India’s Right to Education Act contains a provision requiring private schools to educate underprivileged children without charging fees, hinting at a new politics of distribution akin to James Ferguson’s notion of the ‘rightful share’. Through analysis of coverage of this provision in English language newspapers, we argue that the role of the media in building legitimacy for a ‘rightful share’ is undermined: by critics’ representations of a market-based distribution of education as more just; by supporters’ use of traditional welfare language of compassion for the meritorious poor; and, by reports of implementation failures that undermine the value of social assistance. This points to the significance of universality, unconditionality and clear distributive logics to the concept of the ‘rightful share’.

印度的《教育权利法》包含一项规定，要求私立学校在不收取费用的情况下教育贫困儿童，这暗示了一种类似于詹姆斯弗格森的“合法份额”概念的新分配政治。通过分析英文报纸对该条款的报道，我们认为媒体在建立“合法份额”合法性方面的作用受到了破坏：批评者认为基于市场的教育分配更加公正；通过支持者使用传统的福利语言同情有功的穷人；并且，通过报告实施失败破坏了社会援助的价值。这表明了“正当分享”概念的普遍性、无条件性和明确的分配逻辑的意义。