The Partition of India brought a new configuration of Muslim leadership in its spate. After Partition, Jamate Islami was reorganized and moved to Pakistan as Jamaat-i-Islami Pakistan. The party’s remaining cadre in India formed the Jamaat-i-Islami Hind, a separate organization that shares JI’s ideological aspirations. The intellectual inspiration primarily came from Syed Abul Ala Maududi, an ideologue and a staunch proponent[Read More…]
When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw. -Nelson Mandela An educated, secular and liberal Indian Muslim is today in a bind; he is confronted with the dilemma of finding the right balance between loyalty to his faith and adherence to the new tests of patriotism. The[Read More…]
India follows a system of legal pluralism that allows different religious communities to be governed by their codes of personal law. This has been seen as a way of protecting distinct communal identities and safeguarding the right of citizens to practice their faith, as enshrined in the Constitution. The Constitution grants equal protection under the law to all citizens. That[Read More…]
The discourse over the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code has often stirred up a whirlwind of uproar by political advocates and religious objectors. India follows a system of legal pluralism that allows different religious communities to be governed by their codes of personal law. This has been seen as a way of protecting distinct communal identities and safeguarding[Read More…]
It is an open secret. There is no love lost between India’s religious minorities and the federal government. When Muslims, the most significant minority that makes up 14.2 per cent of the nation’s 1.4 billion people, needed a healing touch, they got a budgetary shock in the form of a significant cut to funds meant for their welfare. The presentation[Read More…]
The poetry of earth is never dead -John Keats This is Sanjiv Bhatla’s maiden collection of poems. He has several authoritative and scholarly works on religious and spiritual subjects also to his credit. His poems are equally brilliant and bear out the finer sensibilities in him. His anthology was originally published by Orient Longman (now Orient Black Swan).It has now[Read More…]
Vidarbha has been a fertile soil for many social reformers and intellectuals. It has played an active role in the nation’s destiny and its social, cultural and political rivulets have flown into and enriched the great sea of national civilization. One such luminary who emerged from Yavatmal was Kazi Syed Karimuddin. He rose to be a great criminal lawyer of[Read More…]
Mhaswad village is a mere blip on India’s vast geographic radar but it shines brightly on the country’s development landscape. Women here are seeding a digital revolution that is enabling financial security and well-being for low-income women in remote villages Located in the rain shadow region of Satara district, Maharashtra’s sugar bowl, Mhaswad faces perennial drought and agrarian distress. However,[Read More…]
There is a tempest in India’s farmlands even as their tillers wage an extraordinary crusade for alleviating age-old distresses. Away from the bustle of the raging storm in the Delhi-National Capital Region is a small semi-literate group of women farmers in a remote hinterland who are assiduously managing a farmer producer company (FPC) to help alleviate the woes of other women growers[Read More…]
Should State-run madrasas be shut and converted into general schools like Assam has proposed, or better it is for Muslim scholars and educationists to prepare a roadmap to initiate modern education in madrasas across the country? At one point, the Centre is reported to have had talks with Aligarh Muslim University, few IIMs and Jamia Millia Islamia to start an[Read More…]
When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece — John Ruskin We’ve all heard of endangered species and forests —now imagine crafts are at risk of going extinct. A rising number of indigenous crafts are now in danger of becoming endangered on account of their time-consuming nature and fewer craftspeople possessing these specialized skills. Times are changing and not[Read More…]
Nagpur has been a traditional and fertile hub for voluntary organizations, reformist individuals and social workers. It has been home to a number of dedicated activists whose social chromosomes have inspired them to undertake humanitarian work for their fellow brethren of society at large. The result is a confluence of so many rivulets of social activism which have merged into[Read More…]
Finance is one field where we have witnessed significant innovations in recent decades, and this has transformed our society in many ways. Earlier, we could hardly visualise social change in rural India as it was mired in caste conflicts and was impervious to the winds of change. Before the 1980s, outsiders rarely visited villages. Those who did were the occasional[Read More…]
COVID-19 has caused unprecedented disruptions globally and inflicted the greatest pain on those who had already been rendered most vulnerable, spurring unknown hardship and growing unease among low-income families and micro-businesses. It has uncovered existing inequities and created new ones. A Universal Basic Income (UBI) has been strongly advocated by economists, industry captains and policy-makers across all ideological hues. It is[Read More…]
Among the many challenges India faces, the most underappreciated is the ongoing mental health crisis. Mental illness is actually India’s ticking bomb. An estimated 56 million Indians suffer from depression, and 38 million from anxiety disorders. For those who suffer from mental illness, life can seem like a terrible prison from which there is no hope of escape; they are[Read More…]
Three new farm Acts were recently introduced in the country. The most important of these, the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020 is aimed at putting an end to the monopoly of the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) mandis. Earlier, under the 1964 APMC Act, all the farmers were required to sell their produce at the Government-regulated mandis.[Read More…]
Healthy families are the foundation for healthy communities. When people are healthy, humanity moves forward. There is nothing more important than good health, and reliable healthcare for all the family. Universal health coverage (UHC), which aims to ensure that all people receive quality and adequate healthcare without suffering financial hardship, is an integral part of achieving the UN-mandated Sustainable Development[Read More…]
Human civilisation has always believed that there is something primal about the need for privacy, for secrecy, for personal space. This has, in the world of some judicial authorities, taken to mean “the right to be let alone”— that is, the right to privacy. They believe “privacy is the beginning of all freedom”. Every one of us seems to ensure[Read More…]
Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less. -Marie Curie The COVID-19 pandemic is a human tragedy of potentially biblical proportions and has convulsed societies like never earlier. Even as the world remains gripped in the fright of an invisible threat, Mother[Read More…]
