-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Unfazed by the controversies surrounding issuing of Aadhaar numbers, the Union Cabinet is expected to consider on Thursday a proposal to expand the Nandan Nilekani-led Unique Identification Authority of India's (UIDAI) mandate in four states that were covered under home ministry's National Population Register (NPR). The move seems to be aimed at accelerating UPA's ambitious scheme so that the Congress-led government's direct benefit transfer can be...

-The Hindustan Times Mumbai: Close to 74.2% seats meant to be set aside for students from the economically weaker sections (EWS) have not been filled up for the academic year 2013-14 in schools across the city, revealed a query sought under the Right to Information Act. Many of the schools were found not to have filled even a single seat under the EWS quota mandated by the Right to Education Act...

-The Indian Express Social audits should not be judged by state response alone. They create awareness about rights and create engaged citizens. This article is in response to Farzana Afridi's ‘Social audit isn't enough' (IE, January 22). Social audits have been enshrined as one of the transparency and accountability tools in the MGNREGA. Such accountability mechanisms aim to strengthen the otherwise weak institutions of delivery as they engage the beneficiaries in the...

-Live Mint At 287 million, India has 37% of the total population of illiterate adults across the world, according a Unesco report New Delhi: The world will miss its goal of universal education by 2015, with millions of children and adults still to be schooled, said a United Nations (UN) body. India has the highest population of illiterate adults, 287 million, 37% of the total population of such people across the world,...

-The Business Standard In 2009-10, number of days a household got employment in a year in rural areas of Rajasthan was about 38, which steadily dropped to 23 in 2012-13 Rajasthan and Karnataka, which used to be stand-out performers of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)'s flagship scheme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), of late, are showing signs of faltering in terms of execution, raising a question mark on...