Latest news with #CSS
Indian Express
3 days ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
Right to education is non-negotiable. It shouldn't depend on Centre-state relations
Written by Mayuri Gupta In a quiet yet telling move, last month Tamil Nadu moved the Supreme Court against the Centre for freezing educational funds. The Centre informed the Rajya Sabha during the 2025 Budget session that it allocated no funds to Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and West Bengal under the Centre's share for the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan for 2024–25. These states are not underperformers; rather, they have been long recognised for their robust education systems. Notably, this freeze isn't a clerical error or a mere budgetary oversight. It reflects a worrying trend of politicised fiscal federalism, one that not only threatens the constitutional promise of equality and cooperative governance but also strikes at the heart of the fundamental right to education. At the heart of this federal standoff is the Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) that play a pivotal (and sometimes outsized) role in governance. They are conditional grants under the Constitution that are unilaterally designed and partially funded by the Centre and implemented by the state governments. The disbursal of the Centre's share under the CSS depends on certain conditions and is tied to a set of procedural and compliance-related requirements. For instance, Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan is an umbrella scheme for school education under the Ministry of Education. It integrates three CSS: Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE) aimed at equitable quality school education across India — from pre-school to senior secondary level — while also supporting teacher-training and system strengthening. The fund-sharing ratio between the Centre and the states (other than NE states) is 60:40. In the absence of transparency and uniform enforcement, CSS risks becoming a tool of fiscal coercion in the hands of the Centre rather than an instrument to further cooperative governance. This undermines the spirit of federalism. This is because, CSS funding framework is not governed by a dedicated statute, but by executive guidelines under Article 282 of the Constitution. Article 282 enables the Union as well as the states to make discretionary grants, even beyond their respective legislative competences, for any 'public purpose'. Although Article 282 was never intended to be a regular route for fiscal transfers from the Union to the states, over the years, several 'one-size-fits-all' discretionary schemes have allowed the Centre's control over matters beyond its legislative competence. This hampers the autonomy of states and, at times, leads to inefficient overlaps. For instance, the Centre has linked the release of funds for Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan to the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the PM SHRI Schools scheme by the states, which TN, West Bengal and Kerala are opposing. This has halted admissions for the academic year 2025-26 under the Right to Education Act in Tamil Nadu, illustrating how CSS, with their strict conditions and lack of flexibility, can hamper state capacity. When CSS are used as a political tool rather than a policy instrument, the foundational ideals of cooperative federalism begin to erode, with the poorest, and in this case, the children, paying the price. Right to education is guaranteed in Article 21A of the Constitution, which makes free and compulsory education a fundamental right for all children between 6 to 14 years of age. However, the realisation of the right to education depends on cooperative federalism as education comes under the Concurrent list. Yet, the top-down approach towards education through CSS can risk transforming a fundamental right into a bargaining chip, contrary to the spirit of the Constitution. As there is no clear constitutional or statutory framework governing the design and implementation of CSS, the ongoing standoff between TN and the Centre presents an important opportunity for the Supreme Court to examine whether certain rights-based entitlements (such as the fundamental right to education) should be protected from coercive tactics by one tier of government against another. When the implementation of the Right to Education is routed through other schemes, it risks making access to fundamental rights contingent upon political alignments between the governments. This weakens both the principle of cooperative federalism and the fundamental right to education. The current stand-off raises a deeper constitutional question: Can access to fundamental rights be made conditional on political conformity in a federal democracy? The Constitution does not permit a framework where executive discretion or ideological conformity dictates the enforcement of rights that are meant to be universal and inalienable. The current case offers the SC a rare opportunity to answer the above question by revisiting its interpretation of Article 282 and drawing clear constitutional limits on the use of CSS, to restore balance in Centre-State relations and ensure that fundamental rights remain non-negotiable. The writer is Milon K Banerji, Senior Resident Fellow at Charkha, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Wesco Announces the Promotion of Dirk Naylor to Executive Vice President and General Manager of Communications and Security Solutions
