tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post1158754598275566932..comments2024-03-27T15:36:44.737-07:00Comments on Haq's Musings: Grinding Poverty in Resurgent IndiaRiaz Haqhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comBlogger63125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-69547722223798458022015-06-18T08:09:53.894-07:002015-06-18T08:09:53.894-07:00Little girls bear the brunt in #India's viciou...Little girls bear the brunt in #India's vicious cycle of malnutrition. Half are stunted #gendergap http://reut.rs/1N5dPEz via @ReutersIndia<br />Despite India's economic boom over the last two decades, 46 percent of its children under five are underweight, 48 percent are stunted and 25 percent are wasted, according to the latest government figures.<br /><br />Child malnutrition is an underlying cause of death for 3 million children annually across the world - nearly half of all child deaths - with most dying from preventable illnesses like diarrhoea due to weak immune systems, according to the United Nations Children's Fund.<br /><br />Those lucky enough to survive, grow up without enough energy, protein, vitamins and minerals, causing their brains and bodies to be stunted which means they cannot fulfill their physical, academic or economic potential.<br /><br />The problem of malnutrition starts well before birth in countries such as India, where there are high rates of child marriage, despite the age-old practice being illegal.<br /><br />About 47 percent of women aged between 20 and 24 were married before the age of 18 in India, according to the latest government figures.<br /><br />The custom hampers efforts to improve women's status, as it cuts across every part of a girl's development and creates a vicious cycle of malnutrition, poor health and ignorance, gender experts say.<br /><br />A child bride is more likely to drop out of school and have serious complications during pregnancy and childbirth. Her children are more likely to be underweight and may be lucky to survive beyond the age of five.Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-35181135138449798402013-06-05T19:15:05.534-07:002013-06-05T19:15:05.534-07:00Here's The Economist on ending poverty:
IN HI...Here's <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21578665-nearly-1-billion-people-have-been-taken-out-extreme-poverty-20-years-world-should-aim" rel="nofollow">The Economist</a> on ending poverty:<br /><br /><i>IN HIS inaugural address in 1949 Harry Truman said that “more than half the people in the world are living in conditions approaching misery. For the first time in history, humanity possesses the knowledge and skill to relieve the suffering of those people.” It has taken much longer than Truman hoped, but the world has lately been making extraordinary progress in lifting people out of extreme poverty. Between 1990 and 2010, their number fell by half as a share of the total population in developing countries, from 43% to 21%—a reduction of almost 1 billion people.<br />--------<br />Starting this week and continuing over the next year or so, the UN’s usual Who’s Who of politicians and officials from governments and international agencies will meet to draw up a new list of targets to replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which were set in September 2000 and expire in 2015. Governments should adopt as their main new goal the aim of reducing by another billion the number of people in extreme poverty by 2030.<br /><br />Nobody in the developed world comes remotely close to the poverty level that $1.25 a day represents. America’s poverty line is $63 a day for a family of four. In the richer parts of the emerging world $4 a day is the poverty barrier. But poverty’s scourge is fiercest below $1.25 (the average of the 15 poorest countries’ own poverty lines, measured in 2005 dollars and adjusted for differences in purchasing power): people below that level live lives that are poor, nasty, brutish and short. They lack not just education, health care, proper clothing and shelter—which most people in most of the world take for granted—but even enough food for physical and mental health. Raising people above that level of wretchedness is not a sufficient ambition for a prosperous planet, but it is a necessary one.<br /><br />The world’s achievement in the field of poverty reduction is, by almost any measure, impressive. Although many of the original MDGs—such as cutting maternal mortality by three-quarters and child mortality by two-thirds—will not be met, the aim of halving global poverty between 1990 and 2015 was achieved five years early.<br /><br />The MDGs may have helped marginally, by creating a yardstick for measuring progress, and by focusing minds on the evil of poverty. Most of the credit, however, must go to capitalism and free trade, for they enable economies to grow—and it was growth, principally, that has eased destitution.<br /><br />Poverty rates started to collapse towards the end of the 20th century largely because developing-country growth accelerated, from an average annual rate of 4.3% in 1960-2000 to 6% in 2000-10. Around two-thirds of poverty reduction within a country comes from growth. Greater equality also helps, contributing the other third. A 1% increase in incomes in the most unequal countries produces a mere 0.6% reduction in poverty; in the most equal countries, it yields a 4.3% cut.<br /><br />China (which has never shown any interest in MDGs) is responsible for three-quarters of the achievement. Its economy has been growing so fast that, even though inequality is rising fast, extreme poverty is disappearing. China pulled 680m people out of misery in 1981-2010, and reduced its extreme-poverty rate from 84% in 1980 to 10% now.<br /><br />That is one reason why (as the briefing explains) it will be harder to take a billion more people out of extreme poverty in the next 20 years than it was to take almost a billion out in the past 20. Poorer governance in India and Africa, the next two targets, means that China’s experience is unlikely to be swiftly replicated there......</i><br /><br />http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21578665-nearly-1-billion-people-have-been-taken-out-extreme-poverty-20-years-world-should-aimRiaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-80048355715429710862012-01-05T23:36:15.063-08:002012-01-05T23:36:15.063-08:00Here are some excerpts from a piece by Lan Pritche...Here are some excerpts from a <a href="http://ajayshahblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/first-pisa-results-for-india-end-of.html" rel="nofollow">piece by Lan Pritchett</a> of Harvard University on India's poor performance on PISA:<br /><br /><i>Compared to the economic superstars India is almost unfathomably far behind. The TN/HP average 15 year old is over 200 points behind. If a typical grade gain is 40 points a year Indian eighth graders are at the level of Korea third graders in their mathematics mastery. In fact the average TN/HP child is 40 to 50 points behind the worst students in the economic superstars. Equally worrisome is that the best performers in TN/HP - the top 5 percent who India will need in science and technology to complete globally - were almost 100 points behind the average child in Singapore and 83 points behind the average Korean - and a staggering 250 points behind the best in the best.<br /><br />As the current superpowers are behind the East Asian economic superstars in learning performance the distance to India is not quite as far, but still the average TN/HP child is right at the level of the worst OECD or American students (only 1.5 or 7.5 points ahead). Indians often deride America's schools but the average child placed in an American school would be among the weakest students. Indians might have believed, with President Obama, that American schools were under threat from India but the best TN/HP students are 24 points behind the average American 15 year old.<br /><br />Even among other "developing" nations that make up the BRICs India lags - from Russia by almost as much as the USA and only for Brazil, which like the rest of Latin America is infamous for lagging education performance does India even come close - and then not even that close.