SATURDAY, JUNE 26, 2010
Getting Real…With the Economy
The world is finally, albeit slowly, waking up to the reality….the economic reality after the financial crisis. So, it seems…
In his report, Accounting for Success, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon says: 'A recovery is not meaningful if people only learn about it in the newspaper.' It should be felt in lives and livelihoods of its people.
A real recovery must reach the real economy.
The report comes as the leaders of the world’s largest economies are meeting in Canada, for the MY SUMMIT 2010, the official international youth summit, to be held alongside the G8 Summit and the G20 Summit. And, as the Secretary General puts it: ‘many questions on the summit table echo concerns around kitchen tables elsewhere.’
[Now, if you ask me why I am so concerned about global economic recovery – It’s not just this kitchen table concern….of course it is there, as it is for you. We all have felt the heat….
I am concerned a little more. It’s a very personal interest. Or, may be a professional interest…I report global banking/economy and financial news as part of my freelance job. Industry bad news is good news for reporters; but not for long!
Okay, even more, world issues, socio-economic and political issues, interest me….Has always been my interest…it is for that reason, I started this blog.]
So, coming back to the issue of real recovery in real economies:
Ban-Ki Moon suggests very unassuming measures, defining the frontiers of accountability to people in practical terms, the need for increased accountability being the buzz word among national leaders. The measures include:
- focus on primary education
- focus on human development
- delivering quality jobs, particularly investments in green jobs
- be accountable to women and children, being often the hardest hit victims of the economy (may be arguable in the present day scenario….at least in the so called “developed” economies…still, notably true to a great extent)
- guaranteeing food security
- helping farmers to increase productivity and access to markets
- investing in health
All oft-repeated words to ensure sustainable development and growth that ensues such summits…some are met and some are not….but it all invariably recurs in all development summit agenda.
BUT, this time over, given the reality, as Moon himself acknowledges – that global economic recovery depends on growth in developing countries, unlike never before,
Will it all end up a lip service, having emerged from a storm?
Will the developing nations show their potential….leading to a shared economic prosperity?
A great deal seems dependent on us.
Our own accountability
As nations
&
As individuals
*********
News Courtsey: Accounting for Success, Ban-Ki Moon- The Hindu/26-06-2010
Photo courtesy: as per original copyright at:
http://www.globalvision.ca/programs/my-summit-2010/
FRIDAY, JUNE 4, 2010
World Environment Day - They've Said It All
What to say more when others have said it all:
A living planet is a much more complex metaphor for deity than just a bigger father with a bigger fist. If an omniscient, all-powerful Dad ignores your prayers, it's taken personally. Hear only silence long enough, and you start wondering about his power. His fairness. His very existence. But if a world mother doesn't reply, Her excuse is simple. She never claimed conceited omnipotence. She has countless others clinging to her apron strings, including myriad species unable to speak for themselves. To Her elder offspring She says - go raid the fridge. Go play outside. Go get a job. Or, better yet, lend me a hand. I have no time for idle whining. ~David Brin
“We are of the earth earthy. If earth is not, we are not. I feel nearer God by feeling Him through the Earth. In bowing to the Earth, I at once realise my indebtedness to Him; and if I am a worthy child of that Mother, I shall at once reduce myself to dust and rejoice in establishing kinship with not only with the lowliest of human beings, but also with the lowest forms of creation whose fate-reduction to dust ~ I have to share with them.”
Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realise we cannot eat money. ~ Cree Indian Proverb
We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. ~Native American Proverb
Yes, what to say more….
However, my own little thoughts about Nature/Environment is here: (though the origination of the thought was spurred by the Global Warming/Climate Change agenda:
http://devika-theunheardvoice.blogspot.com/2008/07/pace-down-enjoy-natures-free-lunch.html
And, I am with Lord Byron when he says:
There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more.
~ Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage
*****************
Photos: Renata Diem : As per Original Copyright at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/renatadiem/40473313/
As per Original Copyright at:
http://www.medindia.net/news/healthinfocus/World-Environment-Day-37679-1.htm
FRIDAY, APRIL 2, 2010
Happy Easter
Happy Holy Easter to You All! :)best wishes,
devika
Picture: http://www.brothersoft.com/30-happy-easter-riddles-screensaver-84369.html
TUESDAY, MARCH 16, 2010
COW-ISMs-- Know Your Government
I go back to it occasionally to clarify the basics.....more than Social Science text book definitions this works for me :)
PURE SOCIALISM:
You have two cows. Your neighbours pick someone to tell you who gets the milk.
