-The Indian Express Earlier this month, NHRC stepped in to question authorities over the rehabilitation of the 59 families, evicted for expansion of the international airport. New Delhi: Standing atop the roof of a temple, Satya Prakash, 49, pointed at the four-lane road leading up to Indira Gandhi International Airport’s Terminal 3. “This road used to be a part of our village. There were houses stretching beyond the road,” he said. “It’s...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Economic Survey has recommended that biometric tracking of teachers' attendance be introduced in government primary schools and the data monitored by parents and local communities. The Survey has cited the low-learning outcome of children in government schools and linked it to teacher absenteeism and shortage of professionally qualified teachers. According to the UNESCO- EFA (Education For All) Monitoring Report for 2014, teacher absenteeism in India varies between 15...

-The Hindu The welfare challenge lies in providing assistance to needy households to ensure adequate diets without creating conditions in which they opt for inferior diets that are too heavy on cereals With the Kerala government’s decision to implement the National Food Security Act (NFSA) from April, the whole country will be covered by the legislation. However, if we expect the NFSA to improve India’s malnutrition statistics, we may well be disappointed....

-The Hindu Business Line Rising pest attacks are mounting pressure on cotton farmers even as prices PLAy truant. Rajeshbhai Patel is not amused. The farmer in Kadi, northern Gujarat grew cotton on four bigha in this year’s kharif season, instead of 11 in 2016. He had reduced the acreage fearing increasing costs owing to pests attacks. But as cotton prices rule at unusually high levels in the ongoing harvest season, he...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The mystery behind the outbreak of an unexPLAined neurological illness in Bihar's Muzaffarpur, which had claimed nearly 100 lives each year till 2014, has been solved. Scientists from the US and India, after a joint investigation, have concluded that consuming litchi --a tropical fruit Muzaffarpur is famous for- on an empty stomach triggers the illness and death. Seasonal outbreak of the mysterious illness, characterised by acute...