<br /><br />To put these results in perspective, in the USA there has been huge and continuous concern that has caused seismic shifts in the discourse about education driven, in part, by the fact that the USA is lagging the economic superstars like Korea. But the average US 15 year old is 59 points behind Koreans. TN/HP students are 41.5 points behind Brazil, and twice as far behind Russia (123.5 points) as the US is Korea, and almost four times further behind Singapore (217.5 vs 59) that the US is behind Korea. Yet so far this disastrous performance has yet to occasion a ripple in the education establishment.<br />------------<br />These PISA 2009+ results are the end of the beginning. The debate is over. No one can still deny there is a deep crisis in the ability of the existing education system to produce child learning. India's education system is undermining India's legitimate aspirations to be at the global forefront as a prosperous economy, as a global great power, as an emulated polity, and as a fair and just society. As the beginning ends, the question now is: what is to be done?</i><br /><br />http://ajayshahblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/first-pisa-results-for-india-end-of.htmlRiaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-46009201451911131352011-12-07T12:51:46.227-08:002011-12-07T12:51:46.227-08:00Here's Times of India on philanthropist Domini...Here's <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata-/Indias-rich-not-doing-enough-for-the-poor-Lapierre/articleshow/11025282.cms" rel="nofollow">Times of India</a> on philanthropist Dominique Lapierre citicism of India's rich:<br /><br /><i>KOLKATA: Celebrated author Dominique Lapierre is upset and frustrated by affluent Indians' "reluctance to help the underprivileged in this country". He has been funding projects for the needy in West Bengal for nearly three decades, emphasizing on deprived and inaccessible areas in the Sunderbans.<br /><br />The City of Joy Aid, Lapierre's non-profit organization, has funded and operated a network of health clinics, hospitals, rehab centres, boat hospital and schools for the poor since 1981. He has contributed extensively through royalties generated from his international bestsellers, lecture fees and donations from readers.<br /><br />In the city to celebrate his 80th birthday, he said it's quite sad that neither Indians nor their government have done enough for the poor and downtrodden. "India is shining but a part of it is still lying in darkness. I request every Indian to come forward and do something for their very own people so that they, too, enjoy a better life," he said.<br /><br />The Padma Bhushan recipient and his wife visited Goramari Island in Bengal's South 24-Parganas district with 40 international donors and friends who contribute to his charities and other humanitarian work in India. Lapierre was concerned by the plight of poor children who, he said, are yet to get a proper livelihood despite money flowing in for nearly three decades. "I am surprised that India's rich and famous have been ignoring the reality of this country," he said.<br /><br />Lapierre has been a major benefactor of Southern Health Improvement Samity (SHIS) for over 30 years. "It is an absolute delight to have Dominique Lapierre among us. We are extremely grateful to him and his eminent compatriots from Western Europe who come and visit us every year, without fail," said SHIS president Sabitri Pal.</i><br /><br />http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata-/Indias-rich-not-doing-enough-for-the-poor-Lapierre/articleshow/11025282.cmsRiaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-88219385553914830072011-09-30T17:36:30.420-07:002011-09-30T17:36:30.420-07:00Indian activists have dared the head of the countr...Indian activists have dared the head of the country's planning body to live on half a dollar a day to test his claim that it is an adequate sum to survive, according to the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-15121304" rel="nofollow">BBC</a>: <br /><br /><i>Last week the Planning Commission said the amount is "adequate" for a villager to spend on food, education and health.<br /><br />But prominent campaigners Aruna Roy and Harsh Mander asked the panel chief, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, and members to either withdraw the figure or resign.<br /><br />Officially, 37% of India's 1.21bn people live below the poverty line.<br /><br />But there are various estimates of the exact number of poor in India and one suggests the true figure could be as high as 77%.<br /><br />But the Planning Commission recently told India's Supreme Court that an individual income of 25 rupees (52 cents) a day would help provide for adequate "private expenditure on food, education and health" in the villages. In the cities, it said, individual earnings of 32 rupees a day (65 cents) were adequate.<br /><br />Critics say this amount is extremely low and aimed at "artificially" reducing the number of poor. They argue that this will deprive millions of state benefits they would otherwise be entitled to.<br />Estimate ridiculed<br /><br />"The right to food campaign challenges you and all the members of the Planning Commission to live on 25 rupees or 32 rupees a day till such time that you are able to explain to the public in simple words the basis of the statement that this amount is 'normatively adequate'," an open letter to the commission signed by Ms Roy, Mr Mander and various other activists said.<br /><br />"If it cannot be explained then the affidavit [filed by the commission stating the figures] should be withdrawn or else you should resign."<br /><br />The Planning Commission submitted the figures after the Supreme Court asked the government to update its poverty line figures to reflect rising prices.<br /><br />The low figures, at a time when India has been struggling to contain inflation which is at a 13-month high of 9.78%, have been ridiculed not just by activists but also by many citizens.<br /><br />Many experts have said the income limit to define the poor was too low.<br /><br />And a World Bank report in May said attempts by the Indian government to combat poverty were not working.<br /><br />It said aid programmes were beset by corruption, bad administration and under-payments.</i><br /><br />http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-15121304Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-78577093276389153362011-09-22T18:49:30.501-07:002011-09-22T18:49:30.501-07:00Here are some excerpts from an opinion piece about...Here are some excerpts from an <a href="http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article2285.html" rel="nofollow">opinion piece</a> about India's talk of setting up a sovereign wealth fund (SWF):<br /><br /><i>Unlike China and other East Asian countries, which have established such funds on sustained current account surpluses, India has been running persistent current account deficits. Its current account deficit touched $ 29.8 billion in fiscal 2009 as against $ 15.7 billion in fiscal 2007. Unlike West Asia, India does not have any dominant exportable commodity (such as oil or gas) so as to generate significant surpluses. It continues to be a huge net importer of oil and gas. The country’s current account deficit is widening despite steady growth in software services exports and a rise in workers’ remittances from overseas Indians.<br /><br />Its persistent current account deficits have been financed by large capital inflows in the form of portfolio investments and other volatile capital flows that are subject to capital flight. Given the overriding presence of volatile capital flows in India’s forex reserves, coupled with vulnerability to external shocks, it would be erroneous to consider its foreign exchange reserves ($ 280 billion) as a position of strength.