Two thirds of all maternal deaths occur in just 10 countries; India and Niger together account for one third of maternal deaths worldwide. India’s share of global total of maternal deaths is a staggering 22 per cent, according to the UNICEF’s newly released “State of World’s Children 2009.” (See the whole report in the URL below) India’s dismal record shows its low level of commitment in reducing maternal deaths that...
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‘Green’ electricity for Bihar villages by N Gopal Raj
A simple and strictly local power generation system has proved that rural Indian communities are willing and able to pay for reliable electricity. Some seven years ago, two young men, chums from their days at boarding school, chatted over the Internet about what they might do for villages in their home state of Bihar. The company they went on to create has begun establishing small power plants driven by gases...
More »Indian green lessons for the West by Sanjoy Majumder
Ahead of next month's climate change negotiations in Copenhagen there's a lot of anger in India about the West's pressure on it to sign up to emissions cuts. The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder travelled to India's most industrialised state, Gujarat, to see at first hand some very effective - if homegrown - attempts at tapping renewable energy. In the middle of an open field, a man crouches over some cow dung and...
More »Lack of transparency and debate in India-EU free trade agreement by Meena Menon
Seven rounds of trade talks between the EU and India have been concluded without any negotiating texts or positions of either party being made public. The widespread optimism about the possible signing of the India-European Union (EU) Free Trade Agreement (FTA) sometime in 2010 fails to take into account the many thorny issues that remain to be resolved. Not the least of them are the tariff negotiations on goods and...
More »Rapid Urbanization Pushing Local Government Budgets to the Limit in India
Rapid urbanization is placing significant stress on the budgets of India's local governments and more must be done to improve their financial status to enable them to fund infrastructure projects and delivery of Essential Services. To address the issue, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has agreed to a request from the Government of India to support a study to assess the state of India's local government finances and identify key...
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