-IANS The percentage of people living in extreme poverty declined from 52% in 1981 to 22% in 2008 thanks to strong economic Growth in the emerging markets of India, Brazil and China, according to a new report. This means that the Millennium Development Goal of cutting extreme poverty in half by 2015 has already been met, US think tank Hudson Institute's Centre for Global Prosperity's (CGP) annual Index of Global Philanthropy and...

It is worrying that the Tendulkar method, chosen by the Planning Commission to calculate the poverty line in its latest figures, underestimates the levels of poverty while overestimating poverty reduction. The figures show that 29.8% or 360 million Indians were poor in 2009-10 as compared to 37.2% or 400 million in 2004-05. A poor person has been defined as one who spends R28 per day in urban areas and R22.5...

World Water Day is held annually on March 22 to focus attention on the importance of freshwater and advocate sustainable management of freshwater resources. Each year, the day highlights a specific aspect of freshwater and this year's campaign was on “Water and Food Security.” A large quantity of water, more than most people think, is used for producing the food we eat everyday. Water is a renewable and finite resource...

Even as the debate rages on whether poverty measurement in India is accurate, a recent report on nutritional intake of Indians has come up with a chilling conclusion: two thirds of the country's population is eating less than what is required.    Even more worrying is that this trend continues despite a healthy economic Growth rate over several years, and despite several mega programmes of nutrition delivery to children. Experts believe that...

35.4 p.c. families walk more than half a kilometre for precious liquid The State's much-hyped development through industrialisation seems to have brought little qualitative change in lives of people in rural regions. If one goes through figures of the house-listing and housing census-2011, the statement holds true. The census finds increase in number of families those walk more than half kilometre distance to fetch drinking water during past one decade. According to the...