'The Narendra Modi government is likely to cut the school education budget for 2019-20 by Rs 3,000 crore on account of a “funds crunch”, ThePrint has learnt. Highly-placed sources in the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry — which oversees education — said the Ministry of Finance had cited lack of funds as the reason behind the proposal...'
'In June 2019, we conducted a survey of 706 mothers in one district each in six states of India. We found serious concerns with the implementation of the Modi government’s Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana. The scheme gives monetary assistance of Rs 5,000 to pregnant women in three instalments for the birth of their first child. The assistance is lower than the Rs 6,000 entitlement for all births, not just the first child, under the National Food Security Act, 2013. Even this reduced amount often fails to reach the women.
'Cost of primary education (class 1 to 5) has increased by 31% between 2014 and 2018, shows a comparison of National Statistical Office or NSO (formerly National Sample Survey Office) survey reports for the 71st Round and 75th Round. This is mainly fuelled by a staggering increase in private schools, both aided and unaided varieties. Similar increases have taken place in other higher levels of education, the reports show...'
'...The Wire spoke to over a dozen minors, who had been detained for weeks, and their parents, to understand the result of the action on their future. Most of them opined contrary to the claims of the central government that younger Kashmiri will be better off now. Mustafa, while recalling the day he was picked by the J-K police, said, “They had cordoned me and were forcefully trying to bundle me inside the vehicle. While resisting, a cop hit me on the back of my neck and I fell unconscious”...'
'Nearly two months after the ‘namak-roti' fiasco at a primary school in Mirzapur district of Uttar Pradesh, now, a primary school in the tribal area of Sonbhadra district has been accused of serving adulterated milk to the students under the mid-day meal scheme on November 27. As per the menu of the mid-day meal scheme, prescribed by the Uttar Pradesh government, tehri and milk are supposed to be given to the students.
'Nine-year-old Zoya* found herself answering a rather confounding question at her Delhi school recently: does her father make bombs at home? What led to the question? The classmate had seen a picture of Zoya’s father in her school diary, in which he has a beard. Things slowly got worse. Zoya’s classmates would often refuse to sit with her during lunch because they assumed that she was eating meat... Fathima still remembers the day her 11-year-old son Abdul came back from school and asked if being a Muslim was a ‘bad thing’. “He said he did not want to go back to school.
'In August 2017, the deaths of about 60 children at BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur, due to oxygen supply running out, had sparked country-wide outrage, more so because the tragedy had taken place in a constituency said to be nurtured by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath. It appears now that on the same day – August 10-11, 2017 – 18 more deaths of adults reportedly took place in the hospital but went largely unnoticed.
'After the Madhya Pradesh government said that it was planning to introduce eggs in anganwadi meals to fight malnutrition, the leader of opposition in the state assembly, Gopal Bhargava, claimed that the move could turn children into cannibals, according to a report in the Hindustan Times. The state’s Women and Child Development Minister Imarti Devi on Wednesday said the state government planned to introduce eggs in anganwadi meals to fight rampant malnutrition and that eggs would also be served to pregnant women.
'B S Yeddyurappa, the Chief Minister of Karnataka, on October 30, 2019, made a public announcement that Karnataka will be taking steps to remove Tipu Sultan from school textbooks. According to an Economic Times report, Yeddyurappa, in response to a question at a press meet said, “Yes. 100%. We are not going to allow anything about Tipu in textbooks.” Tipu Sultan, an 18th century ruler of Mysuru, has been at the centre of heated debates in Karnataka for the last five years.
'Madhya Pradesh government has decided to intorduce eggs in the mid-day meal offered to children in the Anganwadis from November. State Women and Child Development Minister Imarti Devi said that the decision was taken to end malnutrition among children in the state. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Rameshwar Sharma, on the other hand, raised questions about the arrangements made for vegetarian children. BJP spokesperson Rahul Kothari alleged that this decision by the state government is a part of a larger conspiracy...'
