In this land of rolling hills, made lush by the monsoon, traffic ceases after dusk. So it is unusual to hear jeeps running through the night on the winding roads of tribal south Rajasthan. Through the day, the local police, villagers and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are out in force, trying to stop what they can only slow—the mass trafficking of children across the border into Gujarat from the Rajasthan districts that...

The only programme the UPA government has to provide pensions to BPL individuals is plagued by mismanagement, delays in disbursement and underutilised funds. The National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP), allocated Rs 5,700 crore every year, covers five major schemes—the Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS), the Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme (IGNWPS), the Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme, the National Family Benefit Scheme and the Annapurna...

The latest report on the progress of millennium development goals (MDG) by the United Nations has said that robust social protection and employment schemes such as India's Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) reduce poverty and reverse inequality. In its report, ‘What Will it Take to Achieve Millennium Development Goals,' the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has said the MNREGS is known for improving livelihoods through legal guarantee of...

“It would improve the standard of life of people in the rural areas”  United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Helen Clark has praised successful implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in Rajasthan, saying it would improve the standard of life of people in the rural areas and stop their migration to cities. “Conceived as the biggest employment generation programme in the world, the NREGS is seemingly yielding...

One looks forward to the Finance Minister's budget speech with a hope that it spells some new major initiatives and schemes for development, and that it might promise any major allocation of resources to any sector, besides fresh tax proposals. In the case of education sector, one might feel disappointed at the proposals made in the Union budget for 2010-11 on both counts. No new initiatives are proposed; no major...