-Livemint.com Experts must stop supporting public schools that even the poor don't want for their children The problem with public schools, one is often told, is the lack of sufficient administrative supervision required to bring accountability to the system. Funds to aid learning are often misappropriated, children's learning outcome is abysmally poor, and teachers that sleep and make merry in their classes are far too common in Indian public schools. It is...

-Business Standard Eight states and UTs have Muslim share of population in excess of national average of 13% The argument given by supporters of the ghar wapsi (homecoming) campaign is that unless corrective measures are taken up urgently, there is a danger to the existing demographic profile of the country. Many leaders of the Sangh parivar this reporter spoke to say that the way the population of some religious groups is growing,...

-Tehelka Why is India struggling to feed its girls and women, who are in desperate need of nutrition, asks Ruhi Kandhari One out of three women or adolescent girls who come through that door are anaemic," says Dr Savita Agarwal, who runs a charitable clinic at a slum in north Delhi, pointing at the door of her clinic. "They cannot afford to eat meat, eggs, fruits and vegetables that provide iron." Fifty percent...

-PTI Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh government has signed a pact with the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) to provide assistance in making agriculture sustainable and profitable. "The agreement with ICRISAT is part of the State Government's plans to increase productivity of agriculture and allied sectors," the state government said. The Memorandum of Agreement was signed yesterday in the presence of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu by Special Chief Secretary...

-The Telegraph Ranchi: A centre on the lines of Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), Pusa, New Delhi, gifted to Jharkhand by the Modi government in its first budget in July 2014, is yet to sprout from state agriculture department's drawing board. In his maiden budget speech, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley allocated Rs 100 crore this fiscal for both Jharkhand and Assam for two agriculture centres in each of these states. But why...