ISLAMABAD: As many as 1.6 billion of the world’s 2bn informal economy workers are affected by Covid-19 lockdown and containment measures, a new briefing paper issued by the International Labour Organi­sation (ILO) said.

Most are working in the hardest-hit sectors or in small units more vulnerable to shocks including workers in accommodation and food services, manufacturing, wholesale and retail, and the more than 500 million farmers producing for the urban market, the report says. Women are particularly affected in high-risk sectors, it adds.

The Covid-19 lockdown and containment measures threaten to increase relative poverty levels among the world’s informal economy workers by as much as 56 percentage points in low-income countries.

In high-income countries, relative poverty levels among informal workers is estimated to increase by 52 percentage points, while in upper middle-income countries the increase is estimated to be 21 percentage points.

In addition, with these workers needing to work to feed their families, Covid-19 containment measures in many countries cannot be implemented successfully. This is endangering governments’ efforts to protect the population and fight the pandemic. It may become a source of social tension in countries with large informal economies, the report says.

More than 75 per cent of total informal employment takes place in businesses of fewer than ten workers, including 45pc of independent workers without employees.

With most informal workers having no other means of support, they face an almost unsolvable dilemma: to die from hunger or from the virus, the briefing says. This has been exacerbated by disruptions in food supplies, which has particularly affected those in the informal economy.

For the world’s 67 million domestic workers, 75pc of whom are informal workers, unemployment has become as threatening as the virus itself. Many have not been able to work, whether at the request of their employers or in compliance with lockdowns. Those who do continue to go to work face a high risk of contagion, caring for families in private households. For the 11 million migrant domestic workers the situation is even worse.

The countries with the largest informal economies, where full lockdowns have been adopted, are suffering the most from the consequences of the pandemic. Informal economy workers significantly impacted by lockdown vary from 89pc in Latin America and the Arab states to 83pc in Africa, 73pc in Asia and the Pacific, and 64pc in Europe and Central Asia.

Countries need to follow a multi-track strategy that combines several lines of actions relating to both the health and economic impacts of the pandemic, the ILO said.

Among its recommendations, the report highlights the need for policies that reduce the exposure of informal workers to the virus; ensure that those infected have access to health care; provide income and food support to individuals and their families; and prevent damage to the economic fabric of countries.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2020

MUMBAI: Fourteen migrant labourers walking back to their villages after being left destitute by India’s strict coronavirus lockdown were killed on Friday after being hit by a train, officials said.

The men were returning home when they were hit by the goods train near Aurangabad, in the western state of Maharashtra, police official S.S. Sutale said.

They were among millions of migrant workers who have been left unemployed, officials said, after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a national lockdown in March, sparking an exodus from major cities.

Hours after the incident, the Indian rail ministry tweeted that the train driver applied the brakes after seeing the men, but was unable to stop the train in time.

Three others were injured and taken to hospital, the ministry said, announcing an inquiry.

State police official Vaibhav Kalumbarme said officers were investigating the accident as there were strict guidelines to prevent migrants accessing the railway tracks from stations.

“But it is impossible to monitor every inch of the tracks when they take shortcuts,” Kalumbarme said.

Although states announced special trains to return migrant labourers, many continue to walk long distances to reach their villages.

Local media reported some provinces were charging for the rail tickets, which most can’t afford.

The return home has proved deadly for several workers ever since the lockdown started.

A study conducted by the non-profit SaveLIFE Foundation said 140 were killed in car crashes across the country — with at least 42 of them migrant labourers travelling home.

“We have been running campaigns cautioning people not to walk on tracks and we are doing everything we can urgently to get them back to their families. This is a tragic incident,” Kalumbarme added.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2020

WASHINGTON: Some debts were not sustainable and needed to be restructured, re-profiled or written off, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in an interview recorded earlier this week.

In this interview to ITV News, Ms Georgieva also urged governments to spend more money on health workers to protect the most vulnerable.

“There is a possibility that in some cases debt simply is not sustainable and therefore some action has to be taken either to re-profile or restructure or in some cases write off this debt,” she said.

Although G20 countries have promised some debt relief, a transcript of the interview, released by the IMF headquarters in Washington, indicated that Ms Georgieva believed the crisis required them to go further.

Imran has argued that heavy debt burdens are preventing countries from focusing on the challenge of saving people from pandemic as well as hunger

Last month, Prime Minister Imran Khan appealed to the leaders of rich countries, the UN secretary general and heads of financial institutions to give debt relief to developing countries like Pakistan so that they could combat the deadly Covid-19 in a better way.

The prime minister argued that heavy debt burdens were preventing some countries from focusing on the real challenge of saving their people from the deadly pandemic and hunger that extended lockdowns would trigger.

The IMF chief, while acknowledging the need to restructuring loans, also said the first priority was to combat the disease that has already killed hundreds of thousands and infected several millions across the globe.

“The only thing we ask countries is please spend more money for your doctors and nurses — and please, please use the money to protect the most vulnerable,” she said.

The interviewer, Julie Etchingham, noted that loans usually came with conditions — such as tightening public spending — that were difficult to implement during the Covid-19 crisis.

Ms Georgieva said she was aware of the risks ahead for the IMF. “We are looking to the transparency and accountability in countries. They themselves are coming up with commitments to audit the use of the funds we provide, but there are no strings attached,” she said.

The IMF chief said that more than 100 countries had reached out to them for help to fight the pandemic and 50+ requests were swiftly approved for a total of about $18 billion.

Asked to assess the scale of the crisis facing the global economy, Ms Georgieva did not mince her words. “It is the worst crisis since the Great Depression. But it is more than that because it is a combination of a health crisis and an economic shock,” she said. “And it is truly global.”

The IMF now has about $1 trillion dollars lending capacity — four times more than in the last financial crisis.

The IMF approved $1.386 billion of assistance for Pakistan under the Rapid Financing Instrument to address the economic impact of the Covid-19 shock.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2020

The government of Pakistan has decided to bring back via special flights its students stuck in Wuhan, China, ground zero of the novel coronavirus.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis Zulfiqar Bukhari tweeted the development on Friday night, referring to those stranded there as "the bravest soldiers".

Pakistan International Airline (PIA) has been tasked to bring the first batch of Pakistanis – mostly students – beginning May 18, when around 250 individuals are expected to return.

Pakistanis who had been studying in Wuhan and other cities in the Chinese province of Hubei – first region in the world to be put under a strict lockdown on Jan 20 after being declared a virus epicenter – had appealed at the time to be evacuated.

Multiple requests for evacuation were made not only by the stranded students but also by their families back home. However, the government said it would not repatriate them immediately and would follow guidelines and processes put in place by China in this regard.

To allay the fears of the students and their families, the Foreign Office in February sent two of its officials from the Beijing embassy to Wuhan while the strict lockdown was still in place. The FO said the staffers were to remain in Wuhan till the lockdown ended and would meet students in different universities to get an update on their well-being and safety.

In March, President Arif Alvi and Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mahmood Qureshi visited China and interacted with Pakistani citizens there via video link.

Upon returning from the trip, both the foreign minister and President Alvi briefed the media and said that the students were in a good condition and had only requested that Pakistani food be provided to them.

On March 28, China began lifting the lockdown in Wuhan. By April 8, the restrictions were completely lifted and some of the the students celebrated by cooking themselves a meal.

CHANDIGARH/GURGAON: There is a ray of hope for real estate projects awaiting change of land use (CLU) licences from the state government. The department of town and country planning on Tuesday submitted a revised sub-regional plan to the NCR Planning Board (NCRPB). The builders, however, will have to wait till the board approves the revised plan. Last month, the Punjab and Haryana high court had barred the state government from issuing CLU licences to developers or government agencies in NCR because of the same reason. Earlier, the NCRPB had highlighted loopholes in Haryana’s draft of the sub-regional plan, but the government failed to incorporate the changes. After a rap from […]

Tribune News Service Chandigarh, February 21 Displaying the humanitarian side of law, the Punjab and Haryana High Court in a rare judgment has set aside a lower court order, though it was neither illegal, nor erroneous. Justice Rajiv Narain Raina made it clear that the judgment granting yet another opportunity to farmers to plead their case for a higher compensation for acquired land was being passed to “avoid miscarriage of justice”. The order came on a petition filed by Vijay Kumar and another petitioner against Haryana and other respondents. Their evidence in support of plea to enhance compensation awarded by the Land Acquisition Collector was turned down on the ground […]

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A language reclamation activist confronts linguistic imperialism and the dehumanisation of two South African first languages through digital inclusion advocacy.

The Chinese government policy of racial and religious profiling has forced young Uyghurs to leave China and remain in exile.

'Australia is “gum stuck to the bottom of China’s shoe”, huh? Ok, well, it’s time for Australia to rethink trade and other agreements with China if they don’t like criticism'

Stars who depend on China's lucrative market have to watch what they say. Ordinary netizens? Not so much.

In recent months, several Pakistani activists and bloggers living in Europe have claimed to have been targeted for speaking up against human rights violations in Pakistan.

The government has advised people to make homemade masks using capulanas – a traditional Mozambican cloth generally worn by women – and other readily available materials.

Gharavi, a security consultant, was among ten human rights defenders arrested in Turkey in July 2017 at an information management and well-being workshop.

Benin drops 17 places in the 2020 World Press Freedom Index, following the withdrawal from a key document of the African Charter of Human and People's Rights.

"I felt that they listened to what I was trying to say, and it shows that they do value democracy here in Taiwan."

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was hospitalized Tuesday with an infection caused by a gallstone, the Supreme Court said.

A unanimous Supreme Court on Thursday threw out the convictions of two political insiders involved in the “Bridgegate” scandal that ultimately derailed the 2016 presidential bid of then-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. The justices found evidence of deception, corruption and abuse of power in the scheme, but said “not every corrupt act by state or local officials is a federal crime.”

The Weld County GOP chairman has filed a complaint with the local district attorney and the Secretary of State’s Office accusing an aide to Republican U.S. Rep. Ken Buck and three others of election fraud and corruption.

ADB has approved a $100 million loan to help supply renewable energy to Mongolia by installing its first large-scale advanced battery energy storage system.

CHENNAI: As if land grab bids and ‘double documents’ are not menace enough for property owners/buyers, the state registration department shocked the Madras high court on Monday, saying it is difficult to issue encumbrance certificates without any fault. An encumbrance certificate (EC) is the basic document which reveals the current status of an immovable property. It is supposed to contain correct ownership details of a piece of property and inform the applicant whether it is encumbered or mortgaged in favour of a bank or any individual. However, responding to an anticipatory bail petition of a landowner who ended up purchasing another person’s property as the EC did not reflect latest […]

CHENNAI: City builder Ceebros has started pulling down the unfinished JW Marriott Hotel in the city, which it had bought from Hyderabad-based Viceroy Hotels for 480 crore last year. Viceroy group sold the property in MRC Nagar after completing the shell of the hotel because the hospitality sector in Chennai is going through a serious crisis with low occupancy in most five-star hotels. With more than half a dozen new star hotels being opened in the city in recent years, there is very high room inventory and hotels are struggling for business, say industry sources. Ceebros is pulling down the unfinished J W Marriott structure to redevelop it into a […]

Mumbai: During 1Q 2014, the Mumbai office markets witnessed a further decline in office space absorption indicating cautious occupier sentiment. This lack of demand can be attributed to a low level of IT/ITeS sector participation in the overall absorption, which is currently the primary demand generating sector across the cities. This quarter only about 0.42 million sq ft of Grade A office space was leased with a few mid-sized deals concluded in Central and Western Suburbs, and Navi Mumbai. Construction activities remained slow. No projects / phases of projects were completed this quarter. Developers also refrained from launching new projects due to low demand. More than 7.5 million sq ft […]

BANGALORE: Property has always been a major investment avenue of the rich. Now, some of the people one would expect to focus on enterprising ventures are also looking at rent-yielding property. Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy’s family office has bought high-end luxury apartments in Bangalore and Mumbai, said sources familiar with the development. Catamaran Ventures, which manages part of Murthy’s wealth, has previously invested in e-commerce, FMCG and education ventures. Another source said that Premji Invest, the family office of Wipro chairman Azim Premji, is also scouting for real estate assets in metros. A couple of years ago, Premji, in his personal capacity, had picked up a few properties in […]

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) launched an emergency coronavirus appeal Friday, saying Palestinians across the Middle East were suffering a devastating socio-economic impact.

Afghanistan has recovered 18 bodies of migrants who were allegedly beaten and tortured before being forced into a river by Iranian border guards last week, a senior Afghan official said Friday.

Kuwait will enact a "total curfew" from 4pm (1300 GMT) Sunday through to May 30 to help to curb the spread of the new coronavirus, the Information Ministry said on Twitter Friday.

Palestinian leaders vowed Friday to defy a new Israeli military order which they fear could lead to the confiscation of money destined for prisoners, their relatives and the families of those killed in unrest.

The head of Libya’s U.N.-supported government Friday warned of an escalation in the battle for Tripoli after rockets struck near foreign embassies in the capital, drawing sharp condemnation from the European Union and United Nations.

Iran warned Saturday that coronavirus infections were rising in the southwest despite falls in other regions, as it announced more than 1,500 new confirmed cases.

The north–south railway line comprised two parts: the northern section, from Uzen (Kazakhstan) to Bereket (Turkmenistan), is 596 km long; and the southern section, from Bereket to Gorgan (Iran) is 338.5 km long. The government requested ADB to finance only the design and installation of the power supply, signal systems, and telecommunication systems for 311 km of the northern section, from Bereket to Hazar. The project’s expected impact was increased trade between Turkmenistan and other countries in the region.

The government of Indonesia wanted to improve land and water management in the Citarum River Basin, and requested assistance from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to develop a long-term integrated water resources management (IWRM) investment program as part of its strategic road map. In December 2008, ADB approved a multitranche financing facility (MFF) for the Integrated Citarum Water Resources Management Investment Program to support the implementation of the IWRM road map in the basin. A periodic financing request was formulated to implement priority activities from the road map.

