-The United Nations The United Nations today launched a programme to empower poor rural women through economic integration and food security initiatives. “Accelerating Progress Toward the Economic Empowerment of Rural Women” is a five-year initiative that will focus on improving food and nutrition security, increasing rural women’s incomes, enhancing leadership and participation in rural institutions, and creating a more responsive policy environment at national and international levels. “When women are empowered and can...

-Outlook Drawing ire for attributing Gujarat's high rate of malnutrition to young "beauty conscious" girls, Chief Minister Narendra Modi today launched the 'Gujarat State Nutrition Mission (GSNM)', offering financial aid to village panchayats to combat the problem. Aimed at combating malnutrition in Gujarat, the mission got off to a symbolic start with the chief minister distributing cheques of Rs 2 lakh each to headmen of a few panchayats out of around 18,392...

-IPS News RAYAGADA- The deafening din of the lunch gong is sweet music to the 200-odd tribal girls rushing down the stairway, clutching stainless steel plates and tumblers. Sikhsya Niketan (House of Education) in Chattikona administrative block of Rayagada district is a residential school meant exclusively for girls of the Dongria Kondh tribe in eastern Odisha state. The school is part of the federal government’s intensified efforts to take universal education to...

Direct cash transfers or food coupons should be used by the government to provide services to the poor, says Farzana Afridi, Assistant Professor, Economics and Planning Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi. Afridi, who obtained her PhD in economics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and an MA in economics from the Delhi School of Economics, says that although the Mid Day Meal Programme is having a substantial effect, the...

-The Hindu Justice has been delivered finally to a 14-year-old gang-rape victim from a village in Bijnore district of Uttar Pradesh, denied admission at a local school. The district administration ordered suspension of the headmaster and a Class IV employee, one of the four accused in the case who had even served a jail term but was allowed to resume his duties after his release. Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA) Raj Bhanu Pratap...