As millions of children around the world start school this month, many are discovering something critical is missing. It's not teachers or textbooks - it's toilets. Poor sanitation doesn't just cause high rates of illness and absenteeism, but it also affects a child's intelligence, aid agencies say, with research showing that diarrhoea and worm infestations can lower IQ. Sanitation is one of the most wildly off-track targets under the United Nations' anti-poverty...
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Safe Drinking Water: Time to Act by Anil Padmanabhan
All speakers addressing the main session of the World Water Week in Sweden during 5-11 September were presented with a beautifully wrapped bottle of tap water! Yes, you heard right: tap water from Stockholm. It is a symbol of achievement that the Swedes love to flaunt—and rightly so. It is also the best gift the Indian government can give to all Indians in general, and particularly those 500-odd million that live...
More »Ethiopians say Indians grabbing land.Indian farmers claim it is official by Shantanu Guha Ray
RAM KARUTURI, the world’s largest rose grower, calls it a situation that needs immediate intervention. Else, he is sure the rush of Indians to Africa will ebb to a trickle, which, in turn, could have serious implications as ethnic tensions with the locals are slowly, but steadily, rising in some parts of the continent. The hub of the crisis is Gambela, one of Ethiopia’s nine states, for long starved of investment....
More »MGNREGS proves a boon for Wayanad tribes by C Gouridasan Nair
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) has proved to be a boon for the tribal population in Wayanad district. It is the largest and the most successful livelihood programme under way in the tribes-dominated district. Women account for 775 of the person days of employment generated by the scheme, each of them earning Rs.125 as daily wage. The impact of the scheme on social structures has been significant,...
More »Under-five mortality rate dropping, reports UNICEF
India accounts for 21 % of such deaths Even as the number of deaths among children under the age of five globally has fallen from 12.4 million in 1990 to 8.1 million in 2009, India accounts for 21 per cent of such deaths. According to the latest report titled ‘Levels and Trends in Child Mortality,' launched by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the global under-five mortality rate has dropped by a...
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