In this report, ESCAP explores the future of urbanization in Asia and the Pacific, focusing on the dynamic shifts in the region’s urban landscape. It highlights the region’s demographic transformations, including population ageing, and the persistent challenges of urban poverty and inequality. The analysis covers urban areas of all sizes, …
The time has come to supplement the employment guarantee scheme with a food security strategy. And if we don’t do it now, we probably will not do so for a long time. As the economist Gunnar Myrdal argued, a lot of “scientific” economic and social reasoning is thinly disguised value …
KOLKATA, 10 JAN: The new minister for panchayat and rural development department, Mr Subrata Mukherjee, today warned gram panchayats that funds in future would be withheld in case of poor performance. Ahead of the panchayat polls the performance list of the gram panchayats are sure to come in handy since …
A study of the socio-economic situations of three villages in north-eastern Andhra Pradesh shows that while times and values have vastly changed, not much has been transformed in terms of privileges and opportunities. Those belonging to landowning families have managed to get a good education and secure good jobs or …
This study is divided into four major sections. The first tries to put in a political economy perspective the emergence of interest in poverty studies in Pakistan in the early 1970s in the wake of the unraveling of Ayub Khan’s Decade of Development that ultimately resulted in the creation of …
Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has rejected Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar’s suggestion on modifying MGNREGA’s guidelines, saying it has not impacted the availability of workers for the farm sector. Ramesh has told Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that on the contrary it has led to major increase in farm wages and …
The goal of preserving nature is often in conflict with economic development and the aspirations of the rural poor. Nowhere is this more striking than in native grasslands, which have been extensively converted until a mere fraction of their original extent remains. This is not surprising; grasslands flourish in places …
As it stands, the food security plan is flawed and can have a negative impact The proposed right to food Bill may have some serious consequences. It aims to provide rice at Rs 3, wheat at Rs 2 and coarse grains at Rs 1 per kg. Each person in the …
The uncertainty associated with predicting extreme weather events has serious implications for the developing world, owing to the greater societal vulnerability to such events. Continual exposure to unanticipated extreme events is a contributing factor for the descent into perpetual and structural rural poverty. We provide two examples of how probabilistic …
Chennai: A National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) study found that nearly half of the country’s farmer households are in debt. Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Punjab are the top three states recording highest percentage of farmers in debt. Of the 89.35 million farmer households in the country, 43.42 million are …
This paper discusses the many limitations of the official poverty lines applied in Sri Lanka (and many other nations). These include poverty lines’ reliance on expert-based determination of basic food and non-food needs, the fact that they are a monetary measure and so do not measure whether food or non-food …
Recent events in south Asia have led to an unexpected reversal in the narrative of microfinance, long presented as a development success. Despite charges of poor treatment of clients, exaggeration of the impact on the poorest as well as the risks of credit bubbles, the sector can play a non-negligible …
NEW DELHI, 15 NOV: The Prime Minister, Mr Manmohan Singh, today called for an “inclusive model” that benefits not only the rich but also the poor through poverty eradication, development of agriculture and health. Terming innovation as a “game changer”, Mr Singh said: “Innovation has a critical role to play …
KOLKATA, 13 NOV: Chief minister Miss Mamata Banerjee may have said that Rs 1,200 crore of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) has already been spent for infrastructure development of rural hospitals as well as various projects under NRHM, but according to the data provided by the NRHM authorities only …
A west Champaran-based sugar firm, whose managing director is the son-in-law of Sahaswan (UP) BSP MLA D P Yadav, is under probe for taking agricultural loans in the names of 2,055 Bagaha farmers and diverting government grants and subsidies worth about Rs 10 crore meant for them. The farmers learnt …
LUCKNOW: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) started its crackdown in the multi-thousand crore National Rural Health Mission scam by conducting search at ten leading eye hospitals in the city on Saturday. Sleuths faced initial resistance at some of these locations like Sunitra Eye Clinic on Hardoi Road in Thakurganj …
This paper has studied rural employment diversification in India and across major states using NSSO data at household level for the period 1983 and 2009-10. Factors affecting rural employment diversification towards non-farm sector have also been studied. Analysis has shown that the non-farm sector has consistently grown over time and …
In this report, the determinants of economic poverty in mountain areas are analysed using nationally representative livelihood data at the household level. Economic poverty has a central position, because it is perceived to be at the very core of the poverty definition: the inability to fulfil basic needs. Other poverty …
Number of people who can benefit from government’s welfare programmes is going to swell. Currently, the Central government caps the entitlements under most welfare programmes to those below the poverty line, which is as low as Rs 12/day/person for rural areas and Rs 18/day/person for urban areas.
Five Party-Ruled States Underpaying Workers, Face Anti-Poor Tag New Delhi: The political advantage enjoyed by the Congress for bringing the rural job scheme is under threat with five of its states underpaying workers, a revelation that has prompted the leadership against challenging a court order seeking parity between MGNREGA wages …
