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

South Asia

In short

Cast away

After being at the receiving end of both militants and the state government, Kashmir's village heads are now threatening to boycott next year's …

Global democracy tilts at the axis

Are the "forces of freedom" in the West muscular enough to deepen democracy at the global level?

Drumming it in

Should local communities pay for Western notions of 'global benefit'?

Healing Afghanistan

The karez system could solve the country's water problems

Works unwell

Employment guarantee scheme workers in Rajasthan do not get their dues

A tale of two villages beguiled by JRY

The panchayats of Sonrai in Uttar Pradesh and Palana in Rajasthan share a Jawahar Rozgar Yojana experience. Both ignored the water needs of the …

At farm's hand

Search on for a new model

Search on for a new model

Economy created by NREGA threatens a way of life

Reading between poverty lines

Is the latest poverty estimate a true indicator of rural poor in India?  

The fundamental shift

Return to the basics: create jobs in the hinterland

Losing shine

Falling profits discourage silk farmers

Identity crisis

Whether bamboo is a grass or a tree is a question of survival for many

Living off leaves

Sal leaf trade has enormous potential but suffers abject neglect

At which road head?

Not the path of economic growth, but the trail leading back to the village is the answer

NREGA needs a paradigm shift

Movement for worse

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

A debt-ridden state can offer little to its indebted farmers

Mourn

But it is better to take Andhra Pradesh as a challenge

Village Punukula's different

Managing yields without pesticides

Out on their own

Government delivery programmes provide little support to farmers