An environmental scientist continues his relentless battle to save the Ganga, this time by starting a fast unto death. THE campaign to save the Ganga has cost one life in the hill State of Uttarakhand. The life of another activist now hinges on the government's commitment. In 2011, Swami Nigamananda of Matri Sadan undertook a fast unto death demanding an end to illegal sand mining in the Ganga, at least in Haridwar...
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Higher NREGA payouts stoking inflation fears
The wages under the government's flagship rural employment scheme have risen following adjustments for price rise, creating apprehension that this may add to the inflationary pressures by making farming more expensive. The government had early last year benchmarked wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act to retail inflation to ensure a real wage of Rs 100 a day to workers seeking employment under the scheme. Under the first such...
More »Increasing land acquisition could create food crisis-Rashme Sehgal
The Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) has warned against the increasing leasing and buying of millions of hectares of farmlands in Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America for food and fuel production. This land is being leased to private investors and sovereign wealth funds with no explicit legal agreement on how water will be used on these farmlands. The World Bank has estimated that over 56 million hectares of land in Africa...
More »States' data cast doubt on growth-poverty equation; welfare schemes have a strong role to play by Devika Banerji
The sharp drop in poverty estimates in the latest count has been attributed largely to the high growth over 2004-2010, but disaggregated state-level data does not seem to provide conclusive evidence. The national poverty count dropped to 29.8% in 2009-10 from 37.2% in 2004-05, but in states such as Bihar, Chattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and even Punjab the decline was much less even though they reported a visible improvement in economic growth...
More »The mothering effect-KumKum Dasgupta
-The Hindustan Times Rambai, a lean and sprightly 34-year-old, has never been the quiet sort. So when her neighbours at the Rokra hamlet were asked to choose a community health worker (CHW) — called Mitanin (friend) in Chhattisgarh — they knew that Rambai would be an ideal candidate. “We selected her because she could communicate well and interact with officials with ease, even though she has studied till Class 5,” said...
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