<br /><br />India’s external debt has been rising steadily for the past few years on account of higher borrowings by the Indian companies and short-term credit. Besides, India also runs a perennial fiscal deficit which means that raising substantial money for sovereign fund from budgetary allocation would be extremely difficult.<br /><br />Santiago Principles<br /><br />AS far as the proposed fund’s objectives to invest directly in strategic cross-border assets are concerned, the Indian policy-makers need to recognise that the overwhelming majority of sovereign funds are passive investors. In the rare cases where SWFs have made direct investments, they have not sought controlling interests or active roles in the management of invested companies, as private investors do. Even the large-scale direct investments made by SWFs in US and European banks during 2007-08 were minor in terms of bank ownership and did not come with any special rights or board representation.<br /><br />Any direct investment in strategic assets by a sovereign fund will invite severe criticism for its alleged political and non-commercial objectives. Not long ago, the Western world had characterised SWFs as "villains" and introduced new policy measures, popularly known as the Santiago Principles, to regulate the investments of SWFs globally. Thus, acquisition of strategic cross-border assets (including natural resources) will not be a cakewalk. Also $ 10 billion is not enough to acquire strategic assets abroad-unless they become very cheap.<br /><br />Furthermore, there is no guarantee that investments made by the Indian fund will be profitable. As witnessed during the global financial crisis, SWFs from West Asia, China, Singapore and Norway suffered huge losses for their investments in Western banks and private equity funds.<br /><br />Paradoxical as it may sound, extreme poverty and hunger still pervades India. For New Delhi, the first priority should be to free the nation from hunger, malnutrition and illiteracy rather than financing the acquisition of strategic assets or rivals abroad.<br /><br />In this regard, a portion of the country’s forex reserves could be prudently used in the improvement of physical infrastructure, education, health and financial services, particularly in rural India.</i><br /><br />http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article2285.htmlRiaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-68739402900247820382011-01-30T09:18:55.565-08:002011-01-30T09:18:55.565-08:00Mohan: " I asked "how long" because...Mohan: " I asked "how long" because India has achieved a growth rate comparable to that of China, the kind of growth rate with which China reduced its poverty to < 10 pc, and just a few decades back both Chinese and Indians were equally poor."<br /><br />China and India are very different countries. Unlike India, the growth in China has actualy reduced poverty dramatically because of its progressive policies and better execution. <br /><br />Mohan: "Yes people living < $ 1.25 is less in Pakistan but % of people living < $2 is almost the same"<br /><br />No, you are wrong. There are 60% of Pakisanis living under $2 a day, versus 75% of Indians, manily because the <a href="http://www.riazhaq.com/2011/01/pakistans-rural-economy-showing.html" rel="nofollow">rural economy</a> in Pakistan is much better than in India.<br /><br /> First, India has had lower productivity and higher poverty in its rural areas than Pakistan, as can be seen in terms of hundreds of thousands of farmers' suicides in the last decade. Over 17000 Indian farmers killed themselves in 2009 alone, according to Indian govt data. Over 75% of Indians live on less than $2 a day versus 60% of Pakistanis. <br /><br />A recent satirical Indian film "Peepli Live" has amply shown how the Indian politicians and bureaucracy have bugled the situation of farmers. <br /><br />Second, 60% of India's workforce produces 16% of Inda's GDP in agriculture. Compare that with 42% of Pakistani workforce in agriculture contributing 19.4% of GDP. Assuming India's PPP GDP of $3.75 trillion (population 1.2 billion, nominal gdp $1.3 trillion) and Pakistan's $450 billion (population 175 million, nominal gdp $167 billion)), here is what I calculated in terms of per capita GDP in different sectors of the economy:<br /><br />India vs. Pakistan: Per Capita GDP $3,125 PPP ($1,083 nom) vs. $2,570 ($955 nom)<br /><br />Agriculture: $833 PPP ($288 nom) vs. $1,225 PPP ($454 nom)<br /><br />Textiles: $1,242 ($433) vs. $1,714 ($636)<br /><br />Non-Textile Mfg: $11,155 ($3,870) vs $5,785 ($2,142)<br /><br />Services $7,246 ($2,590) vs $3,654 ($1356)<br /><br />Data shows that the majority of Indians who work in agriculture and textiles are on average 50% poorer than their Pakistani counterparts, as also reflected in the under-$2 a day per capita income figures for 60% of Pakistanis and 76% of Indians.<br /><br />Third, here are some interesting highlights from a paper "Land-use Changes and Agricultural Growth in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, 1901-2004" by Takashi Kurosaki:<br /><br />1. In India and Pakistan, the area under forests and under cultivation increased substantially throughout the post-independence period. The annual growth rates were higher in Pakistan than in India: the forest area increased at an annual growth rate of 1.91% and 0.75% in Pakistan, well above the figures of British India before independence. In India, the growth rates were lower than in Pakistan but comparable to rates recorde before independence. <br /><br />2. During post-independence period, output (Q) in Pakistan grew at 3.5 percent per annum while Output/Area (Q/A) increased at 2.3 percent. Therefore, the major contribution to agri growth after independence came from increase in land productivity. <br /><br />3. The level of growth was highest in Pakistan, followed by India, with Bangladesh at the bottom. <br /><br />4. In all three countries, the growth rate of land productivity was not high enough to cancel the negative growth of land availability per capita. But the output per capita growth in Pakistan continues to be higher than in India and Bangladesh.<br /><br />http://www.riazhaq.com/2011/01/pakistans-rural-economy-showing.html<br /><br />http://www.riazhaq.com/2010/01/india-and-pakistan-contrasted-in-2010.htmlRiaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-2159041267620849982011-01-30T08:58:21.636-08:002011-01-30T08:58:21.636-08:00I unterstand that now the darker sides of the two ...I unterstand that now the darker sides of the two nations can be compared. So, what you have said is not the answer to my question ! I asked "how long" because India has achieved a growth rate comparable to that of China, the kind of growth rate with which China reduced its poverty to < 10 pc, and just a few decades back both Chinese and Indians were equally poor.<br /><br /> When you compare malnuutrition in India and Africa, the figures are same. But does it mean Subsaharan Africa is economically better than India ? No. In Africa the most significant problem is hunger. with hunger and wide spread diseases like AIDS, they dont live enough to be counted as malnourished. In the next stage of their development, they will be upgraded as malnourished people. Then malnutrition is not only related to money but its has a social component too. Pakistan is small compared to India, so the numbers associated are small, qualitatively both are the more or less similar. Yes people living < $ 1.25 is less in Pakistan but % of people living < $2 is almost the same, I dont think a few cents make a big difference. Also, when you compare fast growing countries use the most recent statistics.