-Scroll.in The strongest safeguard against fraud is not end-to-end computerisation but clarity of entitlements: if people know what is due to them, they will fight for it. In a stunning admission of party hypocrisy, former Food Minister Shanta Kumar recently stated that the Bharatiya Janata Party's support for the National Food Security Act last year was just a pretence. Remember, when the act was being discussed in Parliament, BJP leaders (from Narendra...
More »SEARCH RESULT
As Modi launches another girl child scheme, here's why previous initiatives in the area failed -Aarefa Johari
-Scroll.in The model of conditional cash incentives for protecting the girl child has not fared very well in India. Over the years, there have been many initiatives across India to promote the girl child and improve its poor child sex ratio. The schemes have differed in name, but converged in their general inefficiency. Now, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched another such scheme, grandly called the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Yojana, in...
More »Schooling trap -Yamini Aiyar
-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...
More »Education campaign yields dividends -Pheroze L Vincent
-The Hindu In 1951, a year after India became a republic, only 18.33 per cent of its 35.11 crore citizens could read. According to the 2011 census, 74.04 per cent of its 121.02 crore people can read. In 60 years, 83.12 crore Indians learnt to read. School enrolment is at an all-time high with several surveys putting primary enrolment at above 96 per cent. However, India is still below the world's average...
More »Assam announces cash incentive to save daughters -Prabin Kalita
-The Times of India GUWAHATI: Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi announced a cash incentive to below poverty lines (BPL) mothers who give birth to girl child on Saturday. This comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "beti bachao, beti padhao" call. At a function on National Girl Child Day here, Gogoi said his government will introduce the new scheme at the budget session of the assembly beginning March 2. "We will provide Rs 5,000 to...
More »