KEY TRENDS   • Maternal Mortality Ratio for India was 370 in 2000, 286 in 2005, 210 in 2010, 158 in 2015 and 145 in 2017. Therefore, the MMRatio for the country decreased by almost 61 percent between 2000 and 2017 *14    • As per the NSS 71st round, among rural females aged 5-29 years, the main reasons for dropping out/ discontinuance were: engagement in domestic activities, not interested in education, financial constraints and marriage. Among rural males aged...

National Advisory Council Chairperson Sonia Gandhi today voiced concern over the high dropout rate and the absence of teachers in village schools. She noted that "one fourth of the teachers" in village schools remain absent and said the dropout rate, particularly amongst the minority and poor, was high. Speaking at a function after inaugurating 31 Navodaya Vidyalayas in various parts of the country, Gandhi said, "Everyone has a right to education and...

Chairperson of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) Santa Sihna on Sunday called upon the Orissa Government, civil society and all the stakeholders including children to play a key role in aiding the commission so as to bring changes in lives of each and every child through Right to Education (RTE). Attending a State level convention jointly organised by NCPCR and Orissa Alliance on Convention on rights of the...

A Vigyan Gram, or a science village, is to come up on the outskirts of Tripura's capital, complete with a museum, library, planetarium, botanical garden, bird sanctuary and other attractions to popularise science among the masses. The Vigyan Gram, to be modelled on the lines of science cities in various cities in India, would be set up at a cost of Rs.35 crore in western Tripura's Badharghat, a village on the...

The government proposes to set up a national commission for human resources in health to plan for the adequate availability of human resource for health over the next 20 years. ‘‘We are also considering the establishment of a national commission for human resources in health (NCHRH) to be set up as an umbrella organisation addressing all aspects of human resource development in the health sector,’’ Union minister of health and family...