"India has millions of graduates, but by international standards, many are not employable. The country has the capability to cross the economic threshold, but only with the right kind of focus and inspiration. For this to happen, we must focus on the 70 percent population in rural India where educational infrastructure is abysmal.

Compulsory education can work but one needs to provide economic development in rural villages before enforcing it. Vibrant economic activity is needed that translates into jobs for educated youth. We need a complete business plan for every region. Private education has raised standards. But why will anybody open a private school in a village where no one can pay? That's why companies should invest more in education. It will pay off in the next 10 or 12 years."

"The Uzbek government's claimed grain harvest for this year looks doubtful due to a shortage of water. The wheat types grown in Uzbekistan are mostly for animal fodder and are unsuitable for making high-quality bread. The wheat grown on artificially irrigated land, in particular, is high-yield but low-quality, and needs to be blended with imported flour even to make what is called 'social (welfare) bread,' which is cheaper than the standard flat bread.

Production of food-quality wheat is hampered by the fact that agriculture is geared towards the cash-crop cotton, which brings in 70 per cent of foreign-currency earnings. The bulk of arable land is used to grow cotton. Water is another constraining factor for wheat production, since most of the river water used for irrigation goes to cotton plantations."

"The number of 'micro-borrowers' worldwide increased by 17 percent in 2006, benefiting both communities and the environment. The 17 percent increase seen in 2006, the latest year for which data is available, continued a trend of double-digit growth that averaged some 29 percent annually between 2001 and 2006.

The sudden and significant success of microfinance is increasing pressure on many microfinance institutions to become more commercially oriented in their operations. Women are the most common benefactors of microfinance programs, accounting for 98 percent of borrowers in Asia. As the birthplace of microfinance, Asia leads the world with 113 million borrowers, or roughly 85 percent of the global total."

"Textbooks that have been around for 30 or 50 years are still being used in teaching in Viet Nam. At the Hanoi University of Technology's library, textbooks published before 1980 account for 30 percent of total textbooks and document items. Some 20 percent of textbooks and reference documents were published in the period between 1980 and 1990. This means that more than half of the textbooks in the library of the leading technology university in Vietnam are outdated.

Students of new education facilities in Viet Nam are facing big difficulties as they do not have textbooks for reference. University lecturers now are required to compile electronic lesson plans and lectures themselves. This helps avoid the aging process of written documents, while allows a high level of information updating. However, only 30 percent of university lecturers can compile electronic lectures."

"To address the challenges that globalization and ASEAN regionalization present needs a coherent approach and active cooperation among all member economies, as well as between the private sector and governments. From the private sector's point of view, businesses must reform themselves to meet the high standards of good governance and international business practices.

The governments, on the other hand, must be committed to implementing ongoing initiatives toward regional integration and harmonization, and creating a single market and production base. Governments need to do this by providing a regulatory environment and business infrastructure that are conducive and supportive, allowing the performance of the region's private sector to reach its potential."

"Inflation has risen sharply, like a summer typhoon, and is now the key development shaping the economic outlook for Asia, supplanting earlier concerns about the impact of slower US growth. This has greatly complicated the job of policy makers in the region. The previous conditions of low inflation, strong growth and rising currencies have been replaced by high inflation, slower growth and weakening currencies.

About 80 percent of the increase in Asian inflation since January last year can be attributed to food and energy. However, the tightening of demand conditions across the region, with most countries now estimated to run positive output gaps, has contributed to the upsurge in inflation. Core inflation has picked up as well, running at nearly twice the average rate over the past decade. The rise in food price inflation also appears to partly reflect domestic demand conditions."

"There is no sign of a massive cutback in consumer spending that could make a dent on the GDP. The upwardly mobile urbanites in Shanghai and most other major cities are taking home incomes that are, on average, rising considerably faster than inflation. But what these city-dwellers worry about is not so much an immediate erosion of living standards, as faced by many urban poor, but rather a nagging concern about the longer-term impact that surging global inflation may have on the country's increasingly internationalized economy.

To many white-collar workers with a monthly salary ranging from 5,000 to 7,000 yuan ($1,030), the continuous increase of food prices is weighing heavily in their minds, making them feel obliged to change their free-spending lifestyle. In the first half of this year, the average disposable personal income in urban areas hit 8,065 yuan. After adjusting for inflation, it increased by 6.3 percent from a year earlier."

"In the 1990s, analysts predicted the trend of foreign electronic corporations teaming up with local partners on manufacturing projects would not last in Viet Nam. The forecast has proven true, with Sony Vietnam deciding to close its factory in September after 14 years of operation. Sony's manufacturing operations will be replaced by a trading business.

Local electronics firms say the move is inevitable considering that from next year, Vietnam will allow foreign-invested businesses to import products to sell locally. Until now, only Vietnamese businesses have been authorized to distribute foreign products. The opening up of the retail and distribution markets, coupled with lower import taxes, may make it more profitable for foreign-invested companies to import goods than to manufacture them locally."

"Indian schools may soon use blogs, community radio, graphing calculators, global positioning system devices and digital microscopes as part of their curricula. Blogs are powerful tools to support creative writing that can be published and shared with teachers and peers. To improve rural access, the draft recommendations also press for the creation of localized content to be accessed on the web.

The recommendations suggest Internet access for all the schools and better technical infrastructure. Even though computers have been introduced in schools in India, the education system has largely not been influenced by the IT revolution."

"More than half the population in Ovorhangay, Mongolia, depends on herding for their daily living. A project will help establish or rehabilitate 60 water points in 10 districts over a three-year period. The resources will be managed by 60 herd-management groups that will receive technical and legal support in developing and overseeing pasture and well management plans.

The new and rehabilitated water points are expected to increase land available for grazing by 168,000 hectares, benefiting 900 nomadic herding families. The project will also support improved livestock production and alternative livelihoods through one-stop agricultural and social service extension centers expected to serve 100 nomadic herding groups and help them to raise their income by at least 15% over the life of the project."

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