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India’s Push for Banks for All Leaves Some Still Outside
Firozaben, a nurse at an upscale clinic here, opened an account at the state-owned Bank of Baroda Ltd. in December, attracted by the promise of an overdraft provision and accident- and life-insurance policies—all for no fee, courtesy of a government program to bring India’s masses into the banking system.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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Blue Diversion Toilet aims to improve sanitation with built-in filtration system
Austrian design firm EOOS and water research institute Eawag hope to improve sanitation levels in areas of extreme poverty with a mobile toilet that contains its own water filtration system.
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- Health Care
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- public health
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These Printable Tests for HIV And E.Coli Will Bring Diagnosis Anywhere in the World
Cheap, simple diagnostic kits have the potential to revolutionize health care in the developing world. If we can put non-technical tests in the hands of normal people, we can test for diseases more efficiently without building out formal clinic networks. That should help get treatments to people in a more timely way.
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- Health Care
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Prime Minister Modi Launches MUDRA Bank, Expected to Benefit 5.77 crore Microfinance Institutions in India
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday launched MUDRA Bank under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana. This will provide credit of up to Rs 10 lakh to small entrepreneurs and act as a regulator for 'Micro-Finance Institutions' (MFIs).
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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- microfinance
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MIT Scaling Development Ventures: Bridging Innovation and Impact
This marks the third year that international development, entrepreneurship, and public service programs at MIT have come together to organize the MIT Scaling Development Ventures conference. Each year, the conference brings together perspectives from the international development and business communities to examine the best ways to bring poverty-alleviating solutions to market at scale. This year’s conference takes place at MIT on Saturday, April 11. Registration is free for members of the MIT community.
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- Impact Assessment
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Papua New Guinea Commits to Digitising All Government Payments
The Government of Papua New Guinea (PNG) has joined the Better Than Cash Alliance with endorsements from Minister for Finance, James Marape and Minister for Treasury, Patrick Pruaitch.
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- Uncategorized
- Tags
- digital payments
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Financial Planning Lessons From Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi
That Narendra Modi is a skilful orator is not news, but to hear him in person and to see him use ground-level common sense to drive home financial lessons to an auditorium full of bankers is quite an experience. The venue was the 80th birthday party of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) at the National Centre for Performing Arts in Mumbai. And in case you were wondering, as I did, as to why celebrate 80 years rather than the global norm of 75 or 100, Modi said that 80 years is special to Indians because it marks the sahastra darshan or the 1,000 viewings of the full moon by a person who turns 80.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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Indian Mobile Wallet Leader MobiKwik Raises Close to $25 Million in Funding, Targets Another $100 Million By End of 2015
Mobile wallet company, MobiKwik, which has over 15 million users and 25,000 merchants, has announced that it raised close to $25 million in a Series B round led by Tree Line Asia. Cisco Investments, American Express and the existing investor, Sequoia Capital were part of the fund raising drive.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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