-The Telegraph New Delhi: A last opportunity for untrained elementary school teachers to retain their jobs has put the spotlight on private schools. Most of the million-plus such teachers across the country teach in private institutes. Bengal too has come under unwelcome glare: it has 1.3 lakh untrained teachers, second only to Bihar, according to human resource development minister Prakash Javadekar. The dubious statistics came to light after the National Institute of Open...

-TheWire.in In addition to “launching” a scheme that basically already existed, the prime minister’s claim that his government has a good record on rural electrification contradicts the data. Prime Minister Narendra Modi this week announced a reportedly brand new scheme to electrify all villages in India and to provide electricity to all by the end of 2018. The scheme was called the Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana or ‘Saubhagya’ intiative....

-Scroll.in But study of the pilot scheme also finds that 67% of respondents now prefer cash transfers. In three Union territories where the government is running an experimental project to distribute cash instead of subsidised foodgrains, a third of beneficiaries surveyed said they either had not received any money at all (with or without proof) or did not know if they had received it. This despite government claims that 99% of...

-Hindustan Times Healthcare in India could use the help of better data and analysis from both public health systems and private sector interventions Better data is needed to enhance state intervention in health and nutrition and harness the strengths of the well-entrenched private sector to achieve public health goals. To meet the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) over the next 15 years, it is important to measure progress closely and ensure mid-course...

-The Indian Express With the scheme floundering, the Centre is now planning to shift focus to district-level schemes to yield better results in the short-term for its skilling initiative. The government’s flagship skilling scheme, the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), is struggling to achieve end-results. Data for the PMKVY scheme until the first week of July 2017 reveals that out of a total 30.67 lakh candidates who had been trained or...