A team of experts from the Indian government has released a damning report on the activities of FTSE 100 company Vedanta Resources, and its plans to mine for bauxite on tribal land in Orissa, India. The report says Vedanta has broken the law and appears to have violated a Supreme Court order. It concludes that the company’s proposed bauxite mine ‘may lead to the destruction of the Dongria Kondh as a...

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is supporting a new anti-child marriage movement in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal, where nearly half of all girls become child brides and one-third become teenage mothers even though the legal marriage age is 18. “We need to have a zero-tolerance policy towards child marriage, so that every child, boy and girl, has the opportunity to live their childhood and gain an...

With the mountains of hazardous waste from electronic products growing exponentially in developing countries, sometimes by as much as 500 per cent, the United Nations today called for new recycling technologies and regulations to safeguard both public health and the environment. So-called e-waste from products such as old computers, printers, mobile phones, pagers, digital photo and music devices, refrigerators, toys and televisions, are set to rise sharply in tandem with...

The global economic downturn could push an additional 21 million people in the Asia-Pacific region into extreme poverty, rolling back development gains, according to a United Nations-backed report issued today. The publication, launched in Manila, examines the toll that the crisis has taken on progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – eight anti-poverty targets agreed upon by world leaders with a 2015 deadline – in the Asia-Pacific. Produced...

The exercise was carried out from January 5 to 8  Report says a majority of children quit studies at high school, PU levels Norms for selection of Ashraya scheme beneficiaries relaxed As many as 17,340 children in the age group of six to 18 plus are out of school in Dakshina Kannada, according to the latest survey by the Government. (All those who are yet to complete their 19th birthday are termed...