-TheWire.in Private schools are flouting guidelines and charging students from economically weak families for books, uniforms and mid-day meals. New Delhi: A March 21 circular by the Delhi Directorate of Education (DelE) strictly instructed private unaided recognised schools in the city to provide free books and uniforms to EWS/DG (economically weaker section/disadvantaged group) category students who were selected through a computerised draw for the session 2017-18. However, certain private schools have violated...

-Hindustan Times The last few weeks have seen a spate of government notifications making Aadhaar mandatory for receiving the benefits of government programmes. The most recent orders relate to an Aadhaar requirement for children to access schools (even under their fundamental right to education), mid-day meals, supplementary nutrition (ICDS) and scholarships. These directives raise a number of ethical as well as practical questions, besides violating children’s right to education, nutrition and...

-HuffingtonPost.in This is a way to force Aadhaar enrolment, not fix the scheme. Children will suffer. I am not usually an opponent of Aadhaar, India's controversial scheme to give a unique identification number to all residents of India, with their biometric information seeded into it. Any fears that I may have about privacy or surveillance or misuse are overridden by my experience that what the poor want is to be counted, not...

-Scroll.in Possibly to woo voters, the state government started the Hausla Poshan Yojana last year that lasted only two months. On a cold January morning in Ayadhnagar village in Uttar Pradesh’s Hapur district, a group of 10 children huddled around a bonfire outside their anganwadi centre. Despite the warmth of the fire, they shivered. The bare and dusty centre did not have mats for them to sit on and some of...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Union health ministry is set to launch an App linked to an Indian food database to display for consumers the nutritional contents of food, whether street-snacks, restaurant fare, or meals cooked at home. The App will rely on the Indian Food Composition Tables-2017 released today by the Hyderabad-based National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) and listing values of various nutrients in 528 foods, including cereals, legumes, fruits and...