Thursday, March 12, 2015

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Port Louis (Mauritius): PM Narendra Modi paid homage to aapravasis at ‘Aapravasi Ghat’ earlier today
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Indian Reform Programme on 23 March 2015 in CPR

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Dear Friends and Colleagues,

It gives us great pleasure to invite you to a workshop on March 23, 2015, at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR), co-hosted by South Africa’s Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE) and CPR.

Venue: CPR’s conference room; Dharma Marg, Chanakyapuri; New Delhi – 110021

Time: 10:00 – 13:00

The topic is “The Democratic Alternative from the South” with a focus on the recent economic reforms in India under the National Democratic Alliance government.

According to a recently published report The Democratic Alternative from the South, written by CDE’s Ann Bernstein, India, Brazil and South Africa have the potential to deliver high levels of inclusive growth if they implement reforms in four crucial areas. The areas are:
·       strengthening and increasing the transparency and accountability of democratic representation, institutions and processes;
·       launching a second wave of market reforms to address macroeconomic discipline, micro-economic reforms to reduce the costs of doing business, deregulation to reduce opportunities for corruption as well as accelerating growth;
·       strengthening the competence and capacity of government as the vital facilitator of growth, employment, infrastructure, and human capital development;
·       reforming policies that expand opportunities for the poor and disadvantaged.

India, under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, has initiated a major reform programme. To what extent does the Indian reform programme coincide with the four areas identified and what progress has been made with respect to these areas?

There will be a series of presentations, starting with Ann Bernstein outlining the core findings from the report, and followed by eminent Indian experts who will discuss the direction and progress of Indian reforms. The presenters are:  
1.     Ann Bernstein: Executive Director of CDE, South Africa’s leading development think tank
2.     M. V. Rajeev Gowda, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha (Upper House), of the Congress party
3.     Narendra Jadhav, former Member of the Planning Commission (rank of Minister of State), distinguished economist and former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Pune
The meeting will be chaired by Rajiv Kumar, Senior Fellow at CPR.
We look forward to your presence and participation at this workshop.
RSVP
Pranika Khurana
+919811162361
Yours Sincerely,
Rajiv Kumar                                                 Ann Bernstein
Senior Fellow, CPR                                     Executive Director, CDE
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Talk: BP Energy Outlook 2035, 18 March 2015
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Dr. Kaushik Deb
Talk: BP Energy Outlook 2035
18 March 2015 at 12:30 p.m. (accompanied by lunch)
Centre for Policy Research, Dharma Marg, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi
Above: Thermal power station in Suratgarh, Rajasthan, via wikipedia.
Abstract: The annual Energy Outlook reflects British Petroleum’s best effort to describe a “most likely” trajectory of the global energy system, based on our views of likely economic and population growth, as well as developments in policy and technology. The 2015 edition of the Outlook raises some big questions: Which fuels will gain and lose global market share? What is the outlook for US tight oil and shale gas supply, and what will the US energy renaissance of recent years mean for global markets into the future? What changes are likely for China (the world’s biggest energy consumer)? What are the implications for CO2 emissions? And, with the oil price in the spotlight, what are the forces that will influence energy prices over the decades to come?
Kaushik Deb is an economist at British Petroleum in India. His research interests lie in policy corrections for market failures within the context of economic liberalization. Before BP, Kaushik was a Director at IDFC. He holds a D.Sc. in Applied Economics from ETH, Zurich and an MA in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics.
Please RSVP to climate.initiative.cpr@gmail.com so we can order the appropriate number of lunches.

Indonesian house for sale comes with wife

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A two-bedroom house in Indonesia comes with a garage, a spacious backyard and…a wife. The unorthodox offer is the idea of a creative realtor, and the house’s owner, a 40-year-old widow, is happy to go along with the plan.
RT.COM
A two-bedroom house in Indonesia comes with a garage, a spacious backyard and…a wife. The unorthodox offer is the idea of a creative realtor, and the house’s owner, a 40-year-old widow, is happy to go along with the plan.
The house, located in Sleman, a suburb of the Javanese city of Yogyakarta is being sold for $76,000.
Real estate listing starts out like any other, The house’s owner, salon owner and mother of two Wina Lia, told AFP that she asked her friend—real estate agent Dian Purna Dirgantara —to help her find a buyer for the house and she hoped to find a husband in the process. Lia however did not expect him to put an ad online, but rather to pass on the news to a small circle of people.
“I told a friend of mine who also works as a property agent that if there is a buyer who is a single man or a widower who wants to buy a house, and at the same time look for a wife, he can let me know as I’m also a widow,” she said.
“My wish is to sell this house, but it would be great if I also meet my soul mate. The important thing is he should be single – never been married or a widower – mature and responsible,” she told another news outlet Indoberita.com.
The ad quickly went viral and triggered an onslaught of local media requests for interviews with Lia. She told AFP that police who found the listing suspicious have been asking questions.
The police “came to verify the news as they consider it as an improper advertisement. But I explained to them that it was not my idea,” she said.

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