Rural service bonds for students and pre-PG mandatory qualification have helped Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan have created a special cadre with financial, non-financial incentives Acknowledging the difference the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) has made to the health care system, the third Common Review Mission (CRM) says many States have come up with innovations for attracting and retaining professionals in public service in rural and remote areas. While most States focus on financial incentives,...

Some of the poor states in the country that were the focus of the big-ticket National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) have actually ended up being discriminated against in the Central allocation as compared to funds released to some of the rich and efficient states that were already high on the basic health parameters. This has been found in a review of NRHM, the UPA government's most ambitious welfare scheme after...

Once the world's wettest places, Cherrapunji is getting up to 20% less rain every year - and is suffering water shortages. Residents say their heavenly abode in the clouds is hotter and drier than ever before - and they blame it on global warming. Cherrapunji - or Sohra in the local Khasi language - is located in the West Khasi Hills of India's north-eastern state of Meghalaya. "Never were there very...

A small village in the north-eastern Indian state of Meghalaya has become the envy of its neighbours. Large crowds of visitors have been thronging to the village curious to find out why Mawlynnong has earned the reputation for being arguably the cleanest and best educated in India - all its residents can read and write and each house has a toilet. That is no mean achievement in a country that...

The National Tribal Policy ‘draft’ is reason enough to celebrate. But what it lacks is the voice of the adivasi who it claims to protect, says SMITA JACOB THERE ARE nearly 500 tribes in India constituting 140 million of us – 80 million Scheduled Tribes on the census record, and 60 million off the record, called the ‘denotified and nomadic tribes’ who have never been counted by India’s census. And...