-DNA A government resolution (GR) to bring back the system was issued this week by the social justice and special assistance department. The move aims to "economically empower" the Valmiki and other scheduled caste (SC) communities, which have been traditionally involved in the cleaning jobs, states the GR. All sanitation workers employed in the government, semi-government and civic bodies across Maharashtra can now nominate their kin for their job after they retire...

-Frontline In Rajasthan, the abysmal state of school education has forced pupils, particularly girls, to come out in protest against the shortage of teachers and lack of infrastructure. IT was just over a year ago, on Gandhi Jayanti 2014, that girls of the senior secondary school of the town of Bhim in Rajasthan went on strike. The young, fresh-faced and neatly groomed girls were far removed from anyone’s idea of potentially rowdy...

-The Times of india The stand-off between the judiciary and the legislature over the procedure for appointing judges comes at a time when the country's 24 high courts have 397 pending vacancies for judges, and what's more, eight of them having acting chief justices. It is not clear at this point whether these vacancies can now be filled through the earlier collegium system or that will have to wait till the system...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Children attend schools in larger numbers on days their midday meal menu includes eggs, a central study has found in Bengal and Telangana. The findings of the 7th Joint Review Mission on the midday meal scheme have bolstered the case for the inclusion of eggs - a nutritious and difficult-to-adulterate option - in the programme across the states. In July last year, the Union human resource development ministry had...

-Livemint.com There is a need to evaluate whether implementing a cash transfer programme has become the end On 4 September, the ministry of women and child development (MWCD) was issued a notice by the Supreme Court questioning its failure to implement the maternal cash entitlement guaranteed in the National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA). Section 4 of the NFSA entitles all pregnant and lactating women to Rs. 6,000, if they are...