"A big part of India's strategy to combat inflation this year hinges on expectations of a bumper harvest of its autumn crop, which depends mostly on rain. Predicting it is very tricky. More importantly, the distribution of rainfall has been highly uneven this year, with northwest India currently running a 27 percent surplus and southern India looking vulnerable with a 20 percent deficiency.

The Reserve Bank of India's monetary-policy statement last week made six references to monsoon rains, compared with just one for the troubled US subprime mortgage market. That's an indication of the importance that policy makers attach to seasonal rainfall, hardly surprising in a country where little of the arable farmland has access to man-made irrigation facilities. The problem with India's irrigation strategy is its undue obsession with large dams and canals. India can lessen the risk to the economy from monsoon failures by thinking small."

"China has issued revised regulations on the management of foreign exchange that provide heavy penalties for improper currency transfer and conversion, among other moves. The revised regulations took effect immediately. They are intended as a response to the swift growth in the country's foreign reserves, which have soared to $1.8 trillion, and rising cross-border flows.

Departments were given the right to crack down on illegal foreign exchange inflows, illegal exchange settlement and other improper activities. The regulation also said that the currency, Renminbi yuan, should be traded among government-approved banks."

"More than half a million Filipino families did not have anything to eat for at least a day in June 2008, results of the latest Pulse Asia survey revealed. The survey also found that more Filipino households had been cutting back on food consumption and expenditures in the face of double-digit inflation rates for food.

Reduced food consumption or spending is more widespread in areas outside Metro Manila. Also, about half of Filipino families said they also had reduced electric consumption, while about a third said that they had reduced their expenditures on transportation and transport fuel, and on liquefied petroleum gas."

"Three-year-old Wahid is one of 226 young children who live in Afghanistan's prisons. These children have committed no crime. But their mothers have decided prison is the best option for them in a poor, war-torn country where a safe, comfortable home is a rarity. In the outside world, these children would be social outcasts because their mothers are prisoners and many of them were accused by their own families of adultery or murder.

Many prisoners fear their children would be beaten or even killed by vengeful enemies or relatives, or that greedy family members would marry off their daughters to reap a bride price that often amounts to hundreds of dollars -- a fortune in Afghanistan. In prison, the children have access to some education, medical treatment and free items distributed by aid groups -- which is more than the average Afghan child gets."

"Bangladesh has formally made proposals to neighboring Bhutan and India to import hydroelectricity from the Himalayan country. India has investments in power plants in Bhutan. The energy ministers of the SAARC member countries have agreed in principle to set up an energy ring to facilitate trade on power and address the electricity supply shortfall in this region.

Currently, only India has electricity connectivity with two SAARC member countries -- Nepal and Bhutan. Bhutan has huge hydroelectric potentials and the Indian territory needs to be utilized to get transmission of electricity from the Himalayan country. Bangladesh is also keen to resume negotiations on the proposed tri-nation gas pipeline to carry Myanmar gas to India through Bangladesh territory."

"Deregulation in Indonesian higher education with the establishment of state universities as state-owned legal entities (BHMN), in which funding policy is based on merit and achievements, has impacted significantly on the role of Indonesian scholars. New teaching and research funding, coupled with regime change and social trends in democratic transition, have turned Indonesian intellectuals, who once believed they were 'independent professionals', into 'managed professionals' -- leading to new tensions and some alienation.

Under the new regulatory framework, in which academics are expected to be more entrepreneurial, many whose sources of funding are largely from government or institutions backed by political elites tend not to criticize their 'masters' because this may mean risks to the continuation of grant funding."

"Pakistan's economic managers and policy gurus realize the importance of the growing services sector in the country. The services sector has indeed emerged as the main driver of economic growth in Pakistan -- as also in the rest of the world. Exceptional performance of the financial sector has helped the economy remain close to a high growth trajectory.

However, despite the phenomenal growth of the services sector, the country's current account deficit widened to $11.6bn during July-April FY08 against $6.6bn in the comparable period of FY07. Relatively high import growth and a decline in export of services contributed to this deterioration. However, the strong growth in current transfers on the back of impressive growth in remittances almost entirely offset the deficit in the services and income account thereby leaving the trade deficit as the fundamental source of expansion in the current account deficit."

"Ho Chi Minh City expects to see a trade boom with a new major container port scheduled for operation in May next year. The construction of the Saigon Central Container Port, with a capacity of handling 1.8 million TEU a year, is being accelerating in Hiep Phuoc industrial zone.

The $360 million project, covering 40 ha, will build in the first phase of 500m of quays capable to handle 1 million TEU. Another project to dredge the Soai Rap river is expected to enable the port to receive 50,000-70,000-ton cargo ships."

"Increase of global food prices and the added inflationary situation in Sri Lanka are expected to affect dietary quality and the micro nutrient requirements of people and may aggravate the current levels of malnutrition. According to the latest statistics, current levels of anemia and malnutrition of mothers is 30%.

Under-weight among children is at 22% while stunting among the children is at 18%. Under-weight and stunting means chronic malnutrition among children under the five years of age. UNICEF says that although the latest statistics indicate a slight improvement since the last survey in 2000, the lack of significant improvement since the 1970s underscored the ineffectiveness of some nutrition programs."

"In the past six months, the value of industrial production in Vietnam has continued to grow but at lower rate than in previous years, especially the added value growth. This is attributed to high input and intermediary costs and heavy dependence on imported raw materials such as crude oil.

According to the government, it is necessary to reduce production costs by cutting down on the amount of materials consumed. This means that it is important to upgrade equipment and technologies gradually in order to reduce the average consumption of materials. Currently, the government is looking to speed up agricultural production restructuring by focusing on highly added value projects and limiting projects to exploit and consume raw materials."

"Wind power in India accounts for a mere 1.6% of total power generated in the country despite a high capacity and investment in wind energy. Current policies and incentive structures are to be blamed for this dismal performance, as they are not linked to generation of power.

In India, under the renewable portfolio standard (RPS), utilities have to purchase a certain proportion of their energy from green sources like wind. However, there is a lack of information on RPS use in different states, lack of penalty provisions if utilities do not meet the compulsory green quota, and even low or non-existent green energy quotas set by some states."

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