up environment policy: Voicing concerns over rising pollution levels, the Uttar Pradesh Government is formulating a new environment policy, as per Supreme Court recommendations. This is to be enforced by the end of 2005. Ujjawal Raman, minister, environment department said that the levels of air, noise and water pollution in Lucknow were very high and the government was concerned about it.

wb funds pakistan: The World Bank (WB) has agreed to create the world's biggest us $500 million social fund in Pakistan in 2008. This would help alleviate widespread poverty in the country and focus on expansion of health and education programmes. WB's ongoing us $230 million poverty-related programme, carried on by the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF), ends in 2008. The Bank had first offered US $90 million to the PPAF, increased it to US $230 million by the second programme, and for the third programme US $500 million have been indicated.

hiv-aids food crises: A new study by the Benin- based System-Wide Initiative for HIV/AIDS and Agriculture (SWIHA) has warned that up to 70 per cent of the farmed lands in some African countries are going uncultivated, with 80 per cent drop in farm labour because of deaths due to HIV/AIDS. Around 80 per cent of Africans depend on agriculture for their livelihood. But now they have been forced to sell or desert large tracts of arable land to deal with health effects, medical costs and deaths caused by HIV/AIDS.