Karupayee is one of the first at the panchayat union office, hoping there's work for her under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Generation Scheme (MNREGS). Her story is similar to millions of other Indians who have benefited from the government programme providing for 100 days of guaranteed employment. But Karupayee is 101 years old. Karupayee of Thanakankulam village in Thiruparankundram panchayat union in Madurai district is probably the oldest...

Last summer, about 150 families of Kachan village in Jharkhand’s Palamu district decided to pool funds to repair their only community tube well. A drought, the worst in many years, had dried up two ponds; there were no wells around; and the tube well had been dysfunctional for a year. It took a lot of hardship and one whole month for them to put together what the mechanic had asked...

The government’s effort to draft a seminal law to fight hunger is flawed, inadequate, opaque and “not in the spirit of the election promises” in the Congress manifesto, says a confidential note circulated to top ministers at a late-evening meeting on Monday. The three-page note—a copy of which is with the Hindustan Times—came from the office of finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and was handed to the select empowered group of ministers...

An empowered group of ministers (eGoM) has urged the government to delink the proposed National Food Security Act (NFSA) from nutritional security and keep the issue price of wheat and rice flexible under the Act. But a top official of the agriculture ministry said some members of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government want NFSA to be an “umbrella legislation” addressing social security concerns. “The finance ministry is of the view that...

With 15 of Orissa's 30 districts hit by drought amid allegations of more than 400 starvation deaths in nine years, a Supreme Court panel has asked the administration to rescue hungry people immediately to prevent possible deaths. The SC appointed Commissioner and Special Commissioner have recommended a "protocol" for preventing hunger deaths in the state. "Protocol for preventing starvation would ensure that the state response is appropriate to mitigate some...