Inheritance of loss

Whatever the poverty line, 50 per cent people in India will remain poor

Last ditch attempt

UPA gives sops under MGNREGS to attract rural voters ahead of elections

Funds for social welfare cut drastically in revised budget estimates

Ministers write protest letters to prime minister and finance minister, saying it would greatly impact ongoing schemes

RTI activists’ murders: Jairam Ramesh demands prompt action, compensation to families

Rural development minister’s letter to Nitish Kumar includes four suggestions for better implementation of social welfare schemes

Two Andhra villages get bamboo rights

The gram panchayat can earn up to Rs 1 crore a year, says Jairam Ramesh

Who are the poor?

Identifying the poor and measuring the poverty is a contentious issue. Poverty line is not a sacred line. At best, it indicates how far the …

GDP ignores cost to the environment

Can this flawed measure of growth be reversed?

Poverty level will increase if health expenditure included

Planning Commission factors in less than one rupee a day as health expenditure in its affidavit to the apex court

Who are the poor?

Planning Commission's poverty estimates do not reflect ground reality

Tricks of diminishing returns

Clever calculations and the great wall of bureaucracy

Tryst with rain

Following the monsoon failure of 1999-2000, two states - Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh - launched crash programmes to encourage water harvesting. An …

Will land Bill cross Rajya Sabha hurdle?

Narendra Modi government accuses rival parties of opposing amendments in the land acquisition law for the sake of opposition

A new roadblock

Tribal affairs ministry objects to Maharashtra's Village Forest Rules that violate FRA. Other ministeries pressure it to backtrack

Another village, this time in Odisha, gets official permit to sell bamboo

Though Jamguda was conferred community forest right two years ago, it was not allowed to cart bamboo out or sell it in the market

MGNREGA funds scam in Bihar could have been prevented

Initiative to make wage payment to workers transparent was stalled by officialdom

Between Maoists and mines

Ho tribals lose hold of Saranda as mining is set to take over the pristine sal forest. A report and photographs by Sayantan Bera

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, …

Maoist insurgency

Land struggles and growth of India’s red corridor

Bihar lowers wage under MGNREGA

State blames poor financial condition for the move

Letters

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

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 …

Microcredit scheme for solar lighting system

Rural families pay less than what they spent on kerosene lamps for off-grid lighting

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