-Down to Earth Social, cultural stigmas reasons for lack of improvement The present-day education system has come a long way and age-old traditions have undergone a drastic change. One of the biggest achievements of India was the increase in literacy rate to 74.04 per cent in 2010-11 from 18.3 per cent in 1950-51. The country has been making great strides in educating children; at the time of Independence, India was largely illiterate (nine...

-Scroll.in Influenced by conservative vegetarian lobbies, most BJP-ruled states do not serve nutrition-laden eggs in school and Anganwadi menus. In her haunting short story Shishu (Little Ones), writer Mahashweta Devi depicts the cruelty of shrunk bodies deformed by acute hunger and starvation in Adivasi hamlets, due to chronic administrative apathy. Reminiscent of this dystopian parable, the recently released National Family Health Survey 2019-’20, for the first time since the turn of the millennium...

Preliminary findings of a survey among 3,994 respondents from 11 states reveal that most vulnerable households and communities, such as SCs, STs, OBCs, PVTGs, slum dwellers, daily wage labourers, farmers, single women headed households, etc. continue to witness depressed incomes during September-October in comparison to their income levels prior to the lockdown. The face-to-face survey conducted by the Right to Food Campaign and Center for Equity Studies (instead of telephonic...

-Hindustan Times According to data shared by the department, around 560,000 children were enrolled in Delhi’s anganwadi centres before the lockdown was enforced in March, a number which has since shot up Over 100,000 children have enrolled in the city’s anganwadi centres over the course of the pandemic, official data shows, as families whose incomes have been severely hit over the past few month move their children from private institutions in search...

-The Hindu An immediate universalisation of the PDS, distribution of quality food items and community kitchens are a few solutions “School-er prarthana sabhar somoy hotat matha ghure pore jaoar ghotona hamesai ghotte dekhi amra. Beshirbhag khetrei ora mid-day-meal khete chaay naa, jiggesh korle bole pete byatha hochhe, Sir (There have been numerous instances during the prayer session in schools where we often observe students feeling sick and falling down out of dizziness....