Younger widows seem open to idea of remarriage, says study The widows in Braj, a region around Vrindavan town in Uttar Pradesh that provides shelter to probably the largest number of widows in the country, are happier there than in their homes in villages, and most of them have no intention of returning. They also seem to be veering away from traditional beliefs on how widows should live and what they...

By marrying traditional wisdom with scientific knowledge, India needs to create dynamic, location-specific content, and build the capacities of local people to make meaningful use of communication technologies for rural development, M.S. Swaminathan, chairperson the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), said here on Saturday. He was speaking at the ‘7th Convention of the Grameen Gyan Abhiyan – Rural Knowledge Movement' on Information Communication Technology (ICT) and Food, Health and Livelihood Security...

The Kerala government will implement the World Bank-funded Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP) from January. The project, which aims at improving the safety and operational performance of selected structures, will cover dams, barrages and regulators, totalling 19, of the Irrigation Department and 12 projects of the Kerala State Electricity Board. C.N. Sathi, Chief Engineer (Investigation and Designs) of the Irrigation Department, told The Hinduthat the department had sought the release of...

Jharkhand is one of seven states of India having large number of illiterate persons. The other states, where large number of illiterate persons resides, are Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. Mrs. D. Purandeswari, the union Minster of state for Human Resource Development, informed rajya sabha during the winter session in reply to a member’s question from Mr. Parimal Nathwani. These seven states of India have as...

Two committees of the labour ministry on Wednesday proposed to double the annual 100 days of work guaranteed to the rural poor by India’s marquee welfare programme, but the ministry may pare the suggested increase before putting it up to the cabinet for approval. The provision to provide work for 100 days to at least one member of every rural family under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS)...