Full Coverage: South Asia

30.03.2007 Vice Chancellors and other high level representatives of Universities in Afghanistan, China, India, Nepal and Pakistan, have come together with major regional and European organisations to launch the Himalayan University Consortium as an alliance for knowledge networking, policy advocacy, and for promoting the concept and practice of sustainable mountain development.

29.03.2007 Greenpeace activists beamed huge slides on to the cooling tower of the National Thermal Power Corporation's (NTPC) power plant, that supplies electricity to Indian capital New Delhi, to brand the culprits of climate change. The message Stop Climate Change – Energy (r)evolution now! is for the Indian government to rethink its energy strategy before climate change starts affecting economic development of the country.

29.03.2007 Citisens of Indian capital New Delhi and Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) appealed to the government to stop and review the brutal onslaught on thousands of trees lining the roads of the city for making way for the High Capacity Bus Service Corridor and widening of roads for more lanes.

29.03.2007 UNESCO has launched an online platform to make available training and capacity-building resources developed by a variety of stakeholders in myriad subjects, including literacy, computers, business, environment and community development.

27.03.2007 Every seven minutes a woman in India dies of a pregnancy-related cause. The White Ribbon Alliance India is raising awareness about safe motherhood, building alliances to effect changes, and acting as a catalyst for action.

23.03.2007 A group of HIV-positive women met in a Kathmandu shelter, and now provides AIDS counseling, networking, medical checkups, and emergency crisis services to other women. Up next: computer programming classes.
From: United Nations Development Programme

22.03.2007 India must close a highway running through Jarawa lands, or the Andaman Island tribe may be wiped out, a UN report warns.

21.03.2007 One of India's popular environment and wildlife film festivals - CMS VATAVARAN 2007 - is accepting early bird entries till 31st March 2007. The last date for sending in films is 30th April 2007. For more information and entry form, visit the CMS VATAVARAN website.

20.03.2007 The decision of Pakistan’s president to suspend the country’s supreme justice has precipitated a major constitutional crisis, reports Irfan Husain.

20.03.2007 Hundreds of local fishing communities are being pushed into poverty in Pakistan due to over-fishing by international trawlers, according to research released today.

20.03.2007 Patenttisäännöt ovat osoittautuneet yhdeksi globalisaation akhilleenkantapääksi kansainvälisten lääkefirmojen pitäessä kiinni "oikeuksistaan" - huolimatta kasvavasta halpojen lääkkeiden tarpeesta. Paine muutoksiin kansainvälisissä patenttilaeissa on kuitenkin jatkuvasti kasvamassa.

16.03.2007 An Asian rights group has called for international protests over an alleged massacre in an Indian village which it says occurred when security forces clashed with villagers trying to halt construction of a special industrial area.

14.03.2007 Armed groups, some identified as part of a breakaway group of Tamil Tigers known as the Karuna faction, are infiltrating camps for newly displaced Sri Lankans and abducting residents, Amnesty International has warned.

14.03.2007 OneWorld South Asia held its Sixth Annual Regional Meeting (ARM) at the Mirabel Resort Hotel, Dhulikhel, Kathmandu, Nepal on 27 - 28 February 2007. Around 200 delegates from civil society, government, academia, media, and the corporate sector across South Asia reflected on the theme Midway to MDGs: Accelerating progress through ICTs and adopted the Kathmandu Declaration, which demands concerted efforts to accelerate progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

13.03.2007

13.03.2007 The North American Nepali diaspora has launched an online global petition demanding that Nepalis living abroad be given the right to vote in key constituent elections in Nepal this June.
+ OneWorld Guide to Nepal

13.03.2007 More than 100 protestors, including 20 women, were arrested on the first day of two-day talks designed to save stalled World Trade Organisation negotiations in Delhi.

12.03.2007 The British Gurkha Welfare Society has taken a full-page ad in today's Guardian newspaper to appeal to UK Prime Minister Tony Blair for fair treatment for Nepalis who have served in the British army.

12.03.2007 New Delhi-based NGO working on media issues - Centre for Media Studies - is holding a conference, Communication for Social Development: Discourse and Practice at the south Indian city of Hyderabad from April 12-14, 2007. The three-day event is being held in collaboration with the University of Hyderabad.

10.03.2007 Bangladesh security forces arrested two more ethnic minority leaders in the Chittagong Hill Tracts - home to distinct minority communities - this week, part of a growing number of arrests since January, according to an international group fighting for the rights of tribal peoples.