-The Hindu 12-member team to go beyond present crisis, prepare road map for transparent budgeting with States The Supreme Court has constituted a 12-member National Task Force to streamline and ensure the “effective and transparent” allocation of liquid medical oxygen on a “scientific, rational and equitable basis” to States and Union Territories fighting COVID-19. The apex court had expressed its dissatisfaction at the Centre’s earlier “oxygen-for-bed” formula. This “rough-and-ready” arrangement, as the court...

-The Indian Express The pandemic has forced us to rethink how we live our lives. We must also allow it to dismantle our exam-centric education system that only creates hyper-competitiveness and perpetuates inequalities. With the aggressive return of COVID-19, we are experiencing heightened anxiety. And amid this turmoil, we are also witnessing the breakdown of “normalcy” in our education system. As board exams get cancelled or postponed around the country, students, parents...

The National Food Security Act 2013 guarantees maternity benefit to the tune of Rs. 6,000/- per child by the Central Government for pregnant women and lactating mothers, barring those who are already availing such benefits while being in regular employment with the Central Government or State Governments or Public Sector Undertakings or under other laws. The NFSA 2013 also legally guarantees free meals for every pregnant woman and lactating mother...

School meals ensure nutrition for millions of vulnerable children across the world. Almost 370 million children worldwide are covered by school feeding programmes. While 100 million school children benefitted from the noon meal scheme in India prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, countries like Brazil (48 million), China (44 million), South Africa (9 million) and Nigeria (9 million) too run similar programmes for school children. However, an estimated 39 billion in-school...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: After cities like Bhopal and Nagpur, it’s Delhi’s turn to go green by at least partially replacing firewood used in cremation with gobar kashth — wood-like dry blocks made from cattle dung. Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), which inspected the Goyla dairy in south Delhi last week, has asked South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) to utilise cattle dung from dairy colonies to manufacture these dry...