-Livemint.com * The Centre has no money for a stimulus package. Only the states can find a way to get India out of the slowdown * States, taken collectively, are the only hope. Despite loan waivers, they are in a better position to boost public spending. But that would require coordinated work between the Centre?and the states NEW DELHI: On 1 February, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present an important Union budget. The...

-The Indian Express While many opposition-ruled states have said they will not participate in NPR, Kerala has officially declared the same. On Monday it issued an official statement to that effect. New Delhi: With the Kerala government declaring that it will not participate in the National Population Register (NPR) exercise slated to begin on April 1, the Centre has said that it will sensitise states to the fact that information being sought...

-The Indian Express Centre, Tripura, and Mizoram have signed an agreement with the Bru/Reang community that promises to end their 23-year-old internal displacement crisis. How did the deal come about, and what happens now? Agartala: Twenty-three years after ethnic clashes in Mizoram forced 37,000 people of the Bru (or Reang) community to flee their homes to neighbouring Tripura, an agreement has been signed to allow them to remain permanently in the latter...

-Livemint.com * The agreement, allowing 30,000 Bru tribals to permanently settle in Tripura, took 20 years and nine attempts in the making * The Brus--spread across Tripura, Mizoram and parts of southern Assam--are the most populous tribe in Tripura NEW DELHI: On Thursday, displaced Bru tribals from Mizoram, living as refugees in Tripura since 1997, were allowed to permanently settle in Tripura. The agreement, allowing 30,000 Bru tribals to permanently settle in Tripura,...

-PTI * There is a need for greater flexibility in the Indian education sector across all aspects, he said, calling the system 'very rigid' * He said private schools are 'terrible' from an outcome perspective Mumbai: Education outcomes in state-run schools can be better than the private ones, Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee said on Saturday as he lauded Delhi government schools for "outperforming" their private peers. He said state agencies have been "generous" with...