Public banks have played a historically stellar role in financial inclusion and the development of the underserved sector. These banks have been the backbone of the government’s socio-economic agenda. State-owned banks in developing countries have to shoulder the main burden of the government’s development policies—from rural lending to infrastructure development. But while public banks have striven ceaselessly to bring about[Read More…]
Book Review Oral History of Indian Freedom Movement By Dr Licy Bharucha; Pp240; Rs 300; Published by National Museum of Indian Freedom Movement The Congress has won political freedom, but it has yet to win economic freedom, social and moral freedom. These freedoms are harder than the political, if only because they are constructive, less exciting and not spectacular. -Mahatma[Read More…]
The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a massive toll on the economy: broken supply chains, record unemployment, failing small businesses. Much the same way it is affecting people with pre-existing health conditions more strongly, so is the pandemic-triggered economic crisis exposing vulnerable communities to greater distress. The pandemic has frozen the wheels of economy and affected every aspect of life. Lockdowns[Read More…]
Among the many challenges that have gained urgency in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, housing requires a highly creative response. The huge exodus from cities to villages was necessitated on account of lack of proper housing in cities. Expanding access to affordable housing is essential not just for equitable development but also social stability. When residents don’t have proper[Read More…]
Melghat is a forest tract nestled in the Satpura range in eastern Maharashtra. It is inhabited by indigenous people like the Korkus, Gond and Bhilalas, who are bravely defending their verdant world against the ravages of modern commerce. Melghat has been in the news for several years for its lethal malnourishment, which had been claiming lives of hundreds of children[Read More…]
Empowering women has long been viewed as the solution to many global problems. Societies that prioritize women’s empowerment show better development indices, and are better governed, more stable and less prone to violence. In contrast, societies that constrain women’s educational and employment opportunities, and that deny women an equal political voice, are poorer and more prone to corruption. This year[Read More…]
A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves -Lao Tzu This pandemic has inflicted the greatest pain on those who had already been rendered most vulnerable, spurring great hardship and growing unease among low income families and micro businesses. It has uncovered existing[Read More…]
15th August is the most cherished date in the Indian calendar. it was on this momentous day that we were born an independent and free country. Mahatma Gandhi’s luminous leadership finally made the British Quit India in 1947. It is certainly an occasion for celebration. More than that, it is a point in a nation’s journey when we need to[Read More…]
During my professional engagement with rural India, I found that one of the most useful resources at the grassroots level was an Anganwadi worker. I would always begin my village exploration with a visit to an Anganwadi and would be rewarded with a finer introduction to the local community. I have always regarded Anganwadi workers as the most efficient last-mile[Read More…]
Warora is a small township in the Chandrapur district of Maharashtra. It is best known for the small village republic the great humanist Baba Amte set up for disabled people alienated by mainstream society. The most vulnerable among these are leprosy patients who still suffer from social stigma but find love and dignity in this wonderful village named Anandwan,[Read More…]
The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the risks of an unhealthy diet and the extreme fragility of food systems. The economic reconstruction that will follow the pandemic is the perfect opportunity to provide better nutrition and health to all. The pandemic should spur us to redefine how we feed ourselves, and agricultural research can play a vital role in making our[Read More…]
There’s the pandemic you know about all too well. It is taking a heavy toll on lives and livelihoods. Then, there’s the shadow pandemic, which is rapidly unraveling the limited but precious progress the world has made toward gender equality in the past few decades. This shadow pandemic can be seen in the rolling background of this progress with the[Read More…]
As the nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19 continues and the nation staggers in its recovery from the debilitating impact of the pandemic, many are left stranded away from home and battling hunger every day. Many migrant workers and students walked hundreds of kilometres to reach home but several others couldn’t and they are left without shelter and[Read More…]
As COVID-19 spreads, the government has already started to address the economic and livelihood challenges posed by the constraints the pandemic has put on behavior and employment. It is designing economic support measures to target the tens of thousands to millions of small businesses. These efforts intend to provide a lifeboat to help businesses survive the coming months, and importantly,[Read More…]
At no stage in modern Indian history have Muslims been put to such a hard test. Every action of theirs is being viewed with a suspicious lens and even their positive contributions are being viewed in negative light or are being deftly airbrushed as insignificant. The mainstream narrative is being so orchestrated as to pigeon hole the entire community into[Read More…]
In the last two decades, the gender landscape in rural India has been greening, and women are now on the cusp of a powerful social and political revolution. The harbinger of this change is a unique policy experiment in village-level governance, the Panchayat Raj Act, which has brought transformative results for the weakest of the weak: the village women. In[Read More…]
The self-help group movement has been one of the most powerful incubators of female entrepreneurship in rural India. While there were several young semi-literate women who had homegrown skillsets, absence of capital and regressive social norms prevented them from taking a full plunge and setting up their own independent business. A membership of a self-help group, however, enabled these women[Read More…]
The COVID-19 crisis has spurred an entrepreneurial wave across the country. Rural women, particularly the farmers among them, have also jumped on board. They are, in fact, better placed to cope with the pandemic as their own uncertain lives pose every day challenges and keep testing their resilience. They carry the greater burden of nature’s cruelties and also have the[Read More…]
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. – Margaret Mead A highly welcome and discernible sign on the Indian development landscape is that many bright brains from the best of universities are foregoing high salaries to commit themselves to development issues such as[Read More…]
Child prodigies have been with us since early times. But over the epochs, many of them have had their genius questioned—mostly as to whether or not a parent or a mentor was behind their amazing skills. It is only when their talents were authentically established that people around them could acknowledge them as teenage wonders. Nagpur’s Shreenabh Agrawal is[Read More…]
