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 …
It is widely accepted that panchayati raj is shaping up much better in Leh as compared to other districts of J&K.; The first real panchayat elections in the state were held only in May 2001. Even then, modalities of decentralisation of power to elected village representatives were not issued. After …
The most remarkable aspect of the developmental challenges in Leh district is the small margin for error. Resources are highly limited. Ladakh's ecology is fragile. Unbridled tourism will imperil the pastures of Changthang that support the pashmina goats and the Changpa nomads. The good news from Leh is that the …
What has been the impact of the Public Distribution System (PDS) on Ladakhi agriculture? The subsidy culture has definitely killed local agriculture in Ladakh. What international trade distortions are doing to Indian agriculturethe subsidy system is doing to Ladakhi agriculture. It is exactly the same as industrialised countries dumping their …
Padma Wangyal, 29, is quite an exception. His grandfather pioneered the cooperative societies movement in Ladakhi agriculture. In a region where the average landholding is a mere 1.38 hectares, Wangyal's family owns about 20 hectares. Wangyal attended school and college in Delhi. Like most young Ladakhis, he dreamt of joining …
Ladakh was opened to tourism in 1971. Since then the tourist inflow has increased several times over (see graph: Welcome to Ladakh). Though Ladakh gets more foreign tourists, domestic tourists have increased recently. The biggest tourist activity is trekking and jeep safaris; the biggest tourist attractions of Ladakh are its …
Last week, on a visit to the cold desert of Ladakh, I learnt something important. It made me see the ongoing agricultural negotiations at the World Trade Organization's meet in Cancun, Mexico in a different light. I learnt that what the industrialised world is doing to our agriculture, Punjab and …
Economists C P Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh call this phenomenon the “calorie consumption puzzle”. Delving into the data released by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSS) on nutritional intake in India
function opengr3(){ var popurl="html/20030715_gr3.htm" winpops=window.open(popurl,"","width=500,height=500,scrollbars=yes") } Land of the Fat In the last week of June, the big fight regarding obesity in the US took on real flesh as more than 100 lawyers, consumer advocates and activists landed up at Shillman Hall in Northeastern University, Boston, US, to attend a …
function opengr4(){ var popurl="html/20030715_gr4.htm" winpops=window.open(popurl,"","width=425,height=500,scrollbars=yes") } Example: India & China Developing countries today are passing through what nutrition experts call a ‘dietary transition’. The dietary transition consists of a number of interlinked shifts: • A change in the methods of food production, processing, storage and distribution. As a capitalist economy …
RIGHTS ISSUE: A patent on atta chakkis (flour mills). It sure was unexpected. But it's been granted. The latest victim of the patent rights regime is the Asian traditional knowledge of producing atta. The US patent office has given patent rights to Nebraska-based ConAgra Inc for the "method for producing …
Philippines joins CNG bandwagon: Yet another country attempting to switch its public transport to compressed natural gas (CNG) mode is Philippines. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has announced that a bus company, will undertake a pilot project by 2003, which will include 100 buses to be fully fuelled by CNG. Devious strategy …
it is a paradox that has stumped the Union government. On the one hand, the central task force is flooded with requests for aid as the drought devastates state after state (12 at the last count). And, on the other, the country is saddled with a huge surplus stock of …
peruvian farmers and indigenous peoples' organisations are up in arms against two us patents on maca ( Lepidium meyenii ), a plant related to the mustard family, cultivated for centuries in the Puna highlands of Peru. Maca is a staple food crop of Peru and is widely marketed in the …
Flower (prepared: Mochar Ghanto) The purple or green outer leaves of the flower are inedible. The immature fruit (mocha) inside is eaten. But about one-eighth of the top portion of each mocha is inedible and should be chopped off. Mocha is likely to stain the fingers. Therefore, it is advisable …
Bamboo flowering is considered a bad omen in several northeastern states of India, especially when accompanied by an increase in rodent population. It is believed to lead to famines and natural calamities. The next bamboo flowering is expected around year 2003-04. Should we prepare ourselves? On October 29, 1958 the …
frying and baking of starch rich foodstuff at very high temperatures results in the formation of a carcinogen called acrylamide. This has been proved by a recent study conducted by Sweden-based Stockholm University. According to the university's researchers, foods with very high levels of acrylamide include French fries, potato chips …
they might well be the modern-day buccaneers. To further their research, agricultural and pharmaceutical companies often tap local communities for traditional knowledge relating to the use of biological resour ces. The conglomerates lose no time in appropriating this painstakingly assimilated information. And make a fast buck by developing products based …
the us has another issue to grumble about. The European Commission has introduced its long-awaited proposals on the labelling and traceability of foods containing genetically modified organisms (gmos). But this has evoked a sharp response from the us, the world's largest producer of gmos. Washington has termed the plans as …
