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In this issue: |
India focuses on local governance
Come September: Largest discussion on MDGs since 2000
Indians call for universal healthcare bill
Myanmar’s tribal women uncover opium domains
Leprosy is near gone but those affected live on |
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Welcome
to Asia and the Pacific MDG Watch.
This fortnightly electronic newsletter brings to you news
and information on the progress of the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) in Asia and the Pacific.
The MDGs are a global initiative taken by the world’s
governments to improve the lives of their people. |
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India is observing
year 2010 as the year of Gram Sabha
Photo credit: My News
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2010: Year of the
Gram Sabha |
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Under the vision of
achieving ‘good governance’
through a decentralised
system, India dedicates
2010 to improving local
governance. The Ministry
of Panchayati Raj
has issued a plan to
be followed in order
to achieve this goal.
The plan puts the gram
sabha as the center
of local governance
but also points to the
importance of supplementary
bodies such as self
help groups.
Read more...
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Upcoming MDG summit |
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The largest discussion on the MDGs since their
inception will take place in September, 2010.
A video has been posted on YouTube to
promote the
summit and achievement of the goals.
Read More |
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India’s health-for-all |
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Policymakers and civil society demand for
a new National Health Bill that will
deliver on entitlements; fix accountability
and ensure financial backing.
Read more |
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Opium in abundance |
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A report by the Paulang
Women’s Organization reveals
the shocking rise in opium
fields in junta strongholds
of Myanmar. The authors
are ethnic women plagued
variously by the addiction
of their men.
Read more |
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Opium production in Myanmar
Photo credit: The Irrawaddy
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| Leprosy: It’s past and present |
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| There is a cure for leprosy that has reduced the number of leprosy-affected
Indians to nearly eradicating the disease altogether. Those afflicted carry on
with their lives in India’s capital of New Delhi. Read more... |
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News |
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Asian connection |
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To benefit surrounding communities, the Chinese
government has begun to convert an old trade path
into a highway connecting Nepal to Tibet. |
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Nuts a-gain |
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An effort to revive the once plentiful pistachio
forests in Afghanistan has spurred a 20% rise
in incomes for the farmers harvesting the nut.
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Farmer turns teacher |
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To give out something that he never had, Vechan
Bhil, a farmer from rural West India commits his
life to providing education to tribal children
in his community. |
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Toilets under water |
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Although it provides the poor with low cost toilets,
the Total Sanitation Campaign in Assam, India
has not effectively put an end to open defecation
due to complications from floods. |
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Resources |
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Detained and dejected |
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Human Rights Watch has released a book
Legal limbo on the lives of Tamil detainees
of the Sri Lankan government. |
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Education monitor |
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UNESCO has published a book entitled
Reaching
the Marginalized, which reports the state of
global education today. |
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This newsletter is brought to you by OWSA,
in partnership with the UN Millennium Campaign.
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