-Economic and Political Weekly The public distribution system is widely criticised for being ridden with chronic corruption and failing to deliver benefits in a systematic manner. Using a sample of 793 households in the district of Koraput in Odisha, this article reviews the performance of the PDS in the district and highlights three important points: first, distribution of foodgrains, specifically rice, through the PDS has undergone vast improvements in the past...

-IndiaSpend.com The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) was enacted in September 2005. It promises up to 100 days of employment per rural household to all adults at the minimum wage. Any adult residing in rural areas could demand work and was entitled to get it within 15 days of asking. If the government failed to provide employment, such adults were entitled to an unemployment allowance. While the demand-driven aspect and the...

Six journalists from Hindi and English media from Odisha, Jharkhand, Assam and Punjab have been selected for the prestigious Inclusive Media-UNDP Fellowships 2014. The fellows will take time off from routine journalism to spend time with rural/ marginalized communities to highlight their anxieties and concerns that require wider coverage and public attention. The fellowships cover costs of news gathering, logistics and incidental expenses up to Rs 150,000. The fellowship Jury...

-The Indian Express Rajasthan government's decision to ‘target' free medicines and diagnostics is contrary to the recommended role of government in healthcare. In 2002-03, Abhijit Banerjee, Angus Deaton and Esther Duflo studied health facilities in rural Udaipur, Rajasthan. They found that facilities were poor and absenteeism was rampant. In 2013, we decided to revisit the same public health facilities. The motivation was to study two bold initiatives of the then Ashok Gehlot...

-Outlook More government took Himachal near the top of development indices In the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections, the buzz around the so-called ‘Gujarat model' was such that without really knowing what it stood for, everyone wanted it. ‘Minimum Government, Maximum Governance' is as close as one could get in terms of concrete proposals. However, when one looks at the achievements of Gujarat, the buzz turns to a whimper (see...