-The United Nations The rapid growth of developing countries is propelling millions out of poverty on an unprecedented scale and radically reshaping the global system, according to a flagship United Nations report launched today. “The rise of the South is unprecedented in its speed and scale,” says the Human Development Report 2013, which uses the term “South” to mean developing countries and “North” to mean developed nations. “Never in history have the...

-The Hindustan Times Kanpur: The district administration here made best of efforts to present a pretty picture. But the World Bank chief Dr Jim Yong Kim was obviously not moved. What touched him instead was the rampant poverty that he saw everywhere. "People here are extremely poor. They don't have access to clean drinking water, roads, sanitation and electricity," he said after visiting a Gwaltoli slum in Kanpur. "They (the people) struggle...

Introduced in the Lok Sabha in December 2011, the UPA government’s Food Security Bill is finally going to be discussed in the current (Budget) Session of Parliament. The proposed legislation is now slated to see many additional amendments from the government, following criticism from the States, NGOs and diverse stake-holders working on access to food and child health. Attempt here is to summarise in a Q & A format the...

-The Telegraph The Supreme Court today asked the Centre and environmentalists whether they want tribals to live in “abject poverty for the next 100 years” by insisting a Vedanta bauxite mining project shouldn’t come up in Odisha’s Niyamgiri Hills. “If the tribals are offered modern benefits, will they not accept? Do you want them to remain like that for 100 years, collecting firewood and tendu leaves,” Justices Aftab Alam, K.S. Radhakrishnan and...

-Frontline Social development indicators in Gujarat are poor, proving that development in the State is lopsided On a hot day last November near Rajkot, Ramjibhai Patel, an octogenarian farmer, pointed to the middle distance and said, “See that lake?” There was indeed a shimmer in the dry landscape indicating water, but after a relatively poor monsoon, it seemed improbable. Chuckling, he said, “Yes, I see doubt on your face and you are...