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 Centre announced a Rs 81-crore package for rural development, aimed at the economic uplift of the poor, in Jammu and Kashmir. "This will be over and above the Rs 183 crore allocated for the current fiscal. The package will especially focus on the uplift of those below the poverty …
Announcing a special package of Rs 81 crores under Rural Development Sector for J&K;, the Union Minister for Rural Development, Kashi Ram Rana said that this would be over and above normal allocation or Rs 183 crores of the current fiscal year. The package is aimed at economic upliftment of …
Tamil Nadu stood first in the country in utilising the funds for rural development works which were jointly carried out by the State and Central Governments. The State had spent 92.79 percent (Rs 581.30 cr)of the tal Rs 626.43 crore allocated during 2002-03.
Rejecting the pleas of 20,000 heavy-vehicle owners, the Bombay high court refused to relax earlier directives on old heavy vehicles, which specify that they shoudl be either phased out or have their engines converted to leser polluting fuels like CNG. The Court instead extended the pollution orders to include old …
At Cancun (“snakepit” in Spanish), it was widely expected that negotiations on agriculture would make or break the talks. However, delegates were quick to point to two other issues as equally damaging: (a) the manner in which the Cotton Initiative was methodically dismissed by the US; and (b) the poisonous …
What kind of ripples were let loose by the breakdown of talks? Celso Amorim, Brazil's minister of external relations and leader of the G-22 group, felt that the lack of engagement (of developing nations) in the Singapore issues, which mirrored the lack of engagement (of the developed world) on agriculture, …
Having made a mark as a valuable tool in human forensic studies, genetics will now solve the puzzle for endangered wildlife too. Teams of researchers from Taiwan's Central Police University and the uk's Institute of Zoology in London are developing "fingerprint' tests that may soon put rhino poachers out of …
The first day of a multilateral conference involving most of the world’s nations is usually spent on procedural matters. So it was at Cancun, Mexico, where the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) was held from September 11 to September 14, 2003. After the usual ceremonial inauguration, …
US Mission in Iraq The fear of worsening economic crisis has the Americans agonising over the costs of a long-drawn engagement in Iraq. There is increasing pessimism about the us's "mission' in Iraq, says a recent Newsweek poll. Almost half of those who polled (47 per cent) were very concerned …
Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani has said that the uplift of rural poor must take place side by side with advance in technology to bring India in the category of developed nations. "We need to turn around so that people prefer to migrate from urban to rural areas like …
THE authorities are caught in a logjam. They cannot shy away from the challenge of restricting the use of dirty fuels, as it is no longer a ‘mere plea’ of a few civil society groups. Pointer to shallow policies, a report commissioned by the Union ministry of environment and forests …
Parliament approved the long-awaited Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Bill after Finance Minister Jaswant Singh promised that there would be no lowering of developmental expenditure. Singh also announced that finance ministry will come out with a quarterly review of the economy before the end of the monsoon session of …
The annual plan of Andhra Pradesh for the current fiscal has been fixed at Rs 10,970.96 crore inclusive of Rs 50 crore provided by the Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission for Godhavari-Pushhkar Mela. This was decided at a meeting between the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, Mr K C Pant, and …
Recovery in agriculture and continued upswing in the industrial and services sector have prompted the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to revise upwards the economic growth to 6.8 per cent for this fiscal from the earlier estimate of 6.4 per cent. The primary area of concern during 2003-04 would be …
The rural development model of the last 50 years has helped villages little, though governments have wasted thousands of crores of rupees on infructuous projects. If private enterprise, to develop the market, wants to make villages 'attractive', it must try something very different.
