They received mere 4.45 paise out of every Rs.100 allocated On an average, children received a mere 4.45 paise out of every Rs.100 allocated in the Union budget from 2004-05 to 2008-09. Even as India is hailed worldwide as one of the fastest growing economies, it seems to neglect its children, who constitute 42 per cent of the population. Not only are children's issues, especially health, nutrition and security, falling off the...

Could India's mock war on poverty ever turn real? India became independent 63 years ago. Since Independence the country has implemented 10 Five Year Plans and a few Annual Plans. Currently the 11th Plan is being executed. Efforts made during the last six decades have resulted in the modernisation of a stagnant economy and India's emergence as a major industrial power. This period also witnessed remarkable progress in agricultural production. But India...

The forthcoming India visit of the US President, Mr Barack Obama, accompanied by Mr Thomas J. Vilsack, secretary of agriculture, and Dr Rajiv Raj Shah, administrator, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), is significant in the context of strengthening the Indo-US partnership in the field of agriculture production and sustainable food security. Several related issues will be discussed in Mumbai on November 6 and November 7 where an agriculture...

The Gujarat High Court has ordered the state government to submit the details of schemes, if any, to identify Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and Mahila Mandals that can buy grains and prepare food for children and pregnant mothers attending the 48,000 aanganwadi centres in the state. The order follows a suo-motu petition that questioned the implementation of several Central schemes for the poor, including why the state government had roped in a...

To be implemented in 52 districts Cash incentives to be based on certain conditions The scheme will be implemented through ICDS NEW DELHI: To improve maternal and child health, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved the Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY) — a monetary scheme for pregnant women and lactating mothers — on a pilot basis in 52 districts in this Five-Year Plan. Each pregnant and lactating woman will receive...