-PTI "Gujarat's achievements in education and health are not like those in other areas like industrialisation, infrastructure and energy....it lags behind in these two (health and education). I talked about this with the state government," Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar said. Gandhinagar: Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar on Sunday said that while Gujarat has done very well in industrialisation, it will need to do some catching-up in the health...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Central Government will soon set up a real-time online database of ration cards and the beneficiaries under the national food security scheme to end any possibility of anyone procuring a fake or more than one ration card from any part of the country. The system will also enable lakhs of migrant workers to get subsidised foodgrains irrespective of the place from where the cards...

-The Indian Express Several commissions were either not functioning or functioning at reduced capacity as posts of Commissioners, including those of Chief Information Commissioners, were vacant during the period under review. A recent study to assess the performance of Information Commissions (ICs) by non-government organisations Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS) and Centre for Equity Studies (CES) has found several shortcomings in their functioning, which impact the effectiveness of the Right to Information...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Centre has floated a proposal to scale down an interest waiver scheme meant to help poor students enrol themselves for professional courses. The human resource development ministry has sought the opinion of other ministries on lowering to Rs 7.5 lakh from Rs 10 lakh the loan amount eligible for interest waiver under the central sector interest subsidy scheme (SCISS) launched in 2009. The proposal to lower the ceiling...

-Livemint.com The National Forest Policy will be an overarching policy for forest management, with the aim of bringing a minimum of one-third of India’s total geographical area under forest or tree cover New Delhi: India’s environment ministry has unveiled a draft of the new National Forest Policy (NFP) that proposes to restrict “schemes and projects which interfere with forests that cover steep slopes, catchments of rivers, lakes, and reservoirs, geologically unstable terrain...