Awaaz Do Digital Campaign Urges Indians to Speak Up for the Eight Million Children Out-of-School

New Delhi, 19 October 2010 – The Awaaz Do on-line campaign was launched today to mobilize Indian society to speak up for the more than eight million children currently out of school in the country.

The landmark passing of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act 2009 marks a historic moment for the children of India. For the first time in India’s history, children will be guaranteed their right to quality elementary education by the state with the help of families and communities. Few countries in the world have such a national provision to ensure child-centered, child-friendly education to help all children develop to their fullest potential. An estimated eight million six to 14-year-olds in India were out-of-school in 2009.

“India is home to a growing urban population that can be mobilized into demanding that the goals set forth in RTE become reality. We must continue the momentum to achieve this objective and the middle class, as well as the media, can help raise their voices to keep RTE firmly in the national spotlight,” said UNICEF India Representative Karin Hulshof. “We hope to have 500,000 people sign-up for the campaign by 24 January, Girl Child Day.”

The campaign is being launched by UNICEF, with the support of the Government of India, at

www.awaazdo.in. “Awaaz Do” means “Speak Up” in Hindi and is symbolized by a megaphone logo. Using technology and social networking allows citizens to get actively involved and demand the rights for children who are excluded and marginalized.

Those who sign up serve as champions for the cause and help build awareness through social media forums including email, Facebook, SMS and a photography contest. UNICEF celebrity ambassador, Priyanka Chopra, and Kapil Sibal, Minister of Human Resource Development, have signed up as an Awaaz Do champions to garner support.

Several corporate and media houses have partnered with UNICEF to endorse the cause.

Tata Teleservices, Barista Lavazza, Park Hotels, Tupperware are urging their customers to speak up. Disney network and Chandamama are asking their viewers and readers - primarily children - to spread awareness on the campaign. Many leading corporates, like CPA Global, are encouraging their employees to sign up. Radio City 91.1 and Planet RadioCity.com are connecting with each one of their listeners across its 20 stations to take the online pledge and be part of the change. Photography and short-film contests are also being organized with prizes sponsored by Canon.

Millions of children, both girls and boys, will benefit from the RTE Act ensuring quality education with equity. The initiative is a ripe platform to reach the unreached, with specific provisions for disadvantaged groups, such as child labourers, migrant children, children with special needs, or those who have a “disadvantage owing to social, cultural, economical, geographical, linguistic, gender or such other factor.”

RTE focuses on the quality of teaching and learning, which requires accelerated efforts and substantial reforms. Creative and sustained initiatives are crucial to train more than one million new and untrained teachers within the next three to five years and to reinforce the skills of in-service teachers to ensure child-friendly education.

“UNICEF is working with the Government of India to outline a roadmap for implementing RTE at the national and state level. However, the success of this act is also largely dependent on collective action," said Urmila Sarkar, UNICEF's Chief of Education. "The Awaaz Do campaign is a platform for the combined voices of the government, the corporate world, the media and individuals to become an undeniable force to ensure every child is in school."

For media queries and more information:

Angela Walker

Chief, Advocacy & Partnerships

Tel: +91-98-7153-5586

E-mail: awalker@unicef.org

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Ind v Aus; first test: Magical Laxman seals thrilling one-wicket win

India v Australia, 1st Test, Mohali

Very Very Special Laxman overcame his sore back to become the hero of a nail-biting one-wicket victory for India, who retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in dramatic fashion in Mohali. In one of the most memorable finishes in recent history, Pragyan Ojha picked up two leg-byes off Mitchell Johnson to seal the result, which until that delivery could also have been a tie or an Australian win.

The match was firmly in Australia's grasp when the No. 10 Ishant Sharma joined Laxman with 92 runs still required, but the pair ground Australia down and left a dejected Ricky Ponting still winless as a Test captain in India. The visitors' hopes were raised again when Ben Hilfenhaus (4 for 57) trapped Ishant lbw - although the ball would have missed leg stump - with 11 runs needed.

In the final, chaotic scenes, Australia continued to attack, desperate for one wicket. They thought they had it two balls before the winning runs were struck, when Mitchell Johnson rapped Ojha on the pads only to have a strong lbw shout denied. Adding to the commotion, Ojha wandered out of his crease and a throw from gully that would have found him short missed the stumps and ran away for four overthrows.

