Most south Asian nations will fall short on the Millennium Development Goals, a set of eight globally agreed development goals due to be achieved by 2015, a study by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund said.The report has warned that developing countries stand to suffer the most from climate change and the degradation of natural resources.
India is also set to achieve the goal of reducing hunger by half and reduce maternal mortality by three quarters.
The two maps, above, show the change in Under-five Mortality Rate and the change in Maternal Mortality Ratio during the time period 1990 to 2013 across the world.
"In the last five years, government has begun to listen. Not that they do anything."
In September 2000, world leaders had agreed to tackle eight developmental challenges including poverty, employment, education and health.
The report says the first goal of halving the number of people whose income is less than $ 1 a day by 2015 is within reach. But it adds: Higher food prices may push 100 million people deeper into poverty. Most of this increase, it says, will happen in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Even though poverty figures have improved, people lacking access to food are more in number, it says.
India and many other countries are unlikely to achieve the UN Millennium Development goals of halving poverty and education for all children by 2015, said India's Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma.
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.
Five Indians have won top prizes in various categories of an international photography contest organised by the United Nations to spotlight the Millennium Development Goals.
Analysts and several reports have suggested that despite high economic growth, India is falling behind on achieving the Millennium Development Goals set by the United Nations
Hinduja noted that there are lots of skilled people who are not able to get employment.
Gates was referring to the impact of the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals, especially about the goal to reduce child mortality.
About a third of the world's population has access to Internet.
About a third of the world's population has access to Internet.
Development issues of vital interest to India are expected to receive focused attention at the G20 Summit beginning in Cannes on Wednesday, a Ficci Paper on the B20 Working Group on Development said.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB), on Wednesday said it has approved $17.51 billion in financing operations last year to assist its developing member countries achieve their Millennium Development Goals.
The Fifth World Telecommunication Development Conference of International Telecommunication Union got underway in Hyderabad with a resolve to push the world community for faster rolling out of broadband connectivity to bridge the digital divide between the developed and developing countries and achieve the millennium development goals of the United Nations.
Almost half of the two billion people who have gained access to drinking water since 1990 live in China and India.
Former United Kingdom Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been appointed as the United Nations' special envoy for global education.
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
India, Brazil and South Africa received the 2010 Millennium Development Goals awards for South-South Cooperation at a prestigious gala at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York.
Between 1997 and 2008, aid commitments for sanitation and water fell from eight per cent of total development aid to five cent per cent, according to the latest UN-Water Global Annual Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS) report.
However, the country is facing a tremendous challenge in sustaining drinking water security in rural areas.
Welcoming government's decision to keep the common man in focus in the Union Budget, country director of United Nations Development Programme Deirdre Boyd said the enhanced funding to social sector will also help India achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
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.
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.
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.
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'.
The bulk loan offered to India is for developing its infrastructure projects and to achieve the millennium development goals. Further, part of the loan would be spent in the seven low-income states -- Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh -- to support the poverty reduction programmes.
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.
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".
Welcoming the $1.1 trillion package committed by the world leaders at the G-20 Summit in London, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has said the developing and poor countries must get the "crucial" funds to avert a human development crisis.
Stating that the global financial crisis threatens the livelihoods of nearly 1.4 billion people globally, a United Nations agency has asked the G-20 leaders to commit themselves to save the world poor from the adverse impact of the downturn.
Britain has launched an India country plan for 2008-2015 under which it will spend 825 million pounds in the next three years to help India achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MGD) and assist the poorest of the poor in the country.
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.
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.
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