Time to rethink our future
It has been 20 years since the World Commission on Environment and Development formulated a ‘global agenda for change’ and proposed long-term environmental strategies for achieving sustainable development by 2000. We have not only missed a deadline but also the key message from the first global concern on environment and development linkages. The debate over the definition of sustainable development still rages but the reality of poverty born out of bad environment remains.
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Read the complete report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987.

DRDAs to be abolished
The Planning Commission will soon formally announce the winding up of District Rural Development Agencies (DRDAs) and merge them with District Planning Committees constituted under the panchayati raj set-up.
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Panchayat ministry seeks World Bank support
The Union ministry of panchayati raj (MoPR) is seeking support from the World Bank for a new initiative in which panchayats across the country will compete with each other to get extra funds from the Centre.
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New afforestation approach
The Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) has asked the Planning Commission to raise its budget for the afforestation programme during the 11th Five-Year Plan. This is because the MoEF wants to turn the tree-planting programme into a wider rural enterprising scheme.
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Village forests may be revived
During the 11th Five-Year Plan, the government may revive village forests as envisioned in the Indian Forest Act, 1927.
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Government to introduce micro-finance Bill
The Centre has decided to introduce a Bill on micro-finance in the forthcoming budget session of Parliament. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had recently announced the need for greater availability of micro-credit services to the poor and to small enterprises. .
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Rajasthan government to develop model villages
The Rajasthan government has selected 50 villages to develop as model villages under the Deendayal Upadhyay Adarsh Gram Yojana
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Jobless growth continues
The International Labour Office’s (ILO’s) recent report on global employment trends points out that the global growth in economy is not generating employment. This trend has been continuing for the last few years and is likely to persist in 2007 as well..
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New scheme for panchayat infrastructure
With the increasing role of panchayats in poverty alleviation schemes, the Union ministry of panchayati raj (MoPR) has launched the ‘Gram Swaraj Yojana’. This scheme will provide infrastructure support to panchayats.
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Free land in Maoist affected areas
The West Bengal government has directed Block Land Reforms Officers to distribute land free of cost to all landless households living below the poverty line in the Maoist-affected districts of Purulia, Bankura and West Midnapore.
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SC verdict may impact land reform laws
The recent verdict of the Supreme Court, which says that any law placed under the Constitution’s Ninth Schedule will be open for judicial scrutiny, may impact many land reform laws.
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Development spending: revenue or capital expenditure?
As the Union government prepares to abolish revenue deficits under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act by next year, development spending has come under the hammer. The Centre has proposed that states bear the burden of social sector spending -- a move unacceptable to states. Development economists offer a way out: keep such spending out from the revenue expenditure account.
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Status of NREGA implementation
The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) completes one year of implementation in February. Find a statistical update on the scheme’s implementation, including trends in creation of productive assets.
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Send utilisation certificates and audit reports on NREGS on time
Due to increasing complaints pertaining to delays in the release of funds under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), the Union ministry of rural development (MoRD) has asked states to submit their respective utilisation certificates and audit reports on time.
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Finance ministry opposes hike in administrative expenditure
The Union ministry of finance has opposed the Union ministry of rural development’s move to hike the level of administrative expenditure under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) from 2 per cent to 5 per cent.
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How to measure state devolution of power to panchayats?
The Union ministry of panchayati raj has asked the National Council for Applied Economic Research to develop a working ‘Devolution Index’ to measure how states are devolving governance. The index will rank the performance of individual states on 150 identified basic action points. To learn more, click here

A practical plan to achieve MDGs
The report presents an operational framework that outlines practical investment strategies and approaches to finance Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). For the complete report log on

Co-management of natural resources: local learning from poverty reduction
The book tries to establish new approaches to Natural Resources Management (NRM), which moves beyond the earlier narrow focus on productivity (crop yield) to include social, institutional and policy considerations. It is based on six case studies taken from across the world. The book, written by Stephene R Tyler, former team leader for International Development Research Centre’s community-based NRM programme in Asia, can be accessed online