<br /><br /> A comparison should cover all aspects, but you often compare the negative sides. Yes the negatives sides are similar. But on her positive sides India is decades ahead of Pakistan. Better instutions in India, in every field are much better than the best in Pakistan. For example in the educational field, they produce better quality scientists, engineers and managers who drive the country forward. Before the industrial revolution, most of the people in most of the countries were extremely poor. Industrilation is perhaps the only way out of poverty. India produce caipable people to lead such a social transformation. Where do pakistan stand ? <br /><br /> When you compare, why dont you compare the quality and quantity of publications in scientific Journals form both countries. Why dont you compare IITs, IISERs, NITs and IIMs to their counterpart in Pakistan. Why dont you comapre the achievements of ISRO and your space research organisations ? List is too long. These comparisons will be even more useful to the readers, if people dont read your blogs to see a malnourished Indian in his death bed.Mohannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-6701076927475597022010-09-15T20:03:16.366-07:002010-09-15T20:03:16.366-07:00Here are key points of WHO report on maternal mort...Here are key points of WHO <a href="http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_shame-story-india-is-the-biggest-mother-killer-of-the-world_1438582" rel="nofollow">report</a> on maternal mortality report (MMR) with India accounting for most of the mothers' deaths:<br /><br /><i>Puncturing tall government claims, a World Health Organisation (WHO) report claimed on Wednesday India accounted for most maternal deaths in the world, with at least 63,000 such deaths taking place in 2008 alone.<br /><br />In fact, India fared worse than even Nigeria (50,000 maternal deaths in 2008), Congo (19,000), Afghanistan (18,000), Ethiopia (14,000), Pakistan (14,000), Tanzania (14,000), Bangladesh (12,000), Indonesia (10,000), Sudan (9,700) and Kenya (7,900).<br />An estimated 65% of maternal deaths globally occurred in these 11 countries in 2008, with India contributing the most.<br /><br />Though India’s maternal mortality ratio (MMR) came down from 570 deaths per 1,00,000 live births to 230 in 2008, the change in percentage was negative-59.<br /><br />Health ministry officials, however, put on a brave face, saying the figures were stale and fresh data would surely present a better picture.<br /><br />The WHO report, ‘Trends in maternal mortality’, contradicts a nationwide survey commissioned by Unicef in 2009 which recently claimed that important parameters of maternal health, such as institutional delivery, safe delivery by skilled birth attendants and three or more ante-natal check-ups by mothers, had increased impressively since 2005-06.<br /><br />It says the number of women dying due to complications during pregnancy and childbirth decreased by 34%, from an estimated 5,46,000 in 1990 to 3,58,000, in 2008 worldwide. But the annual rate of decline was less than half the target to achieve the millennium development goal of reducing MMR by 75% between 1990 and 2015. Developing countries continued to account for 99% (3,55,000) of such deaths, while sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia accounted for 87% (3,13,000).<br /><br />It is estimated that overall, there were 42, 000 deaths due to HIV/AIDS among pregnant women.</i><br /><br />http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_shame-story-india-is-the-biggest-mother-killer-of-the-world_1438582Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-47661831241187101202010-09-15T19:11:48.453-07:002010-09-15T19:11:48.453-07:00FAO released its report on hunger today. According...FAO released its report on hunger today. According to the report highlights as published in <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/datablog/2010/sep/14/hunger-world-fao-undernourished" rel="nofollow">The Guardian</a>, there are 847.5 million undernourished people in the world. India tops the list with 237.7 million, followed by China with 130.4 million, Pakistan 43.4 million, Democratic Republic of Congo 41.9 million, Bangladesh 41.7 million, Ethiopia 31.6 million and Indonesia 29.9 million. <br /><br />http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/datablog/2010/sep/14/hunger-world-fao-undernourishedRiaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-85269507512792829072010-09-11T19:03:54.587-07:002010-09-11T19:03:54.587-07:00Talking about human rights and equality, here'...Talking about human rights and equality, here's a report from India that all modern professions in India are dominated by Hindu Brahmins. Below is an excerpt from an interview of Dr P Radhakrishnan of the Madras Institute of Development Studies as published by <a href="http://news.rediff.com/slide-show/2009/oct/12/slide-show-1-brahmins-dominate-all-modern-professions.htm" rel="nofollow">rediff news</a>:<br /><br /><i>Q: Why do you say that in a hierarchical society, the gene theory won't work?<br /><br />A: It can only happen randomly. In a hierarchical society, the cultural capital is concentrated at the top. Brahmins are at the summit of the social hierarchy. So, they had all the advantages of society traditionally, though they may not be having the same advantages now.<br /><br />Cultural capital gets transmitted from generation to generation and over generations, this transmission makes its recipients well-entrenched.<br /><br />As early as the 1880s, the British administration had reported that a poor Brahmin cannot be compared to a poor untouchable for the simple reason that the poverty of a Brahmin is only economic, but the poverty of an untouchable is both economic and cultural.<br /><br />Brahmins have cultural capital. That is also the reason that where talent has to be used persistently and assiduously, Brahmins have been shining. It is not that others are dullards. Universally, intelligence is distributed across the entire society. But opportunities are not.</i><br /><br />http://news.rediff.com/slide-show/2009/oct/12/slide-show-1-brahmins-dominate-all-modern-professions.htmRiaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-51836897396807558712010-06-12T18:19:57.736-07:002010-06-12T18:19:57.736-07:00Here is a Times Online report about slum populatio...Here is a Times Online <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article1805596.ece" rel="nofollow">report</a> about slum population swelling in India:<br /><br />The number of people living in slums in India has more than doubled in the past two decades and now exceeds the entire population of Britain, the Indian Government has announced.<br /><br />India’s slum-dwelling population had risen from 27.9 million in 1981 to 61.8 million in 2001, when the last census was done, Kumari Selja, the Minister for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, said.<br /><br />The figure is the latest illustration of how India’s recent economic boom has left behind millions of the country’s poorest people, raising fears that social unrest could undermine further growth.<br /><br />India’s economy has grown by an average of 8 per cent annually over the past four years, and yet a quarter of its population of 1.1 billion still lives on less than $1 (50p) a day.<br /><br />The expansion of India’s slums is partly due to the rise in India’s total population, which increased from 683 million in 1981 to 1.03 billion in 2001.<br /><br />That has been exacerbated by mass migration from the countryside as millions of farmers have forsaken the diminishing returns of small-scale agriculture to seek the relatively high wages of manual labourers in India’s cities.<br /><br />But the ballooning slum population is also evidence of the Government’s failure to build enough housing and other basic infrastructure for its urban poor, many of whom live without electricity, gas or running water.<br /><br />India’s largest slum population is in Bombay, the country’s financial and film capital, where an estimated 6.5 million people – at least half the city’s residents – live in tiny makeshift shacks surrounded by open sewers. Bombay is also home to Dharavi, Asia’s biggest single slum, which is estimated to house more than a million people.<br /><br />Delhi, the national capital, has the country’s second-largest slum population, totalling about 1.8 million people, followed by Calcutta with about 1.5 million.