BOOK REVIEW – Islam and God-Centricity: A Theological Basis for Human Liberation (Book 1 and 2) By Shaykh Arif Abdul Hussain, Al-Mahdi Institute, Birmingham These volumes are a compilation of transcribed and edited talks of Shaykh Arif Abdul Hussain in which the essential message of Islam and Prophet Muhammad’s message of God-centricity is presented in a fresh reevaluation of religion[Read More…]
“My aim is not to be consistent with my previous statements on a given question, but to be consistent with truth as it may present itself to me at a given moment. The result has been that I have grown from truth to truth ….” — The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi Vol. 90 Eighty kilometres to the east of Nagpur[Read More…]
Farmers in India do a lot of talking about the weather—especially, it seems, when there is no weather in sight. when the land heats up like a furnace and most fields lie fallow, when wells have run dry and the sun taunts from its broiling perch in a cloudless sky, there is no topic more consuming—or less certain—than when and[Read More…]
A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves – Lao Tzu India is at a crossroads in its journey of “development”. It is still perceived that the development landscape continues to look jaded. Lessons from recent times show that if we plant the[Read More…]
Universal basic income (UBI) is an old idea that is gaining traction as governments look to revamp their social safety nets. India is the most serious new aspirant. India is actively weighing the idea and the main opposition Congress party has already promised that it will implement a variation of a universal basic income (UBI) targeted at 50 milion families[Read More…]
Development can be seen as a process of expanding the real freedoms that people enjoy – Amartya Sen The pursuit of growth over social justice, which has been the defining credo of classical economists, has brought prosperity to most developing societies. But it has also created huge inequalities. The argument that economic growth is the road to social justice has[Read More…]
India has long been a testing ground for several western products, particularly in agriculture and medicine—making the most of loose regulations and genetic diversity of a huge population. It is done to help cut research costs dramatically for lucrative products to be sold in the West. The relationship is highly exploitative and many believe it represents a new colonialism. Encouraging[Read More…]
Among the many challenges India faces, the most underappreciated is the ongoing mental health crisis. Mental illness is actually India’s ticking bomb. An estimated 56 million Indians suffer from depression, and 38 million from anxiety disorders. For those who suffer from mental illness, life can seem like a terrible prison from which there is no hope of escape; they are left forlorn and abandoned,[Read More…]
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. -Eleanor Roosevelt The world is witnessing a spring of a new generation of young game-changing women social entrepreneurs that is gate crashing and boldly scripting inspiring stories even as they are pairing their ingenuity and knowledge with passion for bringing innovative and sustainable solutions to its long[Read More…]
India has grown into a global powerhouse. Its economy is soaring but the picture on the ground is still quite arid. The green shoots that you see are only a patch of its landscape. Most Indians are hapless victims of inequity. India is one country where intense poverty abounds in the shadow of immense wealth. The Indian economy is projected to[Read More…]
In a free enterprise, the community is not just another stakeholder, but is in fact the very purpose of its existence. — Jamshedji Tata When we flip back through the business history of the world, we find that all large mercantile communities were great patrons of the art of philanthropy. They regarded it a divine tradition. The world is witnessing[Read More…]
All lives have equal value. No matter where they live on the planet. No matter what state, city, and country you’re born in, whether you are male, female. – Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation The Gate s Foundation captures in it mission goal the true spiritual concept of human creation. But today we know that not all lives have[Read More…]
India has long undervalued one of its most precious resources—water. Today the country’s chronic mismanagement of water has led to drought in nearly 2,00,000 villages. According to the World Bank data, Indian farmers use almost 70 percent of the total groundwater that is drawn in the country each year. Shockingly, India uses more groundwater annually than China and the United[Read More…]
The true teachers are those who help us think for ourselves –Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan The building blocks of a nation are the citizens of its tomorrow. The way these seeds will sprout will always depend on the way you choose to water them. India’s education sector is one of the largest sunrise sectors in the economic and social development of the[Read More…]
Birth anniversary tribute-21 November 2018 As you read these lines, 1.6 billion Muslims across the world, from Morocco to Jakarta, will be paying homage to the Prophet Muhammad on his birthday. This day, 1,429 years ago, Prophet Muhammad delivered the historic Last Sermon (khutabat al-wida) on the parched terrain of Mount of Mercy (Jabal ar-Rahmah) in the Uranah valley of[Read More…]
Do not show the face of Islam to others; instead show your face as the follower of true Islam representing character, knowledge, tolerance and piety ― Sir Syed Ahmed Khan (17 October 1817 – 27 March 1898) An educated, secular and liberal Indian Muslim is in a bind; he is torn between finding the right balance between loyalty to his faith and[Read More…]
Centre for Educational Research & Training (CERT) -a wing of Students Islamic Organization- on Tuesday revealed that the Muslim student ratio in higher education was mere 4.9% in 2016-17. It also revealed that a vast section of Muslim populace still remained illiterate due to lack of facilities for primary and secondary education even in MCDs where Multi Sectoral Development Programme[Read More…]
International Day of Rural Women–15 October The empowerment of rural women and girls is essential to building a prosperous equitable and peaceful future for all on a healthy planet — UN Secretary-General, António Guterres Gender inequality is not only a pressing moral and social issue but also a critical economic challenge. India has a larger relative economic value at stake[Read More…]
India produces enough food to meet the needs of its entire population, and has at its disposal arable land that has the potential to produce food surplus for export. Yet, it is unable to feed millions of its people, especially women and children. India ranks 100th among 119 countries in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2017, where it has[Read More…]
World Mental Health Day-10 October 2018 Among the many challenges India faces, the most underappreciated is the ongoing mental health crisis. Mental illness is actually India’s ticking bomb .The National Mental Health Survey of India (2016), the largest exercise to count the numbers of those affected by mental disorders, reported that one of every ten adults experiences a clinically significant[Read More…]
