Page 5 - Poverty

2030 development goals in trouble, 575 mn people will remain very poor: UN

In a grim report, the UN warned Monday that at the current rate of global progress 575 million people will still be living in extreme poverty and 84 million children won't be going to school in 2030 and it will take 286 years to reach equality between men and women. The report on progress in achieving 17 wide-ranging UN goals adopted by world leaders in 2015 to improve life for the world's more than 7 billion people said that only 15 per cent of some 140 specific targets that experts evaluated are on track to be reached by the end of the decade. Close to half the targets are moderately or severely off track, it said, and of those 30 per cent have either seen no movement at all or regressed including key targets on poverty, hunger and climate. The ambitious goals for 2030 include ensuring that hunger is eradicated and nobody lives on less than USD 2.15 a day which is the extreme poverty line, providing every child with a quality primary and secondary school education, achieving gend

World leaders in Paris seek financial response to climate emergency

World leaders, heads of international organisations and activists are gathering in Paris for a two-day summit aimed at seeking better responses to tackle poverty and climate change issues by reshaping the global financial system. Developing nations point to an outdated system where the United States, Europe, China and other big economies that have caused most climate damage are leaving the poorest countries to deal with the consequences. The Paris talks also come as the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and a global debt crisis have led to a drop in life expectancy and an increase in poverty in most countries around the world, the United Nations Development Program reported. French President Emmanuel Macron, who organized the summit, said the fight against poverty, efforts to curb global warming and the protection of biodiversity "are closely intertwined. We therefore need to agree together on the best means to address these challenges in the poor and emerging countries." The .

India as 'developed country' by 2047: Attainable goal, or chimera?

Even as India strives to climb the development mountain, the fact is that the mountaintop is already crowded. If it got there in 2047, India would be very much a late-comer, notes T N Ninan

Workers at poverty-fighting organisation World Bank struggle to pay bills

Andre Blount has been serving food to dignitaries at World Bank headquarters for nearly 10 years and says he has gotten exactly one raise -- for 50 cents. This week, as leaders from around the world are in DC for the spring meeting of the poverty-fighting organisation, Blount and his coworkers are trying to bring attention to what they see as a galling situation: The workers who put food on the table for an organisation whose mission is to fight poverty are themselves struggling to get by. Union leaders say a quarter of the World Bank food workers employed as a contract labourers through Compass Group North America receive public benefits, like SNAP, or food stamps, just to make ends meet. It's sickening, Blount, 33, said as he joined red-shirted union members this week on a picket line outside the development bank on a hot afternoon. They go around the world looking for how to help people, but you have hundreds of employees in DC who are struggling. Inside, meanwhile, suited-up

Down and out in paradise

The book examines the persistence of want in the wealthy United States, finding that keeping some citizens poor serves the interests of many

No 'Bhoodan land' in 13 Bihar districts for distribution among poor: Panel

The Bihar government has so far distributed over 73,000 acres of Bhoodan land' among the poor in 13 districts and no parcel is available now for allocation in these areas, according to a report. Around 1.06 lakh acres of land, donated during the 'Bhoodan' movement, spearheaded by human rights activist Vinoba Bhave in the 1950s, have been found not fit for distribution among the landless in these districts, he said. Notably, a three-member commission was set up by the Bihar government in 2017 to check the paperwork for the land donated during the movement. The panel has found that revenue records of around 1.06 lakh acres of land donated during the Bhoodan campaign in these districts are not confirmed' (not fit for distribution), the commission's head Ashok Kumar Choudhary told PTI. Gopalganj, Supaul, Muzaffarpur, East Champaran, Saharsa, Sitamarhi, West Champaran, Darbhanga are among these 13 districts. So far 73,245.47 acres of confirmed' donated land was distributed among landl

World Bank must act on climate change to check poverty, development

As warming intensifies and extreme weather worsens, the developing world will increasingly suffer the worst harms, making it more difficult for countries to meet their development goals

Budget 2023 fails to address problems of unemployment, poverty: Opposition

As the country is scheduled to have Assembly polls in some states in 2023 as well as Lok Sabha elections in 2024, the Opposition did not miss the opportunity to termed the Budget as anti-poor

Major reduction in global poverty rates due to scientific progress: INSA

Indian National Science Academy (INSA) president and the country's chair for the G20 Science-20 Inception Meeting Dr Ashutosh Sharma pointed out that scientific progress has helped in drastically reducing poverty levels across the world over the last few decades. He was speaking after inaugurating the two-day S20 meeting here on Monday at a private convention centre with participation of delegates of G20 countries with representatives of their science academies. The deliberations are part of a series of meetings being held across the country on various themes as part of India's year-long G20 presidency. "India is proud to host this gathering of nations from across the globe that value science and technology as essential elements for global development," Dr Sharma told the gathering. "We must recognise that science has played an integral role in not only our economic growth but also in positive social transformation including providing access to quality healthcare and education ..

