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The UPA Government's mantra of inclusive development since 2004-05 has created entitlements to the people for an individual's legal right to information and right to work. This has been followed up with the right to education for 6-14 years age group in 2009-10. And now the Government is ready with a food security legislation. Added to this, a dedicated Ministry of Minority Affairs has been created at the apex to provide focused attention and integrated coordinated approach to the overall welfare of the minorities in India.

New York: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has announced that the Prime Minister of Norway, Jens Stoltenberg, has accepted his invitation to become the co-chair of the United Nations-appointed high-level advisory group on climate change financing with immediate effect.

The Framework is a signature effort of the G20 and a principal tool by which we aim to deliver in the post crisis scenario. We should recall that after St. Andrews, there was some delay in kick-starting the framework exercise. But, with the cooperation of all member countries and international organizations, we have been able to make good progress. The IMF and the World Bank have given their reports with inputs from other organizations as mandated by Leaders at Pittsburgh. The Working Group and finance deputies have considered these and we have to take some important decisions today, so that we can submit a set of policy options to the Leaders who will shortly meet in Toronto.

Biodiversity is the variety of all life on earth. We rely on this diversity of life to provide us with the basic necessities such as food, fuel, medicine and other essentials we simply cannot live without. The economic value of genetic diversity present in wild varieties and traditionally grown landraces is extremely important in improving crop performance. Improvements in crop plants over the last 250 years have been largely due to harnessing of genetic diversity present in wild and domestic crop plants.

In India, of the total cultivated area of around 140.30 million hectares only 60.86 million is irrigated and remaining 79.44 million hectares is rain-fed. Rain-fed crops account for 48 percent area under food crops and 68 percent of the area under non-food crops. Irrigated land accounts for nearly 55 percent of food production while rain-fed contributes just about 45 percent. Rain-fed farming is risk prone and is characterized by low levels of productivity and low input use but if managed properly, rain-fed areas have the potential to contribute a larger share to agricultural production.

New York: In continuing efforts to preserve gorillas, one of the world most endangered species, the United Nations mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), will next month carry out a second airlift of six baby gorillas to a sanctuary where they will be cared for before they released into the wild.

NEW DELHI: Indian working class, not only Indian but the working people of all the Commonwealth countries as well, would be happy and proud of their Indian brothers who in thousands have worked hard, day and night, to set the stage for successful conduct of the Commonwealth Games, to be held in Delhi in October this year.

The capitalist order has entered the second stage of its on-going economic and financial crisis which unfolded step by step in the last three years. It is the result of the macro economic and financial policies by the advanced countries. The objective is to intensify the exploitation of the markets, labour and natural resources of the developing countries. The excessive risk taking, asset build up, credit booms and wild speculation and greed by international banks and multinational corporations in the developed countries led to the crisis.

On the occasion of World Environment Day on 5 June 2010 Director-General of World Trade Organization (WTO) Pascal Lamy said “we simply cannot proceed with business as usual — if our planet is to be preserved for future generations, we must protect our resources, our planet's biodiversity and our environment at large”. He noted that “the leaders that founded our organization were adamant that sustainable development lies at the very core of our mission”.

New York: Years of persistent efforts to vaccinate all pregnant women in Myanmar against maternal and neonatal tetanus have borne fruit with the country now declared free of the disease, the second East Asian nation to have achieved that milestone status, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported.