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 …
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 …
FOR tribals in Mayurbhanj district of Orissa, mantras of the tantriks and other saffron-clad individuals can still evoke the fear of God in them as members of the District Action Group, MASS realised. A plantation programme in about eight ha of land in the Betnoti area of the district had …
It has inspired poetry and ignited trade wars. First it was used for medicinal purposes. Later, it became the world's most popular beverage, and even a ritual in Japanese marriages. Of the 2 varieties, black and green, the former represents 95 per cent of the world's production. The Irish are …
IMAGINE a tea garden which resembles a dense forest. Animals abound, sacred fig trees bloom, and water is aplenty. This is Jinuoshan, a hilly region in China"s South Yunan district. The Jinuo, China"s smallest ethnic group, with a population of 18,000, cultivate the broadleaf Pu"er tea, Carnellis sininsis var assamica …
The hopes and aspirations of 1,200 adivasis were reduced to ashes on January 25 this year, when a fire devastated 121 ha of forest area in Motewadi village situated in the Pune district of Maharashtra. The adivasis here, led by Baba Pansare of Parivartan Prabodhini, had obtained the right to …
THE agitation against the upcoming Rs 600 crore Thapar DuPont nylon 6,6 plant in Ponda taluk in Goa took an ugly turn on January 23 when protestors blockading the approach to the site were fired upon by the police, killing 1. Following the incident and the intensification of resistence by …
Rajasthan villagers have taken to uprooting the eucalyptus trees, popularly known as safeda, which they had welcomed a decade ago as harbinger of greenery in the desert state. Residents of Samredpur Kalan Khurd, a village 60 km from Jaipur, have started an 'uproot the safeda campaign' after Rajasthan Mukti Panchayat, …
THE Sri Lankan economy is being threatened by the evils of privatisation, according to environmentalists. They maintain that this has resulted in large-scale deforestation in several tea and rubber estates in the country, especially in the Horton plains and Namunukula in the south. The wanton destruction not only threatens the …
NESTLED in the hills of the Aravallis about 12 km from Udaipur, Eklingapura shines as one of the first successful instances of participatory forest management. Eklingapura has a population of 1,400 over 200 households of various castes and 1,600 livestock. The land was once covered with dense forests of Salar, …
THE WORLD'S largest exporter of hardwood plywood, Indonesian tycoon Prajogo Pangestu, is having to defend himself against criticism that he has close links with President Suharto. Prajogo has diversified into huge state-subsidised softwood plantations in partnership with Siti Hardijanti Rukmana, Suharto's eldest daughter. The criticism comes even as Prajogo launches …
A PROPOSAL by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) to ban use of timber in construction from April 1993 is pitting the plywood and wood panel industry against wood substitute manufacturers. The former stand to lose CPWD orders worth Rs 70 crore and even more should state construction departments implement …
PEOPLE who want to put their money in teakwood plantation schemes that look attractive on the surface should think twice, advises D N Tiwari, director general of the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education. He also cautions investors against corporate plantations which promise to raise teakwood and yield high …
