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 …
Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia today got some unexpected support from President APJ Abdul Kalam, who favoured using part of the country's foreign exchange reserves for investment in high-yield enterprises. He also proposed concessional funds for creation of corporate hospitals to provide networked healthcare in rural areas through …
A chunk of Rs 53 million out of Rs 122 million funds under Drought Emergency Relief Assistance (DERA) Programme would be spent on development of rural parts of Karachi. (Pakistan). The funds has not been released by Sindh Government due to refusal of Finance Department and later by Accountant General …
The Prime Minister's Office wants the proposed National Commission for Education to be created more in the way Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia visualises it. The PMO has sent a note to the HRD Ministry during the weekend. In it, the officials have suggested that the Commission should …
India and the European Union (EU) announced the launch of a strategic partnership after the end of the fifth India-EU Summit at The Hague, setting the stage for closer economic and technical cooperation, apart from political. The partnership is based on a set of comprehensive documents drawn up by the …
The decision to speed up the conclusion of an agreement for India joining the European Union's Galileo global positioning system and to establish an Energy Panel marked the high-point of the 'strategic partnership' unveiled by the two sides here on Monday. If eventual Indian participation in Galileo will be the …
The Planning Commission began a quest for setting the development process of the North East by getting all the eight state governments to Guwahati to hammer out a regional strategy. The Planning Commission, headed by the Deputy Chairman, Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, began consulting with the State Governments' officials at …
The success of India's broadband policy will depend on the government clearly articulating the strategic role it expects broadband to play in delivering socio-economic gains to all stakeholders. Different users leverage the intrinsic functionalities of a broadband network differently. The more common uses are high-speed, always-on access to the internet, …
The Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, today called for a comprehensive plan of action for the development of rural areas of Delhi. At the same time, she urged the officials to work out schemes that are able to generate employment opportunities among the youth and also promote self-employment.
A women development programme is changing the face of Rajasthan's countryside Something unique is being done in the countryside of Rajasthan, in the self-help groups (shgs) formed in the villages. Following keen interest shown in the matter by chief minister Vasundhera Raje, poor women who live in abject poverty in …
A Rs 1300-crore package for J&K; is likely to be announced y Prime Minister Manmohan Singh when he visits the state next week, the groundwork for which has alredy been prepared by Union home minister Shivraj Patil during his current visit to the state. The package will include funding of …
The World Bank has cleared a Rs 540-crore watershed development project for the Mid-Himalayas of the state. A team of the World Bank, headed by Dr Daniel Sellen, met Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh here today. He informed that the World Bank had also agreed to extend the ongoing Kandi Project …
The Planning Commission would hold appraisal meetings with the State Governments on their performance and status of the 10th Five-Year Plan, its Deputy Chairman Montek Singh has said. Following a Central Government directive, the Panning Commission would hold regional meetings to take into account the views of the Chief Ministers …
The Ministry of Tribal Affairs has asked the state governments to identify thrust areas for each tribal region and prepare land and water management schemes that consider village as a unit instead of individual families. "The attention will now be to help uplift entire tribal village, instead of distributing aid …
The Global ICT division of World Bank is currently evaluating the e-governance strategy of 45 countries, including India. A preliminary finding of the report shows that globally governments have given very little emphasis to putting in place a monitoring and evaluation strategy of their e-governance projects. Delivering the keynote address …
Sri Lanka will receive the first preferential loan of Rs.25 billion from Japan under a new scheme dedicated to promoting world peace. This 'highly concessionary' loan which comes with a 10 year grace period and a 40 year repayment period at an annual interest of 0.75 per cent will cover …
The International Committee for Development and Regional Cooperation (ICDRC) a national-level non-government organisation (NGO) which has been camping in Nurpur for the past three weeks to identify rural problems and formulate rural development projects has not only identified a number of problems but also mooted two ambitious projects for the …
Children as young as five in the cotton growing areas of Bathinda are showing signs of severe short and long-term mental damage due to exposure to pesticides, according to a study. Greenpeace and a local non-governmental organisation, Kheti Virasat, which studied the mental health of children from the 80-km cotton-growing …
In order to reap the benefits of the rural market, which accounts for about 70 per cent of the Indian population with over 70 crore people, companies need to identify the rural community's specific requirements, provide tailor-made solutions and devise strategies accordingly, said experts, while sharing their experiences with the …
