Rural level micro plans will be chalked out for sustainable exploitation of natural resources and making rain-fed agriculture profitable. Under the micro plans, several works of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme will be taken up in an integrated way with the convergence of other Government Schemes and programmes. This information was given by Principal Secretary R. Parshuram while addressing a workshop at Academy of Administration here today. The...

It is the availability of adequate foodgrains to meet the mandatory requirements under the proposed National Food Security Bill that worries the government, not the enhanced subsidy such a move would entail. From what the government is planning it appears that the subsidies on petroleum products would go to meet the requirement of providing cheap foodgrains to the poor under the Public Distribution System (PDS) and to bring the Above...

That hospital births curb mother and child deaths is probably a no brainer. Convincing expectant mothers to get admitted to a hospital is only part of the problem in India’s rural healthcare system. The other challenge is abysmal infrastructure: There is just one hospital bed for every 10,000 Indians living in villages and one in 10 primary health centres in rural areas stumble along without doctors. The result is a human tragedy....

In India, of the total cultivated area of around 140.30 million hectares only 60.86 million is irrigated and remaining 79.44 million hectares is rain-fed. Rain-fed crops account for 48 percent area under food crops and 68 percent of the area under non-food crops. Irrigated land accounts for nearly 55 percent of food production while rain-fed contributes just about 45 percent. Rain-fed farming is risk prone and is characterized by low...

The latest report on the progress of millennium development goals (MDG) by the United Nations has said that robust social protection and employment schemes such as India's Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) reduce poverty and reverse inequality. In its report, ‘What Will it Take to Achieve Millennium Development Goals,' the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has said the MNREGS is known for improving livelihoods through legal guarantee of...