Author Archive

Health care is still a privilege in Nepal. Limited infrastructure and economic and social constraints combined with a lack of awareness force thousands of needy people to forego care. According to the World Bank, the country spends only 5.5% (up just 0.3% from 2007) of GDP on health care. Infectious diseases are […]

Managing forests and conserving biodiversity is challenging for a  developing nation; and democracy does not guarantee success. Peter Burnell even questions the assumption that democracies are better for sustainability: “Conventional wisdom maintains that democracies are better for environmentally sustainable development than non-democracies. But that conventional wisdom needs to be qualified: First, the “established” […]

As part of our  coverage on “The New City” we asked our bloggers for some pictures from their cities. Are there any places in their cities that are prime examples for sustainable urban living? But it could also be a negative example in order to show how a city should not […]

Last month, Maria Farooq discussed how the information revolution can be hijacked and used for unsavoury purposes. Yet it’s not only terrorists and criminals that take advantage of technology, some governments too are  unfortunately also intent on subverting the revolution. The specter of censorship is a favourite discussion topic in online […]

According to the  CIA World Factbook unemployment in Nepal stands at 46% (2008 est.), up from 42% (2004 est.).  Some recent estimates put it at around 40% – a staggering statistic to comprehend- almost half the working age population is unemployed. Nepal’s job crisis is largely due to a near continuous […]