Addressing a gathering of around 6,000 in-charges of 'Shakti Kendras,' each comprising two to three booth-level areas, at Marine Drive, the prime minister said that Kerala has the potential to influence who will be in power in Delhi.
India has failed to use a period of high economic growth to lift tens of millions of people out of poverty.
Figures of people living below the poverty line in India was being fudged by international agencies like the World Bank to paint a grim picture of the Indian economy, Planning Commission Member N K Singh said on Monday.
India has mooted an International Skill Development Fund with active assistance from the developed countries for rooting out poverty in the developing countries.\n\n\n\n
The level of poverty is lower in Europe than in other regions but the significance lies in the fact that the region encompasses some of the richest countries.
The UN secretary-general said the rich only made promises, never came good on them.
President A P J Abdul Kalam said on Friday that to completely eradicate poverty in the country, India would have to achieve a GDP growth of 10 per cent continuously for a decade at a stretch.
The leading NRI industrialist said, 'What happens to the poorest citizen in the poorest country can directly affect the richest citizen in the richest country.'
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday hit back at his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, saying poverty cannot be eradicated by "driving tanks on farmlands" and once again needled India by calling Hizbul commander Burhan Wani the "valiant son of Kashmir".
'The Weather Channel argues that India faces the gravest challenge: Climate change-induced health vulnerability.' 'This is an issue often neglected, alerts Claude Arpi: "Prolonged summers, unpredictable rains, floods, droughts, and rising sea levels are the harsh realities of climate change in the country. These factors increase the frequency and severity of illnesses, pushing people into poverty, and forcing migration".'
Interacting with students, parents and teachers during his annual 'Pariksha Pe Charcha' programme, the prime minister suggested that students should compete with themselves and not others and parents should never sow the seeds of competition and rivalry between siblings.
An estimated 12.6 million people in Britain, 22 per cent of the total population, currently live below the poverty line despite the progress the country has made, a survey indicated on Tuesday.
Since the poverty estimates released by the Planning Commission determine the eligibility of benefits such as BPL allocation of foodgrain to the states, he said, "a firm choice of reference period is necessary." Different reference periods (30-day recall period and 365-day recall period) used in the early surveys, he added, had prompted the Planning Commission to come out two with sets of poverty figures.
Her days of scorching the astro-turf might be over but legendary former India captain Rani Rampal has absolutely "no regrets" as she believes in making most of whatever opportunities that come her way.
According to a 2011 impact assessment study of the programme by Banerjee and Duflo, along with economists Raghabendra Chattopadhyay and Jeremy Shapiro, Bandhan's THP results in a 15 per cent increase in household consumption and had a positive impact on wealth and welfare, such as assets and emotional well being.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on Tuesday met Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das and discussed various issues including financial inclusion, payment systems, microfinance and digital lending among others. "Mr.@BillGates visited RBI Mumbai today and held wide ranging discussions with Governor @DasShaktikanta #RBI #rbitoday #rbigovernor #shaktikantadas #BillGates," RBI said in a tweet. Gates Foundation pursues a lot of activity in India including promotion of financial inclusion, health sector and climate change.
The global financial crisis has hit the realisation of Millennium Development Goals hard with loss of employment and food inflation slowing down the progress and an additional 64 million people expected to be thrown into extreme poverty by 2010-end relative to a no-crisis scenario.
There are a number of problems that plague the implementation of MGNREGA, including corruption, administrative paralysis and other hardy perennials. Massive amounts of funds on this scheme remained unspent in 2010-11 and 2011-12.
There are other ways in which markets are capable of serving the poor better than large-scale and often unaffordable anti-poverty interventions.
Kumar said that while the rise in percentage of population of the deprived castes has led to increase in the quotas for SCs, STs and OBCs from 50 to 65 per cent, his government also planned to undertake a number of welfare measures for the benefit of "94 lakh families", which according to the survey lived in abject poverty.
India has contributed to a large reduction in global poverty, according to the UN annual report on the Millennium Development Goals, which also pointed out that despite progress, the most vulnerable sections of society were being left out.
Impressive advances in the world's most populous countries, India and China, have been at the forefront of the reduction in global poverty, a World Bank panel has said.
The urban population of the Asia-Pacific region has been growing at the fastest rate in the world over the past 15 years, according to the Statistical Yearbook for Asia and the Pacific" released yesterday by the UN Economic and Social Commission. "This growth is having a knock-on effect," said Pietro Gennari, chief of ESCAP's Statistics Division. "We're seeing more and more people living in slums and also a negative effect on people's ability to access clean water.
He slammed naysayers for opposing developmental projects, saying some people have a habit of trying to stall any good work.
Globalisation and capitalisation cannot be avoided but they should be planned and executed in such a way that natural habitat of these tribal people is not devastated.
Unlike any other region in the world, because of 'persistent and deep inequalities' in South Asia, children in the region are trapped in an unrelenting cycle of discrimination at several levels, Unicef regional director for South Asia Daniel Toole said.
'In the short term the relationship will get worse.'
Poverty in rural areas declined at a faster pace than in urban cities between 2004-05 and 2009-10, according to the Planning Commission estimates released on Monday.
'In my time, I didn't have that kind of guidance. 'I asked to speak to the international pageant winners before I went and nobody spoke with me. 'It doesn't take away from your title when you help others. It just brings more accolades back to our country.'
In rural areas, the poverty ratio was estimated at 28.3 per cent whereas in urban areas it was 25.7 per cent, stated V Narayanswamy, Union Minister of State for Planning and Parliamentary Affairs in Rajya Sabha on Thursday, in response to a question by independent member Parimal Nathwani.
Addressing a huge rally in Maharashtra's Nagpur on the occasion of the Congress' 139th foundation day, he said unemployment in the country has reached its highest point in the last 40 years.
"On a larger scale we've got to think about how we can integrate this technology into a massive effort to scale up access to financial services," the bank said.
Infosys chief mentor N R Narayana Murthy on Friday said rupee appreciation was a macro-economic issue and called upon corporates to become more efficient, productive and reduce costs.
The manner in which the government and the political opposition in Delhi have been guilt-tripped into this debate on the poverty line is a reflection of a broader phenomenon that has taken root within the minds of the thinking class at large, says Shashi Shekhar.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday pitched for communal harmony and brotherhood in the country, saying Hindus and Muslims should work together to fight the common enemy of poverty and ignore "irresponsible" statements made by politicians, even if he himself makes any.
As Shyam Benegal turns 89 on December 14, Subhash K Jha takes a look at 10 of his best films and tells you where you can watch them.
Indian-American business leader Ajay Banga is poised to become the next President of the World Bank after the nomination period closed and no country proposed an alternate candidate for the prestigious post. In February, President Joe Biden announced that the US would be nominating Banga to lead the World Bank because he is "well equipped" to lead the global institution at "this critical moment in history." The World Bank on Wednesday closed a month-long window for nominations for its next president, with no alternatives announced to 63-year-old Banga.
For the country's poorest districts, the only hope of escaping grinding poverty is to increase farm productivity in a big way -- in most of these districts, around 85 per cent of those employed work in the agricultural sector.
The World Bank's latest review of its purchasing power parity (PPP) baseline will reignite the poverty debate.
Against predictions by most exit polls that the ruling Congress had an edge in the state, the BJP banked heavily on the charisma of the PM.
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