Nearly 65% of adults in the Arab region remain excluded from formal financial systems, according to a new report by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA). The Annual SDG Review 2025 paints a sobering picture of persistent financial exclusion that is undermining the region’s ability …
This article critically examines the use of the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund by different states and finds that a number of aspects need to be improved to ensure proper utilisation and to reduce intra-rural disparity in India. Feb 16-22, 2008
>> In a non-binding report, the European Parliament has given more time to car manufacturers for reducing CO2 emissions from tailpipes. Manufacturers should reduce the emissions to 125 grammes per km by 2015, rather than to 120 grammes by 2012 as proposed by the commission in December, 2007. >> Two …
india is set to make another round of changes in procurement norms for health schemes funded by World Bank loans. This follows the bank's review of Indian projects running on its loans, highlighting corrupt practices in procurement of drugs and other items by the government and drug companies. While such …
Traditionally most urban areas in the country have grown out of rural settlements. Land use changes and population growth have precipitated urbanization in a lot of rural centres. Urbanization also has cultural connotations, more so today with the far reaching impacts of globalization. But there is another important aspect today: …
some of India's critical public health schemes have a long track record of corruption. The World Bank has a long record of hiring expensive consultants to tell us so. In this cynical theatre arrives another review by the bank of health programmes funded by its loans. It tells us how …
The centre is the key facilitator of urban development despite it being a state subject. The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), which was launched in December 2005, is the biggest driver in improving the quality of life for the target population of the 63 large cities (all million …
Transportation fuels are the major component of the energy portfolio. Of the 20 million barrels of petroleum consumed each day in the United States, 68 percent is used in the transportation sector. The Western states are in position to become key producers and beneficiaries in the emerging alternative-fuels economy. In …
In the fourth quarter of 2007 the clean energy sector saw a sharp increase in the use of private equity expansion capital, but investment in buyouts evaporated in the face of the credit crisis. Venture capital investment, meanwhile, maintained the high levels seen in the previous two quarters.
The Finance Minister, in his Budget Speech for 2008-2009, announced a Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme for farmers. The Scheme will cover direct agricultural loans extended to ‘marginal and small farmers’ and ‘other farmers’ by Scheduled Commercial Banks, Regional Rural Banks, Cooperative Credit Institutions (including Urban Cooperative Banks) and …
This study examines the major health, water, environmental, tourism and other welfare impacts associated with poor sanitation in Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. The impact measurement reported in the study focuses mainly on a narrow definition of sanitation ? human excreta management and related hygiene practices. The measurement of …
bangalore Municipal Corporation's road projects have hit a dead end due to non-availability of funds. The corporation had applied for Rs 7,536 crore for flyovers and grade-separator projects under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (jnnurm). "Our city development plan had many road projects because the public expressed the …
If the invitation letter was anything to go by, the organizers of the International Conference on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises seemed in dead earnest. The card quoted a World Bank report. "India has 4.5 million small and medium enterprises that contribute 40 per cent of the industrial production but …
the centre will recruit around 37,000 personnel under the Indian Reserve battalion scheme for deployment in Naxal-affected states. The decision comes after prime minister Manmohan Singh urged states to "choke Naxal infrastructure and cripple their activities' in a two-day chief minister's conference on internal security in the capital on December …
december 14, Bali, Indonesia: a much anticipated un meet concludes. The meet was expected to work out a consensus to deal with climate change once the Kyoto Protocol expires. It did come out with an action plan to give direction to a series of meetings over the next two years. …
Johan Von Schreeb, a surgeon who has worked for the group Medicins Sans Frontieres, is a public health scholar with the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden. His recently published PhD thesis enquired into humanitarian health assistance in countries affected by disasters. He tells Vibha Varshney why such assistance has often failed to …
In August 2007, the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) published a technical paper, Investment and Financial Flows to Address Climate Change, which estimated that USD200?210 billion in additional investment will be required annually by 2030 to meet global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets. …
Market mechanisms are increasingly being considered as a tool for allocating somewhat scarce but unpriced rights and resources, such as air and water. Tradable permits have emerged as the most cost--effective measure leading to the emergence of both nationwide (SO2) and supranational (CO2) emission permits markets. By means of the …
This article aims to look at the determinative factors and conditions of private participation in the wind sector in the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala which will be guided by the following approaches from political sciences and (relational) economic geography.
Minerals are a valuable natural resource being the vital raw material for infrastructure, capital goods and basic industries. As a major resource for development the extraction and management of minerals has to be integrated into the overall strategy of the country's economic development. The exploitation of minerals has to be …
This report provides an overview of different types of capital flows and an analysis of the trends in sustainable energy investment activity in developed and developing countries. The information is intended to be a strategic tool for understanding the status of the sustainable energy sector's development and for weighing future …
