The Millennium Development declaration was a visionary document, which sought partnership between rich and poor nations to make globalisation a force for good. Its signatories agreed to explicit goals on a specific timeline. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set ambitious targets for reducing hunger, poverty, infant and maternal mortality, for reversing the spread of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria and giving children basic education by 2015. These also included gender equality,...

Malnutrition or due to socio-economic reasons and backwardness? Ninety-eight children under six died of various causes in Maharashtra's Melghat region in September alone. While confirming this, Amravati district health officer S.K. Yelurkar told The Hindu that there was no outbreak of any illness and the deaths were due to “routine socio-economic reasons and the backwardness of the region.” The forested region, comprising Dharni and Chikhaldara taluks, is largely inhabited by Korku Adivasis...

Services and goods associated with information and communications technologies (ICTs) are creating opportunities for the poor, but those sources of income are unevenly distributed and not always sustainable, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said today in a new report. In Kenya, for example, there are now more than 18,000 agents for the M-PESA mobile telephone-based money transfer service, and Bangladesh has some 350,000 “village phone ladies,” UNCTAD...

Despite recording robust economic growth over the last couple of decades and spending thousands of crores of rupees on subsidising foodgrain and other programmes aimed at improving the nation’s social indicators, India ranks a low 67 among 84 countries on the Global Hunger Index, 2010. The country has actually dropped two levels since last year on the index published jointly by International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Welthungerhilfe and Concern...

Noted social activist Anna Hazare has decided to launch a 'jail bharo' agitation against the 'illegal decision of the state government to condone irregularities' in the Lavasa lake city project coming up near Pune. "The state government's decision to regularise irregularities in Lavasa project is akin to daylight robbery of tribals whose lands have been illegally acquired for the project," Hazare said. "As per law, land of tribals cannot be transferred. But...