-Down to Earth Ministry of rural development will channelise MPs' funds through different schemes for Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided to restructure the existing Member of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) scheme in a holistic way. He launched the Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) on Saturday, under which2,379 model villages will be developed across the country in the next five years. There are 793 Members of Parliament...

-Down to Earth Sivasankaran's land grabbing spree has threatened millions of livelihoods, says report Indian origin businessman Chinnakannan Sivasankaran has engaged in aggressive land grabbing of more than half a million hectares across Africa, Asia and South America, putting millions of livelihoods at risk. This was revealed in a detailed report released by Barcelona-based non-profit GRAIN on Tuesday. The report says Sivasankaran diverted 0.56 million hectares of food-producing land to production of palm...

-Tehelka Despite the serious toll it takes on women's health, female sterilisation remains the most prevalent form of contraception in India. While memories of the 21 months of Emergency in 1975-77, imposed by the then prime minister Indira Gandhi, survives even today in the minds of Indian men as the fear of forced sterilisation, the country's population control policies have shifted over the years since then to target the politically less...

-The Indian Express For a government that won office on the plank of fighting corruption and promising ‘‘achhe din'' to citizens disgruntled by poor service delivery, one would have thought putting in place an effective anti-corruption and grievance redressal framework would be a top priority. However, after 100 days of being in power, the Modi sarkar's report card on transparency and accountability disappoints. It is well established that openness in government functioning...

-Frontline   The United Nation's MDG report 2014 shows that despite India's significant economic progress, around one-third of the world's extremely poor people reside in the country. IT is raining development goals. As the period for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) draws to a close next year, discussions around these goals and what should replace them have reached fever pitch, with national governments, international organisations and representatives of civil society participating in them. Of...