<br /><br />Mrs Selja says that it will cost India four trillion rupees (£49 billion) to build the estimated 24 million housing units needed to accommodate India’s slum-dwellers. She has called for the Government and the private sector to address the problem jointly and has launched several schemes to provide basic public services to slum-dwellers. But civil rights activists accuse the Government of willfully neglecting India’s slums, while favouring commercial property developers who often bribe local officials and fund politicians’ election campaigns.<br /><br />“The rise in slums is due to the lack of affordable housing provided by the Government,” said Maju Varghese, of YUVA Urban, a nongovernmental organisation that has been working with the urban poor for more than 20 years. “The Government has withdrawn from the whole area of housing and land prices have gone to such heights that people can’t afford proper housing,” he said. <br /><br />http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article1805596.eceRiaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-65837509695698021042010-06-08T08:09:08.191-07:002010-06-08T08:09:08.191-07:00Here's a Wall Street Journal story about count...Here's a Wall Street Journal <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704866204575224094015957982.html" rel="nofollow">story</a> about counting the poor in India for government's welfare aid program: <br /><br /><i>Alimunisha's home is a 150-square-foot mud floor with a roof of plastic tarp held up by bamboo sticks. The beds are burlap potato sacks. There's no running water, electricity or toilet. She can afford to feed her five children one meal a day on the income her husband earns selling traditional drums.<br />Redefining Poverty in India<br /><br />But according to the Indian government, Ms. Alimunisha, who goes by only one name, isn't living in poverty.<br /><br />That means her family doesn't qualify for aid aimed at the poorest Indians, including a program that provides free housing and subsidies that would cut her food costs by two-thirds.<br /><br />India, one of the world's fastest growing economies, is now embarking on a major reassessment of poverty levels. The review will determine how many struggling people across the world's second-most populous nation, from urban slum dwellers like Ms. Alimunisha to landless farm laborers, will be counted among the ranks of the official poor and get government handouts. At a stroke, tens of millions of people could flood onto the welfare rolls.<br /><br />Millions of destitute Indian families don't qualify for food subsidies or housing assistance because they are not officially considered poor. Now the government is reassessing its poverty levels. <br /><br />Generating a reliable list of poor households has become a top priority for the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, which has pledged to spread the benefits of India's rapid growth to the aam aadmi, or common man. The government launched its review of poverty as it drafts legislation to give the poorest Indians a right to subsidized food-grains.<br /><br />Defining poverty is tough in any country. But deciding who is poor, and how much the government can afford to help them, is especially complex in a nation of 1.2 billion where average annual per capita income is $953 and roughly one in two children is malnourished.<br /><br />Expanding the definition of poverty without ballooning social spending will be doubly difficult. India already spends $12 billion a year on food subsidies alone. The review could add 100 million people to the welfare rolls and $1.3 billion a year to the nation's food-subsidy bill, a burden on a country that is striving to trim public deficits.<br />------------------<br />But the most pressing question is how many people the program should cover. Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi, who has made the "right to food" bill her pet project, was unhappy with early drafts based on the previous poverty count, because she thought too many people would be left behind, people familiar with her thinking say. Through a spokesman, Mrs. Gandhi declined to comment.<br /><br />It isn't hard to see why politicians find it so tempting to expand the welfare rolls. In urban areas like Ismail Ganj, the Lucknow slum where Ms. Alimunisha lives, residents beg for water from nearby government buildings, often without success. They bath and defecate in the open.<br /><br />Last September, the city bulldozed the slum prior to the planned inauguration by the state governor of a building across the street—the state's Human Rights Commission. The ceremony was canceled amid a backlash over the incident. Residents re-erected their mud and bamboo homes.<br /><br />Ms. Alimunisha's husband earns about $40 per month—less than the official poverty line for a household of seven—by selling "dholaks," folk drums made of mango wood and goat skin.<br /><br />"I feel so bad being poor," Ms. Alimunisha says. "Are we going to have to live like this all our lives?" </i>Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-52848795271381599602010-06-05T19:34:33.975-07:002010-06-05T19:34:33.975-07:00Here's a relevant piece from Deccan Herald:
T...Here's a relevant <a href="http://www.deccanherald.com/content/42581/its-starvation-line.html" rel="nofollow">piece</a> from Deccan Herald:<br /><br /><i>The number of poor is multiplying along with the number of billionaires. Growth does not reflect the widening disparities.<br /><br />There is something terribly wrong with growth economics. After all, 18 years after India ushered in economic liberalisation, the promise of high growth to reduce poverty and hunger has not worked. In fact, it has gone the other way around: the more the economic growth, the higher is the resulting poverty.<br /><br />A report by an expert group headed by Suresh Tendulkar, formerly chairman of prime minister’s economic advisory council, now estimates poverty at 37.2 per cent, an increase of roughly 10 per cent over the earlier estimates of 27.5 per cent in 2004-05. This means, an additional 110 million people have slipped below the poverty line in just four years. <br /><br />Poor multiplying<br />The number of poor is multiplying at a time when the number of billionaires has also increased. Economic growth however does not reflect the widening economic disparities. For instance, the economic wealth of mere 30-odd rich families in India is equivalent to one third of the country’s growth. The more the wealth accumulating in the hands of these 30 families, the more will be country's economic growth. A handful of rich therefore hide the ugly face of growing poverty.<br /><br />If these 30 families were to migrate to America and Europe, India’s GDP, which stands at 7.9 per cent at present, will slump to 6 per cent. And if you were to discount the economic growth resulting from the 6th pay commission, which is 1.9 per cent of the GDP, India’s actual economic growth will slump to 4 per cent.<br />Anyway, the complicated arithmetic hides more than what it reveals. Poverty estimates were earlier based on nutritional criteria, which means based on the monthly income required to purchase 2,100 calories in the urban areas and 2,400 calories in the rural areas. Over the years, this measure came in for sharp criticism, and finally the Planning Commission suggested a new estimation methodology based on a new basket of goods that is required to survive, which includes food, fuel, light, clothing and footwear.<br />Accordingly, the Tendulkar committee has worked out that 41.8 per cent of the population or approximately 450 million people survive on a monthly per capita consumption expenditure of Rs 447. In other words, if you break it down to a daily expenditure, it comes to bare Rs 14.50 paise. I wonder how can the rural population earning more than Rs 14 and less than say even Rs 25 a day be expected to be over the poverty line. It is quite obvious therefore that the entire effort is still to hide the poverty under a veil of complicating figures.<br /><br />India’s poverty line is actually a euphemism for a starvation line. The poverty line that is laid out actually becomes the upper limit the government must pledge to feed. People living below this line constitute the Below the Poverty Line (BPL) category, for which the government has to provide a legal guarantee to provide food. It therefore spells out the government subsidy that is required to distribute food among the poor. More the poverty line more is the food subsidy.