Eighty kilometres to the east of Nagpur in central India lies Bapu Kuti, a historic site in Sewagram, the ‘village of service’, which is nestled in the serene rustic surroundings of the Wardha district. This dwelling was the residential abode of Mahatma Gandhi from 1936 to 1948 and was the epicentre of the Indian freedom movement. During the 12 years[Read More…]
Islam is a massive faith with 1.6 billion followers spread across the Islamic world that stretches over 15,000 kilometers. A considerable section of the community lives as a minority community in many countries, battling issues of stereotyping, discrimination and identity. With the powerful influence of Islamophobic brigades, there has been a massive surge of hatred against Islam and its adherents.[Read More…]
Women are not dying because of diseases we cannot treat…They are dying because societies have yet to make the decision that their lives are worth saving – Mahmoud Fathalla, Chair of the WHO Advisory Committee on Health Research Inclusive growth is now perhaps the strongest buzzword in development discourse. We have all been talking about growth without understanding that development[Read More…]
The South Indian city of Bidar -the northernmost part of Karnataka, 145 km from Hyderabad-is a placid habitation where Hindus and Muslims peaceably coexist to the eternal rhythms of sowing and harvest. It is barely known beyond the subcontinent. But in recent years, it has built a great reputation in the field of education. It is drawing students from[Read More…]
In a strong setback to the backers of right wing ideology, the Law Commission of India has said that a uniform civil code “is neither necessary nor desirable at this stage” in the country.. the Commission said secularism cannot contradict the plurality prevalent in the country. The Commission, led by former Supreme Court judge Justice B.S. Chauhan, said “cultural diversity[Read More…]
Poverty is humanity’s cruellest affliction and India is home to the largest absolute number of poor people on the planet. People who are trapped in a cycle of poverty can’t often realise their lives can be changed for the better through their own efforts. Once they understand that, it’s like a light getting turned on. For serving the poor and[Read More…]
World Water Week August 26-31, 2018 India has long undervalued one of its most precious resources—water. The country’s chronic mismanagement of water is staring at it now. The country breaks out in a cold sweat every time the monsoon is delayed. Despite these alarming signals we continue to abuse and use water so profligately. Complex and capricious, the South Asian monsoon[Read More…]
15th August is the most cherished date in the Indian calendar .it was on this momentous day, more than seven decades back, that we were born an independent and free country .Mahatma Gandhi’s luminous leadership finally made the British Quit India in 1947. It is certainly an occasion for celebration. More than that, it is a point in a nation’s[Read More…]
The penchant of development agencies for high-yielding cows has never abated. Whenever relief measures are planned for drought-affected families in villages, free quality cows are considered an important element in the official relief `packages’ or self –help schemes. I have seen in my career that whenever a drought ravages a village, the crossed Holstein and Jersey s cows arrive in[Read More…]
You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can’t get them across, your ideas won’t get you anywhere. -Lee Iacocca We live in an age where noisy posturing often substitutes reasoned debate and brash opinion trumps hard facts. The thread of logic often disappears in a blizzard of gee-whiz statistics, acronyms and catchphrases that are liberally sprinkled by our contemporary[Read More…]
The perfect bureaucrat everywhere is the man who manages to make no decisions and escape all responsibility -Brooks Atkinson The Indian Civil Service represents the crème de la crème of the country’s university graduates who form the backbone of the country’s administration. Today, there are about 5,000 IAS officers who comprise this privileged club. The civil service has a hallowed past and[Read More…]
We forget that the water cycle and the life cycle are one -Jacques Cousteau While the world has significantly improved food security, it is now faced with a mounting challenge on a more major front: water insecurity. Water has been crucial to all civilizations. In India, however, it is of much more importance as over 600 million people get their[Read More…]
India is home to one-fifth of the world’s population which includes a third of the world’s poor and one-eighth of the world’s elderly. Most of them spend their whole lives as informal workers and have no retirement security other than the hope that their children will care for them in their old age. This arrangement worked well as long as[Read More…]
Water is the driving force of all nature. – Leonardo Da Vinci India has long undervalued one of its most precious resources—water. The country’s chronic mismanagement of water is staring at it now. Over 600 million Indians rely on the monsoon to replenish their water sources and the unpredictable nature of rain leaves them vulnerable. The country breaks out in[Read More…]
O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may attain Taqwa [God-consciousness] – (The Qur’an, Al-Baqarah: 183) Religious fasting traditions- from Ramadan to Ekadasi to Yom Kippur and Lent -are meant to relieve believers from unburden believers from day-to-day compulsions, helping them replenish their spirituality, remember the poor,[Read More…]
India’s eager quest for economic dynamism has been severely stifled by chronic corruption. The country needs to urgently modernize its institutions and end the culture of rent seeking and cutting corners if it is to allow the economic wheels to roll seamlessly. Corruption is both anti-national and anti-poor because the resources meant for poverty alleviation schemes get siphoned off by[Read More…]
I vividly remember my moment of epiphany. It was a balmy afternoon in early 1996 in Warora, a small township in northern Maharashtra. I was posted as a manager of my bank’s branch, dealing mostly with rural clients. I was busy trawling through the day’s mail and going about my tasks.Although transactions had not commenced, there was, as usual, an[Read More…]
By no means shall you attain righteousness, unless you give of that which you love. (Q 3: 92) The idea that helping others is part of a meaningful life has been around for thousands of years. For Muslims, charity is a central aspect of their faith and practice. In Islam, a culture of giving is interwoven into the fabric[Read More…]
Historians will tell you that a burst of creativity occurs when we start believing that the search for solutions to complex problems has come to an end. This explosion is fate’s way of reminding us that there is always something just over the curve of innovation. As the country continues to face mounting challenges, social entrepreneurs are pairing their ingenuity[Read More…]
The world’s investment leader, Warren Buffett, once said, “It’s only when the tide goes out that you realise who has been swimming naked”. When the banking system hit the rocks and the tide turned, the naked were caught disrobed. Similarly, sometimes it takes a pitch-black economy to reveal who and what in the financial firmament really shines. It is only[Read More…]
