Government today claimed that the problem of migrant labourers is being solved gradually through several Bharat Nirman schemes and rural job guarantee programme, NREGA. Labour Minister Mallikarjun Kharge said in Rajya Sabha during Question Hour that schemes like NREGA, which provides 100 days of guaranteed employment to the rural poor, and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) along with other Bharat Nirman schemes have been beneficial for labourers. "NREGA and...

Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is often feted for development work. But it seems the progress has not reached the remote, rural areas of the state — certainly not the tribal district of Jhabua. At least 46 children have reportedly died of malnutrition and starvation in the district since last October. But the authorities refuse to even acknowledge the problem, let alone take any action. Most of the deaths have been...

Technology is helping public sector banks find customers in rural India. This is part of the Centre’s efforts to include villages in the organized financial system; to ensure they are not cheated of their wages. Pilots show promise   The current state of rural banking in the country is poor. A recent report, by the National Sample Survey Organization, revealed that 51.4 per cent of the 89.3 million total farmer households in...

Says conditions cited by the Centre are not applicable to the State  State fears it will affect flexibility of schemes Contends that workers do not need intermediaries THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The State government is understood to have expressed to the Centre its reservations about the move to rope in non-governmental organisations (NGOs) for implementing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in the State. Official sources told The Hindu here that the State...

Monica Das Gupta is a senior social scientist at the World Bank. Her field research in Punjab, when she was at the National Council of Applied Economic Research, established that sex differentials in child mortality in rural Punjab persisted despite relative wealth, socio-economic development including rapid universalization of female education, fertility decline, and mortality decline. Amartya Sen’s writings drew attention to female foeticide and infanticide in Asia that led to...