Supreme Court order triggers NREGS wage debate
How much should workers under rural employment scheme be paid if minimum wage fixed by a state is more than that of the Centre?
Green energy takes toll on green cover
A forest generated by residents in Andhra Pradesh's Anantapur district is being destroyed to set up windmills
The small big polluter
Resource crunch and poor regulatory processes have made small-scale industries the pariahs of India's environment
Cash transfers do not benefit
Jitendra visited three districts in Rajasthan to meet people who are supposed beneficiaries of UPA government’s much-touted Direct Benefit …
Will India officially be poverty free in 2023?
National Statistical Office rolling out consumption expenditure sample survey; may note impact of central schemes adding to people’s income
PMO orders huge cuts in social sector spending for 2015-16
Employment guarantee, rural road and sanitation schemes among those likely to be affected
MPs funds to now be used to develop over 2,000 ‘model’ villages
Ministry of rural development will channelise MPs’ funds through different schemes for Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana
Mission possible
The Centre gives India just about eight years to free its villages of open defecation. This seems unlikely. But the states of Sikkim, Haryana and …
Half-way to autonomy
Decisions by Maharashtra’s top forest official can empower gram sabhas prepare plans to revive their forests, but a policy is awaited
Angry Vidarbha farmers vote for BJP
Congress loses its bastion for failing to implement poverty alleviation schemes and inadequate disaster relief for farmers in distress
COVID-19: Centre’s financial package through DBT attracts criticism
Financial assistance given to approximately 390 million beneficiaries, says Union government, countered by experts who say stranded migrants left out
Rare takes on the year just passing by
Being a Down To Earth reporter entails merging the personal with the professional. The magazine you so dearly own has a fascinating world hidden …
Tensions that continue
While launching this newsmagazine, our founder-editor Anil Agarwal had said that in the years ahead, India will have to seize every possible …
‘Rethink economics of poverty’
Want poor families in north India to immunise their children? Offer the parents a small bag of lentils as an incentive and vaccination rates make …
`Family farming is not a romantic idea. It is business'
The food price rise of 2007-08 highlighted that investments in the agriculture sector have reduced in the past three decades. One of the most …
Charming no more
The saperas (snake-charmers) of Delhi loive in a unique colony called Mollarbandhgaon. This community, located next to the Badarpur thermal power …
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. …
Profiting from disaster
Zoramthanga , the chief minister of Mizoram, has many reasons to reminisce the birth of his party, the Mizo National Front, an insurgent group …
The lake colony
Call them the "lakers". Some 10,000 of them. Parts of the Dal (land and water) belong to them. And when they feel the need to make a …
Logjam
Whenever the Supreme Court pulls the trigger, why does it miss the target? Because governments like those of the seven Northeast states work …
Everybody's a Loser
The World Trade Organization's recent ministerial meet in Seattle, USA, will be remembered more for the protestors who turned the venue into a …
A watershed plan
Recurrent droughts and floods coupled with mass poverty, chronic unemployment and pervasive malnutrition are the major challenges before India. …
Manipulating Research
Private funding has given a new meaning to scientific research today. With rising corporate research budgets, academic institutions are leaning …
Small-scale industries: Where regulations are meaningless and pollution control an unaffordable luxury. Can they leapfrog to cost-effective …
Nothing to bank on
The government’s much-hyped Direct Benefit Transfer programme has hit a roadblock. Banks have failed to meet the huge demand for opening …