-The Week Vagaries of the weather are not the only reason for Marathwada's agrarian crisis Three widows, two daughters and an overwhelming sense of grief occupy the house of the Palwes in Kekat Jalgaon in Paithan, Aurangabad. The house lost all its men there were three in the past three years. The Palwe widows, Yashoda, Chandrabhaga and Lakshmibai, and Yashoda's two daughters, Suman, 8, and Sarita, 6, live in a hut without...

-New York Times Blog There’s poor, and then there’s ultrapoor. The ultrapoor are almost always women and largely found in Africa, South Asia and to a lesser extent, parts of Latin America. They are most often rural. They work as maids or field laborers, often paid not with wages but in food scraps. They might have just one dress or sari, and must wash a part of it at a time...

-The Indian Express The rural development ministry, that promises 100 days of guaranteed employment to those issued job cards, has sought to address both concerns in the current fiscal. The MGNREGA has been under scrutiny, of late, both from its traditional baiters as well supporters. The former’s attack has revolved around the programme — the flagship of the previous UPA dispensation — creating assets of poor quality, while the latter have been...

-Press Information Bureau/ Cabinet The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today gave its approval to a comprehensive New Urea Policy 2015 for the next four financial years. The Policy has multiple objectives of maximizing indigenous urea production and promoting energy efficiency in urea units to reduce the subsidy burden on the Government. Savings in energy shall reduce the carbon-footprint and would thus be more environment friendly....

Due to the annual decline in under-5 mortality rate by almost 7% during 2008-13, the Government is hopeful of India attaining the target 5 of Millennium Development Goal-4 i.e. reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the U5MR. This has been revealed in a press release on checking child mortality rate by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, dated 28 April, 2015.   However, experts think that this will be...