<br /><br />If the government accepts Tendulkar committee report, the food subsidy bill will swell to Rs 47,917.62 crore -- a steep rise over the earlier subsidy of Rs 28,890.56-crore required to feed the BPL population with 25 kg of grains. This is primarily the reason why the government wants to keep the number of poor low. In other words, the poverty line reflects the number of people living in acute hunger. It should therefore be called as a starvation line....</i>Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-67641511628407810852010-06-02T10:25:20.100-07:002010-06-02T10:25:20.100-07:00India's official poverty measure has long been...India's official poverty measure has long been based solely upon the ability to purchase a minimum recommended daily diet of 2,400 kilocalories (kcal) in rural areas where about 70 percent of people live, and 2,100 kcal in urban areas. Rural areas usually have higher kcal requirements because of greater physical activity among rural residents. The National Planning Commission, which is responsible for the estimate, currently estimates that a monthly income of about Rs. 356 (about US$7.74) per person is needed to provide the required diet in rural areas and Rs. 539 in urban areas. Factors such as housing, health care, and transportation are not taken into account in the poverty estimates, according to demographers <a href="http://www.prb.org/Articles/2010/indiapoverty.aspx" rel="nofollow">Carl Haub and O.P Sharma</a>.Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-38664464951486059952010-05-31T21:34:25.402-07:002010-05-31T21:34:25.402-07:00Here's an April report in Wall Street Journal ...Here's an April <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704508904575191550764145376.html" rel="nofollow">report</a> in Wall Street Journal on new poverty estimates in India: <br /><br /><i>India's top policy-planning body raised its estimate of the nation's official poverty rate to 37.2% of the population from 27.5%, a key development as the government drafts legislation to give the poorest Indians a right to state-subsidized food grains. <br /><br />The move by the country's Planning Commission, which wasn't announced formally but was confirmed by a senior government official, pegs the number of Indians in poverty at around 410 million—more than 100 million above the previous estimate. The change comes after critics said the earlier poverty estimate would leave too many destitute households out of the government's food-entitlement programs.<br /><br />But the new figure is unlikely to please food activists and politicians who feel it still vastly underestimates the number of people in need of assistance. <br /><br />"This is a very low, suppressed poverty line. We reject it," said Kavita Srivastava, an activist who has helped organize a "right to food" rally in the capital in recent days. The event has drawn more than 1,000 protesters from around the country. "As far as we're concerned, it still doesn't tell us the real number of poor." <br /><br />Though India's economy emerged from the global downturn with solid gross domestic product growth of 7.2% in the year ended March 31, the country's poor are struggling to deal with year-to-year food inflation that is hovering near 17%.<br /><br />Even before the impact of food prices, India was struggling with high malnutrition rates. The ruling Congress Party made food security a key plank in its platform in last year's national elections, in which it won a second term.<br /><br />Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government has pushed for legislation that would provide 25 kilograms of wheat and rice per month to households deemed officially below the poverty line. They would pay a rate of about seven U.S. cents per kilogram. India already has a program in place to distribute about 35 kilograms of subsidized food grains to poor household but the rate is about 50% more expensive than what's being proposed now.<br /><br />Moreover, there is no law that guarantees food subsidies—they are given at the central government's discretion. And the current program is plagued by corruption, with one-third of grains pilfered or rotting before reaching needy households. <br /><br />Among the protesters at the rally in central New Delhi was 50-year-old Kesar Sahu, who lives in a slum in the city of Jaipur, in the state of Rajasthan, and supports herself and two daughters by sweeping floors and cutting vegetables at schools. The 1,000 rupees she earns in a good month isn't enough to make do, even with existing government subsidies, she said.<br /><br />"We're only getting 35 kilograms (of food grains) now. We really need 50 kilograms to get by," Ms. Sahu said. "Everyone should get that much." <br /><br />India calculates its poverty rate by estimating the percentage of households who can't afford to buy a basket of foodstuffs that would supply enough calories to meet basic nutritional needs. The new Planning Commission figure of 37.2%, which is based on recommendations submitted last year by a government-appointed panel, raises the poverty estimate in rural areas.</i>Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-23378958870578805172010-04-24T10:13:17.142-07:002010-04-24T10:13:17.142-07:00Here are some excepts of Nehru University's Pr...Here are some excepts of Nehru University's Prof Jayanti Ghosh's video interview on Real News <a href="http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=5030&updaterx=2010-04-24+00%3A28%3A24" rel="nofollow">Network</a> in which she says there is "no Indian miracle":<br /><br />JAY: So in India you're saying there never was major reforms and it's getting worse.<br /><br />GHOSH: Absolutely. If you look at the pattern of Indian growth, it's really more like a Latin American story. We are now this big success story of globalization, but it's a peculiar success story, because it's really one which has been dependent on foreign—you know, we don't run trade surpluses. We don't even run current account surpluses, even though a lot of our workers go abroad to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, to California, as IT workers. We still don't really run current account surpluses. So we've been getting capital inflow because we are discovered as this hot destination. You know, we are on Euromoney covers. We are seen as this place to go. Some of our top businessmen are the richest men in the world. They hit the Fortune top-ten index. All of that kind of thing. This capital inflow comes in, it makes our stock market rise, it allows for new urban services to develop, and it generates this feel-good segment of the Indian economy. Banks have been lending more to this upper group, the top 10 percent of the population, let's say. It's a small part of the population, but it's a lot of people, it's about 110 million people, which is a pretty large market for most places. So that has fuelled this growth, because otherwise you cannot explain how we've had 8 to 10 percent growth now for a decade. Real wages are falling, nutrition indicators are down there with sub-Saharan Africa, a whole range of basic human development is still abysmal, and per capita incomes in the countryside are not growing at all.<br /><br />JAY: So I guess part of that's part of the secret of what's happening in India is that the middle, upper-middle class, in proportion to the population of India, is relatively small, but it's still so big compared to most other countries—you were saying 100, 150 million people living in this, benefiting from the expansion. And it's a lot bigger. It's like—what is it? Ten, fifteen Canadas. So it's a very vibrant market. But you're saying most of the people in India aren't seeing the benefits.