The government on Thursday set up an expert technical group headed by Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) Chairman C. Rangarajan to review the Tendulkar Committee methodology for estimating poverty and overhaul the norms in keeping with the present-day prices.

The move follows all-round criticism of the Planning Commission's estimates on poverty released in this March and the controversy it generated in and outside Parliament on capping the poverty line at a daily consumption of Rs 28.65 per capita in cities and at Rs 22.42 in rural areas.

The World Bank has agreed to provide US$ 314 million (approximately 37 billion rupees) for Sri Lanka to develop education and urban development sectors in order to meet new challenges of the 21st century, the Ministry of Financial and Planning said.

The government has requested the World Bank for funds to expedite development programs which have already been formulated in the education and urban development sectors with foreign assistance.

Even before educational institutions are officially directed to conduct admissions for the weaker sections, as under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (2009), activists have begun lining up outside schools demanding that poor students be taken in. Given that the government is yet to spell out how and when the schools should implement the 25% quota, expertsadvise activists against undue haste.

Bhubaneswar: School and mass education minister Pratap Jena on Tuesday said that special strategies and plan of action were being taken up to implement the Right to Education Campaign-2012 and it was decided to finalise the District Plan for the RTE campaign by June 5. Briefing newsmen here, Jena said that core committees would be formed in all district project offices and the first meeting as to how to carry out the campaign to create awareness to mobilise students to schools would be held by June 5 and by this time.

State Cabinet here on Wednesday took several important decisions. It decided to constitute Madhya Pradesh Water Corporation (MPWC) for implementation of group piped water schemes in rural area. The corporation will avail loans under prescribed procedure to run these schemes and other fiscal management. The Corporation will implement piped drinking water as well as sewage schemes in the urban areas as per requirement and supplying drinking water to families through water connections.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is UPA's man with the political Midas touch. He needs to lend some of that magic to lift the economy out of its morass. By the Government's own estimate, the economy is expected to grow by a mere 6.9 per cent in 2011-12, a sharp decline from 8.4 per cent in 2010-11. Inflation remains uncomfortably high at over 7 per cent. Investor sentiment has been suffocated in the last one year by policy paralysis and corruption.

Has Wi-Fi, AC Classrooms & Insurance For All
Ahmedabad: Think of an Indian village and what comes to mind are images of mooing cows, open drains and kids playing ants and frog games.

But, Punsari, a motley village in Gujarat’s Himmatnagar, talks about Wi-Fi and optical fiber broadband network, its children spend best of their times in air-conditioned classrooms with CCTV cameras. The village also boasts of its own mini-bus transport system and there are 25-odd CCTVs located on important junctions to spot litterbugs.

A picture, it is said, is worth a thousand words. What better way then to raise awareness about malnutrition than asking children to express their thoughts on the topic by wielding the brush or crayons. Students of schools from across the city were invited to send drawings and paintings on malnutrition as part of the Horlicks Aahar Abhiyan project launched by GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare, in association with NGO Child In Need Institute (CINI), The Telegraph and Anandabazar Patrika to provide adequate and better nutrition to children aged three to six.

New agriculture and industrial policies are on the anvil for giving a renewed thrust to the development process in Uttar Pradesh. Formulation of new policies formed an integral part of the ambitious 100-point development agenda which has been finalised by the Akhilesh Yadav Government.

The agenda, released by the Government on Thursday, aims at integrated development of the State and includes the farm, industrial, medical and health, education, power, social welfare and infrastructure development sectors. In addition, e-governance will be expanded in the State.