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Weekend Ruminations: Advice for shoot-from-the-hip nationalists: Take aim before firing

It's all good to be tactical - keep China out of strategic markets; hit back in the same coin if it looks to keep India's key sectors out - but don't shoot yourself in the foot.

by T.N. Ninan | On 21 Jun 2020

Urban Food Markets and the Lockdown in India

On March 24, 2020, the Government of India announced a 21-day national lockdown that has since been extended to May 3, 2020. The lockdown has left urban food markets in disarray with severe supply b...

by Sudha Narayanan | On 06 May 2020

Guidance Note of the Secretary-General : The United Nations and Land and Conflict

Over the coming decades, competition and conflict over land is likely to intensify with the growing pressures of climate change, population growth, increased food insecurity, migration and urbanizatio...

by Secretary-General United Nations | On 21 Mar 2019

Trade, Trade Agreements and Subsidies: The Case of the Indian Apparel Industry

This paper presents India’s trade in apparel products by sub-sectors and key markets, and analyses its trade competitiveness across different sub-sectors. It examines the impact of trade agreements an...

by Arpita Mukherjee | On 04 Feb 2019

Is There a Demand for Reverse Mortgages in China? Evidence from Two Online Surveys

Reverse mortgages provide an alternative source of retirement funding by allowing older homeowners to borrow against their home. However, a recent pilot program of reserve mortgage products in several...

by Katja Hanewald | On 03 Feb 2019

Enlargement Decisions of Regional Trading Blocs with Asymmetric Members

This paper analyzes the conditions under which an existing bilateral free trade area (FTA) prefers to expand in size and when it prefers consolidation through customs union (CU) formation when the exi...

by Sunandan Ghosh | On 31 Jan 2019

The Impact of Trade Conflict on Developing Asia

This paper analyzes the effects of the current trade conflict on developing Asia using the Asian Development Bank’s Multiregional Input–Output Table (MRIOT), allowing us to calculate the impact on ind...

by Abdul Abiad | On 21 Dec 2018

How Do We Prevent a Food Crisis in the Midst of Climate Change?

The current global warming trends are extremely likely to be the result of human social and economic activity since the middle of the 20th century (NASA 2018). Evidence of rapid climate change varies...

by Kunmin Kim | On 21 Nov 2018

Insights from Behavioral Economics on Current Policy Issues

The paper examines behavioral constraints in policy-making and in achieving coordination across policies. First it applies psychological concepts to understand policy inadequacies, and next examines h...

by Ashima Goyal | On 29 Oct 2018

Does Regional Integration Matter for Inclusive Growth? Evidence from the Multidimensional Regional Integration Index

This paper employs a multidimensional approach to gauge the degree of regional integration and analyze impact on growth, inequality, and poverty. It constructs a multidimensional regional integration...

by Cyn-Young Park | On 26 Oct 2018

Investing in Health Security for Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific: Managing Health Threats Through Regional and Intersectoral Cooperation

Asia is a hot spot for emerging and reemerging infectious diseases, including those with pandemic potential. At the same time, the region is grappling with growing antimicrobial resistance and the hea...

by Megan Counahan | On 24 Aug 2018

Determinants of Public–Private Partnerships in Infrastructure in Asia: Implications for Capital Market Development

This study attempts to understand the role of greater access to finance, i.e., stocks, bonds, and bank loans, in public–private partnership (PPP) investment in developing countries. Most developing co...

by Suk Hyun | On 10 Aug 2018

Building Food Security in Asia through International Agreements on Rice Reserves

The policy brief aims to mitigate the impact of natural disasters on food security, ASEAN established a rice reserve on 4 October 1979. The rice reserve was developed to alleviate poverty and to eradi...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 10 Aug 2018

Mainstreaming SMEs: Promoting Inclusive Growth in APEC

SME development as a major domestic policy objective that is consistent and reinforced within APEC would not only engender inclusive growth, but also enable SMEs to become drivers of growth for the do...

by Erlinda M. Medalla | On 06 Jul 2018

Lessons on Providing Cash Transfers to Disaster Victims: A Case Study of UNICEF’s Unconditional Cash Transfer Program for super typhoon Yolanda Victims

This paper describes and assesses the design of the UCT program. It evaluates the UCT based on data collected from three survey rounds from a sample of UCT household beneficiaries, as well as other pr...

by Celia M. Reyes | On 29 Jun 2018

Trade Costs, Time, and Supply Chain Reliability

This paper uses measures of international transport time, in median and standard deviation, based on shipment-level data from the Universal Postal Union, to analyze the effect of time on trade costs....

by Utsav Kumar | On 14 Jun 2018

Constructing the Asia-Pacific Regional Cooperation and Integration Index: A Panel Approach

This paper proposes a panel approach in the construction of the Asia-Pacific Regional Cooperation and Integration Index (ARCII) to strengthen the index’s ability to track the progress of economic inte...

by Cyn-Young Park | On 06 Jun 2018

Global Banking Network and Regional Financial Contagion

This paper investigates and tests the role of regional exposures in financial contagion from advanced to emerging market economies through the global banking network using data on cross-border bilater...

by Cyn Young Park | On 31 May 2018

Export of agriculture produce and organic farming in India

Dr. Arpita Mukherjee is a Professor at Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER). She has several years of experience in policy-oriented research, working closely with...

by Arpita Mukherjee | On 25 May 2018

FDI in Services and India

Developing countries, including India, are increasing relying on foreign direct investments (FDI) for raising finance for infrastructure development and other projects. Consequently, coun...

by Tanu M Goyal | On 09 May 2018

India and Trade Facilitation in Services (TFS) Agreement: Concerns and Way Forward

Services are a major component of global gross domestic product and employment, and a rising component of global trade and investment flows. This is the largest sector of the Indian ...

by Avantika Kapoor | On 25 Apr 2018

Dietary Diversity and Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture in India

Nithya D J is a Nutritionist at MSSRF with a doctorate degree in Food Science and Nutrition from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University. She has worked as Research Associate at the Indian Institute of Cro...

by Nithya D J | On 24 Apr 2018

Global Food Policy Report 2018

The 2018 Global Food Policy Report reviews major food policy developments and events from the past year. Leading researchers, policy makers, and practitioners examine what happened in food polic...

by IFPRI International Food Policy Research Institute | On 24 Apr 2018

Predictors of Age-Specific Childhood Mortality in India

Like many other developing nations, the age-specific mortality vary across regions and decline at different pace for India. Using a multinomial logit model, this study analyses the predictors for ne...

by G. Naline | On 16 Apr 2018

Thailand”s Seafood Slaves: Human Trafficking, Slavery and Murder in Kantang’s Fishing Industry

This report recalls and builds on the recommendations made in EJF’s 2015 report Pirates and Slaves.

by Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) | On 10 Apr 2018

Climate Policy under Cooperation and Competition between Regions with Spatial Heat Transport

The paper builds a novel stochastic dynamic regional integrated assessment model (IAM) of the climate and economic system including a number of important climate science elements that are missing in m...

by Yongyang Cai | On 04 Apr 2018

A Comparison of Global Governance Across Sectors: Global Health, Trade and Multilateral Development Finance

To what extent do the World Health Organization, the World Trade Organization, and the World Bank remain central today and how much influence do they still wield in shaping the global agenda? While...

by | On 30 Mar 2018

Trade Rules in E-commerce: WTO and India

Electronic commerce (e-commerce) is an integral part of business activities, and various models of e-commerce have emerged with liberalisation and technological developments. Global e-commerce trade...

by | On 28 Mar 2018

Money, Income, Prices, and Causality in Pakistan: A Trivariate Analysis

The report says that there has been a long debate in economics regarding the role of money in an economy particularly in the determination of income and prices.

by Fazal Hussain | On 27 Mar 2018

An Ethnographic Study of the Mathru Poorna Yojana (One Full Meal) Pilot Project for Pregnant and Lactating Mothers in Two Blocks of Two Districts in Karnataka

The present study was undertaken to review the pilot implementation of the programme and its uptake by beneficiaries, in order to provide data to the DWCD, before scaling up the programme to all distr...

by Centre for Budget and Policy Studies CBPS | On 23 Mar 2018

Regional Cooperation to Combat Climate Change: The Way Forward

This paper is based on the presentation given by the author at the Fifth WIEF roundtable on climate change held in Dhaka, organized by the WIEF secretariat on 20 March 2012. The paper will introduce t...

by | On 21 Mar 2018

Case Study of Madhu - A Tribal from Kerala

In the evening of February 22, 2018, A 30 year old man named Madhu, a tribal from Attappadi, Kerala was severely beaten up by the mob who accused him of stealing food items which included rice. Althou...

by Aarti Salve | On 10 Mar 2018

Women and Land in the Muslim World: Pathways to Increase Access to Land for the Realization of Development, Peace and Human Rights

This report looks at global normative work, regional frameworks, and good country level practices, it provides an analysis of the most important aspects to be taken into consideration to successfully...

by Ombretta Tempra | On 09 Mar 2018

SAARC Food Bank (SFB) Institutional Architecture and Issues of Operationalisation

In view of the need for an appropriate institutional architecture to address the food security concerns in South Asia, issues of proper operationalisation of the SAARC Food Bank (SFB) have assumed cr...

by | On 06 Mar 2018

Report Summary Women’s Healthcare: Policy Options

The paper says that the Committee noted that synergy between the central and state policies will bring changes in women's healthcare.

by Nivedita Rao | On 06 Mar 2018

Internationalisation of the Rupee

This paper evaluates the current status of the Indian Rupee as an international currency using the Chinn and Frankel (2008) framework, and explores the possibility of future Indian Rupee international...

by Shekhar Hari Kumar | On 27 Feb 2018

A New Measure of Inter-industry Distance and Its Application to the U.S. Regional Growth

The paper also suggests that our index can serve as an alternative measure of the industrial linkages.

by Yoon Joon | On 01 Feb 2018

Economic Survey 2017: Volume II, Chapter 7: Agriculture and Food Management

Agriculture and allied sector has a critical role in ensuring food security, reducing poverty and sustaining growth in India. To improve productivity in agriculture the focus has been on the critica...

by Arun Jaitley | On 31 Jan 2018

Economic Survey 2017: Volume II, Chapter 4: Prices and Inflation

Inflation in the country continued to moderate during 2017-18. CPI based headline inflation averaged 3.3 per cent during April-December 2017-18, the lowest in the last six financial years. The signi...

by Arun Jaitley | On 31 Jan 2018

Economic Survey 2017: Volume II: Chapter 6: External Sector

India’s external sector continued to be resilient and strong in 2017-18 so far, with the Balance of Payments situation continuing to be comfortable with the Current Account Deficit at 1.8 percent of ...

by Arun Jaitley | On 31 Jan 2018

Green Paper on Farmers, Farming and Rural Economy: 4 Years… 4 Budgets: What has this Central Government Delivered?

most of the major policy measures promised by this government to the Indian farmers have not seen the light of the day. No social security measures have been taken for farmers above the age of 60 or...

by ASHA Kisan Swaraj Alliance | On 31 Jan 2018

Trade in Intermediate Goods: Implications for Productivity and Welfare in Korea

The paper find technical changes and the degree of inefficiency are related with the magnitude of multipliers, but we leave a fundamental identification problem to future research.

by Kim Gui | On 30 Jan 2018

Economic Survey 2017: Volume II, Chapter 1: An Overview of India’s Economic Performance in 2017-18

With Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth averaging 7.5 per cent between 2014- 15 and 2016-17, India can be rated as among the best performing economies in the world on this parameter.

by Arun Jaitley | On 29 Jan 2018

Levels and Trends in Child Malnutrition

UNICEF, WHO, World Bank global and regional child malnutrition estimates from 1990 to 2017 reveal that we are still far from a world without malnutrition. The joint estimates, published in May 2017,...

by United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF | On 25 Jan 2018

What Determined 2015 TPA Voting Pattern?: The Role of Trade Negotiating Objectives

This paper analyzes 2015-TPA voting patterns in the Congress in the context of the trade negotiating objectives.

by Yoon Joon | On 24 Jan 2018

Regulating the Digital Economy: Are we Moving Towards a 'win‐ win' or a 'lose‐lose' ?

The digital economy has been growing by leaps and bounds in recent years, mostly as a result of new digital technologies that are promoting a global transformation to industry 4.0. The resulting expa...

by Padmashree Gehl Sampath | On 23 Jan 2018

Using Gross Trade Data to Map Archetypal GVCs

This paper introduces a new, publicly available database for tracking merchandise trade in the global value chains for apparel/textile/footwear, motor vehicles and parts, and electronics, developed or...

by Michael Ferrantino | On 16 Jan 2018

Dispute Settlement in the WTO and the Least Developed Countries: The Case of India’s Anti-Dumping Duties on Lead Acid Battery Import from Bangladesh

This paper looks at the case where India contested the tariff concessions granted by the members of the European Communities (EC) to twelve developing countries under its Generalised System of Prefere...

by M. Taslim | On 29 Dec 2017

Prioritizing Agricultural Research and Extension

India’s agricultural research and extension system has grown tremendously to meet the country’s rapid change in research and development (R&D) needs over the past half century. Major activities in thi...

by | On 27 Dec 2017

Prospects of India–Bangladesh Economic Cooperation: Implications for South Asian Regional Cooperation

In recent years, South Asia has received growing attention as a region that is integrating successfully into the global economy. To maximize the benefits in terms of faster growth and poverty reductio...

by Prabir De | On 19 Dec 2017

Effective Public Investments to Improve Food Security

This paper focuses on public investments to improve food security can be placed into five broad categories.

by Livia Bizikova | On 18 Dec 2017

Intersecting Weather Variability And Chronic Food Poverty

The report says that despite the government’s various poverty reduction and social protection programs, poverty remains a social problem the country needs to hurdle.

by Connie Bayudan-Dacuycuy | On 13 Dec 2017

PIDS Calls For ‘Intelligent’ Discourse On Federalism

The study says that the policymakers should see merit in examining whether federalism can indeed address the sociopolitical and economic problems that hamper the country’s growth.

by PIDS Information Staff | On 11 Dec 2017

Can Social Safety Nets Protect Public Health? The Effect of India's Workfare and Foodgrain Subsidy Programmes on Anaemia

This paper focuses on the consequences of a countrywide guaranteed workfare programme (MGNREGA) and subsidised food distribution scheme (PDS) in India for the prevalence of anaemia, examining whether...

by Sudha Narayanan | On 11 Dec 2017

Consumption Pattern in West Bengal - A Study of Per Capita Expenditure Elasticity by Income Group

The understanding of consumption patterns of the households of different income groups is essential for the development of successful food security policies. In recent years the studies on consumption...

by | On 08 Dec 2017

Sustainable Energy for All in South Asia Potential, Challenges, and Solutions

This paper narrates about the challenge of meeting energy demand is likely to get more complex, as it is growing to keep pace with the population growth and expanding economy.

by Muhammad Iftikhar | On 01 Dec 2017

India and Trade Facilitation in Services (TFS) Agreement: Concerns and Way Forward

Services are a major component of global gross domestic product and employment, and a rising component of global trade and investment flows. This is the largest sector of the Indian economy contributi...

by | On 30 Nov 2017

Demonetisation Post-Truths

On the day when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) finally reported that almost 99% of the proscribed currency notes of ?500 and ?1,000 denomination had returned to the banking system by 30 June 2017, th...

by | On 17 Nov 2017

Knowledge attitude and practice survey on social protection schemes in selective districts

The study focus on the existing social assistance schemes targeted towards the extreme poor.

by Rabia Tabassum | On 16 Nov 2017

Management of Capital Flows in India

Increased integration with global financial markets has amplified the complexity of macroeconomic management in India. The diverse objectives of a robust growth rate, healthy current account deficit,...

by Abhijit Sen Gupta | On 13 Nov 2017

From reference levels to results reporting: REDD+ under the UNFCCC

This report will also summarize experiences with the technical assessment process as of early 2017 and offer an overview of initial REDD+ results reporting and technical analyses of those reports.

by Food and Agricultural Organization [FAO] | On 31 Oct 2017

An Assessment of Pakistan's Export Performance and the Way Forward

This paper examines in detail Pakistan’s export performance in the light of emerging global challenges and identifies key structural and policy issues that stifle Pakistan’s exports.

by Afia Malik | On 25 Oct 2017

Macroeconomic Impact of International Reserves: Empirical Evidence from South Asia

This paper constructs a dynamic macro model with new monetary policy rule to examine the implications of international reserve accumulation for macroeconomic outcomes such as economic growth and infla...

by Prakash Shrestha | On 18 Oct 2017

Deepening Economic Cooperation between India and Sri Lanka

This study analyzes the India–Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (FTA) over the past decade. It is noted that bilateral trade between the countries has increased steadily and India became the most favored...

by Kavita Iyengar | On 13 Oct 2017

Towards ‘Make in South Asia’: Evolving Regional Values Chains

One of the most important ways in which several of the common developmental challenges in South Asia could be addressed is by focusing on manufacturing. In the new context, manufacturing becomes key...

by Ram Upendra Das | On 04 Oct 2017

Federalism and the Formation of States in India

In recent days, the process of federalization within the Indian Union has become more debatable due to the unequal federal development at various levels. In this context, the issues of state formation...

by Susant Kumar Naik | On 14 Sep 2017

Trade Potential of the Fishery Sector: Evidence from India

The contribution of fisheries sector to Indian merchandise trade and to world fishery trade is substantial. The items traded have gained reputation over the years which will help to keep the momentum...

by Veena Renjini K K | On 13 Sep 2017

Scoping Study on Reducing Unnecessary Regulatory Burdens in the Philippine Food Manufacturing Industry

The food manufacturing industry (FMI) is a major contributor to the country’s total manufacturing output.

by Nerlita M. et al. | On 08 Sep 2017

Toward a New Frame for Regional Films: Manbhum Videos and the Other Side of (Indian) Cinema

This article focuses on the production and mass circulation of locally produced videos in and across socially marginalized areas of Bengal. It emerges from the research conducted on the video industry...

by Madhuja Mukherjee | On 31 Aug 2017

Culture and Food Security

This paper reviews available cross-disciplinary evidence on how culture affects food security. We discuss the impact of culture on all four dimensions (availability, access and choice, utilization, a...

by Elena Briones Alonso | On 31 Aug 2017

Incentivising Domestic Manufacturing for a Sustainable Solar Industry

The report says that the global financial meltdown contributed to slowing down of global solar deployment, and allowed Indian developers to squeeze their costs further, demanding preferential rates an...

by Mohd. Ali | On 29 Aug 2017

Economic Integration and Development Partnerships: Southern Perspectives

Regional integration (RI) is a process by which countries enter into an agreement to upgrade cooperation through common institutions and rules. The objectives of the agreement could range from economi...

by Research and Information System for Developing Countries | On 24 Aug 2017

Indian Food and Welfare Schemes: Scope for Digitization Towards Cash Transfers

The paper presents a case for a phased rolling out of direct benefits transfer (DBT) for Food in India. By studying all states and Union Territories on three broad parameters: demographics, performanc...

by Shweta Saini | On 21 Aug 2017

Developments in Iran’s Agriculture Sector and Prospects for U.S. Trade

With one of the Middle East’s largest economies, a growing population, and rising incomes, Iran contributes significantly to the region’s agricultural commodity consumption. Iran’s rising food demand...

by Mesbah Motamed | On 18 Aug 2017

International Trade and Productivity Growth: Evidence from the Organised Manufacturing Sector in India

The present study is an attempt to examine the impact of international trade on manufacturing productivity in India. The literature on international trade suggests that the productivity of domestic ma...

by R Rijesh | On 09 Aug 2017

Environment and Labour on the Trade Agenda: Lessons for India from the TPP Agreement

This paper undertakes an evaluation of the Labour and Environment chapters of the TPP Agreement, with a view to determining India’s stand if the same or similar provisions are proposed in multilateral...

by Anwarul Hoda | On 08 Aug 2017

Factors Influencing Indian Manufacturing Firms’ Decision to Hire Contract Labour

The study attempts to investigate the factors affecting a firm’s decision to hire contract workers. The information from a specially commissioned survey of manufacturing firms undertaken in 2014 by IC...

by Jaivir Singh | On 08 Aug 2017

Promoting Organic Food Products and Exports - Status, Issues and Way Forward

This paper, based on a primary survey of companies engaged in organic food business in India and the United Kingdom (UK), examines how organic food can attract more investment (domestic and foreign) a...

by Arpita Mukherjee | On 08 Aug 2017

Risk-weighting under Standardised Approach of Computation of Capital for Credit Risk in Basel Framework – An Analysis of Default Experience of Credit Rating Agencies in India

The paper attempts to find out whether the credit risk regulatory capital of Indian banks is commensurate with the default experience associated with ratings assigned by the Indian rating agencies. Th...

by Ajay Kumar Choudhary | On 04 Aug 2017

Gender, Islam, and law

This paper considers arguments about Islam and women’s welfare, and, at greater length, how legal systems with Islamic elements treat women, with a focus on how women fare in Islamic family courts. Ke...

by John R. Bowen | On 02 Aug 2017

The India-Singapore Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement: An Appraisal of Progress

The Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) between India and Singapore came into effect on 1st August 2005. It was the first such comprehensive FTA signed by India with any country c...

by V. S. Seshadri | On 02 Aug 2017

The WTO Agreements Series: Agriculture

The publication includes the Agriculture Agreement as well as the decisions taken on agriculture at the 2013 Bali Ministerial Conference and the 2015 Nairobi Ministerial Conference.

by World Trade Organisation WTO | On 02 Aug 2017

Rethinking Electricity Sector Reform in Developing Asia: Balancing Economic and Environmental Objectives

The OECD or ‘standard’ model of electricity sector reforms has been widely adopted in non-OECD Asian countries since the 1990s. However, despite two decades of attempts at reforms, no notable progress...

by Tooraj Jamasb | On 31 Jul 2017

Concepts and Realities of Family Farming in Asia and the Pacific

The Asia and the Pacific region has the largest number of family farms in the world. It is home to 60 per cent of the world’s population and to 74 per cent of the world’s family farmers, with China al...

by Jingzhong Ye | On 30 Jul 2017

A Case for Institutional Demand as Effective Social Protection: Supporting Smallholders Through Procurement and Food Assistance Programmes

This paper focuses on the rationale for state-based market interventions to support smallholder production along with some case studies that follow the evolution and impact of what we call ‘institutio...

by Ryan Nehring | On 28 Jul 2017

Localising the gender equality goal through urban planning tools in South Asia

This paper also highlights the need for a coordinated approach to SDG implementation by demonstrating the case of gender equality and urban planning.

by Shrimoyee Bhattacharya | On 26 Jul 2017

2014 Clean Energy Investments: Project Summaries

This report summarizes the investments in clean energy made by the operations departments of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in 2014.

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 26 Jul 2017

Renewable Energy Developments and Potential in the Greater Mekong Subregion

Renewable energy is a challenge, but also an opportunity for new industries, employment, and new ways to reduce dependency on fuel imports, provide electricity to poor remote areas, reduce air polluti...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 18 Jul 2017

Trade Facilitation for a More Inclusive and Connected Asia and Pacific Region: Progress and Way Forward

This study also describes trade facilitation projects that promote development through deepening regional cooperation and integration.

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 14 Jul 2017

Implementation of the ASEAN+3 Multi-Currency Bond Issuance Framework: ASEAN+3 Bond Market Forum Sub-Forum 1 Phase 3 Report

The report says that the ASEAN+3 Multi-Currency Bond Issuance Framework (AMBIF) is a policy initiative under the Asian Bond Markets Initiative (ABMI) to help facilitate intraregional transactions thro...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 11 Jul 2017

Climate Change, Food Security, and Socioeconomic Livelihood in Pacific Islands

The results of the study indicate that climate change will likely have significant negative impacts on agricultural output in Fiji, Papua New Guinea, and Solomon Islands.

by M.W. Rosegrant | On 05 Jul 2017

Asian Development Outlook 2015 Supplement: Growth Holds Its Own in Developing Asia

The report says Asia’s developing economies remain on track to post growth of 5.8% in 2015 and 6.0% in 2016, as the region’s economies remain resilient to continued economic weakness in industrialized...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 26 Jun 2017

Development of Backward Areas Outcome of the interventions so far

The problem of balanced regional development received much greater attention in the Third Five Year Plan. The Plan took a more positive view of the possibility of reaching regional balance. It stated...

by MC Singhi | On 22 Jun 2017

Economic Vision of Lord Mahaveera: Building Blocks of Relative Economics

The central themes of Jainism are ahimsa (non-violence), anekant (nonabsolutism) and aprigraha (non-possession). Non-violence strengthens the autonomy of life of every being and if one believes that e...

by MC Singhi | On 22 Jun 2017

Fossil Fuel Subsidies in Asia: Trends, Impacts, and Reforms - Integrative Report

This report measures the size of associated subsidies on these fossil fuels including direct transfers, tax exemptions, subsidized credit, and losses of state enterprises in India, Indonesia, and Thai...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 14 Jun 2017

Climate Change and Variability What are the Risks for Nutrition, Diets, and Food Systems?

The paper uses a food systems approach to analyze the bidirectional relationships between climate change and food and nutrition along the entire food value chain. It then identifies adaptation and mit...

by Jessica Fanzo | On 30 May 2017

Quick Evaluation Study on Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY)

Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY) is a Conditional Maternity Benefit (CMB) Scheme of the Government of India launched in 2010. The scheme is being implemented by the Ministry of Women and C...

by Niti Aayog GOI | On 17 May 2017

Agricultural Production and Groundwater Conservation: Examples of Good Practices in Shanxi Province, People’s Republic of China

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) in 2009 approved the Shanxi Integrated Agricultural Development Project to strengthen agricultural production in 26 counties in Shanxi Province. Complementing the proj...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 12 May 2017

Economics Of Climate Change Mitigation In Central And West Asia

The ecological complexity of the Central and West Asian region gives way to diverse ecosystems with rich natural resources and hydrocarbon reserves; countries in this region are not only exposed to...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 04 May 2017

Groundwater Depletion, Adaptation and Migration: Evidence from Gujarat, India

Increasing water scarcity is expected to impact food production and the livelihoods of millions of farmers in semi arid developing countries over the next decades. Multiple studies project that this a...

by | On 22 Mar 2017

State of the World’s Forests 2016

This report explores the challenges and opportunities represented by the complex interrelationship between forests, agriculture and sustainable development. It demonstrates that the sustainable mana...

by Food and Agricultural Organization [FAO] | On 21 Mar 2017

Macroeconomic Impact of Demonetisation-A Preliminary Assessment

Demonetisation announced on November 8, 2016 was aimed at addressing corruption, black money, counterfeit currency and terror financing. Although demonetisation holds huge potential benefits in the me...

by Reserve Bank of India RBI | On 15 Mar 2017

Poverty Targeting Through Public Goods

In national accounts, government expenditures are used to measure the value of public spending. These expenditures grossly overestimate the value of services received by Indian households because th...

by Anders Kjelsrud | On 01 Mar 2017

Collective Action on South Asia's 'Wicked Problems'

The problems of water, energy, climate change, and urbanisation, are all intertwined; they are, also, all 'wicked'. There is little consensus on how to effectively navigate these problems, let alone,...

by | On 02 Feb 2017

Strategic Review of Food Security and Nutrition in Bangladesh

The battle against the challenges with food security and nutrition will have to be fought on many fronts at the same time. In general, anything that promotes broad-based or inclusive growth, thereby r...

by | On 18 Jan 2017

Demonetization of Currency Notes: Significance and Challenges

Demonetization is the act of stripping a currency unit of its status as legal tender. Demonetization is necessary whenever there is a change of national currency. The old unit of currency must be reti...

by | On 18 Jan 2017

The Power of Social Pensions

This paper examines the impacts of social pension provision among people of different ages. Utilizing the county-by-county rollout of the New Rural Pension Scheme in rural China, we find that, among t...

by | On 10 Jan 2017

The Problem of Inequality

The paper examines consumption, income, regional, social and gender inequalities in India. Income inequalities are much higher that of consumption. It also looks at inequalities in opportunities like...

by S.Mahendra Dev | On 19 Dec 2016

The State of India's Pulses Sector

Pulses in India have recently become a topic of concern among policymakers. Members of the Opposition, for instance, have pointed to the 'exceptionally high' cost of certain pulses as an indication of...

by | On 15 Dec 2016

Government’s Role in India’s Ailing Cold Storage Sector

Every year, India wastes about 18 per cent of fruits and vegetables, due to lack of post-harvest storage facilities. The cold storage sector has been one of the most undermined sectors in India, devo...

by Madhu Sivaraman | On 05 Dec 2016

Global Burden of Disease Study 2015

Global Burden of Diseases is an annual effort to measure the health of populations at regional, country, and selected subnational levels. GBD produces estimates of mortality and morbidity by cause, a...

by | On 29 Nov 2016

Shortfall in Pulses

At a macro level the demand for pulses has declined across income groups and region types and the diet has diversified towards sourcing protein from processed foods and livestock. And yet, there is su...

by Aritra Chakrabarty | On 21 Nov 2016

India-Africa Partnership for Food Security: Issues, Initiatives and Policy Directions

The paper argues that there is strong rationale for India-Africa collaboration on food security, given their common challenge of hunger, undernutrition, and low productivity. This paper offers specifi...

by | On 24 Oct 2016

Agriculture 2.0: Towards a Global Revolution for Sustainability

The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on zero hunger is a top priority on the international agenda, and eliminating hunger globally is naturally and inevitably tied to farming. Therefore, the SDGs ha...

by | On 19 Oct 2016

Problem of Food Security: A Brief Analysis of Tribal Area in India

The right to food is about freedom from hunger. The narrow meaning at hunger may be understood as the right to have two square meals a day, while in its broader meaning would include under nutrition....

by Johani Xaxa | On 17 Oct 2016

Climate Change Impact, Adaptation and Mitigation in Agriculture: Methodology for Assessment and Application

Climatic changes and increasing climatic variability are likely to aggravate the problem of future food security by exerting pressure on agriculture. However, there are lot of uncertainties about the...

by | On 17 Oct 2016

Protecting Women’s and Children’s Health From a Changing Climate

The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report notes that up to 2050, the main impact of climate change on health will be an increase in illness and deaths related to the env...

by World Health Organisation (WHO) | On 13 Oct 2016

MGNREGS: Political Economy, Local Governance and Asset Creation in South India

MGNREGS, the premier centrally-sponsored national rural livelihood scheme, is one of the most elaborately designed and implemented public workfare programmes in India. While a large number of studi...

by Vinoj Abraham | On 10 Oct 2016

Refugee Compacts: An Initial Framework

This brief outlines a particular iteration of a compact approach that incorporates critical components—such as shared outcomes for refugees, host country ownership and focus on longer-term transition,...

by Cindy Huang | On 10 Oct 2016

Concerns of Food Security, Role of Gender, and Intrahousehold Dynamics in Pakistan

The available literature in Pakistan is generally lacking in a critical examination of the issues related to intrahousehold resource allocation. This black box is due largely to the lack of individua...

by Hina Nazli | On 10 Oct 2016

Poor Women in Urban India: Issues and Strategies

It is generally recognised that poverty is experienced differently according to their gender, age, caste, class and ethnicity and within households. Income levels, food security and indeed life choice...

by | On 05 Oct 2016

Interactions between Policy Assumptions and Rural Women's Work - A Case Study

The concern of this paper is limited to the approaches to rural women's development and an understanding of their work roles in the planning strategies. [CWDS Working paper].

by Kumud Sharma | On 30 Sep 2016

Problems Pertaining Migration of Female Tribal Population: A Demographic Perspective on Their Migratory Patterns and Struggle

Migration is a complex issue which has been a subject of keen interest for many years to sociologists, anthropologists, demographers, economists and political scientists. The migrants who work out of...

by | On 29 Sep 2016

Determinants of Outsourcing in the Automobile Sector in India

This study involves the determination of outsourcing based on the market structure technology imports and technical efficiency for the automotive sector in India. An important characteristic of this...

by Santhosh K. Sahu | On 26 Sep 2016

Orphan Food? Nay, Future of Food ! Understanding the Pulse of the Indian Market

India can substantially increase her production and yield in pulses with a strategic emphasis on research in public and private sector, expanding irrigation infrastructure, provision of MSP to pulse...

by Satish Y Deodhar | On 23 Sep 2016

Agricultural Prices and Food Policy

Supply-demand imbalance at a given time is the main problem in India. Not much can be done with demand, as increase and shifting patterns in demand are normal with economic growth and urbanisation. St...

by C S C Sekhar | On 20 Sep 2016

Coping with Water Scarcity. Challenge of the 21st Century

Produced on the occasion of World Water Day 2007, which focused on the issue of water scarcity, this publication addresses the challenges of water scarcity in relation to climate change, rural areas,...

by Food and Agricultural Organization [FAO] | On 16 Sep 2016

Water for Food: Innovative Water Management Technologies for Food Security and Poverty Alleviation

This paper sets out the water and food security challenges in Least Development Countries (LDCs) and developing countries. The document explores the rainfed-irrigation nexus in different regions of th...

by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development UNCTAD | On 12 Sep 2016

Multi-Sectoral Approaches to Nutrition: The Case for Investment by Agriculture

Globally, 165 million children under the age of 5 suffer from chronic malnutrition, or stunting, and more than half (85 million) of these children live in Asia. Increasing access to nutritious diets b...

by United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF | On 12 Sep 2016

Toward SDG 2: Food Security and Urbanization in the Global South

In light of the United Nations’ SDGs1 and their global hunger directive, in particular Goal 2 to “end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition,” it is clear that food security will be a m...

by | On 09 Sep 2016

ICT Investments and Growth of Small and Medium Firms: A Study of Food Processing Industry in India

The objective of the present study is to examine the effect of ICT investments on the sales growth of SMEs from the food processing industry in India. Secondary data is collected from the Prowess d...

by Navyashree G. R. | On 08 Sep 2016

Habitat III National Reports for the Asia-Pacific Region

The National Reports received to date were considered during the development of the Regional Report and examples from National Reports have been incorporated into the Regional Report as appropriate T...

by United Nations (UN) | On 07 Sep 2016

Who Takes a Call on Price Stability, the Government or the RBI?

The question here is, whether it’s the responsibility of the Government or the Central Bank to ensure price stability in an economy? For instance, what was the role of the RBI when the prices of pulse...

by Deepthi Mary Mathew | On 07 Sep 2016

Words Matter: A Textual Analysis of SBP’s Monetary Policy Reviews

In this paper a textual analysis is performed of monetary policy statements issued during the past ten years by State Bank of Pakistan and compare them with policy reviews of seven selected central ...

by Asif Mahmood | On 07 Sep 2016

Smallholder Agriculture’s Contribution to Better Nutrition

Food insecurity and under-nutrition remain pressing problems in the developing world. Despite their direct contribution to food production, small-scale farmers and their households are disproportionat...

by Steve Wiggins | On 06 Sep 2016

The MDG Hunger Target and the Contested Visions of Food Security

This paper explores the normative and empirical consequences of the MDG hunger target (1C), to halve the proportion of people who are undernourished, measured by the proportion of children under 5 who...

by | On 06 Sep 2016

Undernutrition in Infants and Young Children in India: A Leadership Agenda for Action

In India, child undernutrition happens very early in life; 30 per cent of Indian infants younger than six months old are underweight and 58 per cent of children in the age group 18–23 months old are s...

by M. S. Swaminathan | On 05 Sep 2016

How Can India Help Prevent Food Price Volatility?

This article is about India's role in reducing food price volatility in the world. India has come a long way from a ‘ship to mouth existence’ to a country that is ready to confer legal right to food t...

by M. S. Swaminathan | On 02 Sep 2016

Bottlenecks in Indian Food Processing Industry

India is one of the world’s largest producers as well as consumer of food products, with the sector playing an important role in contributing to the development of the economy. Considering the critica...

by FICCI Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Indu | On 01 Sep 2016

Should Countries Be More Like Shopping Malls? A Proposal for Service Performance Guarantees

Many developing countries have made progress in political openness and economic management but still struggle to attract private sector investments, at least outside of narrow, resource-based enclaves...

by Alan Gelb | On 01 Sep 2016

ICT in Agriculture: Connecting Smallholders to Knowledge, Networks, and Institutions

Enhancing the ability of smallholders to connect with the knowledge, networks, and institutions necessary to improve their productivity, food security, and employment opportunities is a fundamental de...

by World Bank [WB] | On 01 Sep 2016

Challenges to Food Security in South Asia

The high levels of under-nutrition and persisting hunger in the region not only calls for an assessment of the situation of food production and consumption but also issues like access to food by the p...

by Arindam Banerjee | On 31 Aug 2016

Call to Action: Hunger, Under-Nutrition and Food Security in India

This policy brief presents to parliamentarians and other policy makers, to examine the hunger, undernutrition and food security situation prevailing in India. It advances the need to undertake effecti...

by N.C. Saxena | On 31 Aug 2016

Learning and Behavioral Spillovers of Nutritional Information

This paper provides evidence for informational spillovers within urban slums in Chandigarh, India. I identify three groups, a treatment group, a neighboring spillover group, and a nonadjacent pure con...

by | On 30 Aug 2016

Potential Effects of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership on the Philippine Economy

Using a global computable general equilibrium model, the paper analyzes the potential effects of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) on the Philippine economy. The analysis involves an...

by | On 30 Aug 2016

The Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill 2013: A Threat to our Food and Farming

The primary purpose of this policy brief is to expose the dangerous aspects of the Bill before Parliamentarians who must consider the potential harms to be caused by this Bill to our food and farming...

by Shubhi Sharma | On 30 Aug 2016

How does Supply Chain Distortion affect Food Inflation in India?

During the recent episode of persistently high food inflation in India, the role of rent seeking activities of food suppliers emerged as the centre of debate in the country. The rent seeking activitie...

by Rudrani Bhattacharya | On 29 Aug 2016

Microcredit Program Participation and Household Food Security in Rural Bangladesh

We use a relatively new and unique panel dataset collected from rural households in Bangladesh to examine the effect of microcredit program participation on household food security. The main distingui...

by | On 25 Aug 2016

Seed Wars and Farmers’ Rights: Comparative Perspectives from Brazil and India

Drawing on interviews with Indian and Brazilian farmers’ rights activists, lawyers, agronomists and plant breeders, this article aims at better understanding how farmers’ rights are protected on paper...

by | On 25 Aug 2016

Education for Rural Development: Towards New Policy Responses

The big challenge of the new century is the reduction of poverty. Virtually all countries and donors agree on the importance of reducing poverty and its attendant problems of inequity, lack of respect...

by Food and Agricultural Organization [FAO] | On 24 Aug 2016

Food Security and Agricultural Development in Times of High Commodity Prices

Efforts to promote food security must distinguish between short-term and medium-term measures, but also between countries with agricultural potential and without such potential, argues this paper. Fur...

by | On 24 Aug 2016

Does the ICDS Improve the Quantity and Quality of Children’s Diets? Some Evidence from Rural Bihar

This study analyses the impact of supplementary nutrition provided through ICDS on intakes of calories, proteins, vitamin A and iron among young children in Bihar. The analysis is based on 24-hour d...

by | On 19 Aug 2016

The History of Humanitarian Action in East and Southeast Asia: Asian Perspectives

ASEAN assumed different roles in responding to humanitarian crises in Cambodia (in the 1970s) and Myanmar (Cyclone Nargis in 2008). For the Cambodia situation, ASEAN was playing the role of ‘antagonis...

by | On 19 Aug 2016

Seeds of Adaptation: Climate Change, Crop Diversification, and the Role of Women Farmers

Women farmers around the world are taking the lead in putting crop and varietal conservation and diversification strategies into practice as a way to strengthen local climate change adaptation capacit...

by | On 17 Aug 2016

Estimation of the Food Poverty Line

To monitor changes in absolute poverty across time, it is crucial to ensure that the established poverty line is a fixed standard of living that represents the minimum standard required by an individu...

by Jose Ramon Alber | On 17 Aug 2016

Revisiting RP's Hybrid Rice Program

The United Nations General Assembly declared 2004 the International Year of the Rice (IYR). The IYR is a venue to promote improved production and development of sustainable rice-based systems that wil...

by Philippine Institute for Development Studies | On 16 Aug 2016

The State of Food and Agriculture: Social Protection and Agriculture: Breaking the Cycle of Rural Poverty

This edition of The State of Food and Agriculture 2015 reviews the effectiveness of social protection interventions in reducing poverty, raising food consumption, relieving household food insecurity a...

by Food and Agricultural Organization [FAO] | On 16 Aug 2016

Brain Drain Versus Brain Gain: The Study of Remittances in Southeast Asia and Promoting Knowledge Exchange Through Diasporas

The study attempts to identify the macroeconomic determinants of remittance inflows in South Asian countries. It uses additively separable utility function as theoretical framework and the Arellano-Bo...

by | On 16 Aug 2016

An Introduction to the Basic Concepts of Food Security

Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healt...

by Food and Agricultural Organization [FAO] | On 16 Aug 2016

Trade Liberalization and Regional Dynamics

We study the evolution of trade liberalization’s effects on local labor markets, following Brazil’s early 1990s trade liberalization. Regions that initially specialized in industries facing larger t...

by Rafael Dix-Carneiro | On 16 Aug 2016

Feeding Climate Change: What the Paris Agreement Means for Food and Beverage Companies

This paper presents new data commissioned from the research consultancy CE Delft on the greenhouse gas emissions footprints and water scarcity footprints of major food commodities. The data demonstrat...

by Oxfam International | On 16 Aug 2016

Signing away Sovereignty: How Investment Agreements Threaten Regulation of the Mining Industry in the Philippines

In the last decade, the resource-rich Philippines has bet heavily on the mining industry as a development strategy, an approach that has come under growing scrutiny. With 47 large-scale mines in oper...

by Cecilia Olivet | On 10 Aug 2016

Food Security, Inclusive Growth, Sustainability, and the Post-2015 Development Agenda

Over the next several decades, the world faces an historic challenge and opportunity at the nexus of food security, economic development, and the environment. The world needs to be food secure. The wo...

by Craig Hanson | On 10 Aug 2016

Gender and Food Security

Persistent hunger and malnutrition is a problem affecting millions of people globally, the majority of whom are women and girls. Food and nutrition insecurity is a political, economic and environmenta...

by Bridge Cutting Edge Programme | On 09 Aug 2016

Social Development of SIDS, Health and NCDs, Youth and Women

SIDS underscore social development as one of the three dimensions of sustainable development key to ensuring results are achieved for most vulnerable and disadvantaged. Small island developing states...

by UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs UNDESA | On 09 Aug 2016

Food Security, Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry, Marine and Maritime and Inland Water Research and the Bioeconomy

This Work Programme will leverage research and innovation to address major societal challenges. Ensuring food and nutritional security, together with resource efficiency, and facing climate change. Ac...

by European union | On 09 Aug 2016

Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security in LDCs

70% of the population engaged in agriculture. The vast majority of the poor and food insecure are in rural areas. Therefore poverty alleviation and food security must start in these areas. The most cr...

by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development UNCTAD | On 09 Aug 2016

Market Integration and Price Transmission in Tajikistan’s Wheat Markets: Rising Like Rockets but Falling Like Feathers?

The extent of market integration and transmission of food price shocks is a major determinant of price stability and overall food security, particularly in developing countries. Few studies have exam...

by Jarilkasin Ilyasov | On 08 Aug 2016

Food Scurity and Nutrition: The Drivers of Change

This section looks at a range of factors that enable progress towards food security and nutrition goals. The list of factors – economic growth, agricultural productivity growth, markets (including int...

by Food and Agricultural Organization [FAO] | On 03 Aug 2016

Universal PDS: Efficiency and Equity Dimensions

India being home to the largest number of poor and malnourished population in the world, the tabling of National Food Security Bill has renewed the public pressure for universalization of PDS in Ind...

by Sowmya Dhanraj | On 03 Aug 2016

Global Estimates 2015: People Displaced by Disasters

The time is opportune to ensure the causes and consequences of this urgent issue are better addressed. Policy makers are pushing for concerted progress across humanitarian and sustainable development...

by | On 01 Aug 2016

Operational Guidelines: Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana

Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) aims at supporting sustainable production in agriculture sector by way of providing financial support to farmers suffering crop loss/damage arising out of unf...

by Ministry of Agriculture GOI | On 28 Jul 2016

Review of Agri-Food Value Chain Interventions Aimed at Enhancing Consumption of Nutritious Food by the Poor: Pakistan

How can agriculture play a more effective role in improving nutrition in countries with a high burden of hidden hunger and where an increasing proportion of the poor sources its food from the market?...

by | On 27 Jul 2016

Business as Usual: Responses within ASEAN to the Food Crisis

The United Nations estimates that the number of people worldwide who suffer from chronic food shortages might now exceed one billion. That skyrocketing prices of food in general, and...

by Randall Arnst | On 22 Jul 2016

Resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly on the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition (2016-2025)

he United Nations General Assembly agreed a resolution proclaiming the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition from 2016 to 2025. The resolution aims to trigger intensified action to end hunger and eradicate...

by United Nations (UN) | On 20 Jul 2016

State and the IT Industry in India: A Policy Critique

By adopting a historical comparative perspective,this paper assesses the role of state (both national and subnational) in industrialisation through the growth and policy experience of an ‘achieving’ s...

by Keshab Das | On 20 Jul 2016

Food Security and the Millennium Development Goal on Hunger in Asia

The MDG on hunger requires that the proportion of people suffering from hunger be halved between 1990 and 2015. Behind this apparently simple statement lies much complexity: the food intake required t...

by | On 19 Jul 2016

India’s Informal Trade with Pakistan

This study (i) identifies factors determining informal trade, (ii) prepares estimates of India's informal trade with Pakistan (iii) examines the modalities of informal trade (iv) analyzes the transact...

by Nisha Taneja | On 13 Jul 2016

Conflicts in the South China Sea and China ASEAN Economic Interdependence: A Challenge to Cooperation

This paper analyzes the absence of correlation between China-ASEAN economic interdependence and dispute settlement in the South China Sea, against liberals’ prediction. It argues that there are a few...

by | On 13 Jul 2016

Rising Food Prices in South Asia: A Policy Framework to Mitigate Adverse Effects

The recent commodity boom has seriously affected South Asia, particularly due to higher food prices and their impact on the welfare of poor and vulnerable populations. This paper describes the food cr...

by S.Mahendra Dev | On 12 Jul 2016

Odisha State Agriculture Policy 2013

A wholesome policy framework for the benefit of the farmers of the State is in place since 2008 with a focus more on the economic well-being of the farmers, rather than just on production and growth....

by Government of Odisha | On 11 Jul 2016

Rural Livelihood Diversification and its Measurement Issues: Focus India

The rural structural distinctiveness in terms of resource endowments and factors of production often has bearings on livelihood and well-being of their people, constraining improvement in the economic...

by Rajiv Mehta | On 11 Jul 2016

Operational Guidelines: Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme

Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (WBCIS) aims to mitigate the hardship of the insured farmers against the likelihood of financial loss on account of anticipated crop loss resulting from adverse wea...

by Department of Agriculture & Cooperation GOI | On 07 Jul 2016

Solutions for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems

This report has benefited from substantial input from many people, including the members of the Thematic Group and hundreds of suggestions received from experts representing all sectors of agriculture...

by | On 05 Jul 2016

Irrigation Water Management for Food Security in India: The Forgotten Realities

India’s water crisis is often perceived to have been perpetuated by the widening gap between the utilizable water resources and the aggregate demand for water in agriculture and other sectors in certa...

by | On 04 Jul 2016

The “Engine of Economic Growth”: An Overview of Private Investment Policies, Trends, and Projects in Cambodia

This paper aims to present an overview and analysis of the current investment landscape in Cambodia, as well as its impacts on people and the environment. It is hoped that the information ...

by Mark Grimsditch | On 01 Jul 2016

Water Scarcity and Food Security

The water crisis already looming large will therefore quite probably trigger significant shortfalls in cereal production and, as a result, a massive global food crisis. But before that the dearth of p...

by | On 24 Jun 2016

Climate Risk and Food Security in Nepal: Analysis of Climate Impacts on Food Security and Livelihoods

Food security is a priority issue in Nepal. In spite of recent progress, Nepal is amongst the most at-risk countries in the world in terms of prevalence of stunting and wasting: 42 per cent of childre...

by World Food Programme WFP | On 24 Jun 2016

Right to Food in India: Mitigating amidst Challenges

What are the policies that Indian government has implemented to alleviate poverty and hunger? Can we say that these are implemented in the right way? What lies in future?

by Aarti Salve | On 24 Jun 2016

Food Security Challenges in Asia

The problems of food security and agriculture should be viewed within the context of the broader structural transformation as Asia becomes increasingly urban and nonagricultural. This paper aims to re...

by Asian Bank | On 23 Jun 2016

Innovative Water Management Technologies for Food Security and Poverty Alleviation

Agriculture is central to food security and economic growth in developing countries and provides the main source of livelihood for three out of four of the world’s poor. But food production requires s...

by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development UNCTAD | On 20 Jun 2016

Nutrition and Agriculture

Agriculture and nutrition are linked in many ways. People have long recognized the most obvious connection—food security is one of the three pillars of good nutrition, along with good care and good he...

by Lawrence Haddad | On 17 Jun 2016

Childhood Obesity and Non-Communicable Diseases

India is facing the rising burden due to Noncommunicable diseases, and overweight and obesity in childhood is an important forerunner to adulthood chronic diseases. Early life interventions in adop...

by Indian Council of Medical Research ICMR | On 15 Jun 2016

Defending the Commons, Territories and the Right to Food and Water

Almost a billion people around the world are now suffering from hunger and malnutrition - a dramatic rise in number since the soaring food prices over the last three years. Of these, about half ar...

by Focus on the Global South FGS | On 10 Jun 2016

From Uniformity to Diversity: A Paradigm Shift from Industrial Agriculture to Diversified Agroecological Systems

Today’s food and farming systems have succeeded in supplying large volumes of foods to global markets, but are generating negative outcomes on multiple fronts: widespread degradation of land, water an...

by | On 10 Jun 2016

Children's Voices, Children's Rights: One Year After the Nepal Earthquake

The consultations highlight the high rate of penetration of the Nepal earthquakes response (97.5 per cent of consulted children acknowledged to have benefitted from relief assistance), likely due to...

by Virgil Fievet | On 09 Jun 2016

The Wealth of Waste: The Economics of Wastewater Use in Agriculture

This Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) water report presents an economic framework for the assessment of the use of reclaimed water in agriculture, as part of a comprehensive planning process in...

by Food and Agricultural Organization [FAO] | On 07 Jun 2016

Building the Foundations for Sustainable Nutrient Management

The report details how rising CO2 emissions are altering the chemical balance of our oceans and outlines the wide-ranging consequences of this emerging issue on marine food chains and ecosystems as we...

by United Nations Environment Programme UNEP | On 07 Jun 2016

Contracting by Small Farmers in Commodities with Export Potential: Assessing Farm Profits of Lentil Growers in Nepal

This study is undertaken to quantify the benefits of contract farming (CF) on farmers’ income in a case where new market opportunities are emerging for smallholder farmers in Nepal. CF is...

by Anjani Kumar | On 07 Jun 2016

Global Action on Climate Change in Agriculture: Linkages to Food Security, Markets and Trade Policies in Developing Countries

The objective of this report is to catalyse thinking about the ways in which agriculture – which has a vital role in global food security, development and natural resources use – can and must be fully...

by Aziz Elbehri | On 06 Jun 2016

Water: Facts and Trends

This working document provides an overview of some basic facts and societal challenges related to water. The emphasis in this initial document is on water availability and people’s use of water for ag...

by | On 06 Jun 2016

Shifting Diets for a Sustainable Food Future

The role of one consumption-based solution: shifting the diets of populations who consume high amounts of calories, protein, and animal-based foods are analysed. Specifically, we consider three in...

by Janet Ranganathan | On 06 Jun 2016

Nutrition: The First Two Years are Forever

This report reads from UNICEF’s policy, programme and communication experience globally and in India, both at national and state levels, and builds on the work by the National Coalition for Sustainabl...

by United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF | On 03 Jun 2016

The Mixture as Before? Student Responses to the Changing Content of School Meals in India

We study how attendance rates of primary school children respond to cost neutral changes in the design of India’s school meal program. Municipal schools in the capital region of Delhi switched from pa...

by | On 02 Jun 2016

Intellectual Property Rights and Preferential Trade Agreements: Data, Ceoncepts and Research Avenues

Today, more than half of international trade is regulated through preferential trade agreements (PTAs). While in the past, these agreements served as tools to eliminate further tariffs between the pa...

by | On 01 Jun 2016

Identifying Stakeholders in the Land Use Management Process and Related Critical Factors in ASEAN

With growing populations and demand for food, farmers in ASEAN member states (except Singapore) are required to produce more and more food from land that continues to decline due to population growth,...

by | On 31 May 2016

Agriculture and ASEAN Economies: Still Key for Growth

Despite its declining contribution to the GDP of ASEAN economies, agriculture remains a major source of employment for rural populations and provides much value add for agrifood industries. The ASEAN...

by | On 27 May 2016

How Risky is a Random Process?

The riskiness of random processes is compared by (a) employing a decision-theoretic equivalence between processes and lotteries on path spaces to identify the riskiness of the former with that of the...

by Sudhir A. Shah | On 26 May 2016

Poverty in Cambodia - A New Approach: Redefining the Poverty Line

This report presents the results of the new approach to measuring poverty and standards of living, which the Royal Government of Cambodia initiated and carried out through 2011-2012.

by | On 25 May 2016

Food vs Forests in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Challenge for the SDGs

Domestic food supply in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) will need to triple in the next 35 years. But SSA countries have also committed to reducing or halting deforestation. The tripling of food supply canno...

by Xiaoting Jones | On 25 May 2016

Potassium Bromate/Iodate in Bread and Bakery Products : A CSE Policy Brief

Use of chemical food additives is a common practice in packaged and processed foods. Not all of them are safe. One such additive is potassium bromate (KBrO3 ) which, until over two decades ago, was r...

by | On 25 May 2016

Stop Stunting in South Asia: A Common Narrative on Maternal and Child Nutrition

Governments in South Asia are progressively acknowledging that child stunting is both a marker and a maker of poor development. UNICEF regional and country offices in South Asia work with regional bo...

by United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF | On 24 May 2016

Innovation (and Upgrading) in the Automobile Industry: The Case of India

This paper focuses on the automobile industry and examines the nature of global value chains in it with reference to the case of India. The aim is to explore the relation between lead firms, particula...

by Saon Ray | On 23 May 2016

Nutritional Intake in India: 2004-2005

The present report on nutritional intake in India is based on data collected through the 61st round of NSS (July 2004-June 2005). It mainly focuses on intake of nutrients by households in terms of pro...

by Ministry of Statistics and Prog Implementation (MOSPI) | On 20 May 2016

India State Hunger Index: Comparisons of Hunger across States

The results of the India State Hunger Index 2008 highlight the continued overall severity of the hunger situation in India, while revealing the variation in hunger across states within India. It is in...

by Purnima Menon | On 20 May 2016

Dossier of The Proposed Iron Ore Mining in the Sawantwadi -Dodamarg Stretch of the Sindhudurg Dist, Maharashtra: India Mining Projects in the Northern Western Ghats

Various mining projects have been proposed in the Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra. The proposed mining area seeks to destroy about 200 sq km. in the Western Ghats part of the Sawantwadi and Dodam...

by | On 18 May 2016

Biodiversity for Sustainable Development: Delivering Results for Asia and the Pacific

The aim is to develop capacity at the individual, institutional and systemic levels to identify and implement new options for effective democratic governance for biodiversity and ecosystem management...

by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) | On 18 May 2016

Biodiversity and Sustainable Development

The present publication reinforces the importance of biodiversity, particularly in the context of sustainable development. It attempts to give an overview of the issue, by analysing the main thematic...

by | On 18 May 2016

Biodiversity and Sustainable Development: A Critical Analysis

Solving the problem of environmental threats and a dwindling biodiversity has been on the international agenda for some decades now. The formulation of environmental questions, however, is changing sl...

by | On 18 May 2016

Assessing the Challenges of Climate Change to Biodiversity in Food and Agriculture Production in the Pacific

Ten countries from the Pacific have gathered in Nadi, Fiji, for a regional consultation on the region’s biodiversity for food and agriculture. The consultation, on the State of Biodiversity for Food a...

by Nadi Fiji | On 17 May 2016

High and Dry : Climate Change, Water, and the Economy

The impacts of climate change will be channeled primarily through the water cycle, with consequences that could be large and uneven across the globe. Water-related climate risks cascade through food,...

by World Bank [WB] | On 11 May 2016

Air Pollution in Delhi: Air Quality Index - Public Awareness Tool

The air pollution in Delhi is shown and how the air quality index is calculated and the health impacts are shown here.

by J.K. Bassin | On 11 May 2016

Evaluation Study of Targeted Public Distribution System in Selected States

The Ministry of Food, Public Distribution and Consumer Affairs has entrusted a study to the NCAER to assess whether, and to what extent, the weaknesses noted by past evaluation studies on the TPDS ha...

by Sohini Paul | On 09 May 2016

Factors Impacting Railway Freight Traffic in India

The Indian Railway (IR) system is one of the four railway systems in the world that transports more than one billion tonnes of traffic annually. As against a growth of 4 per cent to 4.5 per cent in t...

by Saurabh Bandyopadhyay | On 09 May 2016

Agricultural Outlook and Situation Analysis Reports: Rabi Outlook Report January 2016

Accordingly, the agricultural outlook and situation analysis undertaken in this study refers to the main crop based food items: cereals (specifically rice, wheat, jowar, bajra, maize and overall coars...

by Rajesh Chadha | On 09 May 2016

Issues in India's External Sector

The lecture examines the recent developments in the external sector and address some critical issues such as the appropriate level of current account deficit, exchange rate policy, adequacy of reserve...

by C. Rangarajan | On 06 May 2016

Quality Control in Non-Staple Food Markets: Evidence from India

Using original data collected about growers, traders, processors, markets, and village communities, the situation in four states – Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Orissa is compared. The w...

by Marcel Fafchamps | On 06 May 2016

Measures, Spatial Profile and Determinants of Dietary Diversity: Evidence from India

Food security policies in developing countries generally focus on calorie intake, which is not sufficient to tackle the triple burden of malnutrition: undernourishment, micronutrient deficiencies and...

by Mousumi Das | On 02 May 2016

Reserve Currencies: Can Multiplicity Work?

The paper analyzes the potential rise of new reserve currencies in the context of the economic and political determinants of an international currency. Two models analyze the role of soft political p...

by | On 02 May 2016

Global Nutrition Policy Review: What Does it Take to Scale up Nutrition Action?

This Global Nutrition Policy Review is based on a questionnaire survey conducted during 2009–2010, in which 119 WHO Member States and 4 territories participated. Selected case studies illustrate the...

by World Health Organisation (WHO) | On 22 Apr 2016

Maritime Failures

India's trade infrastructure is in a bad shape. India's imports are very high than its exports. The government has promised some investments and policies in this sector.

by T.N. Ninan | On 16 Apr 2016

Coping with Water Scarcity: An Action Framework for Agriculture and Food Security

This report develops around the conceptual framework to address food security under conditions of water scarcity is part of this programme. The purpose of this report is to assess the options and scop...

by Pasquale Steduto | On 13 Apr 2016

International Food Security Assessment, 2015-2025

Food security in the 76 low- and middle-income countries included in this report is expected to improve between 2014 and 2015. These countries are low- and middle-income countries as classified by the...

by Anthony Murray | On 12 Apr 2016

Human Security & Food Security

As the international community transitions from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the challenges ahead of Member States is to build on the substanti...

by Food and Agricultural Organization [FAO] | On 12 Apr 2016

Role of National Food Security Mission (NFSM) in Improving Agricultural Productivity in Selected Districts

A study was undertaken by the Council for Social Development with the sponsorship of Planning Commission, Government of India with the following specific objectives to analyse the impact of NFSM initi...

by Ankita Goyal | On 05 Apr 2016

Bangladesh National Food Policy Plan of Action (2008-2015)

The NEP Plan of Action (PoA) 2008 translates the provisions of the National Food Policy, 2006 towards achieving its three core objectives into 26 strategic areas of intervention, priority actions to b...

by Food Planning and Monitoring Unit (FPMU) | On 04 Apr 2016

Global Food Policy Report 2016

IFPRI’s Flagship Report puts into perspective the major food policy issues, developments, and decisions of 2015 and highlights challenges and opportunities for 2016. This year’s report takes an in-dep...

by International Food Policy Research Institute | On 04 Apr 2016

How the Collapse of ‘Chimerica’ Will Affect South Asia

India and Pakistan, the two large countries in South Asia, must work for the region’s collective good rather than moving closer to the United States and China, respectively, and promoting the interest...

by Shahid Javed Burki | On 28 Mar 2016

Impact of the People’s Republic of China’s Growth Slowdown on Emerging Asia: A General Equilibrium Analysis

As an important global and regional economic power, the PRC’s growth slowdown may cause large spillover effects to its neighboring economies. Using a multi-sectoral global computable general equilibri...

by Fan Zhai | On 22 Mar 2016

Structural Change, Economic Growth and Trade: Case for Regional Reallocation of Investment in India

The economic structure and rates of growth across the states in India are markedly different, with significant disparities in income per capita growth as well as sector-specific performance. The high-...

by Alokesh Barua | On 21 Mar 2016

Investing in Natural Capital for a Sustainable Future in the Greater Mekong Subregion

The Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) is poised to continue developing at a significant pace. The subregion is well placed to benefit from the emerging Association of Southeast Asian Nations Economic Com...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 15 Mar 2016

Disaster Risk Management in Asia and the Pacific

The study considers key trends, in terms of disaster incidence, sources of vulnerability, and social and economic impacts. This is followed by discussions of some of the major issues: compound disaste...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 15 Mar 2016

The South China Sea: Resetting the Chessboard

The U.S.’ re-engagement in the Asia-Pacific marks a significant recalibration of its foreign policy and a turning point in the power politics of the region. The impetus for this re-engagement is borne...

by | On 14 Mar 2016

US-DPRK Bilateral Talks

The United States and North Korea resumed talks in Beijing on February 23–24, 2012, after a delay following the death of Kim Jong Il two months ago. Present at the talks were a delegation of the DPRK...

by Sangsoo Lee | On 14 Mar 2016

The Housing Market and Housing Policies in Japan

Housing policies in Japan after World War II were focused on the quantitative supply of houses with a wide range of targeted groups and public rental houses. The Japan Housing Corporation (now the Urb...

by Masahiro Kobayashi | On 14 Mar 2016

North Korea: Nukes, Nationalism & Negotiations

As South Korea this month takes up the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council, concerns over North Korea’s nuclear program grow. Pyongyang’s recent rocket tests, its anticipated th...

by Sangsoo Lee | On 12 Mar 2016

Carving up the Skies: China's New Air Defense Zone

China’s establishment of a new Air Defense Identification Zone has heightened tensions in Northeast Asia, with Japan, South Korea, and the United States having been swift to react to Beijing’s announc...

by Sangsoo Lee | On 12 Mar 2016

China-Vietnam Drilling Rig Incident: Reflections and Implications

After a period of stability between China and Vietnam in the South China Sea with positive developments in terms of dispute management, China’s dispatch of a drilling rig to areas west of the Paracel...

by | On 11 Mar 2016

Consumer’s Acceptance towards Genetically Modified Crops and Growth of the Economy: A Theoretical Approach

This paper develops a three-sector theoretical growth model to capture the role of consumers’ acceptance towards the second generation of genetically modified (GM) crops in the long run growth process...

by Arpita Ghose | On 10 Mar 2016

Nutritional Status in Pakistan

In Pakistan, despite an increase in per capita food availability and resultant rise in per capita calorie and protein intake, the prevalence of malnutrition has not improved over last 20 years [Nation...

by Sarfraz K. Qureshi | On 10 Mar 2016

Institutional Change in Market-Liberal State Capitalism: An Integrative Perspective on the Development of the Private Business Sector in China

This paper shows that a more accurate depiction of the development of China’s private sector is gained by considering the complex interaction between bottom-up and top- down processes. First, the pape...

by | On 09 Mar 2016

Transboundary Pollution as an Issue in Northeast Asian Regional Politics

The paper investigates the political aspects of the coorperation between China, South Korea and Japan to address transboundary pollution in Northeast Asia. Investigating the motivations, modalities an...

by Reinhard Drifte | On 09 Mar 2016

Energy Security in Northeast Asia: Putin, Progress and Problems

This article intends to bring to light the energy security concept in the region, while analyzing how this multilateral cooperative energy scheme can contribute to building a new regional economic sec...

by Se Hyun Ahn | On 09 Mar 2016

Water Woes and Food Security

This NTS-Alert examines the nexus between water management and food security in Asia and how climate change exacerbates the adverse impacts that result from poor water management. It then highlights t...

by S. Rajaratnam International Studies | On 05 Mar 2016

Putting Food on the International Table

Based on the recent Group of Eight (G8) Summit held in Italy, this issue of the Alert will examine international deliberations on food security with a focus on the efforts and challenges facing the G8...

by S. Rajaratnam International Studies | On 05 Mar 2016

‘Land Grabbing’: The Global Search For Food Security In Southeast Asia

By the end of the last decade, the total area of farmland globally that was acquired by government-backed foreign investors amounted to nearly half the size of Europe. In addition to Latin America, Af...

by S. Rajaratnam International Studies | On 05 Mar 2016

‘Land Grab’ and its Discontents

In the last two years, there has been a proliferation of acquisitions of farmland in resource-rich but capital-starved countries in the Global South. International reports attribute this trend to gove...

by S. Rajaratnam International Studies | On 05 Mar 2016

Climate Change and Migration: What Are the Connections?

The Jakarta Post recently reported experts as saying that ‘[e]xtreme weather caused by climate change has given people another reason to migrate’. The comment was made in reference to a soon-to-be rel...

by S. Rajaratnam International Studies | On 03 Mar 2016

Peacebuilding Governance – Negotiating the Khmer Rouge Trials

The domestic policies of the Khmer Rouge regime resulted in widespread human insecurity. The pursuit of justice against past atrocity crimes through the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodi...

by Lina Gong | On 02 Mar 2016

Economic and Political Relations Between Bhutan and Neighbouring Countries

The diversification of Bhutan’s relations began with its entry into the United Nations in 1971, and while external relations continued to be largely confined to India, the establishment of its relatio...

by | On 02 Mar 2016

Connecting the Dots: An Analysis of Union Budget 2016-17

It presents a comprehensive analysis of the priorities and proposals in Union Budget 2016-17, focusing on social sectors (such as education, health, drinking water and sanitation, food security etc.)...

by Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability CBGA | On 02 Mar 2016

Report on "Strategy of Coalition for Food and Nutrition Security"

The Coalition serves as a platform for the members to collaborate and achieve a common vision: "To achieve sustainable food and nutrition security for all" The Coalition aims to raise awareness, foste...

by Coalition for Food & Nutrition Security India | On 02 Mar 2016

Review of Agri-Food Value Chain Interventions

This paper lays out a conceptual framework to guide the analysis of value chain-based interventions aimed at enhancing the intake of micronutrient-dense foods in South Asia under the LANSA research pr...

by Spencer Henson | On 01 Mar 2016

Access to Nutrition Index: Global Index 2016

ATNI is a global initiative that evaluates the largest food and beverage manufacturers’ policies, practices and disclosure related to all types of poor nutrition. It provides companies with a tool to...

by Access to Nutrition Index (ATNI) | On 01 Mar 2016

Cultivated Land Conversion in China and the Potential for Food Security and Sustainability

With over a billion people in China, the issue of cultivated land conversion is extremely important both in terms of food security and environmental sustainability. This paper investigates the relatio...

by Shunji Cui | On 01 Mar 2016

Food Security and the Targeted Public Distribution System in India

Annual food production is enough to feed the 6.9 billion people in the world today. However, access and distribution of food in order that people do not have to die due to hunger continues to remain e...

by Ruth Kattumuri | On 01 Mar 2016

Vital Stats: Union Budget 2016-17

Trends regarding the central government’s sources of financing including tax revenue, disinvestments, and its revenue and capital expenditure, including subsidies. Estimates are presented in the 2016-...

by Mandira Kala | On 01 Mar 2016

Challenges and Developments in the Financial Systems of the Southeast Asian Economies

This paper discusses the economies and financial systems of Southeast Asia (SEA) and focuses on challenges and developments in the region. Despite the diversity of SEA economies and some important exc...

by Toshiyuki Shimada | On 29 Feb 2016

Making Agroecology Viable For Small Farmers: Experiences From The Fields

Agroecological farming weaves in the essentials so that there is profit for each-soil, seeds, traditional knowledge of communities, food security and food sovereignty.

by | On 29 Feb 2016

Asia-Pacific Migration Report 2015 Migrants' Contributions to Development

The Report assesses the development impacts of migrants in the countries of the Asia-Pacific region and provides guidance on the steps countries, regional organizations, civil society actors and other...

by United Nations Economic and Social Commission (UNESCAP) | On 29 Feb 2016

Diet and Nutritional Status of Population and Prevalence of Hypertension Among Adults in Rural Areas

The study highlights the need for implementation of developmental programmes in the tribal areas for the overall improvement of nutritional status of the community. There is also a need to carryout in...

by National Institute of Nutrition | On 29 Feb 2016

Diet and Nutritional Status of Tribal Population Report on First Repeat Survey

In this report about 90,885 individuals were covered for nutritional anthropometry and clinical examination from 30,390 households. The results indicated that there was reduction in the prevalence of...

by National Institute of Nutrition | On 29 Feb 2016

Diet and Nutritional Status of Tribal Population and Prevalence of Hypertension among Adults

This report outlines the results of the surveys on diet and nutritional status of the populations. The objective is to assess the food and nutrient intakes of individuals in the rural areas of the sta...

by National Institute of Nutrition | On 29 Feb 2016

Information for Climate Change Adaptation: Lessons and Needs in South Asia

This paper serves as background for a South Asian regional workshop that will bring together adaptation information users and producers to inform likely new investments in the information base for cli...

by Ayesha Dinshaw | On 29 Feb 2016

Combating Low Birth Weight and Intra - Uterine Growth Retardation

Low birth weight is a major public health problem in India. About 30% of all infants born in hospitals are reported to weigh less than 2.5 kg at birth. Studies carried out by ICMR in the late seventie...

by Sarath Gopalan | On 29 Feb 2016

20 Years of Human Security: A special focus on food security

This year is the 20th anniversary of the release of the 1994 United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Human Development Report, which defined the concept of human security and brought it to int...

by S. Rajaratnam International Studies | On 27 Feb 2016

Reinforcing Health Security in ASEAN

With the recent rise of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, Ebola, multi-drug resistant tuberculosis, it is important to further reinforce ASEAN’s pr...

by S. Rajaratnam International Studies | On 27 Feb 2016

Adapting to Emerging Challenges of Food Insecurity Post-2015

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN) defines food security as a “situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to suf...

by S. Rajaratnam International Studies | On 27 Feb 2016

Rising Milk Price – A Cause for Concern on Food Security

Continuous rise in food prices has been posing a serious policy challenge in India. Milk is a major contributor to the food price rise due to its high growth in demand in the domestic and internationa...

by S. Rajeshwaran | On 27 Feb 2016

Securitization of Illegal Migration of Bangladeshis to India

Over 10 million illegal migrants from Bangladesh live in India, according to both official and unofficial estimates. This paper examines the securitization of the issue by various actors through a cen...

by | On 26 Feb 2016

Is Nuclear Energy a Viable Option for All?

The prospect of nuclear energy as an alternative to traditional fossil fuels has increased sharply due to soaring oil prices. This has been further boosted by the challenge of global climate change. D...

by | On 26 Feb 2016

An In-Depth Analysis of Railway Budget 2016-17

An analysis of the railway budget.

by Manoj Singh | On 26 Feb 2016

National Treatment on Internal Taxation: Revisiting GATT Article III:2

The principle of non-discrimination which comprises national treatment and most-favored-nation (MFN) treatment is an important pillar of the multilateral trading system. The World Trade Organization (...

by Sherzod Shadikhodjaev | On 25 Feb 2016

Biosafety Protocol, International Trade and Agricultural Biotechnology: Policy Inferences for India

The growing development in and possibly greater diffusion of biotechnology products have further accentuated the intensity of trade restrictions on the entry of these goods in countries like EU, Japan...

by Sachin Chaturvedi | On 25 Feb 2016

The Political Economy of Trade Policy in Indonesia

This paper focuses on Indonesia’s trade policies after the economic crisis. It examines the trend towards protection and addresses the issues of competitiveness. The concluding part briefly discusses...

by M. Basri | On 25 Feb 2016

Prospects of Wheat and Sugar Trade between India and Pakistan: A Simple Welfare Analysis

Due to a long history of strained political relations between India and Pakistan, trade possibilities between the two neighbouring countries have rarely been studied [Nabi and Nasim (2001), Mukherji (...

by Abid Burki | On 24 Feb 2016

The Hong Kong Declaration and Agriculture: Implications for Bangladesh

The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), established in 1993, is a civil society initiative to promote an ongoing dialogue between the principal partners in the decision-making and implementing process....

by Uttam Kumar Deb | On 24 Feb 2016

Typhoon Kestana: Asia’s Katrina

The devastation and catastrophe wrought by Typhoon Kestana on the Philippines’ capital Manila reflect a huge gap between rising vulnerabilities and preparedness at the national and regional levels. As...

by | On 24 Feb 2016

Workshop Report on “Starving Tigers?: Impact of Climate Change in South East Asia”

The Copenhagen Summit in December 2009 failed to yield a concrete, politically-binding agreement among states to reduce carbon emissions in order to mitigate climate change. This is so despite the wid...

by S. Rajaratnam International Studies | On 24 Feb 2016

ASEAN’s Journey in Cyberspace: A Tale of ‘Divided’ Cities

In 1997, ASEAN leaders envisaged Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as the technology that would foster the region’s economic integration and has since commissioned numerous projects and...

by | On 24 Feb 2016

Asean-China Trade Relations :15 Years of Development and Prospects",The Gioi Publishers,2008 Recent Development of China-ASEAN Trade and Economic Relations: From Regional Perspective

Abstract: The development of China-ASEAN trade and economic relations within the recent 15 years has of great significance not only for both sides but also for the whole East-Asia region. This paper i...

by Zhao Jianglin | On 24 Feb 2016

Regional Cooperation towards Multilateral Arrangements on Agriculture, Labour, and Environment in the Context of Globalisation: The Case of Indonesia

This study looks at Indonesia’s commitments to multilateral trade agreements, and assesses policies adopted by the government to meet the criteria set by those agreements. Particularly, three sectors...

by Titik Anas | On 24 Feb 2016

Report on “Regional Consultation on the Responsibility to Protect

Five years have passed since the signing of the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document, when United Nations (UN) member states agreed to the Responsibility to Protect (RtoP). Contained in paragraph 138 of...

by S. Rajaratnam International Studies | On 24 Feb 2016

Human Securitising’ the Climate Security Debate

Efforts to understand the connection between climate change and national, regional and international security have fuelled something of a climate security industry, evidenced in a range of reports fro...

by Lorraine Elliot | On 24 Feb 2016

Operationalising Regimes and Recognising Actors: Responding to Crises in Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia as a region has a unique history, and the evolving relationships between its communities, states, regional organisations and the international community reflect this. Given this context...

by Alistair Cook | On 24 Feb 2016

Inadequate N Application of Rice Farmers in the Philippines Problems, Causes, Solutions

Inadequate application of nitrogen (N) fertilizer has been identified by the Food Staples Sufficiency Program (FSSP) as a major constraint in achieving rice self-sufficiency. The available literature...

by Roehlano M. Briones | On 24 Feb 2016

Ensuring Urban Food Security in ASEAN

This policy brief provides the main findings of the Food Security Expert Group Meeting which was convened by the RSIS Centre for Non-Traditional Security (NTS) Studies in Singapore on 4-5 August 2010....

by | On 23 Feb 2016

Food (In)Security in Urban Populations

The food crisis at the end of the last decade and the resulting food riots that occurred in cities all over the world exposed the vulnerability and fragility of the current global food system and high...

by | On 23 Feb 2016

Financial Institutions and Structures for Growth in East Asia

The paper examines the changing size, shape and range of financial markets in the region indicates the extent to which regional markets have become more efficient and have improved in quality since th...

by Jenny Corbett | On 23 Feb 2016

Industrial Growth And Environmental Industrial Growth And Environmental Industrial Growth And Environmental Degradation: Degradation: Degradation: A Case Study Of Tiruppur Textile Cluster A Case Study Of Tiruppur Textile Cluster A Case Study Of Tiruppur Textile Cluster

The rapid economic growth achieved after globalization by most of the developing countries, has imposed considerable social costs and has become a major threat to sustainable development. However it i...

by Prakash Nelliyat | On 23 Feb 2016

Non-Traditional Security Challenges, Regional Governance, and the ASEAN Political-Security Community

Much of the attention on institutional development within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has focused on the progress in establishing the ASEAN Political-Security Community (APSC)....

by | On 23 Feb 2016

Indian Innovation Systems and Emergence of Biopharmaceutical Sector: Issues and Prospects

The prospective entry of generic dominated Indian pharmaceutical sector in the ambit of new technologies is likely to give filip to emergence of strong biopharmaceutical sector.It is pertinent in this...

by Sachin Chaturvedi | On 23 Feb 2016

Recent Monetary Policy Statement of   Bangladesh Bank (July 2009)

The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), established in 1993, is a civil society initiative to promote an ongoing dialogue between the principal partners in the decision-making and implementing process....

by Debapriya Bhattacharya | On 22 Feb 2016

International Monetary Reform: A Critical Appraisal of Some Proposals

This paper reviews some of the current debates on the reform of the international monetary system. Despite its deficiencies, the United States (US) dollar will remain the dominant currency and Special...

by Yung Chul Park | On 22 Feb 2016

Agriculture and Food Security in Asia by 2030

Rapid trade-led economic growth in emerging Asia has been shifting the global economic and industrial centres of gravity away from the north Atlantic, raising the importance of Asia in world trade but...

by Kym Anderson | On 22 Feb 2016

Deepening Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ Financial Markets

This paper discusses the financial landscape of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a region engaged in building an economic community (a “single market and production base”) by 2015....

by Choong Lee | On 21 Feb 2016

Regional Integration in South Asia: What Role for Trade Facilitation?

