In order to get a deeper understanding of the problems in the rain-fed areas, the NAC on natural resources management would soon hold consultations with the rural development ministry, states and NGOs Concerned over asset creation under the flagship Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) will explore ways and means to maximise the rural job plan in developing the rain-fed areas in...
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The Indian exception
Many Indians eat poorly. Would a “right to food” help? “LOOK at this muck,” says 35-year-old Pamlesh Yadav, holding up a tin-plate of bilious-yellow grains, a mixture of wheat, rice and mung beans. “It literally sticks in the throat. The children won’t eat it, so we take it home and feed it to the cows.” Mrs Yadav has brought her children to a state-run nursery in Bhindusi village in rural Rajasthan. The...
More »Bangladesh: crisis of the Grameen Bank by Haroon Habib
U.S. support for Muhammad Yunus is so strong that Dhaka may find a negotiated settlement to protect the Nobel Laureate's image and the independence of the Grameen Bank. Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus's three-decades-long journey with microfinance was laborious. But he most certainly did not encounter a crisis like the one he is facing now. It was only in December 2010 that the Bangladeshi — who shared the Nobel Peace Prize with...
More »In Jharkhand, children slug it out in ‘rat holes' to make a living by Ipsita Pati
Many work in unscientifically built mines, employing crude methods and risking their lives The mines in Hazaribagh district are manned mostly by children aged between 7 and 17 Exposure to dust and coal particles has left them with respiratory problems Javir Kumar, 14, works in illegal coal mines, each a “rat hole,” 10x10 foot and 400 foot deep, where a mere slip of the foot will plunge one to a certain death. A large...
More »Can Centre fix NREGS wages in isolation? by M Rajshekhar
Sometime this month, Justice N Ramamohana Rao of the Andhra Pradesh High Court will deliver a verdict that will directly impact earnings of the 114 million people who work under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), the Central government's work guarantee programme. The verdict will also indirectly impact earnings of the 400 million workers and labourers who toil in India's factories and fields for 'minimum wages'. The question Justice Rao...
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