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. -Eleanor Roosevelt The world is witnessing a new breed of women leaders and game-changers who are gate crashing and boldly scaling new heights even as they are pairing their ingenuity and knowledge with passion for bringing lasting solutions to most pressing social challenges and creating a sustainable and[Read More…]
This is the holy month when Muslims, about one fifth of the world’s population, undergo a rigorous fast (not even a drop of water or spittle passes their throats). Muslims around the world take a journey within – to discover their inner strengths and strive zealously to subjugate their evil instincts. It is abstinence in its literal, metaphorical and allegorical[Read More…]
Despite the spectacular strides made in economic growth and having a technological boom, India still continues to struggle to attain freedom from hunger. It is bearing witness to a triple burden of malnutrition—the coexistence of undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, and overnutrition. According to the Economic Survey (2017-18), child and maternal malnutrition posed the most challenging health risk of our times. India[Read More…]
Sanitation is the key to proper hygiene, which is essential for a health and safety of the public. India’s record, especially when it comes to sanitation, has been abysmal so far. According to the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund Joint Monitoring Report (2017), more than half of the open defecation that occurs anywhere in the world[Read More…]
Historians will tell you that an explosion of creativity occurs the moment the world starts complaining that there is nothing left to invent, or that the search for solutions has come to an end. This explosion is fate’s way of reminding us that there is always something just over the horizon of knowledge. Social entrepreneurs are now using their talent to[Read More…]
Indian economy has made rapid strides in recent year but its abysmal health system remains an Achilles heel has impeded millions of people from sharing the gains of India’s new prosperity India has a laggardly record in its healthcare coverage. In per capita terms, adjusted for purchasing power, the public expenditure on health is $43 a year, compared to[Read More…]
The true teachers are those who help us think for ourselves –Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan India’s education sector has expanded rapidly in the last decade but the quality of learning remains pathetic on account of unimaginative and misguided policies. The Modi government’s budget this year was a mixed basket for the education sector, which is bogged with several serious issues aside[Read More…]
“In general, the rural moneylender as a species has proved surprisingly resilient, even in countries such as India and Indonesia where it has been a declared objective of state intervention in financial markets to suppress him.” — Hulme and Mosley, Finance Against Poverty A sense of deep despair runs through the lives of farmers in India. They have lost[Read More…]
India’s education sector is one of the largest sunrise sectors in the economic and social development of the country. With more than 1.5 million schools — 1.1 million of them run by the Government — and more than 250 million student enrollments, the country’s K-12 school system is among the largest and most complex in the world. Between 2010-11 and[Read More…]
The country’s largest bank, the State Bank of India (SBI), has closed as many as 41.16 lakh savings accounts between April-January in the current fiscal year for not maintaining the minimum balance, reveals an RTI query. Between April and November 2017, the bank had netted a windfall of Rs 1,771.67 crore, more than its second-quarter profit, from customers for non-maintenance[Read More…]
India has long undervalued one of its most precious resources—water. The country’s chronic mismanagement of water is staring at it now. Over 600 million Indians rely on the monsoon to replenish their water sources and the unpredictable nature of rain leaves them vulnerable. The country breaks out in a cold sweat every time the monsoon is delayed. Despite these alarming signals[Read More…]
In 1919 Charles Ponzi, a clerk in Boston, suckered Americans with a scheme that is now identified with his name. At a time when interest rates stood at 5 percent, Ponzi offered investors a 50 percent return in just 45 days. The pitch was to buy postal coupons—used for buying foreign stamps, in a particular country, and then capitalize[Read More…]
Does a career in the Indian civil service mean a life of ‘public service’? It is a puzzling question given the sloth and the thickets of red-tapism that have eroded the bureaucracy. Moreover, the way events have been unfolding, most will tend to agree that all it means is a lifetime of serving the most despicable lot of politicians[Read More…]
India produces enough food to meet the needs of its entire population yet, it is unable to feed millions of them, especially women and children. India ranks 100th among 119 countries in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2017, where it has consistently ranked poorly. Despite the fact that every twelfth Indian has to sleep on an empty stomach, the[Read More…]
The world’s great philanthropist and investment leader, Warren Buffett, once said, “It’s only when the tide goes out that you realise who has been swimming naked”. Well, it’s the ebb of the tide for many of India’s high-flying crony capitalists like Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, as they find themselves caught in an ignominious buff. Their diamonds may have sparkled[Read More…]
India is home to one-fifth of the world’s population which includes a third of the world’s poor and one-eighth of the world’s elderly. Several million of them who spend their whole lives as informal workers have no retirement security other than the hope that their children will care for them in their old age. This arrangement worked well as[Read More…]
Microfinance continues to thrive despite being under fire from legions of critics. One plausible reason for the lingering faith in the power of microfinance is that it provides a convenient strategy for investors to demonstrate that they are active fighters against poverty and are trying to save the poor while making a substantial amount of money from them. It is built[Read More…]
India has been home to a variety of arts and crafts which have won it a coveted place in the cultural heritage of the world. Handloom is one of the most exquisite textile traditions of India, and weaving was once the largest income generating activity in the country. The weavers’ craft is threatened with extinction by power looms which offer[Read More…]
Much is said, and rightly so, about the excesses of the press. Despite press codes and press laws ,partisan journalism continues to rule with an untrammeled pen. The press, enjoys the widest freedom.? Here again, the main concern is not to infringe the letter of the law. There is no moral responsibility for deformation or disproportion. What sort of[Read More…]
A dignified aura of its rich past cloaks every corner of Aurangabad, a bustling city in Maharashtra. The crowning minarets that dot the city landscape and the villages around it, dissolve into the mist of history as the lavender of the evening glow envelopes the monuments from which writers extract magical romances for their books. Legends abound of the[Read More…]
Historians will tell you that an explosion of creativity occurs the moment the world starts complaining that there is nothing left to invent or that the search for solutions to complex problems has come to an end. This explosion is fate’s way of reminding us that there is always something just over the horizon of knowledge. Social entrepreneurs are now[Read More…]
Faiz Ahmed Faiz—the poet, teacher, editor, freedom-fighter, dramatist, critic, progressive writer and Lenin Peace Prize recipient—is one of the greatest poets of the Indian subcontinent. He was not a mere dreamer of dreams but was an iconoclast who inspired a million mutinies. Great poets like Faiz are warriors and serve as the sentinels of the collective conscience of their[Read More…]
Most people have a psychological aversion to repaying bank loans. In several cases, they have sufficient assets and capital to redeem their debt but they use every possible means to avoid it. Things have turned so bad that whether it is an individual or institution, getting back any money at all is a reason for celebration. We have seen[Read More…]
Gender inequality is not only a pressing moral and social issue but also a critical economic challenge. India has a larger relative economic value at stake from advancing gender equality than any of the ten regions analysed in a McKinsey Global Institute report, The Power of Parity: How Advancing Women’s Equality Can add $12 Trillion To Global Growth. The report[Read More…]
India has long been a testing ground for several western products, particularly in agriculture and medicine—making the most of loose regulations and genetic diversity of a huge population. It is done to help cut research costs dramatically for lucrative products to be sold in the West. The relationship is highly exploitative and many believe it represents a new colonialism.[Read More…]
The penchant of development agencies for high-yielding cows has never abated. Whenever relief measures are planned for drought-affected families in villages, free cows are considered the best aid. I have seen several villages in my career where Holstein and Jersey’s cows arrive in wagonloads and every family in these parched villages is handed a cow. However, in a drought-affected[Read More…]
One of the most dispiriting features of modern development discourse is the strong influence of elitism. One of the pitfalls of elitism is that it places a disproportionate value on the style rather than the content of the approach. There are authors and writers on rural development who arrogate to themselves the right to hand out certificates for best practices.[Read More…]
Not long after Nirmala Geghate took over as sarpanch in Wanoja, a remote hamlet in northern Maharashtra, groups of young men stopped hanging out in front of the shop at the village square, where they used to ogle and catcall female laborers who walked by in dusty saris. There were several ripple effects of the new found women power[Read More…]
(And if your goal be truth, Is this the right road— Europe’s faults all glossed, and all Islam’s held to so strict an audit?) -Sir Muhammad Iqbal Too often in the news, Islam is only associated with terrorism and extremism. An uninformed viewer may think: How could anyone in their right minds find inspiration and solace from such a[Read More…]
The Indian village has, for long, been viewed as a convenient entry-point for understanding Indian society. At the beginning of the 20th century, Mahatma Gandhi had emphatically declared: “The soul of India lives in its villages”. Even after 70 years of Independence, in the wake of urbanisation, villages are at the core of the country’s soul. For social anthropologists,[Read More…]
In an ashram perched high on a hill above the city of Guwahati is a small exhibit commemorating the life of India’s most famous son. Alongside a bed where Mahatma Gandhi himself slept is a display reminding visitors of something the man himself said in 1921: “Of all the evils for which man has made himself responsible, none is so[Read More…]
A development professional’s career demands not just technical skills but empathy; not a form of empathy that comes from superiority, but one born from a profound humility. l’ve learned hard lessons that have shaped my ideas about good principles and practices in development. The most abiding lesson is that we should value people over projects, and at the same time value[Read More…]
A recent report by IndiaSpend states that professional moneylenders, who can charge up to four times more interest than the government’s banking system, hold more rural debt than ever, from 19.6 percent in 2002 to 28.2 percent in 2013. According to a 2017 study by Stanford University’s Center on Global Poverty and Development, farmers take loans from informal sources at high rates of interest[Read More…]
The public perception of Muslim women is one of stubborn stereotypes: supposedly powerless and oppressed, behind walls and veils, demure, voiceless and silent figures, discriminated and bereft of even basic rights. Contrary to this general belief, Muslim women have held the flag of enlightenment throughout history. The early Muslim community recognised and honoured a wide spectrum of female roles and[Read More…]
Of all the lawful acts the most detestable to God is divorce. – Prophet Muhammad [This an authentic saying recorded by Abdullah ibn Umar, a highly respected companion of the prophet in an authoritative treatise “Divorce (Kitab Al-Talaq)” of Sunan Abu-Dawud (Ref. 63-2173)] India is currently mired in a war between theology and law as it tries to articulate[Read More…]
The silhouette of the large mosque, brick-like but for a bulbous dome, looks blurry in the downpour past the minarets as the imposing wide red brick gates, herald you into the hallowed precincts of an institution—one of the most influential institutions in the world that frames Islamic discourse in the subcontinent. The occasional rain is heavy, lending a sparkle to the green paddies[Read More…]
The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt In India, the priorities of village people are constantly undergoing changes. These are, in fact, a result of the changes the development landscape is undergoing.[Read More…]
Henry Thoreau, the 19th century American poet, naturalist and philosopher once remarked: “It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look to affect the quality of the[Read More…]
We are guilty of many errors and many faults, but our worst crime is abandoning the children, neglecting the fountain of life. Many of the things we need can wait. The child cannot. Right now is the time his bones are being formed, his blood is being made, and his senses are being developed. To him we cannot answer ‘Tomorrow,’[Read More…]
Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone – we find it with another. -Thomas Merton, Love and Living Henry Thoreau, the 19th century writer, naturalist and philosopher once remarked: “It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few[Read More…]
What a relief to be empty! Then God can live your life -Rumi In the chaos that prevails around us, there is a growing feeling of desolation and misery. The pace of modern times has upset the rhythm of life and the music is slowly ebbing out. Living in a harsh world we have developed cynicism and hatred. Our[Read More…]
India has long undervalued one of its most precious resources—water—and today the country’s chronic mismanagement of water has led to drought in nearly 2,00,000 villages. According to the World Bank data, Indian farmers use almost 70% of the total groundwater that is drawn in the country each year. Shockingly, India uses more groundwater annually than China and the United[Read More…]
