-The Times of India   MUMBAI: The landscape of school education has for long promised a variety of options. Almost half-a-dozen school boards-local, national and international-offer Indian students a choice of academic algorithms for careers ahead. But of them all, CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education), which was largely designed for those who moved home and could not be loyal to a state board, is picking up popularity across the nation. In 1996-97,...

-Live Mint   Voters who gave the Congress its worst drubbing did not reject its welfare agenda, but its performance There are many who interpret the emphatic rejection of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and the significant endorsement of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the elections of 2014 as a mandate to end the architecture of rights-based legislation for social and economic welfare constructed during the 10-year UPA regime. Commentators opposed...

-The Indian Express   Every time they step out, say the women of the village, it is with the fear of being teased, the shame of being seen, and the discomfort of counting hours. The two girls in Badaun who were raped and killed had left home to go to the fields to relieve themselves. Every time they step out, say the women of the village, it is with the fear of being...

-The Hindu   MARAYUR (IDUKKI, Kerala): Raja is a traditional farmer in Kanthallur village who makes a living out of vegetable cultivation in his three-acre land. Disaster struck him on Monday in the form of cloud burst. Seeds of cabbage, carrot, garlic and beans were washed away and the land on which he and his wife toiled to sow the seeds after the summer rain was turned in a slush of accumulated garbage. Raja...

-WHO, UNFPA, International Confederation of Midwives   PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC - A report released today by UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund together with the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM), WHO and partners reveals that major deficits in the midwifery workforce occur in 73 countries where these services are most desperately needed. The report recommends new strategies to address these deficits and save millions of lives of women and newborns. The 73 African,...