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 …
why is it that the world's greatest democracy also has the world's meanest state apparatus? The state apparatus in India works on a self-decocted modern variation of feudal over-lordship. Vassalage is what makes it tick. To that extent it functions beyond checks, and banishes balances. It can override accountability and …
It is five o'clock in the morning. I am inside Jharkhand's Khellari forest, on assignment. In the first light of morning, the forest looks lush and dark green. Suddenly, a frail frame
What if Phulmai did not exist. You can meet her in the forest; follow her for a day; listen to what she says and so complete half an assignment. The other half lies in accounting for her, and all those like her who spend their lives headloading. Step out of …
Due to combustion of solid fuels, indoor air pollution seems to be a major contributor to disease in India, but few quantitative exposure assessment studies are available. This study quantified daily average concentrations of respirable particulates in 420 rural homes of Andhra Pradesh and recorded time activity data of 1400 …
This paper estimates the economic burden of respiratory illness in rural UP (Uttar Pradesh), a state in North India. This is based on a large comprehensive survey covering a sample of 7564 households in 6 districts and 51 villages in UP. The economic value of the days lost due to …
Firewood, agricultural residue and animal dung are commonly called biomass fuels. In Bangladesh, biomass is obtained from three sources - trees, field crops and livestock. Biomass is important for the household purpose, mainly cooking. To save fuel consumption and time, and keep the kitchen clean and free of smoke, an …
just 10 avoidable risk factors, including malnutrition, unsafe sex, smoking and poor sanitation, account for 40 per cent of global deaths each year. This was stated in the latest World Health Report of the World Health Organisation (who). According to the organisation, cheap remedies exist for many ailments and governments …
Part I: Untapped data Four consecutive years of drought have brought home a lesson that the people of Hamirpur district and its neighbouring districts in Himachal Pradesh have learnt well. These areas had started receiving piped water supply from the government and gave up on their traditional water harvesting structures. …
CONDUCTED BY MEDIA TENOR INTERNATIONAL . June . 2002 US news takes more opinions from the white and has dramatic racial imbalances in sourcing. In fact, 92 per cent of all US 'sources' interviewed in 2001 on ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News were white …
Prescription drug Prempro, used to treat menopausal symptoms, is under the scanner in the US following a government study that has linked it to other health problems. Class action suits have been brought against the drug's maker, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. Company spokesperson Natalie de Vane, however, claims the charges are baseless. …
NI ARK (1984-2001) New Internationalists Publications . Oxford . 2002 In a deluge of suspect information you need the New Internationalist Ark (NI Ark) to keep you afloat. And this special NI Archive covers back issues of the New Internationalist magazine, from January 1984 to December 2001. That's more than …
transgenic potatoes may be used in the future to vaccinate women against cancer of cervix caused by the human papilloma virus (hpv). It is the most common form of cancer afflicting Indian women. The vaccine was developed by a team of scientists from us-based University of Rochester, Cornell University and …
For Sumani Sahu, of Orissa's coal town Talcher, the days are becoming longer. Mining has eaten away at her village, leaving but a shell behind. Fetching water and gathering firewood keep her occupied from three in the morning to late in the evening. The remaining hours in the day are …
numerous cosmetics contain toxic chemicals that can adversely affect human health. This was stated in a report Not Too Pretty released by Health Care Without Harm, a Washington DC-based environmental working group. The report is based on the first independent tests of over the counter products for phthalates
Residents of Chajjupur, Shahdara, New Delhi, are very angry. But they are also scared. Although they have been fighting the polluting industries in their area, they refuse to come out in the open with their struggle. "We do not want to take on the industry,' explains a local shopkeeper. Residents …
Every once in a way, one comes across an instance that reestablishes faith in the tools of the establishment. Take the case of the Behala public interest litigation (pil), for example. About a hundred housewives from Behala, situated in the southern part of the city of Kolkata, approached the green …