The New York Times carried a Saturday profile of Ela Bhatt and the remarkable organization she founded thirty-five years ago, SEWA. Here is an excerpt:

Mrs. Bhatt’s Gandhian approach is most evident in the way she lives. Her two-bedroom bungalow is small…

• Health:
  • At a pharmaceutical advisory forum, the Minister for Chemical and Fertilisers announced that India will reduce the cost of medicine by almost 5 percent and develop injections for live threatening infections.
  • Worried about the growing trend of obesity amongst children in…

A recent article on www.sramanamitra.com postulates that SKS Microfinance, which offers “several microfinance options to the poor in India for a variety of businesses from agriculture and livestock purchase to basket weaving and photography,” and has to date “provided over $550 million…

Recently, the NYTimes featured an article entitled, “Can the Cellphone Help End Global Poverty?”, in which it highlighted a new wave of “human behaviour” research funded by cellphone companies such as Nokia in order to tap into less developed markets.…

NYU Stern professor and former WSJ editor Tunku Varadarajan, writes an interesting op-ed about the Washington Redskins Cheerleading squad which just landed in Bangalore to select and train cheerleaders for the local cricket team, Bangalore Royal Challengers [via NY Times]:

According…

According to story today on Business Standard, M-Cril, the credit rating agency is launching a platform called ‘Capital Connect’ which will enable MFIs and social enterprises to access capital from investors looking to make investments in this space. This is…

According to the International Energy Agency, India’s energy needs – fueled by 8% annual economic growth – are projected to double by the year 2030.  Moreover, India is expected to become the biggest net importer of oil by the year 2025, after the United States…

Editor’s note: The following post is from Siksha.org’s blog (you can read more of their posts here), a peer to peer underwriter of annual, renewable, need-based scholarships and loans. Two of the co-founders Neil Patel and Kushal Chakrabarti have come to…

Weekend headlines for your leisurely perusal:

• Inflation rates in India rose to a 13 month high of 6.7% for the week ending on March 15th.  Economists predict a sharp rise in prices of food and energy following.  In response, Congress leader Rahul…

• A new United Nations report, Redefining AIDS in Asia: Crafting an Effective Response, was just released and makes an astonishing prediction: 500,000 peaple could die each year people due to AIDS-related illnesses by 2020. (Source: PSD Blog)
• Another UN report focuses…