In 1953, the authors of India's first-ever crime survey presented a grim picture of the state of the new country's police forces. “There has been,” authors of Crime in Indiareported, “no improvement in the methods of investigation or in the application of science to this work. No facilities exist in any of the rural police stations and even in most of the urban police stations for scientific investigation.” From the National Crime...

Various government policies such as the Public Distribution System (PDS), mid-day meal, food for work programme, National Rural Employment Guaranty Scheme (NREGA) have failed to create food security at the household level, says a study by Gujarat Institute of Development Research. The findings of a primary survey of 110 households undertaken in two districts of two villages - a tribal district and a developed one - in Gujarat showed that about...

In India's western state of Maharashtra, a project supported by Japan International Cooperation Agency is yielding better incomes for farmers and has lured the migrants back to their native villages. PROJECT: RURAL DEVELOPMENT FOR POVERTY REDUCTION PERIOD: 2008-2011 Vishwanath Gangaram Malpote, 28, is in the midst of a robust harvest. As he weeds his rice field, one cannot but help admire his meticulous effort to pluck off the small undergrowth from the standing...

Funding agency for rural NGOs may be on its last legs IT IS a government agency that was set up specially to fund non-profits working on rural development. But of late the Council for People’s Action and Advancement of Rural Technology (CAPART) has been plagued by allegations of corruption and inefficiency. After a few failed attempts to reform CAPART, the government has now decided to overhaul the agency which has close...

A tank to supply drinking water has been under construction in a tribal village in Adilabad for the last 10 years. It still remains incomplete. The healthcare system and basic infrastructural facilities such as drinking water and sanitation are in pathetic state in rural and tribal areas, leading to high infant and maternal mortality rates, though Rs Rs 1,130 crore had been allocated by the Centre as National Rural Health Mission...