FAO: Rising prices, population, food insecurity add to ranks of hungry

Growing numbers of people in Asia lack enough to eat as food insecurity rises with higher prices and worsening poverty, according to a report released Tuesday by the Food and Agricultural Organisation and other United Nations agencies. Nearly a half-billion people, more than eight in 10 of them in South Asia, were undernourished in 2021 and more than 1 billion faced moderate to severe food insecurity, the report said. For the world, the prevalence of food insecurity rose to more than 29 per cent in 2021 from 21 per cent in 2014. The COVID-19 pandemic was a huge setback, causing mass job losses and disruptions, and the war in Ukraine has pushed up prices for food, energy and fertiliser, putting an adequate diet out of the reach of many millions, it said. The report is the fifth annual stocktaking on food insecurity and hunger by UN agencies including the FAO, UNICEF, World Health Organisation and World Food Programme. Over those years, progress toward alleviating hunger and ...

Quarter of Iraqi population beneath poverty line in 2022: Ministry

The Iraqi Ministry of Planning has said that the poverty rate in the country was 25 per cent in 2022

685 million could be living in extreme poverty by 2022-end: World Bank

733 million people currently have no access to electricity and by 2030, 670 million people will remain without it, says World Bank's latest report

UNDP report says 415 million people lifted out of poverty in India: Centre

More than 400 million people were lifted out of poverty in India between 2005-06 to 2019-21, the government said on Monday citing UNDP's Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 2022. As per the baseline report of MPI 2021 released by NITI Aayog, India's MPI identifies 25.01 per cent of the population as multidimensionally poor, Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Ministry of Planning Rao Inderjit Singh said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha. "As per the 'Global Multidimensional Poverty Index 2022: Unpacking deprivation bundles to reduce multidimensional poverty' report released by Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in India, 415 million people exited poverty between 2005-06 to 2019-21," Singh said. The MPI data was based on National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-5, which was conducted over two years from June 17, 2019 to April 30, 2021 due to delay caused by the pandemic. The percentage of population as

Cong raised 'Garibi Hatao' slogan, but poverty increased under its rule: PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday took a swipe at the Congress over its past 'Garibi Hatao' campaign, claiming that poverty actually increased under the grand old party's rule as it only raised slogans and misguided people instead of doing any concrete work for them. He was addressing a rally in Bodeli town of Chhotaudepur district in Gujarat, where Assembly elections will be held in its second phase on December 5. "For decades, Congress has been saying only one thing - Garibi Hatao (eliminate poverty). People gave you power to do that, but you were asking people to remove poverty. The only thing they did was to raise slogans, give promises and misguide people. That was the reason why poverty actually increased during its regime," Modi alleged. Due to the previous Congress-led government's policies, poor citizens could not play an active role in the economy, he said, adding that although banks were nationalised under the Congress rule, the poor could not open their bank ...

China may not pay for climate change despite being 'biggest annual emitter'

Chinese policymakers do not agree with the suggestion that China should be considered a developed nation; according to Chinese policymakers, China continues to have extreme poverty in the country

BS Number Wise: Here's why India's poverty estimates are problematic

Traditional estimates of poverty in the country rely on indicators that are outdated or inaccurate

Poverty in India fell by 415 million in 15 yrs; still has maximum poor: UN

Global Multidimensional Poverty Index has revealed that COVID-19 pandemic had set progress in reducing poverty back by 3-10 years

140 million pulled out of poverty in India since 2015-16, says UNDP

Incidence of multidimensional poverty declined from 55.1% in 2005-06 to 16.4% in 2019-21

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty 2022: All you need to know

On December 22, 1992, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) passed a resolution designating October 17 as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

50% of world's poorest need debt relief to avert development crisis: UNDP

Fifty-four developing economies accounting for more than half of the world's poorest people need urgent debt relief as a result of cascading global crises, according to the UNDP