Full Coverage: Development

30.04.2007 Executive Director of SAP International, Dr Rohit Kumar Nepali says the people of South Asia are struggling because of political indifference, criminalisation of politics, militarisation and a never-ending cycle of poverty.

30.04.2007 Science writer and development journalist Nalaka Gunawardene who was inspired to take up science writing from a sustainable development perspective after reading Our Common Future commemorates the 20 years of the report in this article Children of Brundtland Coming of Age. He talks about the role of journalists in achieving sustainable development and building a critical consciousness.

25.04.2007 Faced with unemployment in their failing tea estates, about two years ago, tea pluckers in the rolling highlands of this southern state responded by forming cooperatives to buy out their former employers Tata Tea and turn the gardens into profitable enterprises.

19.04.2007 Kolkata-based NGO, Center for Social Market (CSM) is initiating a series of seminars - Climate Conversation - on Climate Change in the Indian cities of Kochi and Kolkatta in June 2007. The organisation feels the need for the civil society organisations to interact with policymakers to raise awareness on climate change and security issues.

18.04.2007 In this paper, presented at the national workshop on Gender Budgeting as an effective tool for women's empowerment, organised by the Equity Foundation Patna and the Planning Commission of India on 15th April, 2007, Dr. Vibhuti Patel, Director, PGSR, SNDT Women's University Mumbai, shares a detailed analysis of the state of gender budgeting in India.

17.04.2007 UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said that if the United Nations can make its operations more streamlined and efficient in the fields of development, humanitarian assistance and environment it will benefit both developed and developing nations. He added that this is important for fulfilling the MDG goals.

17.04.2007 A unique, private media initiative involving joint television programmes may do what political leaders in South Asia have failed to do so far -- bring together the people of this fractious region.

17.04.2007 This year the European Union will spend more than 35 percent of its 115 billion euro (156 billion dollars) budget on supporting farmers, even though agriculture accounts for less than 5 percent of the EU workforce.With such a disproportionate focus on farming, does the Union have any moral authority to demand liberalisation of the food trade in poor countries, where often 70 percent of people rely on agriculture to make a living?

17.04.2007 Kerala has emerged as the top performing state while West Bengal finds itself in the bottom five (with Bihar in the last spot) in an official survey on the health of elementary education in the country in 2005-06. The District Information System for Education data, compiled by government think tank NUEPA, took access, infrastructure, teacher and outcome indicators into account to compute the Educational Development Index

11.04.2007 Prof Prabhat Patnaik provides a simple model of the current pattern of India’s economic growth process, to reckon with the fact that even an accelerating growth rate may leave the unemployment problem completely unresolved, or even accentuated, as labour productivity rises at a faster rate than investment

11.04.2007 Tired of waiting for governments to deliver on promises, activists, experts and people living with HIV/AIDS in Asia and the Pacific will push for stronger community leadership in the battle against the disease at a regional summit to be held in this city in August.

11.04.2007 Food shortages, water scarcity, heatwaves, floods and migration of millions of people will occur across Asia as a result of climate change, Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the UN Climate Panel, said.

10.04.2007 As Bangladesh marks its 36th Independence Day, a new report laments the rapid shrinking of liberal space in the country due to intense political polarisation and a growing cult of violence. War-torn Sri Lanka is also slammed for its large number of disappearances and recruitment of child soldiers

10.04.2007 With two of every three children facing some form of physical abuse, an official study, "Child Abuse: India 2007," has suggested that the issue be placed on the national agenda. Fifty percent of the abusers are people known to the child or in a position of trust and responsibility.

05.04.2007 The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in BiH has presented today the National Human Development Report on Social Inclusion. According to this report, and the Index of Social Inclusion in BiH presented within, more than 50% of the population of BiH is, on one ore more bases, excluded from mainstream social processes.

04.04.2007 Globalization is a buzzword that has gained increasing importance all around the world. A very significant feature of the global economy is the integration of the emerging economies in world markets and the expansion of economic activities across state borders.

04.04.2007 South Asian leaders meeting in New Delhi were expected to approve a joint declaration on setting out new policies against terrorism, climate change, and shortages of food and energy.

03.04.2007 The 14th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is slated to be held here in Delhi from April 3. This precedes the 28th session of the SAARC council of ministers.

02.04.2007 Right to Education Task Force (RETF) (A unit of Social Jurist) in association with Asha Vikas Pariyojna, Chetnalaya, Kiran Deep and others is launching "Chalo School Abhiyan" to mobilize the out of school children get enrolled themselves in government schools and study.

02.04.2007 When Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai shares the table with other SAARC leaders in Delhi this week, India knows it is a crucial development for the regional grouping.