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...
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India's Games of Shame by Mitu Sengupta
Delhi is an anxious city this monsoon season, struggling to meet an onerous deadline. Preparations continue at a feverish pace for the 19th Commonwealth Games (CWG), which will bear down on the Indian metropolis October 3-14, along with some 8,500 athletes from the 71 states and territories that were once part of the British Empire. Around-the-clock construction and spells of heavy monsoon rain have turned Delhi into a swirl of mud...
More »P Sainath, rural editor of The Hindu interviewed by Himal South Asia
The amount of rural reportage in the Indian media remains far too low, with even important stories such as those on farmer suicides tending to be ignored. One of the outspoken critics of this trend has been P Sainath, rural-affairs editor of The Hindu and 2007 winner of the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts. He was also the journalist who originally broke the story on...
More »Hunger remains despite high growth: US study
THE high economic growth in India, unlike in the case of China, has not translated into a rapid reduction of hunger in India, a US-based policy think-tank has said. India ranks 67th in an 84-country ranking and has more hungry people than its neighbouring countries. “Higher growth rates in India has not been translated into hunger reduction,” Ashok Gulati , Director Asia, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) said after the release...
More »Govt must not ignore the food security of its people by Tina Edwin
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...
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