-TheWire.in/ PTI Venkatesh Nayak of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative said more than 20 lakh "ineligible farmers" and "income tax payee farmers” had been paid, according to information revealed under the RTI Act. New Delhi: The government has paid Rs 1,364 crore to 20.48 lakh undeserving beneficiaries under its ambitious PM-KISAN scheme, a reply to a Right to Information (RTI) query by the Union agriculture ministry reveals. Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sammann Nidhi (PM-KISAN)...

-Livemint.com * Data cards will be given to them from January to April 2021 free of cost, state said * The scheme will benefit students enrolled in govt and government-aided arts and science colleges, polytechnic, engineering colleges and scholarship-funded private colleges from January-April, 2021 In order to enable students to attend online classes, Tamil Nadu government on Sunday announced data scheme for nearly 10 lakh students in school and even colleges as well...

-The Indian Express With the figures indicating that the job crisis triggered by Covid-19 continues, Kerala economy may be facing long-term impact, with remittances from abroad, mainly West Asia, its lifeline. Thiruvananthapuram: AMIDST the Covid-19 pandemic-induced economic crisis, 5.52 lakh people who have returned to Kerala from abroad since May last year have given loss of jobs as reason, according to Government data. As per figures compiled by the Department of Non-Resident Keralites...

-The Indian Express India continues to be successful in preventing child deaths, but the health and nutrition of the surviving, living child has deteriorated, somewhat worryingly. The recently released fifth round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) provides new and reliable evidence to assess some dimensions of micro-development performance before COVID struck. The survey covers health, nutrition (of mother and child) and the overall quality of lives. In a recent piece on...

-The Hindu “Many States make tall claims.., but these are far from truth” The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has recommended action against government officials responsible for incorrectly reporting the number of manual scavengers in the country, it said in a statement on Monday. At a regional workshop for government and civil society organised by the Commission on December 18 to discuss the challenges of eradicating manual scavenging, “it was strongly felt... that...