PITTSBURGH, June 17, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Wesco International (NYSE: WCC), a leading provider of business-to-business distribution, logistics services and supply chain solutions, announced today that effective June 30, 2025, Dirk Naylor is promoted to Executive Vice President and General Manager, Communications and Security Solutions (CSS). Mr. Naylor succeeds William C. Geary II, who has tendered his resignation from Wesco to become the chief executive officer of a large, private equity-backed company. Mr. Naylor has been a member of the Company's leadership team since 2005, demonstrating excellent strategic vision and operational expertise. During his tenure, Mr. Naylor supported many Communications and Security Solutions' key initiatives, including the Company's successful cross-selling program, the acquisition of Rahi Systems in 2022, and the formation of Wesco Data Center Solutions, as well as the acquisition of Ascent, LLC, in 2024. He most recently held the role of Senior Vice President and General Manager, USA and Global Accounts. "Wesco's commitment to excellence is reflected in our leadership and the depth of talent on our team. Bill and Dirk have successfully led the transformation of our global CSS organization contributing to its exceptional growth and performance. I would like to recognize them both for their contributions to our organization and congratulate them on their new roles," said Chairman, President and CEO John Engel. Mr. Engel concluded, "I am confident that Dirk's strong leadership, business acumen and track record of profitable sales growth will positively impact Wesco as we continue to take advantage of the secular growth trends in serving the complex needs of our global customers." About WescoWesco International (NYSE: WCC) builds, connects, powers and protects the world. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Wesco is a FORTUNE 500® company with approximately $22 billion in annual sales in 2024 and a leading provider of business-to-business distribution, logistics services and supply chain solutions. Wesco offers a best-in-class product and services portfolio of Electrical and Electronic Solutions, Communications and Security Solutions, and Utility and Broadband Solutions. The Company employs approximately 20,000 people, partners with the industry's premier suppliers, and serves thousands of customers around the world. With millions of products, end-to-end supply chain services, and leading digital capabilities, Wesco provides innovative solutions to meet customer needs across commercial and industrial businesses, contractors, educational institutions, government agencies, technology companies, telecommunications providers, and utilities. Wesco operates more than 700 sites, including distribution centers, fulfillment centers, and sales offices in approximately 50 countries, providing a local presence for customers and a global network to serve multi-location businesses and global corporations. Contact Information: Scott Gaffner, CFASenior Vice President, Investor Relations980-346-2233 Jennifer SnidermanVice President, Corporate Communications 717-579-6603 View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Wesco International Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Time of India
14-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
CM Naidu for zero tolerance structure against corruption
Vijayawada: Chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu directed officials to establish a governance system that ensures zero tolerance towards corruption across all departments. In a review meeting held at the Undavalli camp office, Naidu stressed that corruption, wherever detected, must be swiftly investigated and punished. The review focused on public feedback collected through IVRS and CSS surveys regarding various govt schemes. Officials informed the chief minister that the current coalition govt recorded the highest satisfaction ratings in one year. Naidu called for a technical audit of these surveys to identify service gaps and ensure improvements in areas of dissatisfaction. The chief minister emphasised ten critical public issues, including welfare, employment generation, road development, and healthcare. He announced that job fairs would be held in all 175 constituencies and that the Mana Mitra WhatsApp governance platform would be rolled out by August 15 to streamline service delivery. He also instructed officials to explore alternatives such as coupons, direct cash transfers, or home delivery of rations for the elderly and differently-abled. Public satisfaction reports showed encouraging trends in pensions, health services, temple amenities, municipal services, and transport. Naidu insisted that services with lower ratings must be improved urgently. Follow more information on Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad here . Get real-time live updates on rescue operations and check full list of passengers onboard AI 171 .
Boston Globe
13-06-2025
- Health
- Boston Globe
Three years ago, teenage athlete Preston Settles collapsed on a basketball court. His legacy lives on.
