Full Coverage: Development

31.08.2006

Dalit Aid

International NGOs (INGOs) vary greatly in size, approach and focus. For the majority, India continues to be a priority area for their activities, where they use a variety of working strategies. There are many different approaches the INGOs follow with regard to Dalit programmes in India. We need to learn from each other where there is an impact and where there are problems. We need to analyse the nature and context of caste discrimination, soical exclusion of dalits, caste conflicts and solutions to such conflicts, assess the political dimensions of Dalit empowerment, assess the different models and ways of working on Dalit issues.

30.08.2006 The ultimate goal in gender equality is to ensure that women and men have equitable access to, and benefit from society's resources, opportunities and rewards. And, as part of this, women need to have equal participation in defining what is valued and how this can be achieved, women's groups told the Planning Commission.

30.08.2006 The task force on education, set up by the Orissa government to prepare its Vision-2020 document, notes in its report that for three years, 27 high schools in the state have showed ‘Nil’ results.

30.08.2006 The House of Representatives instructed the government to endorse the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples. If its backers maintain pressure on the government, ratification should happen in the next session of parliament in a couple of months, said parliamentarian Bijaya Subba, who piloted the recommendation through the house.

30.08.2006

Balochistan Province

It was reported that fighter jets and helicopters attacked the south western province of Balochistan, killing some 37 government opponents, including a former governor and chief minister of the province, Sardar Akbar Khan Bugti.

29.08.2006 Norway has made a US$20 million contribution to ADB's Pakistan earthquake fund through an innovative debt-for-development swap. The debt-for-development swap means that $20 million worth of outstanding loan repayment obligations from Pakistan to Norway will be converted into a grant to be administered by ADB.

29.08.2006 A World Bank's report has bracketed Andhra Pradesh as being in `middle of the pack, neither outstanding nor poor' in carrying out reforms process and in human development index

29.08.2006 The children living in slum areas, who do not go to school, will now be educated under a special government scheme. Children from six to 14 years of age will be imparted free education at Alternative and Innovative Education Centres (AIEC), which will be opened in slum areas under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan, a Centre-sponsored scheme.

25.08.2006 he past seven years have been a period of marked improvement in a number of health indicators in Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh, according to the third National Family Health Survey

25.08.2006 The U.S. government's announcement that it will review the possibility of limiting, suspending, or withdrawing trade preferences under the General System of Preferences (GSP) to three Latin American countries—Argentina, Brazil, and Venezuela—is political pressure...

24.08.2006

Foreign Grant

NGO activity being largely voluntary, overheads in such organisations should be minimal. But establishment expenses are often the main reason for receiving donations from abroad. And information on fund sources and use is only rarely available, says R. VAIDYANATHAN, adding that as conscience-keepers who are the first to point fingers at the government it is vital that NGOs ensure their own activities are transparent.

23.08.2006

23.08.2006

wider

The reference to ‘flatness’ alludes to the more level playing field due to globalization that has enabled China, India, and others to start catching up with the living standards of rich countries. But as Birdsall points out, the world is far from flat. In particular, unequal opportunities exist and persist both at the level of households within countries and at the level of nations in a global context; indeed the same forces of globalization are likely to exacerbate these inequalities

22.08.2006 In order to advance towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), gender equality cannot merely be limited to a number of specific objectives, but must be the lens through which all the targets are viewed, say experts and representatives of women's movements in Argentina.

21.08.2006

21.08.2006 On the edge of the expanding wave of Internet connectivity, Punavali Kalan is located deep in the impoverished region of Bundelkhand in India. This tiny community of 3,800 inhabitants is an oasis where local information is exchanged, discussed,...

21.08.2006 This report is based on six case studies of eGovernment activities in India analysis the impacts and costs Information and Communications Technologies for development.

21.08.2006 A tall lanky youth rounds a bend in a mountain path and sees a group, stripped of their packs, resting in the shade of a tree near a small waterfall. He approaches, says hello and shakes hands with those nearest and then stretches and even clambers up a small incline to clasp hands with everyone, rare behaviour in this remote hill region.

21.08.2006 U.S. Chargé d’Affaires in Pakistan Peter Bodde has announced the awarding of U.S. Agency for International Development Earthquake Reconstruction grants worth $70 million to international and Pakistani non-governmental organizations that will improve health and education services in the earthquake-affected areas and create economic opportunities for the local population.

21.08.2006 Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) the governments flagship programme to enrol all children in the age group of 6-14 in schools suffers from inadequacies, ranging from misuse of funds to ineffective monitoring both at the national and state levels, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has said.