Special schools will be set up for mentally challenged children in Japanese Encephalitis (JE) affected areas while fixed monthly compensation will be given to families below the poverty line having children with disability due to JE. A group of ministers (GoM) formed to handle India's JE outbreak which included Ghulam Nabi Azad, Jairam Ramesh, Krishna Tirath and Mukul Wasnik met for the first time on Monday to finalize a new strategy....

Village studies are a treasure trove of information on economic and social changes A noteworthy feature of research on Indian agriculture is the resurgence of interest in village studies. Such studies – that include resurveys of villages studied earlier – provide insights into the livelihood prospects of the majority of people who continue to work in the countryside. They are an important mode of research to understand agrarian relations that often...

The UPA’s flagship scheme National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) appears to be losing steam, as financial performance for the current year till the month of October indicates only five states having spent more than 50 per cent of the allotted fund. While the BJP-ruled Gujarat (63 per cent) leads the pack of states in utilisation of NREGS funds, states like Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Karnataka have lagged behind...

-The Hindu   The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered five Preliminary Enquiries (PEs) relating to alleged irregularities in the funds allotted to the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) in Uttar Pradesh since its inception in 2005-06, CBI spokesperson said here on Saturday. The PEs were registered on the directions of the Allahabad High Court's Lucknow Bench. They pertain to civil works of Director-General (Family Welfare), procurement of medicines and equipments and information,...

Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh has proposed social audits for the centre's big-ticket welfare programmes running under different ministries, on the lines of the scrutiny that he recently mandated for the flagship rural jobs scheme. "The concept has the potential to revolutionise the system. If we can have social audits for three-four major social sector schemes, it will change the way the country functions," Ramesh said. If the proposal is...