With the Delhi High Court keeping an eye on violation of labour laws at Commonwealth Games construction sites, the Delhi government has decided to approach the workers by organising awareness camps. These camps will be organised between May 1 and 7 at all nine districts of the city, the court was told on Wednesday. The workers would be told about their rights relating to wages, safety measures and other beneficial...

India grapples with endemic backwardness in over 200 districts while some sectors and sections make global headlines. The Centre on Market Solutions to Poverty's report, Creating Vibrant Public-Private-Panchayat Partnerships for Inclusive Growth through Inclusive Governance explores this paradox by looking at the ground-level realities in local governance through the Panchayati Raj, the issues of agricultural productivity and value addition, and the role that the business sector could play in rural...

The Indian government’s efforts to provide drinking water to rural areas have been criticised by a parliamentary standing committee as being inadequate. A little over 84% households in rural areas are covered by rural water supply, while 16% have no access to safe drinking water. However, just 12% of rural families have individual household tap connections and only 16% of the population gets drinking water from public taps, according to the...

The decks seem to have been cleared for conducting the census to identify below poverty line (BPL) families with the ministry of rural development deciding to begin the survey next year. In a crucial move, it has allowed the states to suggest criteria for identification to overcome the limitations of the “one-size-fits-all” approach. After a meeting on Wednesday with the panel of experts set up by the ministry, it was decided to...

Funding commitments for water and sanitation declined as a share of overall development aid over the past decade despite strong evidence that making the two services available to communities could lower health-care costs, raise school attendance and improve productivity, according to a new United Nations report released today. “Neglecting sanitation and drinking water is a strike against progress,” said Maria Neira, UN World Health Organization’s (WHO) director of public health...