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 …
The seven month-old organ donation law, enacted to prevent commercial dealing in human organs and protect the rights of donors and transplant patients, has come in for a lot of criticism. The law may need an overhaul to protect the rights of unconscious patients after "unforeseen difficulties", according to a …
ON NOVEMBER 5, two teams of US scientists announced that they had independently achieved a major breakthrough in biology by growing some "primitive" undifferentiated cells, known as the human embryonic stem cells, by isolating them from human embryos and foetuses. These cells have the capacity to rapidly multiply and grow …
The British government's Department for International Development launched its Country Strategy for India in New Delhi on Monday. The strategy envisages an enhancement of its contribution towards elimination of poverty in India, with specific focus on four states - Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh.
Bidding to fight poverty with music and megabits, the United Nations Development Program and Cisco Systems Inc., a maker of data communications gear, have enlisted a dozen popular entertainers to kick off an Internet-based initiative to help the world's poor. The new project, called NetAid, appears to represent the most …
Multilateral funding institutions including the Asian Development Bank (ADB), World Bank, UNDP and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development are jointly working to establish common guidelines for award of procurement and consultancy contracts in projects funded by them. " The aim is to evolve a standardised package around which businesses …
World Bank officials in New Delhi today said the organisation was ready to accept a study of West Bengal 's financial position by the state government itself for sactioning loans. The Bank, according to the West Bengal government, had insisted on conducting an state's ability to repay loans. Peeved at …
South Asian nations have asked the World Trade Organisation(WTO) to remove higher customs duties in developed countries, preventing market access to goods from the Third World, and stop piracy of traditional knowledge to ensure developing nations' farmers are not deprived of their rights.
Indian Oil Corporation 's (IOC) largest refinery -- Gujarat Refinery-- has emerged as the first one to produce lead free petrol with less than one per cent of benzene content. The petroleum ministry has instructed all the oil companies to bring down the benzene content in petrol to three per …
The UN Development Programme's success stories in India of fighting poverty using participatory approaches figure prominently in the new NetAid site (http:,,www.netaid.org) which was launched amid fanfare at the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday.
The centre signed an agreement with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for schemes to operationalise its Community Based Pro-Poor Initiative (CBPPI) programmes involving a sum of Rs 15.15 crores, to be implemented over the next couple of years.
Results of the economic census of rural households available from eight states indicate a perceptible reduction in the number of families living below the poverty line(BPL). The maximum decline in poverty during the Eight Plan has been reported from Maharashtra and Gujarat.
The United Nations Development Programme(UNDP) has joined hands with mega-information technology professionals for launching a global onslaught on poverty using the time and cost-efficiency of Internet technology.
Scientists advising the government will urge Britain to allow some research into the cloning of human embryos as a way of creating spare body parts for transplants or disease treatment, British newspapers reported on Tuesday. But the scientists will also call for an outright ban on cloning humans for reproductive …
The one-day workshop sponsored by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Andhra Pradesh unit concluded that utilisation of 100 TMC of Godavari waters for Krishna basin, in addition to execution of the Polavaram project, was the only solution to bring all the uplands in Telangana, Andhra and Rayalaseema under cultivation.
Despite nuclear sanctions, the World Bank committed maximum loans to India in South Asia during the financial year ending June 30. According to a release, India was the largest borrower in the region with a total commitment of $1.6 billion for seven projects.
Prevalence rates for hypertension,diabetes, heart disease and cancer increase with the development of a village, while those for TB and leprosy decrase, making the last two diseases of deprivation and the others those of lifestyle.Those are among the unsurprising though comprehensive findings of the just-released India Human Development Report, produced …
A large number of public transport vehicles, using compact natural gas (CNG) kits and running on different city routes of Karachi (Pakistan), have been withdrawn by transporters following an increase in the gas prices. Similarly, the taxis and other private vehicle owners have been facing problems in refilling, and have …
The US has unveiled an ambitious package of reforms to the World Trade Organisaiton(WTO), envisaging sweeping changes in the agriculture and service sectors to safeguard American interests well into the next century.
The third global conference of the International Netwok of Alternative Financial Institutions (INAFI) which concluded recently, has reiterated that microcredit is the most powerful tool to fight poverty as access to credit alone could increase their means of survival. INAFI, an international network of credit practitioners provides financial services to …