<br /><br />GHOSH: Well, in fact it's worse than that. It's not just that they're not seeing the benefits. It's not that they're excluded from this. They are part of this process. They are integrated into the process. And, in fact, this is a growth process that relies on keeping their incomes lower, in fact, in terms of extracting more surplus from them. Let me just give you a few examples. You know, everybody talks about the software industry and how competitive we are. And it's true. It's this shiny, modern sector, you know, a bit like California in the middle of sub-Saharan Africa. But when you look at it, it's not just that our software engineers achieve, it's that the entire supporting establishment is very cheap. The whole system which allows them to be more competitive is one where you are relying on very low-paid assistants, drivers, cooks, cleaners. You know, the whole support establishment is below subsistence wage, practically, and it's that which effectively subsidizes this very modern industry.Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-66945034771271848682010-04-23T10:17:28.100-07:002010-04-23T10:17:28.100-07:00More people in India, the world’s second most crow...More people in India, the world’s second most crowded country, have access to a mobile telephone than to a toilet, according to a set of recommendations released today by United Nations University (UNU) on how to cut the number of people with inadequate sanitation.<br /><br />“It is a tragic irony to think that in India, a country now wealthy enough that roughly half of the people own phones, about half cannot afford the basic necessity and dignity of a toilet,” said Zafar Adeel, Director of United Nations University's Institute for Water, Environment and Health (IWEH), and chair of UN-Water, a coordinating body for water-related work at 27 UN agencies and their partners.<br /><br />India has some 545 million cell phones, enough to serve about 45 per cent of the population, but only about 366 million people or 31 per cent of the population had access to improved sanitation in 2008.<br /><br />The recommendations released today are meant to accelerate the pace towards reaching the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) on halving the proportion of people without access to safe water and basic sanitation.<br /><br />If current global trends continue, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) predict there will be a shortfall of 1 billion persons from that sanitation goal by the target date of 2015.<br /><br />“Anyone who shirks the topic as repugnant, minimizes it as undignified, or considers unworthy those in need should let others take over for the sake of 1.5 million children and countless others killed each year by contaminated water and unhealthy sanitation,” said Mr. Adeel.<br /><br />Included in the nine recommendations are the suggestions to adjust the MDG target from a 50 per cent improvement by 2015 to 100 per cent coverage by 2025; and to reassign official development assistance equal to 0.002 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) to sanitation.<br /><br />The UNU report cites a rough cost of $300 to build a toilet, including labour, materials and advice.<br /><br />“The world can expect, however, a return of between $3 and $34 for every dollar spent on sanitation, realized through reduced poverty and health costs and higher productivity – an economic and humanitarian opportunity of historic proportions,” added Mr. Adeel.<br /><br />http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=34369&Cr=mdg&Cr1#<br /><br />http://finalizations.com/sewage-water-pollution-and-its-environmental-effects.htmlRiaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-50889777100168336612010-04-23T09:08:15.152-07:002010-04-23T09:08:15.152-07:00India(49) has more than twice as many billionaires...India(49) has more than twice as many billionaires as Japan (22) which is a far richer country.<br /><br />Indian and UNICEF officials concur that Indians are much <a href="http://newshopper.sulekha.com/india-worse-than-pakistan-bangladesh-on-nourishment_news_927008.htm" rel="nofollow">worse</a> off than Pakistanis and Bangladeshis in basic nutrition and sanitation.<br /><br />Meanwhile, India is <a href="http://newshopper.sulekha.com/india-worse-than-pakistan-bangladesh-on-nourishment_news_927008.htm" rel="nofollow">worse</a> than Bangladesh and Pakistan when it comes to nourishment and is showing little improvement in the area despite big money being spent on it, says Planning Commission member Syeda Hameed.<br /><br />India might be an emerging economic power, but it is way behind Pakistan, Bangladesh and even Afghanistan in providing basic sanitation facilities, a key reason behind the death of 2.1 million children under five in the country.Lizette Burgers, chief water and environment sanitation of the <a href="http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/india-trails-pakistan-bangladesh-in-sanitation_100120219.html" rel="nofollow">UNICEF</a>, said India is making progress in providing sanitation but it lags behind most of the other countries in South Asia.<br /><br />Most of the 8-9% growth has fattened the bottom line of a small percentage of India's population, with the rest getting poorer. India's Gini Index has increased from about 32 to 36 from 2000 to 2007.<br /><br />India now has 100 million more people living below the poverty line than in 2004, according to official estimates released on Sunday. The poverty rate has risen to 37.2 percent of the population from 27.5 percent in 2004, according to a <a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/topNews/idINIndia-47791820100418" rel="nofollow">Reuters</a> report.<br /><br />The rising gap between abject poverty and obscene wealth in India is fueling anger, and insurgencies such as the Maoists'.Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-36545112473376486672010-03-17T10:16:15.221-07:002010-03-17T10:16:15.221-07:00Here's a recent report on high food prices in ...Here's a recent <a href="http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/business/indias-annual-food-inflation-up-at-1756-percent_100314498.html#ixzz0iSFtgiCe" rel="nofollow">report</a> on high food prices in India which are likely to worsen food access for the poor and the children: <br /><br /><i>New Delhi, Feb 4 (IANS) India’s annual food inflation based on wholesale prices rose to 17.56 percent for the week ended Jan 23 from 17.4 percent the week before, according to official data released Thursday.<br />Prices of some essential items remained firm with vegetables dearer by 13.02 percent and fruits by 6.54 percent during the 52-week period. However, prices of onions fell 10.5 percent.<br /><br />The limited data on the wholesale index released by the commerce and industry ministry further showed that while the index for primary articles fell 14.56 percent, that for fuels rose 5.88 percent.<br /><br />India’s overall inflation rate, based on the wholesale prices index, had risen sharply to 7.31 percent in December from 4.78 percent the previous month mainly on account of higher food prices.<br /><br />The price rise of some essential food items over the 52-week period:<br /><br />- Potatoes: 44.91 percent<br /><br />- Pulses: 44.43 percent<br /><br />- Cereals: 13.37 percent<br /><br />- Rice: 10.96 percent<br /><br />- Milk: 13.95 percent<br /><br />- Wheat: 15.96 percent<br /><br />- Vegetables: 13.02 percent<br /><br />- Fruits: 6.54 percent<br /><br />Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is slated to discuss the issue of price rise with state chief ministers Feb 6. The meeting was earlier scheduled for Jan 27.