Keep up-to-date with all that is happening in welfare policy with this curated selection of news, published every fortnight.

Policy News

• The Union government is planning to transform 36,000 hamlets to “model tribal villages” with an emphasis on rural development. Basic amenities will also be improved in the selected villages.
• The Union government has rolled out five key initiatives as part of the implementation of the National Education Policy, including a talking books project for visually impaired students.
• The government has launched the Swachh Survekshan Grameen, 2021. It is a survey of cleanliness, hygiene and sanitation to boost the government’s push for Open Defecation Free (ODF) Plus status for villages.
• Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change launched a portal named ‘PRANA’ (Portal for Regulation of Air-pollution in Non-Attainment cities) that will track the physical and financial status of city air action plan implementation for 132 cities across India.

Others

• The fifth sero survey conducted in Mumbai in August 2021 shows that 86.64 per cent of the 8,674 people surveyed have antibodies against COVID-19.
• UNICEF has urged education authorities to reopen schools as soon as possible in countries where students are still not allowed to return to classrooms.