-The Indian Express The MGNREGA promises 100 days of employment every year to each rural household. The Act mandates that at least a third of the workers under the scheme should be women. The flagship rural job guarantee scheme may have succeeded in ensuring that a significant proportion of its workforce comprises of women, but it has failed to bridge the gender gap and include women in a holistic way, a...

-The Times of India Though laws mandate creches, daycare is like a dream for unorganized labourers. A house is being built in Vasant Vihar, one of the many plots in the neighbourhood under construction. Men and wom en are hard at work. On the ground floor, two-year-old Jitin has been standing by a plastic can for a long, long time. A string around his ankle tethers him to a table. "He could hurt...

-Scroll.in The fulwari programme has shown remarkable results in quickly reducing malnutrition among the state's children, pregnant women and nursing mothers One morning in early November, at the creche in Karli village in Chhattisgarh's Bastar district, babies rolled on the mud floor and the cook of the day stirred a pot of vegetables, when Shanti stepped on the weighing scale and caused a minor earthquake. "Arre, Shanti, you weigh 48 kilos!" Ramsheela, the community...

-Down to Earth Jan Swasthya Abhiyan sends charter of demands to political parties As elections approach and parties announce candidates' lists, Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA), the Indian circle of People's Health Movement, is trying to convince all political parties to include health as a prominent issue in their manifestos. After discussing the matter with other civil society members and groups, JSA has sent a charter of demands to political parties. While finalising the demands,...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Government has proposed standards for playschools that include the size of the classroom and outdoor space, mandatory use of mother tongue or vernacular language as medium of instruction and student-caregiver ratio. These conditions are part of the 'early childhood care and education' (ECCE) formulated by the women and child development (WCD) ministry and slated to be discussed in the Union Cabinet on Friday. Among the "base...