-The Hindu An OECD study shows that better technology in classrooms does not always translate into better learning outcomes. It is time for Indian policymakers to do some soul-searching on our over-reliance on technology in education and the resultant neglect shown to teacher training.The new-age administrators believe that the Internet can address all pedagogic needs. They do not understand curriculum policies or examination reforms. Nor do they appreciate the progressive initiatives...

-The Telegraph Bhubaneswar: Swachh Bharat as a slogan sounds smart, but rampant corruption at the grassroots level is coming in the way of implementing development projects such as constructing toilets in the state. Public sector units executing toilet projects under the Swachh Bharat Swachha Vidayalay Abhiyan are being forced to deal with villagers and sarpanches who want money before the first brick is laid. Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) is one of...

-The Hindu The production of waste in India is growing at an exponential rate. However, the welfare and dignity of the informal workers involved in the stigmatised sector of waste management remains at the bottom of any government’s political agenda. Human society has always produced waste and always will. Waste materials — substances without value — are constantly generated in all production, all distribution and all consumption processes. The time waste spends...

-The Times of India Dr David Berger, director of the British Medical Journal group and a general physician practising in Australia, is better known in India for an article he wrote in the BMJ in May last year titled 'Corruption ruins the doctor-patient relationship in India' based on his experiences of working in India. The article sparked a public debate on the widespread corruption in India's healthcare sector. Here now on...

-Business Standard India’s growth in agriculture and allied activities has struggled to reach the targeted four per cent average a year in the first three years of the 12th five-year Plan because of a host of factors. The below-average farm growth is widely expected to deepen the crisis in the farm sector. In an interview with Sanjeeb Mukherjee, newly-appointed member of NITI Aayog and eminent agriculture economist Ramesh Chand  said over-reliance...