RTE entitlements to be paid through cash transfer
The Hindu
Cabinet approves Samagra Shiksha scheme extension till March 2026
The Centre plans to pay students their Right to Education entitlements in the form of cash transfers, as part of a revamp and extension of its flagship school education scheme that was approved by the Cabinet on Wednesday. The Samagra Shiksha scheme, which has been extended till March 2026, will have a financial outlay of ₹2.94 lakh crore, including a Central share of ₹1.85 lakh crore, and several new initiatives on early childhood education, foundational literacy and numeracy and language education. Samagra Shiksha is an integrated scheme for 11.6 lakh government and aided schools with over 15 crore students and 57 lakh teachers. It involves a 60:40 split in funding between the Centre and most States. The Centre’s share now works out to about ₹37,080 crore per year, higher than the amounts allocated over the last three years.
The municipal bus stand auditorium in Malappuram was packed. But nobody quite knew what to expect. After all, a new event was making its debut at the State School Arts Festival. The moment V.G. Harikrishnan started his rendition of Pyar bhare do sharmile nain..., everyone was convinced that Ghazal was here to stay. The student from GVHSS, Atholi (Kozhikode), was applauded loudly for his rendering of the timeless ghazal sung originally by Mehdi Hassan.

For the last few weeks, several wards in Madurai city have been getting piped drinking water through a new drinking water scheme. The sweetness of the generously supplied water has led to loss of business to several suppliers of canned drinking water in the city. But, not many know that the water supplied to the houses in Madurai is directly drawn from Lower Dam of Mullaperiyar Dam in Idukki district of Kerala.











