The microfinance industry in India is in the midst of the most severe crisis in its 25 year history. The genesis of the crisis lies with the actions taken by the government of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh in October 2010, when it passed legislation effectively shutting down all private sector microfinance institutions (“MFIs”) operating in the state.

This paper examines economy-wide impacts of expansion of biodiesel production to meet the blending target using a computable general equilibrium model. Assesses impacts of biodiesel expansion on household welfare, other sectors of the economy, carbon emissions, rural development, and employment generation.

Strengthening Rural Livelihoods provides a useful and balanced review of the infl uence that mobile phones and the Internet can have on supporting the livelihoods of rural people, and particularly farmers in Asia.

The Government of India through “Ministry for the Development of North-Eastern Region” (DoNER) has initiated the “North East Rural Livelihoods Project” for four north-eastern States (Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura) of India.

Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (MDONER) has taken up the North East Rural Livelihood Project (NERLP) with the support of the World Bank in the States of Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura to assist the rural poor and vulnerable groups including women in improving their livelihood.

The ‘Environmental Knowledge for Disaster Risk Management (ekDRM)’ project aims at capacity development in disaster risk management by advancing environmental knowledge, particularly the use of statistics and space technology including remote sensing & GIS for decision support systems (DSS); spatial planning for Na-tech disasters within the