-The Hindu ‘Child marriage is not the right way to shield girls from sexual crimes’ As the demand for lowering the age of marriage has sparked outrage, the United Nations has told India that child marriage is not the right way to shield girls from sexual crimes. In a joint letter to Union Women and Child Development Minister Krishna Tirath, four U.N. organisations have urged India to address the issue of child marriage...

-The United Nations Almost 870 million people, or one in eight, are suffering from chronic malnutrition, according to a new United Nations report released today, which shows a sharp decline in the number of undernourished people over the past two decades, but warns that immediate action is still needed to tackle hunger particularly in developing countries. The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2012 (SOFI), which was jointly published by the Food and...

-The United Nations High-level political and private sector officials today met in New York to fight childhood and maternal under-nutrition with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon praising the progress made so far, while stressing the importance of continuing to boost efforts on this front. “Every household needs to be able to afford safe, nutritious foods. Markets need to be open and fair. The poorest people need to know they can count on social protection...

-The United Nations The United Nations today launched a programme to empower poor rural women through economic integration and food security initiatives. “Accelerating Progress Toward the Economic Empowerment of Rural Women” is a five-year initiative that will focus on improving food and nutrition security, increasing rural women’s incomes, enhancing leadership and participation in rural institutions, and creating a more responsive policy environment at national and international levels. “When women are empowered and can...

-Deccan Herald A study has found India to be the lowest on nutrition parameters, sharing the last rank with Democratic Republic of Congo and Yemen. India performed lowest at the level of policy as well as implementation. Nutrition barometer, the study carried out by Save the Children, compared commitments and outcomes of 36 countries which together account for 90 per cent of the world’s stunted children. Components for the commitment included a snapshot...