http://uk.oneworld.net/article/country/967/ en_GB_uk South Asia http://uk.oneworld.net/link/gotolink/addhit/85583 Immigration proposals unveiled by the British government on Monday are wrong because they target legal rather than illegal migrants and discriminate against people from the Indian subcontinent, according to Keith Vaz, chairman of parliament's home affairs committee. http://uk.oneworld.net/link/gotolink/addhit/84293 More than 99 per cent of all maternal deaths occur in developing countries, with about 84 per cent concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, says a new report by the UN Children's Fund. http://uk.oneworld.net/article/view/160921/1/ South Asian leaders' failures to control rising food prices, protect small farmers, ensure women's land rights, resist genetically modified organisms GMOs and stop biofuels will increase the number of hungry people in the region to over 588 million by 2009, claims a new report. http://uk.oneworld.net/article/view/160912/1/ South Asian leaders have been asked by civil society groups to strengthen human rights through new institutions such as a regional parliament, education fund, climate change body and a South Asian human rights charter and a mechanism to increase people-to-people contacts. http://uk.oneworld.net/article/view/160891/1/ South Asian civil society groups have urged leaders preparing for a regional summit to "imagine a New South Asia" free from hunger, poverty, disasters, bad governance, authoritarian rules and lack of control over their resources. http://tv.oneworld.net/article/view/160452/1/ http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/160442/1/ Durgabai Deshmukh Award winner Daud Sharifa Khanam from southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu provided Muslim women a platform to challenge the oppressive patriarchal system. For this, she has had to face the ire of Muslim clerics. She was hated, abused and threatened but she never gave up the fight. http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/160432/1/ Considered a taboo and anti-Islamic during Taliban regime, condom usage in Afghanistan is slowly increasing. The government however feels a need to boost its demand to achieve public health targets on STD prevention and reduction in maternal mortality. http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/160427/1/ Members of Indian anti-poverty network WNTA met the HRD minister in the capital to present a memorandum urging the government to table the Right to Education bill in the current parliament session. WNTA campaigns to hold the government accountable to its commitments to end poverty, social exclusion and discrimination. http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/160426/1/ New mobile text message service called Reuters Market Light has made it easier for poor farmers in western India to get farm-related information. By subscribing to the service they can get regular updates on their mobiles about weather forecasts, pest attacks and daily market prices for their produce. http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/160408/1/ Traditional midwives or dais have been overlooked by India’s National Rural Health Mission that focuses solely on institutional delivery. In a country having the highest maternal mortality rate and collapsing rural health care, there is a need to integrate these women in public health programmes. http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/160402/1/ Indian government has decided to table the contentious Women’s Reservation Bill in Rajya Sabha on May 6. Earlier in an interview with OWSA, Dr Ranjana Kumari, Director, Centre for Social Research spoke on the whole gamut of issues concerning the need for women in governance. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/article/view/160403/1/ Open Access to Knowledge and Information: Scholarly Literature and Digital Library Initiatives – the South Asian Scenario released by UNESCO, New Delhi illustrates South Asian initiatives to bridge knowledge gaps in the region. The book is a useful source for building up necessary information infrastructure for development. http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/160397/1/ India's National Rural Employment Guarantee Act has increased the bargaining power of the poor, felt participants at a recent consultation by Indian anti-poverty network WNTA in the capital. They also called for increased investment by the government for effective monitoring of the scheme. http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/160388/1/ Initially introduced in 1996 and subsequently in lapse; snatched and torn up in 1999, the contentious Women’s Reservation Bill is finally set to be tabled in Rajya Sabha on May 6. The Bill seeks to provide 33% reservation for women in state assemblies and the parliament.