'Preston was a fun-loving, life-loving kid, with a little bit of devilish thrown in as well. He had fun, he loved his friends, and he enjoyed life every day. He had a great time; no bad days. He could disarm people and really get to know people. I love the fact that, when you were with him, he was just locked in. He wasn't walking out the door. If he was here to talk, he'd flop on my bed and was all present,' Owens says. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up On Wednesday, he definitely was present: The family held a fund-raiser for the Preston Settles Memorial Fund at The Cyclorama at the Boston Center for the Arts. The funds go toward providing automated external defibrillators (AEDs) to every youth-supporting facility in Massachusetts. In addition to food from star chefs like Douglass Williams and Lydia Shire, live music, and a casino, there was a strong medical component: Zoll Medical Corporation, which manufactures AEDs, was on-site to teach people how to use them. The American Heart Association trained guests in CPR. Advertisement Sign up for Parenting Unfiltered. Globe staff #mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; } /* Add your own Mailchimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block. We recommend moving this block and the preceding CSS link to the HEAD of your HTML file. */ Subscribe * indicates required E-mail * 'We're trying to make people aware that AEDs have got to be in a place where people can actually see them and know where they are. We need to start thinking about that at all times. It doesn't matter whether the kid is 15 years old, as my son was, or if it's a 65-year-old male or female,' says Settles, a longtime restaurateur and real estate developer. 'AEDs are so efficient; they actually tell you what to do. I'll tell you: I had no idea there was such a thing as a portable AED before my son collapsed.' Last year, to raise more awareness, the family introduced Bill H.4121 (The Preston Settles 'Every Minute Counts' Act). This legislation will require AEDs at all public sporting events in the state with identifiable trained personnel to facilitate their use when needed. The bill is currently wending through the state Senate for final approval. Preston Settles died of sudden cardiac arrest spurred by hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). With HCM, the heart muscle thickens. This can be asymptomatic, but the thickening can also cause shortness of breath, chest pain, and life-threatening irregular heartbeats, potentially leading to sudden cardiac death (SCD). SCD is the leading cause of death among young athletes — but rare enough that, when it happens, not enough people know how to react. When a kid drops on a field, people can go into freeze mode. Owens wants parents and bystanders to know what to do, similar to being able to react quickly when a fire alarm goes off. Advertisement 'My goal is not for anybody to be scared or fearful. The goal is for people to be prepared. If there's fire, if we smell smoke, we think about where we're going to go. We think about exits. Some families might have a meeting place. Fire is a reality, and sudden cardiac arrest is a reality,' Owens says. 'When someone is having an arrest, recognize the signs and then have that same stop, drop, roll response that was drilled into our heads when we were kids.' The family wants to ensure that schools and teams have fully enforced emergency response plans and that everyone — parents, coaches, spectators — knows where to locate the nearest, easily accessible AED and is up to date on CPR training. As a clinician and a mom, Owens wants other parents to know: 'If your kids are lightheaded, dizzy, or having palpitations, have the lowest threshold to get them checked out by their doctor. Don't assume it's dehydration,' she says. Dr. Carolyn Ho, medical director of the Cardiovascular Genetics Center at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, tested the Settles family for HCM in the wake of Preston's death. A cardiac MRI revealed that Darryl Settles has a minor cardiac thickening; he now has a defibrillator. Preston Settles died at 15 after collapsing on the basketball court during a game at Brooks School in North Andover. Handout While a cardiac MRI is an advanced step, Ho wants families to begin by examining their personal history: Are there other family members with a history of cardiac problems? Sometimes, though — 'and this is the thing that's scary,' she says — there just aren't preceding symptoms or family history. HCM can appear seemingly out of nowhere. Worse, many athletes are conditioned to push through physical discomfort. Advertisement 'Cardiac arrest can happen to healthy youngsters or elite athletes, who by definition are in great shape and super-active. Athletes are trained to ignore signs. If you're tired, throw up, or are hot, you're meant to keep pushing through,' Ho warns. Some countries have universal participation screenings for young athletes, where they undergo EKGs before being cleared to play sports. This isn't an easily scalable solution, though, and can also uncover incidental and harmless findings, leading to needless tests and worry. Instead, Ho says, 'The first line of defense is parents or coaches keeping an eye out. If something seems out of the ordinary, have your child's doctor take a good family history and a physical. If they detect a murmur or an abnormality,' she says, successive testing might include an echocardiogram, stress tests, monitoring for arrhythmias, or the MRI that diagnosed Darryl Settles. 'Kids often have a hard time reporting their symptoms and don't have language or experience to describe it. Coaches and parents need to pay attention,' she says. Owens also wants the parent community to understand grief. After Preston's death, Owens began working with the palliative care and bereavement group at Boston Children's Hospital and going to bereavement therapy. The treatment is targeted, but she points out that grief pervades every aspect of her life. The Settles Family: Lisa, Preston, Taylor, and Darryl. Handout 'Grief doesn't stay only in the 'I lost my person' box. That grief affects all the other aspects of your life. … It infiltrates everything. Doing grief work and therapy has helped me carry it with me: It's like a lovely sweater that I wear all the time that I love — because grief is love. You can't have one without the other,' she says. Advertisement As a physician, her personal grief has deepened her compassion for patients. 