The India Country Report 2015 on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) comes at a time when the Union Budget 2015-16 allegedly cut expenditure on several social sector schemes and programmes. This year's MDG country report says that India will fail to achieve two important targets pertaining to reducing hunger and maternal mortality by 2015, among others. Released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), the report says that India is...
More »SEARCH RESULT
Right to online privacy at risk as governments engage in mass surveillance –UN expert
-The United Nations States must be transparent about the nature of their electronic mass surveillance programmes, an independent United Nations counter-terrorism expert said today as he warned about the impact such measures might have on individuals' right to privacy. "States need to squarely confront the fact that mass surveillance programmes effectively do away with the right to online privacy altogether," Ben Emmerson, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights...
More »India Wins Re-election to UN Human Rights Council -Yoshita Singh
-United Nations In a significant victory, India was today re-elected to the UN's main human rights body for the period of 2015-17, receiving the highest number of votes in the Asia-Pacific group. India is currently a member of the 47-nation UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and its first term is due to end on December 31, 2014. After India's re-election, the country's Ambassador to the UN Asoke Mukerji emphasised that the country's focus...
More »Dr. Mickey Chopra, global head of UNICEF’s health programmes interviewed by R Prasad
-The Hindu Dr. Mickey Chopra, global head of UNICEF's health programmes explained to R. Prasad why he was very encouraged by the efforts taken by the government to reduce child mortality, and how these efforts are paying off, especially in States like Bihar. * How is India doing as far as meeting the MDG 4 target is concerned? India is changing very quickly. We are seeing very encouraging signs... we are starting to...
More »Coverage of antenatal care in India has to be increased: WHO -R Prasad
-The Hindu "Antenatal care is very important for health workers to detect mothers with obesity or diabetes... both specific risks during pregnancy," says Dr. Flavia Bustreo, Assistant Director General at WHO. In 2013, globally, preterm birth complications were responsible for 15 per cent (0.96 million) of deaths in children under five years of age. It is a leading cause of death in neonates (0-27 days after birth). According to WHO, about 15...
More »