1) This book presents the changing nature of urbanity in the city of Dhaka, Bangladesh. 2) It is rich in ethnographic case studies from Dhaka. 3) This book will be of interest to departments of South Asian studies, sociology, anthropology, area studies and urban studies.

"This book integrates policy, technology, and action research methods in providing new perspectives and tools for Asian village decision makers and planners who seek more effective uses of energy in important rural tasks. The cooperative research on which the book is based was motivated by two policy concerns: the supply instability and price uncertainty of petroleum-based fuels, fertilizers, and pesticides; and the environmental depletion associated with widespread dependency on firewood and farm residues for cooking fuel. The authors combine the voices and knowledge of women and men who produce and use rural energy with analyses and assessments by engineers, economists, agricultural scientists, and anthropologists to clarify these issues while filling serious information gaps about the use and substitution of fossil and biomass fuels. The book focuses initially on cooking fuel required to meet food and nutrition needs. It demonstrates research methods linking energy with farming systems to increase agricultural productivity and to support other income- and employment-generating activities in rural areas. The authors thereby establish a research agenda through which rural residents, interacting with specialists and policymakers, can build upon their own experience and values in organizing socially and environmentally appropriate rural energy systems."

This volume had its origin at a conference held in 1978 at the East- West Center that considered the short- and long-term energy problems of the Asia-Pacific region. That group of national energy policymakers, scientists, and technologists agreed that providing adequate energy for the rural areas of the developing countries looms large as one of the more critical problems of the region. Encouraged by this consensus, the East-West Resource Systems Institute obtained a grant from the Agency for International Development for the purpose of initiating a collaborative, multi-country study of rural energy problems. The National Research Council of Thailand and the East-West Center agreed to work closely together as twin foci for the coordination of the effort.

This title was first published in 2003. Nurul Islam, currently head of economic and social policy at the FAO/UN and a key advisor at the International Food Policy Research Institute, has been a renowned expert on economic development for the past thirty years. Over that time he has researched and written about a wide range of economic development issues, focussing mainly on policy. For the first time ever, his most important writings have been brought together in this volume, reflecting not only Professor Islam's own views on particular issues, but also providing a unique overview of the key debates and discussions taking place among academic economist and policy analysts over the past three decades. The collection is divided into three main sections: trade and aid, development strategy, and food security, the section on food security being the most recent. It discusses food security in a broad sense, covering issues of availability and growth in food production, access or entitlement of individuals or households to basic food, and variability in food supplies and prices. In the section on Development Strategy, Professor Islam highlights how theoretical argument has veered away from organized 'development planning' models which proved so important in the 1960s. He questions the role of models and policies throughout the decades and, following articles written in the 1970s or 80s, he includes articles he has recently completed, assessing the previous ones from his current perspective. In the final section, on Trade and Aid, he follows the academic debate on trade and exchange rate policies in developing countries from the 1960s to the progress of the WTO forums of today. This is a wide-ranging and thought-provoking volume. No matter whether the subject in question was examined in the 1960s or currently, Professor Islam provides a challenging and insightful analysis, and even the earliest articles retain relevance and will be of continuing interest.

TRAVEL TALES is a collection of short stories written by A.B.M. Nurul Islam based on his observations while working and traveling through the vast swathe of the earth extending from the Land of the Rising Sun (Japan) on the east, through the Central Asian Republics of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in the middle, to the Atlantic shores of Europe on the west. The author while working to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons as a Safeguards Inspector was a keen observer of local customs and traditions, human behavior, follies and foibles. He was in a unique position to watch the countries of the former Soviet Socialist Republics emerge from the rubble of the collapse of the Soviet Empire. His insights into the people and customs of these countries told through travel tales, humorous and informative, written in a racy and fluent style, is sure to keep the reader interested till the end.

Fight rural poverty through the creation of significant policy mechanisms, microenterprises, and employment programs The majority of the world's poor live in Asia, and most of these live in rural areas. These areas are also infamous for the food insecurity and malnutrition associated with poverty. Making even a modest dent in rural Asian poverty has the potential to realize large gains in global human development. Reducing Rural Poverty in Asia provides evidence-based guidelines for policymakers in developing countries, for researchers focusing on development problems, and for the international development assistance community in the continuing search for ways to effectively reduce poverty in the developing world. Detailed examinations are clearly presented on the efforts for poverty alleviation through microenterprise development and rural public employment programs that focus on public works and household/small-scale industries. Asia-based case studies of various microenterprises and rural public employment projects reveal important policy mechanisms and the effectiveness of each poverty reduction measure. Tables, figures, and relevant glossaries make unfamiliar terms and difficult information easy to understand. Part I of Reducing Rural Poverty in Asia: presents a framework for the analysis of rural microenterprises with a focus on microfinance highlights the main findings of country-specific case studies suggests guidelines for an appropriate strategy for the provision of microfinance to reach the poor, alleviate poverty, and create financial stability analyzes the issues relating to public wage employment schemes and the principal findings of the case studies draws policy conclusions for the formulation of effective public employment schemes Part II of Reducing Rural Poverty in Asia presents case studies conducted in India, Bangladesh, and the Philippinesalong with revealing conclusions. These studies include: the SIDBI Foundation for Micro Credit in Indiaincluding the continuing problem of the exclusion of the poorest the Maharashtra Rural Credit Project in India and concerns about the sustainability of the financial infrastructure the Small Enterprises Development Project in Bangladesh and the high rate of return on capital from financed enterprises the successes of the Grameen Uddog, Agrani Bank Micro-Enterprise Development Unit (MEDU), and Kishoreganj Community-Based Projects in Bangladesh the income-stabilizing role of the Employment Guarantee Scheme in Maharashtra, India guidelines for the Public Works Employment policy and implementation in the Philippines Reducing Rural Poverty in Asia is a concise overview of the crucial research undertaken at the request of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and makes this a vital resource for researchers, educators, students, policymakers, and development experts working towards the goal of poverty reduction.