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 …
Wajad ali shah , the last nawab of Avadh (Oudh), reaches out for an intricately carved silver khaas daan (a container for betel leaf) and gingerly takes out a green triangle dangling from one of the fine silver chains. Putting it in his mouth, he ruminates, savouring its flavour as …
In the face of mounting pressure from the media and civil society, the Kerala government has appointed an expert committee to investigate the unusual diseases in Padre, a village in Kasaragod district, Kerala. The village has a number of people suffering from diseases of the central nervous system, which, believe …
Most of them have been putting it down to a supernatural curse. Jatadhari, the guardian spirit (theyyam) of the area, is angry, believe several people of Padre village of Enmakaje Gram Panchayat (village council) in Kasaragod district of Kerala. Family after family has people suffering from diseases that were never …
your morning cup of Darjeeling tea could be lemon or honey flavoured. It could also be pesticide flavoured. That is because the tea estates in Darjeeling continue to use large amounts of pesticides to increase production. In turn, they perpetuate potential health hazards for the estate workers and the consumers, …
at least two Norwegian companies are acquiring several thousand hectares of land in East Africa to plant fast growing trees like eucalyptus and pine. The groups
the world-famous Darjeeling tea will now have a certification trade mark ( ctm ) scheme. According to the Tea Board this is another step forward for the Darjeeling logo scheme launched some years ago. Announcing this at a news conference, Tea Board chairperson S S Ahuja said, "in the new …
environmental degradation and failure of the monsoons has resulted in a famine in places like Kinnakorai and Kundah taluk s (blocks) of the Nilgiris in the Western Ghats. Unfortunately, the reason for this famine is little understood by the people, either due to ignorance or sheer negligence. The Nilgiris are …
Coffee plantation owners in Brazil heaved a sigh of relief after the much-awaited spring showers lashed the parched country. The showers came after days of prolonged drought, which had hit the country's coffee belt and was threatening to cause heavy losses in the coming season, said Cooxupe, a leading cooperative …
Rubber plantations in India's northeastern states are now under attack from various diseases such as oidium secondary leaf fall (SLF). The rubber plantation in the region was undertaken by the private sector to control jhum cultivation. A study conducted by the government in Mizoram revealed that the SLF disease was …
The Mumbai high court recently directed the Association of Plantation Companies to file an affidavit by July 23 clarifying how much funds have been generated by these firms from small investors. The direction was given by a division bench headed by chief justice M B Shah on a petition filed …
DOES money grow on trees? The plantation companies' advertising blitz had the investors believe that it really does. But that, as an investigating committee of the ministry of environment and forests (MEF) found out recently, is very far from the truth: a huge gulf exists between the "real" profit figures …
The investigation by the committee revealed several surprises, one of which is that in a few cases, even the state governments approved of these companies' tactics. Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, for instance, liberalised their land ceiling acts in the mid-90s to attract plantation companies. The Madhya Pradesh land ceiling amendments …
Harrisons Malayalam Ltd, one of India's largest rubber and tea producers, plans to invest millions of dollars acquiring plantations both in India and abroad over a period of the next few years, taking advantage of the current depreciation of Asian currencies to expand its business, according to P. Rajgopalan, president …
Fierce storms and rains have affected Guatemala's coffee cultivation. The vice-president of the National Coffee Association, William Strixrud said that two weeks of incessant rains had damaged about 200,000 bags of an estimated 3.3 million bags for the 1997-98 harvest. "The effects are irreversible. The rains have destroyed the mature …
The smog had spread to Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, The Philippines and Thailand covering a population of 70 million. On September 26, all the 234 people on aboard a jetliner died when it crashed before landing in northwest Indonesia. Visibility was poor due to the smog. An Indian cargo ship …
the vast curtain of smog that has enveloped six countries in Southeast Asia has, ironically, uncovered the ground realities of the economic boom of the region that had become a phenomenon by itself. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore
Judgement of the Supreme Court of India in the matter of T. N. Godavarman Thirumulkpad Vs Union of India & Others dated 12/12/1996 regarding the true scope of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 and the meaning of the word "forest" used therein.
DYE TEST: In order to upgrade 37 laboratories identified country-wide to test for azo dyes, the Planning Commission has released a sum of Rs 15 crore, while a Rs six crore grant has been announced by Germany to set up a state-of-the-art laboratory in Noida. Azo dyes, used in leather …
Foreign aid funds have often been suspect for many commentators, who see it as opportunities for pushing the donor's political and economic agenda on the recipient developing countries, whose elite often use it to retain power without sacrificing anything. There is a lot of truth in this critique, but few …
