An oligopolistic market, fluctuating market conditions, inadequate modernisation and the subordinate status of hired workers have contributed to the poor living conditions of workers in Sircilla, a powerloom centre of Andhra Pradesh. The state and central governments need to intervene in a more organised fashion to end the distress.

Using the recent National Family and Health Survey-3 data, this paper examines the distribution of below poverty line cards. The possession of bpl cards by the households in various economic and social settings index is analysed. The findings suggest that about two-fifths of the bpl cards in India are with the non-poor households.

This paper reviews recent evidence on food intake and nutrition in India. It attempts to make sense of various puzzles, particularly the decline of average calorie intake during the last 25 years. This decline has occurred across the distribution of real per capita expenditure, in spite of increases in real income and no long-term increase in the relative price of food.

This paper reviews recent evidence on food intake and nutrition in India. It attempts to make sense of various puzzles, particularly the decline of average calorie intake during the last 25 years. This decline has occurred across the distribution of real per capita expenditure, in spite of increases in real income and no long-term increase in the relative price of food. One hypothesis is that calorie requirements have declined due to lower levels of physical activity or improvements in the health environment.

Increasingly, voices across the world are questioning the narrow approach to a single disease, especially the huge financing for AIDS over all else in basic healthcare. Though welcome and long overdue, this debate must now move further.

Agricultural development in Maharashtra over the last three decades has been unequal across regions with western Maharashtra much ahead of other regions in terms of major developmental indicators.

The World Bank

This article outlines an

The breach of the Kosi embankment in Nepal in August 2008 marked the failure of conventional ways of controlling floods. After discussing the physical characteristics of the Kosi River and the Kosi barrage project, this paper suggests that the high sediment content of the Kosi River implies a major risk to the proposed Kosi high dam and its ability to control floods in Bihar.

The EPW special issue (25 October 2008) on the new poverty estimates of the World Bank and the editorial that accompanied it have provoked discussion. This note comments on Martin Ravallion