Slowdown to hit jobs in S Asia: UN

Slowdown in economic growth in most South Asian countries barring India is expected to result in severe job cuts and lower incomes, impacting poverty alleviation programmes, a UN report said on Tuesday.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Report, said that progress against extreme poverty in South Asia is in danger of "disappearing" altogether under pressure of global economic contraction and lost jobs.

On availability of food to deprived section of the society in the region, the report said despite fall in international food prices, access to food in many developing countries such as India, Brazil, Nigeria and to a lesser extent China did not improve.

The report presents an annual assessment of progress towards achieving the MDGs, a set of eight globally agreed development goals due to be achieved by the year 2015.

The report said countries in South Asia have largely escaped the increase in hunger rates seen in other parts of the world and India has even made inroads against hunger in the face of rising prices.

Speaking on the occasion, country director of United Nations Development Programme, Deirdre Boyd complimented India for its "significant" achievements in poverty alleviation and women empowerment programmes.

"India has one million locally elected women representatives which is more than the total number of elected women representatives across the globe," she said.