The IMF’s April 2025 Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa presents a clear warning: regional growth is slowing, debt pressures are mounting, and donor assistance is declining. Yet the report outlines critical opportunities particularly in domestic revenue mobilization, structural reform, and private sector activation that can shape a more resilient …
In Moscow, a celebration. One date symbolically sutured the two Russian cities: June 27. On that day, in 1954, the world’s first nuclear power station hummed into life in Obninsk, producing electricity till 2002. On that day 50 years later, 500 scientists and policy makers from 32 countries attended the …
India's nuclear power programme is also entering a crucial phase. Every challenge for the next 50 years the conference debated, India has to face and sort out before running the nuclear path. It needs to do that fast because it is just beginning to take its nuclear power programme seriously. …
eight years ago the Gujarat High Court had fined 756 industrial units in Odhav, Naroda and Vatva industrial areas in Ahmedabad district for polluting 20 villages in Ahmedabad and Kheda districts. The factories were asked to pay one per cent of their gross turnover of one year as compensation. The …
Would it be cynical to interpret the conference's call to revive the nuclear power sector as hardsell? No. The present is as opportune a moment as can be. And for two sets of reasons. For one, 70 per cent of the world's 442 nuclear reactors will have turned utterly geriatric …
In the West African republic of Cote d'Ivoire everyone except ordinary citizens prefer war to peace. Government figures, rebels, businessmen and members of the security forces are some of the groups cashing in on the crisis. That's what the International Crisis Group (icg) claims in its report entitled
Four problems bedevil the nuclear energy sector: proliferation, political coyness over technology options that discourage proliferation, radioactive waste, and
MALNUTRITION is the terminal stage of a disease called ecological poverty. As everyday 16 children die in Maharashtra of malnutrition, and a state government admits it only after some hard prods from the state high court, one expects some rethinking on the disease. The state health department records reveal that …
function graph() { var popurl="image/20040731/8-graph.jpg" winpops=window.open(popurl,"","width=600,height=500,scrollbars=yes") } finance minister (fm) P Chidambaram's budget for 2004-2005 is actually the interim budget presented by his predecessor Jaswant Singh of the National Democratic Alliance (nda). There are minor variations in allocations. The two exceptions are defence (an additional Rs 11,700 crore) and the …
IT IS easy to romanticise Panchayati Raj. The notion of happy rural people managing their destinies with help from the government has the glossy appeal of advertising brochures. But when it comes to brass tacks, delivery of development programmes is very complex. Take the case of the eco-development project funded …
in view of growing water crisis in Gurgaon, the Haryana government has more than doubled the capacity of the Western Yamuna Canal, raising it from the existing 135 cubic metres per second (cusecs) to 320 cusecs. But experts are sceptical about the measure because, according to them, the main reason …
the famous Silent Valley National Park in Kerala's Palakkad district is under threat from another proposed hydroelectric project. The Rs 450-crore, 70-mega watt Pathrakkadavu Power Project on Kunti river would be sited just 200 metres away from the boundary of the park. The project, proposed by the Kerala State Electricity …
How is the world faring in terms of water and sanitation? As per figures, Asia is not doing badly. The real crisis is in Africa and in rural Latin America. According to statistics, developing countries such as India are also doing well. But we should never forget that there is …
I travelled in Kerala last fortnight, seeking answers. I wanted to know what government was doing to meet the drinking water needs of people in this wet-drought state. Searching in villages and academic papers, an anomalous statistic caught my eye. According to 1999 estimations of the National Sample Survey Organisation …
Wildlife farming is the Nepal government's latest strategy for conserving animal species. Fresh avenues have been opened for farming, breeding and research of high-value wild species under the country's new Wildlife Farming, Reproduction and Research Policy. Since parliament stands dissolved, the only option to establish a law to this effect …
high-smoking zone: The number of smokers in Himachal Pradesh (HP) is alarmingly high. This despite the state having the second highest literacy rate in the country. Forty-five per cent of HP's population consists of smokers, according to Surender Kashyap, the head of the chest and tuberculosis department at Shimla's Indira …
There is a prominently held view that dissemination of renewable energy technology is marred by high costs. It's true that a few technologies like wind power have become cheaper, but others are still expensive. Solar photovoltaics (PV) and wind energy now cost one tenth of what they did in early …
Starting before industrialised Germany and the UK, India has perhaps promoted renewables the longest though a dedicated establishment. The country's Ministry of Non-conventional Energy Sources (MNES) is one of its kind in the world. India has the fifth largest installed wind capacity in the world at 2400 MW. In 2003 …
At Renewables 2004 "an international action plan will be on the agenda, including actions and commitments by governments, international organisations and stakeholders,' says the conference announcement document. "The conference outcome will include arrangements for a follow-up and a mechanism to share information on progress in implementing the international action plan.' …
According to IEA’s factsheet, Renewables in global energy supply, the wind energy sector has grown at more than 52 per cent per annum since 1971, and solar power by 32 per cent per annum. Renewables in 2000 accounted for 13.8 per cent of the world’s total primary energy supply (electricity, …
