-The Telegraph New Delhi: Delhi's 1,800-odd municipal schools have declared a holiday tomorrow citing predictions of "very poor" smog and the health risk it poses, but critics rued that over a million poor children would miss their midday meals. Some parents said the slum children who go to these schools would be playing on the smoggy streets anyway if classes were closed. This is the first time so many schools will close in...

-NDTV New Delhi: Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MDWS) on Friday said that three states had become Open Defecation Free (ODF) while four more state were expected to achieve the status by March next year. Parameswaran Iyer, Secretary for MDWS, said: “After Sikkim became the first state, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala were declared ODF states recently. We are anticipating four more states — Haryana, Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Punjab to achieve the...

-The Indian Express The flagship rural jobs programme has shown improved performance after initial neglect by the Modi government. New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government may spend close to Rs 60,000 crore on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in the current fiscal, a record for the programme that was a baby of the previous United Progressive Alliance regime. The Union Budget had allocated Rs 38,500 crore towards MGNREGA for...

-The Indian Express The committee is meant to screen applications and shortlist institutions that deserve the world-class status. New Delhi: The Human Resource Development Ministry has tweaked the UGC regulations for setting up 20 world-class institutions, just weeks after the proposal hit a roadblock with the Solicitor General of India objecting to the unlimited powers of the proposed empowered experts committee. The committee is meant to screen applications and shortlist institutions that...

-The Times of India Patiala: Pest attack has been reported in some areas of Patiala and Sangrur districts on paddy crop that is about to be harvested. Patiala chief agriculture officer Parminder Singh said 'kala tela' (black hopper) had attacked paddy here forcing farmers to reap the crop pre-maturely. He said that the farmers were taking the premature crop after harvest to mandis but it was not being procured due to high...