Basic services approach to urban development: Indian experience☆
In India a number of earlier efforts were made to improve basic services in urban areas, with the active involvem e n t of the p e o p l e and n o n governmental organizations (NGOs). But these were more in the nature of pilot projects. The Urban Basic Services (UBS) programme launched during 1985-90 in India, covering a number of small and medium towns in various parts of the country, is a unique experiment. Its uniqueness stems not only from its wider scale of operation but also from its basic themes of community participation, convergence and capacity building. The active involvement of the NGOs and its institutional support are other unique features of the programme. This paper traces the genesis of the basic services approach, the role of international bodies like UNICEF and the World Bank and analyses the UBS programme as it is being implemented in India.
POTENCIALIDADES TERRITORIALES Y ESTRATEGIAS DE DESARROLLO EN LAS ZONAS DE PLANIFICACIÓN SENPLADES5 Y 8, ECUADOR
Se realizo un diagnostico territorial con el objetivo de servir a los planificadores de gobiernos provinciales para elaborar sus estrategias de desarrollo sustentable. Se seleccionaron las zonas de planificacion SENPLADES 5 y 8 de Ecuador, correspondientes a las provincias de Guayas, Santa Elena, Los Rios y Bolivar y al distrito metropolitano de Guayaquil, y se analizaron sus potencialidades territoriales. Se consideraron 27 indicadores de variables ambientales y socio-economicas; los valores de repositorios nacionales, se mapearon y compararon con las otras zonas SENPLADES. Las zonas 5 y 8 lideran nacionalmente en un mayor numero de potencialidades, 7 de las 27, destacando, aptitud agricola, captacion de agua, energia termoelectrica, volumen de minerales, infraestructura de salud y educacion y kilometros de vias. Entre las cuatro provincias, Guayas sobresale al ser la primera en 22 de los 27 indicadores. Sin embargo, estas zonas obtienen los peores resultados nacionales para 4 indicadores, i.e. alcantarillado, indice integrado de servicios basicos y acceso a internet fijo. Doce de los indicadores estan relacionados con alguna meta del PNBV 2013-2017, pero el aporte de las zonas 5 y 8 en su consecucion es muy limitado, solo positivo en las metas 7.2 y 11.2, y para el Guayas en la 10.3. Entre las estrategias de desarrollo se proponen dar valor agregado a los productos agropecuarios, promover el ecoturismo y las energias renovables y, mejorar el alcantarillado y el acceso a internet fijo mediante la infraestructura educativa existente.
The Internet and the Changing Beijing-Taipei Relations: Toward Unification or Fragmentation?
Information and its technologies facilitate the exercise of what has been called “soft power,” a concept that differentiates information from the conventional dimensions of “hard power,” which is mainly associated with military force and economic influence. Soft power, according to Nye, a former Assistant Secretary of Defense of the United States, means that “A country may obtain the outcomes it wants in world politics because other countries want to follow it, admiring its values, emulating its example, aspiring to its level of prosperity and openness. In this sense it is just as important to set the agenda in world politics and attract others as it is to force them to change through the threat or use of military or economic weapons.”1