Global megatrends such as income inequality, climate change, demographic shifts, technological progress, and urbanisation are shaping the future of societies. Yet, their quantitative impacts on development are neither well understood nor established. This paper examines the individual and combined effects of these global forces on poverty, using both cross-section and …
The Rani Nangal forest block story has a twist in the tail. The dam for which some land from the block was allotted to the irrigation department failed. Instead of returning the surplus land in the area to the forest department (FD), the irrigation department leased it out for five …
With about 815 million people going to sleep hungry, the head of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation(FAO) says that development experts mesmerised by international trade and high technology need to tackle poverty first.
The Group of Eight (G-8) energy ministers' meeting in Detroit, USA, on May 3-4 embraced nuclear power. Ministers from the US, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain, Russia and Canada met behind closed doors to finalise recommendations for member nations on energy security, sustainability and alternative fuel technologies. The ministers failed …
Procuring food still takes away much of the income. > Indian villagers spend 59.4 per cent of their total expenditure on food. Urban India spends 48.1 per cent Basic necessities become luxuries. > Only one in ten people in rural India have access to sanitation. > Half of rural India …
UPDATE Unsustainable Tower of Babel Barely a hundred days before the biggest environmental event of the decade takes place in Johannesburg, negotiators are floundering in a sea of unpromising text. Three preparatory committee (prepcom) meetings have resulted in little more than a shopping list of issues that need to be …
The world's cities are burgeoning. Fifty years ago, New York was the only metropolis with a population of more than10 million. Today there are 19 such cities. At present, some three billion people live in cities and towns. Between 1990 and 1995, cities in the developing world grew by 263 …
THE good news: the Planning Commission has come out with its first national human development report. The bad news: like any other human development report (HDR) (there is no dearth of them now), this report too has refused to acknowledge the real meaning of development for India. Dwelling extensively on …
"Poverty mitigating strategies need to be responsive to changes in the economy and society since poverty is a muti-dimensional phenomenon and the poor are a heterogeneous group," said the Director of the Indian Institute of Public Administration, P.L. Sanjeev Reddy, at a two day workshop organised by IIPA in the …
With the rural poverty in Andhra Pradesh reaching a low of 11.05 per cent, lowest among all the states in the country, the state government has decided to make a last attempt to reduce it. For this purpose the World Bank aided new AP Rural Poverty Reduction Project will be …
The district administration had decided to supply Kolar water to the old city area. This step was taken to cope up with the severe water problem faced by the residents due to the drop in water level of the Upper Lake.
The Andhra Pradesh state cabinet on Wednesday decided to launch Rs 2,450 crore World Bank aided Andhra Pradesh rural poverty eradication programme 'Velugu' on June 1.
The Andhra Pradesh Government is set to embark on Rs 2,450-crore World Bank-funded rural poverty reduction project is aimed at capacity building in the poorer tracts in 16 districts of the State. The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr. N Chandrababu Naidu, on Wednesday said that the Andhra Pradesh Rural Poverty …
Urban poverty and hunger are reaching alarming levels in cities of the Horn of Africa. Urban populations are expected to double in the next ten years, and action by governments, local authorities and the private sector is urgently needed to improve access to food by the urban poor.
The noise level around the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) head office often goes up to a high of 79 dB. Near King Edward Memorial Hospital (KEM), it touches 68 dB. The prescribed daytime norm is not more than 65 dB for a commercial area like the BMC, and 50 dB …
Mystery Fish A tiny submarine craft will track the elusive coelacanth, a curious looking fish that has been swimming the seas for an astonishing 400 million years. Believed to be extinct for 70 million years, a coelacanth was trapped by a trawler in 1938 off the South African coast. Later, …
Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha was even more expansive, holding out the prospect that his country will have eradicated poverty and illiteracy by 2015. "By 2015, India will have conquered the problem of poverty. With the kind of growth that we're planning to have, I'm sure that the percentage of people …
More than 3300 delegates begun converging on China's financial heart as the Asian Development Bank prepared to host an annual general meeting to reaffirm its commitment to reducing poverty in the region.
THIS much-awaited report highlights the plight of the poor in these countries. The disparity between haves and have-nots have been documented in detail. The statistics are well highlighted. Take for example the painful fact that approximately 40 per cent of the population in India, Lesotho, Gambia, Tanzania, and several countries …
Not So Sweet More than 70 snacks, drinks and noodles have been removed from shop shelves. These were suspected to contain a possibly carcinogenic artificial sweetener called stevioside, which is extracted from a plant. According to the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, stevioside is not internationally endorsed as a safe …
