Protocol to protect RTI activists in the works

If a single panchayat-level activist can expose corruption worth Rs 25 lakh, then each needs protection for effective implementation of …

A million opportunities lost

The ruling alliance’s flagship rural employment programme took unprecedented strides in creating water conservation structures across the …

Bihar elections 2020: Who is talking about safai karmacharis?

The Bihar govt refuses to identify manual scavengers; the latter continue to face abuse and death threats 

Mr Prime Minister good news

The finance minister has said that the government is committed to double farmers' income in five years. Here are a few villages across the …

How tribal leadership in Chhattisgarh is helping people access rights

The civil society’s intervention in the tribal regions began in early 1980s on two issues-sustainable livelihood, particularly in forest …

DRDA faces axe

District Rural Development Agency in conflict with Constitution; committee suggests its abolition

Water turns the tide

A barren district of Rajasthan is seeing development, thanks to rains last year and flood in 2006

Sure cure: how to tackle India's undernutrition crisis in 10 steps

The finance ministry and the planning department can play an overarching role by ensuring health programmes get sufficient resources

After a week in office, Modi government sets its agenda

The new government faces its first parliamentary session. Down To Earth puts together the agenda of the government in key sectors

Tapping the skills of the gun makers of Munger

Traditional gun makers in Bihar's Munger district are exceptionally skilled; with a little help they could find jobs in legal arms factories

The poverty quibble

Government claims a huge drop in poverty numbers but critical indicators—health, malnutrition and wages—continue to be grim. So how …

Union Budget 2021-22: Time to step up public investment in nutrition

Nutrition interventions, with an already faltering coverage, hit a blockade due to COVID-19 disruptions; the Union Budget is a critical …

COVID-19: Even skilled workers line up for MGNREGA in Kurukshetra

With economic recovery uncertain, those who would earlier avoid central job schemes are now ready to take up work

Usage of toilets in India is over 95 per cent, reveals new NSSO survey

This finding is, however, from a two-month rapid survey, considered too short by experts

Centre eases rules for accessing watershed programme funds

States that are currently facing severe drought are the ones who have spent the least on soil conservation and water conservation

Channels of change

Two villages in Uttar Pradesh have reversed the trend of migration by digging six kilometres of channels to bring water to drought-hit farms

Gaps galore

BRANCHING OUT: JOINT FOREST MANAGEMENT IN INDIA Nalini Sundar et al • Oxford University Press • New Delhi • 2001 • 289pp

INEVITABLE TRAGEDY

SOPAN JOSHI travels through Andhra Pradesh, only to find that beyond the immediate crisis of state-wide farmers' suicide lies one decade of …

NDA introduces changes in MGNREGA

Rural development ministry to make social audit compulsory; create more durable assets in blocks and districts, instead of villages

Will rural flagship schemes change under Modi?

Officials admit that MGNREGS and rural road development programmes suffered shortcomings in UPA regime

Nepal's poor carry it off

As the Himalayan country's forestry scheme for the poor reaps rich dividends, its government entrusts more degraded areas to the underprivileged. …

Raw Deal

Scepticism hangs over Kerala's Tribal Rehabilitation and Development Mission and its master plan

As told to Parliament (December 22, 2022): Around 60% of India prone to earthquakes

Around 11% of India falls in Zone V, which is the most seismically active 

'Social protection: a safety net for agricultural households'

In the run up to World Food Day on October 16, a Food and Agriculture Organization report focuses on the role of social protection in …

Water-stressed in India: Lessons from Telangana’s Sangareddy district

From Kakatiya mission in 2016 to Jal Shakti Abhiyan in 2019 — how de-silting of Pedda Cheruvu tank helped fix groundwater levels &…