C.K.Ramachandran Consultant - governance, institutional reform and rural livelihoods   N.Narayanasamy SAGE New Delhi, India 2009 Pages - 363 Price Rs. 550   This is an exhaustive treatise on Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) which evolved during the 80s and 90s as a reaction to the top-down approach to development. The book traces the evolution of PRA in considerable detail and attempts to distinguish it from several other related streams of participatory approaches some of which have vanished without...

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) - Tamil Nadu plans to prepare a roadmap to enhance the competitiveness of healthcare sector in the state, and one of the main focus areas will be upgrading the primary health centres (PHCs) through public-private partnership (PPP). The industry chamber is also planning to promote solar energy, through pilot demonstration projects, with funding support from Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). R Nandini, chairperson, Tamil Nadu...

In several hamlets in the caste sensitive pockets of south Tamil Nadu, the law of the land has ceased to exist. Here, it is the ‘kattapanchayat’ or kangaroo courts that rule. A few months ago, Nagaraj, a dalit from Vedasandur in Dindigul district, married a non-dalit girl, Sumathi. Fear of reprisal prompted them to flee the village. They returned a month later hoping that their parents would accept them. But...

Detailed project report for the yard will be ready soon    Even as Tirupur grew exponentially to carve out a niche for itself in the world textile map, the city is yet to have some of the basic infrastructure needed to keep the area clean and hygienic. One of them is ‘modern compost yard', a project that was conceptualised many years ago but did not take off owing to bureaucratic red-tapism. No-objection...

The Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry on Tuesday approved a scheme for providing highly subsidised sanitary napkins to adolescent girls in the rural areas to promote menstrual hygiene. The scheme, to be launched in 150 districts across the country in the first phase, will cost Rs.150 crore for the current financial year. Approved by the Mission Steering Group – the highest decision-making body – of the National Rural Health...