-IBNS   A group of about 35 women economists from different countries of Europe, UK, US, Australia and India, have written an open letter to Prime Ministers and Presidents of South Asian nations, including India, which are facing acute sanitation crisis. From India, Jayati Ghosh, Professor, Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Bina Agarwal, Director, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi University and Isher Judge Ahluwalia, Chairperson Board of Governors, Indian...

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...

-IANS   An earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale rocked India's northeast, Myanmar and bangladesh on Monday, triggering panic among people.  The tremor was felt at 8.47am in most parts of Assam, Nagaland, and Manipur, besides in bangladesh and Myanmar.  The epicentre was located at 24.947°N, 95.226°E in Myanmar, about 130 km east of Manipur capital Imphal, the website of US Geological Survey said.  Seven northeastern states - Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland, Arunachal...

-The Economic Times Chief Economic Adviser Kaushik Basu on Friday said that the government should consider providing free health care for the poor and significantly increase its spending on the health sector. Citing examples of other developing nations like bangladesh that have better life expectancy and infant mortality rate than India, Basu added that the country has not yet attached adequate importance to the health sector which might prove detrimental for the...

Sivadasan's five-acre farm used to be a solitary patch in Kerala's Palakkad district, with bitter gourd, cucumber, cow peas and lady's finger growing amid a landscape dotted with paddy fields and plantations of rubber and spices.  Just five years later, more than 1.45 lakh farmers in the southern state have joined Sivadasan and started growing vegetables, reflecting a palpable shift sweeping across the Indian countryside.  "Vegetables are always more profitable than paddy,"...