What rural folk need is motivation
V B SALUNKE, a 58-year-old social worker, abandoned his engineering firm in 1972 to mobilise villagers towards community participation in the …
Large promises
Prime Minister Vajpayee is terribly interested in rural development these days. On his birthday he inaugurated Swajaldhara, a nation-wide water …
Fuel for food
While energy consumption surveys have shown a very high level of firewood consumption, various forest departments have shown very low levels of …
How enabling is ICT?
In February, 100-odd people got together at the quaint little town of Baramati. All had a common goal: to exchange ideas on the use of …
We want to ensure an NGO in every village
Anna Hazare's name is synonymous with rural development and people's power. Hazare had once again hit the headlines in May by undertaking a fast …
Indian science must stop merely aping West
Cynicism is perhaps the natural fallout of a long career within the government machinery. But when Yash Pal, one of the country's leading …
Murder mystery in Bihar
The killing of two social activists has left behind a series of unanswered questions. On the evening of January 24 social activists Sarita and …
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. …
Kangra safe corners
The Himalaya is the youngest range of mountains in the world are immensely prone to earthquakes. The entire range falls in seismic zone 5 and 4 - …
Impotent plan?
In August 2005, the Indian Parliament passed the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (nrega). The latest avatar of state-financed employment …
Whose budget is it, Mr Jaitley?
Being the first full year budget of the National Democratic Alliance government, there was expectation that the finance minister's announcements …
Power the people
For the country where only 15 per cent of its population have access to electricity, Nepal has come a long way. It took 84 years to achieve power …
Aaj Ka Roadshow
Liberalisation in India has not only affected humdrum life, but also popular cultural forms. This is palpable in the changing dynamics of the big …
SUBSIDISED KILLING
They may survive the drought. But they cannot survive government policies. When people have to abandon their livestock, they are reduced to misery,…
A watershed plan
Recurrent droughts and floods coupled with mass poverty, chronic unemployment and pervasive malnutrition are the major challenges before India. …
Saga of two villages
Sukhomajri was a dirt-poor village in Haryana. It started pulling itself out of its hole in the late 1970s, making a dizzying ascent to …
The panchayat outrage
It was a vote for self-governance, not self-determination. No panchayat election in the country ever created as much hype as that of Jammu and …
Hiware Bazar - A village with 54 millionaires
Hiware Bazar, a village in Maharashtra's drought-prone Ahmednagar district, was sliding into an abyss after degrading its environment. But in …
Rights without benefits
Over 1.3 million tribals and forest dwellers have got rights over the land they had been using for years under the Forest Rights Act. This can, …
Starting young, changing lives
This boy from Bihar does not leave a single stone unturned to ensure that children in his village can study in proper schools
Government releases new socio-economic census data
The findings of the new report will place pressure on the government to redefine BPL households and the poverty line
Powering people
Proliferating grassroots level activity in Orissa is empowering villagers, taking them closer to a fairytale end to unending tales of poverty and …
Urbane and stupid
Sitting in urban comforts and planning for a rural set-up can only spell doom for any activity on the development front, for the village is a …
Rural development schemes up for overhaul
Ministry of panchayati raj plans to develop model panchayats in different states through integrated development
Smart tech will only work for women when the fundamentals for its uptake are in place
If we want to tackle the underlying causes of gender inequality, to build smart and innovate for change, then technology is good