-The Times of India NAGPUR: 'Smart Agriculture' is a concept that is being proposed by scientists, experts and planners as an answer to climate change which, along with other causes, is making agriculture unsustainable. Smart agriculture is also being projected to increase overall productivity, generate more employment and also conserve environment. Speaking to TOI, JC Katyal, former deputy director general of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and former vice-chancellor of Haryana...

-The Hindu Occupational and geographic mobility across the region are bridging income and consumption-related disparities, says the World Bank report, ‘Addressing Inequality in South Asia'. The findings accordingly underscore the role of urbanisation and private sector participation as being critical to mitigating socio-economic disadvantages. Inequality should be understood in terms of monetary and non-monetary dimensions of well-being, contends the report. The share of the poorest 40 per cent of households...

-The Indian Express The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) released last week forced India's policymakers, yet again, to confront the unfortunate realities of our primary education system. In its 10-year history, ASER has challenged the fundamental assumption of elementary education policy: that the expansion of the schooling system would ensure that children learn. Indeed, in the last decade, while the Centre was able to expand the system through the provision...

-The New Indian Express   BHUBANESWAR: The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has asked Malkangiri district administration to submit a detailed report within 15 days on the allegations of irregularities in implementation of Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) programme in two blocks. Taking cognisance of a petition filed by Right to Food Campaign, Odisha, the national child rights panel directed the Collector to investigate into the charges. The petition stated that child...

-The Hindustan Times Around this time every year, news about the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) survey creates a short-lived stir in the media over the dismal performance of children studying in State-run elementary schools. Pratham - the NGO which produces the ASER reports - carries out this nationwide evaluation of children's competence in reading and arithmetic, and presents the results of children's grade-wise scores. The sample consists of nearly...