Recently, the State of Rajasthan fixed educational qualifications for the Panchayat elections, wherein it mandated secondary education for contesting in Zila Parishad or Panchayat Samiti polls and passing class VIII for Sarpanch elections (in Scheduled areas of Panchayat, the criterion is relaxed to Class V pass) in the form of the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj (Second Amendment) Ordinance-2014 (‘Panchayati Raj ordinance’). It is now set to prescribe similar criteria for the civic body polls as well, through the same route of ordinance. This post analyzes these kinds of educational qualifications from the perspective of the state’s duty to provide education, an outlook which surprisingly was not argued in any of the courts where the Panchayati Raj Ordinance was put under judicial scanner (as has been noticed here before). Inspiration is drawn from a judicial decision in Pakistan where a similar law was introduced in early 2000’s.… Read More EDUCATION: A LIABILITY OF THE CITIZEN OR THAT OF THE STATE?- LESSONS FROM PAKISTAN