-The Indian Express Rs 3,000-cr package discussed in September but states wanted Centre to pay, which said no budget Bonn: This season’s stubble-burning in north and north-western India, believed to be largely responsible for the heavy smog over Delhi, could have been avoided if the Centre and the states concerned had agreed on a formula to share the burden of a newly finalised financial incentive package to dissuade farmers from burning their...

-The Indian Express Delhi has become world’s air pollution outcaste. Its decision-makers haven’t understood the consequences. The first thing that the Central and Delhi governments should own up to regarding the air pollution crisis is that everyone was forewarned and cannot pretend to be taken unawares. This “winter of our discontent” is the season when, as temperatures dip, pollutants hover around the surface of the city and do not waft upwards. Things...

-The Hindu Business Line After decades of neglect, Delhi’s government schools are finally turning the page with much-needed improvements to facilities and teaching methods. But problems such as staff shortage and a broken primary education system refuse to go away easily Delhi’s bustling IP Extension has a familiar skyline — a linear arrangement of ageing residential complexes. A gleaming new building in their midst catches the eye. Until recently, the Rajkiya Sarvodaya...

-The Telegraph Damoh (Madhya Pradesh): Students of a government-run primary school at a village in Damoh, Madhya Pradesh, were allegedly made to clean a toilet using their mid-day meal plates, prompting the district authorities to order an inquiry. The school staff have denied the allegation. A group of parents went to the school in Doli village on Thursday after their children complained that on Wednesday they were asked to clean the toilet...

-The Indian Express Delhi air pollution: The current smog and poor air quality in the National Capital Region has been blamed in part on stubble burning by farmers, especially in neighbouring Punjab and Haryana. What is the genesis of the problem? What are its potential solutions? * How widespread is crop stubble burning? It is mainly confined to Punjab, Haryana and parts of western Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, where farmers grow paddy and...