In the initial months of governance by the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, attempts appear to have been made to begin subverting the positive results of the land reform programme of the Left Front. What is happening appears to be the inevitable outcome of political rivalry, the hegemonic rule of one party giving place to another, with the citadel of power changing its colour, making the “red” one “green”. But...
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Every third malnourished child is an Indian: report
-CNN-IBN Prime Minister Manmohan Singh released the first-ever citizens' report on child malnutrition in the national capital on Tuesday. "The problem of malnutrition is a national shame," the Prime Minister said. The statistics in the HUNGaMA (Hunger and Malnutrition) report say that every third malnourished child on the planet is an Indian. The report, on the survey conducted by Naandi Foundation, has been made at the insistence of the Citizens' Alliance against...
More »Food must not be reduced to security by Ela R Bhatt
The world food system today is far too complex for common sense to understand. It raises many questions: If safe, nutritious food is a fundamental right, why are one billion people living with hunger? Why do farmers and farm workers remain starved/half-starved? Why are people in food-exporting countries living with hunger? If the value of annual global exports in agriculture products is in billions, why are agricultural labourers and farmers...
More »Farm workers still get a raw deal by Jasvir Singh
The state has done precious little to improve the lot of agriculture workers. Agricultural wage workers (AWW) earn their livelihood by working for wages in the agriculture sector. In India, AWWs are the second largest group of all workers, after owner-cultivators or farmers. Of the workforce of 402 million, AWWs are at least 110 million. Wage work in the agriculture sector has always been considered a low-status occupation in India, as agriculture...
More »Where development hasn’t quite reached by Bhamati Sivapalan and Yamini Deenadayalan
After being mired in controversies across the nation over multi-crore scams, the MGNREGA scheme hasn’t quite made headway in Bulandshahr district’s Anupshahr yet, say Bhamati Sivapalan and Yamini Deenadayalan “MGNREGA is a flop in Uttar Pradesh,” extended NGO worker Manish Sharma, as small talk, at the block development office of Anupshahr in the Bulandshahr district of Uttar Pradesh. Despite having been in force since 2005, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment...
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