Members of the Central Employment Guarantee Council (CEGC), the government body for implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, have suggested that jobs be guaranteed round the year in Naxal-hit regions. The suggestion, made by one of the six working groups set up for improving the scope of the MNREGS, came up for discussion at Friday's CEGC meeting here. The group said that in drought prone areas and regions...

Food entitlement schemes that are aimed to provide food security to children are not being properly implemented in the Left Front-ruled West Bengal. According to Food Entitlements in West Bengal: Survey on Supreme Court Orders, about 41.2 lakh children, which comprises nearly 40 per cent children in the age group of zero to six years are not covered under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS). The ICDS is one of...

Food entitlement schemes that are aimed to provide food security to children are not being properly implemented in the Left Front-ruled West Bengal. According to Food Entitlements in West Bengal: Survey on Supreme Court Orders, about 41.2 lakh children, which comprises nearly 40 per cent children in the age group of zero to six years are not covered under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS). The ICDS is one of the most...

Sunita Laxman Jadhav is a door-to-door saleswoman who sells waiting. She sweeps along muddy village lanes in her nurse’s white sari, calling on newly married couples with an unblushing proposition: Wait two years before getting pregnant, and the government will thank you. It also will pay you. “I want to tell you about our honeymoon package,” began Ms. Jadhav, an auxiliary nurse, during a recent house call on a new bride in...

Anganwadi workers, women’s self-help groupsand accredited social health activists from across the state gathered at the Azad Maidan on Wednesday to protest against the government’s decision of distributing instant packaged food in anganwadis as supplementary nutrition. “Anganwadis are supposed to provide fresh, nutritious food to Pregnant Women and children till six years of age. The government has instead started providing ready-to-eat food packets to them,” said Sonya Gill, president, all India...