The outcome of a social audit (conducted in April this year) related to the pilot cash transfer programme in the public distribution system (PDS) in Nagri block (Ranchi district) has confirmed that most beneficiaries want back the normal ration system that existed previously. Yet the Jharkhand state government continues with the DBT-based PDS in Nagri block, instead of returning back to the older system, says a press release by the...

-IIED Publication, June 2018 Traditional farmers in the Central and Eastern Indian Himalayas have observed significant climatic changes in recent years, reducing agricultural productivity. They have responded by innovating to increase resilience and yields, using traditional knowledge, biodiversity and external knowledge. This report explores key trends in livelihoods, food security, crop diversity and biocultural heritage across ten communities; the biocultural innovations developed in response to climatic and socioeconomic changes; and the social...

-Hindustan Times Contractual in nature, the lateral entry of experts should not alarm civil services unions. At the same time, it must be ensured that the policy is not misused for political purposes. The government’s decision to recruit 10 senior bureaucrats through lateral entry is, in principle, a bold and long-overdue step. The Indian state apparatus suffers from three key deficiencies. Contrary to the widespread impression that it is bloated, the government...

-TheWire.in Former CEC S.Y. Quraishi, in whose term paper audits for EVM machines were tested and introduced, questions the failure of the system in the recent by-polls despite all-weather tests. New Delhi: The Election Commission on Friday declared that the reason behind the malfunctioning of a large number of voter verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines during the recently held by-elections to the Kairana and Bhandara-Gondiya parliamentary constituencies was due to the...

-The Hindu Anand Joshi, a rural development fellow under CM’s programme, helped bring State Transport buses, and electricity after 70 years to a remote village in Amravati Mumbai: Anand Joshi (26), an MBA from MIT, Pune open university is reverently referred to as khambewala saab in Bulumgavan village in Amravati district. He finds the tag both daunting and amusing: “They call me that because of the electric poles that stand in their...