-Press Information Bureau The Union Cabinet today approved the proposal for implementation of the multi-sectoral programme to address the maternal and child under-nutrition in 200 high burden districts in the 12th Five Year Plan. The multi-sectoral nutrition programme would address the maternal and child malnutrition in 200 high burden districts by bringing together various national programmes through strong institutional, programmatic and operational convergence at the State, District, Block and Village levels. The...

Bihar Government's programme of distributing bicycles to school girls may be a modest intervention but is leading to big changes. A new research-based paper, brought out in August 2013, corroborates the success of the programme and testifies that it is leading to improved school enrollment of girls and arresting their dropout rates (See links below to read full paper and earlier studies on the subject).   Based on econometric and statistical models,...

-The Hindu The Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) will examine whether developmental interventions and constitutional safeguards - including Fifth Schedule provisions - have come to the aid of tribal people in Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-affected districts in central India. An NAC Working Group (WG) headed by tribal expert Professor Virginius Xaxa - who also heads the Prime Minister's high level committee that is to produce a report on the...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: India had 74,000 excess deaths among girls aged below five last year, a new study has estimated providing what public health researchers say is fresh evidence for widespread neglect of girls over boys during their vulnerable childhood years. The study by a team of researchers in India and Canada has also found that 222 of 597 districts are on track to achieve India's target of reducing under-five child...

-The Hindu     Concrete structures come up under Indiramma housing scheme CHERIAL (WARANGAL DT., Andhra Pradesh): The lifestyle and habits in villages are fast changing and so also, the physical outlook. The beautiful, typical and old model houses are replaced by concrete buildings, partly thanks to the Indiramma housing, flagship programme of the State government. Every village boasted of houses of different kinds - thatched roof houses, tiled houses, Chathurashala Bhavanthi and ‘Gadi' or...