February 2026 - UPPCS MAGAZINE

Penetration of Self-Help Groups in Rural Areas: Socio-Cultural Barriers and Developmental Participation

Admin38 minutes ago38 minutes ago011 mins

Introduction Self-Help Groups (SHGs) have emerged as one of the most significant grassroots institutions for promoting participatory development in rural India. By organizing poor households—particularly women—into small, informal collectives, SHGs aim to enhance financial inclusion, livelihood opportunities, social empowerment, and community participation in development programmes. Over the past three decades, SHGs have been integrated into…

Poverty in India: Trends, Estimates and the Rural–Urban Divide

Admin40 minutes ago39 minutes ago011 mins

Introduction Poverty reduction has remained a central objective of India’s development strategy since Independence. Over the decades, several institutions and scholars have produced different estimates of poverty using varying methodologies, poverty lines, and indicators. While these estimates often differ in magnitude, a common conclusion emerging from most studies is that poverty levels in India have…

Public Health System, Universal Health Coverage and the Role of the Private Sector in India

Admin42 minutes ago41 minutes ago010 mins

Introduction Universal Health Coverage (UHC), defined as ensuring that all individuals receive quality health services without financial hardship, is a core objective of India’s public policy framework. Despite constitutional commitments under the Directive Principles of State Policy and repeated health sector reforms, India’s public health system continues to face structural and operational limitations. These gaps…

Foreign Universities and the Quality of Higher Education in India: Opportunities and Challenges

Admin43 minutes ago43 minutes ago012 mins

Introduction Higher education plays a decisive role in shaping a nation’s knowledge economy, innovation capacity, and global competitiveness. In recent decades, India has made remarkable quantitative progress in higher education, becoming one of the largest systems in the world in terms of enrolment and institutions. However, despite this expansion, the quality of higher and technical…

The Self-Help Group Bank Linkage Programme in India: Empowering Women and Alleviating Poverty

Admin49 minutes ago47 minutes ago012 mins

Introduction India’s development narrative has increasingly focused on inclusive growth, women empowerment, and poverty alleviation. Among the innovative interventions addressing these objectives, the Self-Help Group Bank Linkage Programme (SBLP) stands out as a model that combines financial inclusion, social empowerment, and poverty reduction. Introduced in the mid-1990s by NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural…

Mid-Day Meal Scheme: Nutrition, Education, and Equity in India

Admin51 minutes ago50 minutes ago013 mins

Introduction The Mid-Day Meal (MDM) Scheme is one of the world’s largest school-based feeding programmes and represents a unique convergence of education policy, social welfare, and nutrition security. Though widely perceived as a post-independence welfare intervention, the idea of providing meals to school children in India is nearly a century old, with its earliest institutional…

Aadhaar and NPR: Governance, Development, and the Debate on Parallel Schemes

Admin55 minutes ago54 minutes ago013 mins

Introduction In the last two decades, India has witnessed an unprecedented expansion of digital governance initiatives aimed at improving state capacity, service delivery, and citizen identification. Among these, Aadhaar and the National Population Register (NPR) stand out as two large-scale, population-wide identification and data collection schemes. While Aadhaar was introduced primarily as a voluntary, biometric-based…

Autonomy and Excellence in India’s Premier Institutes: Challenges and the Way Forward

Admin56 minutes ago55 minutes ago018 mins

Premier educational institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) represent the pinnacle of technical and managerial education in India. Over decades, these institutions have become synonymous with academic excellence, innovation, and global competitiveness. Their alumni include leaders in technology, business, research, and public service — a testament…

State-Sponsored Talent Cultivation vs Reward-Based Incentives in Sports: A Critical Analysis

Admin1 hour ago1 hour ago010 mins

Introduction Sports have always played a dual role in society: as a vehicle for personal achievement and as a source of national pride. Athletes who participate in global platforms such as the Olympics or World Championships often carry the aspirations of an entire nation. On their return, winners are celebrated with cash incentives, awards, and…

Urban migration and livelihoods, MSME development for marginalized groups

Welfare Protection and Urban Economic Inclusion: A Critical Examination of Government Schemes for Vulnerable Communities

Admin1 hour ago1 hour ago010 mins

Introduction Governments across the world, including India, design special schemes to uplift vulnerable and backward communities by protecting essential social resources such as land, forests, education opportunities, reservations, subsidies, and welfare entitlements. These measures are rooted in the principles of social justice, equity, and historical correction. However, a growing concern is whether such protective mechanisms—while…

Month: February 2026

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