-Outlook Ahmedabad: Expressing concerns for the marginalised and small farmers in the country, the Chief Justice of India H L Dattu today said it would be "immensely helpful" for agricultural community if state governments could minimise acquiring and handing over farm land to corporates even as he stressed for "fair" compensation to agriculturists. "Apart from the discussion on impact of climate change on farmers' community, the discussion can also think of how...

-The Hindu With public schools not performing and private schools teaching students to compete rather than learn, India's primary sites of education are at risk The Rajasthan government recently decided to close down more than 17,000 schools, the Maharashtra government decided to close down about 14,000 schools and the Odisha government is closing down 195 schools because of low attendance by students. These are not stray incidents, but indicate the decline of...

-The Hindu Business Line India now has the technology to track leakages at each stage in the public distribution system The Government has set up the Expenditure Management Commission to rationalise subsidies, among other expenditure items in India. India incurs nearly one per cent of food subsidy annually, generally utilised under the existing public distribution system (PDS) consisting of Food Corporation of India (FCI) and nearly five lakh Fair Price Shops (FPSs)....

-The Hindu Kochi (Kerala): Exposing the poor sanitary conditions in schools, only 134 CBSE schools from the State figure in the list of 2,721 educational institutions that are listed under the national school sanitation rating. Schools are rated as per its sanitation status in five colour categories pertaining to infrastructure, institutional sustainability, environmental sustainability, health and hygiene and pedagogic aspects. The rating is part of the board's ‘National School Sanitation Initiative' (NSSI)...

-Outlook Admission attained, it's not easy progress for EWS children Every day, at 7:15 am, Prachi's mother walks the six-year-old to her school in Pune, walking cautiously past the corner of the road, to avoid the giant SUVs and sedans zipping past after dropping the wards at the fortress-like school complex. Prachi enters the school with a few other children from her neighbourhood, a colony of waste-pickers. Prachi's mother is one...