New Delhi, Mar 16 (PTI) The World Bank today said the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) is an important safety net programme providing livelihood security to the poor in rural areas, a position that is at variance with the 'World Development Report' 2009. "India is fortunate to have in place a programme that people can fall back on to find work in these hard times," World Bank country director for India Roberto Zagha said in a statement while commenting on media reports that quoted a study of the bank saying that NREGS was a policy barrier to mobility of workforce in India.
The WDR 2009, it added, "focuses on the long-term impact of migration on development and stresses the importance of reducing barriers to voluntary movement of people seeking better opportunities".
The NREGS, it said, is an important cushion for poor people living in rural areas who might be at risk of being pushed into poverty.
"Such programmes have taken on an even greater significance at a time of global economic downturn," it said in the statement. PTI
UN expert slams North Korea’s ‘grim’ rights record
Geneva, March 17 (DPA) North Korea’s implementation of human rights was “grim” and the situation remains “dire and desperate”, a special UN expert on the isolated country said Monday, calling for immediate policy changes to ameliorate food shortages.
Some 8.7 million people, of an estimated population of 23 million, were deemed to be food insecure, UN studies have shown, but only 1.8 million were receiving food assistance, mostly through the World Food Programme.
In his report, Vitit Muntarbhorn, a Thai expert on human rights law, said the “unconscionable developments” in regards to the food situation and the government crack down on agricultural traders and small growers are making people more dependant on a state-run system which has failed to meet the needs of the population.
“Even the cost of making kimchi, the pickled cabbage which helps to sustain people throughout the year given the lack of meat and other staples, is now rising, threatening an essential nutrient of the local diet,” wrote Muntarbhorn.
Addressing the 10th session of the UN’s Human Rights Council, the expert also listed severe human rights violations by the state in regard to personal security, torture, prison conditions and collective punishment.
Muntarbhorn also said the state controlled all media, blocked all access to foreign broadcasts, books and videos and inhibited political dissent and religious freedoms. Attempts to circumvent these restrictions could result in severe punishments, including
forced labour.
“The tragedy of the country is that those at the top seek to survive at the expense and to the detriment of the majority of the population,” said the expert in his report.
The country’s food crisis is said to have been caused by a mix of natural disasters and poor governmental policy. (ICT by IANS)
====
N. Korea blacks out cell phone use to stop news of worsening food crisis
Thai law professor Vitit Muntarbhorn, in a report to the UN General Assembly, said that its government is using public executions as a means of intimidating the population, and using spies to infiltrate and expose religious communities, The Times reported.
His report came two days after the World Food Programme said that two thirds of North Koreans do not have enough to eat, in the countrys worst crisis since as many as three million people died of famine a decade ago.
Sadly, even though the harvest was getting better, we have had devastating floods in 2006 and 2007. Over the past year we have had very worrying information of a very chronic food shortage, Muntarbhorn said in New York.
He acknowledged that the government of Kim Jong Il, North Koreas supreme leader, has allowed access by international agencies to areas damaged by floods in 2007, but described the overall human rights situation as grave.
Particularly disconcerting is the use of public executions to intimidate the public. This is despite various law reforms in 2004 and 2005, which claim to have improved the criminal law framework and related sanctions, he said.
Available food is disproportionately directed to the political elite, the media is controlled by the state, there is no political participation, and dissidents and those with religious faith are persecuted, as well as those who return to North Korea after illicitly leaving the country across the Chinese border.
Muntarbhorn decried severe constraints on civil and political rights in North Korea, citing reports of a clampdown on cellphone and long-distance telephone calls to prevent people from reporting on food shortages.
Recent visitors to the country report that North Koreans are no longer allowed to use mobile phones at all. The few foreign tourists who travel there are made to surrender their mobiles on arrival; these are then sealed and returned only when departing the country.
Government officials blame cases of spying for the crackdown. There are however reports that a Korean mobile phone service, which would not be able to communicate with the outside world, is being planned for a possible launch early next year.
