-TheWire.in A performance audit brings home the point of what happens when the national auditor is denied access to information and records. A recently concluded performance audit on the functioning of District Mineral Foundation (DMF) Trusts in Jharkhand has indicted the state’s Mining and Geology Department for failing to furnish the actual figures of collections from mining leaseholders. Bringing the sad state of affairs to public notice, the national auditor said, “There were...

-The Hindu Pakistan’s Malala Yousafzai is voted WCP’s ‘Child Rights Hero of the Decade’ City-based Ashok Dyalchand, who has been tirelessly campaigning against child marriages and for girls’ rights in India for more than four decades, was conferred with the prestigious Honorary Award at the World’s Children’s Prize (WCP) ‘Child Rights Hero’ ceremony held in Sweden on May 23. Dr. Dyalchand, a crusader for the rights of adolescent women through his Aurangabad-based Institute...

-Foundation for Agrarian Studies The project report titled “Public Spending on Agriculture in India: 2010-11 to 2019-20,” has been released in April, 2022. The report has been prepared by the Foundation for Agrarian Studies with the support of Rosa Luxembourg Stiftung, New Delhi. In 2021, the Foundation for Agrarian Studies conducted a research project to analyse the trends in public spending on agriculture in India for the most recent decade (2010-11 to...

-The Hindu Instead, they tell parliamentary panel to improve access to education to delay marriages An umbrella body of child rights organisations set up by Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi, which appeared before the parliamentary panel studying the Bill on raising the age of marriage for women to 21 from 18 years, has opposed the move and emphasised the need to improve access to education to delay marriages. The India Child Protection Forum [ICPF]...

-The Hindu Challenges abound in this approach, which needs to be analysed in depth before a policy is announced The University Grants Commission (UGC) has recently announced that it will do away with the mandatory PhD qualification to teach in Central Universities (CUs) spread across the country. It purportedly addresses a shortage of qualified faculty in CUs. According to the Ministry of Education data, there were 10,000 teaching positions lying vacant in...