-The New Indian Express BENGALURU: Sixty manual scavengers have died over the last 10 years while at work. The families of 23 victims were paid compensation ranging between `5 lakh and `10 lakh while 37 families are yet to be compensated, according to data available with the Social Welfare Department. But the reality is that many cases either go unreported or are considered as unnatural deaths and Booked under various Acts. The Prohibition...

-The Indian Express Learning outcomes are assessment standards which help teachers to understand the learning levels of students in their respective classes, individually as well as collectively. THE HRD Ministry has amended the rules under the Right to Education (RTE) Act to make it compulsory for all state governments to codify expected levels of learning which students in Classes I to VIII should achieve in different subjects. A common practice globally, this...

-PTI Aadhaar number will be required for one-time registration at the IRCTC ticketing site. The railways will soon move towards Aadhaar-based online ticketing system to prevent touts from blocking bulk tickets, end fraudulent Bookings and curb cases of impersonation. Aadhaar number has been made mandatory for senior citizens to avail concessions in train tickets from April 1. A three-month trial run for this is going on. As per the new business plan 2017-18, unveiled...

-The Hindu Unlike the ‘Economic Survey’ proposal, the idea behind a universal basic income is one of redistribution The Economic Survey 2016-17 tabled in Parliament last month has proposed introducing a universal basic income in India, and has devoted an entire chapter to this new idea. A universal and unconditional income transfer to all citizens in order to address the twin problems of poverty and unemployment is undoubtedly a proposal that merits...

-The Telegraph After the third general elections held in 1962, the scholar-statesman, C. Rajagopalachari, wrote a fascinating, if now forgotten, essay on the imperfections of our young democracy. "The Indian electorate", remarked Rajaji, "suffers from well-known defects from which Western democracies are relatively free. The Indian voters are in great measure poor and vulnerable to bribery: even a day's expense for food serves to buy a large number of the poor...