BRITISH DEMOCRACY:
You have two cows. You feed them sheep brains and they go mad. The government doesn't do anything.
You have two cows. You keep both cows, shoot the government agent and steal another cow.
FEMINISM:
TOTALITARIANISM:
COUNTER CULTURE:
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10, 2010
Sociology of Love and Loyalty
Well, love is something I don’t wish to talk about….its a feeling, there’s a madness to it, that only lovers understand. And marriage, an institution I am happily part of, offers me much to talk about....But I don’t normally talk about it.
So, when this much talked about topic, Infidelity in Love and Marriage, came up again the other day in our circle, I was a bit reluctant…. The background to the discussion was the rising divorces in Indian marriages, very much replicating the evening soap operas, the new young walking in and out of relationships, sort of copying the thriving celebrity lifestyle and their soap-bubble relationships…A topic in itself.
I was not sure if I had to choose fidelity for its social and moral value, because I knew that it wasn’t the nature of love… But I would be the last to choose infidelity in relationships….A real conflict of notions!
In short, it seemed a vain topic to discuss…But I had to make a point: (thought it to be of some blog-value for its social relevance :)
I am not sure I would bear infidelity, when it comes to marriage. In all possibilities, I will not! (Marriage isn’t as much about love, as it is about responsibility….and then there are legalities, and whole lot of other issues involved)
But in love, infidelity is the way, perhaps. Because love, if you begin to seek it, is so unfulfilling….and it exhausts, now and again…
And to be constant in a love- oh God!
There are times I’ve “felt” like deep-frying the ones I loved….May sound funny, but that’s it!
Well, I had this poem by my favourite poet, Kamala Das, to establish my point.
fidelity in love
is only for the immortals,
the wanton Gods who sport in their
secret heavens and feel
no fatigue. for you
and me, life is too short
for absolute bliss and much too long
alas, for constancy
Well, promising, prospective loyal lovers out there….Forgive Me.
But you will “possibly” agree with me, even as you endure the same love of your early life into marriage, and fidelity….
Fidelity and constancy in love – Impossibly possible….
Fidelity and constancy in marriage – I’ve seen it growing over the years. And then, I have seen it fail in the most unscrupulous ways, for the silliest reasons….
All said, I am not one to say, stay out of love…
Real love is a worthy experience….perhaps, the only worthy experience in life…Don’t think about sociology and loyalty…if it is to be, it will be!
*********
Photo: as per original copyright at:
http://www.sociology.ualberta.ca/publications.cfm
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2010
WAR for Water ---Not the Usual!
When I saw the article, WAR for water, in the latest issue of theFrontline magazine, the immediate thought was the usual debate among the progressive thinkers of the world, including the United Nations about the possibility of a future world war over water—
‘A future war over water is a distinct possibility,’ Klaus Toepfer, then director-general of the United Nations Environment Programme had said in an interview published in Environmental Science & Technology in January, 1999.
But, NO this is about India’s new mission for solving water shortage problem…
The Winning, Augmentation and Renovation (WAR) of water resources – a plan of action by the Ministry of Science and Technology following a Supreme Court directive in a matter of public interest litigation [Writ Petition (C) No 230 of 2001]
We know the history of water wars between Indian states, with only tribunals left to resolve inter-state disputes. Even as the Centre knew tribunals cannot solve the water problem or the disputes, matters were just left as it was; water being a state issue. The root cause of disputes – the water shortage problem itself – remained unaddressed.
So WAR finally is about the some positive action from a national level. A major technology mission to:
Find out inexpensive methods of converting saline water into fresh water
Find out methods of harnessing and managing monsoon rainwater
Manage flood water
Do research in rainwater harvesting and waste water treatment so that water may be recycled
Recommend any other methods, including those for the protection and preservation of wetlands and related issues
And issuing the directive to Ministry of Science and Technology, as the report suggests, is expected to establish a systemic process by which viable technical solutions that can be deployed are identified and implemented. The mission, which is expected to be completed in July- August 2011, will conclude with a report indicating the nature of water problems in different parts of India and the suitable technologies and associated management prescriptions for solving them.
