-International Food Policy Research Institute   Secure land rights are a critical, but often overlooked, factor in achieving household food security and improved nutritional status in rural areas of developing countries. This study evaluates the impact of India’s land-allocation and registration program in West Bengal, a program that targets poor populations and promotes the inclusion of women’s names on land titles. We use mixed methods data collected between 2010 and 2012 to...

-Press Information Bureau (Ministry of Women and Child Development) The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) adopted during the U.N. Millennium Summit, 2000 by 189 countries including India consists of eight goals which are sought to be achieved during the period 1990 to 2015. The Millennium Development Goal (MDG) -1 is regarding Eradication of Extreme Poverty and Hunger, which have 2 targets namely, (i) Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the percentage of population...

-Press Information Bureau (Ministry of Women and Child Development) The Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) in the country are part of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme which is a centrally sponsored Scheme. At the AWCs, six services namely (i) Supplementary nutrition (ii) Pre-school non-formal education (iii) Nutrition and health Education (iv) Immunization (v) Health check-up and (vi) Referral services are provided for holistic development of 0-6 years of children. Pregnant &...

-IBN Agriculture and allied activities account for 14.1% of India's GDP in 2011-12 but the proportion of the people dependent for employment in this sector is as high as 58.2.The average annual growth rate of agriculture during the Eleventh Plan Period was about 3.6%. However, declining per capita availability of food grains is of major long term concern. For ensuring Nutritional Security, it is not only important to increase the per...

A new report by National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) reveals that despite the nutritional value of millets, otherwise known as coarse cereals*, there has been a drastic reduction in the area under its cultivation from 36.34 million hectares in 1955-56 to 18.6 million hectares in 2011-12 thanks to the wrong agricultural and price policies adopted by the Government (see table 1, and the links below). Based on previous National...