The report forecasts global economic growth to 2.6% in 2024, barely above the 2.5% threshold commonly associated with a recessionary phase. The report says the prevailing focus on inflation overshadows urgent issues like trade disruptions, climate change and rising inequalities. It advocates for structural reforms and coordinated global efforts, proposing …
an informal round of World Trade Organisation (wto) talks was held in Sydney, Australia on November 14 and 15, 2002. A select group of 25 countries including Brazil, China, India, Senegal, the eu and the us attended the talks. The issue of developing countries' access to inexpensive medicines, enabling them …
In clearing the tenth five-year plan recently, the Union cabinet gave the green light to a programme that seeks to metamorphose the leather industry into an environment-friendly sector. While the tanning process will no longer cause pollution, leather itself would become a comple tely biodegradable product if this plan is …
darjeeling tea may soon have its characteristic aroma patented. The Centre for dna Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (cdfd), Hyderabad, is soon starting a project to develop molecular markers, which will distinguish this world famous variety from its cheaper cousins and protect its market value. The Union ministry of commerce has recently …
Keeping tabs: A stiff dose of preventives is set to find its way into the European Union's (EU) prescription for curbing the illegal trade of low-cost antiretroviral drugs. The proposal comes in the face of the recent revelation that shipments of cheaper AIDS drugs intended for Africa were intercepted, flown …
In a desperate bid to tide over its financial crisis, the Kazakh government is studying a proposal to import radioactive waste from abroad and bury it in the country. Though the venture will result in heavy cash inflow, environmentalists warn that it will turn the former Soviet republic into a …
recent investigations reveal that shipments of discounted hiv drugs, worth us $18 million, intended for African countries were, diverted to Europe and sold at the marked price. Drugs of pharmaceutical giant Glaxo SmithKline Beecham were intercepted by profiteers and sent to markets in Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the uk …
The post-war boom had brought gas-guzzling vehicles, expanding highways and mushrooming suburbs in the industrialised countries, especially the US. This boom was fuelled by oil - the industrialised economies depended almost entirely on intensive use of fossil fuels. The world learned about its dependence on oil in 1973. The Yom …
The Caspian region has possibly the third largest oil and natural gas reserves in the world (after the Persian Gulf and western Siberia), estimated to be up to 15 per cent of the total reserves of the world. Hardly any of this potential has been tapped as yet, and it …
India's prominence in the energy market is that it is the world's sixth largest energy consumer - and yet woefully short of energy sources. It has large coal reserves but the worrisome part is petroleum, which accounts for about 30 per cent of the total energy. India produces only 30 …
"One of the ironies at the turn of the century is that, in an age when the pace of technological change is almost overwhelming, the world will remain dependent, out to the year 2020 at least, essentially on the same sources of energy - oil, natural gas, coal - that …
The US President George W Bush is raring to launch an attack on Iraq. Whether it has weapons of mass destruction or not, Iraq certainly has the world's second largest reserves of petroleum after Saudi Arabia. Thanks to UN sanctions, it produces a mere fraction of its potential. The US, …
"Not since the rise of the railroads more than a century ago has a single industry [energy] placed so many foot soldiers at the top of a new administration." - Newsweek, May 14, 2001 George W Bush took over as president of the US on January 20, 2001. Within two …
Farmers in Alto Incariado, central Peru, are hoping that the fair trade label on their coffee crops will fetch them decent wages and give them the right to unionise. For this reason alone they have joined hands with the local La Florida Cooperative that sells coffee carrying the label. The …
Yet another case of dumping of banned waste in developing countries has surfaced, this time in Cambodia. In the latest crackdown, three persons were arrested for unauthorised shipping of plastic bags and other trash into the country. During a raid on a Phnom Penh dock, the police discovered more than …
PILE OF PERIL: Toxic waste from piles of unused pesticides in Africa is threatening people's health and the environment. Despite several clean-up measures by the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), less than five per cent of the stockpiles have been disposed till now. IN PROTEST: From October 5 to …
www.mp.nic.in/gramsampark E-governance in rural administration, says the title of this website launched by the Madhya Pradesh government. The aim is to bring about connectivity among the 55,000 villages in the state. Because the site is in Hindi, it is sure to be beneficial for the villagers. It is based on …
Statistics are easy to window-dress: showing everything but concealing vital facts. It is true in case of the small-scale industries (SSIs) also. For an average Indian, SSIs are more than 3.4 million registered small-scale units (and an equal number in the unorganised sector); 100 per cent of sports goods exports …