When the winning leg-byes arrived, the Indian players streamed onto the field as the Australians thrust hands on heads. For sheer on-field tension, the finish ranked up there with Australia's last-minute SCG win of 2007-08. But that match was overshadowed by claims of poor sportsmanship; this time there should be no such post-script.

On that occasion Ishant was the last man out as the sun set over Sydney; in Mohali he was every bit as important as Laxman, with a defiant innings of 31 in their partnership of 81. But Laxman was the star. The Australians will wonder how they let such a golden opportunity slip; the answer lies in the hands, or wrists, of one of their chief tormentors of recent years.

Entering the final day, Ponting's men feared Sachin Tendulkar, who went to stumps unbeaten on 10, much more than they were concerned about Laxman. They knew that in the first innings VVS had been very, very sore. He'd batted at No. 10, with a runner, and was hampered in his strokeplay. Two days later, the man with the most unique initials in cricket was very, very stubborn.

Again he had a runner, Suresh Raina, but just as important were the eight boundaries he struck in his 73, which came from 79 deliveries. Had he not started to farm the strike in the dying stages, he would have finished with a strike-rate of more than 100 for only the fourth time in his 188 Test innings. Read more...

Brief Score:

India 405 (Tendulkar 98, Raina 86, Johnson 5-64) and 216 for 9 (Laxman 73*, Hilfenhaus 4-57, Bollinger 3-32) beat Australia 428 (Watson 126, Paine 92, Zaheer 5-94) and 192 (Watson 56, Ishant 3-34, Zaheer 3-43) by 1 wicket

Courtesy: cricinfo.com

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Stunning? Awe-inspiring? Grand? | XIX Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi

Stunning? Awe-inspiring? Grand? | XIX Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi

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CL 2010, Final: Dominant Chennai seal title

Warriors v Chennai, CLT20 2010, Johannesburg

September 26, 2010

It was a reverse sweep that changed the entire complexion of the game. Davy Jacobs had started off imperiously and catapulted Warriors to 45 in the sixth over. Then R Ashwin got one to turn quickly towards the leg stump, Jacobs went for the reverse sweep, but was trapped in front. It's a shot that he had successfully played in the previous game; the adventurous unorthodox spirit is his calling card, and he has reaped much success with that approach. But tonight it hurt his team. This can be a cruel game, sometimes.

After Jacobs fell, Muttiah Muralitharan suffocated the Warriors with his skill, and L Balaji maintained the pressure with a disciplined spell in the middle, keeping the Warriors to 128, which was never going to be enough. And it wasn't. This is the last time this group of players will turn out for Chennai, and they gave themselves a nice farewell present.

Warriors' Achilles heel is their lower order. Johan Botha bats at no 6; the batting isn't that deep. And so, the middle-order chose caution over valour and Chennai closed in. L Balaji, who grew in confidence with the Warriors' non-violent approach against him, slipped in a few quiet overs with his steady line and length stuff. Ashwin continued to tease them with his variations and Muttiah Muralitharan came on in the 10th over to harass them with his ability.

He kept his doosras to a minimum, and ripped offbreaks across at varying pace. Success came in the 14th over: Mark Boucher, who has fallen most to Muralitharan than any other bowler in his career, was bowled, and Justin Kreusch was beaten by the dip and flicked straight to midwicket.

There was a brief little moment in the 17th over when things stirred at the bull ring. "Fast cars and big shots, that's Craig Thyssen," Jacobs had said earlier in the week. Tonight Thyssen went after Balaji to pick up three boundaries - a pulled four, a delicate late steer and a muscled six over midwicket. The home supporters in the crowd started to find their voice: They chanted out "Let's go Warriors" and tried to inspire the local team but Thyssen's cameo was too late and too little to matter in the bigger scheme of things. In hindsight, Ashwell Prince's fall - he was bowled missing a slog against a full toss from Doug Bollinger- also proved critical as there was too much pressure on the middle-order.

The only chance for Warriors after that effort was take early wickets. They didn't. M Vijay and Michael Hussey shut them out of the contest with assured knocks. Both play spin well. Vijay used his feet to repeatedly drive inside out while Hussey, as ever, worked the angles. There was a brief moment at the end when Vijay and Suresh Raina fell in quick succession and you wondered, 'Hold on, do we have a twist here?' The equation jumped from a comfortable 26 from 31 deliveries to 13 from 12. However, Hussey and Dhoni calmly escorted Chennai home. A score of 128 wasn't enough to test Chennai. Jacobs' wicket was the key.