The trade performance of countries in South Asia over the past two decades has been poor relative to other regions. Exports from South Asia have doubled over the past 20 years to approximately USD 100...

by John Wilson | On 21 Feb 2016

Cross-Border Electricity Cooperation in South Asia

South Asian countries, facing challenges in efficiently meeting growing electricity demand, can benefit from increased cross-border electricity cooperation and trade by harnessing complementarities in...

by Anoop Singh | On 21 Feb 2016

Regional Financial Arrangements and the International Monetary Fund

The rise of regional monetary arrangements poses a challenge for the International Monetary Fund (IMF)'s global surveillance efforts. This paper reviews how the IMF has responded to earlier regional i...

by Barry Eichengreen | On 21 Feb 2016

Singapore’s Growing Role in Asian Food Security

In seeking to ensure its own food security Singapore, may be transforming itself from a passive food importer to an active contributor to the regional and global food system – through research and dev...

by | On 20 Feb 2016

Floods and Regional Disaster Preparedness: Too Little, Too Late?

As the floods in Thailand and Cambodia continue, the state of regional cooperation is proving critical in addressing the difficulties faced by affected countries. Disaster preparedness is increasingly...

by | On 20 Feb 2016

The Road to Rio+20: Ambitious Goals for Sustainable Development

The world’s biggest summit on environment and development in 20 years will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June this year. What are the opportunities and challenges for this global multilater...

by | On 20 Feb 2016

Report on “Policy Roundtable on Asian Non-Traditional Security”

This report presents the proceedings of a Policy Roundtable on Asian Non-Traditional Security held in Beijing on 30-31 July 2012. Attended by academics and policymakers from across the region, the Rou...

by S. Rajaratnam International Studies | On 19 Feb 2016

Expert Working Group Meeting on Food Wastage in Southeast Asia

The implications of the estimated 30-50 per cent global food wastage for energy, soil, water and human resources are substantial. Recognising the need to pay greater attention to this issue, the RSIS...

by S. Rajaratnam International Studies | On 19 Feb 2016

The ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve (APTERR): Cooperation, commitment and contradictions

This NTS Working Paper examines the prospects for the ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve (APTERR) launched in July 2012. It looks at whether the APTERR can overcome the limitations of past rice r...

by | On 19 Feb 2016

On compact, Integrated & Connected Cities

The Urban Planning and Design focus area of UN-Habitat aims to support cities, regional and national authorities in adopting improved policies, plans and designs for more compact, socially inclusive,...

by Rafael Tuts | On 19 Feb 2016

Tillage, Residue And Nitrogen Management Effects on Methane and Nitrous Oxide Emission From Rice–Wheat System of Indian Northwest Indo-Gangetic Plains

Zero-tillage, residue management and precision nutrient management techniques are being promoted in the rice–wheat (RW) production system of Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGPs) to enhance climate change adapt...

by Tek Sapkota | On 19 Feb 2016

Discourse on Kashmir: From Territoriality to ‘Enlightened Sovereignty’

The author calls for renewed focus on the idea of ‘soft borders’ between India and Pakistan, with particular reference to Jammu and Kashmir, in the light of a theory of ‘enlightened sovereignty’ that...

by | On 19 Feb 2016

China’s Sovereign Investment Funds In International Perspective: The Exceptionalism Of Cic And Safe

China is the only country in the world with two sovereign investment vehicles dedicated to managing excess foreign reserves for return, not just safety and liquidity. As the investment profile and beh...

by Angela Cummine | On 19 Feb 2016

Integrated Farming Systems And Resilient Agricultural Landscapes

Asia’s rapid change across socio-economic and political spheres, amid population growth and rising demand for food, feed and energy supplies, is unprecedented. To strike a balance between economic gro...

by Research Consultative Group on International Agricultural | On 18 Feb 2016

Climate Risks, Regional Integration, and Sustainability in the Mekong Region

It is a pleasure to introduce this book, the major output of the second phase of the Sustainable Mekong Research Network (SUMERNET). Since its start in 2005, the SUMERNET program has aimed to strength...

by Institute Stockholm Environment | On 18 Feb 2016

ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) 2015: Opportunities and Challenges for Food Security

This NTS Policy Brief is based on the proceedings of the Expert Group Meeting on the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) 2015: Opportunities and Challenges for Food Security held in June 2013. A key messag...

by | On 17 Feb 2016

Food Security: What It Means for a Food-Importing Country

Most countries depend on three “food taps” – imports, self-production, reserve stocks – to make food available. All countries import some amount of food to meet their increasingly diverse dietary dema...

by | On 17 Feb 2016

Food Security Post-Calamity: A Chronic Dilemma

Many Asian countries are highly susceptible to climate hazards, resulting in food insecurity. The magnitude of the devastation of typhoon Haiyan should serve as a clarion call for regional action to i...

by | On 17 Feb 2016

Food Security Robustness: A Driver of Enhanced Regional Cooperation?

Food security encompasses multiple, inter-connected dimensions, from production-related concerns, to market and price dynamics, environmental trends and policy approaches. Given this, ‘robustness’, th...

by | On 17 Feb 2016

Addressing Market Constraints to Providing Nutrient-Rich Foods: An Exploration of Market Systems Approaches

This Evidence Report asks how a market systems approach could be applied to improve poor households’ access to nutrient-dense foods. By ‘market systems approach’ we mean methods that identify and addr...

by Jodie Thorpe | On 17 Feb 2016

State Of Climate Information Products And Services For Agriculture And Food Security In Myanmar

The increasing variability of seasonal climate and increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events that are expected to accompany climate change will impact agricultural production and fo...

by Ruby Policarpio | On 17 Feb 2016

Climate Change Impacts and Mitigation in the Developing World

This paper conducts an integrated assessment of climate change impacts and climate mitigation on agricultural commodity markets and food availability in low- and middle-income countries. The analysis...

by Petr Havlík | On 17 Feb 2016

Methods for Identifying Low Emissions Development Options for Agriculture

Low emissions development strategies (LEDS) are national economic and social development plans that promote sustainable development while reducing GHG emissions. While LEDS programs have helped to mai...

by Sonja Vermeulen | On 17 Feb 2016

An ASEAN Nuclear Crisis Centre: Preparing for a Technological Disaster in Southeast Asia

As some Southeast Asian countries consider using nuclear energy, the region should now be preparing a regional nuclear emergency response, incorporating technological and nuclear emergencies into its...

by | On 16 Feb 2016

Implications for Investment in ASEAN Agriculture

Successful implementation of the AEC2015 should have a positive impact on ASEAN’s agri-food sector, leading to improved food availability for the region and increased exports. Sadly, early signs are n...

by | On 16 Feb 2016

ASEAN’s Haze Shroud: Grave Threat to Human Security

Transboundary haze pollution is posing significant multiple risks to the well-being and security of people in ASEAN. Beyond looking at it as an environmental issue, it is a severe threat to human secu...

by | On 16 Feb 2016

How countries Plan to Address Agricultural Adaptation and Mitigation

In its founding documents, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) seeks the stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere to “ensure[s] that food production is not t...

by Meryl Richards | On 16 Feb 2016

Exchange Market Pressure and Monetary Policy: Evidence from Pakistan

The study employs Girton and Roper (1977) measure of exchange market pressure—sum of exchange rate depreciation and foreign reserves outflow, to examine the interaction between exchange market pressur...

by M. Idrees Khawaja | On 16 Feb 2016

The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank: Should Asia Have Both?

The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) face three sets of challenges: those that are common to others in the official development finance community; those that are common to the World Ban...

by Vikram Nehru | On 16 Feb 2016

Thailand’s Economic Integration with Neighboring Countries and Possible Connectivity with South Asia

Thailand’s increasing importance as a regional co-production base and as an intra-regional trade and border trade hub is due mainly to recent changes in its economic structure, namely, the lack of ope...

by Suthiphand Chirathivat | On 16 Feb 2016

Monetary Policy and Capital Market Development in Bangladesh

Bangladesh Bank (BB) adjusted its monetary policy stance during 2005 in order to contain inflationary pressures and facilitate stability in the foreign exchange market. At the end of 2005, interest ra...

by Shubhasish Barua | On 15 Feb 2016

A Deadly Triangle: Afghanistan, Pakistan and India

The hostility between India and Pakistan lies at the heart of the current war in Afghanistan. Most observers in the West view the Afghanistan conflict as a battle between the U.S. and the NATO-led Int...

by William Dalrymple | On 14 Feb 2016

Dietary Diversity in the Everyday Lives of Children in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, India

This paper investigates young people’s and their caregivers’ experiences of food insecurity, diet and eating practices in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. It also provides original child-focused evidence...

by Elisabetta Aurino | On 13 Feb 2016

Utilization of Maternal Health Care Services in India: Understanding the Regional Differences

There is great regional variation on utilization of maternal health care services across India. While regional differences have long been established, why women in some states are more likely to utili...

by Sonalde Desai | On 12 Feb 2016

Can Conditional Cash Transfers Improve Education and Nutrition Outcomes for Poor Children in Bangladesh?

This paper uses panel data from a pilot project and evaluates the impact of conditional cash transfers on consumption, education, and nutrition outcomes among poor rural families in Bangladesh. Given...

by Céline Ferré | On 12 Feb 2016

Beyond Geography: Unlocking Human Potential

This Report focuses on the productive abilities of the regions, households and individuals. The report also reinforces the fact that there are inequalities between and within regions, as well as soci...

by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) | On 12 Feb 2016

The Global Gender Gap Report 2013

The Global Gender Gap Index seeks to measure one important aspect of gender equality: the relative gaps between women and men, across a large set of countries and across the four key areas of health,...

by World Economic Forum [WEF] | On 11 Feb 2016

The Global Energy Architecture Performance Index Report 2014

This report looks at what a new energy architecture might look like and how best-in-class enabling environments have already helped some high-ranking countries begin their transitions to more efficien...

by World Economic Forum [WEF] | On 11 Feb 2016

Climate Adaptation: Seizing the Challenge

The World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Climate Change’s report, Climate Adaptation: Seizing the Challenge, captures some of the latest thinking in the field of climate adaptation and fina...

by World Economic Forum [WEF] | On 11 Feb 2016

Protecting Shared Traditional Knowledge: Issues, Challenges and Options

Shared and widely distributed traditional knowledge, among communities and across national borders is often the norm rather than the exception. However, it remains an area for which policy and legal s...

by | On 10 Feb 2016

Trade and Sustainable Land Management in Drylands

This publication aims to provide a wide range of perspectives from various stakeholders on how trade policies and processes could contribute to advancing the objectives of sustainable land management...

by International Centre and Sustainable Development | On 08 Feb 2016

Trade Policy Options for Sustainable Oceans and Fisheries

With 37% of fish harvest exported as food for human consumption or in non-edible forms, trade policies and measures constitute an essential part of the overall policy framework needed to support susta...

by | On 08 Feb 2016

Planning Communication for Agricultural Disaster Risk Management: a Field Guide

Reducing risk and increasing resilience to natural disasters and climate change requires access to knowledge, information and the active participation of vulnerable population. Planning Communication...

by Food and Agricultural Organization [FAO] | On 08 Feb 2016

A Dynamic Macroeconometric Model of Pakistan’s Economy

In this study, an attempt has been made of develop a dynamic macroeconometric model of Pakistan’s economy to examine the behaviour of major macroeconomic variables such as output, consumption, investm...

by Muhammad Arshad Khan | On 06 Feb 2016

An Empirical Investigation of the Relationship between Food Insecurity, Landlessness, and Violent Conflict in Pakistan

This study is an attempt to examine empirically the association between socio-economic measures of deprivation—such as food insecurity, landlessness, unemployment, and human under-development—and the...

by Sadia Mariam Malik | On 06 Feb 2016

The Determinants of Food Prices: A Case Study of Pakistan

Controlling prices is one of the major tasks for the macroeconomic policy-makers. The recent oil price hike that shifted the policy towards biofuels and some natural calamities increased food prices a...

by Henna Ahsan | On 06 Feb 2016

Remittances and Poverty Linkages in Pakistan: Evidence and Some Suggestions for Further Analysis

This exercise is envisaged to provide a brief account of the research studies on inter-relationship between remittance inflows from abroad and the poverty levels obtained in the country. This is discu...

by Mohammad Irfan | On 06 Feb 2016

ASEAN Integrity Community: A Vision for Transparent and Accountable Integration

Each ASEAN member state has taken some steps to addressing corruption at the national level, such as ratifying the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), but much more is urgently neede...

by Transparency International TI | On 05 Feb 2016

Diplomacy Facing the Revolution of “Transparent Society” and “Risk Society” WikiLeaks: international and regional ramifications

Contrary to the assumption that the leaks of the diplomatic cables represented a heavy and unexpected pressure on American diplomacy - through their exposition of a mode of operation based on hypocris...

by Hichem Al-Karoui | On 03 Feb 2016

Building Genuine Islamic Financial Institutions

Since the spirit of Islam is in stark and violent conflict with the spirit of Capitalism, the form taken by institutions designed to express this spirit must also be different. Capitalist financial in...

by Asad Zaman | On 03 Feb 2016

Food Security Post-2015: What Countries Need to Do So That Regional Collaboration Can Be Effective

Attempts to explain why ending hunger has been so hard, so here the focus is on four main themes: the complex role of markets, the importance of government policies, the historical process of structur...

by C. Peter Timmer | On 03 Feb 2016

Towards a Framework for Achieving Food Security in the Mountains of Pakistan

The agriculture sector in Pakistan sustains the livelihoods of 45 per cent of the national population. Both the direct and indirect contributions of the agriculture sector to overall growth and wellbe...

by Golam Rasul | On 02 Feb 2016

Syria and Turkey: A Turning Point or a Historical Bet

Syrian-Turkish relations represent a regional and international phenomenon that has attracted a considerable amount of political and media attention; however, research on the dynamics and wagers invol...

by Aqil Mahfoudh | On 02 Feb 2016

The 2014 Arab Opinion Index

The 2014 Arab Opinion Index is the third annual survey of Arab public opinion carried out by the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies. In 2011, the survey was carried out in 12 Arab countries,...

by Arab Center for Policy Studies | On 02 Feb 2016

Corruption Perceptions Index 2015

Based on expert opinion from around the world, the Corruption Perceptions Index measures the perceived levels of public sector corruption worldwide. Not one of the 168 countries assessed in the 2015 i...

by | On 02 Feb 2016

Deepening India’s Engagement with the LDCs: An in-depth Analysis of India’s Duty-free Tariff Preference Scheme

India’s engagement with Africa through trade, investment, aid and technological collaboration can support growth and structural transformation in African economies. This paper, which is part of a majo...

by Environmental Management & Policy Research Institute | On 02 Feb 2016

A New Model for Constructing Poverty Lines

In this paper, we present a new model for constructing poverty lines. The model uses consumer theory to construct both food and nonfood poverty thresholds. Although one cannot completely eliminate the...

by Nanak Kakwani | On 02 Feb 2016

Developing Technologies for Sustainable Fisheries in Asia

Governments in Asia must prioritise technologies that improve fishery productivity to meet the growing local and international demand for fish. This increased productivity must be sustainable, however...

by The WorldFish Center TWC | On 01 Feb 2016

Strong Public-Private Sector Partnerships Can Help to Reduce Undernutrition

Global progress towards reducing undernutrition has been made through enlightened public policies, targeted development assistance, private sector actions and commitments from civil society. Yet every...

by Nicholas Alipui | On 01 Feb 2016

A Truly Green Agricultural Revolution is Needed

The recent food price spikes have exposed deep structural flaws in the world food system. Although increased financial speculation in commodity futures and options markets seems to have amplified shor...

by United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs | On 31 Jan 2016

Increasing Public Spending in Agricultural R&D to Ensure Food Security in Developing Countries

Arguably, ensuring food and nutrition security for all people in the coming decades is the major challenge for the global community. Food demand is increasing in aggregate and per capita values, in pa...

by United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs | On 31 Jan 2016

Integrating Urban Agriculture and Forestry Into Climate Change Action Plans: Lessons From Western Province, Sri Lanka And Rosario, Argentina

Climate change adds to the existing challenges faced by cities. Cities – as net consumers rather than producers of food – are already highly vulnerable to the disruption of critical food and other sup...

by Marielle Dubbeling | On 30 Jan 2016

Climate-Smart Agriculture in Sri Lanka

The climate-smart agriculture (CSA) concept reflects the ambition to improve the integration of agriculture development and climate responsiveness. CSA aims to achieve food security and broader develo...

by World Bank [WB] | On 30 Jan 2016

Comparing Safeguard Measures in Regional and Bilateral Agreements

This study provides trade negotiators, policy-makers and other stakeholders with a clear, practical comparative analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of the various safeguard clauses included i...

by | On 30 Jan 2016

Trade Policy and Food Security: Farm Policies of Developed Countries: What Kind of Trade Policy Framework is needed to Support Food Security Goals?

Farm Policies in developed countries have been widely blamed for creating problems for food security in developing countries. These problems have included high barriers to developing country exports,...

by | On 30 Jan 2016

Food Security, Price Volatility and Trade: Some Reflections for Developing Countries

Eugenio Diaz Bonilla and Juan Francisco Ron work up from the household level to connect international trade rules to the national strategies needed to achieve food security. Their paper surveys the po...

by | On 30 Jan 2016

Improving the International Governance of Food Security and Trade

This paper critically examines the recent global initiatives to improve various elements of the international governance of food security and the institutional context of policymaking on trade and foo...

by | On 30 Jan 2016

Trade Policy Responses to Food Price Volatility in Poor Net Food-Importing Countries

In recent years, high and volatile prices have contributed to acute shortages of basic foodstuffs in poor, net food-importing countries. This paper examines the new challenges these countries face, an...

by | On 30 Jan 2016

The Future and the WTO: Confronting the Challenges: A collection of short essays

Mutually agreeable solutions have yet to be found for moving the WTO’s stalled Doha Round forward. This collection of short essays aims to help in the search for consensus by providing brief but thoro...

by | On 30 Jan 2016

Agricultural Domestic Support and Sustainable Development in China

China's fast-growing farm subsidies have generated new interest in whether these programmes can help achieve public policy goals, without distorting trade and production. This study, by NI Hongxing, f...

by | On 30 Jan 2016

Trade and Food Security

The evolving food security agenda offers governments a chance to address some urgent concerns and strengthen the multilateral trade system. The Doha Agenda has been overtaken by time and events. Many...

by | On 30 Jan 2016

Agricultural Trade and Food Security: Some Thoughts about a Continuous Debate Food Reserves in Developing Countries: Trade Policy Options for Improved Food Security

Previous agricultural trade negotiations were conducted when global prices were lower. They focused on policies that artificially expanded supply in some countries, or reduced demand in other countrie...

by | On 30 Jan 2016

Regional Economic Integration in South Asia: Prospects and Challenges

This paper dwells upon some of the conceptual issues pertaining to regional economic cooperation in general and specific to the South Asian region. It also documents the progress made in SAARC, the SA...

by Ram Upendra Das | On 30 Jan 2016

Regional Cooperation for Regional Infrastructure Development: Challenges and Policy Options for South Asia

This paper discusses the emerging scenario in regional infrastructure development in South Asia, identifies the infrastructure challenges for the future, and provides some policy options in order to b...

by Prabir De | On 30 Jan 2016

Rules of Origin under Regional Trade Agreements

It is argued in this paper that both the negotiations and the analytical literature pertaining to Rules of origin (ROO) display a lack of sound understanding of the implications of rules of origin. De...

by Ram Upendra Das | On 30 Jan 2016

Does Governance Matter for Enhancing Trade? Empirical Evidence from Asia

The primary objective of this paper is to find whether or not the governance and institutions matter for enhancing Asia’s trade. In this study, we have performed a comprehensive empirical analysis of...

by Prabir De | On 30 Jan 2016

International Food Safety Standards and India's Food Exports An Analysis Based on Gravity Model Using Three-Dimensional Data

The paper tries to understand precisely how the food safety regulations applied by the industrialized countries have an effect on India’s export of processed food to these markets. It also examines th...

by Rajesh Mehta | On 30 Jan 2016

Revisiting the Global Food Crisis: Magnitude, Causes, Impact and Policy Options

The magnitude of the food crisis demands urgent action on the part of governments, multilateral agencies and all those who cherish the vision of a hunger-free world. A correct identification of the ca...

by Arindam Banerjee | On 30 Jan 2016

Making Regional Cooperation Work for South Asia’s Poor

South Asia has attracted global attention because it has experienced rapid GDP growth over the last two decades. What is not so well known is that South Asia is the least integrated region in the worl...

by Ejaz Ghani | On 29 Jan 2016

Effect of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) on Malnutrition of Infants in Rajasthan, India: A Mixed Methods Study

The paper tries to analyse the effect of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), a wage-for-employment policy of the Indian Government, on infant malnutrition and delinea...

by | On 29 Jan 2016

Food Security and WTO Domestic Support Disciplines Post-Bali

Trade ministers in Bali agreed an interim solution to the problem of food security and WTO domestic support disciplines, but also committed to begin discussions on a "permanent solution" once the mini...

by Alan Matthews | On 28 Jan 2016

Services Trade Agreement in South Asia Contours and Modalities

Available literature on regional trade integration in South Asia points to a variety of economic and non-economic factors that have slowed the integration process. The major non-economic factors inclu...

by South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics & Environment SAWTEE | On 28 Jan 2016

Mainstreaming Community-Based Conservation in a Transboundary Mountain Landscape Lessons from Kangchenjunga

This paper draws recommendations for transboundary and participatory biodiversity conservation from ICIMOD’s pioneering Kangchenjunga Conservation Landscape Initiative. The Kangchenjunga landscape, sh...

by Karma Phuntsho | On 28 Jan 2016

Uneven Development and Regionalism: A Critique of Received Theories

This paper attempts at critically examining various theoretical approaches concerning uneven development and regionalism. Major theories propounded by the neo-classical regional school, institutionali...

by Sudarshan Iyengar | On 28 Jan 2016

Infrastructure and Growth in a Regional Context: Indian States since the 1980s

The central focus of this paper is to underscore emerging patterns and issues in the availability of and access to physical infrastructure in major Indian states during the two decades since the 1980s...

by Keshab Das | On 28 Jan 2016

Switched On: Youth at the Heart of Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific

Asia and the Pacific is home to 60 per cent of the global population aged 15 to 24 years. Across this geographically, politically, socially, culturally and economically expansive region, youth are a v...

by United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific | On 28 Jan 2016

What’s in a Country Average? Wealth, Gender, and Regional Inequalities in Immunization in India

Recent attention to Millennium Development Goals by the international development community has led to the formation of targets to measure country-level achievements, including achievements on health...

by Abdo Yazbeck | On 28 Jan 2016

Reducing Child Undernutrition: How far Does Income Growth Take Us?

How rapidly will child undernutrition respond to income growth? This study explores that question using household survey data from 12 countries. In addition, data on the undernutrition rates since the...

by | On 28 Jan 2016

How could Mega-Regional Trade Negotiations Affect Agricultural and Food Trade?

A new generation of 'mega-regional' trade deals have the potential to reshape the landscape of global agricultural trade, by establishing new commitments on market access as well as new regulatory nor...

by | On 27 Jan 2016

A Role for the World Trade Organization on Regulatory Coherence

The way the world trades has changed since the World Trade Organization (WTO) was established. Fewer goods and services originate from any one supplier or country. Components and intermediate services...

by | On 27 Jan 2016

Competition Law/Policy and the Multilateral Trading System: A Possible Agenda for the Future

Important synergies or complementarities exist between trade liberalization initiatives and the application of measures to suppress anti-competitive practices or arrangements. In fact, both anti-compe...

by | On 27 Jan 2016

Payments Banks: Support Policy Framework for Enhancing Viability and Inclusion

The paper reviews the payment guidelines issued by the Reserve Bank of India, global experiences for non-banks in payments and the lessons therefrom. It also outlines the recent developments in financ...

by | On 27 Jan 2016

Agriculture and Food Security: New Challenges and Options for International Policy

New challenges are facing the global food and agriculture trading system in the 21st century. The present paper identifies options for how policies and international trade rules can respond to this ne...

by | On 27 Jan 2016

A New Look at the Extensive Trade Margin Effects of Trade Facilitation

We estimate the effects of trade facilitation on the extensive margins of trade. Using OECD Trade Facilitation Indicators – which closely reflect the Trade Facilitation Agreement negotiated at the Bal...

by Robert Teh | On 27 Jan 2016

Intellectual Property Provisions in Regional Trade Agreements: Revision and Update

The paper assembles detailed information about the IP provisions contained in active RTAs notified to the WTO. The goal was to expand beyond the more commonly studied RTAs, to review the full array of...

by Maegan McCann | On 27 Jan 2016

Social Safety Nets for Food and Nutritional Security in India

This paper brings together existing literature on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNRGEA) and the Public Distribution System (PDS) in India, offering a narrative review of...

by | On 27 Jan 2016

The Relationship Between Services Trade And Government Procurement Commitments: Insights From Relevant WTO Agreements And Recent RTAS

To date, government procurement has been effectively carved out of the main multilateral rules of the WTO system. This paper examines the systemic and other ramifications of this exclusion, from both...

by Robert Anderson | On 26 Jan 2016

Infrastructure Provision , Trade And Development Prospects: Potential Role And Relevance Of The WTO Agreement On Government Procurement (GPA)

The paper, nonetheless, acknowledges that delivering these benefits would involve significant practical and political challenges. It concludes that if the challenges can be overcome and the mutual ben...

by Kodjo Osei-Lah | On 26 Jan 2016

Agricultural Trade And Development: A Value Chain Perspective

The system of global agricultural and food trade is undergoing rapid processes of change, with important implications for economic development. In this paper we document and discuss these changes; inc...

by Johan Swinnen | On 26 Jan 2016

Charting the Evolving Landscape of Services Trade Policies: Recent Patterns of Protection and Liberalization

While greater focus has been cast on analysis of policy changes affecting trade in goods in the aftermath of the financial crisis, little is known about the direction of policies affecting trade in se...

by Martin Roy | On 26 Jan 2016

Tbt Provisions In Regional Trade Agreements: To What Extent Do They Go Beyond The WTO TBT Agreement?

This paper investigates whether TBT provisions included in RTAs differ from those under the WTO TBT Agreement, and, if they do, whether they entail broader commitments. Our analysis covers 238 RTAs, o...

by Vira Khoroshavina | On 26 Jan 2016

TRIPS Plus Agreements and Issues in Access to Medicines in Developing Countries

Harmonisation of intellectual property rights among the members of WTO has in the recent years seen informed debates on access to medicines. While the developing countries are lured to such agreements...

by Samira Guennif | On 26 Jan 2016

Overcoming the Challenges of Urban Food and Nutrition Security

Despite the high contribution of urban areas to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), urban poverty and nutrition security in India remains a challenge. Poor infrastructure, high unemployment, poor state...

by M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation | On 26 Jan 2016

Enhancing Optimal Infant Feeding Practices in India

As india struggles to improve nutrition, it needs to urgently and proactively enhance the rates of optimal infant feeding practices. These include initiation of breastfeeding within one hour of birth,...

by Arun Gupta | On 26 Jan 2016

Nutrition in India

This policy notes highlights the importance of nutrition, it provides an overview of nutrition situation in India, its variation across socio-economic groups and states. further using the undernutriti...

by Ashi Kohli Kathuria | On 26 Jan 2016

Does Exchange Rate Intervention Trigger Volatility?

This study aims at investigating two important issues concerning the exchange rate intervention policy of the Reserve Bank of India: (1) whether there is any asymmetry in intervention; and (2) whether...

by M. Ramachandran | On 24 Jan 2016

Impact of Foreign Direct Investment on Bangladesh’s Balance of Payments: Some Policy Implications

This study reports high positive correlation between FDI inflows and Bangladesh’s aggregate exports and imports. The net impact on the current account balance and the balance of payments is positive....

by Muhammad Amir Hossain | On 23 Jan 2016

Inflation Accounting Across Income Groups: Does Inflation Hurt the Poor More in Bangladesh?

This note provides estimates of the contribution of food prices to inflation in Bangladesh. The results suggest that the current inflation takes a bigger toll on the poor because they spend more of th...

by M. Golam Mortaza | On 23 Jan 2016

Estimating Inflation Rates of Import-Concentrated Commodities

This note provides estimates of inflation rate of import-concentrated commodities and their contribution to overall inflation in Bangladesh. The results suggest that the Bangladesh economy has been ex...

by M. G. Mortaza | On 23 Jan 2016

The SLR as a Monetary Policy Instrument in Bangladesh

The statutory liquidity requirement (SLR), as a monetary policy instrument, has experienced infrequent changes in Bangladesh. Past evidence shows that reduction in SLR produced positive impact on bank...

by Sayera Younus | On 23 Jan 2016

New Trade Links: A Step towards Asian Economic Integration?

This paper states that the sheaf of trade- and investment-agreements that India and Bangladesh have now signed will open up opportunities for New Delhi to look at, and beyond, its near-East neighbour...

by | On 23 Jan 2016

Opportunities and Challenges in Rice Seeds Trade Between India and Bangladesh

Rice, a major staple crop for India and Bangladesh is important not only for ensuring food security, but also the livelihood security of large number of small and marginal farmers engaged in rice cult...

by Neha Jain | On 23 Jan 2016

Climate Change, Food Security and Trade Linkages in South Asia

This Briefing Paper examines the linkages between climate change, food security and trade in South Asia. Studies suggest that in Asia the heat stress due to climate change will reduce crop yields in t...

by Ram Jha | On 23 Jan 2016

Economic Growth In South Asia: Role Of Infrastructure

The paper examines the output elasticity of infrastructure for four South Asian countries viz., India,Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka using Pedroni’s panel cointegration technique for the period 19...

by Ranjan Kumar Dash | On 23 Jan 2016

Bilateral Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) Opportunities and Challenges for Bangladesh - Framework Issues

In the backdrop of rise in Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) in developing countries, particularly after the global financial and economic crisis, Bangladesh is still ambivalent in setting its strategies r...

by Khondaker Moazzem | On 23 Jan 2016

Impact of Climate Change on Least Developed Countries: Are The SDGs Possible?

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will define the priorities of the UN’s development agendabeyond 2015. But the reality of climate change impacts will render these aspirational goals almost imp...

by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC | On 23 Jan 2016

Rationalizing Food Demand and Supply Estimates: An Exploratory Note

This note examines the current methodology of setting the requirements and availability of food grains used by FPMU and identifies areas where efforts are needed to rationalize demand and supply estim...

by Bangladesh Bank | On 23 Jan 2016

Dynamics of Pharmaceutical Quality Systems for the Export of Pharmaceuticals from India to Africa

India’s pharmaceutical industry of more than 10,000 manufacturing sites is estimated to generate US$ 22 billion in revenue , half of which is exported to more than 150 countries across the globe. Expo...

by Empower School of Health ESH | On 22 Jan 2016

Food Safety And Hygiene Practices Among Street Food Vendors In Delhi, India

A study was done to assess food safety and hygiene practices amongst street food vendors in Delhi, India. findings and observations at the vending site. Data was entered and analyzed with the help of...

by Chander Thakur | On 22 Jan 2016

Economics of Fisheries and Aquaculture in the Coral Triangle Economics of Fisheries and Aquaculture in the Coral Triangl

Consolidates information on fisheries and aquaculture using a regional lens and analytical tools. Cover the Coral Triangle countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Island...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 22 Jan 2016

SUMMARY OF INDONESIA’S PRIVATE SECTOR DEVELOPMENT ASSESSMENT

While Indonesia's rank in overall ease of doing business improved in 2015 according to World Bank's worldwide competitiveness ranking, overall ease of doing business still ranks unfavorably compared t...

by | On 22 Jan 2016

Advancing Sustainable Innovations for a Food Secure Future in India: Major Impacts of the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia

The paper focuses to reduce hunger and increase food and income security of resource poor farm families in South Asia through the development and inclusive adoption of new cereal varieties, sustainabl...

by | On 22 Jan 2016

Infant-Feeding Patterns and Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Young Adulthood: Data From Five Cohorts in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends exclusive breastfeeding from birth to 6 months, the introduction of nutritious complementary foods at 6 months and continued breastfeeding for 52 years.1...

by Karthikeya Naraparaju | On 22 Jan 2016

The E15 Initiative: Strengthening the Global Trade and Investment System in the 21st Century

World trade has experienced a significant slowdown since the 2008 financial crisis. Over this period, the global ratio of trade expansion to income growth has halved. An effective global trade and inv...

by World Economic Forum [WEF] | On 22 Jan 2016

India and APEC An Appraisal

This Study surveys the progress that APEC has made towards promoting regional economic cooperation and integration. It examines the desirability of India joining APEC and looks at possible benefits an...

by V. S. Seshadri | On 21 Jan 2016

Emerging Powers in a Changing World

This is the second collective effort from the Center for Euro-Atlantic Studies to address global issues that are largely unfamiliar to the Greek international affairs community. Last year we dealt wit...

by Stamatis Zachariadis | On 21 Jan 2016

Assessment of the Reliability and Relevance of the Food Data Collected in National Household Consumption and Expenditure Surveys

Food consumption data are collected in most countries through a variety of household surveys. The primary objective of these surveys is usually to measure poverty, to derive consumption patterns neede...

by Lisa C. Smith | On 21 Jan 2016

The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP)

The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) has emerged as a major regional initiative for trade and investment liberalisation and towards enhancing competitiveness of the twelve participant countries drawn f...

by V. S. Seshadri | On 21 Jan 2016

Debates on Food Technologies in India: R&D Priorities, Production Trends and Growing Expectations

This discussion paper examines the use of three different technological options in the Indian agriculture. It shows that support to organic farming is increasing but at this stage innovation related i...

by Sachin Chaturvedi | On 21 Jan 2016

On Migration and the Policy Process

Accepting that virtually any policy can have some impact on the movement of people, one can also recognize that a series of policies exist that have been developed specifically to deal with migration...

by | On 20 Jan 2016

Climate Change and Food Systems: Global Assessments and Implications for Food Security and Trade

This book collects the findings of a group of scientists and economists who have taken stock of climate change impacts on food and agriculture at global and regional levels over the past two decades....

by Food and Agricultural Organization [FAO] | On 20 Jan 2016

Zinc Status in South Asian Populations—An Update

This article attempts to highlight the prevalence of zinc deficiency and its health and economic consequences in South Asian developing countries and to shed light on possible approaches to combating...

by S Akhtar | On 20 Jan 2016

Dietary Pattern of Schoolgoing Adolescents in Urban Baroda, India

Diet plays a very important role in growth and development of adolescents, during which the development of healthy eating habits is of supreme importance. There is a dual burden of undernutrition and...

by K. Srinath Reddy | On 19 Jan 2016

An Evaluation Of Mid -Day Meal Scheme

With the twin objectives of improving health and education of the poor children, India has embarked upon an ambitious scheme of providing mid day meals (MDM) in the government and government-assisted...

by Satish Deodhar | On 19 Jan 2016

Impact of Climate Related Shocks and Stresses on Nutrition and Food Security in Selected Areas of Rural Bangladesh

This study attempts to break down ‘climate change’ into ‘climate related shocks and stresses in the course of time’ and conceptualizes the food security and nutrition outcomes as combination of the ad...

by Chris Béné | On 19 Jan 2016

Designing Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture Investments

The present document is designed to serve as a tool to guide programme planners who are aiming to apply these recommendations in the design of agricultural investments and programmes. The persistence...

by Anna Lartey | On 19 Jan 2016

Climate Impacts on Food Security and Nutrition

Among the most significant impacts of climate change is the potential increase of food insecurity and malnutrition. The aim of this primer is to summarise the current state of knowledge on the impacts...

by Richard Choularton | On 19 Jan 2016

Determinants of Child Undernutrition in Bangladesh Literature Review

This literature review identifies and summarises existing evidence on the determinants of undernutrition in children under the age of two years in Bangladesh. The review gathers evidence on the immedi...

by Stuart Gillespie | On 19 Jan 2016

“If we eat well, we can study” Dietary Diversity in the Everyday Lives of Children in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, India

This paper investigates young people’s and their caregivers’ experiences of food insecurity, diet and eating practices in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. It also provides original child-focused evidence...

by Elisabetta Aurino | On 19 Jan 2016

India-Bangladesh Land Boundary Agreement: Follow-up Concerns Need a Fair Approach

The recent success of India and Bangladesh in settling the complicated issue of political enclaves in each other’s territories could be traced to the spirit displayed by the leaders of the two countri...

by | On 18 Jan 2016

The Global Risks Report 2016

The Global Risks Report 2016 features perspectives from nearly 750 experts on the perceived impact and likelihood of 29 prevalent global risks over a 10-year timeframe. The risks are divided into five...

by World Economic Forum [WEF] | On 18 Jan 2016

Closing The Gender Gap In Climate-Smart Agriculture

In this brief review of recent approaches relevant to climate smart agriculture (CSA) programs, the researcher presents ideas on why emerging CSA policies and plans lack the attention to gender that w...

by Sonja Vermeulen | On 14 Jan 2016

Looking Within The Household: A Study On Gender, Food Security, And Resilience In Cocoa-Growing Communities

This study, relying primarily on qualitative data from Côte d’Ivoire, examines how income allocation and intra-household dynamics affect household resilience during the lean season. Its findings indic...

by Elizabeth Kiewisch | On 14 Jan 2016

Economic Outlook for Southeast Asia, China and India 2016

Regional integration efforts have intensified at varying levels over the years to implement the regional integration initiatives of ASEAN, ASEAN+3 and ASEAN+6. Current efforts are still not enough to...

by OECD Development Centre | On 13 Jan 2016

Trans-Pacific Partnership and India’s Emerging Challenges

The conclusion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations has major implications for India, which is aspiring for a larger role in the regional architecture of the Asia-Pacific. India will ha...

by Amitendu Palit | On 10 Jan 2016

Towards ‘Make in South Asia’ Theoretical Basis and Policy Responses for Evolving Regional Values Chains

The paper presents the theoretical canvass emphasising the need to adopt an integrated approach towards trade in goods, trade in services and investment in a regional framework. In this context, rules...

by Ram Upendra Das | On 09 Jan 2016

India-Myanmar Ties: New Hope, Old Despair

India’s current trade negotiations have three agreements as top priorities. Two of these the India ASEAN services agreement and the bilateral trade and investment agreement with the European Union (EU...

by Laldinkima Sailo | On 09 Jan 2016

Indian Military Diplomacy: Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief

The paper focuses on India’s approach to collaboration on Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief with major powers and within various regional initiatives. This paper begins with a brief review o...

by C. Raja Mohan | On 09 Jan 2016

Is India Making Waves in South China Sea?

The South China Sea (SCS) disputes are regarded as one of the most difficult regional conflicts in the Asia-Pacific, in an ‘arena of escalating contention. This paper looks at India’s interests and st...

by Rajeev Ranjan Chaturvedy | On 09 Jan 2016

Initiative for ‘Southern Silk Route’ Linking Bangladesh, China, India, and Myanmar

This paper looks at the ‘BCIM Regional Cooperation’ and the related proposal to revive the ‘Southern Silk Route’ connecting China and India through Bangladesh and Myanmar. The aim is to understand the...

by | On 09 Jan 2016

New Maritime Silk Road: Converging Interests and Regional Responses

This paper discusses revival of the Maritime Silk Road. It begins with a narration of the historical background of MSR, its origin and development, followed by an analysis of latest announcements by t...

by | On 09 Jan 2016

Double Bubble Trouble

Sustaining anything in the region of 7% growth should be good enough in a troubled and risk-laden world.

by T.N. Ninan | On 08 Jan 2016

Impact of Participatory Forest Management on Financial Assets of Rural Communities in Northwest Pakistan

The system of participatory (or joint) forest management was commenced in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan in 1996 through Asian Development Bank's funded project. These forest refo...

by Tanvir Ali | On 08 Jan 2016

Analysis of Myths and Realities of Deforestation in Northwest Pakistan: Implications for Forestry Extension

Pakistan is among those countries, which have very high deforestation rate. The remaining forests are very diverse in nature and of significant importance for the country’s economy and livelihoods of...

by Tanvir Ali | On 08 Jan 2016

World Population Prospects The 2015 Revision

Understanding the demographic changes that are likely to unfold over the coming years, as well as the challenges and opportunities that they present for achieving sustainable development, is important...

by United Nations (UN) | On 08 Jan 2016

Food Insecurity, Conflict and Livelihood Threats in Nepal

This chapter examines the food security situation in Nepal and the impact of the recent armed conflict on the food security situation. It argues that food security is understood in different ways and...

by Bishnu Upreti | On 07 Jan 2016

Institutions for Asian Integration: Innovation and Reform

The formation of regional production networks in East Asia has occurred mainly through market forces, without much help from regional institutions in promoting the creation of a single Asian market. W...

by Masahiro Kawai | On 07 Jan 2016

Asia-Latin America Free Trade Agreements: An Instrument for Inter-Regional Liberalization and Integration?

Trade integration and free trade agreement (FTA)-led cooperation between Asia and Latin America has increased since the early 2000s. Using new criteria, this paper examines whether Asia-Latin America...

by Ganeshan Wignaraja | On 07 Jan 2016

Production Networks, Profits, and Innovative Activity: Evidence from Malaysia and Thailand

Cross-border production networks have been playing an increasingly important role in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries’ trade in recent years, but micro-level studies are ra...

by Ganeshan Wignaraja | On 07 Jan 2016

India in the International Trade of Intermediates & Final Products – A Sector Level Study

International trade is redefined today in terms of trade in value added and global value chains. Most countries trade both in finished goods as well as intermediates. India, a less talked about countr...

by | On 07 Jan 2016

Financing Development Cooperation in Northeast Asia

Infrastructure connectivity in Northeast Asia — comprising the northeastern People’s Republic of China, Japan, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Republic of Korea, Mongolia, and the Russi...

by Masahiro Kawai | On 07 Jan 2016

The 2030 Architecture of Association of Southeast Asian Nations Free Trade Agreements

This paper investigates and analyzes the present status, potential, and prospects of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) free trade agreements (FTAs). The move towards the ASEAN Economic Co...

by Suthiphand Chirathivat | On 07 Jan 2016

Cross-Border Price Differentials and Goods Market Integration in East Asia

As cross-border movements of goods, capital, and labor are intensifying, it is likely that goods markets in East Asia will become increasingly integrated. This study investigates the current state of...

by Woosik Moon | On 07 Jan 2016

Food System Strategies for Preventing Micronutrient Malnutrition

Micronutrients are defined as substances in foods that are essential for human health and are required in small amounts. The goal of this paper is to identify deficiencies in the food system that lead...

by Ross M. Welcha | On 07 Jan 2016

Multilateralizing Asian Regionalism

Motivated by the proliferation of free trade agreements (FTAs) in Asia over the last decade, this paper studies the challenges faced by the Asian “noodle bowl” — overlapping, multiple trade rules, reg...

by Richard Baldwin | On 07 Jan 2016

Modern Currency Wars: The United States Versus Japan

In 2013, through massive quantitative easing by the Bank of Japan (BOJ), the yen depreciated about 25% against the US dollar, stoking fears of Japan bashing by the US. However, this sharp depreciation...

by Ronald McKinnon | On 07 Jan 2016

Plurilateral Agreements: A Viable Alternative to the World Trade Organization?

The paper looks at some issue-based plurilateral agreements — such as the Information Technology Agreement (ITA), the Financial Services and Basic Telecommunication Services Agreements, and the Anti-C...

by Michitaka Nakatomi | On 07 Jan 2016

Regional Trade Agreements and Enterprises in Southeast Asia

This paper undertakes a comparative and firm-level analysis of the impact of regional trade agreements (RTAs) in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. It finds that firm-heterogeneity matters in RT...

by Ganeshan Wignaraja | On 07 Jan 2016

Regional Financial Regulation in Asia

The Asian financial crisis (1997-1998) and the global financial crisis (2007-2009) highlighted the potential value of financial regionalism, i.e., regional-level cooperation in financial policy. This...

by Masahiro Kawai | On 07 Jan 2016

ASEAN Economic Integration through Trade and Foreign Direct Investment: Long-Term Challenges

This paper explores the long-term challenges for trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The region has emerged as an important production base...

by Masahiro Kawai | On 06 Jan 2016

India’s Fragmented Social Protection System: Three Rights Are in Place; Two Are Still Missing

The paper touches only briefly upon the issue of social insurance because achieving this is a medium-term goal which the Indian welfare state must work towards within current fiscal constraints. It fo...

by | On 06 Jan 2016

Fungible Borders and Informal Regionalism: Rethinking China’s International Relations

The processes of informal or soft regionalism driving China’s engagement with the regional and global economy are resulting in nuanced understandings of state, security and the conduct of internationa...

by Nimmi Kurian | On 05 Jan 2016

Towards 'Make in South Asia' Evolving Regional Values Chains

One of the most important ways in which several of the common developmental challenges in South Asia could be addressed is by focusing on manufacturing. This paper highlights insights from the status...

by Ram Das | On 02 Jan 2016

Summary of Indonesia's Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Environment Sector Assessment

Indonesia is a net importer of grains, horticulture and livestock produce. The instability of food prices since 2008 has led to a renewed emphasis on food security. Despite increasing food crop produc...

by Victor Pontines | On 01 Jan 2016

Social Protection Brief: Social Security Reform and Economic Modeling Capacity Building in Indonesia

While official poverty in Indonesia is relatively low at 12%, an additional 27% of the population live just above the poverty line and small shocks can drive them back into poverty. Poor and vulnerabl...

by Kefei You | On 01 Jan 2016

Managing Capital Flows in Asia: An Overview of Key Issues

Global capital flows into emerging markets, including those in Asia, continue to be volatile, generating both benefits and costs. The latter are associated with episodes of currency and banking crises...

by Ramón López | On 01 Jan 2016

From a Centralized to a Decentralized Global Economic Architecture: An Overview

This paper argues that calls for a New Bretton Woods system in the aftermath of the global economic crisis — similar to the remarkable 1944 Bretton Woods conference that led to the establishment of va...

by Pradumna Rana | On 30 Dec 2015

Working of Forest Rights Act 2006 and Its Impact on Livelihoods: A Comparative Study of Odisha and Jharkhand

Clearly, the monograph addresses a set of critical issues related to the forest rights and livelihood and makes a sincere effort to draw attention to the plight of forest dependent communities. Policy...

by Tapas Kumar Sarangi | On 30 Dec 2015

Water and People: A National Perspective Mitti Aur Pani Mein Sona Hai

The failures of water management have been extensively studied and reviewed and the shortcomings are listed.

by Ravi Chopra | On 29 Dec 2015

Livelihood Transitions in Hilaungad Watershed

The Hilaungad watershed, a sub-catchment of the larger Lastargad basin, lies on the west bank of the Mandakini river which rises from the nearby snow covered peaks of the high Himalayas. For the purpo...

by Ravi Chopra | On 29 Dec 2015

Deepening the Social Dimensions of Regional Integration

The present report presents an overview of some recent trends and future challenges regarding the deepening of the social dimensions of regional integration, in light of the Recommendations of the Rep...

by | On 29 Dec 2015

The ASEAN Economic Community: Progress, Challenges, and Prospects

The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) was set up in 2003 with the objectives of creating a single market and production base, enhancing equitable economic development as well as facilitating the integrat...

by Siowyue Chia | On 29 Dec 2015

The India-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement and the Proposed Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement: A Closer Look

The India–Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement has been in operation for more than a decade. The paper provides the Sri Lankan perspective of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) highlighting both the positive ou...

by Saman Kelegama | On 29 Dec 2015

The Role of Sri Lanka in Enhancing Connectivity between South Asia and Southeast Asia

Improving physical connectivity between South and Southeast Asia has long been recognized as a key element in promoting greater trade and investment linkages within the region. As an island economy, S...

by Dushni Weerakoon | On 29 Dec 2015

Policies to Enhance Trade Facilitation in South Asia and Southeast Asia

This paper discusses trade facilitation in the context of enhancing trading links between South and Southeast Asia, in a manner understandable to the non-specialist. Presently, these two Asian regions...

by Anthony Bayley | On 29 Dec 2015

Economic Implications of Deeper South Asian–Southeast Asian Integration: A CGE Approach

The paper estimates the potential gains to be large, particularly for South Asia, assuming that the policy- and infrastructure-related variables that increase trade costs are reduced via economic coop...

by Fan Zhai | On 29 Dec 2015

Evaluation on the Contribution of UN Women to Prevent Violence against Women and Expand Access to Services

During 2012-2013, the UN Women Independent Evaluation Office undertook a corporate thematic evaluation of the UN Women contribution to preventing violence against women (VAW) and expanding access to r...

by UN Women | On 28 Dec 2015

Ending Violence against Women: From the Beijing Platform for Action to the Sustainable Development Goals

This report contains relevant sections of the principal international agreements over the past 20 years where countries have committed to responding to violence against women and girls. also provides...

by UN Women | On 28 Dec 2015

Ready for a Slowdown?

Are we worse off at the end of 2015 than at the start?

by T.N. Ninan | On 25 Dec 2015

Assessing the Experience of South Asia–East Asia Integration and India's Role

This paper examines the gains for South Asian economies from integratingwith East Asia and India’s role in this process. Evidence of increased pan-Asian integration exists but the process is uneven. B...

by Ganeshan Wignaraja | On 24 Dec 2015

Connecting South Asia and Southeast Asia: A Bangladesh Country Study

Economic integration is being inhibited by the poor state of transport connectivity between Bangladesh, and South Asia and Southeast Asia. This study reviews connectivity initiatives of Bangladesh and...

by Mustafizur Rahman | On 23 Dec 2015

Thailand’s Investment in India’s Northeast: Strategies, Potentials and Risks

The imperatives for Thailand’s investment in the Northeast have come from two important considerations, reflecting longterm strategic objectives of the Look West Policy of Thailand. First, India’s nor...

by | On 22 Dec 2015

Lull in the Rice Fields: The Asian Experience

The strengthening of El Niño weather phenomenon has led to lower than average rainfall for India’s monsoon season, thereby raising concerns for paddy crops production.

by Aritra Chakrabarty | On 21 Dec 2015

The High and Low Politics of Trade

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is in trouble. Its negotiating mechanism has mostly seized up, as reflected in the failure to conclude the long-running Doha Round. No obvious solution to this conun...

by | On 21 Dec 2015

Now Corporate Paralysis

Public investment financed by the government's own or borrowed resources do not provide an adequate answer to the problem of relatively low investment.

by T.N. Ninan | On 18 Dec 2015

A Note on Reserve Currencies with Special Reference to the G-20 Countries

It is most likely that the current reserve currencies will retain their status in the near future, given the persistence in the composition of reserve holdings. However, since we do not have complete...

by Menzie D. Chinna | On 18 Dec 2015

Reserve Accumulation and Sterilized Intervention in the Foreign Exchange Market in Bangladesh: An Empirical analysis

The main intention of the paper is to investigate the extent of sterilization of Bangladesh Bank to offset the monetary expansionary effect of reserve accumulation in the foreign exchange market. To...

by Mst. Nurnaher Begum | On 18 Dec 2015

Agriculture and Nutrition in Bangladesh: Mapping Evidence to Pathways

This paper assesses the emphasis of the literature on different agriculture–nutrition pathways in Bangladesh. More research is needed on the links between agriculture and nutrition in country-specific...

by | On 18 Dec 2015

Strategic Framework 2013–2017 Global Programme Food Security

Food security and nutrition is a major global challenge. SDC’s Global Programme Food Security(GPFS) represents an innovative initiative of Switzerland in addressing food security and nutrition challen...

by Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation SDC | On 17 Dec 2015

Equate and Conflate: Political Commitment to Hunger and Undernutrition Reduction in Five High-Burden Countries

As political commitment is an essential ingredient for elevating food and nutrition security onto policy agendas, commitment metrics have proliferated. Many conflate government commitment to fight hun...

by Rajith Lakshman | On 16 Dec 2015

MQSUN Determinants of Child Undernutrition in Bangladesh Literature Review

The DFID Programme to Accelerate Improved Nutrition for the Extreme Poor in Bangladesh aims to improve nutrition outcomes for children, mothers and adolescent girls by integrating the delivery of a nu...

by Ahmed F. | On 16 Dec 2015

How Can Food Subsidies Work Better? Answers from India and the Philippines

This study explores the outcomes of food subsidies to the poor in the case of India and the Philippines. Both countries operate in-kind food subsidy programs with similar mandates, commonalities in...

by Shikha Jha | On 15 Dec 2015

Enhancing Early Warning Capabilities and Capacities for Food Safety

Worldwide, food safety incidents can have a significant impact on public health, economies, agrifood trade, food security, and public confidence in the food supply. The prevention, mitigation, and man...

by | On 15 Dec 2015

Empowering the Poor through Human Rights Litigation

The purpose of this manual is to collaborate with grass-roots organizations, in particular with NGOs, in defining the content of economic, social and cultural rights (ESC rights) and to empower the ac...

by Maritza Formisano Prada | On 10 Dec 2015

Understanding the Drought Impact of El Niño on the Global Agricultural Areas

During El Niño episodes the normal patterns of tropical precipitation and atmospheric circulation become disrupted triggering extreme climate events around the globe: droughts, floods and affecting th...

by | On 09 Dec 2015

Climate-Smart Agriculture: Smallholder Adoption and Implications for Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation

There are a wide range of agriculture-based practices and technologies that have the potential to increase food production and the adaptive capacity of the food production system, as well as reduce em...

by | On 09 Dec 2015

Notes on Land, Long Run Food Security and the Agrarian Crisis in India

These Notes are mainly about three interconnected themes; the international and Indian ‘take’ on control over land (and water); the distinction between an agricultural crisis and an agrarian crisis;...

by Sheila Bhalla | On 09 Dec 2015

Skill Transferability, Migration, and Development: Evidence from Population Resettlement in Indonesia

We use a natural experiment in Indonesia to provide causal evidence on the role of location-specific human capital and skill transferability in shaping the spatial distribution of productivity. From 1...

by Samuel Bazzi | On 08 Dec 2015

Regional Inequality and ‘Inclusive Growth’ in India under Globalization: Identification of Lagging States for Strategic Intervention

This paper analyses the trends and patterns of economic inequality across Indian states since the early 1990s. The inter-state inequality in per capita income and consumption expenditure show a clear...

by | On 04 Dec 2015

Climate Change, Water and Food Security

This report summarizes current knowledge of the anticipated impacts of climate change on water availability for agriculture. The implications for local and national food security are examined; and the...

by | On 04 Dec 2015

Delicious, Disgusting, Dangerous: Eating in a Time of Food Price Volatility

Changes in food habits mean people are finding new ways to enjoy food and new foods to enjoy, often with greater convenience and ease. Most people feel they understand little about how new foods affec...

by | On 03 Dec 2015

Government Intervention in Grain Markets in India: Rethinking the Procurement Policy

This paper reviews the rice procurement operations of the Government of India from the standpoints of cost of procurement as well as effectiveness in supporting farmers’ incomes. The two channels used...

by Neha Gupta | On 02 Dec 2015

What do Economists have to say about Climate Impacts on South Asia?

South Asia’s changing climate has had many different impacts including changes in ecosystems, more severe storms, rainfall that is more concentrated in a few days per year leading to more floods and m...

by E. Somanathan | On 01 Dec 2015

The Socio-Economic Impact of HIV at the Household Level in Asia: A Regional Analysis of the Impact on Women and Girls

An important element of the socio-economic impact of HIV is how it disproportionately affects women and girls, in terms of their vulnerability to infection, constrained access to services and the a...

by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) | On 01 Dec 2015

Loss Aversion and Willingness to Pay for New Products

This paper reports and models the discrepancy between the full bidding and endow and upgrade findings from a willingness-to-pay (WTP) elicitation Becker-Degroot-Marschak (BDM) experiment for an improv...

by Banerji A | On 30 Nov 2015

Monitoring Mortality in Forced Migrants—Can Bayesian Methods Help Us to Do Better with the (Little) Data We Have?

The global number of forced migrants is currently the highest since the Second World War. This is a major concern to public health: lack of access to safe water, food, sanitation, and inadequate shel...

by Peter Heudtlass | On 30 Nov 2015

Sustainable Nutrition Security: Restoring the Bridge Between Agriculture and Health

Malnutrition remains the world’s most serious health problem and the single biggest contributor to child deaths. It is time to restore the bridge between agriculture and health. FAO’s Member Countries...

by Graeme Thomas | On 24 Nov 2015

Terrorism and Security in Asia: Redefining Regional Order?

While a good deal has been written and said about the threat posed by terrorism in Southeast Asia, there has been little work analyzing the impact of terrorism and the war on terror on Asian regional...

by Amitav Acharya | On 22 Nov 2015

Investment and Growth in India under Liberalization: Asymmetries and Instabilities

This paper makes the case that the growth trajectory of the Indian economy in the post-1991 liberalization period is characterised by an inherent source of instability in manufacturing and industrial...

by | On 20 Nov 2015

Regional Trade Openness Index, Income Disparity and Poverty - An Experiment with Indian Data

This study aims to examine how ‘open’ Indian states are with respect to international trade and uses the index of regional openness thus constructed to reflect on several aspects that affect the level...

by | On 19 Nov 2015

Requiring Indian Utilities to Report: Harnessing Disclosure Legislation to Improve Water and Sanitation Services

The paper argues for a regular public reporting of key performance indicators by the WatSan utilities in India. It elaborates on how the policy behind these reforms could be operationalized.

by Premila Nazareth Satyanand | On 18 Nov 2015

India Approaches Replacement Fertility

This Population Bulletin updates a previous Bulletin from 2006, India's Population Reality: Reconciling Change and Tradition. India's population (currently at 1.3 billion) will exceed China's before 2...

by O.P. Sharma | On 18 Nov 2015

Agricultural Outlook and Situation Analysis Reports: Fourth Semi-annual Medium-term Agricultural Outlook Report

This report attempts to compare the latest medium-term projections for wheat, rice, coarse grains, oilseeds, vegetable oils and sugar made by four international institutions (OECD/FAO, USDA, FAPRI, an...

by National Council of Applied Economic Research | On 18 Nov 2015

An Impact Evaluation of Investment in Infrastructure : The Case of the Railway Connection in Uzbekistan

The objective of this paper is to examine the nature and magnitude of the effects of infrastructure provision on regional economic performance. The empirical evidence of the analysis is based on diffe...

by Naoyuki Yoshino | On 13 Nov 2015

The Operational Plan for Agriculture and Natural Resources: Promoting Sustainable Food Security in Asia and the Pacific in 2015–2020

Agriculture and food security should be viewed in the context of the broader economic transformation in Asia and the Pacific. In particular, the adoption of food security policies that address both im...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 10 Nov 2015

The Sunday Edit: Deaton, the Development Economist

Angus Deaton’s contributions to economics have been seminal providing development economists with new tools of analysis that have yielded policy-altering insights.

by Suryanarayana M H | On 07 Nov 2015

Assessing Farmer's Willingness to Participate in the On-farm Conservation of Minor Millet using Direct Compensation Payment

This study attempts to examine the role of farmer incentive mechanisms to conserve minor millets in Kolli Hills. The millet varieties were classified either as most preferred varieties (MPVs) or leas...

by | On 06 Nov 2015

Decent Work Country Programmes and Human Mobility

The aim of this review is to assess the ways in which Decent Work Country Programmes (DWCPs) address the issue of internal migration, and to evaluate the extent to which this discussion is related to...

by | On 06 Nov 2015

Trends and Patterns in Consumption Expenditure: A Review of Class and Rural-Urban Disparities

This paper primarily aims to capture the changing patterns of consumption expenditure of three broad classes, namely, the ‘upper’ ‘middle’ and ‘bottom’ classes in the rural and urban India. In contras...

by | On 05 Nov 2015

Whither the Co-operative Banking?

Current status of the urban co-operative banking in India, how it reached there, what recent initiatives the Reserve Bank has taken to strengthen the sector and what is the way forward. [Speech deliv...

by R. Gandhi | On 04 Nov 2015

Performance of Targeted Public Distribution System in Kerala

Targeted Public Distribution System was introduced in the country following the failure of the Universal PDS to serve below the poverty line and poorest of the poor households.It is being implemente...

by T Jayan | On 04 Nov 2015

Highlights of Recent IFPRI Food Policy Research in India: Reducing Poverty and Hunger through Food Policy Research

IFPRI and India’s partnership played a particularly important role following the Green Revolution when that partnership analyzed the necessary policies to both promote domestic food production and to...

by International Food Policy Research Institute | On 03 Nov 2015

Skyrocketing Prices of Pulses and the Agrarian Crisis: Impact of Neo-liberal Policies

This interview with Vijoo Krishnan, Joint Secretary All India Kisan Sabha, on the agrarian crises leading to farmer suicides and rising prices of food grains traces backs the agrarian crises to the ne...

by Vijoo Krishnan | On 02 Nov 2015

Beyond Drugs: TB Patients in Bangladesh need Urgent Attention for Nutrition Support during Convalescene

This study measures the nutritional status (using Body Mass Index or BMI) of TB patients before, at two months, and after completion of TB treatment (DOTS) to study the changes during treatment and it...

by Environmental Management & Policy Research Institute | On 29 Oct 2015

Contributing Factors for Low Consumption of Animal Food among Children Aged 6-23 Months in Alive and Thrive Intervention Areas of Bangladesh

This study aims to identify the barriers leading to low consumption of animal foods by children aged 6-23 months in A & T intervention areas; and to assesstheir knowledge and practices of dietary int...

by Umme Salma Mukta | On 29 Oct 2015

Quality of Government and the Relationship between Natural Disasters and Child Poverty A Comparative Analysis

This paper explores the degree to which exposure to reoccurring natural disasters of various kinds explains seven dimensions of severe child poverty in 67 middle- and low-income countries. It also ana...

by Adel Daoud | On 28 Oct 2015

Ending Malnutrition: From Commitment to Action

Ending Malnutrition offers key insights from the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2) to catalyze follow-up actions across the world. It reviews current evidence on the prevalence of ma...

by Vikas Rawal | On 23 Oct 2015

The Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture: A Case Study from Nepal

In Nepal, as in many developing countries, concerns are increasing about the negative impact of climate change on agricultural yields and food security. The Nepalese have already seen changes in their...

by | On 22 Oct 2015

State Food Provisioning as Social Protection: Debating India’s National Food Security Law

This report provides an overview on the main issues debated during the development and passage of the India’s National Food Security Act (2013), which legally binds national and state governments to e...

by Harsh Mander | On 20 Oct 2015

Policy Tradeoffs in an Open Economy and the Role of G-20 in Global Macroeconomic Policy Coordination

In this paper the aim is to investigate the different nuances of India's capital account management through empirical analyses as well as descriptive discussions. In particular the study the evolution...

by Rajeswari Sengupta | On 19 Oct 2015

Mr Modi and Mrs Gandhi

Narendra Modi is the first PM after Indira Gandhi with the power and possibly the intention to change the Indian system.

by T.N. Ninan | On 16 Oct 2015

Natural Interest Rate: Assessing the Stance of India’s Monetary Policy under Uncertainty

Using a theoretical framework that combines the essence of Ramsay’s growth model and the New-Keynesian macrodynamics, and applying the Kalman filter estimation technique, this paper finds that Indi...

by Harendra Behera | On 16 Oct 2015

Military Build-up in the Indian Ocean: Implications for Regional Stability

As the Indian Ocean region increasingly becomes a more important geopolitical space, global powers and smaller states are laying down their stakes. This paper examines the military build-up of major I...

by | On 15 Oct 2015

Utilization of ICDS Services and their Impact on Child Health Outcomes Evidence from Three East Indian States

The study analyses a rural household’s decision to participate in a public pre-school intervention called the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), and evaluates its impact on anthropometric out...

by Meenakshi J V | On 15 Oct 2015

India’s Food Grain Policies and the Public Distribution System: The Case of Rice. Who Wins, Who Loses, and by How Much?

Indian governments follow highly interventionist policies on food grains, especially rice and wheat. These policies include import and export controls which insulate the domestic market from world mar...

by Garry Pursell | On 14 Oct 2015

Investment in Agricultural Marketing and Market Infrastructure – A Case Study of Bihar

Bihar has lowest per capita income amongst the major states of India and high rate of persistent poverty with social structure fragmented based on caste lines. Therefore present study has been underta...

by | On 14 Oct 2015

Investment in Agricultural Marketing and Market Infrastructure: A Case Study of Bihar

Present study has been undertaken to understand that to what extent reforms measures in terms of repeal of the act has affected investment in agricultural marketing infrastructure. The present s...

by Vijay Intodia | On 14 Oct 2015

Report on Evaluation of the Impact of the Scheme for Mega Food Park of the Ministry of Food Processing Industries

This scheme was rolled-out in 2008-09 and at present is in its fourth phase. The objective includes a comparative analysis of the scheme with similar schemes of the government, an evaluation of select...

by Indian Council for Research on International Econo ICRIER | On 13 Oct 2015

Food and Nutrition in India: Facts and Interpretations

This paper reviews recent evidence on food intake and nutrition in India. It attempts to make sense of various puzzles, particularly the decline of average calorie intake during the last 25 years. Th...

by Angus Deaton | On 13 Oct 2015

Rainbow Revolution in Bihar: Problem and Prospect

Green revolution has made the country self-sufficient in food grain production, mainly rice and wheat. We now need to usher in a rainbow revolution which encompasses not only agriculture but the allie...

by R K P Singh | On 13 Oct 2015

Policies for a Better-Fed World

A wide range of interventions, from subsidized grains all the way to conditions on nutrition in conditional cash transfers, have either been tried or put in place in different countries in order to fi...

by Abhijit Banerjee | On 12 Oct 2015

Predictors of Essential Health and Nutrition Service Delivery in Bihar, India: Results From Household and Frontline Worker Surveys

In Bihar, India, coverage of essential health and nutrition interventions is low. These interventions are provided by 2 national programs—the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and Health/Na...

by Rasmi Avula | On 09 Oct 2015

Regional Inequality in Bangladesh in the 2000s: Re-Visiting the East-West Divide Debate

The term “East-West divide” as a way of describing regional disparity in Bangladesh has emerged in the policy discourse only in the 2000s. The administrative divisions belonging to the western part of...

by | On 08 Oct 2015

The State of Food Insecurity in the World Meeting the 2015 International Hunger Targets: Taking Stock of Uneven Progress

This year’s annual State of Food Insecurity in the World report takes stock of progress made towards achieving the internationally established hunger targets and reflects on what needs to be done, as...

by Food and Agriculture Organization | On 07 Oct 2015

Climate Change Impacts on Agriculture – Implications for Food Production in Tamil Nadu, India

Policy makers in India need to pay careful attention to the potential impacts of climate change on food production. Research in Tamil Nadu suggests that rice and sorghum yields are likely to decline b...

by V. Saravanakumar | On 30 Sep 2015

Food Security, Productivity, and Gender Inequality

This paper examines the relationship between gender inequality and food security, with a particular focus on women as food producers, consumers, and family food managers. The discussion is set against...

by Bina Agarwal | On 29 Sep 2015

Poverty and Social Protection in Urban India

This paper, highlights the need for provisioning adequate social protection coverage to the vulnerable sections of population in urban India, assesses the role of the TPDS in reaching out to the depri...

by R. Radhakrishna | On 28 Sep 2015

Role and Effectiveness of Public Distribution System in Assuring Food Security in India: An Appraisal

This paper tries to identify food insecure population of the country, analyse the availability, storage, procurement of food grain , assess the effectiveness of PDS, identify the discrepancies in the...

by Ishita Aditya Ray | On 28 Sep 2015

The Post-2015 Development Agenda and the Millennium Development Goals: Nutrition

This brief highlights that Malnutrition in all of its forms – undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs) – imposes unacceptably high economic...

by Food and Nutrition Division FAO | On 25 Sep 2015

Impact of Climate Change on Yield of Major Food Crops in Tamil Nadu, India

This study uses panel data for 39 years and 13 districts to estimate the yield sensitivity of major food crops to climate change in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It first estimated the margina...

by V. Saravanakumar | On 25 Sep 2015

Global Nutrition Report Actions and Accountability to Advance Nutrition and Sustainable Development

The Global Nutrition Report 2015 is a report card on the world’s nutrition globally, regionally, and country by country and on efforts to improve it. It assesses countries’ progress in meeting global...

by International Food Policy Research Institute | On 24 Sep 2015

The Social Dimensions of Free Trade Agreements

The report provides a comprehensive review of all existing trade agreements that include social provisions and discusses impacts for enterprises and workers.It also helps assess the challenges for ari...

by International Labour Organiztion [ILO] | On 23 Sep 2015

Food Security vs Nutritional Security: Need for Multi-Sectoral Convergence

The paper attempts to address the problem of undernutrition in India and its adverse effects on children and adults. Today, food security concerns include not only the problems of physical availabili...

by | On 22 Sep 2015

Production, Market Structure and the Role of Public Policy: Foodgrains in the New Economy

Although India’s plans for market reforms and opening up agriculture with earnest optimism and anticipation, every step on the way was laced with caution and deliberation and every action was weighed...

by Nilabja Ghosh | On 21 Sep 2015

Report of the Working Group on Public Distribution System and Food Security for the Tenth Five Year Plan (2002-2007)

This planning commission report on Food Security deals with the changing consumption pattern for food in India and reviews some studies on demand and supply projections for cereals in India. It also e...

by Planning Commission | On 21 Sep 2015

Seventh, after Seven

Seven years after the financial crisis, countries have done well. India is also doing well but there is a lot of difference in the programmes announced and how they are implemented.

by T.N. Ninan | On 19 Sep 2015

Migrant and Child Labor in Thailand’s Shrimp and Other Seafood Supply Chains: Labor Conditions and the Decision to Study or Work

The purpose of this study is twofold: first, to strengthen the evidence base on child labor and labor conditions in the shrimp and seafood supply chain and within the communities engaged in the shrimp...

by ASIA FOUNDATION | On 18 Sep 2015

Designing and Evaluating Social Safety Nets: Theory, Evidence, and Policy Conclusions

This paper reviews the literature on the performance of commonly found social safety net programs in developing countries. The evidence suggests that universal food subsidies have very limited potenti...

by | On 18 Sep 2015

Do Consumer Price Subsidies Really Improve Nutrition?

In this paper results are analysed from a field experiment exploring the response of poor households in China to food price subsidies. Many developing countries use food price subsidies or price cont...

by | On 18 Sep 2015

The Percolation of Public Expenditure: Food Subsidies and the Poor in India and Philippines

This paper measures the percolation of food subsidy expenditures to the poor. The paper proposes a metric that takes into account the depth and width of income transfer. The metric is applied to food...

by Shikha Jha | On 18 Sep 2015

The Elephant in the Dark: Finding Ways to End India’s Hunger and Malnutrition

This paper tries to map some of the major debates exploring the 'elephant‘ of India‘s failure to end hunger and malnutrition. The authors identify five main hurdles towards addressing the issue of hun...

by | On 17 Sep 2015

Agricultural Diversification and Poverty in India

As stress on Indian agriculture increases because of several reasons, such as continuous fragmentation of landholdings and climate change, there is a serious threat to livelihood based on farming. Thi...

by Digvijay S. Negi | On 17 Sep 2015

The Bali Agreement: An Assessment from the Perspective of Developing Countries

This paper discusses the different agreements and decisions reached in the Bali Ministerial Conference and the potential implications for the post-Bali work program. The results of the Bali Minister...

by Eugenio Díaz Bonilla | On 16 Sep 2015

Overcoming the Curse of Malnutrition in India: A Leadership Agenda for Action

The leadership agenda for action released by Coalition for Sustainable Nutrition Security in India to promote policy, programme and budgetary focus on overcoming the curse of malnutrition. The Coaliti...

by Coalition for Food & Nutrition Security India | On 11 Sep 2015

Developing Regional Value Chains in South Asian Leather Clusters: Issues, Options and an Indian Case

The possibility of developing regional production networks in specific sectors between nations of South Asia has been explored in this paper. The case of the leather and leather goods cluster in T...

by Keshab Das | On 11 Sep 2015

Tracking Progress on Child and Maternal Nutrition: A Survival and Development Priority

This report contains nutrition profiles for 24 countries. This report shows that an estimated 195 million children under age 5 in developing countries suffer from stunting, a consequence of chronic nu...

by United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF | On 08 Sep 2015

The School Feeding Programme in India

This paper provides a descriptive summary of India’s experience with school feeding programmes (SFPs), focussing mainly on the period since 1995, the year that saw the launch of a national initiative...

by M S Swaminathan Research Foundation India | On 08 Sep 2015

Global Nutrition Report: Actions and Accountability to Accelerate the World’s Progress on Nutrition

This report highlights the global nature of malnutrition and the successes and bottlenecks in addressing it. Malnutrition continues to affect the lives of millions of children and women worldwide. Eve...

by International Food Policy Research Institute | On 08 Sep 2015

A Nation under Threat: The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Rights and Forced Migration in Bangladesh

The report explores how climate change has become one of the major challenges to the enjoyment of the basic rights to life, food, health, water, housing and self-determination in one of the World's mo...

by Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) | On 08 Sep 2015

Income Inequality, Poverty and Labor Migration in Thailand

This paper explores the dynamics of economic growth, poverty, inequality and migration in Thailand, and evaluates the relevance of Lewis model to Thailand’s long-term development. Thai economy seems t...

by Somchai Jitsuchon | On 03 Sep 2015

Global, Regional, and National Disability-Adjusted Life Years (Dalys) For 306 Diseases and Injuries and Healthy Life Expectancy (HALE) For 188 Countries, 1990–2013: Quantifying the Epidemiological Transition

The Global Burden of Disease Study 2013 (GBD 2013) aims to bring together all available epidemiological data using a coherent measurement framework, standardised estimation methods, and transparent da...

by | On 29 Aug 2015

Excess Food Stocks, PDS and Procurement Policy

This planning commission paper tries to examine some of the factors that have led to accumulation of excess food grain stocks and make policy prescription on how to deal with the problem of surplus fo...

by Arvind Virmani | On 25 Aug 2015

The Experience with Regional Economic Cooperation Organizations: Lessons for Central Asia

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Central Asia has witnessed repeated efforts to strengthen regional integration through cooperation with the establishment of a number of regional organizations...

by Johannes F. Linn | On 25 Aug 2015

Has Indian Plantation Sector Weathered the Crisis? A Critical Assessment of Tea Plantation Industry in the Post-reforms Context

the paper provides an overview of the growth and status of Indian tea plantation sector delineating the trends in economic performance in the global context in a historic perspective. It then examine...

by Viswanathan P K | On 25 Aug 2015

On Reckoning Level Differentials in the Measurement of Progress: An Illustration in the Context of Deliveries Assisted by Skilled Health Personnel

The paper highlights that performance assessments should account for non-linear dynamics of progress, whereby an improvement at a higher level represents greater achievement than an equal improvement...

by William Joe | On 21 Aug 2015

Analysis of Fish Consumption and Poverty in Bangladesh

Aquaculture has grown in leaps and bounds in the last couple of decades in Bangladesh. This is welcomed by most as increasing fish production is expected to contribute to enhancing food security in a...

by Kazi Ali Toufique | On 21 Aug 2015

The WTO Agreement on Agriculture and Food Security

This study aims to help identify how a future multilateral agreement on agricultural trade can provide a secure framework within which developing countries can pursue effective policies to ensure thei...

by Stephen Devereux | On 21 Aug 2015

China: Case study on Human Development Progress towards the Millennium Developmental Goals at the Sub-National Level

This paper analyses an overview of china human development in Time and Space. The paper covers themes like regional inequality in China Since 1952 and Urban-Rural Inequality, 1980-2000. The paper is a...

by | On 21 Aug 2015

Addressing Long-term Challenges to Food Security and Rural Livelihoods in South Asia

Notwithstanding its impressive economic growth, food insecurity in South Asia continues to be a stark reality for a large number of households. Despite several successful policy interventions by Gover...

by K. S. Kavi Kumar | On 19 Aug 2015

Recent Developments in Myanmar and New Opportunities for Sub-Regional Cooperation: A Bangladesh Perspective

The paper analyses the potential opportunities between Bangladesh and Myanmar stemming from sub-regional cooperation. The paper examines Myanmar’s integration into the regional and global economy toge...

by Debapriya Bhattacharya | On 18 Aug 2015

Reduction of GHG Emissions and Attainment of Energy Security through Sustainable Production of Biofuels: Is it a Viable Option? A Review of Experinces

The National Policy on Biofuels sets an indicative target of 20per cent blending of biofuels by 2017 to tackle the twin problem of energy security and climate change. Although biofuels seem to be the...

by Gopinath Reddy | On 13 Aug 2015

The Rising Cost of a Healthy Diet – Changing Relative prices of Foods in High- Income and Emerging Economies

In 2014 our previous study ‘Future Diets’ (Keats and Wiggins 2014) described how across the world an increasing share of the population is overweight and obese, with the rate of increase particularly...

by Rafael Moreira Claro | On 12 Aug 2015

Trade and Transport Facilitation in Bangladesh: An Audit of the State of Play

This working paper embodies the results of trade and transport facilitation audit which was carried out in the Bangladesh context, as part of a South Asian regional study.The study documents the major...

by Naimul Saif | On 11 Aug 2015

Prevention of Loss or Decline of Vernacular and Indigenous Languages in the Indian Sub-Continent

Asian Societies with linguistic diversity have faced serious problems of loss or decline of vernacular and indigenous languages in modern times. Globalisation and urbanisation have brought a sea chang...

by P. Ishwara Bhat | On 10 Aug 2015

Myanmar: Unlocking the Potential - A Strategy for High, Sustained, and Inclusive Growth

Recognizing the need to formulate policy strategies for the changes it faces, Myanmar started a multifaceted reform process in 2011. But speeding up development requires a multipronged but more cohere...

by | On 04 Aug 2015

Rationalisation of Agriculture in Kerala: Implications for Natural Environment, Agro-Ecosystems and Livelihoods

This paper takes on an older debate that the agriculture transformation in the regional economy of Kerala has been mainly driven by ‘peasant rationality’. It argues that the agrarian transformation...

by Viswanathan P K | On 31 Jul 2015

Resolving the Food Crisis – Assessing Global Policy Reforms Since 2007

The report looks beyond the proclamations and communiqués to assess what has really changed since the crisis erupted. While not exhaustive, the report looks at: Overseas Development Assistance, both i...

by | On 30 Jul 2015

Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment

This Policy note on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment is central to the attainment of the overarching goal of enabling poor rural women and men to improve their food security and nutrition, rais...

by International Fund for Agricultural Development IFAD | On 29 Jul 2015

Liberalizing Trade of Environmental Goods and Services: How to Address the Free-Rider Problem

This paper aims to provide APEC members with evidence-based guidance on the implementation of the APEC mandate. Theoretically, this approach addresses the free-rider problem. Free riders are countries...

by | On 28 Jul 2015

Whither Right to Food? Rights Institutions and Hungry Labour in Tea Plantations of North Bengal

This paper explores what constitutes the mechanics of the legal and the administrative world of food rights in the Dooars area of West Bengal, specifically food rights of the tea plantation labourers....

by Geetisha Dasgupta | On 24 Jul 2015

How are Firms Responding to Philippine Free Trade Agreements?

