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 …
ANFAN Manch, a documentary on literacy and consciousness-raising efforts in Bihar, was telecast by Doordarshan on the occasion of the Education For All summit held in the Capital in December. The film was made by Jan Madhyam for the Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti, which conceived of and executed the literacy …
THE NUMBER of hungry people in South Asia -- who make up 49 per cent of the population -- can be cut by 50 per cent to 281 million, according to the World Bank. This can be achieved through far-reaching reforms backed by policies aimed at improving basic health and …
With the help of the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay, a premier scientific research organisation, the Patriotic and People-Oriented Science and Technology Foundation (PPST), a science-based NGO, brought together 1,200 people from all over India to discuss the country"s heritage in science and technology and what, if any, relevance …
DEVELOPMENT discourse in the post-World War II era centred on social and economic inequality. Rural poverty was linked directly to iniquitous land ownership and it was felt public policy had to take cognisance of this skewed distribution of land-holdings. It was also widely felt that the only path to social …
AS PART of its literacy campaign, Bangladesh has started a food for education programme, under which a poor family will get 15 kg of cereal a month if one child goes to school, reports Panos. This would be an incentive for parents to send to school children who are otherwise …
A CONSORTIUM of organisations and individuals is opposing the construction of a hotel in the catchment area of the Kandalama reservoir in Sri Lanka. The consortium is worried the drawing of groundwater for the hotel's needs will affect the tank's water-level.
IT IS THE season of the kerempt or "big rains", and the sky is often overcast. Four hours south of Addis Ababa, with the rain turning the roads into swamps, it is a different world. The sense of helplessness, the sense of waiting, the dependence on nature -- it's there …
BRITISH aid agency Oxfam has flayed the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) for their complacent approach to the problems caused in sub-Saharan Africa because of its huge external debt, which is in excess of $183 billion. "After a decade of structural adjustment programmes implemented under the …
DESPITE being warned about the pitiable plight of the Uru Eu Wau Wau Indians in northwest Brazil, the World Bank (WB) did not stop to consider the effect on the tribals of a road construction project it was financing in the region. And now, unfortunately, the warnings are coming true. …
MADAGASCAR has been steadily losing its market share for vanilla, one of its major export commodities. In the early 1970s, 70 per cent of the vanilla consumed worldwide came from Madagascar. This has declined now to 50 per cent as high prices and illicit shipments of poor quality vanilla are …
BOREAL forests -- consisting of mostly coniferous and some deciduous trees in the northern hemisphere -- are being destroyed faster than before and may be making the world a hotter place. Boreal forests comprise one-third of the world's forests and cover almost 8 per cent of the land surface. About …
WHAT HAPPENS when a tiny nation's only tradeable natural resource runs out? It gets a ravaged environment, some compensation and a bleak future. This is exactly what happened to the Pacific island-state of Nauru, whose only natural resource, phosphate, was mined by Australia. After a 30-year battle, Australian Prime Minister …
THE VICUNA, South America's graceful camelid coveted for its soft, silky hair, is falling prey to well-organised gangs of international rustlers "working for brokers within Latin America who then ship the fibre in bales to Europe and Asia", according to an expert with Conacs, Peru's quasi-government agency for camelids, which …
UNDER pressure from women's groups, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) is under orders to ensure that women and minorities are adequately represented in federally-funded clinical research projects. The requirement, imposed by the US Congress on June 10, 1993, would not apply if the NIH director determines such an …
FISHERFOLK in Alaska set up a floating picket line of about 100 fishing boats and other vessels, blocking tankers heading for Prince William Sound, for three days in August. They were protesting Exxon's failure to deal with the after effects of the March 1989 oil spill from the Exxon Valdez, …
THOUGH under increasing pressure from conservation groups, Kathmandu is yet to impose a moratorium on giving away baby rhinoceroses to friendly countries as gifts. Animal lovers contend the government is actually selling the animals, because they are being shown as gifts against payments for rehabilitation and conservation. Conservation groups also …
US PRESIDENT Bill Clinton was right when he predicted not everyone would be pleased with his solution to the timber crisis in the northwestern states (Down To Earth, May 31, 1993). Both environmentalists and timber workers are up in arms against his proposal, which calls for reducing logging to 25 …
BRITAIN is to spend L29.5 million over the next 10 years on an international project to enable astronomers to witness the birth of a planet. The project, Gemini, involves setting up two eight-metre telescopes that will detect both planets in the making as well as stars being formed in galactic …
IN A BID to protect its forests from a voracious, microscopic pest called the pinewood nematode, the European Community (EC) has banned imports of untreated softwood lumber from Canada. The ban affects the bulk of Canada's $388.50 million yearly export of untreated lumber to EC states. Now all Canadian lumber …
WHAT DOES the International Monetary Fund have to do with land degradation? On the face of it, nothing. But in reality, quite a lot. A degraded landscape in an increasingly integrated world is the end-product of a long chain of economic processes. Debt leads to debt repayment, which in turn …
