-The Times of India AHMEDABAD: Even as the state government tom-toms its high enrollment rates in primary government schools in rural areas, it has done little to tackle teachers' deficit or to improve teaching quality in government schools. The poor quality of education - highlighted by the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2012, released on Friday - is being squarely blamed on the despairing and overburdened primary school teachers in...

-The Hindustan Times Publicly funded NGOs, some of them working in key sectors, such as health and rural development, have squandered hundreds of crores of rupees, a report released by a voluntary organisation said. In its  report ‘India’s Funds to NGOs Squandered’, Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) said government funding of voluntary organisations was in dire need of reform as the audit by the CAG of India was infrequent, inadequate and...

-DaijiWorld.com Kundapur: Four persons have reportedly been arrested in Bangalore in connection with the murder of RTI activist and Congress member Vasudeva Adiga, whose body was found on January 12 in Chikmagalur. Adiga was allegedly kidnapped on January 7 from Goliangadi. Five days later, his body was recovered from a pond at Kadur, with signs that he had been strangled to death. It is said that the police have arrested four persons who...

-The Indian Express Can wages paid to NREGA workers from scheduled castes be counted as money spent on SCs’ welfare? The Rural Development Ministry believes it can, but Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Kumari Selja doesn’t buy the argument. She has shot off a letter to the Planning Commission, questioning the rationale of including Rs 10,000 crore of NREGA funds in the SC sub-plan, under which a mandated 16.2% — the percentage...

The total expenditure on central schemes for the poor and on the major subsidies exceeds the states' share of central taxes. These schemes are chronic bad performers due to a culture of immunity in public administration and weakened local governments. Arguing that the poor should be trusted to use these resources better than the state, a radical redirection with substantial direct transfers to individuals and complementary decentralisation to local governments...