-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   Far from being ‘useless’, the MNREGA helps the impoverished and resilient poor earn a decent living. Famously on the floor of Parliament, Prime Minister Modi dismissed the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) as a ‘living monument’ of the previous governments’ failures, condemning millions of impoverished people to survive by ‘digging ditches’. This spring near Bhim in Rajasthan, I had the rare experience of labouring on an MGNREGA site....

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Contrary to an assessment by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) that communal incidents in India witnessed a rising trend in 2014, official data released by the home ministry showed that such attacks were down to 644 from 823 in 2013. Also, the US panel's claim in its 2015 report that religiously-motivated and communal violence in India had increased over three consecutive years...

-International Institute for Environment and Development Blog In India, slum and pavement dwellers' organisations have designed and managed a programme of community toilets and washing facilities that are used by hundreds of thousands of households. Guest blogger Sheela Patel describes how this was achieved. Ongoing monitoring of communal toilets has helped to improve design: here, smaller toilets for children are included in adult toilet blocks. Previously children's facilities were in separate buildings...

-The Hindu With its references to Modi, the report is likely to cause more India-U.S. friction. India reacted coldly to the report of the U.S. commission on religious freedom that criticises the government, and said that it was based on a “limited understanding of India, its constitution and its society.” “We take no cognizance of this report,” a statement from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said. The Congressional body, the U.S. Commission for...