-Livemint.com Only Chhattisgarh and Odisha have shown extraordinary success in making public distribution system work efficiently and equitably Across thousands of schools in India, expensive computers, printers and scanners are gathering dust. In many panchayats and other local bodies, such hardwares remain unused. Meanwhile, tonnes of government orders and circulars continue to be scanned and uploaded on official websites, which serve absolutely no purpose to anyone. Computerization, digitization and automation are often seen...

-The Indian Express Disaster-conscious planning as part of the urban agenda is helping India better prepare for natural calamities. Chennai 2015, Srinagar 2014, Uttarakhand 2013, Mumbai 2005. These disastrous floods remind us that without proper planning, unusually heavy rains in densely populated areas can brew a deadly cocktail for disaster. The issue is not just India’s alone. In our rapidly urbanising world, making towns and cities safer is emerging as one...

-Livemint.com Karin Hulshof says from being primarily funded by govts of the developed world, Unicef in India is now increasingly funded by private companies Devolution of higher funds to states in India is leading to decentralisation of programmes undertaken by the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (Unicef), said Karin Hulshof, Unicef’s regional director for South Asia, during a three-day visit to Odisha. The agency is engaging more with state governments than...

-The Financial Express Govt may spend major chunk of Budget outlay in these states The Modi government would spend major portion of the Rs 2,000- crore Budget outlay for providing LPG to households below poverty line in the eastern states such as Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha and Assam. A senior official in the finance ministry told FE that the nodal petroleum ministry has proposed a detailed road map for the scheme aimed...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The notion that girls are not good with numbers and science is just a myth, if data from a nationwide survey of more than 2.7 lakh students is any indicator. The survey conducted on Class X student showed girls performed on an equal footing with boys in mathematics, science and social sciences. The study, however, upheld another common conception — that girls have better language skills....