-The Hindu Direct Benefits Transfer is potentially a game-changer, but with certain pre-requisites: Mihir Shah Planning Commission member, Mihir Shah, speaks to The Hindu about a wide range of issues, including the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and his contribution to the 12 Five-Year Plan. Excerpts: * The MGNREGA has come under criticism from many quarters, including the CAG. Do you feel this criticism is warranted? How do you...
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No computer teachers, classes shut down in govt schools -Shikha Sharma
-The Indian Express Delhi: Each time students at the Government Boys Senior Secondary School in Dilshad Garden ask their principal to recruit a full-time computer teacher, they are told to take private tuitions instead. "If we push too hard, he threatens to strike the subject off. Forget excelling, how are we expected to even clear our exams without a teacher?" asks a Class XI student. Students of the school, though, are relatively...
More »Do not ban the pentavalent vaccine
-The Economic Times The government must explain to the Supreme Court, with scientific evidence, why the pentavalent vaccine, now introduced into the immunisation programme, should not be banned. The vaccine is designed to combat five childhood diseases: diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, Hepatitis B, pneumonia and meningitis. So far, more than 82,000 doses have been administered and there have been 29 cases of adverse effects after immunisation. After examining the evidence, it is unclear...
More »NABARD now offers loans to corporate sector-Nagesh Prabhu
-The Hindu Bangalore: In a major shift in its lending practice, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has opened a lending window to the corporate sector for construction of warehouses and creation of cold storages and cold chains. NABARD had only been granting soft loans to State governments for social sector projects. Speaking to The Hindu on Monday, G.R. Chintala, Chief General Manager (CGM), Regional Office, Bangalore, said it was...
More »Economic divide widens in IITs, two distinct groups emerge -Hemali Chhapia
-The Times of India MUMBAI: Students making it to India's best public engineering colleges this session might have more to tackle than study pressure. Making for a sharp economic divide on campus, two large cohorts of students in the class of 2017 in the IITs are from the upper middle classes and from the lower income groups. This year, one out of every five students (over 20%) who qualified disclosed that the...
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