Full Coverage: India

31.08.2006 From caste discrimination to forced disappearances and torture, participants at a conference on human rights in Asia detail the abuses faced in 12 Asian nations.

31.08.2006 Recycling paper is one of the many steps towards forest conservation and environmental degradation – we all talk about it, but how many of us really get down to doing anything about it? School students in Indian capital New Delhi, with help from an NGO, show the way.

31.08.2006

Dalit Aid

International NGOs (INGOs) vary greatly in size, approach and focus. For the majority, India continues to be a priority area for their activities, where they use a variety of working strategies. There are many different approaches the INGOs follow with regard to Dalit programmes in India. We need to learn from each other where there is an impact and where there are problems. We need to analyse the nature and context of caste discrimination, soical exclusion of dalits, caste conflicts and solutions to such conflicts, assess the political dimensions of Dalit empowerment, assess the different models and ways of working on Dalit issues.

30.08.2006 Telemedicine has opened up the possibility of reaching out to rural and backward areas in the country in a most cost-effective manner, said Panabaka Lakshmi, Union Minister of State,Kerala for Health and Family Welfare.

30.08.2006 The World Bank has resumed its lending to health sector in India. Three projects totaling $662 million, which were held up for more than a year, have now been approved by the Board of executive directors of the World Bank, a finance ministry statement said here.

30.08.2006 The ultimate goal in gender equality is to ensure that women and men have equitable access to, and benefit from society's resources, opportunities and rewards. And, as part of this, women need to have equal participation in defining what is valued and how this can be achieved, women's groups told the Planning Commission.

30.08.2006 Under considerable pressure for its perceived lack of clarity on the issue of pesticide residue in carbonated drinks, and lack of urgency in formulating norms to regulate their safety, India’s health ministry has promised that norms for these products will be in place by January 2007.

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 Indian government’s AIDS awareness drive has clearly not made its mark on the lawmakers themselves, reveals a new survey of parliamentarians. Although 95% of them knew about the existence of HIV/AIDS, most were unaware about how HIV is transmitted

30.08.2006 Floods in India have devastated many parts of the country bringing misery to millions of people. Four hundred people are confirmed dead, but relief organisations fear that the final figure will run into thousands. With many communities still cut off, ActionAid is providing relief supplies and medicines to victims as well as helping to evacuate those still in danger.

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.

30.08.2006 Suicides by farmers in the west Indian state of Maharashtra have been on the rise despite a relief package announced by the Indian Prime Minister. In northern Maharashtra the number of farmer suicides in 2006 has inched close to the cumulative figure for the past four years.

29.08.2006 NEW DELHI (IPS) - As more details emerge of the events that led to the detention of 12 Indian Muslims travelling aboard an aborted Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam last week, it becomes apparent that they were victims of racial and religious prejudice. It also becomes equally clear that the Netherlands is unlikely to apologise to or compensate the victims unless the Indian government takes a tough stand on the issue.

29.08.2006 A Press Release by Delhi NGO Toxics Link says that mercury which has known health impacts is present in idols of gods that Indians keep in their homes. The NGO refuted a statement made by Indian minister for environment that mercury was not present in the idols and said that such a stance by the government will go against the proposed mercury policy.

29.08.2006 Information overload and a virtual absence of formal training and infrastructure for information managers are posing a big challenge for companies globally. Most companies are today willing to put a hefty premium on qualified information managers who are hard to come by.

28.08.2006 A new study has shown that the 50,000 children working as domestic helpers in other people's homes in Calcutta are routinely subjected to many different forms of abuse, from unsafe working conditions and lack of food to being beaten, deliberately burnt, or sexually abused.

28.08.2006 A vaccine to prevent avian flu developed by a Bhopal-based research institute could be available for as cheap as 35 paise per dose, official sources said.

28.08.2006 In the run-up to the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the Delhi government has decided to construct 36 hospitals.

28.08.2006 Fertility rates have dropped in the Indian states of Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh, according to the preliminary findings of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3), from 2005-06.