The IMF
Dr. Death? : The anti-globaization movement serves up plenty of hot rhetoric but also some disturbing truths. Street protestors have it exactly right, for example, when they argue that the economic policies imposed on developing nations by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank have hammered the poor. Using loans …
Poverty alleviation programmes have failed
Fifty years of poverty alleviation programmes have failed, the number of poor people who constitute one-third of the country's population is "growing" and the disparity between the rich and poor has grown.
Japan approves bill to ban cloning
The Japanese cabinet on Friday approved a rare bill that will ban human cloning, even at a research level, and could punish offenders with prison terms of up to five years. The bill now goes to parliament and if passed, will be the first Japanese law mandating punishment for certain …
UNIDO development projects in Rajasthan
The United Nations Industrial development Organisation (UNIDO) and the Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation (RIICO) have decided to work together in three identified sectors. Rajasthan is the fifth State in the country - after Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Punjab - to have such a tie-up with UNIDO.
World Bank unsure of halving poverty in 15 yrs
The World Bank appears unsure of achieving its goal of cutting global poverty by half in 15 years, saying the target can still be reached if economic growth resumes and inequality does not increase. It also admits that progress is uneven. While the poverty rate is falling in some large …
Ahluwalia calls for poverty reduction strategy
The Planning Commission member, Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, today called for designing a vigorous poverty allevation strategy as a supplement to the growth strategy. Making a presentation on the "Economic situation of States" at the State Secretariat here, Dr. Ahluwalia said a strategy to remove poverty could be worked out …
Poverty India's bugbear
IMF : Despite the impressive gains registered in India in the realm of economic growth, the poverty rates remain high with more than a third of the population still living below the poverty line. "This uneven progress raises questions abou the impact of the economic and structural reforms implemented since …
$111-m IBRD loan for AP poverty project
The World Bank approved a $111-million credit for the Andhra Pradesh District Poverty Initiatives Project (DPIP), which is designed to reach and empower families in the state's six poorest districts to enable them to take a proactive role in the development of their communities.
Critics of World Bank pledge to organize boycott of bonds
Hoping to starve the World Bank of the money it lends, activist groups have pledged to organize a global boycott of its most important fund-raising tool, World Bank bonds. The groups will begin by pressing labor unions, churches and "socially responsible" investment funds to drop the highly rated bonds. If …
India pulls down FDI flow to South Asia by 13%
Unctad : Though FDI by transnational companies in developing Asian nations rose to $106 billion in 1999 as against $97 billion in the previous year, FDI in South Asia dipped 13 per cent to $3.2 billion. These are some of the findings of the annual UNCTAD World Investment Report (WIR2000)
Globalization battle moves to UN
The stormy battle over globalization that brought protests to the streets of Seattle and Washington moves to heart of the world's only truly global organization : the United Nations. An extraordinary, three-day Millennium Summit meeting of more than 150 world leaders called to thrash out problems of poverty and peace …
A move for the good in China
The Qinghai project in western China has become the focus of perhaps the biggest anti-World Bank campaign launched by non-governmental organisations. Yet on the face of it, the project, which the bank's executive directors are due to vote on in two day's time, looks like an ideal World Bank project. …
UN offers remedies for side effects of globalisation
After intense negotiations on social remedies for poverty and other destructive side effects of globalisation, the United Nations has hammered out an international policy pact that can make the world economy less turbulent, less cruel, and much more fair.
UN survey upbeat over India's growth
The United Nations(UN) is optimistic that the post-Asian crisis world economic rebound has a good chance of persisting for some years to come, with the economies of India and China, which have been growing at six or seven per cent in recent years, continuing at a similar clip at least …
Chhattisgarh state Bill passed
The much-awaited Bill relating to formaitonof a separate Chhattisgarh state was unanimously approved by the Madhya Pradesh State Assembly at Bhopal on Thursday after pronouncing some suggestions. Of the 21 suggestions placed during the marathon debate lasting for nine hours, 17 were finally approved by the House.
India, US share Vision of a new era
India and the United States pledged to reduce impediments to bilateral trade and investment and expand commerce, especially in the emerging knowledge-based industries and high-technology areas. A vision statement to this effect was signed by both the premiers after the summit-level meeting at New Delhi.
WB, UNDP draw separate anti-poverty roadmaps
The World Bank and United Nation's Development Programme(UNDP) are at loggerheads over the strategy to be pursued for executing poverty-alleviation programmes in Andhra Pradesh. The latter is the first state in the country where both the agencies are involved in such programmes.
Geneva social summit pledges to cut poverty
A United Nations special assembly on poverty reduction ended at the weekend with a pledge to halve the numbers living in extreme poverty by 2015, but few firm commitments on policies for achieving this and other poverty-reduction objectives. Development and labour groups said they were disappointed at the weak outcome …