India grows enough food to meet the needs of its entire population, yet is unable to feed millions of them, especially women and children. India ranks 100 in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) — 2017 of 119 countries, where it has consistently ranked poor. Even as millions of Indians go to sleep on an empty stomach, the country wastes[Read More…]
You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you -John Bunyan When I got my first job in a small town, I was lucky to get wonderful neighbors. A lady whom I regularly encountered was Samina, a devout and demure housewife who struggled to feed the family. For several reasons,[Read More…]
India’s economy is soaring but its healthcare system remains an Achilles’ heel. For millions of people, the high cost of treating illness continues to undermine economic progress. This is largely on account of the abysmal and chaotic healthcare system owing to the declining budgetary healthcare support by the government. India now ranks close to the bottom of the pile[Read More…]
Any sensible government must learn to unleash the energy of its people and get them to perform instead of trying to get a bureaucracy to perform ―Verghese Kurien, I Too Had a Dream Tackling poverty requires an approach that must start with the people themselves and encourages the initiative, creativity and drive from below. The strategy must be at the[Read More…]
“Learn this now and learn it well, my daughter: Like a compass needle that points north, a man’s accusing finger always finds a woman. Always.” In Khaled Hosseini’s novel about life in Afghanistan, A Thousand Splendid Suns, the character Nana, a poor unwed mother, gives this grim advice to her five-year-old daughter, Mariam. In 25 words, she tries to sum up[Read More…]
Poor women’s suffering has long been a sure-fire way to pull on the heartstrings of rich donors, but in recent years there has been a newfound appreciation for the role that these women play in breaking the cycle of poverty and stabilising fragile societies. It has been said that women who are closest to the world’s most pressing issues are[Read More…]
In the late nineties I was manager of a bank branch at Warora, a small town in western Maharshtra. We had to make frequent trips to the Block Development Office at Warora and the Collector’s secretariat in Chandrapur for discussions on various rural development projects being undertaken by our bank branch. We believed that instead of individual clients going and[Read More…]
The present-day education reformers believe that schools are broken and market solutions are the only remedy. Many of them embrace disruptive innovations, primarily through online learning. There is a strong belief that real breakthroughs can come only through the transformative power of technology or the invisible hand of the market. However, findings suggest that this strategy has not lived up[Read More…]
Historians will say that an explosion of creativity occurs the moment the world starts complaining that there is nothing left to invent, or that the search for solutions to complex problems has come to an end. This explosion is fate’s way of reminding us that there is always something just over the horizon of knowledge. Social entrepreneurs are now using[Read More…]
These pains you feel are messengers. Listen to them. — Rumi, Essential Rumi “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade”. Everyone knows the cliché, of course, and brave people often rise above adversity to climb great heights. Given that life hands lemons to everyone from time to time, the bravest approach is to turn those “lemons” into lemonade. I put[Read More…]
(International Anti-Corruption Day-9 December, 2017) Corruption is amongst the most debilitating economic illnesses that afflicts large parts of the world. It erodes the quality of life for ordinary citizens, devastates the moral fabric of society, and impedes growth. In the last four decades, despite several government programmes for the welfare of the rural poor, poverty remains endemic. Either the nets were[Read More…]
Eighty kilometres to the east of Nagpur in central India lies Bapu Kuti, a historic site in Sewagram, the ‘village of service’, which is nestled in the serene rustic surroundings of the Wardha district. This dwelling was the residential abode of Mahatma Gandhi from 1936 to 1948 and was the epicentre of the Indian freedom movement. During the 12[Read More…]
When ideas fail, words come in very handy. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe We live in an age when noisy posturing too often substitutes for reasoned debate and brash opinion trumps hard fact. The thread of the argument often disappears in a blizzard of gee-whiz statistics, acronyms, and catch phrases in interviews with eminent folks of all kinds. Yet the[Read More…]
The inertia of a jungle village is a dangerous thing. Before you know it your whole life has slipped by and you are still waiting there. ― Tahir Shah, House of the Tiger Kin The Indian village has been celebrated by every poet who has admitted to having been touched by India including Rudyard Kipling and Rabindranath Tagore. Social scientists[Read More…]
(Birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad-2nd December 2017) As you read these lines, 1.6 billion Muslims across the world, from Morocco to Jakarta, will be paying homage to the Prophet Muhammad on his birthday. This day, 1,428 years ago, Prophet Muhammad delivered the historic Last Sermon (khutabat al-wida) on the parched terrain of Mount of Mercy (Jabal ar-Rahmah) in the Uranah[Read More…]
Heard so much about the heart, but so less about kidneys, right? Our kidneys don’t get a lot of love, and definitely don’t get the attention or concern associated with other major organs like our heart, liver, and lungs. Kidneys are the unsung organs of public health campaigns. We know how to care for our hearts (exercise and eating well)[Read More…]
One of the most challenging problems of our times is homelessness. While we continue to record improvements in dealing with poverty, homelessness has been plagued with an unimaginative response from policy pundits.The apathetic approach of successive governments is symptomatic of the disease that ails India’s housing system. Housing is often the bedrock of other development interventions: owning land boosts health[Read More…]
Financial services are like clean water and electricity. They are made possible though ideal financial societies that provide safe and convenient ways of managing their everyday simple monetary affairs. This philosophy is known as financial inclusion. It includes providing affordable, safe and properly regulated financial tools to people. These tools enable them to save and to responsibly borrow—allowing them[Read More…]
Women and girls play a lesser recognised role as drivers of growth and progress and powerful agents of change. Gender remains a critically important and largely ignored lens to view development issues across the world. Gender inequality is not only a pressing moral and social issue but also a critical economic challenge. India has a larger relative economic value at[Read More…]
