MGNREGS: ‘Monument of failure’ or ‘saviour’?
On the 10th anniversary of the rural job guarantee scheme, Down To Earth evaluates its successes and drawbacks
Why this abandoned village is a threat to Uttarakhand
People are abandoning their villages despite high economic growth, leaving behind few, who find it difficult to continue farming without …
India’s poverty: There is no end to Surjit Bhalla’s imagination
The IMF executive director has just declared that India was nearly free of extreme poverty in 2020 and inequality was lowest in 40 years due to …
Migration should be out of choice, not a desperate last resort: FAO head
Large-scale cross-border movements in recent years have sparked tensions in some countries, placing migration high on the diplomatic agenda
India needs the ‘Garibi Hatao’ slogan back
Anti-poverty programmes must be universal, not just on a below or above poverty line matrix
India heads to an unprecedented rural economic crisis
Fifth consecutive drought for 1/3 districts, dipping rural wages, El Nino threatening monsoon have squeezed livelihood options for over 500 …
Comanagement of natural resources Local learning for poverty education
Book COMANAGEMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES LOCAL LEARNING FOR POVERTY REDUCTION *by Stephen R Tyler* International Development Research Centre
Budget 2023-24: Whither rural development? Allocation for livelihood and other schemes sees 14% cuts
Funds for central sector schemes and projects have been reduced to 113 crore from Rs 126 crore
Culture of random, centralised monitoring is killing the spirit of MGNREGA
We do not need systems that alienate people from work and give further control to bureaucracy and frontline functionaries who are responsible for …
COVID-19 impact: World will have 150 million ‘new extreme poor people’ in 2021
This is nearly twice the number of ‘new extreme poor’ estimated by the World Bank in April 2020
Eye-opening study on Punjab's rural women labourers poses many questions in poll season
High debts, sexual exploitation, gender disparity, caste discrimination and exclusion from the political process continue to bedevil these mostly …
Rural households have higher debt than urban counterparts: NSSO report
The debt in rural households is higher, even though their total assets are less than urban households
Rise And Rise Of MFIs
Microfinance institutions entered big lending five years ago and registered 83 per cent growth
Alleviating poverty: Forests, trees can be trump card post COVID-19, says report
The World Bank has projected extreme poverty to increase for the first time in 20 years due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Poor India speaks
book>> Caterpillar and the Mahua Flower, Tremors in India's Mining Fields edited by Rakesh Kalshian Panos South Asia New Delhi 2007
MGNREGA graft: Social audit finds irregularities worth Rs 54 lakh in Rajasthan
Corruption was unearthed in 2022 after the workers from Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan in Barmer reported the issue to the Rajasthan government
India stopped counting poor; now the world in bind on how to achieve zero poverty by 2030
World Bank’s latest poverty report highlights how absence of poverty data in India — junked by the government last year — …
'Privatisation has increased rural neglect'
The northeast has been badly affected by ethnic strife. DILIP GOGOI of Cotton College, Guwahati, on its vulnerabilit
World Environment Day 2023: Rural India bears the brunt of climate change
Climate change is a global challenge with local implications; important to build coping mechanisms for rural communities
Rise of livestock
Agriculture sector undergoes a historic change as livestock surpasses the economy of food grain
How India remains poor: Has poverty become ‘hereditary’
Millions of Indian households transfer poverty to the next generation, making poverty eradication nearly impossible
'Social protection: a safety net for agricultural households'
In the run up to World Food Day on October 16, a Food and Agriculture Organization report focuses on the role of social protection in …
Tackling poverty
INDIA: REDUCING POVERTY, ACCELERATING DEVELOPMENT, A WORLD BANK COUNTRY STUDY·Oxford University Press·New Delhi·260 pages
Panchayat Raj Half a cheer for democracy
There is a great push to make panchayats the fulcrum of rural development in India. But 16 years after the third tier of government was created, …
Into the abyss?
The situation of India's farmers has only become grimmer in the past decade, according to the latest National Sample Survey Office report