The National Institute of Open Schooling was an instant choice. The sheer scale of operations — NIOS gave 5 lakh out-of-school students the chance to get an education in 2011-12 — ensured its selection as a winner in the government category. If NIOS was about scale, Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya No.2 of Zeenat Mahal won admiration for the determination with which its turnaround was achieved. Facing shutdown at one point, this Urdu-medium school became one of the top performing government schools in Delhi.

There was unanimity among the jury that NIOS and the Sarvodaya school deserved a joint award — if one was a shining example of macro intervention, the other showed what can be achieved with micro-level efforts.

To ensure livelihood of tribals, says member

The government proposes to create an enabling environment for the social empowerment of the de-notified tribes so that they could utilise reservation benefits in education and employment.

A nation-wide survey of de-notified tribes’ settlements is to be conducted to form the basis for introducing a suitable shelter programme for them. They could be entitled to free or subsidised housing under various government schemes.

Despite Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s pro-tribal image, over 200 tribal families displaced in 1998 to pave way for construction of Golden Quadrilateral National Highway are left in the lurch.

Allaying the apprehensions of the people of Kolar in Karnataka, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd.