"The biomass gasifier has become a vital source for clean and uninterrupted energy supply for villagers in southern India. The power plant converts wood and other agricultural residues into a combustible gas mixture and also enables farmers to cultivate through improved irrigation techniques. When it began operating last year, agriculture pumps made new irrigation methods possible.

Once granted six hours of sporadic power per day due to transmission and distribution inefficiencies with the grid, villagers now enjoy uninterrupted power whenever they need it. And they are making a profit. The excess energy is sold to the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company."

"The capital market, real estate sector and the currency market have all gone on a downward slide together in Pakistan. The stock market reflects people's perception if not the health of the economy. The stock market index has gone down from 15,000 to as low as 9,500 post-elections. The government's intervention through making credit expensive raises multiple questions regarding the government's management comprehension and capabilities.

The impact of making credit expensive has adversely affected the secondary market, the market that uses the money, i.e., the capital market. Instead of achieving its target of bringing down consumer borrowing it seems to have been a factor in bringing down the stock market by 35 percent."

"Although the Ministry of Education and Training has issued many legal documents to guide schools in Viet Nam on how to equip themselves with adequate teaching aids, the supply of equipment in localities is poor. Many teachers have no choice but to use low-quality equipment in their lessons. As a result, students in many classes were learning only in theory and not in practice.

Many school laboratories were neglected and abandoned because the schools lacked resources to use them. Many high school students in rural and mountainous provinces can only take notes and learn by heart the results of chemical reactions, without ever having seen the chemicals or done any lab work. Many university students still don't know how to use equipment needed for seminars, such as projectors and laptops."

"Comprehensive reforms in agriculture are imperative to create opportunities for people deprived of resources in Bangladesh. There is an emerging gap in education and health opportunities for the poor. Cooperative societies should be developed to connect producers with the markets and creating opportunities to establish ownership by common people in commercial ventures.

Women buy cows by taking loans from micro-finance institutions and sell milk to the milkmen, who actually add value and get the profit. These women should get together, pasteurize the milk and then sell it. There are troubles in procuring paddy where most rice is being procured from the millers. Paddy producers should get together and process paddy that can directly connect them to the market."

"The Indonesian government has finalized an amendment to the income tax law, which will cut taxes and offer incentives to businesses. Income tax for businesses will be set at 28 percent next year, replacing the current progressive system, and will be further reduced to 25 percent at the start of 2010.

The new bill also provides incentives for companies to go public as companies that list at least 40 percent of their shares on the Indonesia Stock Exchange will see their tax rate cut five percent. Tax on dividend payments will be reduced to a maximum 10 percent from 20 percent."

"Cyclone Nargis, which battered Myanmar in May, left an estimated $4 billion worth of damage, on a par with the devastation caused by the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia, according to a new assessment. The figure includes $1.7 billion in damage to physical assets. Survivors also lost a combined $2.3 billion in income through the storm and accompanying tidal surge, which struck factories, swept away rice harvests, livestock and other valuable tools of production.

About $1 billion would be needed over three years to help affected communities and households meet their needs for food, livelihoods, housing, education, and other support services. An estimated 450,000 houses were destroyed and another 350,000 damaged; more than 4,000 schools decimated, and about 75 percent of local health facilities wrecked."

"Children of poor families living in slums in New Delhi have managed to break the exclusivity of education enforced by private schools. According to state legislation all schools that have been built on land given by the state at nominal rates must reserve 10 percent of their seats for poor families.

One of the biggest hurdles for poor parents in claiming reserved seats for their children is getting a government certificate, stating that their annual incomes are below a hundred thousand Indian rupees. The local government office meant to provide income certificates more often fails to respond to poor families."

"Thai exports surged 27.4% year-on-year to a record $16.268 billion in June, pushing first-half export growth to 23.1%, thanks largely to greater shipments of agricultural and food products. The country's exports still managed to see healthy growth despite high oil prices, the US sub-prime mortgage crisis and slowing global economic growth.

Export growth was partially driven by greater contributions from new markets such as Indochina, the Middle East, and Africa, which produced growth of 40-50%. The country had a trade deficit of $1.067 billion for the first half compared with a trade surplus of $4.78 billion in the first half of 2007."

"Women coughing in their sleep is hardly new in Bangladesh, particularly in rural areas, where women spend more than half their working day in the kitchen cooking food with solid fuels such as wood, dung and agricultural waste, say health experts. Typically, the cramped rooms where the cooking is done have little or no ventilation, and the women wear no mask to protect their lungs from the resulting smoke and soot.

The smoke often contains significant quantities of pollutants, generating carbon monoxide, airborne particles, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen oxides, and can be toxic or carcinogenic. Toddlers suffer more as they are often tied to their mothers while they work. As a result, they inhale the same pollutants that their mothers do. Their tender lungs and growing bodies are more susceptible to harmful pollutants than adults, health experts say."

"The recent flow from Nepal of not only common workers who seek any job but also well-educated youth who vie for foreign employment is the consequence of many factors. Advanced communication facilities providing quick and reliable information help professionals around the world to grab any job opportunities. The question of making migration safe is thus more relevant with regard to so-called low-paid job seekers who very often are made victims by agents.

Making safe migration depends upon many things. One of them is awareness among workers about possible risks associated with their employment. They must know that their preferred labor destination is not a prohibited place for them to pursue their employment. Moreover advance information about the labor contract can serve as a safety valve for them not to be cheated by their prospective employers."

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