In Delhi, Jangpura Extension. (Photo: April May/Flickr/CC)

The people have been facing different kinds of deprivation and inequality in the Indian cities, according to a UNESCO study on the India urban policies reported by Governance Now analysis portal. “There are inequality, ghettoisation, apartheid and segregation across the cities in India,” said Miloon Kothari, former UN special rapporteur on adequate housing.

The North-South Institute (NSI, one of the three national focal points of Social Watch in Canada) has been ranked the world’s top small think tank, according to the 2011 Global Go-To Think Tanks Index – in the under $5 million annual budget category.

Women working in a rice field in Palung. (UN Photo/John Isaac)

Gender equity is a key element of any genuine program towards sustainable development. Analysis included on the Social Watch Report 2012 and the national contributions to the study prove, once again, the stagnation of the fight against these disparities, with disastrous consequences on the struggles against poverty, climate change and food security.

Social Watch Report 2012, which includes citizen contributions from 66 countries and several exhaustive global analysis, will be launched in Porto Alegre, Brasil, on 26 January.

Jordanian authorities are planning to abolish the regulation that prevents married women from getting their passports without their husband’s endorsement, a move welcomed by Jordanian Women’s Union (JWU), national focal point of Social Watch.

Civil Status and Passports Department (CSPD) director general Marwan Qteishat said the department is reviewing the 1969 Passport Law, which stipulates that a husband’s consent is needed in order for his wife to obtain a Jordanian passport, reported The Jordan Times.