As minister for rural development, Jairam Ramesh oversees the largest spending in the social sector by the government. This includes the marquee Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) that was pioneered by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance in 2006. The minister, an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is known for his forthrightness. In a typically candid interview to Mint on...
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UN official urges Asian countries to commit to sustainable energy for all by 2030
-The United Nations A United Nations official today urged Asian countries to commit to achieving sustainable energy for all their citizens by 2030 by increasing access to and the efficiency of renewable energy sources. “Reaching the goal of sustainable energy for all will require action by all countries and all sectors to shape the policy and investment decisions needed for a brighter energy future,” said Director-General of the UN Industrial Development Organization...
More »Bit Sharers Of The Spoils by Pragya Singh
Muslims, SCs, STs reflect better social indices, closer to national averages Early in the morning, Mohammad Nadeem, a 25-year-old ‘pakka adati’, big wholesaler, at one of Muzaffarnagar’s fruit and vegetable mandis, briskly sets about selling carrots and oranges. As he expertly sifts through sacks of fresh produce, it’s difficult to picture him hawking peanuts by the roadside. But for five years in this bustling western Uttar Pradesh mandi, Nadeem’s store...
More »Climate change dialogue at Durban keenly poised by Arvind Gupta
The 17th Conference of Parties (COP) under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) is being held in Durban, South Africa, from November 28 to December 9, 2011. Urgent action is required to arrest the inexorable rise in global CO2 emissions. What are the issues before this important international meeting on Climate Change? The last meeting of the COP was held in Cancun, Mexico, in December 2010. The 17th COP will...
More »Reviving Universal PDS: A Step Towards Food Security by Suranjita Ray
An unprecedented economic growth during the last decade has also seen increasing malnutrition, hunger and starvation amongst certain sections of society. India ranks 66 in the Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO’s) World Hunger Index of 88 countries (Inter-national Food Policy Research Institute). More than 200 million people in this country are denied the right to food. One-third of all underweight children (57 million) in the world due to lack of...
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