-The Telegraph The Union human resource development ministry will tell the Supreme Court that private coaching institutions do not come under its jurisdiction and it cannot regulate their activities. In response to a notice issued by the apex court on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by the Students Federation of India, the students' wing of the CPM, the ministry is expected to make a distinction between private coaching and educational programmes...

-Live Mint Panel to review Sachar committee proposals says conditions of Muslims not changed perceptibly since 2006 New Delhi: In a politically uncomfortable revelation ahead of the general election, the interim report of a high-level panel says that a determined policy thrust by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government has done little to improve the social and economic enfranchisement of India's Muslim minority. The interim report of the panel appointed by...

-Outlook As subsidies for the poor continue to be under attack, a ground-up report from 10-states shows how well welfare schemes have worked over the last 10 years. Ahead of Elections 2014, rights-based welfare schemes are under attack. To those who argue ‘Dolenomics' doesn't work, a survey of five schemes in 10 states shows that the Rs 1,68,478 crore annually the nation spends is making a real and tangible difference on...

-The Hindu Restricting the price subsidy to coarse grains alone will not only work better from both fiscal and equity points of view but also weaken the incentives for graft The National Food Security Act (NFSA), passed recently by Parliament, offers 5 kg per person a month of cereals at highly subsidised prices to more than the bottom two-thirds of the population. It has been rightly hailed as the largest welfare programme...

-The Hindu     Villagers convert a primary School building set up under SSA into a temple Bidar, Karnataka: What did the residents of Govind Tanda in the Humnabad taluk do when a government primary School closed down due lack of students? They converted the unused building, built under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in 2010, into a temple and mutt. The hamlet has had a School for more than two decades. But the old building...