Calcutta, Oct 20: The CPM central committee appears to have underestimated the decline in the party’s vote in Bengal in the Lok Sabha polls last May. The final poll data compiled by the National Election Study (NES) now shows that the decline in the party’s — and the Left Front’s — vote was sharper than what had been calculated earlier. Also, the erosion was spread across all social groups, including...

India may be forced to cut down on the number or compromise on the quality of model schools promised by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2007 because of a failure to execute the plan till now. For more than two years, central and state bureaucrats have struggled to define model schools, evolve funding and management mechanisms and coax private partners to chip in — while costs have soared. The cost of starting...

Washing hands with soap at critical times—before handling food and after using the toilet—significantly can reduce child mortality. Last year, October 15 was designated as the Global Handwashing Day and a worldwide awareness-raising campaign was started by the Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing with Soap, an international initiative of which the World Bank is a founding member.   Schools and communities in more than 80 countries will participate in activities this...

The recession is a promising moment to expand NREGA with greater emphasis on building social capital in a big way.  Soon after assuming office, the first UPA government took an impressive step for the alleviation of rural poverty by launching the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. It was, indeed, a wise move to insulate the programme from the vicissitudes of electoral politics by enacting the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act...

After the euphoria comes the real test. The cost of implementing the historic Right to Education Act over the next five years by Centre and states works out to a whopping Rs 1.78 lakh crore. The new law will come into force from the next academic year and since right to education is now a fundamental right, it is mandatory on the part of the government to provide what is demanded....