The nearly 10 crore farmers who hold kisan credit cards (KCC) will soon be able to use their card as a deposit account and a debit card.  This will help the government scale up its financial inclusion plan quickly without relying on bank accounts alone.  KCC, which has been instrumental in faster delivery of credit to farmers, is like an overdraft account with a bank that has to be operated through a...

The much-vaunted NREGA has defaulted on many of its promises “There are many households in our village who have NREGA cards but have not sought work for over two years,” says 32-year-old Umesh Kumar, gram pradhan of Bhainswal village, in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh. In fact, Kumar recounts having to actually go around persuading people to come for work “whenever we get projects for implementation under NREGA”. This first-time...

-The Hindu   Despite low literacy rates, most of the low-income single women in the country are not dependent on their families but run their households on their own, according to the findings of a study released by Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh. However, since the government does not consider them so, they are neglected and forced to survive on less than the prescribed minimum wage. Mr. Ramesh released the study...

She has spent considerable time researching female infanticide. Sharada Srinivasan talks about why elimination of the girl child is prevalent all over the country. Daughter elimination is very much prevalent in Tamil Nadu even if not as intense as in other parts of the country. Sharada Srinivasan, assistant professor in International Development Studies at York University Toronto, has spent a considerable amount of time researching this subject. Her book Daughter Deficit:...

Seventy-seven schools run by the Pune Municipal Corporation do not have sanitation facilities in tune with the norms set by the Union ministry of Rural Development's department of drinking water supply, a Right to Information Act (RTI) application by P M Shah Foundation has found. Lack of proper sanitation facilities was one of the reasons girls dropped out of school. The information was sought from the civic education board. The...