Editor’s note: In addition to being informative, this post also outlines what IFMR Trust is looking for in potential hires. If you would like to see that immediately, go after the jump.

Before Thanksgiving break I had the pleasure of…

So living in New York City has made it damn near impossible to not be wrapped up in the minute by minute saga that is the US financial crisis. Moreover, the fact that here at Stern Business School, over 50%…

The composition of the microfinance sector is becoming increasingly hybridized, as microfinance institutions (MFIs) morph into profit-making entities, and global financial institutions such as Citigroup, Inc. or HSBC Holdings become (unintended) vectors of poverty alleviation (refer to “Global…

A thoroughly inspiring story reminding us that the most important examples of innovation occur where we least expect them to.

Farmers who visit Amai Mahalinga Naik’s two-acre plot on the hilltop near Adyanadka in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka return

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The agricultural sector employs 2/3 of India’s population, and contributes to 1/3 of its gross domestic product (GDP) – yet, Indian farmers in rural communities are plagued by debt, falling commodity prices, changing weather patterns, fluctuating demands in the global…

• Health:
  • At a pharmaceutical advisory forum, the Minister for Chemical and Fertilisers announced that India will reduce the cost of medicine by almost 5 percent and develop injections for live threatening infections.
  • Worried about the growing

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• A new United Nations report, Redefining AIDS in Asia: Crafting an Effective Response, was just released and makes an astonishing prediction: 500,000 peaple could die each year people due to AIDS-related illnesses by 2020. (Source:

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• How long does it take to discuss a deal involving nuclear technology? Apparently for US President Bush and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee just a little longer than an episode of Khanna Khazana.
• Protests against

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Two weeks ago I wrote about James Surowiecki’s article in the New Yorker that brought forward the inherent limitations of microfinance to actually generate a substantial number of jobs in a developing country. Since then…

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram announced a debt waiver in the amount of Rs. 600 billion for small farmers this past week. As per the proposal, farm loan cancellations will be offered to small farmers with less than 2 hectacres of…