madhya pradesh is betting cash incentives will curb population growth and improve the ‘life cycle’ of the girl child, but experts question the efficacy of such policies in addressing deep-rooted social prejudices Visitors trudging down the dusty village road are greeted by a giant billboard featuring a smiling Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the chief minister of madhya pradesh, hugging two young girls. The tagline in Hindi reads: Gaon ki beti, kisse chhoti...

Policies aiming to combat malnutrition are ignoring an entire generation of women whose overall health has a direct bearing on children’s growth, say advocacy groups and researchers Cradling a frail son on her hip and with a plastic bag stuffed with clothes in one hand, Tara Jadam walked into the rehabilitation centre inside the district hospital here to spend the next two weeks. On a hot afternoon, she has walked several miles...

It's that time of the year when Kishore Lal Singh's eyes almost involuntarily scan the skies. The monsoons are coming. In the months ahead, for this Bhil farmer growing cotton, maize and soya south of the Malwa plateau in madhya pradesh, life will again hang on a knife's edge. If it rains well, his two bighas (about four basketball courts) of cotton will yield 1,000 kg. If not, he will...

madhya pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here on Thursday with a list of demands, including an increase in the allocation of wheat and rice for the public distribution system (PDS). Mr. Chauhan said though there are an estimated 67 lakh Below Poverty Line (BPL) families in madhya pradesh, the Centre is allotting PDS grains for only 41 lakh families. “NDA made a mistake” He pointed out this...

Rise to the occasion, PM tells Railways Ministry yet to finalise Food Security Bill draft Poor storage and movement of foodgrains are a matter of worry for the second consecutive year to the UPA government. Procurement during the current rabi marketing season has already exceeded last year's level. The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution is bothered about the likely scenario of destruction of procured foodgrains during what is being described...