-The Hindu While the view about the Narendra Modi government’s culpability differs, the anger against the Nitish Kumar government on lack of employment opportunities is all pervasive Purnia/ Kishanganj: Seven months on after lakhs of migrant workers returned to their homes, many on foot, following the announcement of sudden and extended nationwide lockdown, the narrative on the ground in Bihar is divided over religious and caste lines. There are no official figures on...

-Down to Earth Manpower minimised, Water used in the process recycled; environmentalists hail the model, but implementation under cloud Idol immersion in Kolkata has turned a new leaf in the wake of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic through the ‘wash-and-melt’ model. Tridhara Akalbodhon, a club in south Kolkata, used Water jets to melt its durga idols instead of immerising them. Environmentalists, too, have hailed the model as environment-friendly. The idols were positioned through...

-Down to Earth Creation of unregulated private points of sale will only ensure that the produce continues to be sold as before — at below MSP and without any government support More than 86 per cent farmers in India own or cultivate on less than two acres of land and have little surplus to sell. They are the victims of middlemen (arthiya) at the mandis (local exchange markets) and are forced, by...

-Scroll.in Will the people impacted by the project be heard through the cacophony of money, careerism, certitude and bombastic populism? In years that the Kosi river floods in Bihar, government officials from Delhi and Patna rush to observe the river’s “wrath” from high-flying helicopters. Inevitably, political leaders, bureaucrats and sections of the media delude the Indian public by blaming Nepal for releasing Water. Then, they announce that they have the answer to save...

Multidimensional poverty is about non-monetary poverty and is strongly associated with the challenges of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Although previously defined only in monetary terms, poverty is now understood to include the lived reality of people’s experiences and the multiple deprivations they face. India’s multidimensional headcount ratio (H) i.e. the proportion or incidence of people (within a given population) who experience multiple deprivations has reduced from 55.1 percent to...