-The Telegraph Bangalore: Six years ago, a 16-year-old Revanna M had missed a chance to travel to France for football training because, as an orphan, he didn't have the documents to obtain a passport. Memories of that heartbreak returned to haunt him last summer when he was chosen by an NGO as one of six underprivileged youths to visit Brazil during the football World Cup. Again, a passport seemed elusive for Revanna,...

-The Hindu So far, 2.11 lakh children across the State enrolled in private schools under the quota Bengaluru: Those ‘big’ schools in the neighbourhood have for long been a dream for many students from the economically weaker sections. The RTE quota that reserves 25 per cent of the seats to such children has come as a boon, though several issues continue to nag the implementation of the Act, which came into force...

-The Indian Express Given indicators that the government is considering moving to cash transfers and replacing the public distribution system (PDS), and the release of the Shanta Kumar Committee report, the debate on how best to provide food security has been rekindled. The report has a careful analysis of the sources of inefficiency at various stages of the procurement, storage and distribution system. Especially heartening is the admission that the Food...

-The Indian Express Universal health coverage (UHC) is at the heart of the government's healthcare agenda. The 12th Five Year Plan targets a long-term goal of UHC where "each individual would have assured access to a defined essential range of medicines and treatment at an affordable price, which would be entirely free for a large percentage of the population". But this year's reduced budgetary allocation raises troublesome questions about its ability...

-The Financial Express The Supreme Court's direction comes at a time when the Modi government appears to be have a re-think on the Aadhaar card scheme. (Reuters) The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Narendra Modi government to clear its stand on whether it intends to continue with the UPA government's plan to allow Aadhar as proof of identity for direct transfer of cash for social welfare schemes. Amid a fresh PIL challenging...