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

Education 

1. Multiple states and union territories including Delhi have closed down schools because of the rise in COVID-19 cases. Read more about the status of education in the country through the experiences of government-school teachers, education officials and parents here. 
2.  The Union government has brought all recognised higher education institutions under the ambit of the Academic Bank of Credit (ABC), as part of  National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. 
3. The University Grants Commission has advised central universities in a letter to teach courses based on student demand and the number of admissions in the particular courses.
4. The Government of Gujarat has launched the Student Startup and Innovation Policy (SSIP) 2.0, which aims to financially support innovation at school level. 

Health 

1. Assam, Chandigarh, Gujarat, Haryana and Punjab have announced a ban on unvaccinated people from accessing public places amidst rising COVID-19 cases.
2. The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) has released the revised guidelines for managing healthcare workers working in COVID and non-COVID areas of medical facilities, international arrivals into India, home isolation and the revised discharge policy for patients infected with COVID-19. 
3. The Union government has announced Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar 2021-22 to award schools for cleanliness and COVID-19 preparedness.

State Policy News

1. The Department of Social Welfare and Women Development, Tamil Nadu has released the draft for State Policy for Women, 2021 which aims to empower the women population in the state. The complete draft is available here.
2. The Government of Telangana has increased the existing wages of 29,804 sanitation workers comprising 22,533 public health workers and 7,271 non-public health workers by ₹4,107. 
3. The State Assembly of Haryana has passed the Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Bill which provides 75% reservation for local youth in private sector jobs whose salary is less than ₹30,000 a month.
4. The State Assembly of Jharkhand has passed a bill to prevent mob violence and lynching in the state, becoming the third state in the country to have anti-lynching laws after West Bengal and Rajasthan. 

Other News

1. The President’s office has given assent to the Appropriation (No. 5) Act, 2021 which authorises the Union government to spend an additional ₹3.73 lakh crore during the current fiscal.
2. The Prime Minister has announced 16 January to be celebrated as National Startup Day to emphasise the importance of startups in the nation’s economic growth in coming years. 
3. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has launched a WhatsApp chatbot, MyBMC Assist to make it easier for Mumbai citizens to reach out to the administration and access a range of resources.