Rural poor lose 5% of income to heat stress every year, more vulnerable to future climate risks

Every day of extreme precipitation causes poor households to lose 0.8 per cent of their incomes relative to non-poor households

No end to discrimination against Punjab’s Dalit women labourers, says study

A recent study examined 927 Dalit women labour households across four districts. A lot of them reeled under debt, faced sexual harassment 

Forget 2022, more than 110 million Indians would remain poor forever

The next generation of the current poor Indians has high probability of remaining poor as well. Lack of access to resources like forests and …

COVID-19 aftershocks: This is an economic collapse triggered by a health crisis

Mehrotra is visiting professor, Centre for Development, University of Bath, UK, and former economics professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi

Mass poverty is back in India

After 45 years, the world’s fastest poverty-reducing country adds the maximum poor in a year  

Rural youth population rising in agriculturally rich areas, but …

A new, global report explains why unemployment rate among rural men and women has tripled since 2011-12

Punjab Assembly Elections 2022: Dalit votes matter, but what about their issues

Punjab’s political parties have hardly focussed on addressing issues of the state’s landless rural Dalits and the cateism the …

COVID-19: Why are the migrant workers so desperate to move out?

Partition migration was triggered by a newly drawn line between two nations whereas the present exodus highlights another kind of divide, within …

Deforestation rate slowed down: FAO

The pace of loss of forests has slowed in recent years even though the world’s forest area decreased from 31% to 30% between 1990 and 2015

Most poor people in Asia-Pacific region live in rural areas

Countries in the region have not been able to address rural poverty despite economic growth, says an IFAD report

Bhukh chala gaya, dukh nahi: The new hunger problem stalking India’s poorest region

Government schemes have brought food to people in Koraput, Kalahandi and Bastar; but they still do not have sustainable livelihoods

Why inequality is India’s worst enemy

India’s per capita gross domestic product increased five times between 2000 and 2019. The income, however, is concentrated only in a few …

Report places rural transformation at the heart of economic development

IFAD report bats for emphasis on agriculture and employment to reduce rural poverty

Farmers demand law for guaranteed income

Participants voice concern on drought, farmers' suicide and water conservation, among other issues

Government quells homestead land rights protest with yet another assurance

Activists have been demanding that the land reforms Bill be brought in Parliament since 2012

International Day of Rural Women: It’s time we recognise their lives and livelihood

Rural women are active agents of socio-economic change. As we celebrate the day on October 15, there is a need to pull them out of the …

'Indian elections will always be unpredictable'

For 25 years, economist Ruchir Sharma has travelled the length and breadth of India analysing voting paterns, sociological landscapes and nuances …

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 …

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 …