Full Coverage: Development

31.10.2006 Some leading educationists believe that the role of government in the field of education should be minimal. Others believe that it should deepen its role in providing free and compulsory education to each citizen of the country. They say that education should also be common for rich and poor so that inequality in society is reduced.

31.10.2006 190 elected women panchayat representatives from four states are to receive their first degrees on completion of a formal course in effective leadership at a high profile convocation in New Delhi on November 2, 2006.

30.10.2006 A decision by Bangladesh President Iajuddin Ahmed on Sunday, to head an interim government to conduct general elections set for January, may exacerbate widespread political violence that has already resulted in 27 deaths over the weekend.

30.10.2006 Better communication – including more listening by donors – needs to be a more central part of developments efforts, the head the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) has told a major conference on development and communications.

30.10.2006 On an average, more than 400 infants below the age of one die in Bihar on any given day. According to Unicef, nearly two-thirds of infant deaths occur during the first month of the child’s life. Timely intervention could help save these lives, thus reducing the state’s abysmal infant mortality rate, reveals a survey conducted by the UN children’s aid body.

30.10.2006 The Sachar Committee report, which explored the socio-economic and educational condition of Indian Muslims, had chilling figures to display multiple disadvantages they face, particularly in higher education.

28.10.2006 Parlementaire socialiste au Tessin (Suisse italienne), président de l'Union internationale contre le cancer (UICC), figurant au nombre des oncologues les plus connus mondialement, le docteur Francesco " Franco " Cavalli est aussi un acteur de premier plan au sein de la coopération helvétique.

28.10.2006 World Food Day, commemorated on October 16, has become more of an exercise in expiation of sins than a renewal of a serious commitment to end hunger.

27.10.2006 Radio experts and communicators working on community radio have urged the World Congress on Communication for Development (WCCD) to give community radio its rightful place as a development tool in the communications debate. Radio specialists are dismayed that the global meet has overlooked the vital role of community radio in empowering people and strengthening democracy in many regions, including, conflict places. OneWorld's Rahul Kumar reports from the congress in Rome.

27.10.2006 India moved up one place and neighbouring Pakistan went down seven places among 168 nations in the Press Freedom Index complied by global media watchdog Reporters Without Borders.

26.10.2006 The Ministry of Education has taken steps to set up teacher villages (Guru Gammane) in 25 selected areas in the country next year, as a solution to the teacher shortage in schools in areas with less infrastructure facilities. The Ministry has allocated a total of Rs. 125 million for the project, with each fully equipped village costing over five million rupees, Minister of Education Susil Premajayantha told the media.

26.10.2006 Responding to a flood of complaints from migrant workers worldwide, the United Nations is investigating a rash of human rights violations, including abusive working conditions, non-payment of wages, arbitrary detentions and collective illegal deportations.

26.10.2006 In its first four years, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has quickly become one of the most important aid agencies in the world. It has approved over 360 grant programs in 132 countries valued at $5.6 billion, and it has disbursed over $2.7 billion

26.10.2006 Negotiations over who will oversee the next elections in Bangladesh appear to have broken down, throwing the country into a political crisis. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Awami League have had a series of meetings to try to find a solution but now they appear to have ruled out a compromise.

26.10.2006 The vital role played by communication in development topped the agenda of a United Nations-backed the First World Congress on Communication for Development (WCCD) that opened today, with a warning that rapid advance in technology risked widening the gap between those with access to cell phones and the Internet and the 1 billion of the world’s population without.

25.10.2006 The first World Congress on Communication for Development (WCCD) took off in Rome with introspection deep in the minds of development professionals and communication experts, on where does communication stand in the development sector, and whether communication strategies can be given credit for successful development programmes. OneWorld's Rahul Kumar writes from Rome.

24.10.2006 BEIJING, Oct 24 (IPS) - Celebrating the success of microfinance as an antidote to poverty has raised some uncomfortable questions here over China's reluctance to allow civil society a bigger role in addressing tough social issues.

24.10.2006 The pathology of power structure in the Indian caste system curtails the freedom of Dalits to choose to live as they desire. In other words, the hierarchal and unequal ordering powers in respects to different castes implies that every caste, except those at the top of caste order, suffers in varing degree and the Dalits (or Schedule Castes) who are placed at the bottom of caste hierarchy are denied any power. They depend and serve the higher castes. As a result, this seriously impacts on their ability to fulfil the freedoms they value. Assessing the power structure of the caste system is important to understand the dynamics of well-being of Dalits.

24.10.2006 In recent years, the use and impact of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) on teaching and learning has increased tremendously. They provide new perspectives and opportunities for expanding traditional educational processes and systems. Increasingly, ICT enhanced Non-Formal Educational (NFE) modules are being channelled through community access centres, such as community radio, telecentres, Community Multi-media Centres (CMCs).

24.10.2006 University Grants Commission (UGC) member and Director of the Chennai-based Indian Centre for Research and Development of Community Education (ICRDCE) Xavier Alphonse has said the UGC would soon bring out a document on `Indian Community College System' to address the issues of poverty and of the rural population