</i>Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-73344551920605807642010-01-15T21:34:45.137-08:002010-01-15T21:34:45.137-08:00Here's a recent post by BBC's Soutik Biswa...Here's a recent post by <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/soutikbiswas/2010/01/harbingers_of_hope.html" rel="nofollow">BBC's Soutik Biswas</a>:<br /><br /><i>A sobering thought to keep in mind though. Impressive growth figures are unlikely to stun the poor into mindless optimism about their future. India has long been used to illustrate how extensive poverty coexists with growth. It has a shabby record in pulling people out of poverty - in the last two decades the number of absolutely poor in India has declined by 17 percentage points compared to China, which brought down its absolutely poor by some 45 percentage points. The number of Indian billionaires rose from nine in 2004 to 40 in 2007, says Forbes magazine. That's higher than Japan which had 24, while France and Italy had 14 billionaires each. When one of the world's highest number of billionaires coexist with what one economist calls the world's "largest number of homeless, ill-fed illiterates", something is gravely wrong. This is what rankles many in this happy season of positive thinking.</i>Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-20203648115707609962010-01-04T09:08:44.779-08:002010-01-04T09:08:44.779-08:00There are an estimated 4.5 million Indian workers ...There are an estimated 4.5 million Indian workers in just the GCC countries, about half of them in the UAE, according to the <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/10b78220-dea4-11de-adff-00144feab49a.html?catid=%2076&SID=google" rel="nofollow">Financial Times</a>. <br /><br />The current difficulties in Dubai are exposing India's vulnerability to the possible economic collapse in the Gulf region. The fears are deepening that remittances, worth about $27bn a year, accounting for over 50% of total remittance inflows, from the Gulf to India. The United Arab Emirates is also one of India’s most important export destinations, accounting for about $17.5bn in trade or 10 per cent of India’s merchandise exports.<br /><br />In spite of repeated tales of horror by Indian workers, the Islamic Gulf nations remain a powerful magnet for Indians seeking a way out of abject poverty and deprivation at home. <br /><br />The village of Akhopur is in the district of Siwan in Bihar, India- from where about 75,000 people work in the Gulf. Most work as masons, helpers, carpenters, fitters and drivers, according to a recent story by the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8426394.stm" rel="nofollow">BBC</a>. <br /><br />They often labor in abysmal conditions with little or no facilities, but many say they can at least earn a living since opportunities back home are non-existent.<br /><br />In Akhopur and neighboring villages of Bindusar, Orma and Khalispur, every household has at least two people working in the Gulf.<br /><br />In the wake of recent Dubai troubles, the flow of returnees is ever growing, raising fear of rising <a href="http://www.riazhaq.com/2009/01/grinding-poverty-in-resurgent-india.html" rel="nofollow">h unger and poverty in resurgent India</a>. <br /><br />Often motivated by religious bigotry rather than than genuine concern, some Indians point to the unacceptable and deplorable treatment of the poor Indian workers in the "Arbi land". <br /><br />But the real question is why are the Indian workers forced to accept degrading treatment in foreign lands? <br /><br />Why is resurgent India so badly failing its people?<br /><br />Why are <a href="http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/indicators/102.html" rel="nofollow">42% of Indians</a> forced to live on less than $1.25 a day?<br /><br />Why does Indian official Syeda Hameed believe "countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are better" than India in terms of meeting basic nutritional needs of their children? <br /><br />Why have an estimated <a href="http://www.riazhaq.com/2009/12/climate-change-worsens-poverty-in-india.htm%20l" rel="nofollow">200,000 farmers in India</a> committed suicide in the last ten years?<br /><br />Why are 46% of India's children malnourished?<br /><br />Why does the world call India a <a href="http://www.riazhaq.com/2009/09/is-india-nutritional-weakling.html" rel="nofollow">nutriti onal weakling?</a>Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-2306998359598303602010-01-04T08:54:49.243-08:002010-01-04T08:54:49.243-08:00Here's a BBC report on homeless deaths from co...Here's a <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8438879.stm" rel="nofollow">BBC report</a> on homeless deaths from cold in India: <br /><br />Scores die in India every year, being ill-equipped to deal with extreme cold.<br /><br />Estimates of the number of dead vary from 25 to 100 but these figures cannot be confirmed at present.<br /><br />Fog in central Punjab region in neighbouring Pakistan has also shut down highways and affected railway and flight schedules.<br /><br />A number of people have been injured in some minor accidents due to fog on Monday morning, the BBC's M Ilyas Khan says.<br /><br />Intense cold<br /><br />Heavy fog and a cold wave have disrupted life across northern India with temperatures dropping to zero degree Celsius in several places, including the city of Amritsar in Punjab.<br /><br />Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh are among the northern states which have been hit by intensely cold weather.<br /><br />In Uttar Pradesh, scores of homeless people have died after being exposed to the intense cold. <br /><br /> The victims were mostly poor people who were sleeping on the streets or out in the open.<br /><br />There are few homeless shelters in Indian cities and towns and although the authorities have distributed blankets and firewood, their efforts have been inadequate in the face of the extreme cold, says the BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi.<br /><br />Poor visibility because of dense fog has also affected rail and air traffic in the region with several flights and trains cancelled, leaving tens of thousands of passengers stranded.<br /><br />On Saturday, the fog caused two separate train accidents in Uttar Pradesh leaving 10 people dead and nearly 50 injured.Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-58372825231513927262009-03-30T19:38:00.000-07:002009-03-30T19:38:00.000-07:00BBC has a report on tale of two Indian women, both...BBC has a report on tale of two Indian women, both named Laxmi, who live totally different lives. One picks through garbage and the other heads a software dev team.<BR/><BR/>Here's an excerpt from the <A HREF="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7972170.stm" REL="nofollow">story</A>:<BR/><BR/><I>"Indians need to stop believing that the country will continue to grow above 6% a year automatically, without any effort, and that our inevitable destiny is to become a world power," says Rajiv Kumar, an analyst from the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations in Delhi.<BR/><BR/>The development model adopted by India - which has resulted in an average growth of 8% in the last four years - also contributed to the inequality that now threatens to undermine it.<BR/><BR/>The index that measures the gap between the rich and the poor - the Gini coefficient - was stable throughout the 1980s, but shot up in the following decades and is still growing.<BR/><BR/>Similarly, the Indian states that hold the most wealth grow faster than the poorer states.<BR/><BR/>Alarmed by this disparity, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says that the "tide of the Indian economy rises, but not all the boats are managing to rise with it".<BR/><BR/>In recent years, the growth of inequality, especially in rural India, strengthened extremist movements with Maoist tendencies, such as the naxalists, who preach social revolution and insurgency against the government.<BR/><BR/>Today, they are already present in 40% of the territory. The Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, has already said that the naxalists are the main threat to India's security.</I>Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-86918865714111340452009-01-10T13:00:00.000-08:002009-01-10T13:00:00.000-08:00As Gandhi said - An eye for an eye will make the w...As Gandhi said - An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind.<BR/><BR/>You are absolutely right, but who has been the bully in last 60 years?<BR/>Lets start dialogue, peace talks etc and tolerate this nonsense from extremists on bothsides with patience and understanding.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com