-The Indian Express Social audits should not be judged by state response alone. They create awareness about rights and create engaged citizens. This article is in response to Farzana Afridi's ‘Social audit isn't enough' (IE, January 22). Social audits have been enshrined as one of the transparency and accountability tools in the MGNREGA. Such accountability mechanisms aim to strengthen the otherwise weak institutions of delivery as they engage the beneficiaries in the...
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India has 37% of world's illiterate adults
-IANS NEW DELHI: India has by far the largest population of illiterate adults - 287 million or 37 per cent of the global total, said a report released on Wednesday. The "EFA Global Monitoring Report, 2013-14: Teaching and Learning: Achieving quality for All", commissioned by the Unesco, said 10 countries (including India) account for 557 million or 72 per cent of the global population of illiterate adults. "India's literacy rate rose from 48...
More »CAG picks holes in govt spending worth Rs 3 lakh crore -Pradeep Thakur
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Raising doubts on the genuineness of the government's plan expenditure, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has written to the finance ministry saying its data provided on schemes worth over Rs 3 lakh crore for 2012-13 "points to serious deficiencies". The auditor said a detailed scrutiny had revealed that government in several cases was giving post-dated sanctions - in some instances sanctions were granted by the...
More »Healthy and sustainable food systems key to fighting hunger, UN agency says
-The United Nations Healthy people need healthy and sustainable food systems, the United Nations said today said calling for agricultural research and development to become more focused on nutrition, as well as local biodiversity and diversified farming systems. "Our common approach to food production is simply not sustainable today, or in 2050, when we will have to provide food for a population of 9.6 billion people," said FAO Deputy Director-General Helena Semedo...
More »The great Indian sanitation crisis
-Live Mint The Indian state has done little to provide preventive public health services New data released by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) have once again underlined the abysmal state of sanitation in the country, particularly in rural India where two-thirds of the country lives. Only 32% of rural households have their own toilets, according to the recently released results of a large-scale survey conducted by NSSO in 2012. An additional...
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