-Livemint.com In 14-18 years age group, only 43% able to do a simple division correctly, while 47% of 14-year-olds could not read a simple sentence in English, says the ASER study New Delhi: India’s learning problem just got worse. The legacy of learning deficit visible so far in elementary school children is now being reflected among young adults too, the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) study revealed. Since, around 10% of Indian population...

-The Indian Express The 2017 ASER report focuses on 14 to 18-year-olds, interviewing over 30,000 children across 28 rural districts. Uma Vishnu explains some of its findings. 86% of youth in the 14-18 age group are still within the formal education system It has been eight years since the Right to Education (RTE) Act came into force in 2010, making elementary education a fundamental right for those in the 6-14 age group. Therefore,...

-The Financial Express The Odisha experience shows that PDS can play a pivotal role in bringing convergence and making India’s two important missions—food and nutrition security—successful in a short time. New Delhi: India’s public distribution system (PDS) is the largest food security programme in the world, which covers nearly 60% of the population and costs Rs 1.45 trillion—close to 1.4% of the national income. PDS has often been criticised for its structure,...

-The Indian Express The advertisement industry itself is no stranger to innuendo and double entendre – and it is a blatant hypocrisy to make advertisements for condoms the scapegoat in this issue. India’s reproductive health is the unsuspecting casualty in the recent tussle on the appropriateness of condom advertisements. The advisory issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Monday, December 11, directs television channels to restrict the broadcast of condom...

-The Telegraph Bhubaneswar: The Naveen Patnaik government has plans to spice up the midday meal platter by serving fish that officials say will push up its nutritional quotient. The move, if implemented, will be in accordance with the recommendations of the Odisha State Food Commission that had submitted its report to the government last month. The commission's report had suggested measures required to strengthen the nutritional content of food served at schools and...