-TheWire.in It has been proven time and again that large 'Development' projects, involving the blasting of fragile hills and constraining the flow of rivers, cause huge loss of lives and livelihoods in the Himalayan region. Two big landslides in the Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh which made national headlines have re-emphasised the need for ecologically protective Development in geologically fragile and vulnerable hills. On August 11, a massive landslide on National Highway 5,...

-TheWire.in Improved data collection and reporting, appropriate protective gear and better government policies can all help address the problems of sanitation workers. Over the last seven or eight years in India, sanitation has been a key focus of government programmes. Several thousand crores have been spent on the issue and there has been remarkable progress in terms of toilets constructed. The sanitation problem has also received ample attention in the Development sector,...

-ThePrint.in A Delhi-based legal resource group says its study analyses district and high court case law pertaining to child marriage in India between 2008 and 2017. New Delhi: Child marriage cases in India have primarily been filed against incidents of elopement, as opposed to arranged or forced marriages, revealed a new study that aims to understand if the existing legislation — Prohibition of Child Marriage Act — serves its purpose. Delhi-based ‘legal resource...

-TheWire.in Even in a state like Kerala, higher human Development indices have not translated into equally solid gender outcomes. An interesting public policy question that has emerged over the last few years is why high human Development indices are not translating into a better ‘gender status’ for Kerala. The Human Development Index (HDI) in Kerala (0.763) is the highest in India. The HDI is estimated as the geometric mean of three crucial aspects...

-The Hindu India’s failure to put in place a sound schooling system is exacting a heavy price Word has it that there are two schools of thought among Indian Development economists — one advocating growth and the other redistribution. This perception is quite misleading. For one thing, growth and redistribution are not the only means of making the world a better place. To illustrate, civil liberties have much to contribute to the...