-The Hindu Parliamentary panel identifies shortfalls in budgetary funding and utilisation, resulting in critical infrastructure gaps Almost half of government schools in the country don’t have any electricity or playgrounds, according to a parliamentary panel on education. It identified shortfalls in both budgetary funding and utilisation, resulting in critical infrastructure gaps. In its report on the 2020-2021 demand for grants for school education submitted to the Rajya Sabha last week, the Parliamentary Standing...

-The Hindu Serious efforts must be made to deter sex selective abortion and infanticide Few things cast a long shadow on human failing as much as sex selection does. To choose on the basis of gender and eliminate new life if the gender is not ‘favourable’ can easily be among humanity’s worst moments. Last week’s case of infanticide in Tamil Nadu’s Usilampatti, historically notorious for its crude methods of killing female babies,...

-Newsclick.in It is not just about electricity, playground and boundary walls, but the government schools lack infrastructure—classrooms, library, labs, etc. Identifying the shortfalls in budgetary funding and utilisation, a parliamentary panel on education has found that close to half of government schools across the country don’t have access to electricity or proper playgrounds. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development (HRD), in its report—Demands for Grants 2020-21 Analysis—which was submitted to Rajya...

-The Hindu The latest GDP data show that there has been an undeniable decline in the growth rate over seven consecutive quarters On February 28, as per its release calendar, the National Statistical Office (NSO) put out the third quarter gross domestic product (GDP) estimates, that is, for October-December 2020. It showed that domestic output grew at 4.7% at constant prices (that is, net of inflation), compared to the same period the...

-The Tribune Highest per capita availability in country at 1,181 gm per day Chandigarh: The average milk yield in Punjab increased by 50.14 per cent between years 2012 and 2019, as per the figures of the livestock census 2019, Department of Animal Husbandry. The state now has the highest per capita milk availability in the country at 1,181 gm per day against the national average of 394 gm. The average milk yield per...