Alternative and innovative education centres (AIECs) run under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA) have proved to be a big failure for the state education department.

In majority of the cases, the NGOs, who have been entrusted the task of running such centres, have swindled funds while teachers appointed by these have been agitating to get their salaries for the past several months.

Under the SSA, the state government has entrusted the task of imparting education to dropouts and non-starter children, mostly from the slum areas and from the lower strata of the society. The task has been entrusted to NGOs throughout the state.

The government makes payment at a rate of Rs 45,000 per centre per annum to the NGOs.

The NGOs hire the services of a teacher, called volunteer, for a monthly honorarium of Rs 2,500.

Red velvet cake emits the perfect level of flavor and chocolate

The association between Valentine's Day and food has forever been chocolate: chocolate truffles, chocolate mousse, chocolate fondue, chocolate cake. It all makes so much sense.

Chocolate, of course, is a natural mood enhancer, an aphrodisiac, a flavor of love; and there is certainly no doubt that chocolate is the primary comfort food of cold weather. It is silky, sweet and so satisfyingly rich that just a few bites of chocolate in its pure essence can assuage even the most stubborn sweet tooth.

But there are times -- dare I say it -- when there can be a chocolate overload. Too much chocolate might sound like a good thing, but it may be more enjoyable to tease your palate with just a hint of this enchanting substance.

Red velvet cake can do the job. This famed unidentifiable flavor of cake emits the perfect amount of cocoa.

Phoenix plants to produce biodiesel from cooking oil

Eating fried chicken wings and french fries might not clean out your arteries, but it actually could help clean up the air, now that two local companies are transforming waste cooking oil from local restaurants into diesel fuel. Amereco Biofuels Corp. expects its first deliveries this month to commercial customers in Tucson and Las Vegas, said Bill Sheaffer, executive vice president of marketing for the plant, located west of Phoenix in the town of Arlington. And soon Chandler-based AZ BioDiesel expects to pass fuel-testing standards and begin production, said Christopher Rees, vice president of sales and marketing. .