A huge quantity of rice, enough to feed thousands of hungry mouths, has been allowed to rot in drought-hit Jharkhand. Nearly 14,000 quintals of rice perished thanks to the negligence of the East Singhbhum district administration which did precious little to stop sacks of staple from being reduced to an inedible heap at a block office godown near Parsudih. Officials said scrapping of the Sampurn Gramin Rojgar Yojana (SGRY) in 2006 was...
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Didi of Rural Bihar: Real Agent of Change? by Meera Tiwari
The Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society, JeeVika, a state-led women’s self-help group, is active since 2007. Based on primary research, this article highlights the potential role of the individual rural woman – the didi – in driving the social and economic shifts necessary for sustainable poverty reduction in rural Bihar. The term didi is used to address an elder sister. It embodies the notion of respect. Traditionally, the term has remained...
More »Process Betrays the Spirit: Forest Rights Act in Bengal by Sourish Jha
The implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 has created controversy in West Bengal. The gram sabha, the basic unit in the process of forest rights recognition, has been replaced by the gram sansad, denoting the village level constituency under the panchayati raj system. This has been followed by contiguous arrangements as well as initiatives which are inconsistent with the Act....
More »Rahul to visit Vedanta protest site, BJD says playing politics by Debabrata Mohanty
Four days after a government-appointed expert panel recommended that Vedanta Resources should not be allowed to go ahead with its bauxite mining project in the Niyamgiri hills of Orissa, the Congress announced that its general secretary Rahul Gandhi would be visiting Niyamgiri on August 26. In a report to Minister of Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh, the expert panel headed by N C Saxena, a retired IAS officer who is a...
More »NREGA workers in Jharkhand compensated for delayed wages by Jean Dreze
Rs. 3,000 each awarded to 78 persons who had worked at three sites After a long struggle, 78 persons who had worked at three sites in Jharkhand under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, but had not been paid, have secured compensation for their ordeal. Deputy Labour Commissioner Mahendra Murmu awarded Rs. 3,000 per worker at a Labour Court here on Monday. This is seen as a breakthrough for the aggrieved workers,...
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