Full coverage: Poverty

31.08.2006 A new report on labour and social trends in South Asia warns of a growing socio-economic disconnect in the sub region, as economic growth and improved productivity fail to translate adequately into job creation and better wages. The report, Labour and Social Trends in Asia and the Pacific 2006: Progress towards Decent Work has been produced by the International Labour Organization (ILO).

31.08.2006 For years, Nawab Mohammed Akbar Khan Bugti battled the Pakistan Army. The 80-year-old renegade hidden in the mountains of Balochistan became a legend in his fight for greater autonomy against what he saw as colonial brutality.
And his death this weekend, during a fierce three-day battle that left more than 30 dead, could prove a serious blow to Pakistan's stability.

30.08.2006 It is nearly two decades since the Indian government banned child labour in Firozabad's bangle and glassware industry and created a law to rehabilitate thousands of children who had now been plucked out of factories. The reality is that the schools are shabby with no furniture and no teaching materials and many children continue to work in the factories.

30.08.2006 Besides Vidarbha, the current year has seen a marked increase in the number of farmer suicides in northern Maharashtra too, with the number of deaths in 2006 inching close to the cumulative figure for the past four years

30.08.2006 The Saharias - an ancient tribe of the north Indian desert state of Rajasthan - who have been discriminated against and denied government food security programmes have fought with the help of NGOs to seek justice. After a fact-finding mission by the government ration cards have been given to people and ration shops have been opened for them.

29.08.2006 A World Bank's report has bracketed Andhra Pradesh as being in `middle of the pack, neither outstanding nor poor' in carrying out reforms process and in human development index

29.08.2006 ITU, in partnership with national carrier Bhutan Telecom Ltd (BTL), embarked on connectivity Dagana VoIP Project to expand the VoIP service to ten isolated communities in the remote province of Dagana, Bhutan.

25.08.2006 Amnesty International India has expressed its deep concern at the demolitions of the protest-huts at Azad Maidan, Mumbai on August 24, 2006, under High Court orders. The human rights organisation has said evictions have made nearly 350,000 people homeless since 2004 and the government has failed to rehabilitate them till now. This has resulted in not only the loss of homes but also of livelihoods.

24.08.2006 The situation in the Narmada valley today is nothing unexpected yet the most shocking. The Sardar Sarovar Dam, with the height raised, has silently killed the Adivasi communities in the Nandurbar district of Maharashtra, Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh and many in Badwani and Dhar districts of Madhya Pradesh too. These generations' old Adivasis in the Satpura and Vindhya have lost their main sources of livelihood, land, to the sea that the roaring river water is converted to.

24.08.2006 The high interest rates and forced loan recovery practices of micro-finance institutions have been held responsible for the suicide of several farmers in Andhra Pradesh. It is evident that poverty makes good business sense to MFIs, writes Sudhirendar Sharma

23.08.2006

wider

The reference to ‘flatness’ alludes to the more level playing field due to globalization that has enabled China, India, and others to start catching up with the living standards of rich countries. But as Birdsall points out, the world is far from flat. In particular, unequal opportunities exist and persist both at the level of households within countries and at the level of nations in a global context; indeed the same forces of globalization are likely to exacerbate these inequalities

21.08.2006 The draft national policy for farmers put on the Government website is already under debate and it broadly provided 24 policy prescriptions to ensure the livelihood security of the farmers, said M.S. Swaminathan, Chairman of the National Commission on Farmers.

21.08.2006 Serbian organization the People’s Parliament became a member, in beginning of August, of the Stop Child Poverty global campaign.

21.08.2006 On 7 August 2006, the ERRC sent a letter to Ardian Turku, Mayor of Elbasan, expressing concern about the forced evictions and resulting homelessness of 109 Romani individuals. The ERRC urged Mayor Turku to ensure that the urgent housing needs of these evicted families are addressed immediately.

21.08.2006 On the edge of the expanding wave of Internet connectivity, Punavali Kalan is located deep in the impoverished region of Bundelkhand in India. This tiny community of 3,800 inhabitants is an oasis where local information is exchanged, discussed,...

18.08.2006 Social activists in India want the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to include achieving social equity and curbing human rights violations against certain communities. Many communities like tribals, Dalits and minorities have been denied their social, economic and cultural rights and are therefore languishing in poverty.

16.08.2006 Organizacija Narodni Parlament je od avgusta postao član globalne kampanje Iskorenimo siromastvo kod dece.

14.08.2006 The role of agricultural research and development is critical to enhance agricultural productivity. The decline in agricultural productivity has adversely affected India's poor, most of whom depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. The Bank launched a US$200 million National Agricultural Innovation Project to help increase agricultural productivity in the country.

10.08.2006

poverty atlas

This atlas provides examples of the important uses of poverty maps, including: the ability to overlay them with maps of geographical features, agroecological zones, education, accessibility, services and so on, so as to better understand and analyze possible causes of poverty; for better targeting of resources; and for raising donor awareness of financing needs.

09.08.2006

ICT4D

This article discusses the link between national Information and Communications Technology (ICT) policy in developing countries and the effectiveness of ICT for development (ICT4D) initiatives at a community level. This research project, currently in progress, which has the primary goal of determining determine whether, by adopting a Community Informatics (CI) approach to community based ICT4D projects, which leverages existing social capital in the communities, the sustainability of such projects can be significantly improved so that ICT4D is more inclusive in reach and its overall contribution to development is enhanced. The research has a secondary goal to develop a framework for national ICT policy which is anchored in this social paradigm as distinct from the purely techno-economic paradigm that currently prevails. This article reviews the current policy paradigm and framework as reflected in the literature, elaborates on the central research question relating to CI, social capital and sustainability, and hypothesises on what an alternative ICT policy development framework might look like.