With Pakistan's possible suspension from the grouping expected to dominate the Commonwealth Heads of Government meet, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh left Delhi on Thursday for Kampala where hot issues like climate change, human rights and terrorism will also be on the agenda.
As world leaders meet in New York for a three-day debate on how their countries have fared on the Millennium Development Goals they set a decade ago, nearly 15,000 children under 5 will die in as many days in India -- mostly from preventable diseases
A World Bank report said India bas been slow in progressing towards Millennium Development Goals.
A government programme aimed at empowering people run by the north-east Indian state of Nagaland has won the coveted United Nations Award for Public Service from Asia and the Pacific region for 'fostering participation in policy making through innovative mechanism'.
Halving global poverty and hunger is one of the key Millennium Development Goals.
Almost half of the two billion people who have gained access to drinking water since 1990 live in China and India.
Slowdown in economic growth in most South Asian countries barring India is expected to result in severe job cuts and lower incomes, impacting poverty alleviation programmes, a UN report said on Tuesday.
Though India still has to travel 'a long distance to put poverty behind us,' the country should not be 'underestimated', said External Affairs Minister S M Krishna.
The survey revolving around poverty-related issues covered 5,000 people across the country.
Former United Kingdom Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been appointed as the United Nations' special envoy for global education.
The ongoing financial crisis, poverty reduction, reforms including expansion of the Security Council, uneven progress in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and Darfur conflict are likely to dominate the agenda of the United Nations General Assembly that begins on Tuesday. More than 170 heads of state and governments, foreign ministers and senior diplomats will participate in the discussion lasting about two weeks.
Rajiv Ramakrishnan, an undergraduate at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, has been doing his bit to help the United Nations achieve its Millennium Development Goals for the advancement of the world's poor. This includes eradication of poverty and provision of health and education to all.
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.
The new figures released by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation on Thursday ahead of next week's General Assembly meeting on global anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals, show that the number of people suffering from hunger is now roughly 925 million.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday said getting a binding agreement sealed on climate change was among his top priorities for the year after the Copenhagen conference that marked "an important step forward".
Top United Nations experts on Latin America and the Caribbean have warned that global economic shocks could throw some 16 million people of the Americas into extreme poverty, threatening important gains toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals in the region.
A new World Bank-IMF Report says India has achieved significant levels of poverty reduction as a result of high GDP growth of about nine per cent, but regretted serious shortfalls in achieving other Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) like child nutrition and health. Entitled 'Global Monitoring Report 2008,' the report's theme was 'MDGs and the Environment: Agenda for inclusive and sustainable development.' South Asia nations may fall short of the MDGs, says the report.
Announcing a partnership between the UN World Food Programme and the Millenia Villages Project, WFP chief Josette Sheeran said, "Hunger is on the march and is right now the most threatening Millennium Development Goal".
Hundreds of young men and women from all over the world, including India, took part in the sixth youth assembly at the United Nations that stresses the importance of engaging youth to help achieve its Millennium Development Goals.
Talking about helping countries meet the Millennium Development Goals, he said, "This is not charity. It is solidarity." In an interconnected world, it is also an expression of enlightened self-interest since we are all in this together.
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) aim to halve world poverty by 2015. South Asian countries should include disaster-risk management in national strategic plans, the study 'Rethinking Disasters' released on Thursday by Oxfam said. Two to six per cent of South Asias gross domestic product is lost to disasters every year, the study said.
Women hold the key to eradicating poverty worldwide, but must be supported in their efforts to lead families, societies and nations towards prosperity, senior United Nations officials told an inter-governmental meeting on Tuesday.\n\n\n\n
Buoyed by rapid economic growth, Asia has made dramatic progress in the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, halving the number of people living on the equivalent of a dollar a day, a just released United Nations report has said.
The World Bank has warned India that its growth prospects are weakened by high fiscal deficits and slow reforms, and the country needs to accelerate poverty reduction efforts.
He expressed hope for positive changes in a world that faced a myriad of daunting challenges, ranging from poverty to global warming and terrorism.
In an effort to allow 19 poor countries to promote growth and make progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals, the International Monetary Fund will grant 100 per cent debt relief to them amounting to $3.3 billion
"There's no doubt that this has been a particularly difficult year and I am relieved that this annus horribilis is coming to an end," the UN secretary general said.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food Jean Ziegler said it is indefensible that so many small children are still dying because they do not have enough food to eat. 'How can we continue to live with this shame?' he asked.
44% citizens of the world agree that the eradication of poverty and hunger is the most important priority for the world, says the Voice of the People survey, carried out for the WEF, by Gallup.
The World Bank has lauded India for the 'remarkable progress' it made in alleviating poverty as well as educating children through the Universal Elementary Education programme.
Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh have emerged as the poorest states in India, according to Niti Aayog's first Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) report. As per the index, 51.91 per cent population of Bihar is poor, followed 42.16 per cent in Jharkhand, 37.79 per cent in Uttar Pradesh. While Madhya Pradesh (36.65 per cent) has been placed fourth in the index, Meghalaya (32.67 per cent) is at the fifth spot. Kerala (0.71 per cent), Goa (3.76 per cent), Sikkim (3.82 per cent), Tamil Nadu (4.89 per cent) and Punjab (5.59 per cent) have registered the lowest poverty across India and are at the bottom of the index.
India has halved incidence of poverty from 1990s
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