Tutti i temi: Asia Meridionale

29.03.2008 Thousands of children in Pakistan succumb to measles every year. All these deaths can be easily prevented with effective immunisation. The government has launched a comprehensive campaign against the disease, which will help protect 63 million children in the country.

29.03.2008 A new report estimates that 125 million people could be displaced in South East Asia by the end of the century if global temperatures were to rise by between 4-5 degrees Celsius.

28.03.2008 Young students in Afghanistan unable to afford rentals and other expenses are forced to work on illicit poppy fields to earn some money. Not only do their studies suffer due to grueling work, but they also get exposed to the dangerous addiction of drugs.

28.03.2008 The Slow Food Movement is globally picking pace amidst the fast food culture. Traditional and organic food is healthier, culture-specific and in tandem with one's natural environment, its proponents claim.

28.03.2008 Battle in India against polio is far from over. This year until February, 82 new cases have been detected despite the fact that the country has the largest ever mass immunisation campaign in the world going on since 2003.

28.03.2008 South Asians for Human Rights is organising a consultation on the Concerns of the Bhutanese Refugees in South Asia on March 31, 2008, in New Delhi, India. The consultation will provide a forum to deliberate on the present state of the Bhutanese refugees in India and Nepal and the recently held elections to the National Assembly.

28.03.2008 Bunkar Vikas Sanstha in Chanderi town in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh has changed the lives of weavers by helping them earn better incomes. Once bound by poverty and exploited by traders, the community now aspires to use media tools to create more livelihood opportunities.

28.03.2008 At least 40 civilians have fallen prey to aerial bombings by US-led forces in Afghanistan in last two weeks alone. Aid agencies say more than 12,000 people have been killed since 2001. Anger among the people against NATO forces is mounting and they have begun to equate them with the Russians.

28.03.2008 A handbook released by SANHITA, a women’s group in eastern India, tries to address the dynamics of sexual harassment at work, an issue that is often hidden and yet present in all kinds of organisations. The book, through its testimonies of women’s experiences, is a somber attempt to integrate a human rights perspective within the workplace.

27.03.2008 At least 40 civilians have fallen prey to aerial bombings by US-led forces in Afghanistan in last two weeks alone. Aid agencies say more than 12,000 people have been killed since 2001. Anger among the people against NATO forces is mounting and they have begun to equate them with the Russians.

27.03.2008 Greenpeace has warned that if current levels of emissions of greenhouses gases are not curtailed and global warming is not kept below 2-degree point, a major humanitarian crisis is awaiting the South Asian region. This can result in massive displacement of 125 million people in India and Bangladesh alone.

25.03.2008 This week Dr. Fehmida Mirza, a member of the late Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party, was elected the first woman Speaker of Pakistan's General Assembly.

25.03.2008 Thousands of bonded labourers released from granite and marble quarries of north India have settled in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. They are now trying to rebuild their lives, free from the exploitative shackles of contractors.

25.03.2008 The government’s loan waivers for farmers are more of a populist stunt in the election year and less of seeking solutions to the current agrarian crisis, says journalist P.Sainath. The waivers fail to address moneylender debts and limit beneficiaries by a pre-determined two-hectare mark.

25.03.2008 Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, was in Mumbai, India to launch his new commercial venture ‘Wikia’. Here he shared his desire to increase local Indian language contributions on the site and the need to challenge spam content.

25.03.2008 This year’s bumper potato crop in Bangladesh may save millions of hungry people from starvation, who are reeling under the skyrocketing prices of food items. The government plans to distribute free potatoes and rice among the poor under its Vulnerable Group Feeding programme.

25.03.2008 In the first ever parliamentary poll in Bhutan, the people have made clear their preference for a government that will preserve the peace and development enjoyed under a century of royal rule. The people want stability, says winning party DTP, whose past experience under the former king won the people by a large majority.

25.03.2008 A recent all-India survey reveals that self-help groups have instilled confidence and given women necessary exposure to first contest panchayat elections and then take up more challenging assignments. These female members are no longer dependent upon their husbands to take key decisions.

24.03.2008 World food production faces a "massive threat" as mountain glaciers in China and India -- the world's leading producers of wheat and rice -- are melting at an extremely fast, climate-induced rate, reports an environmental research institute.

24.03.2008 Science fiction writer and visionary Sir Arthur C. Clarke died on March 19, 2008 in Colombo, Sri Lanka, at the age of 90. The global telecommunication community will remember him for his farsighted prediction of artificial satellite stations for earth-based communications.