-Frontline In Rajasthan, the abysmal state of school education has forced pupils, particularly girls, to come out in protest against the shortage of teachers and lack of infrastructure. IT was just over a year ago, on Gandhi Jayanti 2014, that girls of the senior secondary school of the town of Bhim in Rajasthan went on strike. The young, fresh-faced and neatly groomed girls were far removed from anyone’s idea of potentially rowdy...

-The Times of India VIJAYAWADA: Gradual decline in the overall cropped area casts a shadow over the state government's ambitious target of achieving double digit growth. Although Andhra Pradesh registered 12.52 per cent in the first quarter of 2015-16, it is quite unlikely that the target will become a reality in the long run, say experts and peasant leaders. Lending credence to such worries, agriculture and allied sectors (Rs 9,854 crore)...

-The Times of India PATNA: After beef and quota controversies, the issue of escalating pulse prices has taken centre stage in campaigning for the Bihar assembly election. While Union ministers Ram Vilas Paswan and Radha Mohan Singh have offered to bring down pulse prices by 50% within two days after NDA comes to power in the state, the Nitish Kumar government says the Centre is not serious about bringing down the prices...

-The Hindu Business Line The entire tea industry in India faces an uncertain future. And young people don’t want to work in tea gardens anymore After a steady run for nearly a decade, the tea industry is now facing tough times. Both, production of gardens in the organised sector and leaf prices are virtually stagnating. And exports no longer hold out much promise. Between January and July this year, all-India production was 553.21...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The government is planning an innovative strategy to use the approximately 4.5 lakh engineering and polytechnic seats that stay vacant every year to teach skill training courses. The plan, which is at a preliminary stage with approvals needed to make it actionable, aims to plug the skills gap, provide options for youth who might be falling out of any kind of professional or academic training, and...