-The Hindu     The fact that education matters only in the long run makes it uninteresting for political parties. But in this election, the voice of education can be heard No matter how categorically a party or candidate might comment on them, the problems of education cannot compete with those of water and electricity supply or the condition of roads. These latter problems affect the daily life of a citizen more elementally than...

-The Hindustan Times The recently released Annual Status of Education Report (Aser) 2013, which covers every rural district in India, contains some good but mostly bad news. Enrolment in India's primary schools is still at an impressive 96%, and the number of schools compliant with the Right to Education (RTE) Act norms, such as providing drinking water and usable toilets, continues to rise. But much of this is undermined by a...

-The Hindustan Times Punjab: Having seen my uncle hard at work in a farm and his decision to quit school to till land, I have often felt that popular imagination tends to see farming as an esoteric profession and food production as something that will somehow magically take care of itself. A young man/woman (who has had secondary education) seems to consider agriculture as far too back-breaking and tedious to be taken...

-Tehelka Away from the politics of food security, a small initiative in Assam is changing the way young people look at agriculture. Pubali Saikia, 13, plucks fresh ripe tomatoes, as her classmate Sunti Saikia, 14, arranges beanstalks. The two teenagers are excited; it is, after all, the first produce of their life. Of late, the Titabor sub-division in upper Assam's Jorhat district has been witnessing a silent awakening of sorts. And...

-The Hindu 11 lakh new cases and 5 lakh deaths reported every year in the country Vellore: The Union Cabinet has sanctioned the setting up of 71 stand-alone cancer care institutes throughout India at a cost of Rs.6,650 crores in order to tackle the problem posed by the increasing incidence of cancer and the increasing deaths due to cancer in the country, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad...