-The Times of India NEW DELHI: After a gap of fourteen years since it last checked the trend of drug abuse in the country, the Centre is now all set to conduct an "advanced survey" on the extent, pattern and trend of drug abuse among the citizens. In order to assess the extent and nature of addiction in the country at present, the government will conduct an advanced pilot survey in two...

-Down to Earth Rural women in Uttar Pradesh join hands to end gender bias in agriculture and claim joint ownership of land Breaking the stereotype of rural women, 39-year-old Suresho Saini proudly drives a tractor to plough 1.6 hectares (ha) of agricultural land in Rahimpur village in Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur district. The plot belongs exclusively to her. "Women working in agricultural fields are a common sight in India; yet when we think...

-The Financial Express MGNREGA must be tweaked in implementation, not design. Before his tragic demise, the Union minister for rural development, Gopinath Munde, gave a clear indication of the new government's priorities on MGNREGA. Both these priorities are vital: using the programme for the creation of productive assets to combat drought and poverty and ensuring timely payment of wages. More than two decades of liberalisation and high economic growth have left India...

-Economic and Political Weekly   The working group on rural housing for the Twelfth Five-Year Plan estimated the rural housing shortage in India to be 43.13 million in 2012. Using the latest data sets - Census 2011 and the national sample survey housing condition round for 2008-09 - and the improved methodology used by the technical group on urban housing shortage, this paper re-estimates the rural shortage to be 62.01 million in...

-Down to Earth Reforms in public distribution system and increase in number of people covered by it could be the reasons, say experts The latest data released by the government on household consumption patterns shows a decline in rice consumption and increase in consumption of wheat since 2004. In the meantime, consumption of rice and wheat made available through the public distribution system (PDS) has increased significantly, according to the survey report...