-The Telegraph A jump in the Centre's annual social welfare spending from Rs 7,500 crore in 1991 to Rs 3 lakh crore now has failed to make much difference on the ground because panchayati raj institutions are being kept away from implementation of the schemes, a committee has found. The committee headed by senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar, in its report released on the eve of National Panchayat Day, pitched for...

-The Telegraph Jamshedpur: A school is a primary lesson in going away from fear and towards power, feel the CRPF. Last year, the paramilitary force reopened a government-run primary school at Thalkobad at Saranda's Manoharpur block in West Singhbhum. Maoists had partially bombed the school in 2004, causing it to become one of the many Maoist-styled cradles in the area that drilled anti-democratic ideologies and taught practical lessons on bombs, guns and...

-The Hindustan Times Government is set to fight Maoists with an all new weapon-development. From more residential schools to more mobile health units, the UPA is planning a slew of development activities in the red corridor along with its recent measures to beef up security offensive against the Maoists. After a recent meeting of the centre's Review Panel on Left Wing Extremism (LWE), cabinet secretary Ajit Seth directed the health ministry to...

-Outlook A media round table on Right To Education today expressed concern over the learning outcome of children, saying children are not learning the basics of literacy and numerology in classes. Learning assessments show that that for many of the children, who do remain in school, are not learning the basics of literacy and numeracy or the additional knowledge and skills necessary for their all-round development as specified under the Act, participants...

-The Hindu 'They quit because they are not learning anything in school' With eight million children never having stepped inside a school and 80 million dropping out without completing basic schooling, the United Nations Children's Fund has described the situation as a national emergency and called for equipping the government and civil society to implement the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009. "There has been progress in implementation of...