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 …
Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna tried to break his Bangalore-centric image by presenting the state Budget which is focussed on the rural folks. This is seen as an attempt to garner their votes in the coming Lok Sabha and Legislative Assembly elections. The Chief Minister who also holds the …
The Rs 55,000 crore Kalpasar project that aims to turn the Gulf of Cambay into a massive sweet water lake by slicing it out of the Arabian Sea through the construction of a 60-km long dam was flagged off by Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
The Forum to Save Andhra Pradesh from World Bank, has released the first in the series of "People's Progress Reports", criticising the State Government for what it termed as 'failure on all fronts.' The forum, formed by Dr P.V.R. Bhaskara Rao, a cardio-thoracic specialist, and Prof. K R Chowdhary and …
External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha asked SAARC countries to emulate Bhutan's example of clamping down on terrorists within its borders and said "mere denials will not suffice'. Mr Sinha said this while giving the Seventh Dinesh Singh Memorial Lecture here on "Twelfth SAARC Summit and Beyond'. "Mere denials will not …
The Seventh Ministerial Conference of the Asia-Pacific Cooperative Ministers opened here today with a call to member-driven cooperative societies to brace themselves for meeting the challenges of globalisation. Upgradation of technology and human resource development were identified as the solution to meet the challenges. Inaugurating the three-day conference, the Deputy …
The World Social Forum (WSF) concluded in Mumbai. Next began the World Economic Forum in Davos. But even as an intensely stimulating energy of dissent swelled at the WSF, I kept feeling the ground slipping from under our feet. Why do I say this when it is clear that the …
To achieve Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's dream of a developed India, World Bank officials have stressed the need to create a policy environment for rural development. Though India's budget for Rural Development has increased from Rs 42,874 crore in the Ninth Plan to Rs 76,774 crore in the Tenth …
The Uma Bharati-led Madhya Pradesh Government has received clearance from the Central Government to raise Rs 800 crore from the public through bonds. A sum of Rs 100 crore has been okayed for the forthcoming month-long Kumbh, the religious congregation of Hindus, scheduled to commence in Ujjain on April 5 …
As far as telephonic connectivity goes, one argument annually rolled out by international think tanks is that since American and other advanced countries' lines are hugely interlinked but made of outmoded copper, switching to optical fibre for them is going to be far more difficult to achieve overnight. By comparison, …
Gannon Dunkerly chairman Kamal Morarka beleives that an unemployed politician is a menace to society. What eventually emerged was the Morarka Foundation, a venture funded completely by his Rs 450 crore civil engineering company. The Morarka Foundation makes a major impact with microprojects in Rajasthan.
The Ministry of Rural Development has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Maharashtra Government and WARANA Rural Roads Development and Maintenance Cooperative Society Ltd for construction and maintenance of rural roads in the districts of Kolhapur, Sindhudurg and Sangli.
The Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) has undertaken a Rs 5.46-crore project to restore the lost glory of the historic Borchola Beel in the heart of Guwahati city. The renovation scheme for the water body covering an area of 68 bighas of land has been funded by the 11th Finance …
The Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB;) has taken up water and sewerage works worth Rs 143 crore under the third phase of Mega City project funded by the Central Government, said Tourism Minister T Srinivas Yadav.
A free trade agreement (fta) between Chile and South Korea is making farmers in the latter country extremely restive. The South Korean national assembly's decision to debate its ratification brought them out on the streets again. Farmers see the fta
The Bush administration has proposed to overhaul US fuel economy regulation for the first time since it was adopted in 1975. The new proposals are, in part, based on a 2001 report of the US National Academy of Sciences, which advises the federal government on technical matters. But environmentalists have …
what is poverty? The Planning Commission is set to undertake an exercise to find a quantifiable answer to the question. It has proposed to the Union government to set up an expert group to redefine poverty and, consequently, reassess the percentage of India’s population living below the poverty line. The …
the us Environmental Protection Agency (epa) has kickstarted the cleanup drive for highway motorcycles by revising their emission standards after two and a half decades. The new norms, which are more stringent, were notified on December 23 and will come into effect in 2006. When implemented fully, they are estimated …
Irrigation Minister T.M.Jacob told the Assembly that the Government had no plans to take legal steps to protect the State's rights in connection with the Parambikkulam- Aliyar irrigation project as the talks for review of the pact with Tamil Nadu were progressing. Replying to questions, Jacob said that some of …