The project’s targeted outcome was improved access to social and economic facilities in the project areas, particularly in education and health services, and transport hubs in Timor-Leste. These were to (i) rehabilitate 232 kilometers (km) of priority roads; (ii) develop and implement a new road maintenance program; (iii) improve border post facilities; and (iv) provide consulting services and technical assistance (TA) in all aspects of project development and implementation.

The program aimed to increase the role of women entrepreneurs in economic development and address constraints they and micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) faced. The program had two components—a policy-based loan (PBL) and a financial intermediation loan (FIL) — each at $20.0 million. The program was supported by a technical assistance (TA) capacity building component of $0.6 million.

The government requested financing from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to support the National Highway Authority (NHA) in constructing new roads and improving existing ones along the backbone from Peshawar to Karachi, to Gwadar Port in Baluchistan, as well as connections between Pakistan and the People’s Republic of China. Following the completion of loan preparatory activities in May 2007 and loan negotiations in October 2007, the ADB Board in December 2007 approved a multitranche financing facility (MFF) for $900 million to support the NTCIP–Tranche 1.

The Highlands Region Road Improvement Investment Program, a multitranche financing facility (MFF), aimed to ensure the maintenance of the Highlands Core Road Network, comprising 2,500 kilometers (km) of major national and provincial roads. The MFF is funded through three tranches. The first tranche (Project 1) had six components. The physical component was improvements to 211 km of national roads. Two components supported the Department of Works (DOW) and the National Roads Authority (NRA) in project implementation.

Transport systems provide arteries for efficient movement of people and goods in a well-functioning economy. The Asia and Pacific region has witnessed brisk economic growth and social development leading to increased mobility and urbanization. Rapid growth and urbanization creates pressure on transport system and services, which need to keep up not only to sustain the economic growth, but also to ensure much needed equitable access and quality services for all sections of the society.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) country partnership strategy (CPS), 2016–2020 for Papua New Guinea (PNG) sought to assist the country in planning and implementing a successful conversion of its resource wealth into inclusive and environmentally sustainable economic growth. ADB’s sovereign program, comprising approved, completed, and ongoing loans, grants, and technical assistance (TA), totaled $2.11 billion during the period 2016 to May 2019. Transport was the sector receiving the largest amount of support (72% of total financing), followed by health (15%), and energy (9%). 

The project aimed to construct the Fiu River hydropower plant and extend the distribution grid to peri-urban households in the main provincial center of Auki in Solomon Islands. Hydropower generation was to benefit the economy by reducing fossil fuel imports and lowering the cost of power generation. Likewise, it was intended to improve energy security and minimize tariff volatility. The use of renewable energy was also aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This report validates the completion report's assessment of the project. IED overall assessment: Unsuccessful. 

The Madhya Pradesh Power Sector Investment Program in India was a multitranche financing facility (MFF) designed to support Madhya Pradesh state’s sustainable economic growth and social development by investing in the statewide power transmission and distribution networks. The MFF supported the state government in expanding its power transmission, distribution, and management infrastructure and capacity.

The Annual Evaluation Review (AER) is the flagship report of the Independent Evaluation Department (IED) on the operational performance and results of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). This is an important year for the AER as it marks the first full year of Strategy 2030’s implementation. The AER provides a synthesis of the evaluations prepared by IED in the preceding year, updates performance trends, and draws lessons and offers recommendations to guide ongoing and future operations.

The world is experiencing what some may think is a “typical” black swan event: rare, extremely impactful, and only retrospectively predictable. 

In 2005, the energy sector emitted 88% of Uzbekistan’s 200 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gas emissions. With the high solar irradiance and abundant land for solar development of Uzbekistan, solar energy was deemed as the most suitable resource that could quickly bridge the energy supply–demand gap, diversify the generation mix, and reduce emissions.

The project’s key objective was to demonstrate an innovative integrated ecosystem and water resources management that will improve the environmental conditions in the Baiyangdian Basin in Hebei province, southwest of Beijing. It focused on the need to conserve Baiyangdian Lake—one of the most important and vulnerable ecosystems in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). It would also contribute to achieving the goals of the Baoding municipality’s Eleventh Five-Year Environmental Protection Plan.

ADB has a vacancy for the position of Intern - Urban Development and Water Division, SERD - 2008 in the Southeast Asia Department. The deadline for submitting applications is on 15 September 2019.

EMC6W201

Nepal has 2.7% of the earth’s freshwater, yet the people of Kathmandu, Nepal’s most developed region, struggle with scarce water supply.