View Articles

WASHINGTON - The 186 countries that own the World Bank Group has endorsed boosting its capital by more than $86 billion and giving developing countries more influence, implementing historic changes to position the poverty fighting institution for the transformed world emerging from the global crisis.

New Delhi: Shri Anand Sharma, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, while releasing the Strategy Paper on the Growth of Engineering Exports commissioned by EEPC India and carried out by Ernst & Young, here today, said that engineering exports from India have grown considerably in the last few years with a growth rate that has been much higher than the world average. Commending the efforts of EEPC India, Shri Sharma stated that the Strategy Paper has set a target of USD 110 billion by 2014 for total engineering exports. “This, indeed, is a robust target and if engineering is able to maintain its share of nearly 22% in total exports than by 2014, India's total exports should be in the range of USD 500 billion”, he said.

WASHINGTON — With malnutrition causing the deaths of as many as 3 million mothers and young children every year, ministers, heads of development agencies, and civil society organizations attending the World Bank and IMF Spring Meetings are appealing to governments worldwide to invest more in halving the rate of malnutrition, one of the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

WASHINGTON — The Emerging Europe and Central Asia (ECA) Region will face a slow recovery from the global economic crisis in the year ahead and countries facing tight fiscal pressures should take care to target social spending on the most needy and vulnerable, the World Bank said at a press briefing at the World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings.

New Delhi: Modernization and upgradation of immigration services in the country is a Mission Mode Project (MMP) to be undertaken by the Ministry of Home Affairs under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP). The MMP is titled “Immigration, Visa and Foreigners Registration and Tracking (IVFRT)”. This Project aims to develop a secure and integrated service delivery framework to enhance security and facilitation in the Visa Issuance process, strengthen the Immigration function besides fortifying the Foreigners Registration Processes for effective tracking of foreigners.

Washington - The World Bank Group, six leading companies, and a national government announced plans to collaborate in support of a new eTransform Initiative. The initiative leverages the expertise of the public sector, the private sector, and academia to help developing countries use Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) (e.g. telecom networks, computers and mobile phones), to improve lives and transform development efforts. Seed funding from the Korean Trust Fund on ICT for Development has made this initiative possible. The initial focus of the initiative is ICT for governance, in particular eProcurement. In a second phase the scope will broaden to include issues such as food security and climate change.

WASHINGTON —The global economic crisis has slowed the pace of poverty reduction in developing countries, and is hampering progress toward the other Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), says a new report from the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund. The crisis is having an impact in several key areas of the MDGs, including those related to hunger, child and maternal health, gender equality, access to clean water, and disease control and will continue to affect long-term development prospects well beyond 2015, says the Global Monitoring Report 2010: The MDGs after the Crisis.

In Developed countries Monetary policy which is unveiled by the central bank periodically is mainly aimed at keeping inflation low. In India as well as many other developing economies central banks have twin objective of controlling inflation and pushing growth.

Freedom to downsize workforce, increase work hours and curtail workers' right to join unions are some of the radical steps under the government's consideration for industries in special investment zones. Besides, units in the proposed National Manufacturing and Investment Zones (NMIZs) would be able to employ women in three shifts and would not be governed by the Contract Labour Abolition Act.

They are back — the valiant Third Front warriors who threatened to topple the Manmohan Singh government over the nuclear deal last year. After having lain low following the electoral reverses, it has taken the members of the motley combination some time to get back to their feet. But the government's latest troubles - over IPL, phone-tapping, anti-Maoist operations - have reignited their earlier ambition.