National Rural Health Mission represents an important public health initiative to address essential health needs of the country's underserved population. For the Mission to achieve its goals, urban population needs to be included in its scope. Urban poor population constitutes nearly a third of India's urban population and is growing at three times the national population growth rate. Health st...

Market failures affecting economic growth in poor rural areas are firmly on the agenda but for goods and services with private good characteristics are generally not conceptualised and understood in ways that help policy analysis and formulation to recognise and address these failures. We need a greater recognition and understanding of the causes and nature of coordination failures which lead t...

This brief examines the social dimensions of the rapid expansion of biofuels as a key element of ‘green economies’ in the making. It compares three different contexts (Brazil, India and Indonesia) in the developing world, where biofuels have been often promoted under the arguments of poverty alleviation, social inclusion and rural development. The assessment reveals a general mismatch between t...

Poverty is still a predominantly rural phenomenon. However, the context of rural poverty has been changing across the world, with high growth in some economies and stagnation in others. Furthermore, increased openness in many economies has affected the specific role of agricultural growth for rural poverty reduction. This paper revisits an ‘old’ question: how does growth and poverty reduction c...

BACKGROUND Residents of rural areas may be at increased risk of mental health problems. If so, public health programs aimed at preventing poor mental health may have to be customized for delivery to rural areas. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between residing in a rural area and frequent mental distress, which is one indicator of poor mental health. METHODS The Beha...