As leaders from two of the world's largest financial institutions, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, met for annual meetings here Tuesday, a delegation of activists from India called on the World Bank to follow through with its proposal to dramatically cut funding for coal-burning power stations. Over the next few days, the delegation will travel from Washington to West Virginia where, in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains, activists...

Amid policy battles over food production, energy resources and economic decline, one untapped natural resource that is guaranteed to boost production on a global scale has been stubbornly overlooked – the power of women in the labour force. According to the World Bank's 2012 World Development Report (WDR) "Gender Equality and Development", ensuring equal access for women farmers would increase maize yields by 11 to 16 percent in Malawi and 17...

Planning Commission, RBI officials hold brainstorming deliberations with experts With the persistent near double-digit headline inflation, despite sustained increases in key policy rates by the Reserve Bank of India, turning out to be “a frustrating experience for policymakers,” senior officials from the Planning Commission, the Finance Ministry and the RBI met with a group of academic economic experts and representatives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the...

-The Hindu   The report on paid news — listing specific allegations and naming the accused — written by a sub-committee of the Press Council of India (PCI) last year could finally see official publication on the Council's website. While the Council had tried suppressing the report last year — voting 12-9 against submitting it to the government or making it public — the Central Information Commission (CIC) has now directed its publication...

New Delhi wants post-Fukushima certification, says French Minister India will postpone its final decision on the purchase of EPR type nuclear reactors from France until after the current post-Fukushima nuclear safety tests have been satisfactorily completed, it is reliably learnt. Srikumar Banerjee, Chairman of India's Atomic Energy Commission, conveyed this message to French Industry Minister Eric Besson when the two met during the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) consultations which opened in...