-The United Nations To mark World Water Day, the United Nations is highlighting the key role that water and energy play in economic development and the eradication of poverty worldwide, and calling for strong measures to ensure their efficient and equitable use. In his message for the Day, focused this year on the interdependence between the management of water and energy, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted that "they interact with each other...
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Employer of the last resort? -Sonalde Desai, Omkar Joshi and Reeve Vanneman
-The Hindu The Centre's rural employment guarantee scheme can be substantially improved, but it has undeniably helped Dalits, Adivasis and women find work In an era of growing globalisation and rising inequality, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) stands out as a unique attempt to provide a social safety net via a massive public works programme. The government as an employer of the last resort is an idea that...
More »Women power in elections increasing -Rohith BR
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Women power in general elections is on the rise over the decades. General Election- 2009 sent the highest number of women in Lok Sabha, 59, while in previous House the number was 45. The lowest number of women elected to the Lok Sabha was in 1977 when only 19 women reached the Lower House, which was only 3.50% of the total Lok Sabha seats (542...
More »MGNREGS social audit lessons from AP -Yamini Aiyar
-Live Mint Andhra Pradesh's experience with social audits holds important lessons for the Congress's empowerment agenda At the heart of the Congress party's narrative on the rights-based welfare state is the idea that rights laws, to quote Sonia Gandhi, "put pressure on the executive to be more responsive and accountable" and in doing so bring about an "empowerment revolution". To enable this revolution, rights laws have had built into them procedural...
More »After drought, the deluge -Parthasarathi Biswas
-The Indian Express Farmers in worst-hit Beed had hoped that a good harvest this year would help them repay loans. Beed (Maharashtra): Radhabai, a 30-year-old daily wager from Ekdara village of Beed district, was plucking cotton on March 8 when the overcast sky opened up. Heavy rain with tennis ball-sized hailstones forced her to take shelter under a tree. "Heavy wind dislodged a branch of the tree that fell on her head....
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