-NDTV Our journey takes us to five villages in Sehore district, Madhya Pradesh, to meet families that do not have a toilet at home. Nearly 65 per cent of households in rural areas of the state are without toilets. Prema and Tanu belong to a Scheduled Caste family of daily wagers in Ahlada Kheda. Students of Class 9 and 10, they are exposed to children from different socioeconomic backgrounds at...

-The Hindu The challenge for the Modi government is to evaluate what works in development programming before making large spending decisions Governments in India have always launched big-ticket social development programmes with ambitious goals. The Narendra Modi government is no exception. swachh bharat Abhiyan aims to make India open defecation-free by 2019. The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana's financial inclusion programme set a target of opening 10 crore bank accounts by January...

-PTI New Delhi: Centre has asked states to set up vigilance committees to ensure transparency in supply of food grains through ration shops under the Public Distribution System (PDS). "States have been requested to set up vigilance committees at district, block and FPS level with due representation of SCs/STs, women and local bodies to ensure transparency and proper functioning of Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS)," Paswan said in a Food Ministry statement. Chairing...

-LiveMint.com Under the Modi government there have been unprecedented attacks across the spectrum of social security rights With a broom in hand, the Narendra Modi government has been quietly carrying out sweeping changes. Away from the photo ops of the swachh bharat Abhiyan, there has been unprecedented watering down of social security rights. Apart from the severe cuts expected in the next budget, three big-ticket assaults are underway-on the rights to land,...

-Business Standard Likely to carry out mid-term appraisal; states could continue with annual Plans Contrary to popular belief, the National Democratic Alliance government may not scrap the 12th five-year Plan (2012-13 to 2016-17) formulated by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. Instead, it may carry out a course correction, in consultation with ministries and state governments. A model for such a structured rectification would be firmed up at the first governing council meeting...