-The Hindu Officers are the backbone as files, documents and orders are processed by them Nearly 30% positions are vacant in middle to senior management rank in various Central government Ministries as the Union government has not promoted officials of the Central Secretariat Service (CSS) in the past six years. The employees have petitioned the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) to issue promotion orders as many officials have retired in these years,...

-The Hindu RLD chief Jayant has chosen the wrong house, he says and hints that BJP is open to post-poll alliance.  The BJP on Wednesday launched its big outreach programme to the Jat community of western Uttar Pradesh with Union Home Minister Amit Shah promising to “keep in mind” demands from the community for timely payment of sugar cane dues and reservation in jobs, but more importantly, keeping a door open for...

-The Hindu By closing schools for this long and providing just online education, we have violated children’s rights About three weeks ago, we all wished each other a happy 2022. However, that has remained wishful thinking with the Omicron variant of COVID-19 upending our lives. More than Omicron itself, which is more transmissible than Delta but far milder, the response to the variant in terms of the restrictions that have been imposed...

-RuralIndiaOnline.org Maharashtra police detained five traditional herders from Kachchh on January 7 suspecting these semi-nomadic pastoralists were smuggling camels to slaughterhouses in Hyderabad. Also detained: 58 camels “We have not confiscated these 58 camels,” asserts Inspector Ajay Akare, in charge of the Talegaon Dashasar police station in Amravati district. “We don’t have the powers to do so since Maharashtra has no specific law against cruelty to these animals.” “The camels,” he says, “are...

-The Hindu It is astonishing that public expenditure data on the education sector are not easily available In the current Budget session, how much money the Central and State governments will allocate to education and for what purpose should be a matter of public concern and debate. Even before the pandemic, public spending on education in most States was below that of other middle-income countries. Most major States spent in the range...