IPS Asia-Pacific

NEPAL: Dependence on Rice Adds to Food Crisis

By Renu Kshetry
KATHMANDU, Aug 29 (IPS) - Every year, around June, people living in the impoverished western half of this mountainous country suffer from food scarcity. This year was no different, except that the problem got aggravated by increasing dependence on rice flown in rather than locally grown food grains. Earlier, people in the mountainous western areas used to grow a variety of grain including finger millet, buckwheat and barley, but the...

Troubled Waters Surround Cambodia’s Fisheries

By Andrew Nette
KANDAL, Cambodia, Apr 9 (IPS) - Im Vandang, a former solider turned fisherman, is not sure why there are less fish in the Mekong River, but he knows the situation is getting serious. “I have been fishing this stretch of the Mekong for ten years,” said Vandang, squatting in his thatched house in Kearn Svey district here in Kandal province, east of the Cambodia’s capital. “For the last few years, the number of...

Q & A: ‘Publishing Books Isn’t Like Making Instant Noodles’

The book publishing process can be tedious and take years, test the patience of author, editor and publisher, and involve concerns ranging from how interesting the topic is to the weight...

Those Big Fat Pakistani Weddings

Zofeen T Ebrahim
KARACHI — The questions ‘Who are you wearing?’ and ‘Who is doing your wedding?’ may be construed by the uninitiated as bending the syntax of modern English a...