-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Below-par rainfall across India for more than two weeks has pushed the monsoon deficit to 10% below normal, increasing worries of a second successive drought year in the country. Average all-India rainfall was 5% below normal at the beginning of August but had doubled by Independence Day due to rains remaining consistently below average during the fortnight. August so far has seen 17% below-normal rain. A shortfall...

-The Indian Express Note to policymakers: Access to technology by itself does not ensure learning. Speaking at the Saarc Summit in Nepal last November, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that “information technology has removed all barriers to quality education”. With the launch of Digital India, state governments and education practitioners have become increasingly interested in the potential of technology to address low learning levels in primary schools. Behind Modi’s assertion is a...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Rickshaw pullers, autorickshaw drivers, Anganwadi and Asha workers and other such vulnerable groups may get complete medical care (from primary to tertiary) under the umbrella of employee's state insurance (ESI) scheme. They may also be entitled for a range of cash benefits during exigencies arising out of their jobs such as death, injury, disablement, maternity and unemployment as guaranteed to workers in organized sector under the...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The government's announcement that it would maintain a publicly available database of sex offenders is being portrayed as a significant step in addressing the threat posed by criminals whose crimes largely go unreported and hence encourage them to repeat the offence. It also addresses the general perception that such criminals tend to repeat their act and hence need to be monitored. A look at laws in other...

-The Hindu Legal researcher Usha Ramanathan speaks about the the modified draft Bill which continues to raise several critical concerns relating to privacy, ethical usage of DNA samples and DNA database. This week, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) uploaded a slightly modified draft of the Human DNA Profiling Bill on its website, opening up the controversial Bill, now tabled in Parliament, for public scrutiny. Legal researcher Usha Ramanathan, a member of the Committee...