How MGNREGA blew Rs 10,853 crore

The “little known” success story of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) has unfolded as a disaster. …

The poorest shun MGNREGA

Participation of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes in the scheme has halved in five years

Australia divided over carbon trading

24 deaths in 2 months

Jobs Jobs Jobs

The government is obsessed with economic growth. Employment is bound to follow, it claims. That's a delusion. The swelling numbers of unemployed …

How historical methods helped landless farmers earn a living

Farmers revive traditional retention ponds that drain water during floods and retain moisture in droughts

Water-stressed in India: Curious case of 2 neighbouring Telangana districts

The contrast in the districts’ JSA rankings was due to proper implementation of schemes

नई सरकार के सामने न्यू इंडिया में भारत को बचाने की चुनौती

मोदी सरकार के सामने चुनौती होगी कि वह किसानों को फसल का उचित दाम दिलाए और ग्रामीण क्षेत्र में रोजगार के पर्याप्त इंतजाम करने ...

Irrigation sector gets boost in Union Budget

Apart from generous budgetary allocation, the government will utilise MGNREGS to increase the water harvesting potential of drought-affected …

Political economy of welfare

The BJP-led government's change of heart for big-ticket rural programmes says a lot about its dwindling political fortune

Rivulet resurrected in 45 days

Thousands of people working under NREGS bring a 38 km stream back from the dead in Uttar Pradesh

Giant snail invasion

People in Kerala village spend nights battling large snails that devour plants and nibble at walls  

Deforestation rampant in Malawi as residents chop forests to produce charcoal for fuel

Charcoal trade has emerged as a viable means of livelihood for the power-starved villagers

MGNREGS workers in Kerala to get pension

State and Centre to contribute Rs 1,000 each per head

Elusive hunt for skills and jobs

Budget outlays will not do much for job creation or readying youth for skilled work

Jairam Ramesh releases NREGS funds to Uttar Pradesh with conditions attached

Move coincides with Rahul Gandhi's public relations campaign in poll-bound state

Afforestation wages in cash

Chhattisgarh violates Supreme Court order

Give small players in food retail a new deal

Movement for worse

The marginalised from Western Odisha who migrate out of the state lead difficult lives

The poor? They are the government's problem

Agents of change

Gramdoots, or village volunteers, mobilise people to get government machinery moving

The swing

More women than men are voting in India. Majority of them are from rural areas

Twice Unlucky

In 1962, it was the Indo-Chinese war. Now it is the creation of the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve. Once again, the Bhotiyas, who inhabit the …

Barring the muck

The Tihar jail exemplifies how efficient waste management not only makes our surroundings clean, but also endows us with economic benefits. What …

Tragopan country