Collector, Senior Superintendent of Police transferred following reports of torching of villages A large group comprising Special Police Officers (SPOs) of the Chhattisgarh police and members of the Salwa Judum attacked social activist Swami Agnivesh on Saturday as he attempted to deliver relief to a village allegedly torched by security forces in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district. On March 23, The Hindu published reports and photographs alleging that SPOs had torched about 300 homes,...

Assam’s performance on NREGA implementation remained a matter of concern for the year April 2009 – March 2010. NREGA is to guarantee 100 days of guaranteed employment of the rural communities of Assam but research showed a different picture. North East Social Trust (NEST), a voluntary organization working for the community development for last eight years in Assam, carried out a research last year in collaboration with the Indo-Global Social...

The efficacy of implementing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in the district is questionable. People of Dasmantpur block who were employed under the Act three to four years ago are yet to get their due payment. Sixty labourers of Kaliambo village under Dasmantpur block were engaged in a field channel work under the MGNREGA in 2008. The estimated cost of the project was Rs 8 lakh and...

India's rural innovators have proved that ordinary people are indeed capable of extraordinary inventions. Despite many constraints -- lack of education and severe cash crunch -- most of them have succeeded in using technology cost-effectively to build ingenious products. A washing-cum-exercise machine, hand operated water lifting device, portable smokeless stove, automatic food making machine, solar mosquito killer, shock proof converter, a floating toilet soap are few of the products on display...

State governments will have to abide by stricter rules to receive money from the centre for the rural employment scheme in the next financial year 2011-12. The centrally sponsored Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme ( MGNREGA )) has been one of the biggest drivers of rural consumption in the country. Stricter measures of fund release might lead to lower transfer to states at a time when high interest rates are...