-PTI India had the highest number of under-five deaths in the world in 2012 India continues to battle poverty, child and maternal deaths, according to a United Nations report on the Millennium Development Goals that said while several key global targets have been met, more sustained effort is needed to cover disparities by the 2015 deadline. The ‘Millennium Development Goals Report 2014′, launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in United Nations Monday said...

-The Hindu Business Line   Perpetual growth is a piece of nonsense. The focus should be on protecting livelihoods through sustainable means Construct a building, demolish it, reconstruct, break it down again, and go on repeating this meaningless exercise. You will have economic growth, as currently measured. But no net gain in employment during the endless cycle of construction and demolition, no net increase in productive capacity, and no appreciable change in poverty...

Two political leaders from rival camps, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, have brought the spotlight on rural sanitation and have rooted for defecation-free India by investing in toilet construction on war footing. But a recent study by a group of eminent development economists led by Prof. Dean Spears-a visiting economist at the Delhi School of Economics - has concluded that when it comes to...

-The Indian Express The scheme should be refocused towards creating durable assets in agriculture. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) has a significant influence on agricultural operations and cultivation costs. If its present focus on community works can be reoriented to proactively promote improvements on the landholdings of small and marginal farmers through the creation of durable assets, it will be beneficial for agricultural productivity and incomes. Critics say that...

-Down to Earth Rural women in Uttar Pradesh join hands to end gender bias in agriculture and claim joint ownership of land Breaking the stereotype of rural women, 39-year-old Suresho Saini proudly drives a tractor to plough 1.6 hectares (ha) of agricultural land in Rahimpur village in Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur district. The plot belongs exclusively to her. "Women working in agricultural fields are a common sight in India; yet when we think...