Ergonomics is no longer the privilege of those working in plush offices. If things fall in place, rajasthan may be the first state to take it to the absolute grassroots -- at the NREGA worksite. In a pathbreaking move, the MIT Institute of Design in Pune, under the National Knowledge Commission, has taken the plunge for fine-tuning traditional tools used for digging and moving earth specially in NREGA so as...

Underpressure from the states, the central government has agreed to bear a higher burden of the cost of implementing the Right to Education. The Centre’s share of the financial burden will be at 68%, a sharp rise from the sharing pattern of 55:45 in the current year and the proposed 50:50 from 2011-12 . The new sharing pattern has been approved by the Expenditure Finance Committee on Wednesday. The ministry...

Uttar Pradesh has another reason to hang its head in shame. In the latest survey report released by the ministry of health, under the National Rural Health Mission, UP has been ranked the lowest among all states, with a shortfall of over 5800 rural healthcare centres. According to the data, while states like rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir have bettered their performances in the rural health sector --...

In a major step for environment protection, the rajasthan government on Monday announced a complete ban on the use of plastic carry-bags all over the State from August 1. A notification declared the entire State a “plastic carry-bag-free zone.” The ban will also apply to manufacture, storage, import, sale and transport of plastic carry-bags. Violation of the order will attract prosecution under Section 15 of the Environment Protection Act, which prescribes jail...

It isn't too much of a stretch to say that India is made up of many nations. A comparison of state-level and country-level data from the newly released multi-dimensional poverty index shows that while Kerala and Goa are at a similar level of development as 'middle-income countries' like Indonesia, Jharkhand and Bihar are similar to 'least-developed countries' like the Democratic Republic of Congo. Earlier this month, the new MPI measure...