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In spite of the enshrining anti-poverty programs and objectives of the poverty eradication programs contained in India's five year plans, women's poverty in India, even after 58 years of independence, is glaring. This paper, based on a field survey, addresses the issues of economic constraints and the denial of women's access to productive assets in the form of land ownership and human capital such as education, skill-training. The article contributes to the overall picture of female poverty at the national level. The author finds an exaggerated emphasis being placed on women laborers and inadequate economic opportunities among them as the major obstacle to reducing female poverty. Because of these constraints and discrimination, women enter into the unorganized sector, i.e. the agriculture sector. This paper examines how lack of skills, heavy physical work of different types, long hours of work with limited payment, lack of guarantee of minimum wages, lack of job security, lack of minimum facilities at the work place are the characteristics of the informal sector which contribute to women's economic disempowerment. With regard to the economic position of Indian women, it is clearly evident that India is principally an agricultural economy, and despite their significant contributions to economic production, they are far from equal to men. Land, for example, is a critical asset in rural areas. Evidence points to gender disparities in access to this and other assets necessary for poverty reduction. Having rights to land is a crucial factor in determining how people will ensure their basic livelihood. In all cases women's more limited access to these assets hamper their efforts to reduce poverty and diminishes the effectiveness of poverty reduction more generally. Although the principle of gender equality is enshrined in the Indian Constitution (in its preamble with respect to fundamental rights, fundamental duties and directive principles) with respect to

Renewables the way forward for India A recent article in Sci.Dev.Net discusses that for India the best way to create wealth and employment is through renewable energy.

A key point in the paper is that many poor people are forced to move on a regular and chronic basis and that this movement has both negative and positive consequences for their health and nutritional status. The paper is concerned with the high levels of infant and child illness and death amongst poor urban slum communities in Rajasthan, a state with one of the highest infant mortality rates in India. The paper examines the consequences of internal migration for women's reproductive experiences and for their children's health and is based on work between 2002-2004 carried out by Unnithan-Kumar in two urban slums (basti) in Jaipur city, the capital of Rajasthan in NW India.

A steep decline in the number of girls as compared to boys born in India highlights a deepening crisis in the country. Due to a strong cultural preference for sons and the easy availability of technology to determine the sex of a fetus, sex selective abortions have increased radically. Statistics show that in the last hundred years, 35 million females are missing from the population. The 2001 census showed that there are 927 girls for every 1000 boys in the 0-6 age group, nationally. In an effort to combat sex selective abortions, the Government of India promulgated the Prenatal Diagnostic Technique Act in 1994, which has been amended to include pre conception techniques. Now the Act is called the Pre-conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act (PCPNDT Act) 1994. However it has not been effectively implemented.

Promoting Healthy Timing and Spacing of Births in India through a Community-based Approach

This paper highlights why women's illiteracy needs to be addressed, and outlines documented experiences in using ICTs to address illiteracy. After reviewing some of the salient experiences of running literacy programmes for women in developing countries, the authors discuss the support needed from a broad array of sources and areas for meaningful use of ICT interventions in women's literacy. The paper then provides a brief description of the status, trends and problems relating to application of technology to adult literacy in some Third World countries, with a special focus on India. Thereafter, the paper analyses research experiences relating to the use of ICTs for women's programmes vis-à-vis women's access to ICTs, use of ICTs for poverty alleviation, and women's empowerment through ICTs, highlighting the lessons learnt.

Although Jharkhand is among the less urbanized states of India, the state has been witnessing rapid growth of urban population in recent decades. As per the 2001 Census, 60 lakh persons comprising 22.25 per cent of the state's population were residing in towns and cities. It is estimated that the urban population of Jharkhand will grow rapidly to reach 93 lakh by 2026. Along with rapid urbanization, there is a rapid growth of the urban poor population in Jharkhand. As per estimates of the National Sample Survey Organization, 13.2 lakh persons comprising 20.2 per cent of the state's urban population is living below poverty line. However, estimates of the Jharkhand government put the slum population at around 40 per cent of the total urban population. The urban poor rarely benefit from the facilities in urban areas and are as deprived as those in rural areas. The health of the urban poor is considerably worse off than the non poor and is comparable to the rural figures. This wall chart presents health of the urban poor in Jharkhand compared with other population groups based on an analysis of the Third National Family Health Survey conducted in 2005-06. A wealth index has been developed based on 33 assets and household characteristics. The bottom quartile in urban areas is taken as the representative of the urban poor.

'Access to essential goods at the bottom of the pyramid (BOP) is limited by high prices, and inadequate rural distribution, which also restricts the poor in distributing their produce. This paper examines specific strategies for reaching the BOP using three socially responsible distribution case studies of multinationals, government and NGO initiatives in India. It identifies how socially responsible distribution can be achieved by strategies that take cost out, reinvent the distribution channel or take a long-term perspective that invests for the future.'

'The global financial crisis and the high cost of food mean different things in different places. In those parts of the world where hunger is on the march, their impact can be measured in empty stomachs and blighted lives. So serious is the food-security situation in the central state of Madhya Pradesh (MP) that, when inserted into the country table of the Global Hunger Index, the state falls between Ethiopia and Chad which are among the 10 poorest-performing countries in the world. One third of the children under five in MP suffer from wasting (too thin for their height) and 60 per cent are underweight (too thin for their age), according to India's most recent National Family Health Survey.'