Two villages in Uttar Pradesh have reversed the trend of migration by digging six kilometres of channels to bring water to drought-hit farms Call it the fallout of seven years of severe drought or government inaction, a silent revolution is brewing in Lalitpur district of Uttar Pradesh. Communities are getting united and digging channels to bring water from government canals to their fields. Some are volunteering labour, while those belonging to...

If women in rural areas had the same access to land, technology, financial services, education and markets as men, agricultural production could be increased and the number of hungry people reduced by 100-150 million, FAO said today in its 2010-11 edition of The State of Food and Agriculture report. Yields on plots managed by women are lower than those managed by men, the report said. But this is not because women...

Is price rise going to be a permanent fixture because of India's high growth rate? This appears to be the argument put forward by the government's top economic advisers in the recently issued Economic Survey. It argues that historical experience shows that consumer prices increase faster in countries going through a fast growth phase compared to those with slower growth rates. But analysing inflation and growth data collected by the International...

The Centre’s flagship project Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), in which it it mandatory to employ at least 33 per cent women of its total work force, has become a victim of male bias in Uttar Pradesh. Against guidelines for the scheme, aimed at empowering women through ensuring their share in income, on an average only 18 per cent women are getting employment in the most populated state...

This article documents and then examines the various benefits that, it is claimed, will flow from linking the Unique Identity number with the public distribution system and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. It filters the unfounded claims, which arise from a poor understanding of how the PDS and NREGS function, from the genuine ones. On the latter, there are several demanding conditions that need to be met in order...