Category Livelihoods, Employment and Well-being

NAMASTE Scheme

The National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE) Scheme – 2023

Despite the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act (PEMSR Act, 2013) legally banning the dehumanizing practice of manual scavenging in India, the crisis persists. Deadly accidents during sewer and septic tank cleaning tragically demonstrate the failure of implementation, showing that this decades-old scourge remains a fatal reality.

Taking this matter into consideration, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJE) in convergence with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) launched the National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE) scheme in July 2023. The scheme is to be implemented with an outlay of Rs. 349.70 crore, over the three-year period up to 2025-26, in all 4800+ Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) of the country.

Water for Work, Work for Water — How a 2025 MGNREGA amendment is reshaping India’s fight against rural water stress

Water for Work, Work for Water — How a 2025 MGNREGA amendment is reshaping India’s fight against rural water stress

Policy Update Aravindsamy R Background Water scarcity has emerged as one of the most pressing developmental challenges confronting India. According to NITI Aayog’s Composite Water Management Index (2019), nearly 600 million Indians face high to extreme water stress, with demand…

Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan (PM-JANMAN)

Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan (PM-JANMAN)

The Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan (PM-JANMAN) represents a historic commitment to bring the most disadvantaged parts of its indigenous population, specifically those belonging to Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs), out of decades of underdevelopment. PM-JANMAN is a three-year mission with a multidimensional approach, committed to bringing basic needs and opportunities to the most remote areas of the country, thus closing an equity gap that has persisted for decades.

Swasth Nari Abhiyan: Building Stronger Families Through Women’s Health

Swasth Nari Abhiyan: Building Stronger Families Through Women’s Health

India has been working on women’s and children’s health for over a decade now. It has not been in vain. Maternal deaths have dropped. More babies are born safely in hospitals. Vaccines reach even the remotest corners.

Gaza

The Scars Remain: Gaza Beyond the Trump–Netanyahu Ceasefire

Two years and two days after the terrorist attack by Hamas fighters from the Gaza Strip that killed around 1,200 Israelis, and the beginning of Israel’s brutal retaliation, that leading genocide scholars and a UN Commission have labelled genocide, a ceasefire plan appears to be taking hold.

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