The global economic crisis has wiped out developing Asia's recent gains in poverty eradication as the meltdown is expected to have driven 21 million more people in the region into poverty. A joint report by the United Nations and the Asian Development Bank shows that the global economic slowdown has slackened trade, slashed export and tourism receipts and raised unemployment levels. This makes it difficult for the region to achieve its...

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 Kolkata Group is an independent initiative inspired and chaired by Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen. Once a year, it brings together participants drawn from various fields to explore the many inter-connections between inequality, deprivation, human development, and democracy. Its special focus has been on examining ways of advancing people’s health and education. The organisations supporting the Kolkata Group are UNICEF India, Professor Sen’s Pratichi Trust, and the Harvard-based Global...

Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Wednesday urged agricultural scientists to double their efforts to remove all misgivings on genetically modified (GM) crops from the minds of policy makers and the public. Inaugurating a two-day conference of Vice Chancellors of agricultural universities and meeting of Directors of Indian Council of Agriculture Research here, he said, “The recent decision on Bt. brinjal should not be seen as a setback to our...

A new online database produced by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) shines a light on how women lag far behind men in their access to land, major stumbling bock to rural development. The Gender and Land Rights Database offers up-to-date information on the legal rights of men and women differ in nearly 80 countries, allowing users to find the total number of women landholders and rural households...