"Can India insulate itself from the rise in global food prices? Answers are neither certain nor unanimous. While some economists believe that price rise is a cyclical phenomenon and will be under control within three months, others believe the trend is here to stay. However, with the inflation rate keeping above the 5 percent RBI limit for three consecutive weeks, one thing is clear: the government needs to act. The agriculture ministry estimates a bumper 76-million-ton wheat harvest this season, but the Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi, pegs the figure at a maximum of 73 million tons. The Commission for Agriculture Costs and Prices also warns of an overall increase in the price of essential commodities in 2008-09.

If Indian consumers have not quite felt the pinch that is because prices have been controlled by subsidies. India's food subsidy bill has gone up to more than Rs 31,000 crore (from Rs 24,000 crore in 2006-07). To control prices the Indian government will have to aggressively procure foodgrains. It is believed that if India ends up procuring even 1 to 2 million tons of foodgrain from the international market, the prices will shoot up. Estimates of low winter oilseed yield add to the fear. Already, domestic prices of edible oil have been growing at a rate higher than the wholesale price index."

"China became the second-largest exporter in the world for the first time in 2007 amid a substantial slowdown in the growth of global trade, according to data released by the World Trade Organization Thursday. Exports of goods from China in 2007 increased 19.5 percent to $1.22 trillion, making China surpass the United States as the world's second-largest exporter after Germany.

Exports of goods from countries in the world increased 5.5 percent in real terms in 2007 over the previous year to $13.57 trillion, spelling a drop of 3.0 percentage points in the pace of growth. In contrast with developed countries, emerging economies continued to enjoy high growth of exports. Japan ranked fourth in both exports and imports which grew 9.0 percent and 1.0 percent, respectively."

"The Philippines announced Wednesday it would spend $1 billion to increase rice production. The announcement came a day after Indonesia banned its farmers from selling rice abroad and Kazakhstan, one of the world's top producers of wheat, halted foreign sales. The Philippines, which imports more rice than any other country, unveiled plans to spend a billion dollars in a bid to become self-sufficient in rice and other vital crops by 2010.

With public anger spilling over into unrest in some places, nations around the world have been urgently trying to limit the fallout from the soaring costs of basic items such as rice. But with several countries curbing exports to ensure supplies at home, prices have continued to rise -- worsening the problem for nations that cannot grow enough to feed their people and rely on imports to make up the difference."

"The long-awaited rail service between India and Bangladesh is a welcome move initiated to increase people-to-people contact between the two neighboring South Asian countries that share a long common border, culture and heritage. This comes following the re-establishment of a rail and road link between India and Pakistan helping thousands of South Asians to rekindle lost ties with long-lost friends and relatives and observe developments between the two countries.

The move is in line with creating economic integration in South Asia. These steps will reduce tensions across borders, boost tourism and help investment and trade within the region -- one of the fastest growing in the world. The revived rail link will help build confidence in the region, although there is a long way to go before the creation of a common market prior to the formation of a free trade area."

"Vietnam is making great strides in administrative reform by cranking up technology applications setting an exemplary model for state agencies at lower levels. The central government has been publicizing all issued directives, apart from classified ones, on the website www.chinhphu.vn. This week, the government has also shown its determination to make its administrative operations more IT-savvy. Officials announced they would soon begin hosting online meetings with ministerial and other agencies.

Before the upcoming e-government project is realized nationwide, designing a website where certain government documents can be made public is well within the reach of state organizations at all levels. Hundreds of billions of dong will need to be earmarked for establishing thousands of such websites nationwide, but in return, there will be countless positive results in making Vietnam and its government more transparent."

"Thailand has pledged to be more selective with community-based proposals for funding under the so-called SML (small, medium, large) village grants scheme to ensure more prudent spending amid skepticism from social and economic experts. The government will give more emphasis to proposals that are aimed at raising local incomes to ensure the money would truly help boost communities and the village economy.

