Later this week, the Registrar General of India (RGI) will unveil the first flush of its findings from the 15th census. This once-in-a-decade effort is the seventh in independent India and is expected to showcase an entirely new set of vital statistics, consistent with the ongoing social and economic transformation of the country and something that should enthuse demographers and policy planners alike. Expectations are that the array of socio-economic data...

The social audit of schemes under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Act (MGNREGA) now permits the involvement of outsiders in the process as facilitators. A new set of rules framed by the ministry of rural development for such audits has been approved. Christened Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Audits of Schemes Rules 2011, the rules ensure the audit process is independent of agencies implementing the scheme and the...

Outsiders barred from entering The Ratnagiri district administration, which has clamped prohibitory orders in the Jaitapur nuclear power project area, is preventing outsiders from entering the area even for public meetings, according to social activist Gopal Dukhande. Expressing solidarity He said that at a meeting to express solidarity with the people of Japan in Mithgavane village on March 25, the police were present in large numbers. “They harassed me and prevented me from entering...

The efficacy of implementing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in the district is questionable. People of Dasmantpur block who were employed under the Act three to four years ago are yet to get their due payment. Sixty labourers of Kaliambo village under Dasmantpur block were engaged in a field channel work under the MGNREGA in 2008. The estimated cost of the project was Rs 8 lakh and...

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) recently in New Delhi, India gathered more than 900 participants for an international conference to examine ways that agriculture can enhance the health and nutritional status of poor people in developing worlds. Scholars, Politicians and activists during the conference tried to exploit the nexus between agriculture, nutrition and health. Most people would say that agriculture is for growing food, and on one level, they are...