In The News

In Teeming India, Water Crisis Means Dry Pipes and Foul Sludge

Somini Sengupta October 3, 2006
Some middle-class neighborhoods in India’s wealthiest cities have ample plumbing and the infrastructure for supplying water, but not the actual liquid itself. India’s major cities fail to provide reliable tap water throughout the day, and this article from “The New York Times” describes how some women devote entire days planning to secure extra water. In terms of industry and technology,...

Globalization Hits Road Bumps in India

Pranab Bardhan October 3, 2006
The economic integration of a country requires that it open to foreign investment, adhere to flexible labor laws and practice careful fiscal policies. In a country with severe poverty and economic inequality, however, such reforms do not win many votes for politicians. Well aware of this fact, India’s politicians play to what economist Pranab Bardhan calls “anti-reform populism.” Many voters...

The Never-Ending Myanmar Nightmare

Daniel Pepper September 30, 2006
The ruling military junta in Burma does not care what the world thinks about its rule. Though the junta pays no heed to outside pressure, some neighbors are intent on fostering relations or at least paying the government for permission to tap into its rich natural gas resources. While the Western countries largely shun the military regime, China and India stand ready to pay up to $17 billion...

Musharraf Denies Helping Al Qaeda

Kim Sengupta September 29, 2006
General Pervez Musharraf is furious over the leak of a report by a British Ministry of Defence think tank that suggests Pakistani intelligence forces colluded with Al Qaeda terrorists, including indirect support for extremists who targeted the UK. The report also described Pakistan, a state with nuclear weapons, as on “the edge of chaos.” UK Prime Minister Tony Blair assured the president that...

Coup Ousting Thailand's Premier Tests Democracy in Key US Ally

James Hookway September 20, 2006
Tanks moved in and took command of the Bangkok and its government offices – while the prime minister was in New York for a meeting at the United Nations, reports “The Wall Street Journal.” The coup could challenge the candidacy of Thai Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai, the sole candidate approved by ASEAN member countries for the post of UN secretary-general, according to “The Korean...

On India’s Farms, a Plague of Suicide

Somini Sengupta September 19, 2006
More than 17,000 farmers in India committed suicide in 2003, and the government admits that, from all appearances, the despair continues to rise. Market-oriented economic reforms in recent years gave farmers access to global competition and genetically modified seeds that withstand extreme drought or pests. But the new seeds are costly, and lenders charge 5 percent monthly interest and take...

Civil War Returns to Sri Lanka

Rüdiger Falksohn August 31, 2006
For more than 20 years, the Tamil Tigers have fought to establish their own state in Sri Lanka. Representing about 18 percent of the small island’s population, the largely Hindu group suffered persecution for years before signing a treaty with the Sri Lankan government in 2002. Not long after the December 2004 tsunami, brutal ethnic violence broke out with assassinations and bombings of schools...