The Philippines has been more cautious in its policy toward free trade agreements (FTAs) than other ASEAN member-states, having signed, so far, only one bilateral agreement with Japan in addition to t...

by Rafaelita M. Aldaba | On 20 Jul 2015

Food Inflation in India: Causes and Consequences

Average food inflation in India during the period 2006-2013 was one of the highest among emerging market economies, and nearly double the inflation witnessed in India during the previous decade. In...

by Rudrani Bhattacharya | On 20 Jul 2015

Inflation Targeting in India: Select Issues

The adoption of inflation targeting in India has been a much debated topic which also becomes a challenge for the emerging economy. Though inflation targeting has already been adopted in many emerging...

by Charan Singh | On 17 Jul 2015

Toward Regional Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the East Asian Seas

In an era where development issues concerning human security, health, and the environment transcend national boundaries, international cooperation has become more crucial than ever. This issue of the...

by Atty. Raphael Lotilla | On 10 Jul 2015

Action Alert? A Mid-Day Meal for Children: A Story Full of Non-Compliance, Poor Performance and Irregularities, Say the CAG Findings

Is the mid-day meal scheme following the nutritional standards? Are funds properly allocated? HARCRC is showing a clear picture of what is happening to the mid-day meal scheme.

by HAQ Centre for Child Rights HAQCRC | On 08 Jul 2015

National Land Use Policy: Protecting Prime Agricultural Lands

With only less than 10 million hectares of agricultural land that is threatened by a rapidly urbanizing economy, how would the Philippines be able to meet its growing demand for food, and continue pro...

by Senate Economic Planning Office SEPO | On 06 Jul 2015

Managing Rice Value Chain for Improved Food Security in Bangladesh

This Policy Brief utilizes the concept of value chain management as the basis of improving the competitive advantage of the rice sector for promoting food security in Bangladesh. For analyzing the is...

by | On 02 Jul 2015

Supreme Court Orders on the Right to Food: A Tool for Action

The aim of this booklet is to introduce activists and the general public to the Supreme Court orders, and help them to make effective use these orders. The Supreme Court orders can also be used to hel...

by | On 24 Jun 2015

Impact of Climate Change on Food Production: Options for Importing Countries

This RSIS policy brief identifies possible implications of climate change disturbances on crops and livestock in world production centers by 2030, 2050 and 2080. Policy recommendations for importing...

by | On 22 Jun 2015

Building a Sustainable Agricultural Trade Security System for Kerala

The present Report offers suggestions for the consideration of the Government of India, based on the UN Millennium Goals for Poverty Eradication, as well as on the principle that trade should strength...

by | On 17 Jun 2015

Gender and Food Security: Towards Gender-Just Food and Nutrition Security

This BRIDGE Cutting Edge Overview Report makes the case for a new, gender-aware understanding of food security, arguing that partial, apolitical and gender-blind diagnoses of the problem of food and n...

by Bridge Cutting Edge Programme | On 16 Jun 2015

A Noodle-Bowl of Issues

Will those who promote ayurvedic products that have iron as a standard ingredient, get the same treatment as Maggi noodles, or benefit from benign neglect?

by T.N. Ninan | On 15 Jun 2015

The Sunday Edit: The Maggi Order

Indigestible noodle soup.

by S Srinivasan | On 15 Jun 2015

The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2015: Meeting the 2015 International Hunger Targets Taking Stock of Uneven Progress.

This report discusses the need to eradicate hunger and achieve food security across all its dimensions. The report also identifies key factors that have determined success to date in reaching the MDG ...

by Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN UN | On 10 Jun 2015

Water for Food Security and Nutrition

This report is a report by the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition of the Committee on World Food Security. Water is key to food security and nutrition. However there are many c...

by Food and Nutrition Division FAO | On 10 Jun 2015

Universal Food Security Program and Nutritional Intake: Evidence from the Hunger Prone KBK Districts in Odisha

This article provides evidence on the role of consumer food subsidies in improving nutritional intake and diet quality by evaluating the expansion of the government food assistance program coverage i...

by Andaleeb Rahman | On 05 Jun 2015

The Thursday Edit: No 'instant' fixes

The Maggie noodles episode makes a case for fine-tuning food-related regulations

by Padma Prakash | On 05 Jun 2015

Impact of Interbank Liquidity on Monetary Transmission Mechanism: A Case Study of Pakistan

The transmission mechanism of policy-induced changes are is analysed in the discount rate and required reserves in Pakistan. The results suggest that the pass through to the lending rate is complete f...

by Muhammed Omar | On 05 Jun 2015

Analysis of Trends in India’s Agricultural Growth

The present study discusses the trends and patterns in agricultural growth at the national and sub-national levels in India. Data on important variables like area, production, input use and value of o...

by Elumalai Kannan | On 04 Jun 2015

Second Bi-monthly Monetary Policy Statement, 2015-16

On the basis of an assessment of the current and evolving macroeconomic situation the statement suggest that the global recovery is still slow and getting increasingly differentiated across regions.

by Raghuram G. Rajan | On 03 Jun 2015

The Double Burden of Malnutrition: Case Studies from Six Developing Countries

This Food and Agriculture Organization publication assesses the extent of the "double burden" of malnutrition in six developing countries – China, Egypt, India, Mexico, the Philippines and South Afric...

by Food and Nutrition Division FAO | On 01 Jun 2015

Crop Husbandry, Agricultural Inputs, Demand and Supply Projections and Agricultural Statistics for the Twelfth Five Year Plan

Eleventh Five Year Plan has focused on a model that encompass 4 per cent growth in agriculture. This was considered vital not only for improving food and nutrient security, but also for inclusive grow...

by Planning Commission | On 22 May 2015

Report of the Working Group on Outreach of Institutional Finance, Cooperatives and Risk Management for the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17)

The working group is of the opinion that the credit strategy should be aligned to agriculture growth strategy which in turn has to address broader macro economy concerns of supply management and issu...

by Planning Commission | On 21 May 2015

Report of the Working Group on Drugs & Food Regulations

Strengthening of Drugs Regulatory Mechanisms is one of the major public health interventions. This ensures that safe, efficacious and quality drugs are made available to the people. Keeping in view th...

by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare H & FW | On 21 May 2015

National Vaccine Policy

The National Vaccine Policy document has been developed following the recommendation of National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI). This policy document addresses broad issues of streng...

by National Rural Health Mission | On 13 May 2015

ASEAN and Conflict Management: The Need for a High Council

This year the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will formally establish the ASEAN Community, which is set to enhance regional community building among its member states. Ramses Amer makes...

by | On 13 May 2015

Instability and Regional Variation in Indian Agriculture

This study has taken up two seemingly different but connected aspects of Indian agriculture, the first part dealing with the analysis of agricultural instability at the national and state levels and t...

by Ramesh Chand | On 13 May 2015

YOJANA Volume 58, Issue 1- January 2014

The January 2014 issue of YOJANA contains the following articles - Tribal and Marginalized Communities, Constitutional Provisions, Laws and Tribes, Actualising Adivasi Self-Rule, The Food Bill, Wild F...

by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting MIB | On 11 May 2015

Indonesia - Nutrition at a Glance

Malnutrition is responsible for nearly half (45 percent) of all deaths in children under five. Children who are undernourished between conception and age two are at high risk for impaired cognitive de...

by World Bank | On 11 May 2015

Water pollution in India: Eighth report of the (Sixteenth Lok Sabha) Public Accounts Committee (2014-15)

Public Accounts Committee (2014-15) present this Eighth report (Sixteenth Lok Sabha) on water pollution in India based on C&AG Report No. 21 of 2011-12, Union Government for the year ended March 2012...

by Lok Sabha Secretariat | On 11 May 2015

Performance Evaluation of Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS)

The study finds that about 58 per cent of the subsidized food grains issued from the Central Pool do not reach the BPL families because of identification errors, nontransparent operation and unethical...

by Planning Commission | On 08 May 2015

Annual Report: 2010-2011

This report of government details on challenges in agriculture sector. There is a need to address these issues as India faces a greater challenge, since with only 2.3% share in world’s total land area...

by Ministry of Agriculture GOI | On 07 May 2015

Report on the State of Food Insecurity in Rural India

This Report is an update of the Rural Food Insecurity Atlas of 2001 released by the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) and the World Food Programme (WFP). Since then, numerous new programmes...

by V B Athreya | On 06 May 2015

Assamese Language, Narrative and the Making of the North East Frontier of India: Beyond Regional Indian Literary Studies

This paper is divided into two broad sections. The first section deals with the Brahmaputra Valley in Assam (north east India) and its transformation into a frontier in the nineteenth century. The sec...

by Manjeet Baruah | On 05 May 2015

Nutritional Intake in India (July 2009 - June 2010)

This report presents the information on nutritional intake by the Indian population. Among the different nutrients only three nutrients – viz, calorie, protein and fat – are discussed in this report....

by National Sample Survey Office NSSO | On 05 May 2015

India Human Development Report 2011: Towards Social Inclusion

This Report examines: human development index and profile for India and its states; economic attainment of the population, especially in terms of the two major sources of income-employment and assets;...

by | On 27 Apr 2015

World Malaria Report 2014

The World Malaria Report 2014 summarizes information received from malaria-endemic countries and other sources, and updates the analyses presented in the 2013 report. It assesses global and regional m...

by World Health Organisation (WHO) | On 24 Apr 2015

Is Long-Term Food Insecurity Inevitable in Asia

This article questions two widely accepted claims on long-term food insecurity in Asia, the world's (heterogeneous) region with the largest number of undernourished individuals. The first claim is tha...

by | On 23 Apr 2015

The National Food Security Act (NFSA) 2013 -Challenges, Buffer Stocking and the Way

The National Food Security Act (NFSA) 2013 combines and expands the scope of some existing food-based welfare schemes. It will be distributing raw rations, meal(s) and/or cash. Approximately 81.35 cro...

by Shweta Saini | On 20 Apr 2015

Towards a Water and Food Secure Future

The aim of this paper is to provide policy-makers with a helpful overview of the technical and economic aspects of water use in agriculture, with particular emphasis on crop and livestock production....

by Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN UN | On 15 Apr 2015

Realizing Sustainable Food Security in the Post-2015 Development Era: South Asia’s Progress, Challenges and Opportunities

This paper reviews South Asia’s progress, challenges and opportunities for realizing sustainable food security in the post-2015 development agenda. The review finds that South Asia’s average dietary e...

by | On 14 Apr 2015

The State of Food Insecurity in the World Economic Growth is Necessary but not Sufcient to Accelerate Reduction of Hunger and Malnutrition

This report provides evidence that poor, hungry and malnourished people use some of their additional income either to produce or purchase more food, aiming to increase their dietary energy intake and...

by Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN UN | On 09 Apr 2015

Pakistan: The Worsening IDP Crisis

Internally displaced persons operation was one of the first against armed anti-state fighters in the tribal belt, and marked the beginning of operations across the seven tribal agencies of the Federal...

by International Crisis Group | On 06 Apr 2015

Foreign Trade Policy: 1st April, 2015 – 31st March, 2020

The new five year foreign trade policy, 2015-2020 provides a framework for increasing exports of goods and services as well as generation of employment and increasing value addition in the country. Th...

by Ministry of Commerce and Industry GOI | On 02 Apr 2015

The National Food Security Act (NFSA) 2013 - Challenges, Buffer Stocking and the Way Forward

The paper empirically maps the annual distribution commitment (61.43 MMTs) of the government with the procurement pattern of rice and wheat, for each quarter, to estimate the quarterly operational sto...

by Shweta Saini | On 01 Apr 2015

The Impossible Trinity: Where does India stand?

A comprehensive overview of a few empirical studies is presented that have explored the issue of Trilemma in the Indian context. Based on these studies an analysis is done on how have Indian policy ma...

by Satish Y Deodhar | On 30 Mar 2015

Towards A Pareto Efficient Indian Agricultural Market - with specific focus on rice and wheat markets

The paper examines the policies of the central as well as state governments with respect to the agricultural market, specifically in rice and wheat markets, analyses their shortcomings and argues for...

by Dr Anandi Subramanian | On 23 Mar 2015

Inter-Regional Disparities in Industrial Growth and Structure

The present study examines the issues and propositions outlined above by analyzing the growth and structure of manufacturing industry in different states of India, in a comparative framework. It attem...

by T.S. Papola | On 19 Mar 2015

India: Development Effectiveness Brief

The publication captures the core of ADB's operations in India and showcases select ADB interventions that are helping the government achieve its development goals. ADB supports the Government of I...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 17 Mar 2015

Free Trade Agreements: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

This FAQ is intended to be a ready reckoner for trade and industry including their associations and bodies; students of international trade, academicians, trade researchers etc for understanding the s...

by | On 16 Mar 2015

Regional Disparities in Growth and Human Development in India

This paper argues that that per capita income in all states in India increased in the past four decades but in fact no sign of convergence could be visible as it was expected in the context of liberal...

by | On 13 Mar 2015

Death Sentences and Executions 2012

This report covers the judicial use of the death penalty for the period January to December 2012. Amnesty International records figures on the use of the death penalty based on the best available info...

by Amnesty International AI, | On 13 Mar 2015

Food Security in India: Issues and Suggestions for Effectiveness

Attaining food security is a matter of prime importance for India where more than a-third of its population is estimated to be absolutely poor, and as many as one half of its children have suffered fr...

by | On 11 Mar 2015

Gender Equality and Food Security: Women’s Empowerment as a Tool against Hunger

This report explores how gender equality can contribute to food security. Its focus is on Asia and the Pacific, though developments in other regions are also referenced. The report describes the relat...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 10 Mar 2015

Global Imbalances and Bretton Woods II Postulate

The paper intends to revisit this argument, particularly in the light of the change in deficits and surpluses in the world economy. The paper tries to trace the genesis of BWII to the debates which or...

by Krishnakumar S | On 10 Mar 2015

Budget 'Asks' for Food and Nutrition Security

With the budget round the corner what are the asks from the standpoint of food sovereignty? A Convention on Budget 2015-16 by the Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability looks at these.

by Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability | On 26 Feb 2015

Economic Policy for Revival of Mining

There is a need for public policy revival in mining sector as its contribution to GDP is declining. India has coal reserves but it is one of the highest importers of coal in the world. There is a need...

by Lekha Chakraborty | On 24 Feb 2015

Leakages from Public Distribution System (PDS) and the Way Forward

The public distribution system (PDS) has been one of the main policy instruments of the Government of India (GoI) to provide food security to the people of this country, especially the vulnerable ones...

by Ashok Gulati | On 17 Feb 2015

Determinants of Regional Patterns of Manufacturing Exports: Indian Firms since the Mid-1990s

A preliminary analysis of the spatial determinants of firms’ export activities by Indian states has been undertaken in this study. Thus, the present study attempts to fill the gap by focusing on issue...

by Jaya Prakash Pradhan | On 06 Feb 2015

Report of High Level Committee on Reorienting the Role and Restructuring of Food Corporation of India (FCI)

Government of India (GoI) set up a High Level Committee (HLC) to suggest restructuring or unbundling of FCI with a view to improve its operational efficiency and financial management. GoI also asked H...

by Food Corporation of India | On 04 Feb 2015

Research and Development and Extension Services in Agriculture and Food Security

This paper makes a case for sustained investments in research and extension to address the numerous challenges along the pathway from agriculture production and distribution to consumption and utiliza...

by | On 30 Jan 2015

Approaches to Food Security in Brazil, China, India, Malaysia, Mexico, and Nigeria: Lessons for Developing Countries

This paper provides a review of the national experiences of six emerging and developing economies, two from Latin America (Brazil and Mexico), three from Asia (China, India, and Malaysia), and one fro...

by Pooja Sharma | On 23 Jan 2015

India’s Climate Strategy Needs Revision

Developing countries do not come with a clear plan or proactive position to climate change negotiations, whereas industrialised nations do - to erase their contribution to the emissions already presen...

by Sunita Narain | On 22 Jan 2015

Promoting Agricultural Research and Development to Strengthen Food Security in South Asia

This study aims to highlight the status of agricultural R&D in South Asia and contends that creating an effective agricultural research and innovation systems is a vital element to ensure food securit...

by | On 22 Jan 2015

Trade Policy Uncertainty and the WTO

This paper discusses the impact of WTO commitments on changes in MFN applied tariffs, isolating pure trade policy changes from any other change in the level of protection due to market conditions by f...

by Valeria Groppo | On 22 Jan 2015

A Farming System Model to Leverage Agriculture for Nutritional Outcomes

The objective of paper is to demonstrate feasibility of nutrition-sensitive agriculture. The proposed model is being tested in two select locations to demonstrate improvement in nutrition status throu...

by M S Swaminathan | On 21 Jan 2015

Towards A Pareto Efficient Indian Agricultural Market - with Specific Focus on Rice and Wheat Markets

The paper examines the policies of the central as well as state governments with respect to the agricultural market, specifically in rice and wheat markets, analyses their shortcomings and argues for...

by Anandi Subramanian | On 16 Jan 2015

Global Economic Prospects

The report argues the recent setback in global economy and ways to strengthen the growth in developing countries. with a view to undertake growth and recovery in high-income countries, there is need t...

by World Bank | On 14 Jan 2015

Trade Liberalization, Poverty and Food Security in India

This paper attempts to assess the impact of trade liberalization on growth, poverty, and food security in India with the help of a national level computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. It shows t...

by | On 29 Dec 2014

Food Security and Nutritional scenario of India- An overview

The purpose of this paper is to assess the availability of food to poor and nutritional situation of national households. The growth of production of food grains is 2.12 per cent in 2000-01 to 2010-1...

by | On 26 Dec 2014

Social Safety Net—Emergency Assistance for Food Security in Bangladesh

In 2007, Bangladesh was adversely affected by severe flooding and a devastating cyclone which triggered a 1.2 million-ton shortfall in the country’s rice production. This situation resu...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 23 Dec 2014

Nutritional Intake in India, 2011-12

This report is based on information collected during 2011-12 from 7469 villages and 5268 urban blocks spread over the entire country. Two different schedules were used to collect information on cons...

by National Sample Survey Office NSSO | On 23 Dec 2014

Food and Nutrition Security Status in India: Opportunities for Investment Partnerships

Ensuring food and nutrition security is a challenge for India, given its huge population and high levels of poverty and malnutrition. India is a net agricultural exporter, particularly of milk, fruit...

by T. Nanda Kumar | On 18 Dec 2014

A Nutrition Secure India: Role of Agriculture

India continues to suffer from under-nutrition among large sections of its population. The country is unlikely to realise the first millennium development goal by 2015. How can agriculture be us...

by Suneetha Kadiyala | On 18 Dec 2014

Price Movements for Rice and Wheat: A Structuralist Policy Perspective

This paper examines the price movements in rice and wheat, following structuralist principles emphasizing the necessity of long term solutions in combination with short and medium term management. How...

by K U Gopakumar | On 17 Dec 2014

Human Rights in India: An Overview

The situation of persistent human rights violations across the country presents manifold challenges. A number of progressive legal and policy initiatives have been taken by GOI. This paper highlights...

by Working Groups on Human Rights | On 12 Dec 2014

GIS Study for Malnutrition and Agro Biodiversity in Maharashtra State, India

Malnutrition is found to be a leading killer throughout the world, with undernutrition in the developing world the main nutrition problem. India is one of the fastest growing country in terms of pop...

by Rahul R. Sagar | On 10 Dec 2014

Comparison of Under-Nutrition among Children Aged 1-5 Years Using WHO and NCHS Growth Charts

Anthropometric indices are widely used to assess the health and nutritional status of children. National Centre for Health Statistics /World Health Organisation growth reference (NCHS reference) and...

by R.K. Nayak | On 10 Dec 2014

Regionalization of Labour Reform Process: The Fabian strategy

The President of India signed a revised set of labour laws from Rajasthan into state law. The Rajasthan government has revised the Factories Act, the Industrial Disputes Act and the Contract Labour Ac...

by K.R. Shyam Sundar | On 02 Dec 2014

Dietary Intake and Rural-Urban Migration in India: A Cross-Sectional Study

Migration from rural areas of India contributes to urbanisation and lifestyle change, and dietary changes may increase the risk of obesity and chronic diseases. It tests the hypothesis that rural-to-u...

by Shah Ebrahim | On 02 Dec 2014

Maharashtra’s Child Stunting Declines: What is Driving Them? Findings of a Multidisciplinary Analysis

Between 2006 and 2012, Maharashtra’s stunting rate among children under two years of age was reported to decline by 15 percentage points – one of the fastest declines in stunting seen anywhere at any...

by Lawrence Haddad | On 01 Dec 2014

Food Price Subsidies and Nutrition: Evidence from State Reforms to India’s Public Distribution System

It investigate whether food price subsidies affect household nutrition using a dramatic expansion of the availability of subsidized rice in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh in the early 2000’s. Hous...

by Prasad Krishnamurthy | On 28 Nov 2014

Poverty-Hunger Divergence in India

The usual explanations for the divergence between calorie intake and consumption expenditure in India ignore the enormous squeeze on food budgets arising from dispossession (leading to loss of a...

by Deepankar Basu | On 28 Nov 2014

Food Security in India-Some Issues and Challenges

Food security has emerged as a fundamental issue at global level since the global food crisis of 2008. Now, investment in agriculture, food, and nutritional security is a prime concern for every natio...

by Palwinder Kaur | On 27 Nov 2014

Agricultural Transformation and Food Security in India: Lessons for Southeast Asia

This article seeks firstly to look at the three aspects of food security in India, viz., food availability, accessibility, and absorption. Secondly, an attempt has been made to study food security in...

by Reshmi Banerjee | On 27 Nov 2014

Enhancing the Nutrition-Sensitivity of Agricultural Development Interventions in the Eastern Gangetic Plains: Challenges and Options

This background paper aims first is to outline the rationale and merits for enhancing the nutrition-sensitivity of agricultural interventions in general, highlighting recognised pathways which lin...

by Toni Darbas | On 20 Nov 2014

Global Nutrition Report 2014

This Global Nutrition Report is the first in an annual series. It tracks worldwide progress in improving nutrition status, identifies bottlenecks to change, highlights opportunities for action, and co...

by Independent Expert Group (IEG) | On 17 Nov 2014

Measures, Spatial Profile and Determinants of Dietary Diversity: Evidence from India

Food security policies in developing countries generally focus on calorie intake, which is not sufficient to tackle the triple burden of malnutrition: undernourishment, micronutrient deficiencies and...

by Mousumi Das | On 14 Nov 2014

Prioritizing Demand-Driven Agricultural Research for Development in India

India has shown an impressive economic growth of about 8 percent per year in the last decade. But the coexistence of impressive growth with widespread poverty and hunger is a real worry and a seri...

by Asia-Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions | On 12 Nov 2014

Towards a Food Secure India and South Asia: Making Hunger History

The paper begins with a detailed analysis of the various elements of food security, then it describes the various policy and programme restructurings and interventions to meet the challenges and const...

by R.B. Singh | On 29 Oct 2014

Governance Issues and Challenges in Implementation Of National Food Security Act 2013

India is a developing country having 2nd highest population in the world. Even after 66 years of its independence, County is facing a serious issue of poverty and malnutrition. The Government of I...

by Hitesh S. Gujarati | On 29 Oct 2014

The Soya Project: Farm Evangelists

In 2008, two earnest young men set out to boost soya bean yields in the semi-arid region of Bundi in Rajasthan. Rainfall there is meagre and the soil lacks nutrients. But there are ready buyers for so...

by Civil Society | On 20 Oct 2014

Public Distribution System of Essential Commodities as a Social Safety Net: A Study of the District of Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh

The study concentrates on PDS as a social safety net.

by Bhaskar Majumder | On 17 Oct 2014

Fighting Child Malnutrition

India has the dubious distinction of having the highest burden of malnutrition in the world – higher than Sub-Saharan Africa. Nearly 50 per cent of our children are underweight and stunted and 70...

by National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, India | On 16 Oct 2014

Report on the State Of Food Insecurity in Urban India

This report maps food insecurity in urban India. It captures the changes in the urban scenario from updated statistics like NFHS, NSSO etc. and highlight the parameters that would lead to improved foo...

by World Food Programme | On 16 Oct 2014

Analytics of Food Inflation in India

Food inflation in India has remained stubborn in recent years. A number of proximate factors such as increasing demand particularly arising from higher rural wages, rising agricultural cost of produ...

by Thangzason Sonna | On 14 Oct 2014

Global Hunger Index 2014: The Challenge of Hidden Hunger

A staggering 2 billion people get so little essential vitamins and minerals from the foods they eat that they remain undernourished, according to the 2014 Global Hunger Index (GHI) being released toda...

by International Food Policy Research Institute | On 14 Oct 2014

Notes on Land, Long-run Food Security and the Agrarian Crisis in India

These Notes are mainly about three interconnected themes; i) the international and Indian ‘take’ on control over land (and water); ii) the distinction between an agricultural crisis and an agrarian...

by Sheila Bhalla | On 01 Oct 2014

The Post-2015 Development Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Since the 2007-08 food crisis and hunger riots, the international policy agenda has shifted, clearly identifying that hunger and malnutrition are a poverty trap and potential source of political insta...

by Farming First | On 26 Sep 2014

Evolution and Critique of Buffer Stocking Policy of India

An evaluation of the country’s buffer stock policy reveals gaps and inefficiencies. Large quantities of food grains have accumulated in the godowns of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and its nom...

by Shweta Saini | On 26 Sep 2014

Causes of Indian Rupee Depreciation and its Impact on Bangladesh Economy

The intention of this paper is to examine the impact of Indian Rupee depreciation on Bangladesh Economy. The empirical results obtained from OLS for the sample period from 2007:10 to 2013:10 show tha...

by Sayera Younus | On 25 Sep 2014

Food Security and Nutrition: Vision 2020

The concept of food security has undergone considerable changes in recent years. Food availability and stability were considered good measures of food security till the seventies and the achievement o...

by K. Venkata Reddy | On 18 Sep 2014

SEWA: Supporting Village-Level Organizations to Improve Rural Livelihoods

In spite of the rapid growth of the Indian economy, the fraction of the rural population living in poverty has declined only modestly. Increasing indebtedness, rises in input prices, and rapid commerc...

by Raj M. Desai | On 17 Sep 2014

Scaling up Agricultural Supply Chains in the Private Sector

This brief is one of series on scaling up in agriculture, rural development, and nutrition. PepsiCo is a global business operating in more than 200 countries and territories and rooted in creating and...

by Beth Sauerhaft | On 17 Sep 2014

Production, Procurement and Inflation: A Market Model for Food Grains

Rapid rise in the price of food grains and their continued upsurge is a matter of concern for not only the government and policy makers but also for all concerned with social welfare. This is particul...

by Gopakumar K.U. | On 15 Sep 2014

Rising Food Prices in South Asia: A Policy Framework to Mitigate Adverse Effects

The global economic crises that started in 2008 have exposed commodity markets to increasing price volatility and raised concerns for higher inflation, food security and poverty reduction. This seri...

by S.Mahendra Dev | On 12 Sep 2014

Agricultural Outlook and Situational Analysis Report - January - March 2014

Accordingly, the agricultural outlook and situation analysis undertaken in this study refers to the main crop based food items: cereals (specifically rice, wheat, jowar, bajra, maize and overall coars...

by National Council of Applied Economic Research | On 08 Sep 2014

Spatial Convergence and Growth in Indian Agriculture: 1967-2010

Inter-state diversity has been a perennial feature of Indian agriculture. The study probes if per capita income in Indian agriculture has converged across states in the last four and a half decades. I...

by Tirtha Chaterjee | On 06 Sep 2014

Chicken Comes Home to Roost

India is at the beginning of industrial food production focused on efficiency and profits, and not on consumer safety, so it still has a choice to get it right. Why should the country not exercise its...

by Sunita Narain | On 04 Sep 2014

Food Stamps: A Model for India

About 4.5 lakh fair price shops in India sell 10-20 lakh tons of rice and wheat at the subsidized rate per month. Majority of the ration shops are in urban areas, they are hardly ever open and only a...

by Parth Shah | On 27 Aug 2014

Women and Science Education in India : A Saga of Marginalization

Science has traditionally been a male preserve. Socio-religious prejudices kept science education out of bounds for vast majority of women in India. Even today underrepresentation of women in science...

by Paromita Ghosh | On 29 Jul 2014

Salient Features of Measuring, Interpreting and Addressing Indian Inflation

The paper reviews the calculation of Indian wholesale and consumer price indices and suggests improvements in the light of past experience and international best practices. It confirms that food infla...

by Kirti Gupta | On 22 Jul 2014

Union Budget 2014: Marginal Realignment of Tactics to Strategy

The article examines the restructuring of expenditure in the first budget of the new government, and its feasibility. It compares the increase in budget allocations for key macroeconomic aggregates a...

by Ashima Goyal | On 21 Jul 2014

India – National Youth Policy 2014 (NYP-2014)

The Government of India (GoI) currently invests more than Rs 90,000 crores per annum on youth development programmes or approximately Rs 2,710 per young individual per year, through youth-targeted (hi...

by Ministry of Youth and Sports Affairs YAS | On 21 Jul 2014

BCIM Economic Corridor: Prospects and Challenges

Given the commonalities in terms of history, culture, languages and trade complementarity in many cases, the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) Corridor is a win-win arrangement. The linkages of tr...

by Pravakar Sahoo | On 15 Jul 2014

India's Public Distribution System: A National and International Perspective

This study examines the impact of India's Public Distribution System (PDS) on poor households in terms of income gains, reductions in the incidence and severity of poverty, as well as nutritional impr...

by R. Radhakrishna | On 07 Jul 2014

Inter-Regional Report on Labour Migration and Social Protection

Since the 1970s in particular, the countries of Western Asia and those of the Asia-Pacific region have been closely linked to each other through highly extensive movements of people. Opportunities cre...

by United Nations Economic and Social Commission (UNESCAP) | On 17 Jun 2014

Global Employment Trends for Youth 2013: A Generation at Risk

This issue of Global Employment Trends for Youth provides an update on youth labour markets around the world, focusing both on the continuing labour market crisis and on structural issues in youth lab...

by International Labour Organisation ILO | On 30 May 2014

Urbanization and Spatial Patterns of Internal Migration in India

With an urbanization level of 31.16 percent in 2011, India is the least urbanized country among the top 10 economies of the world. In addition, unlike other countries, the transition of workforce out...

by Ajay Sharma | On 26 May 2014

World Youth Report 2007 Young People’s Transition to Adulthood: Progress and Challenges

The Report highlights the unique aspects of youth development in various regions but emphasizes that young people the world over are ultimately constrained in their efforts to contribute to their own...

by United Nations UN | On 16 May 2014

Eating Spaces, Resisting Creation: A Study of Creation and Consumption of Travel-based Food Shows on Regional and National Television

The dynamics of the market post liberalization of the Indian economy in the 1990s have permeated both, the urban middle class and rural households, setting a trend of negotiation with the ‘exotic fore...

by Shweta Ghosh | On 13 May 2014

The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World

The 2013 Human Development Report, The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World looks at the evolving geopolitics of our times, examining emerging issues and trends and also the new actors...

by Khalid Malik | On 06 May 2014

Soil Degradation : A Threat to Developing-Country Food Security by 2020?

This comprehensive paper explains why and when soil degradation should be of particular concern to policymakers interested in assuring food security. The inferences in this paper are based on research...

by Sara J. Scherr | On 05 May 2014

Annual Report 2010-11 Department Of Food and Public Distribution

The primary Policy objective of the Department of Food& Public Distribution is to ensure food security for the country through timely and efficient procurement and distribution of foodgrains. This inv...

by MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DIST GOI | On 05 May 2014

Achieving Urban Food and Nutrition Security in the Developing World

Growth in urban poverty, food insecurity, and malnutrition and a shift in their concentration from rural to urban areas will acompany urbanisation. This is a series of briefs covering various aspects...

by James L. Garrett | On 02 May 2014

India’s Agricultural Trade Policy and Sustainable Development

During the last six decades or so Indian agriculture has made remarkable progress with food grain production growing five fold from about 50 MMT in 1950 to more than 250 MMT in 2012. Despite the incre...

by Anwarul Hoda | On 29 Apr 2014

The Food Security Policy Context in South Africa

The analysis in this report leads to an overall conclusion that the IFSS is an excellent strategy on paper and a relevant framework for different stakeholders, but in reality it lacks implementing pow...

by Josee Koch | On 29 Apr 2014

The Impact of Education Across Sectors: Food Security

This policy brief explores ways in which the education sector contributes to the creation of food security, as well as how a more food secure population can have better educational outcomes, promoting...

by Michele McNabb | On 29 Apr 2014

Excess Food Stocks, Public Distribution System (PDS) and Procurement Policy

A fairly long series of normal monsoons has coincided with a policy of ensuring relatively higher returns on production of rice and wheat and led to a surplus of food grains accumulated in the FCI god...

by Arvind Virmani | On 28 Apr 2014

Food and Nutrition Security Status in India

Ensuring food and nutrition security is a challenge for India, given its huge population and high levels of poverty and malnutrition. India is a net agricultural exporter, particularly of milk, fruits...

by Pravesh Sharma | On 28 Apr 2014

Features of Urban Food and Nutrition Security and Considerations for Successful Urban Programming

This paper discusses the wide disparities that exist in childhood malnutrition, food insecurity and livelihoods within urban areas which, when combined with the mobility of urban residents,add to the...

by Marie T. Ruel | On 22 Apr 2014

Addressing the Global Food Crisis: Key trade, investment and commodity policies in ensuring sustainable food security and alleviating poverty

The recent global food crisis can be seen as a wake-up call which can be turned into an opportunity by developing countries and the international community to revitalize global agriculture producti...

by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development | On 22 Apr 2014

Access to Food

This series of eSSays is an attempt to fill that gap and make social and economic research impacting policy available to enhance public debate in this time of change. We also hope that this will const...

by Shambhu Ghatak | On 21 Apr 2014

Instability in Indian Agriculture during Different Phases of Technology and Policy

The issue of instability attracted lot of attention of researchers in the early phase of adoption of green revolution technology. It was found that adoption of new technology had increased instability...

by Ramesh Chand | On 18 Apr 2014

Human Development in India: Challenges for a Society in Transition

This report highlights the way in which poverty and a?uence intersect with age-old divisions of regional inequalities, gender, caste, and religion that have long structured human development in India....

by Sonalde Desai | On 17 Apr 2014

Creating a Sustainable Food Future

This report presents the interim findings of the World Resources Report 2013–2014: Creating a Sustainable Food Future, a collaboration of the World Resources Institute, the United Nations Development...

by Tim Searchinger | On 14 Apr 2014

Improving Child Nutrition: The achievable imperative for global progress

The World Health Assembly has set the goal of achieving a 40 per cent reduction in the number of stunted children under 5 years old by 2025, or around 70 million children saved from the misery o...

by United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF | On 11 Apr 2014

Psychology, Cyclicality or Social Programs: Rural Wage and Inflation Dynamics in India

The paper analyzes causes of movements in Indian wages for rural unskilled male laborers, and assesses their impact on inflation. Theoretical priors derived from an analytical framework based on the ...

by Ashima Goyal | On 10 Apr 2014

Food Security and Poverty Key Challenges and Policy Issues

Food insecurity, or the inability to access food of sufficient quantity and quality to satisfy minimum dietary needs, is the most basic form of human deprivation. Before people can provide for their e...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 09 Apr 2014

The State of Food Insecurity in the World : Addressing food insecurity in protracted crises

The number and proportion of hungry people in the world are declining as the global economy recovers and food prices remain below their peak levels, but hunger remains higher than before the foo...

by World Food Programme WFP | On 04 Apr 2014

Report on the State of Food Insecurity In Urban India

The concept of food insecurity is multidimensional in nature and is determined by a whole range of issues such as domestic production of food, import and export of food, purchasing power of people to...

by V. B. Athreya | On 03 Apr 2014

Food Prices and Child Nutrition in Andhra Pradesh

This paper makes an attempt to assess the impact of food price rise on the nutritional status of children of five year old. Young lives panel data provides the nutritional status of the children whe...

by S. Galab | On 27 Mar 2014

Price Transmission and Market Power in Modern Agricultural Value Chains

Price transmission is theoretically examined and how exogenous consumer price shocks (triggered for instance by income changes, global shocks, or by changes in consumer preferences) are transmitted to...

by Johan F.M. Swinnen | On 20 Mar 2014

Informal Manufacturing Sector in India: Pre and Post Reform Growth Dynamics

The informal manufacturing sector (IMS) in India has been a major part of the economy. Whether its growth is due to entry of people in distress, or whether it is a vibrant and growth oriented sector i...

by Dipa Mukherjee | On 10 Mar 2014

Debating Poverty

The first of a series of eSSays dossiers on issues of public concern. Guest editor: M.H. Suryanarayana. Contents: Poverty Line: Pursuit of an Elusive Minimum by M.H. Suryanarayana Fixing Poverty...

by eSocialSciences eSS | On 08 Mar 2014

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005

MGNREGA, which is the largest work guarantee programme in the world, was enacted in 2005 with the primary objective of guaranteeing 100 days of wage employment per year to rural households. It aims at...

by Ministry of Rural Development GOI | On 05 Mar 2014

Neo-Liberal Policy and Food Security in India: Impact on the Public Distribution System

This paper studies the problem of chronic hunger and malnutrition in India. The government of India introduced the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) in 1997 replacing the Universal Public Dis...

by Madhura Swaminathan | On 03 Mar 2014

National Food Security Mission: Operational Guidelines

The National Development Council (NDC)in its 53rd meeting held on 29th May, 2007 adopted a resolution to launch a Food Security Mission comprising rice, wheat and pulses to increase the production of...

by Ministry of Agriculture GOI | On 03 Mar 2014

Poverty and the state of nutrition in India

This paper analysis the development paradox of India, relatively high economic growth rates in the past few years, but lower progress in areas of life expectancy, education and standard of living. Pov...

by Kiruba S Varadharajan | On 03 Mar 2014

Food Security in India: Performance, Challenges and Policies

This paper examines performance, challenges, and policies in food security in terms of availability, access, and absorption or nutrition. Speci? cally, the paper addresses the following questions: ...

by S. Mahendra Dev | On 28 Feb 2014

What Census 2011 Reveals about Our Growers and Their Land

To gain a better understanding of the changes in the numbers of cultivators and Agricultural labor (marginal or main), it is useful to read them with the change in the number of agricultural holdings...

by Rahul Goswami | On 28 Feb 2014

Interim Budget 2014-15

Budget speech by 2014-15.

by P Chidambaram | On 17 Feb 2014

Can Government-Allocated Land Contribute to Food Security? Intrahousehold Analysis of West Bengal’s Microplot Allocation Program

Secure land rights are a critical, but often overlooked, factor in achieving household food security and improved nutritional status in rural areas of developing countries. This study evaluates the im...

by Florence Santos | On 17 Feb 2014

Are Women’s Issues Synonymous with Gender in India? Looking Across Geographic Space

This paper attempts to shift the focus from ‘women’ to the significance of the gender equation by assessing the intensity of gender disparity across geographic space, and enquiring into the reasons...

by Nira Ramachandran | On 04 Feb 2014

Do Indian States have the Power to Devise their Own Policies? A Study on Fiscal Space

With the decentralization process of the 1990s, linked to economic liberalization, there emerged new decisional scope for regional governments to shape their own policies. But the decentralization pro...

by Kim Robin | On 24 Jan 2014

National Food Security Bill Challenges and Options

Despite ensuring ample availability of food, existence of food insecurity at the micro-level in the country has remained a formidable challenge for India. The recently introduced National Food Securit...

by Ashok Gulati | On 23 Jan 2014

Structural Reforms and Agriculture: Issues and Policies

The performance of Agriculture in India is important as the sector not only contributes to overall growth of the economy but also provides employment and food security to majority of the population...

by S. Mahendra Dev | On 23 Jan 2014

Overcoming Child Malnutrition in Developing Countries: Past Achievements and Future Choices

"About 167 million children under five years of age —almost one-third of the developing world's children —are malnourished. If they survive childhood, many of these children will suffer from poorer co...

by Lisa C. Smith | On 22 Jan 2014

Bilateral Trade and Food Security

We analyze the relationship between food security and trade, focusing on food importers’ exposure to sudden market failures from relying on a narrow range of international suppliers. We compute a bil...

by Douglas H. Brooks | On 20 Jan 2014

Agriculture and Rural development: Hunger and Malnutrition

This paper focuses on two different types of malnutrition and then looks at the links between poor nutrition and agriculture.Malnutrition is one of the most devastating problems worldwide and its dire...

by Kevin Cleaver | On 16 Jan 2014

Functioning of the Public Distribution System: An Analytical Report

During September 2013, Parliament passed the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013. The NFSA seeks to make the right to food a legal entitlement by providing subsidised food grains to nearly two-th...

by Sakshi Balani | On 07 Jan 2014

Maritime Territorial Disputes in East Asia: A Comparative Analysis of the South China Sea and the East China Sea

This article systematically compares maritime territorial disputes in the East and South China Seas. It draws on the bargaining model of war and hegemonic stability theory to track the record of confl...

by Andy Yee | On 02 Jan 2014

In the Balance: The National Food Security Act vis-Ã -vis the WTO Agreement on Agriculture

This piece analyzes the implications of the National Food Security Act for India's commitments under the WTO Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) in the context of widespread concern that they might be mu...

by Sudha Narayanan | On 10 Dec 2013

The World Trade Organization and the Post-Global Food Crisis Agenda

This policy note offers a preliminary assessment of the compatibility between the WTO and efforts to protect the human right to adequate food as part of the post-crisis food security agenda. Existing...

by Olivier Schutter | On 02 Dec 2013

Migrants' Private Giving and Development: Diasporic Influences on Development in Central Gujarat, India

The paper addresses the migration-development debate by developing a framework for understanding who are the migrants, what they are sending back, and how these transfers are being utilised in the lo...

by Puja Guha | On 28 Nov 2013

A Review of Internal and Regional Migration Policy in Southeast Asia

This working paper provides an overview of migration policy analysis in academic and policy (‘grey’) literature for Southeast Asia, as well as a brief outline of the current migration policy environme...

by Maureen Hickey | On 27 Nov 2013

The Future of the World Trade Organization

The continued difficulties of the World Trade Organization to achieve further multilateral trade liberalization in the Doha Round negotiations have raised questions about its continued relevance. This...

by Biswajit Dhar | On 19 Nov 2013

Regional Cooperation on the Ganga Basin: Yet a mirage?

Ganges is one of the important rivers of South Asia. It is a trans-boundary river between India and Bangladesh. Some rivers, originating in the Tibetan Autonomous region of the People's Republic of Ch...

by Dwarika Dhungel | On 15 Nov 2013

Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership: Reform Challenges and Key Tasks for the Philippines

The paper calls the attention of policymakers to address critical constraints affecting the effective utilization of free trade agreements, growth, trade facilitation and customs administration, servi...

by Gilberto M. Llanto | On 15 Nov 2013

Southeast Asia’s Food Security Challenge: More than ‘Stock’ Solution Needed

Countries in Southeast Asia face a fresh challenge to their food security as food consumption patterns change, and reliance on imports increases to meet such shifts. Consequently, they may be left wit...

by Belinda Chng | On 01 Nov 2013

Democratic Politics and Legal Rights: Employment Guarantee and Food Security in India

This paper focusses on two Indian laws that seek to guarantee socioeconomic rights: the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), an important example of India’s recent history of legislation...

by Reetika Khera | On 25 Oct 2013

Taming Food Inflation in India

High food inflation, which has averaged 10% during FY 2008-09 to December 2012, has been a major concern for policy makers in India. This is all the more important as an average household in India sti...

by Ashok Gulati | On 21 Oct 2013

Global Hunger Index 2013 - The Challenge of Hunger: Building Resilience to Achieve Food and Nutrition Security

The 2013 Global Hunger Index (GHI), which reflects data from the period 2008–2012, shows that global hunger has improved since 1990, falling by one-third. Despite the progress made the level of hunger...

by International Food Policy Research Institute | On 16 Oct 2013

Hunger in India

The first step toward change is awareness. Do take out some time to know what's happening in the country we live in. This video has been designed to spread awareness about food insecurity in India,...

by The Hunger Project Project | On 11 Oct 2013

Weather Sensitivity of Rice Yield: Evidence from India

This study estimates the weather sensitivity of rice yield in India, using disaggregated (district) level information on rice and high resolution daily weather data over the period 1969-2007. Compare...

by Anubhab Pattanayak | On 11 Oct 2013

Transforming State-Citizen Relations in Food Security Schemes: The Computerized Ration Card Management System in Kerala

In this paper the application of ICTs to the improvement of state-citizen relations in a developing country context. To maximise the responsiveness of the government, ICTs need to target the structura...

by Silvia Masiero | On 07 Oct 2013

The State of Food and Agriculture, 2013

Malnutrition in all its forms – under-nutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, and overweight and obesity – imposes unacceptably high economic and social costs on countries at all income levels. The St...

by Food and Agriculture Organization | On 07 Oct 2013

Envisioned Scope and Challenges of National Food Security Bill

National Food Security Bill (NFSB) aims to make food easily accessible at affordable prices to people. But there are operational and financial difficulties in implementing this.

by Sweety Thomas | On 07 Oct 2013

Decentralized Provisioning of Supplementary Nutrition for the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) in Mumbai

This study is an attempt to examine the decentralized production of supplementary nutrition which has been instituted for the Integrated Child Development Services in urban Maharashtra, specifically,...

by Natasha S. K. | On 04 Oct 2013

Interrogating 'Best Practices' for the Implementation of School Nutrition Programme in Urban India

This study examines the differences between two major Mid-day Meal implementation models: the decentralized model where food is cooked and served within the schools premises, and the centralized model...

by Shankar Priya | On 01 Oct 2013

The National Food Security Act, 2013

Our public distribution system has been severely criticized for its gaping lacunae. To fill in these gaps, a new Act was originally conceived by the National Advisory Council headed by Congress Presid...

by Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs GOI | On 17 Sep 2013

Vital Stats: Parliament in the Monsoon Session 2013

The Monsoon Session ended with the passage of Bills on food security, land acquisition, companies, and pension. During the session, significant time was lost due to frequent disruptions over issues su...

by Kusum Malik | On 12 Sep 2013

Statement by Dr. Raghuram Rajan

Statement by Dr. Raghuram Rajan on taking office on September 4, 2013. [RBI Press release].

by Sabeeta Badkar | On 05 Sep 2013

Five Years of Leading the Reserve Bank: Looking Ahead by Looking Back

This Tenth Nani A. Palkhivala Memorial lecture lecture centres around the role and responsibility of a central bank in a democratic structure. Central banks make macroeconomic policy that influences t...

by Duvvuri Subbarao | On 30 Aug 2013

A Tale of Two Farms: Agricultural support in India and Thailand

For agricultural subsidies to be efficient in improving farmers’ incomes and eradicating hunger, holistic policy intervention is required. Complementary policies such as increased access to credit and...

by Maria C.S. Morales | On 30 Aug 2013

Food Prices, Wages, and Welfare in Rural India

This paper considers the welfare and distributional consequences of higher relative food prices in rural India through the lens of a specific-factors, general equilibrium, trade model applied at the...

by Hanan G Jacoby | On 22 Aug 2013

Draft National Land Reforms Policy

This policy outlines a very clear strategy of creating a large pool of land so that every family's right to land is fully honoured. The policy proceeds to suggest a just and equitable method of allott...

by Ministry of Rural Development GOI | On 06 Aug 2013

The Infant Milk Substitutes, Feeding Bottles and Infant Foods (Regulation of Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 1992

An act to provide for the regulation of production, supply and distribution of infant milk substitutes, feeding bottles and infant food with a view to the protection and promotion of breastfeeding and...

by Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs GOI | On 06 Aug 2013

The '4 in 1' Training Programme: Capacity Building Initiative for Building Health/Nutrition Workers’ Skills in Infant and Young Child Feeding Counseling

Breastfeeding is the optimal nutrition for infants and reduces the risk of infectious diseases like diarrhoea and pneumonia substantially.4 Breastfeeding may also enhance the effect of some vaccines....

by Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India BPNI | On 06 Aug 2013

Out-of-pocket Expenditures and Poverty: Estimates From NSS 61st Round

Poverty needs to be measured taking into account OOP spending, since health spending is also now viewed as an essential expenditure that enhances welfare like food and other necessities. [Paper prese...

by Indrani Gupta | On 05 Aug 2013

Can breastfeeding lower breast cancer risk?

The research on breastfeeding and breast cancer risk, it is clear that this has been a difficult area to study. If breastfeeding does lower risk, the level of protection is small and depends on women...

by Debbie Saslow | On 01 Aug 2013

Lack Of Optimal Breast Feeding In Developing Countries

Exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a baby’s life can help bring down infant mortality rates and stunting in the developing world, say pediatricians and the UNICEF.

by Juliana Chan | On 01 Aug 2013

Breaking New Ground: Enacting a National Land Use Policy

With only a total land area of 30 million hectares and a population of 92.3 million growing at an average rate of 2.12 percent, how should the Philippines allocate a very scarce and important resource...

by Senate Economic Planning Office SEPO | On 24 Jul 2013

Mumbaikars’ last supper

The National Food Security Bill is all set to become an Act/ordinance and give legal entitlement to the citizens of the country to food. However the Bill does not define what food security is; but sim...

by Mousumi Das | On 19 Jul 2013

Rainfed agriculture: for an inclusive, sustainable and food secure India

India is increasingly focusing on its rainfed areas due to demand for food and nutrition security, and escalating farmer distress. But agricultural policy paralysis has meant that the familiar, extern...

by Srijit Mishra | On 16 Jul 2013

Food Security Bill: Time To Act

The basic objective of the Congress led- United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s proposed Food Security Bill is to address the acute problems of hunger and malnutrition in India. Despite of hav...

by Niranjan Chichuan | On 28 Jun 2013

Child malnutrition in India: Why does it persist?

An estimated forty per cent of the world’s severely malnourished children under five live in India. This is a shameful stain on a country that, with China, will be one of the great economic powerhouse...

by Sam Mendelson | On 28 Jun 2013

The Caloric Costs of Culture: Evidence from Indian Migrants

Can culture constrain caloric intake and contribute to malnutrition? Inter-state migrants within India consume fewer calories per Rupee of food expenditure compared to their non-migrant neighbors, ev...

by David Atkin | On 27 Jun 2013

Refining State Level Comparisons in India

The performance of Indian States are analyzed across three critical sectors – health, education and infrastructure are analyzed. An index is constructed for each using the Principal Component Analys...

by Pranjul Bhandari | On 10 Jun 2013

Amended National Food Security Bill Introduced in Lok Sabha

Minister for Food and Consumer Affairs K.V. Thomas introduced the amended National Food Security Bill in Lok Sabha on Thursday. The Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 22, 2011, to addre...

by Anonymous | On 27 May 2013

Malnutrition in India & Steps Taken To Reduce It

According to Food Agriculture Organization (FAO) “The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2012” report, there is a reduction of 34.9 percent in prevalence of undernourishment from 1990-1992 to 2010-...

by Anonymous | On 27 May 2013

Addressing Long - term Challenges to Food Security and Rural Livelihoods in South Asia

Notwithstanding its impressive economic growth, food insecurity in South Asia continues to be a stark reality for a large number of households. Despite several successful policy interventions by Gover...

by K.S. Kavi Kumar | On 23 May 2013

Assessing Farmer ’s Willingness to Participate in the On - farm Conservation of Minor Millet using Direct Compensation Payment

The farmers, predominantly the small and tribal, particularly in regions of rich agro-biodiversity immensely contribute to the on-farm conservation and enrichment of this diversity, often at personal...

by Prabhakaran Raghu | On 22 May 2013

Circular Migration in India

This brief explores circular migration in India and the policy response, and impact of this policy response, on the welfare of migrants and more broadly, on regional inequality. [ODI Policy Brief No....

by Kate Bird | On 24 Apr 2013

The Political Economy of Food Pricing Policy in China

The overall goal of this paper is to analyse the political economy of food price policies in China during the global food crisis. The results show that given China’s unique economic and political co...

by Jikun Huang | On 18 Apr 2013

Food Price Inflation in India: Causes and Cures

Inflation in general and food price inflation in particular has been a persistent problem in India over the past few years. Price stability is crucial for sustainable growth as persistent inflation...

by Pradeep Agrawal | On 16 Apr 2013

The 2013 Empowerment Budget: Philippines

The national budget is truly a potent tool for the economy to journey towards inclusive growth that would empower Filipinos through deliverance from backbreaking poverty. [Senate of the Philippines]....

by Senate Economic Planning Office SEPO | On 08 Apr 2013

Federal Budget Pakistan: 2012-13

Budget speech by Minister of Finance. [Ministry of Finance]. URL:[http://www.finance.gov.pk/budget/budget_Speech_12_13.pdf].

by Minister of Finance Pakistan | On 22 Mar 2013

Explaining Access to Credit by Rural Households: Results based on a Study of Several States in India

Against the backdrop of evolution of rural credit system in India as well as its observed failure to be inclusive in character, this paper makes use of a fairly large data set of the Center for Manage...

by Saugandh Datta | On 07 Mar 2013

Gambling on the Private Sector at the Cost of the Working Class: NTUI Statement

The budget offers no programme for job creation or any substantive policy measures to contain inflation that continues to erode the real wage while it commits itself to cash transfers and cuts in subs...

by Gautam Mody | On 01 Mar 2013

Focus on Rural India

The budget has come with schemes for rural India. It has got schemes for women, youth and poor.

by Sunil Duggal | On 28 Feb 2013

Nine years later…

Is the Finance Minister going to do a salvage operation? [BS week end ruminations].

by T.N. Ninan | On 27 Feb 2013

Target the Beneficiaries in the 2013-14 Budget

In spite of several programmes in the country to reduce undernutrition, India continues to have a large number malnourished women and children. In the coming Budget the government has to make some eff...

by Rudra Narayan Mishra | On 26 Feb 2013

Standing Committee on Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution

The proposed legislation marks a paradigm shift in addressing the problem of food security – from the current welfare approach to a right based approach. About two thirds of the population will be ent...

by MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DIST GOI | On 15 Feb 2013

Performance of PDS: Better in Richer States?

How well has the PDS been functioning across the country? Do the poorer states do better or worse than the richer states? Interpreting data on PDS can be misleading unless they are read against seve...

by Shambhu Ghatak | On 14 Feb 2013

Nutrition Policies in Developing Countries: Challenges and Highlights

There are many nutrition policies in developing countries. What are the challenges faced by these malnutrition policies? There are many countries which have successfully included nutrition in their d...

by Olivier Ecker | On 12 Feb 2013

Metabolism Of Mumbai- Expectations, Impasse and the Need For a New Beginning

As population and human activities expand they exert heavy environmental pressure through the resource requirement, their production and consumption. Hence, it is important to understand the resource...

by B. Sudhakara Reddy | On 12 Feb 2013

Positive and Normative Aspects of Food Policy and the Market in Indian Agriculture-An Empirical Analysis of Government Policy Interventions in Food Management

There are discussions about food management and food policy issues in India in the backdrop of largely unchanging dynamics of slow growth of the farm sector in India. First we deal with the manner in...

by Munish Alagh | On 30 Jan 2013

How to Tackle Food Insecurity in Asia

Review of the book Food Security in Asia, by Amitava Mukherjee Sage Publications India 2011 pp. xix+392, Rs 895/-.

by Rudra Narayan Mishra | On 04 Jan 2013

Indian Antidumping Measures against China: Evidence from Monthly Trade Data

This paper provides a detailed analysis of trade flows between the two emerging economies and investigates on which type of products and in which sectors the Indian government applies antidumping m...

by Hylke Vandenbussche | On 23 Nov 2012

Analyzing Intersectoral Convergence to Improve Child Undernutrition in India: Development and Application of a Framework to Examine Policies in Agriculture, Health, and Nutrition

To reduce child under nutrition in India, convergence from various sectors are required. The framework notes that issues related to convergence must be resolved in relation to three major steps in the...

by Rajani Ved | On 16 Nov 2012

Review of Input and Output Policies for Cereals Production in Pakistan

This report reviews the input and output policies for cereals implemented in Pakistan during the period 1996–2010. Pakistan has a long and varied history of intervening in farm input and output market...

by Abdul Salam | On 16 Nov 2012

Foreign Investment in Farmland No Low-hanging Fruit

A key driver of foreign investment in land, food security is a challenge mankind has been confronted with in various times and places. Wherever human societies have developed, growing needs have led t...

by Claire Schaffnit Chatterjee | On 15 Nov 2012

Tackling Urban and Rural Food Wastage in Southeast Asia: Issues and Interventions

Food wastage is prevalent in Southeast Asia and has significant implications for the region’s food, environmental and economic security. It is likely that the region wastes approximately 33 per cent o...

by Paul S Teng | On 08 Oct 2012

Legislative Brief: The National Food Security Bill, 2011

The National Food Security Bill, 2011 was introduced in the Lok Sabha by the Minister of Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution on December 22, 2011. The Bill was referred to the Stand...

by Sakshi Balani | On 28 Sep 2012

Food Inflation and Agricultural Supply Chain Management

During the current year so far, inflation at the retail level in oils and fats has been higher than at the wholesale level. While this phenomenon can be attributed to a number of factors, improvement...

by Harun R Khan | On 27 Sep 2012

Examining the Effect of Household Wealth and Migration Status on Safe Delivery Care in Urban India, 1992–2006

Although the urban health issue has been of long-standing interest to public health researchers, majority of the studies have looked upon the urban poor and migrants as distinct subgroups. Another co...

by Prashant Kumar Singh | On 24 Sep 2012

Food Subsidy in India: Trends, Causes and Policy Reform Options

This paper analyses the trends in volume of food subsidy in the post-reforms period (1991-92 to 2012-13) and then examines various components of food subsidy, which are under the control of FCI and th...

by Vijay Paul Sharma | On 20 Sep 2012

Gender Impact of Trade Reforms in Indian Plantation Sector: An Exploratory Ananlysis

This paper examines the potential gender impacts of the trade reforms in plantation agriculture in the emerging context of the two prominent FTAs, viz. the Indo-ASEAN and the proposed EU-India FTA....

by Viswanathan P K | On 14 Sep 2012

Costly Posturing: Relative Status, Ceremonies, and Early Child Development in China

A primary census-type panel household survey is show that in 18 villages in rural China, child health status has barely improved in the past decades despite more than double digit of annual per capita...

by Xi Chen | On 07 Sep 2012

Financial Stability Report Issue No. 5

The report reflects the collective assessment of the Sub Committee of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) on potential risks to financial stability. [RBI]. URL:[http://rbidocs.rbi....

by Reserve Bank of India RBI | On 04 Sep 2012

Economic and Financial Developments in Uttarakhand

A brief outline of the economic and financial structure of the State and the various financial inclusion initiatives taken by the Reserve Bank is highlighted. But there are some policy challenges in s...

by Deepak Mohanty | On 03 Sep 2012

MTNL: Why the Slow Death?

What is the cause of deteriorating services from MTNL? Suggestions are given to improve its services.

by Alex George | On 03 Sep 2012

Revisiting the Devolution of ENR Functions

The devolution of environment and natural resource functions to local government units was a bold move in the history of environmental Management in the Philippines. However, the implementation of the...

by Senate Economic Planning Office SEPO | On 28 Aug 2012

Economic and Financial Developments in Odisha

The economic and financial structure of Odisha is highlighted. Various financial inclusion initiatives are taken by the Reserve Bank with a particular reference to Odisha. The macroeconomic policy cha...

by Deepak Mohanty | On 22 Aug 2012

Food Security: Cities As Part of the Solution and Not the Problem

As the world becomes increasingly urban, food demand will come mainly from people living in cities while there will be fewer rural farmers producing food on less land with less water. Cities can play...

by Paul S Teng | On 16 Aug 2012

Pilot Intervention of Improved Cook Stoves in Rural Areas: Assessment of Effects on Fuel Use, Smoke Emission and Health

This study aims to explore the impact of improved cook stoves (ICS) on fuel expenditure (consumption), smoke emission, and health of women (cook) in rural households of Bangladesh. In the follow-up...

by Nepal C. Dey | On 06 Aug 2012

Agricultural Credit - Accomplishments and Challenges

Agriculture’s share in GDP is less than 15 per cent but it still remains the direct domain of over half of the population whose economic prospects are linked to the performance of agriculture. There a...

by Duvvuri Subbarao | On 03 Aug 2012

Vital Stats: Pricing of Petroleum Products

Government owned Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) raised the price of petrol on 23rd May 2012. After the inclusion of local taxes, this amounted to a hike of Rs 7.54 per litre in Delhi. A snapshot of t...

by Karan Malik | On 24 Jul 2012

Conserving, Augmenting and Sharing Water

There is a huge crisis for water all around the world, certainly in India with groundwater table going down and drinking water selling almost at the rate of toned milk. That also shows that country ha...

by Anil K Gupta | On 20 Jul 2012

Raining problems

Recent history tells us that the growth rate of the economy does not automatically go up and down with good and bad monsoons. [BS Weekend Ruminations]. URL:[http://www.business-standard.com/india/news...

by T.N. Ninan | On 18 Jul 2012

Ensuring Food and Nutrition Security in a Green Economy

What are the implications of a green economy for the poor and hungry? How can the poor benefit from and thrive under a green economy? What role can agriculture play? What are the possible trade-off...

by Shenggen Fan | On 17 Jul 2012

Child Malnutrition in Pakistan: Trends and Determinants

The major objective of this paper to examine the determinants of child malnutrition, based on the Pakistan Panel Household Survey (PPHS-2010). The study has focused on individual (child), household an...

by G M Arif | On 16 Jul 2012

The New Age of Food Marketing: How Companies are Targeting and Luring our Kids — and What Advocates can do About it

Why should health advocates be concerned about the new marketing paradigm? Because young people's choices about what to eat and when are largely shaped by food and beverage marketing -- and these indu...

by Berkeley Media Studies Group BMSG | On 13 Jul 2012

Eat, Drink and be Healthy: A Paradigm Shift for Linking Food and Beverages Industry with People’s Knowledge and Institutions

The food and beverages industry has not yet established strong and vibrant linkages with the local communities to develop value added products and share the benefits. The paper lists seven models fo...

by Anil K Gupta | On 11 Jul 2012

Intrinsic Inflation Persistence in a Developing Country

This study estimates degree of intrinsic inflation persistence in Pakistan using aggregate price index, group level price indices, and individual commodity prices. Monthly data from 1959 to 2011 is us...

by Muhammad Nadim Hanif | On 09 Jul 2012

Engaging Small and Medium Enterprises in Production Networks: Firm-level Analysis of Five ASEAN Economies

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are under scrutiny for their engagement in production networks following recent emphasis on increasing intra-reg...

by Ganeshan Wignaraja | On 06 Jul 2012

Small Farmers in India: Challenges and Opportunities

This paper examines the roles and challenges of small holding agriculture in India. It covers trends in agricultural growth, cultivation patterns, participation of small holding agriculture, productiv...

by S. Mahendra Dev | On 06 Jul 2012

National Budget of Bhutan: Financial Year 2012-13

Budget of Bhutan 2012-13. URL:[http://www.mof.gov.bt/downloads/BudgetReport2012.pdf].

by Minister of Finance Bhutan | On 04 Jul 2012

PLoS Medicine Series on Big Food: The Food Industry Is Ripe for Scrutiny

A lay out of the background on the role of Big Food in global health, and offer three competing views of how public health professionals can respond. Subsequent articles include: a comparison of soda...

by Plos medicine Editors | On 02 Jul 2012

Price Support, Domestic Procurement Programme and Public Stock Management

This Policy Brief discusses the policy options for improving effectiveness of price support, domestic procurement programme and public stock management in Bangladesh. It has been funded by th...

by Quazi Shahabuddin | On 01 Jun 2012

Climate Change Vulnerability of Mountain Ecosystems in the Eastern Himalayas

The ecosystem of the Eastern Himalayas are vulnerable to climate change as a result of their ecological fragility and economic marginality. The conservation policies at national and regional levels ar...

by Karma Tse-ring | On 28 May 2012

Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture and Food Security

This paper takes a broader view and explores the multiple effects that global warming and climate change could have on food production and food security. Dealing with climate change would require stre...

by S. Richa | On 24 May 2012

The Impact of Infrastructure on Agricultural Productivity

This paper provides an empirical basis for the perceived link between rural infrastructure and agricultural productivity. It validates the hypothesis that deficiencies in rural infrastructure e.g.,...

by Gilberto M Llanto | On 24 May 2012

Narrowing the Gaps through Regional Cooperation Institutions and Governance Systems

Regional governance systems and national frameworks to address climate change and accelerate green growth in Asia are reviewed and tools to address climate change are outlined. Options for regional le...

by Heinrich-Wilhelm Wyes | On 11 May 2012

Dispute Settlement in the WTO, Developing Countries and India

The paper undertakes an examination of the experience of developing countries with dispute settlement vis-à-vis developed countries during the 17 years since the entry into force of the WTO Agreement....

by Anwarul Hoda | On 08 May 2012

The Political Economy of Deforestation in the Tropics

Tropical deforestation accounts for almost one-fifth of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide and threatens the world.s most diverse ecosystems. The prevalence of illegal forest extraction in the tropi...

by Robin Burgess | On 08 May 2012

Regional Implications of National Reconciliation in Myanmar

The paper examines the implications of Myanmar's reforms for its neighbours- China, India, Thailand and Bangladesh. Issues of major concern to the four countries include energy, humanitarian consequen...

by Lina Gong | On 20 Apr 2012

Voices from the Margin: Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Northeast Thailand: Pak Mun Dam

The protests against the Pak Mun Dam are amongst the longest running in the world. The dam is also one of the most studied, in part because it had all the features of a failed development policy: no...

by Katie Jenkins | On 18 Apr 2012

Approaches to Food Security in Brazil, China, India, Malaysia, Mexico and Nigeria: Lessons for Developing Countries

This paper provides a synthesis of the experiences of six countries (Brazil, China, India, Malaysia, Mexico, and Nigeria) in enhancing food security of their population. Approximately 46 per cent of t...

by Pooja Sharma | On 16 Apr 2012

Gujarat Budget 2012-13

Budget Speech by Minister of Finance. [Government of Gujarat]. URL:[http://financedepartment.gujarat.gov.in/budget12_13_pdf/FM_Speech_English_Part_A_Final.pdf].

by Ministry of Finance Government of Gujarat | On 12 Apr 2012

Approaches to the Development of Renewable and Clean Energy in Brazil, China, Egypt, India and South Africa: Lessons of Emerging Countries

The populous, fast growing emerging economies of Brazil, China, Egypt, India and South Africa face daunting challenges on the energy, environment and climate change fronts. These five countries accoun...

by Kirit Parikh | On 02 Apr 2012

Price and Income Elasticity of Imports: The Case of Pakistan

The paper estimates the elasticity of Imports with respect to relative prices and income for Pakistan from 1971 to 2009. What distinguishes this paper from the earlier studies is the use of robust est...

by Khurram Ashfaq Baluch | On 30 Mar 2012

A Review of Input and Output Policies for Cereals Production in India

This paper reviews the key policies with regard to agriculture inputs such as seed, fertilizer, water, agricultural equipment, research, extension, and agricultural credit. It also provides an overvie...

by Ganga Shreedhar | On 29 Mar 2012

Odisha Budget Speech 2012-13

Budget Speech by Shri Prafulla Chandra Ghadai. [Government of Odisha]. URL:[http://www.orissa.gov.in/finance/Budgets/2012-13/BUDGET%20SPEECH%20ENGLISH.pdf].

by Government of Orissa | On 27 Mar 2012

In Search of Food Security: Addressing Opacity and Price Volatility in ASEAN's Rice Sector

The availability of rice has long been considered a key indicator of food security in Southeast Asia. However for largely strategic reasons there is paucity of information in the public domain on rice...

by Sally Trethewie | On 22 Mar 2012

Not the Remembered Country

The food security Bill's focus ignores changes in agriculture and eating habits. [BS editorial]. URL:[http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/t-n-ninan-notremembered-country/467874/].

by T.N. Ninan | On 19 Mar 2012

State of the Economy and Prospects: chapter 1

Economic Survey-Chapter1. [Economic Survey]. URL:[http://indiabudget.nic.in/survey.asp]

by Pranab Mukherjee | On 15 Mar 2012

Towards Building A Happy, Prosperous and Caring Bangladesh: Budget Speech 2011-12

Budget speech 2011-12 by Finance minister. URL:[http://www.mof.gov.bd/en/budget/11_12/budget_speech/speech_en.pdf].

by Abul Maal Abdul Muhith | On 14 Mar 2012

Final Report-Water Security and Climate Change: Challenges and Strategies

The main objectives of this seminar has been to contribute to the understanding of the development processes and problems related to water security and climate change; to focus on studies relating t...

by Gursharan Singh Kainth | On 12 Mar 2012

Asia’s Wicked Environmental Problems

The developing economies of Asia are confronted by serious environmental problems that threaten to undermine future growth, food security, and regional stability. This study considers four major envir...

by Stephen Howes | On 06 Mar 2012

Budget of Nepal 2011-12

Budget speech by Nepal Finance Minister. URL:[http://www.mof.gov.np/publication/speech/2011/pdf/budgetspeech_english.pdf].

by Ministry of Finance, Government of Nepal | On 06 Mar 2012

Subsidizing the National Food Authority: Is It a Good Policy?

National Food Authority's (NFA) twin mandate of price stabilization and food security has cost the government billions of pesos in losses over the past few decades. As such, there is a need to ...

by Senate Economic Planning Office SEPO | On 28 Feb 2012

Electoral Rules, Forms of Government and Redistributive Policy: Evidence from Agriculture and Food Policies

The effect of electoral rules and forms of government on public policy outcomes using a new dataset on agriculture and food policies from 74 countries over the 1960-2005 period is investigated. Using...

by Alessandro Olper | On 22 Feb 2012

Saving Mumbai

What Mumbai needs as a starting point is a city administration that is accountable to the city's residents, and a directly elected mayor, as in all great cities of the world. [BS Weekend Ruminations]....

by T.N. Ninan | On 22 Feb 2012

Regional and Global Monetary Cooperation

The increasing occurrence of national, regional, and global financial crises, together with their rising costs and complexity, have increased calls for greater regional and global monetary cooperation...

by Mario Lamberte | On 21 Feb 2012

Foundations of Collective Action in Asia: Theory and Practice of Regional Cooperation

This paper argues that the collective action in Asia by its regional organizations has historically suffered from a “capability–legitimacy gap”: a disjuncture between the capability (in terms of mat...

by Amitav Acharya | On 17 Feb 2012

Estimating Standard Error of Inflation in Pakistan: A Stochastic Approach

Standard errors (S.Es.) of month on month and year on year inflation in Pakistan are estimated based on data for the period of July 2001 to June 2010 using stochastic approach as well as extended s...

by Javed Iqbal | On 15 Feb 2012

Health Education

There is an uneven geographical distribution of health workers. The shortage of health workers is compounded by the fact that their skills, competencies, clinical experience, and expectations are ofte...

by Nandini Dube | On 14 Feb 2012

Aiding Conflict: The Impact of U.S. Food Aid on Civil War

This paper examines the effect of U.S. food aid on conflict in recipient countries (these include Asian countries like Afghanistan, Sri Lanka). To establish a causal relationship, time variation in fo...

by Nathan Nunn | On 08 Feb 2012

Agriculture-Nutrition Linkages and Policies in India

This paper looks at some key entry points for agriculture to influence nutrition and suggests policies for nutrition-sensitive agricultural development, within the current policy framework. In additi...

by S.Mahendra Dev | On 07 Feb 2012

Estimating the Middle Class in Pakistan

Using the Pakistan Social and Living Measurement Survey (PSLM), conducted in 2007-08, the paper measures the magnitude of the middle class (definition given by Thurow (1987); Birdsall, Graham and Pe...

by Durr-e- Nayab | On 06 Feb 2012

Fiscal Policy in India: Trends and Trajectory

This essay examines the trajectory of India?s fiscal policy with a focus on historical trends, fiscal discipline frameworks, fiscal responses to the global financial crisis and subsequent return to a...

by Supriyo De | On 31 Jan 2012

Findings From the Rapid Survey of Severely Malnourished Children in 11 Districts of Karnataka

A rapid survey was undertaken in Karnataka to understand access of severely malnourished children to health and child care services, understand these families’ experience of seeking care in PHC and an...

by Republic of Hunger RoH | On 30 Jan 2012

Frozen Food Products Marketing and Distribution Challenges in a Developing Country Case Study: Pakistan

The aim of this case study is to understand the challenges the frozen food industry in a developing country like Pakistan has faced in the past, and is facing currently. The study reveals that inste...

by Shehla Riza Arifeen | On 27 Jan 2012

India’s Food Security Bill: A Waste or Win for the Hungry?

Home to over 25 per cent of the world’s hungry poor, India faces major food security challenges and the situation has barely improved in two decades. Will the National Food Security Bill that the Indi...

by Sally Trethewie | On 27 Jan 2012

Chinese Commodity Imports in Ghana and Senegal: Demystifying Chinese Business Strength in Urban West Africa

Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, independent entrepreneurial migrants from China have been increasingly flocking to Africa in search of “greener pastures.” This paper scrutinizes the...

by Laurence Marfaing | On 25 Jan 2012

The Relationship between Inflation and Relative Price Variability in Pakistan

This paper explores the relationship between inflation and relative price variability (RPV) by using disaggregated CPI data for Pakistan. Three methods have been used to assess the functional form and...

by Muhammad Akmal | On 25 Jan 2012

What Makes Food Processing Firms Clean Up their Waste? – A Case Study from Sri Lanka

Many Sri Lankan companies, particularly in the food processing sector, do not have adequate management systems in place to control and dispose solid waste. In order to address this challenge, a new...

by South Asian Network for Development SANDEE | On 09 Jan 2012

State Focus Paper 2012-13: Karnataka

The State Focus Paper (SFP) consolidates the PLPs of all the 30 districts and highlights the potential for flow of credit to various sectors in agriculture and rural development. The credit potential...

by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Devt NABARD | On 06 Jan 2012

Power, Profits and Inflation: A Study of Inflation and Influence in Pakistan

The analysis seeks to look at inflation as a political economic phenomenon, based on a framework devised by Jonathan Nitzan and christened differential accumulation. The theory of differential accumul...

by Syed Ozair Ali | On 05 Jan 2012

Time for elections

Even though it would be considered politically premature by both the Congress and the BJP – it may be best to think in terms of fresh elections. URL:[http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/t-n-ni...

by T.N. Ninan | On 03 Jan 2012

Ethanol Blending Policy in India: Demand and Supply Issues

In the year 2008, the Government of India announced its National Policy on biofuels, mandating a phase-wise implementation of the programme of ethanol blending with petrol in various states. This stud...

by Saon Ray | On 02 Jan 2012

Right to Food Security Bill: Challenges and Opportunities

The financial implications of the food security bill can be questioned. But the Bill proposes to protect the citizens from hunger and improve the nutritional intake of women and children.

by Rudra Narayan Mishra | On 30 Dec 2011

The National Food Security Bill, 2011-as introduced in Lok Sabha

A bill to provide for food and nutritional security in human life cycle approach, by ensuring access to adequate quantity of quality food at affordable prices to people to live a life with dignity...

by Lok Sabha | On 30 Dec 2011

Strengthening Banking Regulation: Amending the BSP Charter

This Policy Brief discusses the proposed amendments to Republic Act No. 7653 (RA 7653). The first part briefly presents the mandate of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). It then describes the fi...

by Senate Economic Planning Office SEPO | On 29 Dec 2011

Twenty Years of CRC: A Balance Sheet- Volume 1

The report is a rich source with qualitative and quantitative data on the status of children in India from authentic and established sources. [HAQCRC report]. URL:[http://www.haqcrc.org/sites/default/...

by HAQ Centre for Child Rights HAQCRC | On 28 Dec 2011

Consultation Report on Strengthening the Role of Agriculture for a Nutrition Secure India

The Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR), Mumbai and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), New Delhi organized a workshop ‘Strengthening the Role of Agriculture...

by Srijit Mishra | On 27 Dec 2011

The Evolving Dynamics of Global Economic Power in the Post-crisis World: Revelations from a New Index of Government Economic Power

This paper develops an index for measuring the economic power of governments viewed as entities in themselves. The basic idea is to encapsulate the economic representative power of a nation’s governme...

by Kaushik Basu | On 27 Dec 2011

Redifining Food Security in the Face of Foreign Land Investors: The Philippine Case

This paper proposes to redefine food security in terms of protecting vulnerable populations from the structural violence of involuntary hunger. [NTS-Asia Research Paper No.6]. URL:[http://www.rsis.edu...

by Ben Shepherd | On 23 Dec 2011

Union Power November 2011

The three year journey of the G-20 Heads of Government Summit from Washington in 2008 to Paris this November is signified by two markers of the depth of the global capitalist crisis. First, that the c...

by Louise Ross | On 14 Dec 2011

A China Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations

Until recently, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has been an effective framework for cooperation because it has continually adapted to changing economic realities. The current Doha Agenda is an ab...

by Aaditya Mattoo | On 13 Dec 2011

Comparative Analysis of Inflation in Nepal and India

Inflation data for the past few years (August 2007 to October 2011 of Nepal and August 2007 to July 2011 of India for the analysis of monthly annual variation) have been taken into consideration for...

by Nepal Rastra Bank Research Department NRB | On 12 Dec 2011

China’s Financial Integration into the World Economy: Scrutinising China‘s International Investment Position

Possible scenarios for China and the world economy until 2015 is looked at. In all of them, China will continue to accumulate FX reserves, so that reserve assets will remain the largest component of...

by Catherine Shu Ling Tan | On 08 Dec 2011

Rejigging the Elephant Dance

India's development challenges. The India growth story was thrown off track by the global financial crisis which engulfed virtually every country in the world. We recovered from the crisis sooner than...

by Duvvuri Subbarao | On 30 Nov 2011

Wrong Climate for Big Dams: Destroying Rivers will Worsen Climate Change

P roponents of large dams, hoping to capitalize on concern for climate change, are promoting a major expansion of large dams in developing countries. Yet large dams are highly vulnerable to climate ch...

by International Rivers Network IRN | On 24 Nov 2011

The Challenge of Food Inflation

The trends in food inflation over the past 60 years are given. Having thus set the context, the factors driving structural food inflation, which should give us a perspective of the underlying dynam...

by Duvvuri Subbarao | On 24 Nov 2011

Development and Health in Poor Countries: Role of Interntional Organizations and Switzerland

The study tries to better understand three fields which seems to be essential with respect to the problem of a facilitated access to medicines : 1. the ambiguous position of intellectual property...

by Bastein Briand | On 17 Nov 2011

The G20: Engine of Asian Regionalism?

The paper scrutinizes the functioning of the G20 and its role in increasing coordination. and cooperation between Asian countries. It highlights divergent agendas amongst the A6 as regards the future...

by Hugo Dobson | On 09 Nov 2011

Economic and Financial Developments in Goa

Goa is celebrating the Golden Jubilee Year of its Liberation. The recent economic achievements of the state are highlighted. The economic and financial structure of the state as well as the various fi...

by Deepak Mohanty | On 04 Nov 2011

Agriculture, Food, and Water Nanotechnologies for the Poor: Opportunities and Constraints

This brief presents a review of the potential opportunities and challenges of using nanotech applications for agriculture, food, and water in developing countries. [IFPRI Policy Brief 19]. URL:[http...

by Guillaume Gruère | On 01 Nov 2011

Unilateral Carbon Border Measures: Key Legal Issues

Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have been engaged in discussions on the future of the climate change regime. While the principle of “common but differenti...

by Anuradha R. V. | On 01 Nov 2011

Recent Global Crisis and the Demand for Gold by Central Banks: An Analytical Perspective

When India purchased 200 tonnes of gold under the International Monetary Fund's limited gold sales programme, it was interpreted inter alia that it may further inflate the gold price when the price...

by Karunagaran A | On 17 Oct 2011

Food, Hunger and Ethics

Management of hunger has to look into issues of availability, accessibility and adequacy. Posing it from an ethical perspective the paper argues out in favour of right to food. But, for this to happe...

by Srijit Mishra | On 30 Sep 2011

Pesticide Applications in Bt Cotton Farms: Issues Relating to Environment and Non-Tariff Barriers

This paper is undertaken to examine various aspects of farm level adoption of Bt cotton in Gujarat as well as explore issues relating to environment and non-tariff barriers affecting the cotton trade...

by N. Lalitha | On 27 Sep 2011

Mitigating Climate Change Through Agriculture

Among the major challenges currently faced by humanity are food security and climate change. Agriculture plays a significant role in both. Adapting to climate change is expected to be an increasing ...

by Claire Schaffnit Chatterjee | On 26 Sep 2011

Opening India’s Garments Sector to South Asia

This paper examines the competitiveness of the Indian garments industry vis-à-vis the other South Asian countries Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Under the SAFTA agreement, many of the garment i...

by Saon Ray | On 16 Sep 2011

The National Food Security Bill, 2011

A Bill to provide for food and nutritional security, in human life cycle approach, by ensuring access to adequate quantity of quality food at affordable prices, for people to live a life with dign...

by Department of Food and Public Distribution Fcamin | On 14 Sep 2011

Agrofuels – A Boost of Energy for the Mekong Region?

This background paper seeks to brief readers on the extent of the development, production and consumption of agrofuels, particularly liquid fuels for transport, in the Mekong region. The area of focu...

by Rebeca Leonard | On 12 Sep 2011

Agricultural Productivity and Credit- Issues and Way Forward

Certain trends in agricultural productivity, agricultural finance are outlined. Recommendations for improving agricultural productivity are given here. [Address at The National Seminar on Productivity...

by Chakrabarty K C | On 12 Sep 2011

Agricultural Economy of India and Macro-Economic Effects: Some Empirical Results and a Research Agenda based on the Literature

This paper focuses on macroeconomic linkages with agriculture. From an extensive literature review the question that emerges is: is there a structural constraint in Indian agriculture or does Indian...

by Munish Alagh | On 02 Sep 2011

The Price and Trade Effects of Strict Information Requirements for Genetically Modified Commodities under the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety

This paper assesses the global economic implications of the proposed strict documentation requirements on traded shipments of potentially genetically modified (GM) commodities under the Cartagena Prot...

by Antoine Bouët | On 31 Aug 2011

Achieving Progress for Development Effectiveness in Busan: An Overview of CSO Evidence

The global Reality of Aid Network has been working in preparation for Busan alongside CSO colleagues from women’s rights organizations, trade unions, farmers’ organizations, faith-based organizations...

by Brian Tomlinson | On 30 Aug 2011

Agricultural Practice and its Relation to Poverty and Food Security in Selected River Basins in Bangladesh: A Situation Analysis

Poverty and food security in the context of Bangladesh has become a major concern over time. While efforts have been intensified to increase crop yield through increased land use, using inorganic fe...

by Shyamal C Ghosh | On 30 Aug 2011

Market Dynamics in Supply Chains: The Impact of Globalisation and Consolidation on Food Companie's Mark-ups

This paper examines whether ownership and increased competitive pressure affect food retailers’ market power, analysing whether all actors involved in the food supply chain deviate from the pricing be...

by Eleni A Kaditi | On 29 Aug 2011

Infrastructure Investment and Regional Economic Growth: A Case Study of Maharashtra

The study initially reviews the infrastructure facilities for the 33 districts of Maharashtra for one year i.e.1999-2000. Using this, the extent of disparities between these regions is found. Further...

by A M Swaminathan | On 29 Aug 2011

Institutional Innovations and Models in the Development of Agro-Food Industries in India: Strengths, Weaknesses and Lessons

Agro-industries are given high priority in India particularly because of their great potential for contributing to development. The emphasis on village-based agro-industries was introduced almost a...

by Vasant P Gandhi | On 29 Aug 2011

Agriculture’s Role in the Indian Enigma: Help or Hindrance to the Undernutrition Crisis?

In this paper agriculture’s role in the Indian enigma is reassessed by exploring two key pathways, an income–consumption pathway and an employment–time use pathway, linking agricultural conditions to...

by Derek Headey | On 29 Aug 2011

Poverty and Food Insecurity in India: A Disaggregated Regional Profile

This study provides a profile of deprivation with respect to consumer expenditure, cereal consumption and energy intake across demographic and agro-climatic regions as defined by the National Sample...

by Suryanarayana M H | On 23 Aug 2011

Technology in Banking- In Pursuit of Excellence

The contribution of technology to the Indian banking industry, the role played by IDRBT and the significance of banking technology awards, in fostering the technological developments of banks. Issues...

by Anand Sinha | On 23 Aug 2011

National Nutrition Policy

The need for a National Nutrition Policy is implicit in both the paramountcy of nutrition in development as well as in tbe complexity of the problem. This general problem of under-nutrition should b...

by Government of India Ministry of Women and Child Development | On 19 Aug 2011

Public Investment in Agricultural and GDP Growth: Another Look at the Inter Sectoral Linkages and Policy Implications

The crowding-in phenomenon together with inter-sectoral linkages is used in this paper to examine the effect of higher public investment for agriculture on the stable growth of this sector as well as...

by Harish Mani | On 17 Aug 2011

Climate Change, Rural Livelihoods and Agriculture (focus on Food Security) in Asia-Pacific Region

The objective of this paper is to identify climate change related threats and vulnerabilities associated with agriculture as a sector and agriculture as people’s livelihoods (exposure, sensitivity, a...

by S. Mahendra Dev | On 17 Aug 2011

Indian Education System – Issues and Challenges

The role played by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the banking system in India in strengthening education system. Realizing the importance of education for the economic development and the overall liv...

by Chakrabarty K C | On 10 Aug 2011

Food Quality in Domestic Markets of Developing Economies: A Comparative Study of two Countries

Food quality has become an important determinant of success in global food trade and growers for international markets have to continuously adjust to buyers’ requirements. It is however not clear to w...

by Anneleen Vandeplas | On 03 Aug 2011

Efficiency and Productivity Growth in Indian Banking

This paper attempts to examine technical efficiency and productivity performance of Indian scheduled commercial banks, for the period 1979-2008. A model is constructed using multiple output/multiple i...

by S S Rajan | On 03 Aug 2011

Parliament Session Alert: Monsoon Session: August 01 – September 08, 2011

Parliament meets for the Monsoon Session between August 01 and September 08, 2011. There will be a total of 26 sittings. The agenda for government Bills includes 35 pending Bills for consideration...

by Kusum Malik | On 01 Aug 2011

World Trade Report 2011- The WTO and Preferential Trade Agreements: From Co-existence to Coherence

The ever-growing number of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) is a prominent feature of international trade. The World Trade Report 2011 describes the historical development of PTAs and the current...

by World Trade Organisation WTO | On 22 Jul 2011

EGoM cleared the Draft National Food Security Bill

The empowered group of ministers on food on Monday approved the draft National Food Security Bill, bringing the ambitious social security programme that guarantees highly subsidized food grains to abo...

by Economic Times ET | On 12 Jul 2011

Socio-Economic Characteristics of the Tall and not so Tall Women of India

New studies are increasingly appearing based on historical data across the world that better socio-economic status is associated with taller men and women. This study based on a recent Indian data ana...

by Brinda Viswanathan | On 08 Jul 2011

The Don Sahong Dam: Potential Impacts on Regional Fish Migrations, Livelihoods and Human Health

This paper focuses on the Don Sahong Dam (DSD’s) potential impacts on fish and fisheries, and particularly the project’s regional implications in relation to fisheries, including its possible impact...

by Ian Bird | On 08 Jul 2011

Domestic Wheat Price Formation and Food Inflation in India: International Prices, Domestic Drivers (Stocks, Weather, Public Policy), and the Efficacy of Public Policy Interventions in Wheat Markets

This paper gives information on global wheat market developments, price transmission and impacts on Indian domestic markets, as well as an assessment of public policies to manage domestic prices. This...

by Dipak Dasgupta | On 06 Jul 2011

The Effect of Exchange Rate Changes on Trade in East Asia

This paper considers how exchange rates affect East Asian trade. The evidence indicates that exports produced within regional production networks depend on exchange rates throughout the region while l...

by Willem Thorbecke | On 01 Jul 2011

A De Facto Asian-Currency Unit Bloc in East Asia: It Has Been There but We Did Not Look for It

Pegging in a coordinated way to a regional basket currency is considered by many as optimal for east-Asian countries. By contrast, according to existing empirical studies, these countries have most of...

by Eric Girardin | On 29 Jun 2011

India - Reforming Farm Support Policies for Grains

The objective of this study is to analyze some of the recent reforms proposed in the operation of government buffer stocks and provision of price support to wheat and rice farmers in India. Based o...

by Shikha Jha | On 17 Jun 2011

Macroprudential Policies: Indian Experience

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been using macroprudential polices, more notably the countercyclical policies, since 2004 as a toolkit for ensuring financial stability though it had used them sporadic...

by Anand Sinha | On 16 Jun 2011

Foodgrains Policy and Management in India: Responding to Today’s Challenges and Opportunities

Indian public foodgrains management, perhaps still motivated by the experiences of the 1960s to attain and maintain self-sufficiency in foodgrains to achieve food security, has outlived its’ usefulnes...

by A. Ganesh Kumar | On 16 Jun 2011

Frontier Issues on the Global Agenda- Emerging Economy Perspective

The article is a report of RBI Minister Duvvuri Subbarao on issuesing concerning the G-20 countries and also issues effecting all the countries collectively.

by Duvvuri Subbarao | On 13 Jun 2011

A Human Development Approach to the Status of Development in North East India

The development and growth of a nation greatly depends upon proper utilization of its human resources. To utilize these resources, there is a need to convert human beings into human resources. Since...

by P. Nayak | On 13 Jun 2011

Inequality, Growth and Poverty in the Era of Liberalization and Globalization

This policy brief reports the main findings of the study on changes in within-country income inequality over the last two decades and on the links between poverty, inequality, and growth. It focuses o...

by Giovanni Andrea Cornia | On 08 Jun 2011

Adoption of Safe Drinking Water Practices: Does Awareness of Health Effects Matter?

The demand for environment quality - clean air, potable water, sanitation, food - is often presumed to be low in developing countries due to poverty. A recent SANDEE study demonstrates that awareness...

by E. Somanathan | On 06 Jun 2011

Right to Food in India

The objective of this paper is to examine right to food in the Indian context. The right to food is analysed in terms of availability, accessibility, adequacy and sustainability. These are examined...

by S. Mahendra Dev | On 27 May 2011

Club-Convergence and Polarisation of States A Nonparametric Analysis of Post-Reform India

The objective of this paper is to study the dynamics of the distribution of regional per capita income of Indian states in the post reform period, in order to identify trends towards convergence-c...

by Sabyasachi Kar | On 20 May 2011

Effect of Eating Habits of Adolescent Girls of Middle Income Group on their Iron Status

The study was taken up with following objectives: To observe and record food intake of 100 anemic adolescents girls from low socio-economic group; to measure their serum Hemoglobin and ferritin levels...

by Leena Raje | On 09 May 2011

The Wrong War

In a week when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said that combating inflation is now its primary focus, it is important to ask: is RBI fighting yesterday’s war, instead of peering into the future t...

by T.N. Ninan | On 08 May 2011

How to Measure inflation in India?

What is the best inflation measure in India? What inflation measure is most relevant for monetary policy making in India? Questions of timeliness, weights in the price index, accuracy of food price m...

by Ila Patnaik | On 06 May 2011

Monetary Policy Statement 2011-12

This Statement sets out the Reserve Bank’s assessment of the current macroeconomic situation and projections. URL:[http://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/notification/PDFs/APS030511F.pdf].

by Duvvuri Subbarao | On 03 May 2011

Enhancing Intra-SAARC Trade: Pruning India’s Sensitive List under SAFTA

The study suggests an approach to reduce India’s sensitive list under SAFTA. The concept of Revealed Comparative Advantage has been used to pair the RCAs for products on India’s sensitive list with th...

by Nisha Taneja | On 29 Apr 2011

Report of the Task Force on Credit Related Issues of Farmers

The Task Force visited 45 villages across 17 states and held state and regional level consultations to understand from women and men farmers, bankers, civil society, academicians, planners, activists,...

by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Devt NABARD | On 27 Apr 2011

Issues for Approach to the 12th Five Year Plan

GDP growth likely to average 8.2 per cent over 11th Plan: short of the 9% target, but remarkable given the global crisis and drought. Basic objective : Faster, More Inclusive, and Sustainable Growth ...

by Planning Commission | On 25 Apr 2011

Ramadan Effect on Price Movements: Evidence from Pakistan

This paper attempts to verify the widespread perception that general price level tends to rise due to the month of Ramadan in Pakistan. For this purpose, the ARIMA methodology (simple and extended f...

by Muhammad Akmal | On 19 Apr 2011

Financial Transactions Taxes

This paper attempts to address both theoretical and practical considerations for a tax such as financial transactions taxes (FTT). It includes examples of FTT in the wider context, for example, on sto...

by Parthasarathi Shome | On 18 Apr 2011

Presentation - Managing Foreign Exchange Reserves During and After the Crisis

This presentation was given at the Managing Foreign Exchange Reserves in the Crisis and After Seminar by Robert N. McCauley, which was held in Tokyo, Japan on 15 March 2011. URL: [http://www.adbi.org/...

by Robert N. McCauley | On 06 Apr 2011

Foretelling the Mekong: Key Findings of the MRC’s Strategic Environmental Assessment on Mekong Mainstream Dams

With 11 large hydropower dams proposed to block the Lower Mekong River’s mainstream, the future of the river lies at a crossroads. To inform decision-making, in October 2010, the Mekong River Commiss...

by International Rivers Network IRN | On 29 Mar 2011

Globalization and the Women’s Movement in India

From the early 1990s, the principal economic, social and political problems experienced by the mass of Indian women have, in one way or another, become inextricably linked with the processes and pol...

by Centre for Women's Development Studies | On 28 Mar 2011

Out of World Crisis through Innovations

The paper examines the situation of financial crisis prevailing in the world economy and its impact on urbanization and development. URL: [http://www.fgks.in/event/Pardos.pdf]

by Françoise Pardos | On 24 Mar 2011

Trends in Diversion of PDS Grain

This article estimates the proportion of grain "diverted" from the Public Distribution System (PDS) to the open market, using the well-established method of matching state offtake figures published by...

by Reetika Khera | On 21 Mar 2011

Where are Food Prices Heading?

This paper aims to review the main considerations around food price movements. It includes a discussion on the impact of speculation. URL:[https://www.dbresearch.com/PROD/DBR_INTERNET_EN-PROD/PROD00...

by Claire Schaffnit Chatterjee | On 16 Mar 2011

Can We Eradicate Hunger?

World hunger is prevalent yet receives relatively less attention compared to poverty. The MDGs have taken a step to address this with the resolution of halving the number of starving people in the wor...

by Basudeb Guha Khasnobis | On 16 Mar 2011

Poverty Targeting in Asia: Experiences from India, Indonesia, the Philippines, People’s Republic of China and Thailand

Poverty targeting, defined as the use of policy instruments to channel resources to a target group identified below an agreed national poverty line, is used by all governments in Asia in one form or...

by John Weiss | On 11 Mar 2011

Health and Human Rights in Chin State, Western Burma: A Population-Based Assessment Using Multistaged Household Cluster Sampling

The Chin State of Burma (also known as Myanmar) is an isolated ethnic minority area with poor health outcomes and reports of food insecurity and human rights violations. A report on a population-base...

by Richard Sollom | On 09 Mar 2011

Draft Food Security Bill, 2010

While the Government of India has several schemes for augmenting agricultural production and ensuring adequate availability of food for different segments, a Bill to provide a statutory framework to e...

by Government of India GOI | On 04 Mar 2011

Feedback received until 28th February, 2011 on the Framework note on NFSB

Based on the recommendations the National Advisory Council had already communicated to the Government, as a first step towards preparing the draft National Food Security Bill, a detailed Framework Not...

by National Advisory Council NAC | On 04 Mar 2011

Draft National Food Security Bill: Explanatory Note

This Explanatory Note highlights the rationale and major considerations that form the basis of the NAC proposals on food security. It supplements (i) the NAC recommendations on food security relea...

by National Advisory Council NAC | On 04 Mar 2011

Note on the Draft National Food Security Bill

As agreed by the NAC at its meeting on July 14th, 2010, a Working Group of Members of the NAC was constituted on the National Food Security Bill. After due deliberations and wide ranging consultations...

by Harsh Mander | On 04 Mar 2011

Profitability of Foreign Banks vis-à-vis Other Bank Groups in India – A Panel Data Analysis

The paper analysed the financial performance of foreign banks in comparison with other bank groups in India. The study assumes importance in the context of the on-going preparation of roadmap for th...

by P B Rakhe | On 22 Feb 2011

South Asian Integration Prospects and Lessons from East Asia

In the context of the low levels of regional cooperation among South Asian countries when compared with the successful results from cooperation in East Asia (consisting of South East and East Asian...

by Ramesh Chandra | On 18 Feb 2011

Indo-U.S. FTA: Prospects for Audiovisual Services

Many WTO (World Trade Organization) member countries, including India, are defensive about opening up of the audiovisual sector in the Doha Round due to reasons of cultural sensitivity. On the other...

by Arpita Mukherjee | On 17 Feb 2011

Some Aspects of Inter District Disparities in Tamil Nadu

The study analyzes the inter-district variations in levels of income and human development in Tamal Nadu in recent years. It also tries to analyze the causes of the relatively low levels of income of...

by R. J. Chelliah | On 15 Feb 2011

National Programme for the Health Care of the Elderly-Better Late than Never

While there are many path-breaking elements in the Programme document, the stress is on a top down programme that leaves little room for accommodating regional needs. Nor is there much emphasis on enc...

by Syam Prasad | On 15 Feb 2011

Kerala Budget 2011-12

The Minister for Finance, Dr. T. M. Thomas Issac presented the Budget for the financial year 2011-2012.

by Government of Kerala Govt | On 14 Feb 2011

The Economics of Foodgrain Management in India

The simultaneous occurrence of high food inflation and large foodgrain stocks in our granaries has been a matter of widespread concern in India. The aim of this paper is to understand the fundamenta...

by Kaushik Basu | On 03 Feb 2011

Third Quarter Review of Monetary Policy 2010-11

This statement sets out the Reserve Bank’s assessment of the current macroeconomic situation and forward projections.

by D Subbarao | On 31 Jan 2011

Rising Food Crisis and Financial Crisis in India:Impact on Women and Children and Ways of Tackling the Problem

The objective of the study is to examine the impact of rising food prices and financial crisis on the impact of women and children in India. It identifies the pathways for dealing with the effects of...

by S. Mahendra Dev | On 31 Jan 2011

Report of the Sub-Committee of the Central Board of Directors of Reserve Bank of India to Study Issues and Concerns in the MFI Sector

While this growth is impressive, a number of studies both in India and abroad have questioned whether growth alone is effective in addressing poverty and what the adverse consequences of a too rapid g...

by Reserve Bank of India | On 30 Jan 2011

Rethinking Agricultural Production Collectivities: The Case for a Group Approach to Energize Agriculture and Empower Poor Farmers

In the face of persistent rural poverty, an incomplete agrarian transition, the predominance of small and marginal farms and an emerging feminization of agriculture, this paper argues for a new in...

by Bina Agarwal | On 28 Jan 2011

On the Economics of Regional Powers: Comparing China, India, Brazil, and South Africa

As the conception of and debates on regional powers have been led by political science, this paper aims to contribute to the discussion from an economics perspective. Based on the discussion of differ...

by Robert KAppel | On 28 Jan 2011

Poverty Eradication / Alleviation in North East India : An Approach

The NEC Shillong has assigned the National Institute of Rural Development, North Eastern Regional Centre (NIRD-NERC), Guwahati to prepare a report on “Poverty Eradication in the North Eastern Region...

by Ministry for Development of the North East (DONER) | On 28 Jan 2011

Nutritional Situation and Related Factors in MNCH Project Area at Baseline

Objective of this survey was to establish a baseline nutritional profile to assess the impact of the MNCH programme interventions at the end of the project duration. Nutritional status and related f...

by Farhana Haseen | On 27 Jan 2011

Presence of Foreign Banks in India

This discussion paper on the form of presence of foreign banks in India has been prepared taking into account, inter-alia, the lessons learnt from the recent global financial crisis and the practice...

by Reserve Bank of India | On 26 Jan 2011

Small Scale Old Age and Widow Allowance for the Poor in Rural Bangladesh: An Evaluation

This study was done to explore the process of targeting, selection and benefits distribution and the use of the allowances, satisfaction, and the association of old age and widow allowances with var...

by . BRAC | On 25 Jan 2011

Fifty Years of Regional Inequality in China: A Journey through Central Planning, Reform, and Openness

This paper constructs and analyses a long-run time-series for regional inequality in China from the Communist Revolution to the present. There have been three peaks of inequality in the last fifty...

by Ravi Kanbur | On 17 Jan 2011

Rethinking Food Security Strategy: Self-sufficiency or Self-reliance

This Policy Brief discusses whether Bangladesh should continue to pursue a national food security strategy based on self-reliance or return to its earlier policy of food self-sufficiency through ...

by Uttam Kumar Deb | On 17 Jan 2011

Retrieving LAI of Different Forest Species from Landsat TM/ETM+ Imaginary

Information on vegetation is important for the planning of regional natural resources management carbon cycling studies, terrestrial primary productivity modeling of hydrology, energy and climate. In...

by Nepal C. Dey | On 17 Jan 2011

Implications for Human Development - Impacts of Food Price Volatility on Nutrition and Schooling

This Policy Brief discusses the impacts of the 2007/08 food price inflation on nutrition and on school attendance. It draws on the results of studies commissioned by the UK Department for Interna...

by Imran Matin | On 07 Jan 2011

Does Involvement of Women in BRAC Influence Sex Bias in Intra-household Food Distribution?

This study assessed the sex preferences in intra-household food distribution among school going siblings in a rural area of Bangladesh. The study also examines the effect of women's involvement in BR...

by Rita Das Roy | On 06 Jan 2011

Monetary Policy, Capital Flows, and the Exchange Rate

The use of monetary policy in India has been constrained by a loose fiscal policy and capital flows. Capital inflows have the potential to cause a Dutch Disease-type situation. The RBI has carried out...

by Partha Sen | On 06 Jan 2011

Does Women’s Status Matter for Food Security? Evidence from Bangladesh

Using data from a survey of Bangladeshi households, this paper investigates the link between female status and food security. Employing three different indicators of female status – husband’s an...

by Mohammad A. Razzaque | On 29 Dec 2010

Credibility and Reputationin Peacemaking

The paper analyses credibility and reputation in the context of peace negotiations. Where war provides economic gains to one side, peace is not incentive compatible, and peace agreements will necess...

by Tony Addison | On 08 Dec 2010

Fighting Junk Food Marketing to Kids

In the recent years a vast range of ready-made food selling companies and fast food joints have cropped up in the markets. This paper analysis the effect of marketing strategies of such companies on y...

by Berkeley Media Studies Group BMSG | On 02 Dec 2010

World Programme of Action for Youth

This is a ready reference for organizations, youth policy practitioners and young people to the World Programme of Action for Youth (WPAY), its 15 priority areas and their corresponding proposals for...

by United Nations UN | On 29 Nov 2010

Food Balance Sheet of Kerela

This paper is a look at the food balance sheet of Kerela, the extent of undernutrition and malnutrition in Kerela. For ths purpose, 57 items of food normally available in the State were taken into acc...

by P.G.K. Panikar | On 19 Nov 2010

Balance of Trade, Remittance and Net Capital Flows: An Analysis of Economic Development in Kerala since independence

A major drawback of the plethora of regional studies in India is that most of them tend to treat regional development as an autonomous process of regional productive forces and relations of production...

by T.M. Thomas Issac | On 15 Nov 2010

The Internationalization of Small and Medium Enterprises in Regional and Global Value Chains

Production networks and the regional division of labor have been established in East Asia resulting in massive vertical intra-industry trade in parts and components within the region. This phenomenon...

by Hank Lim | On 02 Nov 2010

Macroeconomic Impacts of Foreign Exchange Reserve Accumulation: Theory and International Evidence

Recently, a dramatic accumulation in foreign exchange reserves has been widely observed in developing countries. This paper explores the possible long-run impacts of this trend on macroeconomic variab...

by Shin-ichi Fukuda | On 01 Nov 2010

Socioeconomic Impacts of Cross-Border Transport Infrastructure Development in South Asia

Although the overall economic performance of economies in South Asia in recent years has been impressive, there is concern that an aging and increasingly inadequate infrastructure may limit the potent...

by John Gilbert | On 01 Nov 2010

Understanding NREGA: A Simple Theory and Some Facts

A developing economy like India is often characterised by a labour market with demand and supply of labour and a wage that even if competitively determined may not be adequate for the poor household t...

by Diganta Mukherjee | On 29 Oct 2010

Regional Cooperation, Infrastructure, and Trade Costs in Asia

International trade has played an essential role in Asia’s remarkable growth, development, and integration in recent decades. Infrastructure, both hard and soft, has played an integral part in facil...

by Douglas H. Brooks | On 28 Oct 2010

Revisiting the Global Food Architecture: Lessons from the 2008 Food Crisis

The 2008 episode of food price explosion, political turmoil, and human suffering revealed important flaws in the current global food architecture. This paper argues that to safeguard the strengths...

by Luc Christiaensen | On 27 Oct 2010

Finance of Modern Economic Growth - The Historical Role of Agricultural Resources

The importance of an 'agricultural surplus' for the structural transformation accompanying economic growth is often stressed in development literature. 'Agricultural surplus', defined as the physical...

by Ashoka Mody | On 21 Oct 2010

Global Production Networks and the People’s Republic of China’s Processing Trade

This paper unveils a systematic pattern in the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) processing trade. In a cross-section of the PRC’s provinces, the average distance traveled by processing imports (...

by Alyson C. Ma | On 18 Oct 2010

Imperatives of Regional Economic Integration in Asia in the Context of Developmental Asymmetries: Some Policy Suggestions

Regional economic integration agreements are considered to be important policy mechanisms to address regional developmental asymmetries. The Asian reality is characterized by developmental asymmetri...

by Ram Upendra Das | On 15 Oct 2010

International Reserves and Swap Lines in Times of Financial Distress: Overview and Interpretations

In this paper I review the use of precautionary measures aimed at mitigating emerging markets’ exposure to fragility associated with financial integration. The discussion draws possible lessons from t...

by Joshua Aizenman | On 13 Oct 2010

Tackling Water Scarcity in Bangladesh – A Lesson from the Country’s Rice Fields

In many parts of Bangladesh water scarcity is a seasonal problem. An assessment is done to understand whether water is being used efficiently for the cultivation of one of the most important food c...

by Nasima Tanveer Chowdhury | On 05 Oct 2010

An Analysis of Padddy Productive Growth in West Bangal and Orrisa

Eastern India has emerged as a new center of growth in the agricultural sector since 1980’s. Over the period 1984/85-1994/95, the foodgrain production increased at a compound annual rate of 3.1% pe...

by Renuka Pillai | On 05 Oct 2010

Fiscal Policy Coordination in Asia: East Asian Infrastructure Investment Fund

East Asian countries were seriously affected by the 2008 global crisis through a steep fall in exports. This experience exposed the vulnerability of the East Asian growth model and emphasized the impo...

by Mahani Zainal Abidin | On 05 Oct 2010

Emergence of Rating Agencies: Implications for Establishing a Regional Rating Agency in Asia

The present analysis sheds light on the setting up a regional rating agency in Asia in the wake of recent financial crisis. We investigate the policy facing a financial regulator while evaluat...

by Ying Yi Tsai | On 30 Sep 2010

Feeding Southeast Asia: Mekong River Fisheries and Regional Food Security

This paper reviews the available literature that links regional food security to the Mekong River’s wild capture fisheries, and argues for recognition of the existing contribution that the fisheries...

by Brooke Peterson | On 08 Sep 2010

Measurement of Inflation in India: Issues and Associated Challenges for the Conduct of Monetary Policy

In India, there is a large divergence between CPI and WPI inflation trends in the past, wide dispersion in inflation across commodity groups within WPI, and significant volatility in headline WPI in...

by Nadhanael G V | On 08 Sep 2010

The Evolution of Singapore Business: A Case Study Approach

This volume contains summaries of 12 case studies for three categories of business organisations defined by ownership, i.e. foreign, state and (local) private. The case studies explore the history a...

by Anisha Sabhlok | On 06 Sep 2010

Economics of Nutrition

The main attention on the food front in lndia ts five year plans has been focused on the question of under nutrition rather than malnutrition. This pre occupation with the quanti...

by P.G.K. Panikar | On 01 Sep 2010

Structural Shift in Demand for Food: Projections for 2020

Knowledge of demand structure and consumer behaviour is essential for a wide range of development policy questions like improvement in nutritional status, food subsidy, sectoral and macroeconomic poli...

by Surabhi Mittal | On 25 Aug 2010

Informal Trade in the SAARC region

This paper explores issues relating to informal trade in the SAARC region. It spells out the reasons underpinning illegal trade in the South Asian region. Further it focuses on the estimated size an...

by Nisha Taneja | On 10 Aug 2010

Asian Economic Integration ASEAN+3+1 or ASEAN+1s?

In this paper an attempt is made to evaluate the most efficient approach to regional economic integration in Asia. Given that ASEAN is an existing regional bloc in Asia, alternative approaches to the...

by Amita Batra | On 04 Aug 2010

Determinants of Small-Scale Farmer inclusion in Emerging Moder Agrifood Markets: A Study of the Dairy Industry in India

In response to structural transformations taking place in the Indian dairy sector mainly in processing segment this paper examines determinants of market channel choices of milk produce...

by Vijay Paul Sharma | On 02 Aug 2010

Social Protection Package for the Retrenched Workers of State-owned Enterprises: A quick Assessment

BRAC designed and implemented a project namely Kallyan project aiming to improve the quality of life of the retrenched workers of state-owned enterprises of Bangladesh. This study aimed to map the p...

by Narayan Chandra Das | On 28 Jul 2010

Demand-Supply Trends and Projections of Food in India

The present paper presents the supply and demand trends of rice, wheat, total cereals, pulses, edible oil/oilseeds and sugar/sugarcane. It provides the demand and supply projections for food items d...

by Surabhi Mittal | On 26 Jul 2010

Regional Economic Integration and FDI in South Asia : Prospects and Problems

The slow progress and modest achievements of regional integration in South Asia have generated a huge amount of skepticism about its role as an effective strategy of growth. The present study, howev...

by Aradhna Aggarwal | On 22 Jul 2010

Implications Of The Economic Rise Of The PRC For Asean and India: Trade and Foreign Direct Investment

An important and vigorous policy debate ongoing in Asia concerns the impact of the economic rise of the PRC on the rest of the region. This paper examines the relative performances of the PRC, selec...

by Sadhana Srivastava | On 20 Jul 2010

Examining The Case For Reserve Pooling In East Asia: Empirical Analysis

Two features of East Asia’s recovery from the financial turmoil of 1997- 98 appear to be rather paradoxical. First, the regional economies (except Hong Kong, China and Malaysia) have allowed a relat...

by Ramkishen S. Rajan | On 20 Jul 2010

Unintended consequences?

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) seems to have decided, somewhat belatedly, to fight for its own autonomy. Well, it’s better late than never, and there is much to recommend in the suggestion by RBI to...

by T.N. Ninan | On 14 Jul 2010

The Unsupportable Support Price : The Government in Paddy Auctions of Northern India

In consonance with the global trend of redefining the role of the government in developing and transition economies from producer to facilitator, there is today a lively debate in India on governm...

by J.V. Meenakshi | On 07 Jul 2010

Farming First’s Guide to Food Security Initiatives

Food security is an immediate and future priority for all countries worldwide. Since the food crisis erupted in 2008, a large number of global and regional food security initiatives have been launch...

by Farming First | On 21 Jun 2010

Biotechnology and Poverty Reduction in Developing Countries

Throughout human history, technology has proven its ability to contribute to higher material living standards, yet the work of poverty alleviation is far from complete. We believe that in the mode...

by Gregory Graff | On 17 Jun 2010

Theun-Hinboun: Expanding Failure

The Theun-Hinboun Expansion Project – a dam and diversion project under construction in Central Laos – violates the Equator Principles and Lao law, according to this report. It documents how Lao villa...

by Ikuko Matsumoto | On 17 Jun 2010

Customized Development Interventions for the Ultra Poor: Preliminary Change Assessments of Health and Health-seeking Behaviour (CFPR/TUP 2002 to 2004)

A mid-term survey of the CFPR/TUP programme participants (at the end of 1st cycle of 18 months intervention) on health and related issues was done during July-September 2004. The survey involved re-in...

by Syed Masud Ahmed | On 16 Jun 2010

Parking Space for the Poor: Restrictions Imposed on Marketing and Movement of Agricultural Goods in India

Agricultural markets in India have been regulated since 1928 with the inception of the "Royal Commission of Agriculture." Policy intervention in agriculture was virtually absent till the Bengal Fam...

by Mayank Wadhwa | On 16 Jun 2010

Impact Assessment of CFPR/TUP: A Descriptive Analysis Based on 2002-2005 Panel Data

This paper looks at the overall performance of the CFPR/TUP programme using the 2002 baseline survey and 2005 repeat survey. All the topics covered in this study could be analysed more deeply, but tha...

by Mehnaz Rabbani | On 15 Jun 2010

Capital Adequacy Regime in India: An Overview

In this paper an analytical review of the capital adequacy regime and the present state of capital to risk-weighted asset ratio (CRAR) of the banking sector in India has been presented. In the curre...

by Mandira Sarma | On 14 Jun 2010

How Sustainable is the Gain in Food Consumption of the CFPR/TUP Beneficiaries?

