

The high court had declared the law ultra vires on a writ petition filed by advocate Anshuman Singh Rathore.

It had said the state has "no power to create a board for religious education or to establish a board for school education only for a particular religion and philosophy associated with it."

"We hold that the Madarsa Act, 2004, is violative of the principle of secularism, which is a part of the basic structure of the Constitution," the high court had said.

The petitioner had challenged the constitutionality of the UP Madarsa Board as well as objected to the management of madrassas by the Minority Welfare Department instead of the education department.

Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat on Friday joined the Congress ahead of the upcoming Haryana Assembly polls and will be the candidate from Julana. Along with Phogat, Bajrang Punia also joined the party.

Meanwhile, Former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief and BJP leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh took a jibe at the wrestlers saying, "God has punished them for cheating."

"Haryana is the crown of India in the field of sports. And they stopped the wrestling activities for almost 2.5 years. Is it not true that Bajrang went to the Asian Games without trials? I want to ask those who are experts in wrestling. I want to ask Vinesh Phogat whether a player can give trials in 2 weight categories in a day? Can the trials be stopped for 5 hours after the weigh-in?... You did not win the wrestling, you went there by cheating. God has punished you for the same, " Brij Bhushan said, as reported by ANI.

Additionally he also called out Congress leader Bhupinder Hooda.

"I am not guilty of disrespecting daughters. If anyone is guilty of disrespecting daughters, it is Bajrang and Vinesh. And the one who wrote the script, Bhupinder Hooda is responsible for that. If they (BJP) will ask me (to campaign in the Haryana polls), I can go. One day Congress will have to regret it...," he said.

Both Phogat and Punia met Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge at his residence before officially joining the party at an event at headquarters in the presence of General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal.

Vinesh Phogat, who defied several odds to make the final of the women’s freestyle 50 kg event of the Paris Olympics, was disqualified after being overweight by a few grams.

Now, Olympians Phogat and Bajrang Punia, who were at the forefront of the wrestlers' protest against former WFI chief and BJP leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh last year, entered the political arena on Friday by joining the Congress with a vow of "not being scared or backing off".

Hours after joining the Congress, Punia was appointed as the working chairman of the All India Kisan Congress. It seems unlikely now that he would be fielded in the polls.

The 90-member Haryana Assembly is scheduled to go to polls on October 5 and the counting of votes will be undertaken on October 8.

New Delhi, Sept 17: Atishi will be the new Chief Minister of Delhi. The decision came after a legislative party meeting was chaired by Arvind Kejriwal at his Delhi residence earlier today.

Kejriwal is expected to tender his resignation later today, and will also meet Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena at 4.30 pm.

On September 13, Arvind Kejriwal was released from Tihar Jail, where he had been lodged for his alleged involvement in the Delhi liquor policy case. Nearly two days after his release, on Sunday, Kejriwal said he would resign as the Chief Minister within 48 hours.

He also sought early polls in Delhi, and vowed not to sit in the chief minister’s chair until people gave him a “certificate of honesty”.

On Monday, the AAP held a series of meetings as Kejriwal sought feedback from members of the political affairs committee, the party’s highest decision-making body, on his successor in one-on-one meetings at his official residence.

Names of Delhi ministers Atishi, Gopal Rai, Kailash Gahlot and Saurabh Bharadwaj were making the rounds as contenders, news agency PTI had quoted party insiders as saying and added that Kejriwal’s wife Sunita Kejriwal and Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel were also the probables.

Mangolpuri MLA Rakhi Birla, who is also the deputy speaker in the assembly, and Kondli legislator Kuldeep Kumar were also potential candidates, they added.

Earlier, sources with the AAP had told PTI that the surprise candidate could also be a member of the minority community as the party has witnessed its support among the community wavering since the 2020 Delhi riots.