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 …
Madhya Pradesh started its Joint Forest Management (jfm) programme in the early 1990s. Its stated intentions were quite noble: village-level institutions were to be involved in forest management; elaborate benefit sharing mechanisms were outlined; non-governmental organisations (ngos) were identified to provide an interface between forest departments and village communities. These …
the Deputy Conservator of Forest (dcf) of Mysore's Hunsur Wildlife Division, A M Annaiah, has been held responsible "for causing loss to the public exchequer to the tune of Rs 6.14 crore'. The Karnataka Lokayukta, Justice N Venkatachala, has recommended disciplinary action against him. Even as environmentalists point out they …
Cancun: a paper tiger jurgen maier The strategy of the European Union (eu) did seem to be transformed in the conference centres of Cancun. A coherent eu policy is non-existent. Europe is deeply divided between the American satellites (the uk, Spain and Italy) and the Gaullist camp (France, Germany and …
ten years after it pulled out of the Sardar Sarovar Dam Project over environmental problems, the World Bank (wb) is again set to loosen the purse strings for similar ventures (hydroelectric power projects) in India. On December 12 the wb announced in New Delhi that it would rapidly increase its …
The state governments' failure to complete irrigation projects has led to an escalation of their combined cost by close to a whopping one lakh crore rupees. According to the Planning Commission, 383 irrigation projects in 23 states have spilled over from the Ninth Five-Year Plan to the tenth plan. These …
The world's largest chemical company, Bayer ag, has reshuffled its global business plans and the Asia-Pacific region is at the centre of it. As a major strategic step, the company has announced the construction of its largest investment project in China: a us $340 million joint venture project with China's …
Nigerians have developed a unique response to strikes, as was seen on October 6, 2003. Thousands of panic-stricken people besieged banks to withdraw money and stockpile food even as the Nigeria Labour Congress (nlc) announced another round of action, to protest a 12 per cent hike in fuel prices. At …
The Sensex stock index has risen by 75 per cent since April this year. The rupee is at a three-year high. Global investment analysts Goldman Sachs predict that India is the fastest growing of the four " BRIC " - Brazil, Russia, India and China - economies expected to it …
"Twenty-four hours, seven-days-a-week water supply for urban India' fuels many a dream and much debate. Is 24/7 water supply attainable? An answer to this question was attempted at a workshop organised in Hyderabad, from September 23-24, 2003, by the Administrative Staff College of India (asci) and Water and Sanitation Program …
Of the three farm water conservation programmes currently under way in Karnataka, the Jal Samvardhene Yojana (jsy) has comple ted a year of operation. The progra mme’s stated objective is to demonstrate the viability of community-based approaches to tank rehabilitation. For this purpose an Integrated Tank Development Plan has been …
from the time when Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee mentioned the Pradhan Mantri Grameen Jal Samvardhan Yojna (pmgjsy) in his Independence-day speech last year, the Union government appeared to have been waiting for an opportune moment to launch the scheme. With polls round the corner, the propitious instant seems near …
ever since Punjab chief minister (cm) Amarinder Singh's performance was rated highly by a popular weekly magazine in August, the state government has gone into a public relations overdrive. One of the main successes, it has claimed in full-page advertisements placed in national dailies, is the diversification of the state's …
signalling a discernible shift in policy, wildlife experts have acknowledged that conservation activities in a protected area should revolve around its local inhabitants. This significant development took place at the just concluded Fifth World Parks Congress, organised by the World Conservation Union (iucn) from September 8-17 in Durban, South Africa. …
Panchayats, Democracy and Development . By Vinod Vyasulu . Rawat Publications, Jaipur and New Delhi, 2003 . 195 pages . Rs 395 In 1992 the Indian Parliament approved of the 73rd constitutional amendment, which made it mandatory for state governments to devolve powers to local bodies. More than a decade …
