This sector is now an important part of the way many small businesses are funded. Lenders must embrace more effective self-regulation to balance the needs of borrowers with their goals.
There are several government schemes to assist those who've lost their livelihoods from informal jobs, but many eligible workers find it difficult to register for benefits, despite court interventions.
In low-income families, women have faced more vulnerabilities than men during covid. These interventions could form the backbone of a new resilience for them now and in future disasters.
Can people themselves decide how governments should respond to their needs? Janta ka Faisla asks us to consider how the practice of democracy would look if it began from the most vulnerable citizens.
A survey of nearly 15,000 women in the aftermath of the pandemic-induced lockdown last year reveals specific ways in which women are particularly vulnerable to risks.
Scheduled Tribes were marginalised even before Covid-19. Now, in Odisha's tribal districts, they face a worse reality. Livelihoods are vanishing, and health risks loom large.
The suddenness of the lockdown left poor people unable to prepare themselves. To survive, they had to leave their homes in search of support, making them vulnerable to more than the virus.
Social hierarchies and realities largely determine road crash outcomes. The severity of their impact is disproportionately borne by the poor, and it puts them at a further disadvantage.
Looking into what’s happening in the State of Karnataka, Kathyayini Chamaraj discusses the housing needs and rights of the urban poor.
Kanchi Kohli raises questions on the Voluntary National Review report which shows India’s efforts to achieve seven of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals.
Women of a small village in Uttar Pradesh are weaving not just colorful yarn but also communal harmony in their region. Swapna Majumdar reports.
In a terrible, but not-so-rare tragedy in rural West Bengal, 170 people lost their lives after consuming illicit liquor. But what actually happens after an incident such as this? Cholai, a well-researched black comedy, reveals the moral and social degradation that cuts across spheres, writes Shoma Chatterji.
In September 2015, the central government announced a pilot programme of providing direct cash transfers in place of food grains in an attempt to reform the Public Distribution System. Centre for Equity Studies (CES) recently conducted a survey of this pilot programme in Chandigarh. Shikha Nehra of CES reports the key findings from the survey.
In Barwani, Madhya Pradesh, people lost their sight after botched up cataract surgeries. Was it because the organizers, the medical and paramedical staff of the district hospital did not take necessary steps? Or was the quality of medication used questionable? Or, because the victims are too marginalised and too poor to protest? Asks Shoma Chatterji.
Can we look at ending poverty without looking at the structural reasons and dimensions of poverty and inequality? Pradeep Baisakh looks at this and at other objectives within the UN SDG framework and analyses how realistic their achievement would be.
In what appears to be a damning indictment of the Five Year Plans, launched in 1951, as well as the economic reforms process that began in 1991, the first ever socio-economic survey has painted a dismal picture of rural India, says Devinder Sharma.
An apparently well-intended plan to help very poor tribes in Madhya Pradesh find sustainable livelihoods bears no relation to the reality of how it is actually implemented. Money is simply distributed and disappears, but things remain unchanged. Susmita Guru reports.
A recent IFPRI report indicates concrete progress by India in the hunger index, while many experts continue to underline unsatisfactory outcomes under GDP-driven growth. Prahlad Shekhawat calls for a new approach to address the real issues that lie somewhere in between.
Three million forest dwellers in Odisha are estimated to have been displaced since independence by various industrial and hydro-projects, among which the Upper Indiravati Hydro Project is one. Abhijit Mohanty brings us the story of three tribal settlements uprooted by it.
Homeless, vulnerable and deprived of any form of social security, street dwellers often provide critical services, helping to sustain themselves and the city. Pushpa Achanta meets some of them in Bengaluru to know more about their existence.
The report of the Kelkar Committee on balanced development in Maharashtra has important recommendations. But will it all come to nought because of its failure to avoid some conventional pitfalls? Shripad Dharmadhikary explores.
Will the synergies between the politics of resistance and grassroots initiatives towards reconstruction of the damages wrought by ‘development’ be reaped effectively enough in the year ahead? That is what Ashish Kothari will track in his new blog.
Total Sanitation Campaign, MGNREGS and other government schemes are unheard of among villagers at Dinesh Nagar, Assam who live with a perennial lack of food, pure water, and health amenities. Nilotpal Bhattacharjee wonders if they will ever find deliverance from despair.
India Together is published with support from Oorvani Foundation.
