• Key Facts

• Farmers' suicides

• Rural distress

• Debt Trap

• Unemployment

• Migration

• GENDER

• Displacement

• Right to Food  

• Right to Work (MG-NREGA)

• Social Audit

• Right to Information

• Right to Education

• Forest and Tribal Rights

• Policy/ Action so far

• Poverty and inequality

• Hunger Overview

• Malnutrition

• HDI Overview

• Education  

• Public Health

• Mid Day Meal Scheme (MDMS)

• PDS/ Ration/ Food Security  

• MDGs

• Water and Sanitation

• Impact on Agriculture

• Time Bomb Ticking

• Social Justice

• Access to Justice

• Human Rights

• Corruption

• General Insecurity

• Disaster & Relief

Laws for citizens, and by them too -Ruchi Gupta and Nikhil Dey

e can be little argument that debates about legislation in the public domain are not only inherently more democratic but have also led to more informed, equitable and robust legislative measures. The Right to Information law, for instance, benefited from over a decade of people's dialogues and contributions in different parts of the country. The RTI campaign "model law" was used as an advocacy benchmark which served as a basis for the law th

NCPCR seeks report from West Bengal on student’s death-Shiv Sahay Singh

-The Hindu Kolkata: The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has taken suo motu cognisance of the death of a class III student at Basanti in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district and sought a report from the State government. Bapi Joardar (10), a student of Nirdeshkhali Notunpara Sishu Siksha Kendra, died at the State-run SSKM hospital Friday morning after his schoolteacher allegedly banged his head against the

A son gets a mother -Ramendra Singh

etails of all such convicts lodged in state jails awaiting release after bail. "The court also said that Kumari be compensated adequately." Retribution though is far from Kumari's mind Right now. "On May 4, I left the jail in the morning without eating anything. It was after 19 years that I was out. I asked Kanhaiya where I would go. He told me to come with him to Kanpur," she says, her eyes welling up. A day after they r

Working women numbers don’t add up -Rukmini Shrinivasan

number of women who reported that they were either employed or seeking employment. Among the various explanations that economists and sociologists came up with was this fundamental one - was the data Right? Former chief statistician Pronab Sen, who has himself overseen the NSSO's functioning in the past, argued that a lack of probing questions on the part of poorly trained enumerators could explain much of the fall. "There is a huge range of

How GDP understates economic growth-Bill Gates

rvices in different countries, economists can adjust GDP to gain better insight into living standards. Yet it is clear to me that we need to devote greater resources to getting basic GDP numbers Right. As Jerven argues, national statistics offices across Africa need more support so that they can obtain and report timelier and more accurate data. Donor governments and international organisations such as the World Bank need to do more to help Afric

Hunger stalks temple town of Varanasi-Virendra Nath Bhatt

-Tehelka While district administration of Varanasi says that the children died of tuberculosis, human Rights' activists allege that the deaths were due to hunger and malnutrition  Two children from a poor family of weavers have allegedly died of starvation in Varanasi. Four-year old Mohammed Murtaza died on 9 May, while his sister Shamim Parveen (14) died the next day in the Bajardiha locality of Varanasi. Their father, Abdul Khali

Demands of unions under study, says PM-J Balaji

inister Mallikarjun Kharge said there was a significant reduction in the number of child labour in the country in the last five years. "This is primarily due to effective legislations like [the] Right to Education and MGNREGA [Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act]," he said. Minister of State for Labour and Employment Kodikunnil Suresh participated. Brief disruption The conference was briefly disrupted by a u

Adivasi forum leader remanded in judicial custody

-The Hindu Bhopal: Madhuri Krishnaswamy, leader of Jagrit Adivasi Dalit Sangathan (JADS) which works for health and labour Rights in south-western Madhya Pradesh, was remanded in judicial custody for a fortnight on Thursday. Ms. Krishnaswamy, popularly called Madhuri Ben, and four others were summoned by Judicial Magistrate First Class D.P. Singh Sewach in Barwani in connection with a 2008 case of rioting and assaulting a public servant.

Shocking betrayal on Western Ghats

. It reminds me of Francis Buchanan, an avowed agent of British imperialism, who wrote in 1801 that India's sacred groves were merely a contrivance to prevent the East India Company from claiming its Rightful property. It would appear that we are now more British than the British and are asserting that a nature-friendly approach in the cultural landscape is merely a contrivance to prevent the rich and powerful of the country and of the globalised

Protest against power plant in U.P. hits 1000th day-Omar Rashid

here. Through songs, slogans and speeches on government schemes and development, especially on land, the farmers wish to keep the momentum of their struggle going. "We apprise them of their Rights, how the government cheated us. They are encouraged not to fall for bribes or be intimidated by threats. This is not compulsory yet the farmers come daily," said Raj Bahaur Patel, president, PKKSS. The project was conceived in 2007 under