Mumbai, June 10, 2012: NCP chief and Union minister Sharad Pawar requested the Maharashtra government to make a provision of Rs 100 crore for providing proper sanitation for women.

"The state government should make a provision of Rs 50-100 crore for constructing toilets for women in villages, at ST stands and at all the public places," Pawar said after launching 'Rashtravadi Yuvati Congress' (RYC) at a function here marking the thirteenth foundation day of the party.

New Delhi, April 18, 2012: The job profile for ubiquitous village health workers delivering basic health care services across rural India is all set to expand. They will, however, be rewarded handsomely for additional tasks.

New Delhi, March 31, 2012: First the good news - nearly 1.41 lakh fewer children died in India in 2010 before reaching their fifth birthday than in 2009. This means nearly 388 fewer children aged 0-4 years died per day.
Before you start celebrating, consider this -- 15.41 lakh children died in India in 2010 under the age of five. What's worse, more females died than their male counterparts. While India in 2010 saw over 7.43 lakh male children aged 0-4 years die, the number for female children stood at 8.06 lakh.

Haryana, April 6, 2012: A village in Sirsa along Haryana’s dusty borders with Rajasthan has redefined what ‘public-private partnership’ can mean in terms of girls’ education and social development. Kaluana village gave shape to its dream of promoting education for its women by utilising a combined prize money of Rs 25 lakh that it won as the ‘Cleanest Village’ at both the national and state levels. The initiatives taken by Kaluana Welfare Shiksha Samiti to ensure higher education for girls have galvanised a whole block of 48 villages in the Dabwali block.

Thiruvanthapuram, April 8, 2012: At a time when the absence of hygienic public toilets continues to pose major health concerns for women, the Kerala State Women's Development Corporation (KSWDC) is all set to pilot state-of-the-art electronic toilets in the capital city, exclusively for women.

Bhopal, April 2, 2012: A new women’s movement has been building in rural India. It’s demanding something never considered before for women who often live in areas without adequate or clean running water. Often these are homes with that have no vented heating or adequate flooring. The demand for decent toilet facilities is  a real and growing concern in a region where many rural women have been left out with no other option than to use the ‘open outdoors’ as their only toilets.

Bhuvaneshwar, March 29, 2012: To put in place an effective monitoring mechanism for the implementation of the emergency feeding and supplementary nutrition programmes (SNPs), the Women and Child Development Department has decided to recast mothers’ committees in a campaign mode across the State.

The Department, on Wednesday issued a set of guidelines to all Collectors, directed that the mothers’ committees be reconstituted on an annual basis. The last time the guideline was issued on formation of the committees was in 2006.

New Delhi, March 19, 2012: Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said that while only 10 percent of Indian villages have full sanitation coverage, the government is dedicated to tackling the issue with both rail and union budgets paying special attention to sanitation.

Speaking at an award function organised by Sulabh International, an organisation working for better sanitation in the country, Ramesh said: "It is sad that out of 2.5 lakh gram panchayats in the country, only 25,000 are "Nirmal" gram panchayats."

New Delhi, Mar 1, 2012:  Modern India continues to be plagued by social and health ills like child marriage, early motherhood and domestic violence.

New Delhi, Mar 1, 2012: India today expressed its readiness to work with the international community to promote gender equality and empowerment of women in rural areas for achieving inclusive and sustainable growth.

Addressing the 56th session of the 'Commission on the Status of Women' currently underway here, Secretary in India's Ministry of Women and Child Development Neela Gangadharan said India is "meticulously" pursuing the Millennium Development Goals to ensure holistic empowerment of rural women.