-The Hindu The rhetoric on the capacity of countries to reap the so-called demographic dividend cannot mask the more complex reality of a not-so-young world in 2014, and non-uniform patterns of growth. About a quarter of the world's population - 1.8 billion - is in the age-group of 10-24 years, according to the latest United Nations Population Fund report. In 1950, the proportion was higher, at almost a third of the...

-The Hindu Without adequate preparations for its consequences, the State has gone ahead with the merger of small schools with the larger ones. Is there a way out? The Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani's act of consulting an astrologer in Rajasthan may be a personal choice, but her mention of possible amendments to the Right to Education (RTE) Act has definitely created a mess in the State. While she has...

-The Hindu Business Line   Two young women's organic business helps small farmers salvage their soil and livelihood Kolkata schoolmates Avantika Jalan and Rashmi Sarkar run Mana Organics, a social enterprise that helps small farmers improve soil fertility through chemical-free methods and navigate the country's complex food supply chain. Organic produce from its two projects in Tinsukia, Assam, and three villages in Madhya Pradesh are sold in New Delhi and Kolkata. Early days Registered as...

-Economic and Political Weekly   This paper proposes an approach to periodically measure the extent of progress towards universal health coverage using a set of indicators that captures the essence of the factors to be considered in moving towards universalisation. It presents the rationale for the approach and demonstrates its use, based on a primary household survey carried out at the district level. Discussing the strengths and limitations of the approach, it...

-The Indian Express Eight years after the Sachar committee report on the condition of Muslims and creation of a Ministry of Minority Affairs, a post-Sachar evaluation committee, headed by former JNU professor Amitabh Kundu, has concluded that though a start has been made in addressing development deficits of the community, government interventions have not quite matched in scale the large numbers of the marginalised. Poverty levels among Muslims, the committee found, remained...