Full Coverage: MDGs

31.05.2006 After a delay of five months, the first draft of 11th Plan Approach Papers reached the PMO for approval.According to sources, despite nagging disagreements on the resource mobilisation issue, which kept eluding a consensus, Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Aluwaliah finally submitted the papers for approval.

31.05.2006 The European Union Foreign Ministers on Monday ordered the listing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as a banned organisation. Western diplomats said that the decision was taken at a meeting of the General Affairs and External Relations Council in Brussels.

31.05.2006 Education Minister Lt Gen (r) Javed Ashraf Qazi has said 45 percent of students dropped out before completing their primary education, and there were a number of factors behind this high rate. We are giving salaries lower than domestic servantsÂ’ to teachers. What can you expect them to deliver? What results can matriculate 3rd division teachers produce?

31.05.2006 According to new data in the UNAIDS 2006 Report on the global AIDS epidemic, the AIDS epidemic appears to be slowing down globally, but new infections are continuing to increase in certain regions and countries. The report also shows that important progress has been made in country AIDS responses, including increases in funding and access to treatment, and decreases in HIV prevalence among young people in some countries over the past five years.

31.05.2006 A new report by UNAIDS says though progress has been made in tackling AIDS, the epidemic continues to outpace response. New data in the UNAIDS 2006 Report on the global AIDS epidemic says that the epidemic appears to be slowing down globally, but new infections are continuing to increase in certain regions and countries. Read press release by UNAIDS.

30.05.2006 The Central Board of Secondary Education would introduce scholarships for girl students and a slew of reforms from the coming year to make the examination more stress-free and help students perform better.

30.05.2006 If equity, justice, redressal are not built into our ICT strategies, all we will have accomplished is to upgrade our worlds, not change them. A person form Andhra spoke to Samuha members of how a person with a disability had accessed financial assistance through the government's ICT kiosks, and how, immediately after, a Panchayat official had come up to this person, and had asked him to ‘deposit' the funds with him.

30.05.2006 Of the 680 million children of primary school age in developing countries, 103 million do not attend school, with 57 percent of these children girls and 74 percent living in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. More than 1/3rd of girls in South Asia never receive a formal education; adult women there have the lowest literacy rate in the world.

30.05.2006 The Non-Aligned Movement, which exists to give voice to developing countries and advance a more democratic international order, must move forward with the United Nations towards their shared goals, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said.

30.05.2006 The National Human Rights Commission should revamp its mandate in the light of massive institutionalised corruption that has left no institution in India untouched.An opinion by C. Raj Kumar.

30.05.2006 India has launched "Operation Marham" (Operation Balm) under which it is rushing naval ships and Indian Air Force aircraft loaded with relief supplies and medical aid to earthquake-affected Indonesia.

30.05.2006 Indonesia's government declared a state of emergency late on thr night of 28 May 2006 after a quake killed more than 4,600 people early on 27 May. Vice President Jusuf Kalla said the emergency period would last three months and the government aimed to complete "reconstruction and rehabilitation" within a year.

29.05.2006 The weaknesses in the education system and the concurrent challenges of poverty and fears mean that children are not performing well in school.

29.05.2006 For the first time in the history of India, more than 5 million Musahars - the most disadvantaged section of India's Dalit Population in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa and West Bengal – are joining hands to wage struggles against their miserable conditions in Independent India.

29.05.2006 As South Asia enjoys unprecedented economic growth, soaring summer temperatures have highlighted a chronic shortage of electricity that is crippling enterprise and leaving millions to suffer without any hope of respite, reports.

29.05.2006 India said it is ready to work with Nepal in the development and fostering of democracy in the Himalayan country.This was stated by the Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma during talks with Nepal's Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister K P Sharma Oli, here on the sidelines of the Ministerial Meeting of the Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).

29.05.2006 Technical education institutions in Rajasthan will adopt nearby villages from the next academic session to promote self-employment among the youth and women by imparting vocational education to them.

29.05.2006 The number of students from Dalit communities has decreased drastically in primary schools in Amargadi municipality after the suspension of FfE programme. Dadheldhura District Education Office announced the suspension of Food for education programme on March 16.

26.05.2006 In the last few decades, some progress has been made in helping poor people overcome poverty across the world. However, hundreds of millions still remain trapped in poverty. Stephen C. Smith, author of “Ending Global Poverty,” argues that effective programs and organizations in those countries are making a positive impact.

26.05.2006 The underdevelopment of rapidly “developing India” is quite evident as various human development indicators reflect that we have not been able to guarantee basic development rights to the citizens of India even after five decades of independence.