The report presents a mixed picture. Over the past 25 years, there have been notable improvements in child well-being in the group of countries examined in this report: steady decline in child mortality, overall reduction in adolescent suicide and increase in school completion rates. But the last five years have …
THE crisis which faces the natural environment has had to wait a long time for recognition from modern socio-political institutions. The case for institutional reform in the relationship between man and nature has been made countless number of times, but callous exploitation of nature"s resources continues; still, a change in …
• "Diseases in crop plants are caused by fungi, bacteria and viruses. Some of these diseases are transmitted through seeds while others are soil-borne or air-borne. Special chemicals are now available which when sprayed on plants, specifically kill these microbes without adversely affecting the plants or human beings who consume …
WESTERN and 'civilised' notions concerning the relation between population patterns and economic status may seem to dominate our world-view today. This book exposes and seeks to counter the rather inadequate and insensitive understanding of the motivation for child bearing in the developing world. Anthropologist Caroline Blendsoe has produced a fascinating …
WHEN Bente Roestad began writing books about a mate octopus named Blekkulf in 1989, she couldn't have imagined that one day, Blekkulf would have 15,000 children across Norway joining him in his crusade to halt environmental degradation. It all began when as a little girl, Roestad had once watched fisherfolk …
Are men and women really different? This issue has been examined umpteen times by researchers hailing from various disciplines -- biologists, sociologists, anthropologists, medical practioners, behavioralists, psychologists -- and each has something new, different and invariably controversial to say on biological differences existing between the 2 sexes. Most researchers agree …
In Angola, 95 children are dying everyday. Not from bullets or mines, but from disease and malnutrition. The United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has come up with this shocking fact. Thousands of Angolan children lost one or both parents during the 19-year-long civil war between Unita rebels and government …
The Platform for Action is an agenda for women’s empowerment. It aims at accelerating the implementation of the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women and at removing all the obstacles to women’s active participation in all spheres of public and private life through a full and equal share …
CONTAMINATION of weaning food and water, mother's nails and teats, improperly cleaned utensils and feeding bottle nipples are responsible for a high incidence of infantile diarrhoea in Chandigarh, suggests a study. Conducted by researchers of the Government Home Science College, Chandigarh, this study on the major modes of transmission of …
The UN's 50th anniversary celebrations in San Francisco started in early July on a gloomy note owing to the realisation that the organisation was going broke. Irregular budget contributions by member states -- according to secretary-general Boutros Boutros Ghali -- have landed the UN in deep financial trouble. The crises …
Warped placements of the green and red cones makes a person colourblind. As a result, 1 colour is replaced by black enhancing the brightness of the other. Scientists at Aston University in the English Midlands are using this as a basis for developing the first test to detect colourblindness in …
Parents in the Paonta valley villages (Himachal Pradesh), are loaded with worries about the ways of their children, as parents anywhere are wont to do. The kids have apparently become willing accomplices in the smuggling of khair wood from the region. Groups of school children trudging with their satchels heavily …
THE Indian fertility graph mirrors the falling rate. Urban women who have 1 child less, on an average, are spearheading the fertility downslide. Women in their 40s have an average 5 children each, but childbearing women now produce at an average only 3.4 children each. While in the rest of …
DOES environmental exposure to lead affect the intelligence of children? Yes, according to a fresh interpretation of over 20 studies on the issue, which rules that at age 5 or more, a doubling of body lead is associated with a loss of 1-2 IQ (intelligence quotient) points. But children below …
DELHI school students are evidently becoming increasingly environment conscious. Recently, Chief Minister (CM) Madan Lal Khurana reeled under a barrage of questions and suggestions from students of the Delhi Public School, Mathura Road: why can't Delhi have separate lanes for cyclists, ensuring a low vehicular population? How about neighbourhood committees …
THE National Joy of Learning Festival for children opened on November 7, 1994, at New Delhi amidst much fanfare. The festival was jointly organised by the All India People's Science Network and the Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti (BGVS). Inaugurating the festival, Yashpal, former chairperson of the University Grants Commission, stressed, …
Development can spawn curious offspring. The prospect of involving rural women in a refresher course on the importance of maintaining vegetable gardens surely qualifies as one of these. And that's precisely what Growing Together, a 28-minute film by Joss Brooks, purports to do. But this anecdote hides a larger irony. …
THE Short Filmfest (July 29-August 7) at Delhi's Shakuntalam Theatre truly disappointed viewers who expect social reality to be reflected in documentary and short films made by independent filmmakers. The despondency deepens as one sees the absence of environmental elements in any social documentation. The only film that comes through …
SCHOOLCHILDREN will have to wait a while before their abominable load is lightened. In a sudden paedophobic turn, the human resources development ministry has rejected the recommendations of the National Advisory Committee (NAC), set up in 1992, to redress the problem of overburdened children. The committee, headed by Yashpal, former …
COMMUNICATING with children is no easy task -- writing books for them is even harder. In a conversation with a child, there is scope to answer the hundreds of questions that are asked. But a story book must be able to get its message across clearly. There are no second …
INTERPOL, the international police body, has declared war against perpetrators of "crime against children". For the first time it has included the issues of child pornography, sex tourism, prostitution and the sale of minors in its international agenda. The organisation aims to "expand the exchange of information", says Anne Kristin …
