Recent events in south Asia have led to an unexpected reversal in the narrative of microfinance, long presented as a development success. Despite charges of poor treatment of clients, exaggeration of the impact on the poorest as well as the risks of credit bubbles, the sector can play a non-negligible role in reaching financial services to low-income households. In regulating the sector, there is need for caution in setting interest...

-The Telegraph   Assam tea is now officially the state drink. Announcing this, chief minister Tarun Gogoi today said his government was also making a strong case with the Centre to declare tea as the national drink. Speaking at the inaugural function of the World Tea Science Congress at Tocklai Experimental Station (under Tea Research Association) here today, Gogoi said, “I, as the chief minister, am competent enough to announce tea as the...

The pill that you pop when down with fever or the syrup you gulp for relief from cough are not cure for sure. They can be counterfeit drugs made in some substandard medicine-manufacturing centres as the one sealed in the city today. Operating from a two-storeyed building in the Rajiv Nagar area, the sealed unit was allegedly involved in making counterfeit drugs. The batch numbers of several medicines seized from the...

On August 26, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan resigned, taking responsibility for the disastrous meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which was caused by the March 2011 undersea earthquake and ensuing tsunami.  In India, on the other hand, the deliberate contamination of a drinking water tank with radioactive waste in the Kaiga nuclear power plant in Western Ghats in the state of Karnataka has gone unpunished for two whole...

Sehal Sagar village in Rajasthan has won the national water award instituted by the water resources ministry Nestled in Rajasthan’s bone-dry Tonk district, Sehal Sagar village boasts of lush green fields, wells full to the brim and healthy cattle. The surprise transformation has been possible because the village follows rainwater harvesting and develops its pasture land. Sehal Sagar has an elaborate network of ponds, canals and chaukas which ensure that every drop...