The Suresh Tendulkar committee report revising upwards poverty estimates across the country may further strain government finances with many of the states already demanding special status to address the issue and an enhanced allocation under many of the pro-poor schemes. The committee, in its report submitted to the Planning Commission last week, had estimated that 37% of India’s population is under the poverty line, while the proportion of the poor...

The key message of the book is that agriculture in South Asia is quite heavily stressed due to A complex set of socio-economic, agro-climatic, and hydrological factors WATER, AGRICULTURE AND SUSTAINABLE WELL-BEING: Edited by Unai Pascual, Amita Shah, Jayanta Bandyopadhyay; Oxford University Press, YMCA Library Building, Jai Singh Road, New Delhi-110001. Rs. 750. “Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less...

Introduction The phenomenon of disability is one of the pressing problems in the world. According to the projections of international agencies, about 10 per cent of the population are affected with physical, mental, sensory and other forms of impairments and around 75 per cent of the disabled population are concentrated in the rural and inaccessible areas of the developing societies. This data is based on recent studies carried out in various...

At a time when there is growing concern about the causes of increasing discontent and alienation among tribals, it is important to recall a very important law for improving the governance of the Scheduled Areas in such a way as to protect the interests of tribals. The reference here is to the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act 1996 (briefly called the PESA law). If this Act had been properly...

There is every sign that India is launching into a period of rapid urbanisation. In the next 30 years, an additional 350 million people will have to be accommodated in our existing towns as well as in brand new urban spaces. Given our inability to cater to even the existing urban population, there are serious concerns about our ability to deal with the influx. Are we entering a world of...