Half-way through the evening, Jacobs' blitz at the start already seemed a distant memory. As ever, he had moved around on his nimble feet and ripped shots with slaughterhouse finality. He smashed Doug Bollinger and Albie Morkel to all parts of the ground. There were his usual shuffle-and-smash shots, but there were also some skillful upper cuts and neat cover drives. Things looked so bright for Jacobs and his team in the sixth over but the lights went out very quickly. Read more...

Brief Score:

Chennai Super Kings 132 for 2 (Vijay 58, Hussey 51*) beat Warriors 128 (Murali 3-16, Ashwin 2-16) by 8 wickets 

Courtesy: cricinfo.com

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CL 2010, 2nd semi-final: Clinical Warriors charge into final

Warriors v South Australia, CLT20 2010, Centurion

September 25, 2010

Warriors owned this Centurion night. The batting defined purpose at the start: Davy Jacobs and Colin Ingram unleashed hell in the Powerplay and allowed the middle-order to soak up the inevitable pressure exerted by the slow men in the middle overs. Then the tail finished strongly. Warriors were 77 for 1 from seven overs, reached 128 for 4 in 16, when the tail wagged in style to push them to a strong total. The perfect script reached its climax when their spinners Johan Botha and Nicky Boje choked the chase after Lonwabo Tsotsobe left South Australia gasping for breath by removing their in-form openers in the fourth over.

The script had its moments of drama. South Australia had given the second over to a spinner Aaron O'Brien. It made sense. The pitch appeared as it was raked before the start; it looked dry and withering. It was obvious that spin was the way to go. It took one aggressive move by Ingram to upset the plan, though. Ingram rushed down the track to the third delivery of the over and smacked it to the straight boundary. Immediately O'Brien pushed it through shorter. Mistake. Ingram pulled one for a six and cut the other for a four and Warriors had moved to 20 for 1 from two overs. It was the beginning of a ferocious assault.

The game lurched forward even more dramatically in the next over. It was Jacobs v Tait and we had a clear winner. Jacobs's batsmanship is simple: a cocked wrist that snaps late to unleash violence, and tonight it was Tait who copped it. Jacobs unfurled a peach of a straight drive and followed it up his trademark shuffle-and-explode move: He moved across the stumps, waited back inside the crease and whipped a 151 kmph full delivery over square-leg for an outrageous six. He moved across again and dragged the next ball past mid-on for another boundary, and Warriors were truly up and away. When Daniel Christian bowled an over of tripe with three overpitched deliveries on the legs - all of which were put away for boundaries by Jacobs - the score read 77 for 1 from 7 overs. Read more...

Brief Score:

Warriors 175 for 6 (Jacobs 61, Ingram 46, Harris 3-16) beat South Australia 145 for 7 (Ferguson 71, Tsotsobe 2-16) by 30 runs

Courtesy: cricinfo.com

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CL 2010, 1st semi-final: Ruthless Raina takes Chennai to final

Bangalore v Chennai, CLT20, 1st semi-final, Durban

September 24, 2010

A steady drizzle, a slippery ball, a wet outfield and a shortened game did nothing to dampen the action-packed tenor of the Champions League semi-final between two Indian heavyweights. Suresh Raina more than compensated for the loss of a Powerplay over in an electrifying innings that sealed Chennai Super Kings' place in the final in Johannesburg. Capitalising on a significantly weakened Royal Challengers Bangalore attack which was deprived of Dale Steyn due to a lower back injury, and with support from M Vijay, Raina treated the sporting crowd to an air show. It propelled Chennai to a massive score and put the game beyond the reach of a line-up even as power-packed as Bangalore's.

The turning point was Steyn's injury off a superbly-judged catch in the fourth over. Michael Hussey, looking to force the pace after a 153-minute rain delay, tried to loft Vinay Kumar over mid-off where Steyn was stationed. The shot was mistimed and Steyn back-pedalled several yards to snap the catch over his head, but fell backwards in the process. The impact of the fall left him gasping in pain and he had to be helped off the field, robbing Bangalore of the short-ball barrage he would have unleashed in the middle overs, a strategy that had served them well. Read more...

Brief Score:

Chennai Super Kings 174 (Raina 94*, Vijay 41) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 123 (Pandey 52, Bollinger 3-27) by 52 runs according to D-L method

Courtesy: cricinfo.com

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