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Indian Villagers’ Lives Transformed by New Energy Delivery System
It’s late December and an icy fog cloaks the northeastern state of Uttar Pradesh. Here, far from the cities, smoke rises in dense, choking spirals from meagre wood fires and scantily-clad children shiver against the cold. These are largely farming families, and their mud huts fortified by the occasional brick wall are for the most part devoid of light, heat or clean water. But it is here in Uttar Pradesh, one of ...
- Region
- South Asia
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Rebuilding Afghanistan’s Villages, Rug by Rug
When Connie Duckworth flew into Kabul for the first time in 2003, the city below "looked like Berlin after World War II," she says. Since that visit with the U.S.-Afghan Women’s Council -a non-partisan initiative tasked with supporting Afghan women-Duckworth has devoted her life and career to rebuilding Afghanistan, carpet by carpet. Duckworth founded ARZU , a nonprofit, ...
- Region
- South Asia
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Selling Organs to Pay Off Debt: Microfinance Needs Reforms
When Muhammad Yunus won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his work on microfinance with the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh , he would have been mortified...
- Region
- South Asia
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Create Scope for Women to Flourish in Business: Analysts
Women entrepreneurs in South Asia are failing to flourish due to shortage of funds, difficulty in marketing, social constraints and non-participation in decision-making, analysts said yesterday amid calls for governments and private sectors to change the scenario. Women are treated as second-class citizens in the region while their contribution to the economy is totally overlooked, they said. The comments came at a discussion on "Women Leadership" on the second and concluding day ...
- Region
- South Asia
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Coming Up, Job Plan Scheme for Urban Poor
The UPA government, which launched schemes providing employment opportunities for the rural poor during its two term in power, is now targeting the urban poor, majority of whom are slum dwellers. With an eye on the 2014 Parliamentary election, the Centre plans to launch the National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM), which will create job opportunities for the urban poor, during the 12th Plan. The housing and urban poverty alleviation ministry, which has p...
- Region
- South Asia
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Micro-loans Helping Solar Power Take Hold in India
In Chemangala, in southern India, silk farmer H.B. Manjunath walks into a back room of a dark thatched roof cabin, flips on a light switch and watches as the cool light illuminates hundreds of milky white silkworms crawling in a wooden box full of mulberry leaves. The worms need the crispy leaves to survive and spin their silk cocoons, but they’ll only do it when there’s continuous light. Manjunath said that used to be very hard to come by. "We had four or five hours of un...
- Region
- South Asia
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Does Microfinancing Really Work? A New Book Says No
Politicians from Washington to New Delhi have argued for years that giving tiny loans to poor people to help them start or expand their businesses is a sure-fire way to help millions improve their lot in life, and drastically reduce global poverty, especially among women. The idea has become such a central feature of foreign aid programs (USAID pours millions into such projects) that the microfinance industry has ballooned into a multi-billion-dollar business operating in virtually every coun...
- Region
- South Asia
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Intuit Taps Text Messages, Economics To Boost Farmer Incomes In India
"How can technology help the places I grew up in?" That’s Deepa Bachu, describing her personal mission. Bachu was born in Bangalore, India, but spent a decade at Intuit’s Mountain View headquarters developing flagship products like Quicken. She returned home several years ago, for family reasons, and after becoming the director of emerging market innovation at Intuit, set out to build products for many of the neighbors she grew up with. "It’s so motivating," she says. "It...
- Region
- South Asia
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