-India Together All the increased budgets for education in the country may not amount to much, if the States don't move the money fast enough to the intended uses, which is not happening now. Himanshu Upadhyaya reports.  The Comptroller and Auditor General's recent performance review of elementary education in Tripura has once again brought to our attention prolonged delays in release of funds meant for schools. The performance review, of accounts spanning...

-PTI Gorakhpur: Five more persons have succumbed to encephalitis, taking the toll in the viral disease in eastern Uttar pradesh to 263 this year. The five patients, mostly children, died yesterday, officials said today. Additional Director (health) Diwakar Prasad said that a total of 1,524 patients were admitted to BRD MCH and other government hospitals of the region, of which 263 died. At present, over 260 patients are being treated in these hospitals, he...

-The Economic Times The Centre plans to make bank creditaccess easier for rural population, especially in states were poverty is high. In Uttar pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Gujarat, the gap between credit available to self help groups and the demand for credit is stark. At present, 80 per cent of all bank support to SHGs is in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. In Uttar pradesh, Madhya...

-The Hindu Instead of rigid targeting, the government must build on the success of the public distribution system which is quietly becoming a significant means of social support In earlier writings, we have drawn attention to the quiet revival of the public distribution system (PDS) in many States during the last few years. Market prices of PDS commodities — mainly rice and wheat — have sharply increased, giving people a much greater...

-The Hindu A key breakthrough emerging from a critical multi-stakeholder meeting held here on Tuesday on Internet censorship and legitimate state restrictions during crisis situations was that the government should itself use the Internet and social media to counter hate speech with comfort speech. Hate speech on social media has been blamed for triggering riots in Uttar pradesh, Assam and Mumbai two weeks ago. The participants, who included DoT Secretary R. Chandrashekhar,...