-The Hindu The ‘development’ discourse serves the same purpose as the colonial apparatus but without the bad press. After 67 years of failing to eliminate deprivation in India, is it time to look for new ideas? The Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011, which hit the headlines earlier this month, tells us that half the households in rural India are landless, dependant on casual manual labour, and live in deprivation. By suggesting...

-The Hindu Urban planning that involves the people and alternative service providers gives far better results than top-down efforts from the government, finds an IIT-M study In Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, the responsibility of managing and maintaining a set of more than 160 community toilets was handed over by the Tiruchirapalli City Corporation to a federation of women self-help groups. A post-programme field survey of 803 households revealed that the community participation had...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Government has decided to pump in Rs 50,000 crore to develop basic irrigation infrastructure and water conservation models over next five years under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (Prime Minister Agriculture Irrigation Scheme) that is aimed to irrigate every farm in the country under its motto 'Har Khet Ko Pani' (water for every farm) to increase productivity through efficient use of water - 'more...

-The New Indian Express BHUBANESWAR:  Around 3.6 lakh people from scheduled categories and economically weaker sections of the society of 10 districts have been benefited under World Bank-assisted Targeted Rural Initiative for Poverty Termination and Infrastructure (TRIPTI) programme. The project, a poverty reduction programme, aims at enhancing the socio-economic status of the poor, especially women and disadvantaged groups, in 38 blocks of 10 districts. The project launched in November 2009 has mobilised 79,000...

-The Indian Express As several steps taken by the Centre for the sector hangs fire, clarity and implementation of ‘Housing for All’ scheme would be the key for its success. The Union Cabinet approved its flagship ‘Housing for All’ scheme this week, with a 2022 target and a renewed emphasis on the low-income group categories by way of relaxed income limits and higher interest subvention. While the government seems to have struck...