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

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

Maoist insurgency

Land struggles and growth of India’s red corridor

Bihar lowers wage under MGNREGA

State blames poor financial condition for the move

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

Criminal neglect takes toll on Attappady tribes

30 infants die in five months as result of malnutrition; rural development minister announces Rs 125 crore package

Rs 60 crore for 250,000 panchayats

The Centre's decision to reduce Panchayati Raj Ministry's budget and transfer its schemes to states has left the ministry bewildered about its …

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 …

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 …

Looking forward to the past

Portrait of a village indifferent to the urge to move with the times

Defining environment stories

In the Western approach to stories on the environment, topics are wrapped in neat packages: from rainforests to big dams. But writing on rural …

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 …

Improving village life will keep villager home

Voluntary agencies will have to come up with ways to make the village peaceful and productive. Only a satisfying life in the village will prevent …

Fielding politics

Commitment of a donor organisation to bring about a shift in the agrarian set-up should be matched by political machinations as well

India, and not Bharat

Why the mainstream media prefers the former, and not the farmer

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 …

Poverty alleviation: investment or mere sop?

After successive reductions, can increased allocations for rural development, agriculture, education and health be effective?

Homegrown experts offered for "sale" abroad

Chakriya Vikas Pranali, a rural organisation, has a unique approach to ecological regeneration based on informed agricultural practices. This …