-The Telegraph New Delhi: Pre-school kids who have a better understanding of concepts like distance and shape have a higher chance of excelling in studies in later years, a new study has concluded. Rather than numbers and alphabets, the stress should be on helping children understand these concepts, a key person behind the exercise told The Telegraph. The Indian Early Childhood Impact Study assessed around 13,000 five-year-olds from Assam, Rajasthan and undivided Andhra...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Modi government's demonetisation move seems to have taken the wind out of the sails of an already faltering job guarantee scheme. The number of households getting work in November dropped by 23% compared to the previous month and those being turned back empty-handed jumped to a staggering 23.4 lakh, almost twice the number in October. Compared to the same month last year, work given this...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Centre has decided to write to all state governments asking them to launch a crackdown on outdoor advertisements of traditional medicines that claim to "magically" cure various illnesses and cosmetic problems. Sources in the Union information and broadcasting ministry said the letters will be sent out following a nudge from the Union ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy. The Ayush ministry, a few months...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Studying in an English-medium school does not automatically make your child proficient in English, a comparison of two nationwide surveys on school enrolment trends and performance in English suggests. One in three schoolchildren goes to English-medium schools in Himachal Pradesh while one in 30 does so in Bengal, according to a survey by the National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA). But Class X students in Bengal, sampled...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: India, with the highest malaria burden outside Africa, will need an investment of $18 billion to achieve its 2030 deadline to eliminate the disease, says a latest estimate by the health ministry and malaria advocacy groups. Severe malaria outbreaks in India, aggravated by poor sanitation and drainage, underline an urgent and growing need for financial commitment to deal with a menace estimated to inflict nearly $2...