-The Hindu   ‘We have drafted a Bill to deal with violence against women' Berlin: India on Thursday found itself once again in the dock on its high maternal and child mortality rates. The embarrassment happened in full view of the world press which had assembled to hear Manmohan Singh and Angela Merkel on the outcomes of the Indo-German Inter-Governmental Consultations. Replying to a specific question by a German journalist, the Prime Minister admitted...

-The Hindu 'They quit because they are not learning anything in school' With eight million children never having stepped inside a school and 80 million dropping out without completing basic schooling, the United Nations Children's Fund has described the situation as a national emergency and called for equipping the government and civil society to implement the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009. "There has been progress in implementation of...

-The Hindu     A computerised database of ration card holders and purchases is a safeguard against diversion of PDS supplies but the process can be disruptive for beneficiaries The government has initiated an interesting pilot for the Public Distribution System (PDS) in East Godavari, Andhra Pradesh. When cardholders go to buy their PDS rations, their ration card number and UID (Unique Identification) number are punched into an "e-Point of Sale" (ePOS) machine. If...

-The Indian Express April 1 marked the third anniversary of the passage of the Right of Children for Free and Compulsory Education (RTE). There is little argument that the implementation of the RTE in these three years has been less than satisfactory. Deadlines for the enforcement of input norms - infrastructure, pupil-teacher ratios - have come and gone and potentially game-changing provisions, like 25 per cent reservation for economically weaker sections...

-The Economic Times The government is reviewing the norms for keeping buffer stocks of wheat and rice required at a particular time of the year to feed the public distribution system and welfare schemes. The demand for wheat and rice distributed through welfare schemes is expected to rise with the implementation of the food security law. "The government is looking at the issue and we are discussing it with different departments," KV Thomas,...