On Tuesday, WFP announced that some 2.7 million people on North Koreas west coast will run out of food in October, and that, because of the worsening food situation, it was increasing from 1.9 million to 6.5 million the population which it seeks to help with food aid. (ANI)
.::. All my articles can be view here: MELTED HEARTS .::.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_c.png?x-id=ab225fff-e22a-4548-8321-207440991240)
The WDR 2009, it added, "focuses on the long-term impact of migration on development and stresses the importance of reducing barriers to voluntary movement of people seeking better opportunities".
The NREGS, it said, is an important cushion for poor people living in rural areas who might be at risk of being pushed into poverty.
"Such programmes have taken on an even greater significance at a time of global economic downturn," it said in the statement. PTI
UN expert slams North Korea’s ‘grim’ rights record
Geneva, March 17 (DPA) North Korea’s implementation of human rights was “grim” and the situation remains “dire and desperate”, a special UN expert on the isolated country said Monday, calling for immediate policy changes to ameliorate food shortages.
Some 8.7 million people, of an estimated population of 23 million, were deemed to be food insecure, UN studies have shown, but only 1.8 million were receiving food assistance, mostly through the World Food Programme.
In his report, Vitit Muntarbhorn, a Thai expert on human rights law, said the “unconscionable developments” in regards to the food situation and the government crack down on agricultural traders and small growers are making people more dependant on a state-run system which has failed to meet the needs of the population.
“Even the cost of making kimchi, the pickled cabbage which helps to sustain people throughout the year given the lack of meat and other staples, is now rising, threatening an essential nutrient of the local diet,” wrote Muntarbhorn.
Addressing the 10th session of the UN’s Human Rights Council, the expert also listed severe human rights violations by the state in regard to personal security, torture, prison conditions and collective punishment.
Muntarbhorn also said the state controlled all media, blocked all access to foreign broadcasts, books and videos and inhibited political dissent and religious freedoms. Attempts to circumvent these restrictions could result in severe punishments, including
forced labour.
“The tragedy of the country is that those at the top seek to survive at the expense and to the detriment of the majority of the population,” said the expert in his report.
The country’s food crisis is said to have been caused by a mix of natural disasters and poor governmental policy. (ICT by IANS)
====
N. Korea blacks out cell phone use to stop news of worsening food crisis
Image via Wikipedia
Thai law professor Vitit Muntarbhorn, in a report to the UN General Assembly, said that its government is using public executions as a means of intimidating the population, and using spies to infiltrate and expose religious communities, The Times reported.
His report came two days after the World Food Programme said that two thirds of North Koreans do not have enough to eat, in the countrys worst crisis since as many as three million people died of famine a decade ago.
Sadly, even though the harvest was getting better, we have had devastating floods in 2006 and 2007. Over the past year we have had very worrying information of a very chronic food shortage, Muntarbhorn said in New York.
He acknowledged that the government of Kim Jong Il, North Koreas supreme leader, has allowed access by international agencies to areas damaged by floods in 2007, but described the overall human rights situation as grave.
Particularly disconcerting is the use of public executions to intimidate the public. This is despite various law reforms in 2004 and 2005, which claim to have improved the criminal law framework and related sanctions, he said.
Available food is disproportionately directed to the political elite, the media is controlled by the state, there is no political participation, and dissidents and those with religious faith are persecuted, as well as those who return to North Korea after illicitly leaving the country across the Chinese border.
Muntarbhorn decried severe constraints on civil and political rights in North Korea, citing reports of a clampdown on cellphone and long-distance telephone calls to prevent people from reporting on food shortages.
Recent visitors to the country report that North Koreans are no longer allowed to use mobile phones at all. The few foreign tourists who travel there are made to surrender their mobiles on arrival; these are then sealed and returned only when departing the country.
Government officials blame cases of spying for the crackdown. There are however reports that a Korean mobile phone service, which would not be able to communicate with the outside world, is being planned for a possible launch early next year.
On Tuesday, WFP announced that some 2.7 million people on North Koreas west coast will run out of food in October, and that, because of the worsening food situation, it was increasing from 1.9 million to 6.5 million the population which it seeks to help with food aid. (ANI)
.::. All my articles can be view here: MELTED HEARTS .::.
No comments:
Post a Comment