-The Times of India BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh is fast losing its dense forest and the loss has been alarming in the last two years. As per latest estimates of Forest Survey of India (FSI), the state among those having the largest forest covers, has recorded a considerable decrease in its forest cover including very dense forest (VDF) and moderately dense forest (MDF), said sources in ministry of environment and forest...
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Plugging PDS Pilferage: A Study of an SMS-based Monitoring Project -Sriniketh Nagavarapu and Sheetal Sekhri
-Economic and Political Weekly The targeted public distribution system is FRAught with leakages. With the Food Security Act in place now, policymakers face a greater challenge in curtailing leakages and improving delivery on a much larger scale. This article studies a project in Uttar Pradesh which uses mobile phone SMS to monitor PDS supplies and fi nds an enthusiastic response from the users, even if the project itself has not worked...
More »MGNREGS social audit lessons from AP -Yamini Aiyar
-Live Mint Andhra Pradesh's experience with social audits holds important lessons for the Congress's empowerment agenda At the heart of the Congress party's narrative on the rights-based welfare state is the idea that rights laws, to quote Sonia Gandhi, "put pressure on the executive to be more responsive and accountable" and in doing so bring about an "empowerment revolution". To enable this revolution, rights laws have had built into them procedural...
More »For an all-party manifesto on health -Vinod Paul and K Srinath Reddy
-The Hindu The entire spectrum of political leadership should take a pledge to transform the healthcare system of India in a decade As the countdown to the next general election begins, political parties are making multiple promises to pull in votes. All the party leaders are committing to transforming the lives of people. But health, ironically, does not feature high on their priority list, even though it is the central pillar of...
More »Aadhaar, no more than a FRAmed photograph -Amruta Byatnal
-The Hindu The aim of the Unique Identification Number was to make access to bank accounts easier but the first Aadhaar card holder is still not eligible for loans In September 2010, Ranjana Sonawane became the first person in the country to get an Aadhaar card when the Unique Identity (UID) project was flagged off with much fanfare in Tembhli village in Maharashtra. But today, what is unmistakeable is the disappointment the tribal...
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