The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …
The Finance Ministry allocated 22 per cent less funds for MGNREGA in revised estimates for the current financial year (2023-24), as compared to Rs 1.1 lakh crore sought by the Rural Development Ministry, shows a Parliamentary committee report tabled in the Lok Sabha on February 08, 2024. The report – …
Around Rs 79 crore has been transferred to ineligible beneficiaries under the Ministry of Rural Development’s National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) between 2017 and 2021, an audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has revealed. Of this, Rs two crore was paid to beneficiaries even after their …
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (Amendment) Bill, 2022 was introduced in Rajya Sabha on December 09, 2022. The Bill seeks to amend the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005.This Act may be called the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (Amendment) Act, 2022.
Women play a key role in environmental protection and social and economic development in mountain areas. They are often the primary managers of mountain resources, guardians of biodiversity and keepers of traditional knowledge. Empowering rural women is crucial to eradicating hunger and poverty. Yet, due to discriminatory social norms, rural …
Rural economies are key to ensure food security and creating decent jobs. Yet the global context dominated by the impact of multiple and interlinked crises has laid bare prevailing decent work deficits, with many rural workers living in poverty and working informally. This policy brief looks at the transformative changes …
Different agriculture and NRM activities are relevant for different parts of the country owing to different development requirements amidst regional agro-climatic and hydrogeological conditions. In Agricultural Water Management (AWM) Typologies, authors presented a classification of 657 districts into 12 typologies, developed by analysing the district level datasets of groundwater, irrigation …
The Department of Legal and Legislative Affairs, Punjab on July 18, 2022 has issued the Punjab Rural Development (Amendment) Act, 2022 to further amend the Punjab Rural Development Act, 1987. The following has been amended namely: Section 7 which states “Purpose for which the Fund may be applied” has been …
Africa’s rural population continues to expand rapidly and labor productivity in agriculture and many rural off farm activities remains low. This paper uses the lens of a dual economy and the associated patterns of agricultural, rural, and structural transformation to review the evolution of Africa’s rural employment and its inclusiveness. …
The transformation of food systems is a burning topic across the globe, in response to concerns about the nutritional, environmental and equity impacts of our current system. Food system transformation is inextricably linked with efforts to eradicate hunger and poverty, since the livelihoods of a large share of the world’s …
This case study presents the lessons learned from a digital transformation project in the field of index insurance, undertaken by the National Agricultural Insurance Company of Senegal (CNASS) with the support of the World Food Programme and Sofrecom. Digital payment solutions, especially those offered by mobile money and money transfer …
This report explores the new poverty reduction strategy of the People's Republic of China and focuses on the vulnerable, particularly children, the elderly, and those whose access to health care is jeopardized by urbanization and aging. The People’s Republic of China has a long and successful record of poverty reduction. …
The World Social Report 2021 points to the ways in which rural development can be reset to achieve sustainable development. It calls for moving rural development to the centre of attention, instead of relegating it as an appendage of urban development; for ending the rural-urban divide through the adoption of …
Average levels of various pollutants, including PM10, PM2.5 and nitrogen dioxide, in Delhi last year were the lowest since 2014, according to the Delhi Economic Survey report. Government data also showed that average levels of the major pollutants in the city have been decreasing steadily over the years. The annual …
This study analyzes the critical role played by farmers’ organizations (FOs) in transforming agriculture in Africa. Specifically, it provides an overview of the state of continental and regional FOs in Africa. It also uses three-country (Senegal, Uganda and Zambia) case studies to discuss the structure, functioning, objectives, and financing of …
Agricultural Development: New Perspectives in a Changing World is the first comprehensive exploration of key emerging issues facing developing-country agriculture today, from rapid urbanization to rural transformation to climate change. In this four-part volume, top experts offer the latest research in the field of agricultural development. Using new lenses to …
This report showcases the results of the assessment conducted by the Vietnam National University of Agriculture, International Center for Tropical Agriculture, and the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development. The assessment aims to create new sets of criteria for the Nông Thôn Mới (NTM) program of …
Many governments in low- and middle-income countries see improving rural development as a way to achieve critical national development objectives: economic transformation, eradication of poverty and greater equality. A lack of finance, however, constrains the full implementation of national public policies for rural development. Access to external finance also evolves …
There is vast literature on groups as a useful mechanism for rural development, especially for women. However, for group participation to fulfil on potential benefits to women, gender-specific constraints must be addressed. This study examines how to promote gender-inclusive governance of mixed-sex selfhelp groups in the African context, analysing twenty …
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has notified that in order to promote Decentralised Renewable Energy (DRE) livelihood applications in rural areas of the country a draft policy framework is being proposed (to be brought by the Ministry) to provide a conducive environment for development and large-scale adoption …
In recent years, along with the growing recognition of the rural gender gap in financial access as a key constraint to rural development, research has focused increasingly more towards analysing in depth the financial habits and patterns followed by women in rural areas, in order to produce observations and insights …