Wage delays, inadequate manpower and the indifference of authorities to real issues on the ground are stripping the employment guarantee programme of its strong potential to improve rural lives, and budget cuts have only made it worse. Ankita Aggarwal reports from Jharkhand.

Successive audits of irrigation projects in Karnataka over the years, starting with a report from the CAG for the year ending 31 March 2001, have repeatedly pointed to missed targets, wasted expenditure and negligible benefits. Himanshu Upadhyaya presents findings from the latest audits.

It is only by looking back at its own history of audit findings that the constitutional auditor can draw attention to policy decisions that were flawed at the very beginning, says Himanshu Upadhyaya.

Blank Noise, begun as Jasmeen Patheja's personal reaction to street sexual harassment, has grown to record women's experiences in creative ways. The latest of these is a clothes collection effort to tackle the misconception that women's attire invites harassment. Vasudha V reports.

When this social communication event hit Kolkata in 2002, the entire ambience spilled over with empathy and a deep understanding for films – documentary, fiction and docu-fiction – made on or about the marginalised and the oppressed. Very little of all that was in the air during the 2007 version, writes Shoma Chatterji.

West Bengal officials recently called off screenings of various films scheduled to be shown at Kolkata's premiere culture centre, apparently displeased over one of the entries at the film festival. Shoma Chatterji reports on the government's censorship, and the outcry following it.

Dance has long been regarded as an aesthetic form of self-expression and entertainment. Therapy had very little to do with it. But in Kolkata, that is changing now, thanks to a few committed individuals. Shoma Chatterji reports.

Celluloid Man pays a moving tribute to P.K. Nair, a man whose passion and commitment has kept alive the history of Indian cinema for film lovers, even as it exposes the tragic indifference of the establishment towards Nair, and archiving in general. Shoma A. Chatterji reviews the film.

Shoma A Chatterji writes on Samanway 7, a unique theatre festival showcasing performances conceived of and crafted exclusively by women, which evolved into a well-blended expression of feminist questions that have sustained through the ages.

Even in regions touted as India’s food bowl, Rs 3000 a month is all that a farmer earns for his family! Devinder Sharma crunches data from CACP to highlight the grave crisis in the agrarian economy.

Having failed to meet the challenges of the post-green revolution era, agricultural research has reached a dead end, says Devinder Sharma.

Kasturi Das makes a strategic case for a shift to organic agriculture in India.

Farmers' suicides will end only when we are willing to confront the real villain - the misplaced faith in industrial farming, says Devinder Sharma.

The conflict between farmers and government in Rajasthan escalated recently. Farmers resorted to violence after demonstrations failed. There are simply too many stakeholders and too few resources to satisfy everybody. But there are ways to make life easier for citizens, writes Deepak Malik.

At a conference on the eve of the 2005-06 Budget, Planning Commission vice chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said he is advocating redistribution of farm subsidies into road construction and improving land use. Devinder Sharma warns that Ahluwalia continues to bank upon the World Bank's flawed understanding.

Much of the agrarian crisis is the result of unwanted and cost-intensive technologies that have been forced on the farmers. Scientists were unknowingly trying to promote the commercial interests of the seed, tractor and the pesticides industry. And we don't need to repeat this error, says Devinder Sharma.

What is behind the suicides in Vidarbha? Is it drought or lack of irrigation, like some are saying? Why have over 550 farmers ended their lives in the last season? Many factors -- local and global -- have together pushed farmers to the brink here, notes Jaideep Hardikar , but says that lopsided global cotton trade is one major cause.

A two-day seminar held recently in Mumbai brought together policy makers, bureaucrats, social workers, farmers, journalists, activists and researchers. Scrutinising farm policy in depth, they said that policy had failed to address some of the main challenges, reports Aparna Pallavi.

The current situation of impotence that the Government finds itself in should prompt some soul searching about the reliance on market mechanisms to take care of India's food security, writes Kannan Kasturi.

A vicious cocktail of weak purchasing power among the hundreds of millions of poor people, and a systems failure in tackling supply side challenges is driving food prices beyond the reach of many, writes Sarosh Bana.

The Mayawati government proposes to reduce the distance that farmers must travel to take their produce to market to an average of seven kms. This should help farming families boost their incomes, writes Devinder Sharma.

As Munnabhai has already tackled the callousness of our health system, and the greed of real estate sharks, how about tackling the one Indian tradition that refuses to die — that of dowry? I could imagine that such a film could work very well, says Kalpana Sharma.

Recent remarks by the Karnataka Chief Justice about immodest attire being partially responsible for increasing crimes against women harken back to a history that repeatedly stresses socially sanctioned control over women's choice of dress. Shoma Chatterji reports.

The recent judicial pronouncement criminalising homosexuality has created quite a furore, but in reality those with limited or no interaction with people of alternative sexual orientation have only a vague idea of their continuous struggle and challenges. Pushpa Achanta brings us two poignant narratives.

Naam Poribortito, the debut film of activist Mitali Biswas, reveals the dark and gory underbelly of West Bengal in particular, and the nation at large, where rape victims are denied justice and crusaders are silenced more often than not. Shoma Chatterji has more on the film and its portrayals.

