Watch a film, get entertained. Well, if it is IIM-Ranchi, you get business ideas, a certificate from the B-school and market linkage from Nabard. Looking to develop reel lessons to transform real-life strugglers into successful managers, IIM-Ranchi is embarking on a unique project — named Barefoot Managers, the premier B-school will develop 15 short films on entrepreneurial literacy and screen one a day in front of semi-literate and low-income groups in...

-AP India has shut down three aid organizations it says were diverting foreign funds toward rallying protests against a Russian-built nuclear plant in the south, but one group on Saturday denied any involvement in the protests while another said its efforts were entirely homegrown.  Activists opposed to an expansion of India's atomic energy portfolio argue that Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster caused by a massive earthquake and tsunami last March showed that such...

Corruption and government apathy may not be hurting MNREGS as much as well-intentioned tinkering There is growing concern that the Centre’s allocation for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) is dropping off. Correspondingly, the average number of days of work created in some of the states is dropping sharply. This decline in the spending of MNREGS money is not a one-off event but has been happening over the...

Crib deaths have once again returned to haunt Malda Medical College and Hospital. At least 8 children, mostly newborns, died at the hospital in the last 24 hours. While three of the babies were born in the hospital itself, the others were referred to the district hospital. One of the babies was even admitted to the sick newborn care unit (SNCU). Doctors blamed the deaths on low birth weight or premature...

While welcoming the report of the High Level Expert Group on Universal Health Coverage for India for its comprehensive vision and many well-conceived recommendations, this article focuses on the conditions needed for its promise to bear fruit. Towards this, it explores the political dimension, which comprises the forces and interests that come into play to shape and reconfigure administrative policy and its implementation.   We are grateful to Anand Zachariah and Susie...