“Achieving universal primary education is listed as goal two in the Millennium Development Goals. Yet, the debate on who should deliver this service is still open. Education is seen widely among development professionals as deliverable by the State. Most developing countries, and particularly India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, have a public education system in place to provide education to the poor, but by most accounts, this system has not lived up to expectations.

"Asian countries such as Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia are surfacing

"The healthcare system in Pakistan is in crisis . Government hospitals are
old and not maintained, and there is inadequate funding of the sector. There is growing violence against doctors who are perceived as wealthy targets and who are more likely to participate in the “medical brain drain” to the U .S ., Europe and the Middle East . There is a new, growing trend: every year, several hundred Pakistanis travel to India on health visas to get the healthcare they need, particularly for cardiac-related treatment . Congenital heart problems are common in Pakistan . The Pakistanis who

Bangalore-based Selco has brought solar electricity to slums, providing value beyond what appliances provide in themselves:

"Though the slum-dwellers were employed and had earned income, their illegal settlement was not allowed to access “the grid” cables that crisscrossed overhead . Instead, families spent INR45 (US$1) per liter on kerosene—a financially unsustainable solution that could only be used for bare necessities such as cooking."

Selco claims that "solar energy empowers the urban poor to spend an additional couple of hours after dark in income generating activities such as

"India’s AIDS epidemic has decreased drastically in the last decade. Yet... the deadly virus is highly concentrated in urban poor communities . Most vulnerable are sex workers and migrant laborers as well as their home
communities—often in rural areas or neighboring countries."
"Sex workers, largely teenage girls or younger from Nepal, are trafficked to the streets of India’s cities . One study found that more than 40% of Nepali sex workers tested HIV positive and that the number of the infected has increased 24-fold in the decade 1992-2002.

"[India] The Indian government will be providing unique identification numbers to all children above 5 years old. The UID number will help the government track the progress of each child and to improve the education system. Different agencies will compile biometric data on each child and supply it to the Ministry of Human Resource Development to keep track of indicators such as school attendance and grades."

Notes from IFTF:

"The Hindustan Construction Corporation (HCC) is building the city based on biomimicry: the idea that the best design can be borrowed from nature. The company hopes to complete phase 1 construction by the end of 2010, and the city of 25,000 acres will eventually be home to 300,000.
The city is being built using concepts of walkability and community‐centered town planning. While Lavasa is being marketed to high‐income Mumbaikers, HCC claims that the city will include people from all socioeconomic backgrounds, though measures to include the urban poor have not been specified."

"The revival of ‘paar’, a traditional system of rainwater harvesting is the latest in a series of attempts to use ancient techniques to alleviate the pervasive water insecurity in [Rajasthan in India]...The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has a small grants program through which it has assisted Thar Integrated Social Development Society (TISDS) revive the ancient ‘paar’ technique in Jaisalmer district."

E-governance or the use of ICT in governance has been on the rise for many years in India, and its increasing reach is reaching states and villages and easing access to government.

The Strategic Foresight Group writes,

The inability of women living in poverty to purchase feminine hygiene products while menstruating is a major challenge for poor communities. Not only does it provide a source of humiliation for many women, but it drastically cuts down on their productiveness. Inventor Arunachalam Muruganantham of India has invented a machine the produces low cost sanitary napkins to women and provides a business opportunity.