In an upstairs classroom at a residential school in Mal, near Lucknow, the girls are revising for their exams. As the light starts to fade at the glassless windows, each girl takes a brightly coloured plastic lamp and carries it to her space on the floor. There is no electricity, but the lamps are solar powered. They have been donated jointly by Swedish company Ikea and the United Nations Children’s...
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India’s underbelly exposed by Radhieka Pandeya
Mokhada, Maharashtra: In the last 15-16 years, Jhaluriben Baria has had eight children, two of whom died within five days of their birth. Her youngest child Heera Gopabhai Baria, a boy, is seven months old. The infant is ensconced in a plastic sack strung across two sticks at the entrance of their house in Panchyasan village in Devgadh Baria block of Dahod district, Gujarat. Playing alongside is his sister, Premilaben Baria....
More »Delhi most unsafe for women, finds UN survey by Shambhavi Rai
If you are a woman living in the Capital and you are perpetually scared of being sexually harassed, you're not alone. About 85 per cent of Delhi's women feel the same way, this according to a survey conducted by the Delhi government along with the United Nations and Jagori, an NGO. The survey was conducted on more than 5000 women in the Capital. According to the study three out of five...
More »Indians, Envious of U.S. Spill Response, Seethe Over Bhopal by Lydia Polgreen
The contrast between the disasters, more than a quarter-century and half a world apart, could not be starker. In 1984, a leak of toxic gas at an American company’s Indian subsidiary killed thousands, injured tens of thousands more and left a major city with a toxic waste dump at its heart. The company walked away after paying a $470 million settlement. The company’s American chief executive, arrested while in India, skipped...
More »Efforts to boost maternal and child health falling short, UN report finds
An annual assessment report released today by the United Nations shows that while significant declines have been recorded by many countries in reducing maternal and child mortality, greater progress must be made to meet the global targets contained in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). First agreed at the UN Millennium Summit in September 2000, the eight MDGs set worldwide objectives for reducing extreme poverty and hunger, improving health and education,...
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