Although the number of hungry people in the world has fallen below 1 billion thanks to renewed economic growth, it remains “unacceptably” high, two United Nations agencies Stressed today. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced in a new report that 925 million people will suffer chronic hunger, down nearly 100 million from 1.02 billion in 2009. “But with a child dying every six seconds because of undernourishment-related problems, hunger remains...

KEY TRENDS   • Maternal Mortality Ratio for India was 370 in 2000, 286 in 2005, 210 in 2010, 158 in 2015 and 145 in 2017. Therefore, the MMRatio for the country decreased by almost 61 percent between 2000 and 2017 *14    • As per the NSS 71st round, among rural females aged 5-29 years, the main reasons for dropping out/ discontinuance were: engagement in domestic activities, not interested in education, financial constraints and marriage. Among rural males aged...

Michel D. Kazatchkine, executive director of the Global Fund (GF) to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, arrived in India on Tuesday to get greater Indian support and funding for global health spending ahead of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDG) summit in New York. While he signed agreements with some new partners and promoted community-ownership of projects, Professor Kazatchkine's primary task is to meet top government officials and the Union...

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday virtually ticked off the Supreme Court, saying that it "should not get into policy formation". The trigger for this rebuke was the apex court's anger at grains rotting in FCI and government godowns, and its direction to agriculture minister Sharad Pawar to distribute grains for free to families living below the poverty line. Talking to a group of editors on Monday morning, Singh said...

IN THE ‘environment versus development’ debate, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh opted to take the middle path. Addressing environmental concerns was important but it cannot be at the cost of perpetuating poverty, he said. Lest pro-industry groups mistake his stance as undiluted support, Mr Singh Stressed that environmental concerns are “here to stay.” If the Greens felt that their writ would run, they too were to be disappointed. He has made...