-The Hindu In a big reform push, the Centre on Friday announced a scheme to implement direct benefit transfers for kerosene subsidies starting April 1, as is already being done for LPG users, by incentivising States to make the transition. Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, and rajasthan have already agreed to initiate the scheme in a few of their districts. Together, these States will implement DBT for kerosene...

-Business Standard The government is holding talks with states providing cashless health insurance, such as Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat After providing life cover and accident cover, the government is now working on a universal health insurance plan. To begin with, it will provide a seamless solution to the existing cashless health schemes in states by integrating those with the Centre's direct benefits transfer (DBT) platform. Later, these would be scaled up. "Encouraged...

-The Hindu What matters more for development: location or community? New official data show that while some communities do better than others in sex ratio and literacy, State-level differences can be as important. Newly released data from the Census shows that on average nationwide, Christians, followed by Muslims, continue to have the most gender-equal child sex ratios of 958 girls for every 1,000 boys and 943 respectively. Buddhists follow, with Hindus, Jains...

-The Hindu With the consent of 18 States for “required amendments” in the ‘no detention policy’ under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, a committee headed by rajasthan Education Minister Vasudev Devnani on Wednesday sent recommendations to the Central government, stating that the policy should be revoked. Under the policy, no student can be failed or expelled till Class VIII. However, States, including rajasthan, have already done away with the policy. The...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: The Indian Institute of Health Management and Research, University, Jaipur, said that despite India being polio-free, the growing cases of non-polio acute flaccid paralysis is a huge cause of concern. India was declared free of the wild polio virus in January 2011 however cases of flaccid paralysis continue to be reported in thousands from across the country. "Inspite of the WHO declaring India polio-free, there has been...