As 2006 draws to a close, and we take stock of achievements and failures, from the point of view of the people of the world it has been an eventful year. At the closure of accounts, we have the defeat of Israel at the hands of the Lebanese people. Another significant plus was the reversal suffered by President Bush and the Republican Party in the US senate elections. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez won a resounding victory (no surprises there) in the general elections paving the way for an intensification of his social revolution. Minutes after his victory Chavez told thousands of supporters braving the rain that 'this is the starting point of Venezuelas road to socialism'.

The Non Aligned Movement (NAM) received a shot in the arm at the Havana summit, but it remains to be seen if Cuba's chairmanship of the 116-member organisation will see it forge an independent political and economic geography in 2007. British Prime Minister Tony Blair reluctantly admitted to blundering in the war on Iraq. On the trade front, the impasse (since July 2006) at the Doha round of negotiations puts a big question mark on the future of the World Trade Organisation. US and EU corporate ambitions on the services and industrial tariffs front are on hold till the deadlock is broken and March 2007 is the expected crunch time. The Annual Meeting of the Bretton Woods twins in Singapore was mired in controversy as prominent critics (including Focus staff) were banned from organising counter events. Global civil society was quick to respond and slammed all 3 culpable parties - the Singapore Government, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.  

December 2006

On December 9, 2006 Inderjit Singh, Kerala's Resident Commissioner in New Delhi and Tadashi Kondo, India Country Director of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) inked an agreement sanctioning a loan of $221.2 million (Rupees 995 crores¹) for the Kerala Sustainable Urban Development Project (KSUDP)  

The total cost of the KSUDP is $ 316.1 million (Rupees 1422 crores). The Government of Kerala will contribute $ 59.8 million (Rupees 269 crores) and 5 municipal corporations, (Kochi, Kollam, Kozhikode, Thiruvanathapuram and Thrissur) where much of the money will be spent, will contribute $ 35.1 million (158 crores).