Before 2008, there were two standards for poverty-relief projects in China. In 1986, the absolute poverty line was set at income of 206 yuan ($32.70) per annum. The level was raised to 785 yuan in 2007. The same year saw the annual net income standard of 865 yuan, originally set in 2000 for those on low incomes, rising to 1,067 yuan. However, in 2008, 1,067 yuan became the standard for poverty alleviation across the board.

The US government, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), announced an initial obligation of $9 million to support the Bangladesh Climate Cha-nge Resilience Fund.
The total US grant to the fund is $13 million over four years, as announced by US Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, during her recent visit to Bangladesh.
The announcement, made at the Ministry of Environment and Forests today, marks the second grant agreement between USAID and the World Bank in Bangladesh that pools US funds with those of other development partners.

In an otherwise ‘electricity surplus’ Gujarat, the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, on Thursday announced a partnership with the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) for providing solar stoves and lanterns to its two lakh rural women members in the State.

For this, IFC will provide a partial credit guarantee for a $5-million (about Rs 250 crore) loan that ICICI Bank is providing to SEWA-sponsored Grassroots Trading Network for Women (GTNW).

AHMEDABAD: International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, is helping Ahmedabad-based Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA) provide energy-efficient cook stoves and solar lanters to its members. IFC will provide a partial credit guarantee for a $5 million loan that an Indian private sector bank is providing to SEWA-sponsored Grassroots Trading Network for Women.

Under the initiative, women from various villages in Gujarat will be provided a loan to buy the combination of stove and lantern, at Rs 2,800 and Rs 1,800 respectively.

Many projects in the country may be languishing because of land acquisition problems but the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation (DFCC) has over the past three years acquired 70 per cent of the 10,000 hectares it requires to construct exclusive railway lines for goods traffic. The area acquired is more than half as large as the 18,500-hectare Kolkata metropolitan city.

The World Bank has agreed to provide US$ 314 million (approximately 37 billion rupees) for Sri Lanka to develop education and urban development sectors in order to meet new challenges of the 21st century, the Ministry of Financial and Planning said.

The government has requested the World Bank for funds to expedite development programs which have already been formulated in the education and urban development sectors with foreign assistance.

Indonesia's progress in reforming its forestry sector will not be sufficient to meet its pledge to reduce carbon emissions by 26 percent by 2020, Norway's environment minister said on Tuesday.

Indonesia imposed a two-year moratorium on clearing forest last May under a $1 billion climate deal with Norway aimed at reducing emissions from deforestation, despite resistance from some government departments and from resource firms looking to expand in the archipelago.

KOLKATA, 22 MAY: State panchayat and rural development minister Subrata Mukherjee today asked all zilla sabhadhipatis and district magistrates to submit a detailed project report (DPR) for at least 5,000 km of roads across the state under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) by 14 June 2012.
Mr Mukherjee today held a series of meetings with elected representatives, district magistrates and engineers to ensure that the reports are submitted within the given deadline.

Dhaka: The adaptation costs from the increased risks of cyclones and inland monsoon floods in a changing climate in Bangladesh will be approximately US$5.7 billion by 2050, says a new World Bank report.

The Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) on Monday signed a contract with the Council of Scientific Industrial Research–National Geophysical Research Institute (CSIR-NGRI) to implement a pilot project on using advanced geophysical techniques to map shallow and deep aquifers. The project is being implemented under World Bank-funded hydrology project and would be implemented in Bihar, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over a period of 15 months. The total project cost is about Rs 44.39 crore, out of which the CGWB component is about Rs 16.98 crore and NGRI's is about Rs.