Unique features of the public wage programme turn it into a magnet for women More women than men work under the national programme that guarantees employment to rural people. In the current fiscal till October, women availed of more than 50 per cent of employment created under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). Their participation has been growing since the inception of the Act in 2006. This is...

Special healthcare awaits children of Jharkhand. Under National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), a check-up drive for students of state-run government schools will be launched from Thursday with the hope of reaching out to about 45 lakh children aged between five and 10. According to Aradhana Patnaik, state director, NRHM, the children will be issued health cards giving them access to regular check-ups every six months and free medical treatment depending on their...

The opening and closing ceremonies received wide acclaim but left many citizens like me a bit terrified and confused. Now that the terms of inquiry into the conduct of the Commonwealth Games have been extended, let us hope that the process of probe will be more open than was decision-making for the CWG. Let us also hope that the review will cover the opening and closing ceremonies as well, both in...

Ms. Bhatt has helped poor women attain dignity and independence “Investing in women is one of the most powerful ways to fight poverty” Ela Bhatt, founder of the Self-Employed Women's Association, was presented with the first Global Fairness Initiative Award by United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, “for her contribution to India and particularly the women of India, and to the global community.” Speaking at the awards ceremony held at the Kennedy...

Twenty years is a good enough time to assess how countries of the world, irrespective of the economic or political system they follow, have performed in promoting human development. Successive Human Development Reports (HDR), since 1990, have mainstreamed health and education as critical indicators of human progress and contributed to international policy structures. For instance, the Millennium Development Goals, aimed at using international financial resources to reduce global poverty, can...