-The Telegraph The index includes 5 pillars comprising 41 indicators on the basis of which the states have been ranked for literacy among children. * The Index is aimed at understanding the overall state of foundational learning across children aged below 10 years in India * Chief minister Mamata Banerjee congratulates all teachers, guardians and members of the education department West Bengal has topped the ‘large states’ category in the Index on Foundational Literacy...

-The Telegraph In India, inequality has been normalised While we know that inequality is bad, we do not deal with it. In India, we have normalized it, just like brazen communalization, bigotry and untruth. This is perhaps because many of us are complicit in perpetuating the inequality. Some data released this month provide a grim commentary on what is happening in the underbelly of the country. Scan through the regional dailies and you...

-The Hindu Business Line Economy is recovering but rural labour market still in distress Even as the economy is on the recovery track — spurring optimism about job creation and better employment prospects — a large part of the labour force, especially in the rural areas, continues to face challenges. Data from the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) indicates that stress in the labour market, which escalated after Covid-19 lockdowns,...

-Down to Earth The country’s organic / natural farming coverage remains poor despite abundant indegenous resources Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to farmers December 16 to ensure that at least one village in every gram panchayat goes for natural farming methods. He highlighted the importance of ‘gaudhan’, or use of cow dung-urine formulations, with an aim of giving a fillip to natural farming. “The maximum benefit of natural farming will be for 80...

-Livemint.com In November, the American consumer price inflation (CPI) for urban consumers came in at 6.8%. The last time it was anywhere as high was nearly four decades back in June 1982, when it was 7.1%. It hadn’t even been a year since Mark David Chapman had killed John Lennon. Abba’s final performance and subsequent breakup, which went unannounced, was still a few months away. American and British pop and rock bands...