Clause 4.e.(1) of The Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, [PESA] says: “Every Gram Sabha shall approve the plans, programmes and projects for social and economic development before such plans, programmes and projects are taken up for implementation.” Tribal villages are forcibly entered and village people are humiliated : The sad fact is the CRPF forces have barged into several villages in the Districts of Latehar,...

Sustained improvement in disease control programmes, specially tuberculosis, and perceptible improvement in rural health care are the highlights of the UPA-II's report card in the health sector. In the 'Report to the People' released here today by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the government said, during 2009-10, more than 36,000 village health and sanitation committees were set up, over 1,300 facility-based Rogi Kalyan Samitis were formed and over 53,000 accredited social...

Newly released National Sample Survey data shows that the proportion of students in private educational institutions has increased at the cost of those in government institutions, but private education remains affordable only to upper classes. Meanwhile, expenditure on education, particularly private education, is growing much faster than household budgets. The NSS 64th round (2007-8) records data on participation and expenditure on education after a gap of 11 years. The NSS...

The government should issue food stamps directly to families living below poverty line (BPL), instead of subsidised food, to ensure food security of the poor, an industry lobby said in a report. The Federation of India Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) said the current system of providing subsidised food items through the public distribution system (PDS) should be dismantled as it was plagued by leakages at different levels. It...

Biodiversity drives sustainable and climate-resilient farming and the biotechnology industry. Everything should be done to spread bio-literacy for an era of bio-happiness in rural and urban India through the conversion of bio-resources into jobs and income.  Biodiversity provides building blocks for sustainable food, health and livelihood security systems. It is the feedstock for the biotechnology industry and a climate-resilient farming system. Given its importance, a Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)...