Neither celebrity nor politician, Sita Murmu, is extraordinary because she is the great survivor of that `other India'. She is not a beneficiary of the job guarantee scheme MGNREGA and doesn't have a BPL card. In her 60s, she lives in a Bhubaneswar slum and describes herself as a tribal widow without any land, regular income or Schooling but "surviving —that itself is enough". Railing at the false promises of...

Despite its seminal success in beginning a process of addressing issues of poverty, starvation and empowering the poor, the MGNREGA needed a general election to breathe life into it. However, the disproportionate influence of the middle class on social sector policy has led to the same set of pre-election prejudices resurfacing. "What use is the MGNREGA to the economy at large?" asks the businessman, one eye fixed apprehensively on the share...

Altogether 30 students of a secondary School in Bihar's Jehanabad district were taken ill after eating mid-day meal which was suspected to have been contaminated, District Magistrate Palaki Sahni said.The students of the School in Dahma village under Kako block started vomiting soon after taking the food.The sick students have been admitted to Kako block hospital and district Sadar hospital, Sahni said, adding the condition of four of them was...

More needs to be done to protect women from the dangers of unsafe abortions, a United Nations official told a forum in Ghana that is examining the extent of the problem in Africa, where some 5.5 million unsafe abortions are performed annually. Thokozile Ruzvidzo, Director of the African Centre for Gender and Social Development at the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), said many commitments have been made regarding women’s health,...

Policy-makers, media and government functionaries have had their say on implementation of the Right to Education Act, but the voices of children in this regard are yet to be heard, Child Rights and You general manager Anita Bala Sharad said here on Thursday. In an effort to factor in the views of children in the discussions on the RTE, CRY held a press conference in which six children from Delhi, Uttar...