With the twin objectives of improving health and education of the poor children, India has embarked upon an ambitious scheme of providing mid day meals (MDM) in the government and government-assisted primary schools. The administrative and logistical responsibilities of this scheme are enormous, and, therefore, offering food stamps or income transfer to targeted recipients

India is endowed with annual average rainfall of nearly 1,200 mm but a very small proportion of it is managed effectively. The various estimates on potential for rainwater harvesting suggest vast opportunities for mitigating the shortages. However, the socio-administrative measures in vogue do not encourage participation by the beneficiaries. There are several success stories in rainwater harvesting but these initiatives are rarely institutionalised at national level.

The National Food for Work Programme (NFFWP), launched in 2004, identified 50 backward districts, where employment guarantee scheme was to get started. The 150 districts were identified by the Planning Commission on the basis of three criteria, Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) population, agricultural productivity per worker, and agricultural wage rate in the district. The author find that the final choice for the NFFWP was not consistent with the methodology mentioned, nor can it be defended by using other measures of backwardness.

The paper aims to trace out if the role that panchayati raj institutions play towards decentralised management system over large irrigation systems in the state of West Bengal. The study highlights that the devolution of legal power to the panchayat fall short of control over canal irrigation systems of the state. July-Sep 2006

This paper traces the political economy of irrigation development, and the issues of regional imbalances created by the process of allocation of development resources based on regional power bases, rather than equity or need. Irrigation development in Maharashtra is taken as a case in point.