-The Indian Express ASER report flags burden of digital inequality on children, and opportunity for government schools. The digital pivot in India’s schooling system risks pushing it into deeper inequality, seven months after schools shut down across the country to tackle the pandemic. A majority of children without access to internet has been thrown into distress — a handful to the point of self-harm, as several reports in this newspaper attest —...

-Down to Earth The largest losses, mostly in forests, occurred in the Sundaland, Indo-Burma and Mesoamerica hotspots, all in developing countries Top biodiversity hotspots of the world lost 148 million hectares (mha) of land to agriculture and urbanisation between 1992 and 2015, a global analysis released October 30, 2020, by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, said. Most of the land lost — nearly 40 per cent, or 54 mha — was...

-The Telegraph RTI body issues notice to three wings of the central govt for ‘obstruction of information and providing an evasive reply’ At 7.25pm on Tuesday, 16.23 crore Indians were using the Aarogya Setu App but the departments concerned in the Narendra Modi government have claimed in writing that they do not have any information on who created the app and they do not possess files relating to this “mandatory” tool to...

-Livemint.com A return of the coronavirus in Europe has spooked global markets. Even as India recovers, some regions are at a similar risk, including the national capital Several parts of Europe are under threat of fresh lockdowns as the dreaded “second wave" of the coronavirus sweeps through the continent. Markets globally are reacting in panic, with European stock futures touching a five-month low on Wednesday. Indian markets have also been jittery in...

-The Hindu In the week of the survey in September, about one in three rural children had done no learning activity at all. About 20% of rural children have no textbooks at home, according to the Annual State of Education Report (ASER) survey conducted in September, the sixth month of school closures due to COVID-19 across the country. In Andhra Pradesh, less than 35% of children had textbooks, and only 60% had...