An ancient matrilineal tribe of northeast India has a thriving culture and an increasing population, while a similarly ancient Dravidian matrilineal tribe is in danger of vanishing. Linda Chhakchhuak reports on what the Dravidian tribe can learn from the northeastern tribe to revive its culture and population.

Girish Karnad's clear-eyed, unsentimental and even self-deprecatory view of the city seems rare in the Indian narrative imagination, which continues to nurse the notion of ‘the village innocent’ vs ‘the city corrupt’.

The entire weight of technical opinion has been to proceed with caution on the Interlinking of Rivers. An extract of Jairam Ramesh's speech in the Rajya Sabha debate on the working of Ministry of Water Resources on 20 April 2005.

The framework for assessing the environmental impact of new projects has in the past served to merely facilitate projects getting started. It was hoped that revisions proposed recently would change that, but there is little evidence of a new course, writes Shripad Dharmadhikary.

A recent report from environmental research group Toxics Link exposes how multinationals are flagrantly violating the MoEF-notified rules on e-waste, even as the authorities empowered to enforce implementation remain passive. Richa Malhotra details the key findings.

Why is it that large expenditure on food subsidy in India does not achieve more in reducing undernourishment? At a New Delhi public hearing earlier this year, Dr. Amartya Sen addressed this question.

Globalization has hit the Indian tea industry's fortunes hard. With brokers and buyers in apparent collusion workers bear the brunt, reports Ranjit Devraj.

A community-based microcredit programme attempts to revive the economy of coastal Kerala's villages. Prathapan B reports.

infraSys, a development-driven enterprise that creates physical, financial, and knowledge infrastructure in rural areas.

M P Ranjan suggests pro-active design and dynamic institutions for craftspersons to cope in a rapidly changing world.

Among the traders at the crowded Crafts Bazaar in Secunderabad, the struggle for survival and economic security seems to be the only noticeable thing. But in some ways, their worries are those of ordinary merchants everywhere, thanks in part to Mahila Sanatkar. Safia Sircar reports.

Although the government has spent large sums of money tackling problems, most social and economic indicators in the country are far short of the goals. Jaydeep Biswas and Debashish Sircar say we need better interim assessments of how money is spent, and social infrastructure to complement physical nation-building.

Who is buying the new homes that are mushrooming in every city? What income group does this class belong to, and how does their affluent consumption compare to the national average, or to home-buyers elsewhere in the world. Darryl D'Monte finds some of the answers at a session with a human geographer.

Even though caste barriers are far less visible in the Chingrajpara slum than in the villages its residents came from, how far one goes is still a function of where in the hierarchy one starts. Yet for many migrants, arrival in this Bilaspur, Chhatisgarh slum is the first rung on the ladder of upward mobility. Ashima Sood concludes SLUM DIARIES.

Financial audits of public undertakings can be conducted as in other firms, but how about audits of their administration? Himanshu Upadhyaya observes that the government's move to limit the CAG's mandate confuses financial scrutiny with oversight of governance issues, and the public auditor's role in the latter function is still vital.

Does the World Bank advocate development, or is it simply a money-lender pushing its loan packages? For too long, the distinction has been blurred, allowing the Bank to make self-serving recommendations. Sudhirendar Sharma notes the latest instance of this as the Bank pushes into water sector reforms in India.

A traditional rural residence is almost always based on adaptations to the local environment, and is often built with the labour of the villagers themselves without the need for external mechanised inputs. Surekha Sule reports on the Rural Building Centre, a NIRD initiative showcasing several such homes.

While some of the handloom sector's troubles come from the relentless march of mechanisation, modernisation and sophistication, there's more to the troubled weavers' plight, says Narasimha Reddy.

Can transgenic cotton ever be a livelihood security measure for the majority of India's small-holder farmers? Keya Acharya is circumspect. She says that the Bt cotton story in India is one of confusion. Bt appears more to favour 'rich' farmers, who have access to water, better resources, and alternative support.

India has only 5,100 Industrial Training Institutes and 1,745 polytechnics compared to 5,00,000 similar institutes in China. The USA boasts of 1500 trade training programmes compared to India's 171. A national conference in Delhi this February recommended measures to bridge the yawning gap between growth and jobs, reports Varupi Jain.

A new report from TERI, the first of its kind for India, argues that compliance with environmental, social and governance criteria would better differentiate Indian stocks in comparison to issuers from other emerging markets for high quality investors. Rajni Bakshi has more on why India must care.

Against the wishes of the local people, and even the State government, a salt factory is proposed to be established on land that has been used freely by 20,000 villagers for decades. In the face of shifting politics, the residents are determined that they will protect their livelihoods. Aparna Pallavi reports.

It is nobody’s case that there is no crisis. But when remedies are prescribed, the diagnosis and the investigation have to be beyond dispute. P N Venugopal critiques a report from the Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram.

States are demanding a higher share of tax revenue from the Centre, citing the need for development funds as well as flexibility in spending money according to local priorities. Sunil Jain reports.

To check corruption under the MGNREGA, the Centre is routing funds through banks and POs. But this has resulted in delayed payment and loss of faith in the system among people. Pradeep Baisakh argues the case for the earlier cash payment system.