-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: Large numbers of poor and vulnerable are exposed to risks and unexpected difficulties like unemployment, ill health, and natural disasters, an Asian Development Bank ( ADB) study says, because of lack of adequate social protection systems in many fast-growing middle-income countries in Asia and the Pacific. The Social Protection Index: Assessing Results for Asia and the Pacific-released on Wednesday gives India a score of 0.051, below most...

-The United Nations Small-scale farmers - who produce the majority of food in the developing world - need to be better integrated into markets to reduce global hunger and poverty, the United Nations food and agricultural agency today reported urging more nuanced policymaking for smallholder farmers. "Policy interventions that aim at encouraging greater levels of smallholder production for sale in markets need to take better account of the heterogeneity of smallholder households,"...

-PTI The Finance Ministry has sought financial assistance from World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB) for rebuilding of damaged infrastructure in flood- ravaged Uttarakhand. "In view of the emergency situation, both ADB and the World Bank have been requested to fast track the processes of needs assessment, project preparation and approval," the Finance Ministry said in a statement. It said a joint mission of the World Bank and ADB, led...

-Timescrest.com Three successive CAG reports warned the Uttarakhand govt about the consequences of multiple hydropower projects, and their unpreparedness in the face of disaster. The advice was ignored. With aim of turning Uttarakhand into Urja Pradesh, the state has committed to building 680 dams, currently in various stages of commissioning, construction and planning. The powers that be have expedited the clearances for these projects. However, when it came to the issue of credible...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: Before populism spikes in the run-up to the general elections, the Planning Commission has cautioned states against doling out freebies such as free laptops, tablets, and mobiles in the name of development spending and instead asked them to focus on schemes related to infrastructure development. "This year's message is basically that states must have much more efficient functioning of the inclusiveness scheme. Since a lot of the...