Many in India have embraced Christianity to escape the age-old caste oppression of the Hindu social order, but Christianity itself in some places is finding it difficult to shrug off the worst of caste discrimination. In the town of Trichy, situated in the heart of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, a wall built across the Catholic cemetery clearly illustrates how caste-based prejudice persists. Those who converted to Christianity from the...

The Union government plans to empower the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), which currently oversees the work of state agencies and state-owned companies, to investigate complaints against its flagship rural jobs scheme. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) promises 100 days of annual work to one member of every rural household. CVC currently has to route complaints about irregularities in the scheme’s execution to a state chief secretary or the...

Teacher absenteeism continues, despite several studies conducted and reasons identified. Can something be done? Another Teacher’s Day has come and gone. Like the ones before it, we have had the usual combination of speeches (New Delhi), awards (Mohali), “felicitations” (Mangalore), blood donations (Ulhasnagar), walkouts (Shillong), food poisonings (Mumbai), teacher thrashings (Malda) and black badges (Ludhiana). Barely a week later, we are back to the status quo. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, on whose birthday...

“This Employment Guarantee Act is the most significant legislation of our times in many ways. For the first time, rural communities have been given not just a development programme but a regime of rights…The NREGA gives employment, gives income, gives a livelihood, and it gives a chance to live a life of self-respect and dignity.” — Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the launch of NREGS The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme...

KEY TRENDS   • Maternal Mortality Ratio for India was 370 in 2000, 286 in 2005, 210 in 2010, 158 in 2015 and 145 in 2017. Therefore, the MMRatio for the country decreased by almost 61 percent between 2000 and 2017 *14    • As per the NSS 71st round, among rural females aged 5-29 years, the main reasons for dropping out/ discontinuance were: engagement in domestic activities, not interested in education, financial constraints and marriage. Among rural males aged...