'You know, we think as parents about the gifts that we want to give our kids. In losing Preston, there are all these gifts that he has given to me — deeper compassion, being present,' Owens says. And here's another lesson: She loves it when patients, or anyone in the community, mentions his name. 'For me, it was important to be open about our story. I think loss in general is really hard, and loss in the United States is handled differently than in other cultures,' she says. 'Grief is OK, and we should work on it and not just try and put it in a box under the table.' Owens often thinks about small talk — 'How was your weekend? How was your vacation?' — and 'people don't really want to know. They want to hear that it's OK. I think we don't have a way to communicate and understand and receive people, or really be open when people say, 'It's tough,'' she says. 'When you lose somebody, you want to talk about your person. People love it when you say their name — because that means they're still around. When [patients] say, 'I'm so sorry to hear about Preston,' I'm like: 'Oh my gosh! You really remember that my son's name is Preston?' It's a little thing, but it's huge.' Darryl Settles, a Advertisement 'I'm not going to be one of those guys who works until I'm 85. I went on a three-and-a-half-week holistic retreat in Vancouver after my son passed away. At that retreat, one of the things they talked about was: Nothing is promised. Retire when you can. Most people wait until they're in their 70s or even later to retire, and they want to do their bucket list, but their body won't allow them to. Enjoy life while your body allows you to do everything that you want to do. I've doubled down on that,' he says. Learn more about the Preston Settles Memorial Fund at Kara Baskin can be reached at
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Axio BioPharma and Likarda Announce Strategic Partnership to Accelerate Biologic Drug Development and Delivery
Partnership combines AI-powered protein manufacturing with advanced drug delivery technologies to accelerate timelines and improve therapeutic outcomes. MADISON, Wis. and KANSAS CITY, Mo., June 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Axio BioPharma Inc., a next-generation biomanufacturing company using AI to transform mammalian protein production, and Likarda Inc., a leader in advanced drug delivery and formulation technologies, today announced a strategic partnership to accelerate innovation in biologic drug development. This collaboration will integrate Likarda's proprietary delivery technologies with Axio's manufacturing capabilities, creating a more efficient and scalable path to clinical manufacturing for clients across the biopharmaceutical sector. Through this collaboration, Axio BioPharma will incorporate Likarda's proprietary delivery platforms— including its Core-Shell Spherification® (CSS®) hydrogel technology for encapsulation, stability, and controlled release —into its service offering, enhancing workflows for monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), bispecifics, and Fc-fusions. Likarda will also offer Axio's discovery-to-GMP manufacturing capabilities to its client base, supporting programs in need of high-quality protein production and scalable manufacturing solutions. "This partnership brings delivery innovation directly into the development process, helping our clients move faster and make better decisions," said Justin Byers, CEO of Axio BioPharma. "By aligning earlier on both delivery and manufacturing, we reduce friction, shorten timelines, and provide integrated solutions that truly support our clients' goals." "At Likarda, we believe that delivery should never be an afterthought—it should be part of the development strategy from day one," said Dr. Stella Vnook, CEO of Likarda Inc. "Partnering with Axio allows us to integrate our encapsulation and formulation technologies earlier in the drug development process, where they can have the greatest impact on stability, efficacy, and patient experience. Importantly, it provides seamless integration to scaled manufacturing for our clients. Together, we're creating a smarter, more connected path from discovery to clinic." This collaboration strengthens Axio's mission of transforming biologic manufacturing through predictive science and digital-first process development. At the same time, it enables Likarda to apply its proprietary delivery technologies earlier in the development cycle, giving clients new efficiencies and expanded therapeutic applications. For partnership inquiries or media contact, please reach out to: Madelyn De Los SantosSenior Advisor, Putnam InsightsMadelyn@ OR Shelly AdamsCCO, Likarda, About Axio BioPharmaAxio BioPharma is an AI biomanufacturing company revolutionizing how monoclonal antibodies are developed and produced. Headquartered in Madison, WI, Axio combines high-throughput experimentation with proprietary machine learning to predict optimal manufacturing processes in hours—not years. By accelerating development timelines and reducing costs, Axio enables biopharma innovators to bring life-saving therapies to market faster and more efficiently. With deep expertise in antibody manufacturing, protein purification, and bioinformatics, Axio supports a wide range of partners across research, diagnostics, and therapeutics with scalable, U.S.-based production and data-enhanced process design. About Likarda Likarda is revolutionizing the delivery of cell therapies, biologics, and small molecules, making these life-changing treatments accessible to more patients with chronic and life-threatening diseases. At the core of Likarda's innovation is Core-Shell Spherification® (CSS®), a highly customizable polymer-based delivery platform. This cutting-edge technology ensures therapeutics are protected, precisely delivered, and retained at their target—whether it's the tumor microenvironment, sites of organ degeneration, or other critical areas. By enabling targeted, sustained release, Likarda's solutions enhance therapeutic efficacy while reducing off-target effects and improving patient outcomes. The platform's versatility supports a range of applications, from immune protection in cell therapy to extended-release biologics, paving the way for next-generation treatments across oncology, regenerative medicine, and other disease areas. With a commitment to innovation, scalability, and accessibility, Likarda is poised to transform drug delivery and expand the reach of advanced therapies. To learn more, visit View original content: SOURCE Axio BioPharma Inc.
