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The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are urging China to focus on controlling risks from rapidly rising debt due to its reliance on credit-fuelled growth. The comments add to warnings by private sector analysts that China’s run-up in debt, especially since the 2008 global crisis, could lead to financial problems and disrupt economic growth that already is slowing. In a report Friday, the World Bank said Beijing should pay close attention to rising credit, especially in its largely unregulated informal lending market, and reduce debts owed by local governments. “These policy measures will improve the quality of China’s growth, making it more balanced, inclusive and sustainable,” said Karlis Smits, the report’s chief author, in a statement. That came after an IMF official said Thursday that financial vulnerabilities have risen to a point where “containing them should be a priority.” Rising debts owed by local governments and uncertainty about informal lending ha...

in spite of having immediate access to a large body of knowledge, Indians are largely consumers rather than producers of knowledge The higher education sector in India cries out for reform. The public have flagged issues ranging from the politicisation of public institutions, a perceived lack of regulation of faculty and the desirability of creating knowledge as opposed to disseminating it. Some of these issues fall within the domain of governance; others under the ambit of regulation. As the institutions concerned vary in terms of scope and intent, it would make little sense to specify one governance structure and mechanism for all. However, there is only one regulatory body for India’s universities, the University Grants Commission (UGC). This makes it relevant to make proposals that can be implemented via this body. Actually, a form of regulation of the faculty does exist: college lecturers are required to teach for around 16 hours a week. This must amount to at least three ...

The future should not be held hostage to the past. Telangana, India’s 29th State, comes into being today after a long and bitter struggle that was marked by much avoidable pain and suffering. But rather than dwell on the issues of the past, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have the opportunity to work out their future as neighbours held together by a sense of shared political and cultural history. True, in sharp contrast to the celebratory mood in Telangana, the people on the other side of the new dividing line remain wary of the immediate and lasting consequences of the bifurcation. However, the occasion of the birth of Telangana must serve as an opportunity to tackle the outstanding issues between the two States within the framework provided by the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014. Hyderabad will remain a joint capital for ten years, a period long enough to allow for reinvestment and resettlement. Allocation of employees, management of water resources and sharing of power are co...

ePMS to facilitate review and fast-track projects Government officials in the State can now keep tabs on the progress of projects in the public and private sectors and speedily resolve prickly issues that impede timely completion. The Central Cabinet Secretariat has deployed an online project management system named ePMS to facilitate, review, and fast-track projects in Kerala with investment from Rs.100 crore to Rs.1,000 crore. The institutional mechanism is designed on the lines of eCCI, a system used by the Cabinet Committee on Investment to help track and pursue stalled investment projects and remove bottlenecks to ensure that they are completed on time. Developed using open source technology, the portal integrates the services of various departments. ePMS can be used to submit a new project, update and review a project, and highlight the bottlenecks. It can assist in preparing the agenda and minutes of meetings and analytical reports. The portal generates automatic notifications ...

AP Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Investment Forum on Friday. Russia will respect the outcome of Ukraine’s presidential election, President Vladimir Putin said on Friday.

The High Court of Karnataka on Thursday declared as “unconstitutional and invalid” the University Grants Commission (Institutions Deemed to be Universities) Regulation 2010 pertaining to governance system, admission and fee structure and opening of campuses of deemed-to-be universities in the country.

Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi’s surprise invitation to the leaders of India’s neighbours to attend his swearing-in ceremony on May 26 has the makings of a shock and awe tactic with three messages: the first to Pakistan, the second to the region and the third for domestic consumption. While dressed up as an outreach to all  SAARC leaders , the invitation was clearly meant primarily for  Prime Minister Nawaz

With 7,79,000 deaths, India has the highest newborn mortality in the world Possible:Seventy-one per cent of newborn deaths can be prevented through interventions before conception, and before, during and after pregnancy.— photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy Globally, about 5.5 million babies — nearly three million neonates and about 2.6 million stillbirths — die every year. In other words, every day, about 8,000 neonates are dying and the number of stillbirths is about 7,000. Stillbirths happen at about 28 weeks of gestation and also during labour. Babies who die during labour — just five minutes before birth — account for nearly half of all stillbirths.

Bhutan set to become world’s first wholly organic country Bhutan could within a decade become the first country in the world to go wholly organic in its food production, according to key politicians in the Himalayan kingdom. Agriculture and Forests Minister Lyonpo Yeshey Dorji and Opposition leader Pema Gyamtsho, who held the post in the previous

Implanted devices that can wrap around tissues Researchers have created electronic devices that become soft when implanted inside the body and can grip 3-D objects, such as large tissues, nerves and blood vessels. Scientists from The University of Texas at Dallas and the University of Tokyo said the biologically adaptive, flexible transistors might one day help doctors learn more about what is happening inside the body, and stimulate the body for

Dear Prime Minister-designate, This comes with my hearty felicitations. I mean and say that in utter sincerity, which is not very easy for me to summon, because I am not one of those who wanted to see you reach the high office that you have reached. You know better than anyone else, that while many millions are ecstatic that you will become Prime Minister, many more millions may, in fact, be disturbed, greatly disturbed by it.

The election results are emphatic. There are no grey areas in the way in which the people of the largest democracy have expressed themselves. There were no ambiguities. India witnesses yet another change in regime: a change in which there will be no real and vocal opposition in Parliament. This is not a new

   Residents and technicians look at the bones of the dinosaur, which palaeontologists say is the largest set of remains of the extinct animal ever found to date.Photo: Reuters Palaeontologists in Argentina’s remote Patagonia region have discovered fossils of what was likely the largest dinosaur ever to roam the earth. The creature is believed to be a new species of Titanosaur, a long-necked, long-tailed sauropod that walked on four legs and lived some 95 million years ago in the Cretaceous Period. The dinosaur “weighed the equivalent of more than 14 African elephants” or about 100 tonnes, said Jose Luis Carballido, a palaeontologist at the Egidio Feruglio Museum in the southern Argentine city of Trelew. “This is a true paleontological treasure,” Mr. Carballido said in a statement on Friday on the museum website.

Unmistakably, the rationale behind the creation of a separate state of Telangana has been a dominant factor in shaping the outcome of the just-concluded simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the State Assembly in Andhra Pradesh. Both in the flamboyant comeback of Telugu Desam Party (TDP)

Yet many women lag behind men when it comes to using assets to plan and build financial security.... Women are a growing economic force and expected to add about $6 trillion in earned income globally over next five years according to the research by the Boston Consulting Group. Yet many women lag behind men when it comes to using those assets to plan and build financial security. This phenomenon is termed as “the female financial paradox”. In Delhi, many women see financial planning as a way to protect themselves against the unexpected. The problem with concentrating savings in lower risk assets like cash is that money will not grow fast enough to help fund retirement and other long-term goals. One area where women need help is to learn — how and where to invest. However, the stock market and women still seem poles apart. Why does financial literacy and stock market appear so dull on the women front?