WAR for water – in this International Year of Biodiversity…it does make sense, if the government did make the connection or not.....
Now, will the commission, the report and plan of action slip into the usual red-tape and governmental and executive indolence??
For once, let’s do away with our citizenry cynicism – we ought to do that at times!
And participate productively –
After all, using water judiciously is our responsibility and is in our hands!
Photo courtesy: as per original copyright at:
SATURDAY, JANUARY 16, 2010
‘State of the World 2010’ – from Consumerism to Sustainability?
‘How do you manage without a car?!!’ -- an old colleague was pretty straight with the question recently, and in her tone was the exclamation of the (unlikely) possibility of life without oxygen.‘For short distances we walk, for a bit longer we take a cycle rickshaw/auto rickshaw…for those longer, it’s the metro rail or bus or the taxi,’ my reply was as straight, a bit curt too.
‘Wonder why the two of you are saving so much,’ she mumbled. I ignored.
This city and its people have seldom understood my thoughts…if it did, I could have answered, “For your kids and theirs….!”
Anyhow, it has always been a concern of mine, watching the commercials and the lives of those who adopt the soap opera life style –
Do we need all this to be happy in life?
Do these so called conveniences simplify/complicate our lives?
Over indulgence in the self and material – where will that take humanity?
How will earth and nature respond to man’s overindulgence?
In that context, it was heartening to see a report ‘State of the World 2010’ by Worldwatch Institute, a Washington-based organisation, address the issues, outlining a blueprint calling for a comprehensive transformation of our present way of life.
‘Preventing the collapse of human civilisation requires nothing less than a wholesale transformation of dominant cultural patterns. This transformation would reject consumerism... and establish in its place a new cultural framework centred on sustainability,’ the report states.
It vehemently relegates the culture of consumerism that has emerged over the past 50 years, with people increasingly finding meaning and contentment in what they consume.
‘The consumer culture that has taken hold probably first in the U.S. and now in country after country over the past century, so that we can now talk about a global consumerist culture that has become a powerful force around the world,’ Worldwatch president Christopher Flavin says. Consumption has risen sixfold since 1960, the report notes, citing World Bank statistics.
‘Habits that are firmly set – from where people live to what they eat – will all need to be altered and in many cases simplified or minimised... From Earth's perspective, the American or even the European way of life is simply not viable.’
Read that with Flavin’s observation -- ‘In India and China, for instance, the consumer culture of the U.S. and Western Europe is not only being replicated but being replicated on a much vaster scale,’—an almost even spread of onus!
‘We're not stupid, we're not ignorant, we don’t even have bad values,’ report co-author Michael Maniates says. Rather, we are acting under the heavy influence of cultural conventions that influence our behaviour by making things like fast food, air conditioning and suburban living feel increasingly ‘natural’ and more difficult to imagine living without, he adds.
It is to Change these Habits, and the current cultural convention that the report calls for. Individuals need to get back to a basic way of life, it says recommending things like borrowing books and toys from libraries instead of buying them, choosing public transport over the car, and growing food in community gardens and the like.
The report is positive about the possibility, even as we may doubt.
‘This shift is not only possible, it is already beginning to happen,’ says project director Erik Assadourian. ‘With deliberate effort we can replace consumerism with sustainability just as quickly as we traded home-cooked meals for Happy Meals and neighbourhood parks for shopping malls,’ he says, touching upon the tenuousness of what appear to be deep and solid cultural roots.
‘Now I know that cultural assumptions, even well-established ones, can be overturned,’ Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Muhammad Yunus affirms in his foreword, pointing to his experience in microcredit and overturning the cultural conception that poor people were not creditworthy as evidence that such deep-rooted conceptions can, in fact, be changed.
‘Culture, after all, is for making it easy for people to unleash their potential, not for standing there as a wall to stop them from moving forward. Culture that does not let people grow is a dead culture,’ Yunus concludes.
That’s definitely aimed at transforming conventional ways of thinking…Will the reality of a sustainable society be far?
Image:
http://blogs.worldwatch.org/transformingcultures/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Sow2010_Cover.jpg
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About Me
- Devika Jyothi
- A socio-politically inclined self, who likes to analyse the ways of the world....and remain a certain kind of woman. More About Me @: 'Essential Me':-)
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