-India Spend/ Scroll.in These programmes should look at skilling the workforce for paid jobs rather than unpaid, part-time volunteers. Central government programmes on water emphasise groundwater management by the community in a decentralised manner but, by and large, these schemes are silent on the availability, training and deployment of a skilled workforce for this task, especially in rural areas. Water management at the most decentralised, local levels is often a part-time, volunteer or...

-The Telegraph The story of a reversal that may yet rescue Indians from being hungry and undernourished I first tasted kodo, a coarse foodgrain, when I was barely seven. It was at the home of our Adivasi Domestic Help in Piska, a roadside railway station near Lohardaga in what was then southern Bihar. The porridge she cooked with kodo, jaggery and a bit of salt tasted much better than the gruel I...

-ThePrint.in But the Guntur’s chillis’ got competition, 29 other districts in India chose chillis as their signature product too. Under the One District One Product Initiative, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh declared its famous chilli as its signature product, hoping to leverage resources to promote its produce globally – 29 other districts followed suit, each declaring chillies their unique, signature product and setting the stage for a nationwide chilli faceoff. This article, the first...

-The Hindu Audits, transparency and citizen-centric accountability need to be a part of fund support and disbursement Every COVID-19 wave in India has brought us face to face with the dire precarity of life and livelihood for India’s vast numbers of unorganised workers, and the inadequate response of the state and society to their plight. The latest global OXFAM inequality report highlights how India’s billionaires have grown dramatically in numbers and wealth,...

-Down to Earth Blog The district set a record for creating 1,121 farm ponds in 30 days in September 2021, in line with the recently launched state climate mission In September 2021, Tamil Nadu’s Tiruvannamalai district set a record for creating 1,121 farm ponds in 30 days by leveraging the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). The initiative’s aim was to ensure adequate water for agricultural and domestic purposes throughout the...