Full coverage: Pobresa

31.01.2008 A massive debt relief package for farmers is being finalised by India’s agriculture ministry. The scheme will provide debt relief to small and marginal farmers who own land up to two hectares and large farmers. The total outgoings over four years are expected to be around INR 700 billion.

31.01.2008 Over 1.5 million young women have been widowed in Afghanistan owing to armed conflicts over the last two decades. Food, shelter and social protection are the most pressing needs for these women and their children with most of them lacking the economic means to earn a decent living.

29.01.2008 Bangladesh’s poor are increasingly finding it difficult to buy food. The increase in wages across sectors over last year is disproportionate to the overall rise in food prices, which have increased by 27% in last four months alone. Recurring floods and cyclones destroying standing crops have only added to the woes.

28.01.2008 "Lebbra, una malattia dimenticata". Con questa frase l'Aifo ha promosso la 55a Giornata mondiale dei malati di lebbra che si è svolta ieri domenica 27 gennaio nella giornata istituita da Raoul Follereau e riconosciuta ufficialmente dall’Onu. Sono ancora 259mila i nuovi casi di lebbra registrati ogni anno, pari a circa 750 casi al giorno: attualmente circa 10 milioni di persone hanno la vita segnata dalla malattia, benché da essa si possa guarire. "La lebbra è oggi una malattia dimenticata come dimenticate sono le persone che ne sono colpite: ignorate da un mondo troppo indaffarato per potersi occupare di chi soffre di un male, come la lebbra, che colpisce solo chi è già vittima di povertà, emarginazione sociale e negazione dei diritti fondamentali" - afferma l'Aifo.

28.01.2008 First of its kind in India, the Rajasthan State Cooperative Department has launched the ‘Kisan SIM card’. Farmers can now get free tips on various aspects of farming from weather updates to guidance on livestock rearing to crop infection through SMS and voice messages.

25.01.2008 Food crisis in Afghanistan is deepening by the day. Afghan government has expressed its inability to tackle the food insecurity on its own and has appealed together with the UN for US $ 80 million assistance to avert this humanitarian tragedy.

24.01.2008 Senior journalist and Ramon Magsaysay winner P. Sainath takes on the media and its propagation of ‘reverse discrimination’ where upper castes are being plugged as the victims. The bitter world where Dalits are discriminated at every step of their lives is etched explicitly in this biting critique.

24.01.2008 Kansainvälinen työjärjestö ILOn raportin mukaan köyhyys saataisiin poistettua Etelä-Aasiasta yhden sukupolven aikana, jos nopean talouskasvun vauhdittamalla alueella luotaisiin lisää kunnollisia työpaikkoja ja yhteiskunnallisia turvaverkkoja.

24.01.2008 A slowdown in economic growth could spur global unemployment by 5 million persons in 2008, with unemployment rates touching levels never seen before, predicts the International Labour Organization’s annual Global Employment Trends (GET) report. The report also notes South Asia as having the highest share of vulnerable jobs and workers without a voice at work.

23.01.2008 A Dalit-centric policy framework can help the disadvantaged community to have a greater say in local and national programmes and their implementation, says a report released this month by the people’s campaign Wada Na Todo Abhiyan.

23.01.2008 International Labour Organisation’s new report says that ending poverty in South Asia will require labour market reforms coupled with economic progress. The report notes that instances of extreme poverty have impressively come down in the last decade but proportion of working poor continues to remain high in the region.

23.01.2008 For parents grappling with poverty, sending kids to school is difficult; for teachers it is hard to keep them at school when they are always hungry. Nepal is faced with a problem of children either not enrolling or dropping out due to widespread hunger.

22.01.2008 Vandana Shiva continued to stand up for the rights of women, small farmers, and others marginalized by modern society, particularly in the face of corporate-led expansions in the agriculture and biofuel sectors.

22.01.2008 Più di 26mila bambini sotto i 5 anni muoiono ogni giorno nel mondo per cause che potrebbero essere facilmente prevenute come le malattie infettive, le diarree, la malnutrizione cronica e la malaria. Lo segnala il rapporto annuale presentato oggi dall’Unicef sulla condizione dell’infanzia nel mondo dedicato quest’anno al "diritto alla salute". Per la prima volta nel 2006, le morti dei bambini sono scese sotto i 10 milioni (9,7 milioni), ma Medio Oriente e Nord Africa, Asia meridionale e Africa Subsahariana "non sembrano avviate a raggiungere il quarto Obiettivo di Sviluppo del Millennio che prevede la riduzione di 2/3 della mortalità infantile entro il 2015" - avverte il Rapporto che descrive l'impatto positivo di misure salvavita semplici ed economicamente sostenibili quali l'allattamento esclusivo al seno, le vaccinazioni, l'utilizzo di zanzariere trattate con insetticidi, la somministrazione d'integratori di vitamina A.

21.01.2008 A comprehensive data pool on gender issues was launched by the SAARC Secretary General at the inaugural of the recent Sixth South Asian Regional Ministerial Conference by UNIFEM at New Delhi. The Gender Database will provide records on violence against women and trafficking in the South Asia region, and on women’s health and HIV/AIDS.

20.01.2008 Young children are forced into labour to produce unbaked bricks at nearly 6,000 brick kilns in Pakistan. Despite laws banning forced labour, the country has over 1.7 million bonded labourers, many of them children, says the International Labour Organisation.

18.01.2008 Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), New Delhi, invites applications for a five-day refresher workshop from February 12-16 on how to use the environment to eradicate poverty in rural India. By drawing lessons from village experiences, the workshop aims to devise a framework for sustainable villages.

18.01.2008 Recently named as Man of the Year by The Week, Baba Adhav is a veteran trade unionist working with porters in Maharashtra in western India. His sole mission now is to get the Bill for social security of unorganised sector workers passed in Parliament. In a freewheeling interview, he reminisces his life and times.

17.01.2008 Video Volunteers and local NGOs are helping rural communities in India voice their issues to a global audience. Locally relevant video produced by community video units, are empowering people to lead, change and take action.

17.01.2008