-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: The government is infusing fresh urgency into implementation of the Swachh Bharat Rural scheme after a detailed review by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month triggered concerns that at its current pace the flagship cleanliness programme could miss its deadline of 2019. Barely 11 per cent of India's 6.38 lakh villages have turned open defecation free so far, with only 17 of the 683 districts declared ODF...
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The abandoned villages of Bundelkhand -Nikita Mehta
-Livemint.com Tiliya, one of many villages in Bundelkhand region, has been emptied of its young people as they have migrated to the cities to find work, usually menial jobs Jhansi/ New Delhi: Adjacent to the Pahuj river, surrounded by small rocky hills in Jalaun district of Uttar Pradesh lies Tiliya, a village of 42 households. Most villagers are farmers but, strangely, almost all the farmers are elderly. They put it down to ‘Palaayaan’...
More »A forest drought no one is talking about -Purshottam Singh Thakur, Ajit Panda & Anupam Chakravartty
-Down to Earth Severe dry spells in Indian forests have hit the livelihood of more than 100 million people. But India simply does not acknowledge this drought For more than five months, residents of Jabarra village have been foraging the forests for minor forest produce (MFP). The forest in Chhattisgarh’s Dhamtari district is abundant with more than 200 types of forest produce and the district is known as Asia’s biggest trading...
More »Dryland Farming: Bringing watershed management back to the policy agenda -Pravesh Sharma
-The Indian Express Price and technology-led incentives alone will not help boost pulses and oilseeds production in the country. Indian agriculture is governed by an impossible trinity or “trilemma” that requires it to meet three simultaneous objectives — global competitiveness, social inclusiveness and environmental sustainability — each often at odds with the other two. Official policy has largely tilted towards supporting the first two goals, with token, if not grudging, acknowledgement of...
More »Additional days of work available under MGNREGS not taken up in drought hit states
Two back-to-back reports that shed light on the status of MGNREGA implementation in the country, have been released recently from the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD). A review of MGNREGA implementation in 8 different states of India by a team of experts during the month of May this year reveals that in many of the drought affected districts, the Gram Panchayats have no work to offer under the programme. (Please click...
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