Even as the state reels under the collective assault of challenges like the drought situation in some parts, water scarcity, financial disarray etc, the previous week was a favourable one for the Democratic Front government, as Congress president Sonia Gandhi came calling.

Sonia’s visit to Palghar for the launch of the ‘Child Health Screening and Early Intervention Services’ programme was like a pat on the back, as this was the second scheme of the state to have been emulated by the UPA government in recent years. The first was Maharashtra’s Employment Guarantee Scheme, launched in 1972 in the wake of a terrible drought, which inspired the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA).