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...

While the landmark Right to Education Act takes the promise of primary education to more than eight million children, there are still many lacunae on the ground. But, as the Shiksha Adhikar Yatra, conducted by Dalit organisations in UP and Rajasthan showed, citizens now have the tools to demand and receive effective governance.  The landmark right to information act has made a huge impact at the local level on the...

Come July and 12 crore children benefiting from the mid-day meal (MDM) scheme may go without food as states have nearly run out of foodgrain and fresh supply is caught up in wrangling over the mode of payment. Foodgrain for every quarter is usually lifted a month in advance. But with June approaching and the department of food and public distribution and HRD ministry still to resolve differences on payment,...

The government should issue food stamps directly to families living below poverty line (BPL), instead of subsidised food, to ensure food security of the poor, an industry lobby said in a report. The Federation of India Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) said the current system of providing subsidised food items through the public distribution system (PDS) should be dismantled as it was plagued by leakages at different levels. It...

The Centre is gearing to introduce a tribal policy that has been gathering dust for five years, hoping the move will win the tribals over from the Maoists. The draft of the National Tribal Policy, which proposes land rights for Adivasis and aims to bring their human development indices on a par with the rest of the country by 2020, will be placed before the cabinet this month, tribal ministry officials...