About 18 billion baht has been granted to support community development projects, proposed by about 77,000 villages nationwide. Under the scheme, villages received a portion of the money to run projects. A study commissioned by the government showed that nearly 70% of the proposed projects, or about 108,000, involved public facility development and community welfare. However, critics say the government seems to focus only on how to generate income in limited parts of the rural sector rather than stimulating the rural economy as a whole."

"Indonesia will need to work extra hard to lure foreign visitors with this year's ambitious Visit Indonesia Year campaign, in the light of health and hygiene issues mentioned in a recent report by the World Economic Forum (WEF). The report cited Indonesia's poor health and hygiene conditions and inadequate infrastructure as key disadvantages in attracting foreign visitors. WEF ranked Indonesia 80th among 130 countries in its Travel and Competitiveness Index 2008, lower than neighbors Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

Indonesia's health facilities and hygiene received poor scores because of the country's low number of physicians (per capita), inadequate hospital beds, and poor access to improved sanitation and drinking water. As Southeast Asia's largest economy, Indonesia also received low scores for quality of tourism infrastructure, comprising hotel rooms, presence of major car rental firms and automatic teller machines accepting Visa cards."

"Local government has always played a significant role in the social system of Bangladesh. Spreading into the remote rural areas, local governments act as a bridge between the people and the government through implementation of different government development projects and public welfare programs. So, the need for bringing in reforms in the local government system must be analyzed. Though the government has been talking about reforms in the local government, it's not clear how they will be brought about.

With the increase in power and volume of activities of the government, the responsibility and duty of the local government has also been increased by several times. Everybody realizes the importance of local government, but corrupt practices, inefficiency, and lack of accountability raise questions about its role. Structural defects can be attributed for this, and corruption and inefficiency of the bureaucrats could be blamed equally. Regarding the structural or constitutional defects in local government, it can be said that the country is being governed through a constitutional, democratic system, while local government is being run through a presidential system."

"Vietnam needs some $3.75 billion to build seaports from now to 2010, according to local reports. The country has planned to build 10 seaports, including an international one in northern Hai Phong city, and another in central Khanh Hoa province. Of the total money, over $1.25 billion will go to the building of seaports in the northern region, and $875 million in the central province.

Vietnam wants to build deepwater seaports which can receive large vessels of 50,000-100,000 dead weight tons (DWT) so that its port system can handle 230-250 million tons of cargo in 2010 and 500-550 million tons in 2020. Now, Vietnam's port system is able to handle over 170 million tons of cargo, up from 154 million tons in 2006."

"India's central bank governor Yaga Venugopal Reddy said it is possible to make a case for a sovereign wealth fund (SWF) to manage the country's foreign-currency reserves, which are the world's fourth-largest. Accelerated gains in the country's reserves are raising expectations for higher returns. Mr. Reddy said it may be possible to argue that a part of the reserves, which may be considered in excess of usual requirements, be managed with the primary objective of earning higher returns.

The so-called sovereign wealth funds, or state- owned capital pools, in Russia, China, Norway and elsewhere have grown in number to about 40 worldwide, managing as much as $3 trillion. India held $299 billion in foreign-currency reserves as of April 11, compared with China's record $1.68 trillion, Japan's $987.7 billion and Russia's $508 billion."

"Malnutrition in mothers and their young children will claim 3.5 million lives globally this year. Eighty percent of the world's undernourished children are in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Addressing hunger in the most cost-efficient way should be a top global priority. Scaling up programs such as adding folate and zinc supplements to ensure provision for 80 percent of South Asians and sub-Saharan Africans would cost about $347 million per year, but would yield a massive $5 billion from improved future earnings and reduced healthcare spending.

There are other ways to make a difference quickly and inexpensively. Intestinal parasites such as roundworm, whipworm, and hookworm strip iron from sufferers' guts, causing disease and intellectual retardation. De-worming treatments eliminate an impediment to healthy nutrition. And there are benefits to treating even younger children. De-worming pre-schoolers will lock in the benefits of motor and language development at an annual cost of $0.50 per child. Reaching 53 million children in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa would yield economic benefits six times higher than the astonishingly modest annual cost of $26.5 million."

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