This paper talks about the programme Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction/ Targeting the Ultra Poor (CFPR/TUP) that has been initiated to help the most disadvantaged population.

by Farhana Haseen | On 02 Jun 2010

Education Impact Study: The Global Recession and the Capacity of Colleges and Universities to Serve Vulnerable Populations in Asia

This paper reviews the capacity of colleges and universities to serve poor and vulnerable populations during past and present economic shocks. The main argument is that the environment of the global r...

by Gerard Postiglione | On 27 May 2010

Impact of ASEAN-India FTA on India’s Plantation Commodities: A Simulation Analysis

The present study attempts a quantitative assessment of the impact of recently signed ASEAN-India FTA (AIFTA) for selected plantation commodities (coffee, tea and pepper) in India. Partial equilibri...

by C. Veeramani | On 20 Apr 2010

Implementation of Monetary Policy in India

How does the Reserve Bank of India implement monetary policy? The objectives and framework of monetary policy, as they have evolved, the operational aspects of monetary policy have been discussed. Th...

by Deepak Mohanty | On 08 Apr 2010

The EU India FTA in Agriculture and Likely Impact on Indian Women

This study attempts to provide an analysis of the gender concerns of the proposed EU India FTA in the field of agriculture and suggest policy changes both in the FTA text as well as in domestic poli...

by Roopam Singh | On 08 Apr 2010

Climate Change and the Future Impacts of Storm-Surge Disasters in Developing Countries

The implications of sea-level rise and storm surges for 84 developing countries and 577 of their cyclone-vulnerable coastal cities with populations greater than 100,000 are explored. Combining the mos...

by Susmita Dasgupta | On 25 Feb 2010

MDG-Based Poverty Reduction Strategy for West Bengal

The purpose of this paper is to examine the poverty situation in West Bengal in a multidimensional framework and to explore possible strategies towards reduction of poverty in the state, keeping in...

by Achin Chakraborty | On 22 Feb 2010

Third Quarter Review of Monetary Policy 2009-10

The Reserve Bank has pursued an accommodative monetary policy beginning mid-September 2008 in order to mitigate the adverse impact of the global financial crisis on the Indian economy. The measures ta...

by D Subbarao | On 29 Jan 2010

Snakes, Ladders and Traps: Changing Lives and Livelihoods in Rural Bangladesh (1994-2001)

This paper examines national-level explanations for poverty decline in Bangladesh in micro-level detail, in order to better understand the nature of the causalities at work and why some households h...

by Naila Kabeer | On 28 Jan 2010

Where Are India’s International Reserves Invested?

Most standard indicators suggest that India’s reserve stock is more than adequate. The rapid stockpiling of foreign exchange reserves implies that the RBI has been leaning-against-the-wind to keep dow...

by Ramkishen S. Rajan | On 25 Jan 2010

The Dynamic Relationship between Price and Trading Volume: Evidence from Indian Stock Market

This study investigates the nature of relationship between price and trading volume for 50 Indian stocks. Firstly the contemporaneous and asymmetric relation between price and volume are examined. T...

by Brajesh Kumar | On 25 Jan 2010

Cuba: A Country Profile on Sustainable Energy Development

A concise overview of the energy related aspects of sustainable development programmes and declarations, followed by a short summary of events and documents explicitly devoted to energy matters are gi...

by International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA | On 25 Jan 2010

Many Poverties

Discusses about the different poverty measuements.

by T.N. Ninan | On 22 Dec 2009

Rethinking Food Security Policies: IDSAsr Declaration

Declaration made at the end of two days national seminar on Food security and Sustainability in India held on November 7-8, 2009 organized by GAD Institute of Development Studies, PO Naushera, Amritsa...

by Gursharan Singh Kainth | On 14 Dec 2009

Poverty Dynamics in Rural Sindh, Pakistan

This paper focuses on poverty dynamics and their determinants, using panel survey data for rural Sindh, Pakistan. Households interviewed by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) d...

by Hari Ram Lohano | On 10 Dec 2009

Poverty and Livelihood among Tribals in Gujarat: Status, Opportunities, and Strategies

This paper tries to look into the status of poverty and multiple deprivations among tribal communities in the state and explores policy options for strengthening their livelihoods through a combinatio...

by Amita Shah | On 27 Nov 2009

No One Barked

No reponse form the policies that the government is announcing

by T.N. Ninan | On 20 Nov 2009

Track Record of Financial Institutions in Assisting the Poor in Asia

A variety of institutional forms of microfinance are being introduced in Asia including by the ADB-and financial institutions pursue different objectives, so it is difficult to assess how well micro...

by Richard L Meyer | On 13 Nov 2009

Should Asian Countries Adopt Gm Crops Despite Trade Regulations

This brief summarizes a study evaluating the potential economic effects of introducing genetically modified (GM) food crops in India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and the Philippines in the presence of trad...

by Guillaume Gruère | On 11 Nov 2009

The Deluge of Debt: Understanding the Financial Needs of Poor Households

This paper is about the financial lives of poor households. It examines the different sources of income and expenditure of the poor households residing in a coastal settlement in Kerala. The method...

by B. S. Suran | On 29 Oct 2009

Second Quarter Review of Monetary Policy 2009 -10

The repo rate has been kept unchanged at 4.75%. The reverse repo rate left steady at 3.25%. The bank rate has been retained unchanged at 6.0%. The cash reserve ratio (CRR) of scheduled banks has been...

by D Subbarao | On 27 Oct 2009

Learning from Crises

Recollect and recount lessons from crises. The key lessons are how to anticipate and take pre-emptive action and equally important, once you are in the middle of it, how to respond effectively namely,...

by Usha Thorat | On 22 Oct 2009

Emerging Market Concerns: An Indian Perspective

From the perspective of Emerging Market Economies (EMEs) and particularly for that of India, five concerns are expressed. These are: first, timing of exit from the accommodative monetary policy in the...

by D Subbarao | On 15 Oct 2009

Coping with Rising Food Prices: Policy Dilemmas in the Developing World

Rising food prices cause considerable policy dilemmas for developing country governments. Letting domestic prices adjust to reflect the full change in international prices generates inflationary pres...

by Nora Lustig | On 09 Oct 2009

Kerala Fights Clock in ASEAN Free-Trade Deal

The paper discusses the impacts of free-trade policy on the agricultural exports of Kerala.

by Ranjit Devraj | On 08 Oct 2009

Food Consumption and Nutritional Status in India: Emerging Trends and Perspectives

The paper reviews the trends over three decades in the consumption of cereals, calories and micronutrients and nutritional status based on anthropometric measures using the data sets of NSS, NNMB and...

by Radhakrishna R | On 15 Sep 2009

Food Security in South Asia: Issues and Opportunities

The study aims to identify issues relating to food security, the policy initiatives taken to tackle these issues, evaluate these policies and suggest measures to overcome identified constraints in ord...

by Surabhi Mittal | On 11 Sep 2009

Ethics and the World of Finance

How do we, as individuals, approach issues of ethics and values? Are our approaches different in our personal and professional lives? Are issues of ethics different in the financial sector? What are t...

by Duvvuri Subbarao | On 02 Sep 2009

Morbidity Patterns In Kerala: Levels and Determinants

This paper examines the levels, patterns, and determinants of morbidity in Kerala. This study is based on a community survey conducted in 2004, in three districts of the state namely Thiruvananthap...

by Navaneetham K | On 14 Aug 2009

Reforming Foodgrains Management: Achieving Food Security with Cost-Effectiveness

This paper examines the efficacy of the current system of public foodgrains management and policies in promoting food security in the country. It argues that the system has outlived its usefulness,...

by A. Ganesh Kumar | On 13 Aug 2009

Restoring the Asian Silk Route: Toward an Integrated Asia

Lack of full regional connectivity is one of the major constraints hindering regional growth and integration in Asia, as well as with the rest of the world. One of the conclusions of this paper is tha...

by Biswa N Bhattacharyay | On 11 Aug 2009

Financialization of Capital - Deterioration of Working Conditions

This paper addresses the issue of establishing a regulatory regime along the production, supply and value chains of multinational corporations in terms of setting labor standards and protecting worker...

by Fichter Michael | On 08 Jul 2009

Emerging Contours of Financial Regulation: Challenges and Dynamics

The paper attempts to analyse the emerging contours of regulation of financial institutions with an emphasis on the emerging challenges and dynamics. [Paper prepared for Financial Stability Review of...

by Rakesh Mohan | On 29 Jun 2009

Preliminary Note on Financial Crisis and Trade and Investment Treaties

North-South free trade agreements (FTAs), bilateral investment treaties (BITs) and World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments often contain a number of provisions that can increase the likelihood of a...

by Third World Network | On 28 Jun 2009

Inflation and the Poor in Bangladesh

This note analyses the major characteristics of the current inflationary episode in the economy along with its probable impact on different population groups in Bangladesh. The note also draws some po...

by Mustafa. K. Mujeri | On 27 Jun 2009

Sources of FDI Flows to Developing Asia: The Roles of Distance and Time Zones

This paper investigates sources and determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) flows to developing Asia using bilateral FDI flows for the period 1990-2005. With regard to the determinants of FDI...

by Rabin Hattari | On 27 Jun 2009

Impact of Imported Intermediate and Capital Goods on Economic Growth: A Cross Country Analysis

Knowledge accumulation in the richer countries provides them with comparative advantages in higher productivity products. The countries that import the higher productivity intermediate products and ca...

by C Veermani | On 23 Jun 2009

Groundwater Irrigation in India: Gains, Costs and Risks

Groundwater has rapidly emerged to occupy a dominant place in India’s agriculture and food security in the recent years. It has become the main source of growth in irrigated area over the past 3 decad...

by Vasant P Gandhi | On 23 Jun 2009

Subnational Taxes in Developing Countries: The Way Forward

It is critical to emphasize that intergovernmental fiscal relations must be thought of as a system and that all the pieces in the system must fit together if decentralization is to work properly. Vari...

by Richard.M. Bird | On 16 Jun 2009

Role of Science & Technology, Higher Education and Research in Regional Socio-Economic Development

This paper is an attempt to focus on the role of Science and Technology (S&T) on regional development of India by considering 21 Indian states. The Index approach using the Principal Component techniq...

by Rajesh Shukla | On 12 Jun 2009

Why Do Mothers Breastfeed Girls Less Than Boys? Evidence and Implications for Child Health in India

Medical research indicates that breastfeeding suppresses post-natal fertility. The implications for breastfeeding decisions are modelled and test has been done to predict model's predictions us- ing...

by Seema Jayachandran | On 09 Jun 2009

Ensuring the Conformity of Domestic Law with World Trade Organisation Law India as a case study

The 1994 Marrakesh Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization (the WTO Agreement), requires each WTO member to “ensure the conformity of its laws, regulations and administrative procedures wi...

by Chaisse Julien | On 04 Jun 2009

Impact of Imported Intermediate and Capital Goods on Economic Growth: A Cross Country Analysis

Knowledge accumulation in the richer countries provides them with comparative advantages in higher productivity products. The countries that import the higher productivity intermed...

by C Veermani | On 21 May 2009

Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2008: Addresing Triple Threats to Development

In 2008, three global crises converged to threaten development in the Asia-Pacific region, bringing to the fore particularly testing challenges for policymakers – a Great Recession in developed coun...

by Economic and Social Commission for Asia Pacific ESCAP | On 16 May 2009

No Through Road: The Limitations of Food Miles

The focus of this paper is on food miles issues associated with the import of products from developing countries. As the concept of food miles has been an issue in organic agriculture since before the...

by Els Wynen | On 14 May 2009

Can Ethical Trade Certification Contribute to the Attainment of the Millennium Development Goals? A Review of Organic and Fair-trade Certification

The growth of ethical consumerism in developed countries has led to increased imports of environmentally and socially certified products produced by the poor in developing countries, which could poten...

by Sununtar Setboonsarng | On 13 May 2009

The Asian “Noodle Bowl”:Is It Serious for Business?

A lively debate is taking place over the impact of free trade agreements (FTAs) on East Asia's business between those who view the agreements as a harmful Asian "noodle bowl"—i.e., overlapping regiona...

by Masahiro Kawai | On 13 May 2009

Gender and Innovation in South Asia

To understand how gender, women’s rights and citizenship intersect with innovation in SouthAsia, one must begin by considering some of the main features of life for South Asian women, about a half of...

by Sujata Byravan | On 06 May 2009

Globalisation Produces Good Outcomes, Enhance Them: Prof Bhagwati

This paper talks of good outcomes of Globalisation which needs to be further inproved wherein Institutional response mechanisms should be designed to address any problems that may arise in specific ar...

by Jagdish Bhagwati | On 03 May 2009

Promoting Sustainable Agriculture: Experiences from India and Canada

Agriculture sector, world over, has experienced a phenomenal growth since the mid-twentieth century. The growth, driven by Green Revolution technology, has made a significant dent on aggregate supply...

by Amita Shah | On 02 May 2009

Genetic Engineering in Indian Agriculture An Introductory Handbook

The handbook is prepared to create an informed public debate on Genetic Engineering in agriculture and this Introductory Manual is a contribution to this debate – a debate not just on GE in agricultur...

by Kavitha Kuruganti | On 21 Apr 2009

Where Are The Empty Thalis In Uttarakhand? : District Level Food Insecurity Analysis of Uttarakhand.

The primary focus of this paper is a remote sense mapping excercise to identify the food insecure parts in Uttarakhand, using official, secondary data. To mitigate the intrinsic weakness of such an ef...

by Ravi Chopra | On 05 Mar 2009

Interactive Food and Beverage Marketing: Targeting Children and Youth in the Digital Age

The paper discusses the poor health statistics for children in the age group of 11-19. The main reasons for deteriorating health are identified as reduction in cost of food products, lack of physical...

by Jeff Chester | On 22 Dec 2008

Inda's Pharmaceutical Industry on Course for Globalisation

The pharmaceutical industry is expanding worldwide. For some years now, it has been benefiting from the particular dynamics of the Asian economies as both purchasers and producers. It is not only the...

by Uwe Perlitz | On 12 Dec 2008

Mitigating Spillovers and Contagion Lessons from the Global Financial Crisis

The speech mainly throws light upon the impact of financial crisis on emrging economies particulary India. [Speech delivered at Reserve Bank of India at the RBI-BIS Seminar at Hyderabad].

by Duvvuri Subbarao | On 05 Dec 2008

Global and Regional Shocks: Challenges to Asian

Two major economic problems are currently shadowing Asian economies. On the one hand, the slowdown in the US economy, ignited by the subprime mortgage crisis, may not be confined to the US region...

by Kwanho Shin | On 05 Dec 2008

Performance of Indian Cement Industry: The Competitive Landscape

The competitiveness among the firms in Indian cement industry has also been evaluated. For the year 2006-07, out of the sample of seventeen firms (90.21% of the total market share), about 47% have re...

by G Burange | On 19 Nov 2008

Agflation and the PDS: Some Issues

In the context of the current public policy focus on rising food prices and their implications for food security, this paper examines two major issues raised: (i) Universalization of the public distri...

by Suryanarayana M H | On 04 Nov 2008

Technology Sourcing and Internationalisation of IT firms in India

The paper analyzes the determinants of internationalisation, defined in terms of export intensity and overseas investments, of the IT firms in India. In particular, the paper examines the role of tech...

by Narayanan K | On 01 Oct 2008

A New Era of World Hunger?- The Global Food Crisis Analyzed

This paper is an account of the main streams discussed in an international conference, held in New York in April 2008, organized by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation and Global Policy Forum, which cons...

by James A. Paul | On 24 Sep 2008

Food Processing in Andhra Pradesh Opportunities and Challenges

The study is taken up in the state of Andhra Pradesh with the following objectives: 1. To study the opportunities and challenges in processing of rice, fruits and vegetables, oilseeds and livestock...

by S.Mahendra Dev | On 17 Sep 2008

An Investigation of Incongruency and Distraction Hypotheses: The Context of Dubbed TV Commercials

The current study seeks to understand the effectiveness of commercials that are basically nation-wide commercials dubbed in the regional languages, while not changing any part of the visual: thus they...

by Venkatesh P | On 16 Aug 2008

Who Funds the Act of Racism and Racial Discrimination in the Chittgaong Hill Tracks?

Since 1978 Bangladesh government has been providing free food rations to plain settlers to sustain the conflict, make indigenous Jumma peoples a minority in the CHTs and eventually destroy their disti...

by Asian Centre for Human Rights ACHR | On 07 Aug 2008

Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007–2012) Volume II Social Sector

Eleventh Five Year Plan 2007-12

by Planning Commission, India | On 06 Aug 2008

Banking Sector Reforms and Equity a Sub-Regional Analysis in Andhra Pradesh

In this study an attempt is made to examine the equity aspect due to reforms in the banking sector at sub-regional level in the state of Andhra Pradesh covering the period 1985 to 2004. [CESS WP 68]...

by K S Reddy | On 04 Aug 2008

Macroeconomic and Monetary Developments First Quarter Review 2008-09

The Reserve Bank released the document “Macroeconomic and Monetary Developments: First Quarter Review 2008-09” to serve as a backdrop to the First Quarter Review of Annual Policy Statement for 2008-0...

by Reserve Bank of India | On 28 Jul 2008

Constitutionalising Panchayats: The Response of State Legislatures

This article is an attempt to look at debates in the light of the Assemblies' tryst with panchayats. It should be noted that it is not an evaluation of what transpired in the state Assemblies. In view...

by Girish Kumar | On 03 Jul 2008

Foreign Entry and Domestic Welfare: Can “Market Discipline” be Excessive

For most developed countries, "opening up" of the economy has meant the reduction of non-prohibitive tariffs and the easing or abolition of quantitative restrictions. For manydeveloping countries and...

by Aditya Bhattacharjea | On 20 Jun 2008

Interest Rate Modeling and Forecasting in India

The interest rate is a key financial variable that affects decision of consumers, businesses, financial institutions, professional investors and policymakers. Timely forecast of interest rates can the...

by Pami Dua | On 13 Jun 2008

Inclusive Growth in Andhra Pradesh: Challenges in Agriculture, Poverty, Social Sector and Regional Disparities

The important elements of inclusive growth are: agricultural growth, employment generation and poverty reduction, social sector (health and education) and reduction in regional and other disparities...

by S.Mahendra Dev | On 31 May 2008

Food Failures and Futures

The paper is an analysis of food aid, rising food prices and its implications.

by Laurrie Garrett | On 31 May 2008

Inflation: Sign and Symptom of Mismanagement

Inflation impacts on the social and political life and it is the poor who bear the consequences most. There can be no room for tardiness in taking measures to control inflation. [See synopses of par...

by Shambhu Ghatak | On 21 Apr 2008

Newsletter on Regional Economy: A bi-monthly four state update from IRIS India

A monthly compilation by IRIS.

by IRIS India IRIS | On 09 Apr 2008

Health e-Letter, Vol 2, Issue 3, April 2008

CELENTA's STORY: Government schemes do little to change attitudes GROWING INEQUITIES: Maharashtra's poor cannot access healthcare VOTE BANK POLITICS: Small family not important in UP QUACK TRAP: Qu...

by Health eNewsletter | On 02 Apr 2008

Tamil Nadu Budget 2008-09

Speech of Prof. K. Anbazhagan, Minister for Finance, Government of Tamil Nadu, presenting the Budget for 2008-2009 to the Legislative Assembly on 20th March, 2008.

by Tamil Nadu Government | On 25 Mar 2008

Andhra Pradesh Budget 2008-09

SPEECH OF SRI K. ROSAIAH, HONOURABLE FINANCE MINISTER WHILE PRESENTING THE BUDGET FOR THE YEAR 2008-09 TO THE ANDHRA PRADESH STATE LEGISLATURE.

by Government Andhra Pradesh | On 10 Mar 2008

Environmentally Sound Technologies for Sustainable Development of China and India

The paper compares policy responses of China and India to the global requirements of trade and environment regimes as well as the domestic compulsions are compared.

by Sankar U | On 11 Feb 2008

Critical Issues Facing China’s Rubber Industry in the Era of Market Integration: An Analysis in Retrospect and Prospect

This paper discusses the emerging contradictions that may have serious implications for the sustainable growth and performance of China’s rubber industry in the era of internal restructuring and globa...

by Viswanathan P K | On 30 Jan 2008

Newsletter on Regional Economy A bi-monthly four-state update from IRIS

A monthly compilation by IRIS.

by IRIS India IRIS | On 11 Jan 2008

Transgenics in Indian Agriculture: Experiences so far and implications of KIA proposals on Indian Farmers

KIA proposes to bring a paradigm shift in Indian Agriculture in terms of human resource development, research, technology generation, technology dissemination and commercialization. In the short run,...

by Ramanjaneyulu G V | On 05 Jan 2008

WCD Thematic Review V.5 Participation, Negotiation and Conflict Management in Large Dams Projects

This thematic review focuses on the siting, construction and operation of large dam facilities (or their alternatives) as sources of significant conflict, and as opportunities to involve many interest...

by RESOLVE Inc et al | On 26 Dec 2007

Customer Centricity and the Reserve Bank

The Reserve Bank, as the regulator of the banking sector, has been actively engaged, from the very beginning, in the review, examination and evaluation of customer service in the banks. It has been re...

by Leeladhar V | On 26 Oct 2007

Why Don’t Small and Medium Enterprises Innovate More : Creating a Cooperative Learning Environment at Individual, Firm and Regional Level

In a globalising economy, regional or national benchmarks do not suffice any more. Be it technology or business method or practices, Indian small scale entrepreneurs will have to benchmark their curre...

by Anil K Gupta | On 10 Oct 2007

Multilateralising Regionalism: Sphagetti Bowls as building Blocs on the Path to Global Free Trade

This paper addresses the final steps to global free trade -- the political economy forces that might drive them, and the role the WTO might play in guiding them. Two facts form the departure point: 1)...

by Richard Baldwin | On 05 Oct 2007

The 40:40 Team

Some of the company managers tune their business strategy to match the quarterly cycle of results announcements. Rapidly growing economies will deliver such high valuations, and many of them will be s...

by T.N. Ninan | On 01 Oct 2007

Food Consumption and Calorie Intake in Contemporary India

This paper examines how the patterns of India’s food consumption have been changing in recent times as a consequence of its faster economic growth and generally rising affluence levels. The study, als...

by Srikanta Chatterjee | On 30 Sep 2007

Holding Companies in Banking Groups

RBI seeks comments from the public for this paper. Comments may be sent to the Chief General Manager-in-Charge, Department of Banking Operations and Development, Reserve Bank of India, Central Office,...

by Reserve Bank of India | On 19 Sep 2007

Potential for Sharing Nuclear Power Infrastructure Between Countries

The introduction or expansion of a nuclear power programme in a country and its successful execution is largely dependent on the network of national infrastructure, covering a wide range of activities...

by International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA | On 21 Aug 2007

Foreign Exchange Reserves

The report is a compilation of quantitative information with regard to external reserves, such as, level of foreign exchange reserves, sources of accretion to foreign exchange reserves, external liabi...

by Reserve Bank of India | On 26 Jul 2007

Women and Food Security in South Asia: Current Issues and Emerging Concerns

The educated and socially empowered Asian Woman is the key to improving the nutrition and mental acuity of young children and that improvement sets in motion lifelong prospects for heightened learning...

by Nira Ramachandran | On 24 Jul 2007

Glimpses of Indian Economy and its Financial Sector

A brief introduction to Reserve Bank of India, followed by glimpses of the Indian economy. A detailed account of reforms in India’s financial sector, in particular, the banking sector, and financial m...

by Y V Reddy | On 05 Jul 2007

Reflections on Global Account Imbalances and Emerging Markets Reserve Accumulation

The lecture focuses on some implications -- both positive and normative -- of the most surprising development in the international financial system over the last half dozen years. That development is...

by Lawrence H. Summers | On 05 Jul 2007

Public Distribution System in Gujarat: A Synoptic Overview

The PDS programme in Gujarat since the formation of the State in 1960 is reviewd and comments are given briefly upon its effectiveness in delivery. The food security issue for the poor is also address...

by Sudarshan Iyengar | On 04 Jul 2007

APEC 2007: How Strong is India’s Case for Membership?

The September 2007 annual summit of APEC to be hosted by Australia will witness the ending of the decade long moratorium on membership. A major anomaly of the APEC is that while the three largest econ...

by Mukul Asher | On 26 Jun 2007

IBSAC (INDIA, BRAZIL, SOUTH AFRICA, CHINA): A Potential Developing Country Coalition in WTO Negotiations

This paper argues that IBSA( India, Brazil, South Africa) as opposed to IBSAC (with China) is a far more coherent group when it comes to WTO negotiations as its interests coincide given the agenda tha...

by Debashis Chakraborty | On 25 Apr 2007

Utilization Of Maternal Health Care In South India

This study examines the patterns and determinants of maternal health care use across different social setting in south India: in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Data source for...

by Navaneetham K | On 10 Apr 2007

Trends in Growth of Agriculture Sector of the Indian Economy

Growth in the agriculture sector may well be judged by the increase in agricultural production over time. In economic terms, relative changes in prices of different crops also may effect substitution....

by S.K. Mishra | On 12 Mar 2007

Medico Friend Circle Bulletin, 318-319, August-November 2006

Contents: Data Exclusivity: Another Self-Goal and a Trade Barrier S.Srinivasan. Medico Friend Circle Letter to PM on DE. DE in International Trade Agreements. IDMA on DP and DE. Safeguards if...

by Medico Friend Circle | On 01 Feb 2007

Food Retailing, Supermarkets and Food Security: Highlights from Latin America

The importance of supermarkets in the world food economy has increased radically since the early 1990s. They are now major sellers and buyers of food items not only in developed but also in developin...

by Mehmet Arda | On 27 Dec 2006

Telecommunications privatisation in Taiwan: A beautiful mistake?

This paper examines the changing role of the government and market in regulating the telecommunications sector since 1996 in Taiwan. It also explores changes in the institutional framework for regula...

by Kuo-Tai Cheng | On 22 Dec 2006

Change in Food and Nutrient Consumption Among the Ultra Poor: Is the CFPR/TUP Programme Making a Difference?

This study aims to investigate the impact of CFPR/TUP programme on the food and nutrient consumption. The report is presented in two parts- the first part is based on the comparison of food and energy...

by Farhana Haseen | On 19 Dec 2006

India’s Rising Role in Asia

This paper strongly suggests that India has been far more intricately integrated with the rest of Asia than has commonly been perceived or acknowledged. This is particularly the case if overall value...

by Mukul Asher | On 12 Dec 2006

State Level Reform and Role of Research

The role of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in the current stage of reform is crucial. The need for research and information collection not just at the national level but at the state-level has never...

by Vidya Pitre | On 05 Dec 2006

Report on a Strategic Approach to Research Publishing in South Africa

The effect of globalization on knowledge exchange, which is mediated very largely through scientific journals being published in English, and having their origins in Europe and North America, has resu...

by Academy of South Africa | On 27 Nov 2006

New Trends in Marathi Theatre: Relationship with Multicultural Indian Identity

The Indian society has been multicultural for many centuries. But the texture of this 'multicultural Indian identity' has changed drastically in the last decade or so. Earlier, when two cultures came...

by Makarand Sathe | On 20 Nov 2006

Medico Friend Circle Bulletin, August-November 2006, 318-319

Data Exclusivity: Another Self-Goal and a Trade Barrier S.Srinivasan Medico Friend Circle Letter to PM on DE DE in International Trade Agreements IDMA on DP and DE Safeguards if Decision by Go...

by Medico Friend Circle | On 03 Nov 2006

Monetary Regionalism in Asia Revisited

Given the divergence in economic and institutional structures in the region, any attempt to create a common currency absent macroeconomic policy coordination and mechanism for automatic intra-regional...

by Ramkishen S. Rajan | On 30 Oct 2006

Monetary Regionalism in Asia Revisited

Given the divergence in economic and institutional structures in the region, any attempt to create a common currency absent macroeconomic policy coordination and mechanism for automatic intra-regional...

by Ramkishen S. Rajan | On 30 Oct 2006

Ethics in Social Science Research: Reflections from a Student of Economics

If poverty and nutrition are issues also of social justice and the commitment that a democratic state makes to its citizens (namely, ridding the country of hunger and malnutrition and also of ensuring...

by Padmini Swaminathan | On 19 Jul 2006

Canadian Journal of Sociology

Volume 31, Issue 1, Winter 2006 The Rise of Cohabitation in Quebec: Power of Religion and Power over Religion by Benoît Laplante Refeudalizing the Public Sphere: 'Manipulated Publicity' in the Can...

by University of Toronto Press | On 16 Jul 2006

Mumbai/Shanghai: Prospects/Problems--Imitating Global, Failing Local

Do we aspire to be a ‘global’ city like Shanghai, with all the spit and polish to attract foreign investors by the drove? Or can we aim to be a city with a sustainable plan for its development – one t...

by Kalpana Sharma | On 13 Jul 2006

The Wealth of Cities: Towards an Assets-based Development of Newly Urbanizing Regions

The argument in this paper is in four parts: First, the author suggests that we can no longer treat cities apart from the regions surrounding them with which they are intensively entwined. Second, t...

by John Freidman | On 13 Jul 2006

Antidumping Duties as a Measure of Contingent Protection: an Analysis of Indian Experience

The aim of this paper is to analyse India's anti dumping behaviour. India has become a major user of anti dumping measures, initiating more than 300 cases against many of its trading partners. After...

by Nandana Baruah | On 23 May 2006

Sociology in the Context of Globalisation: Issues and Challenges in India

Any exercise in mapping the current status of any social science discipline is a mammoth task, as it involves the normative concerns as well as the personal perceptions of the sociologist who treads t...

by Paramjit S Judge | On 16 May 2006

Legislative Brief: The Food Safety and Standards Bill, 2005

The main objectives of the Bill are: (a) to introduce a single statute relating to food, and (b) to provide for scientific development of the food processing industry. The Bill aims to establish a sin...

by M. R. Madhavan | On 14 Apr 2006

Regional Diffferences in FDI Inflows: China – India Comparison

An analysis of regional differences in the flow of FDI in China and India is important as in both these countries a few regions account for the bulk of FDI inflows. There are very few studies on regi...

by N.S. Siddharthan | On 23 Mar 2006

Hunger and Health: Addressing Urgent Issues

This statement following a workshop on ‘Hunger and Health: An Interdisciplinary Dialogue attended by a cross-section of India’s nutritional scientists, health professionals, public health specialists,...

by Workshop on Hunger and Health Interdisciplinary Dialogue | On 13 Mar 2006

The Extent of Exchange Rate Flexibility in India: Basket Pegger or Closet US Dollar Pegger?

This paper examines the degree of de facto exchange rate flexibility for India over the last two decades. While there is a diversity of methods that measure de facto exchange rate regimes, none indivi...

by Tony Cavoli | On 08 Mar 2006

Economic Survey 2005-06, Chapter 5

Prices and Food Management

by Ministry of Finance | On 27 Feb 2006

Financial Integration in East Asia: How Far? How Much Further to Go?

Despite numerous empirical studies examining various facets of the topic, the degree of intraregional financial integration in East Asia remains a matter of vigorous debate. This paper offers a select...

by Tony Cavoli | On 07 Feb 2006

The Social Cost of Foreign Exchange Reserves

There has been a very rapid rise since the early 1990s in foreign reserves held by developing countries. These reserves have climbed to almost 30 percent of developing countries' GDP and 8 months of i...

by Dani Rodrik | On 27 Jan 2006

Macroeconomic and Monetary Developments: Third Quarter Review 2005-06

Contents I. The Real Economy -- 1 Agricultural Situation Industrial Performance Business Expectations Surveys Services Sector II. Fiscal Situation 14 Combined Government Fi...

by Reserve Bank of India | On 25 Jan 2006

Social Capital, Diversity and (Economic) DEvelopment: Evidence from Indian IT Industry, Bangalore

This paper addresses two sets of questions related to IT development and lessons to be drawn for other regions both in and outside India. Firstly, based on original fieldwork an additional argument t...

by Florian A. Taube | On 19 Jan 2006

ICT sector and regional economic development:Evidence from Karnataka State

This paper distinguishes the contribution of information and communication technology (ICT) sector to economic development by manufacturing and service activities in Karnataka State. Using the availab...

by M.R. Narayana | On 19 Jan 2006

Draft National Pharmaceutical Policy, 2006

In 2002 the government had formulated a new Drug Policy, but the same could not be implemented due to litigation involving it. As a consequence, the policy of 1994 continues to be in force.The pr...

by Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals | On 16 Jan 2006

Taking Stock of Monetary and Financial Regionalism in Asia

Lecture at RIS, New Delhi December 2005

by Ramkishen S. Rajan | On 12 Jan 2006

Agrarian Reform for a Liberal Pattern of Society? Karnataka's Land Policy and the New Dispensation

It is puzzling how much the discourse of development has backed away from the seemingly central question of rural poverty: land. Elaborate rules concerning its distribution, rights, regulation, prot...

by Ronald Herring | On 12 Jan 2006

Choosing not to Participate--Evidence from Drought-Prone Area Programme in Chitradurg, Karnataka

This paper examines the evidence on the constraints that farmers face in participating in a programme evolved by 'somebody else' viz, ‘the government’, . The paper begins with a discussion on the typ...

by G.Ananda Vadivelu | On 09 Jan 2006

Corruption and Local Governance: Evidence from Karnataka

The paper examines corruption in the institutions of local government in Karnataka, using a Logit model. One of the arguments in favour of decentralisation in developing countries is that it provide...

by V. Vijayalakshmi | On 09 Jan 2006

Ideological Elements in Political Instability in Karnataka: Janata Dal in the 1990s

There are strenuous difficulties in managing competing social groups, segments and regions in the political landscape of Karnataka. These difficulties have been accentuated by touchy issues of status...

by Pamela Price | On 09 Jan 2006

Political Leadership and Economic Development in Karnataka

How has the political leadership in Karnataka contributed to the state's economic developmet? In order to assess the role that the political leadership has played, the author examines the role of the...

by Gujjarappa Thimmaiah | On 09 Jan 2006

Change in Karnataka over the Last Generation: Villages and the Wider Context

This paper examines changes that have (and have not) occurred – at the village level in Karnataka where most or the state’s residents live, and at higher levels when they impinge upon villages – sin...

by James Manor | On 09 Jan 2006

Controlled Capital Account Liberalisation: A Proposal

This paper outlines a proposal for a controlled approach to capital account liberalization for economies experiencing large capital inflows. The proposal essentially involves securitizing a portion o...

by Eswar S. Prasad | On 09 Dec 2005

Pharmaceuticals, WTO/TRIPs and Women

This paper looks at the effects of WTO/TRIPS and pharmaceuticals on women. The focus is on the poor and women. The first part of the paper tries to show the linkages between the idea of intellectual p...

by S Srinivasan | On 27 Nov 2005

East Asian Community: Prospects and Challenges

There is a growing need to a more institutionalized economic arrangement in East Asia. East Asia Economic Community might be an ideal form of such institution. However, the road is still long and...

by A Damuri | On 23 Nov 2005

Opportunities and Challenges in Building an East Asian Community

Inherenet weaknesses in AFTA and AEC and the need to counter regionalism in other parets of the world are some of the important reasons for evolving an East Asian Community. However, there are severa...

by Joseph Yap | On 23 Nov 2005

East Asian Integration: Opportunities for Fukuoka and Japan

In order to advance regional integration in East Asia, there needs to be a rapid expansion of FTAs. The obstacles in promotion of FTAs need to be resolved. Some of the features in realising FTAs are:...

by Shujiro Urata | On 22 Nov 2005

Singapore's Role in Building of an East Asian Community

An East Asian community(EAC) is an idea now being seriously pursued in spite of significant challenges. Proliferating bilateral deals in Asia could emerge as building blocks towards the EAC, provided...

by Rahul Sen | On 22 Nov 2005

The Quest of Economic community in East Asia: Thailand's Perspective

To make the Customs Union in East Asia happen, what is needed the most now are political will and concerted efforts. FTAs should not be the end of economic cooperation in Asia. Instead, the onsolidati...

by Nipon Poapongsakorn | On 22 Nov 2005

Asian Reserves and the Dollar: Is Gradual Adjustment Possible?

Large dollar reserves in Asian EMEs accompany large U.S. fiscal and current account deficits. Analysis of strategic sales by Asian EMEs suggests that an attack on the dollar is not certain but is poss...

by Ashima Goyal | On 21 Nov 2005

Envisioning an East Asian Community--the Eu's Perspective and Role

EU's response to the East Asian community has to take account of several dimensions including Issues and dynamics of East Asian regional cooperation and integration; Scenarios of regional Community-bu...

by Willem vd Geest | On 08 Nov 2005

I G.Patel: Qua Economist and Policy Maker

In tribute, a brief note on the rich intellectual trajectory described by I. G. Patel

by Deena Khatkhate | On 28 Sep 2005

Spatial Inequality and Development: Overview of UNU-WIDER Project

Spatial inequality is a dimension of overall inequality, but it has added significance when spatial and regional divisions align with political and ethnic tensions to undermine social and political st...

by Ravi Kanbur | On 17 Sep 2005

Child Mortality: Beyond Pattrns And Detrminants To Politics And Institutions

Comments on Deolikar's paper: Deolalikar’s paper provides the empirical basis for policy makers to trust their knowledge and provide additional resources (mot merely in monetary terms) to the most v...

by Maitreyi Bordia Das | On 26 Aug 2005

SAARC - Twelfth Summit Declaration 2004

12th SAARC Summit Declaration Islamabad January 2004

by Anonymous | On 13 Aug 2005

SAARC Regional Convention On Suppression O Terrorism

An Additional Protocol to the SAARC Regional Convention on Suppression of Terrorism, has been prepared recognizing the importance of updating the Convention, in order to meet the obligations devolving...

by Anonymous | On 13 Aug 2005

Agreement On South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA)

Motivated by the commitment to strengthen intra-SAARC economic cooperation to maximise the realization of the region's potential for trade and development for the benefit of their people, in a spirit...

by Anonymous | On 13 Aug 2005

SAARC Social Charter

Re-affirms that the principal goal of SAARC is to promote the welfare of the peoples of South Asia, to improve their quality of life, to accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural deve...

by Anonymous | On 13 Aug 2005

SAARC and India: Policy Issues hinge on Security and Democracy

The entire project of SAARC is dependent on India’s capacity to bind the neighbouring states in multiple networks of ties to promote regional cooperation. India not only shares frontiers with all the...

by Rajen Harshe | On 13 Aug 2005

Trade Liberalization And Pollution Havens

U.S. Presidential Executive Order 13141 commits the United States to a "careful assessment and consideration of the environmental impacts of trade agreements." The most direct mechanism through which...

by Josh Ederington | On 06 Aug 2005