The poor themselves can create a poverty-free world all we have to do is to free them from the chains that we have put around them -Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus When I first initiated livelihood finance projects for women, more than two decades back, I encountered stiff resistance from the local elders who couldn’t believe that their women could[Read More…]
Poverty won’t allow him to lift up his head; dignity won’t allow him to bow it down — Malagasy Proverb The global battle against poverty has acquired a new dimension this year with Pope Francis declaring 19 November 2017 as the First World Day of the Poor. Hereafter it will be observed on 33rd Sunday of every year. The[Read More…]
The Gaekwad family lives in a single-room-house on the outskirts of a city. The family cooks their food, eats it and sleeps in the same room. This room is also used as a play area by their three-year-old child. Lack of credit has prevented the Gaekwads from obtaining a loan to improve their living conditions. There are millions of low-income families[Read More…]
The large swathes of cotton farms in Central India have been the epicentre of a global crisis that has gripped the rural population in crippling debts and driven thousands to suicide. But amidst the gloom, it is the women of this region who have emerged as the torchbearers of hope and progress. This new hope comes in the form[Read More…]
In India, the priorities of people are constantly undergoing changes. These are, in fact, a result of the changes the development landscape is undergoing. A generation or two ago, ending hunger would have been the overwhelming need. Not any more even if malnutrition remains a challenge. Development also has brought electricity, more roads, pumps and overhead tanks — all[Read More…]
Managing money well begins with hanging on to what you have. This means avoiding unnecessary expenditure and then finding a safe place to store whatever money is left over. Making that choice—the choice to save rather than to consume—is the foundation of money management. -Stuart Rutherford The importance of savings has been understood from very early times even in[Read More…]
The development community seems constantly and restlessly in search of a singular approach that will solve poverty, unveiling new theories every few years only to toss them aside. The fundamental flaw with this system is that each new approach fails to break out of the underlying technocratic and specialized paradigm. We must understand that there is no precooked blueprint[Read More…]
Finance is the cementing force that holds all the pieces of our life together. It enables money to be in the right place, at the right time, and for the right situation. To borrow and save is to move money from the future to the present or from the present to the future. To insure is to move money from[Read More…]
Historians will tell you that an explosion of creativity occurs the moment the world starts complaining that there is nothing left to invent, or that the search for solutions has come to an end. This explosion is fate’s way of reminding us that there is always something just over the horizon of knowledge. Social entrepreneurs are now using their talent to[Read More…]
The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design. —F.A. Hayek, The Fatal Conceit: The Errors Of Socialism I firmly believe it is possible to eliminate poverty in our country— provided we re-examine the wisdom of our professional approaches. The poor are poor not because they are[Read More…]
Managing money well begins with hanging on to what you have. This means avoiding unnecessary expenditure and then finding a safe place to store whatever money is left over. Making that choice—the choice to save rather than to consume—is the foundation of money management.” -Stuart Rutherford More than four decades ago, the idea of microcredit was born out of[Read More…]
(International Day for the Eradication of Poverty –17 October 2017) This year marks the 25th anniversary of the declaration by the United Nations of 17 October as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. We have still a long way to go for making this world poverty free .One of the key strategies for eliminating poverty is focusing on women and girls. Achieving gender[Read More…]
I recently came across a wonderful introduction to Islam titled Islam Is Good: Muslims Should Follow It by Sanjiv Bhatla that compresses encyclopedic insights in a small volume. His study of the Prophet is primarily based on Martin Lings’ book. For the Quran’s interpretation, he relies on the translation by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan and supplements it with that of Abdullah Yusuf li.
Microfinance — an approach to financial inclusion based on providing small loans and other financial services to poor people, and primarily women-has generated considerable enthusiasm, not just in the development community but also at political levels In the last decade and half microfinance institutions (MFIs) in India have struggled to gain legitimacy as credible institutions even though they have[Read More…]
(World Mental Health Day -10th October 2017) According to an India Spend report, the number of Indians suffering from mental illness exceeds that of the population of South Africa. At present, the mentally ill account for nearly 6.5 percent of the country’s population and it is estimated that by 2020 this number will increase to a staggering 20 percent. Further, the[Read More…]
When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw. -Nelson Mandela India has been bedeviled by a spate of gruesome lynchings. And at the epicenter of the country’s violent upheaval is the indolent cow which is considered sacred by Hindus .The targeted communities have lately[Read More…]
We live in a world in which women living in poverty face gross inequalities and injustice from birth to death. The global statistics on poverty are numbing. The real brunt has always fallen on women and sometimes it is very cruel. Women are commonly married young, quickly become mothers, and are then burdened by stringent domestic and financial responsibilities.[Read More…]
During my first assignment at Aurangabad, my boss, R. P. Mehta, was a little bemused at the amicable way I treated my clients, given banks’ notoriety for poor customer service. Mehta was given the impression by my colleagues that I was liberal in my approach with borrowers and hypersensitive to customer complaints. Mehta could be ruthless with errant staff and[Read More…]
The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.” –George Orwell Too much of the thinking about Muslim rulers is now being shaped along predictable, clichéd lines. This is true of all shades of opinion, perception and scholarship. There is evidence from a number of established scholarly discourses that the public[Read More…]
Feminism has never been about getting a job for one woman. It’s about making life more fair for women everywhere. It’s not about a piece of the existing pie; there are too many of us for that. It’s about baking a new pie. — Gloria Steinem Poor women’s suffering has long been a surefire way to pull on the heartstrings of rich[Read More…]
I am a professional banker taught and trained in the hard and coarse grammar of banking. At the same time I am a developmental worker at heart always keen to empathize with the poor and their cause. Although I began my career in the exciting and turbulent world of corporate finance, microfinance (which in a common man’s language means[Read More…]
The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.” –George Orwell Too much of the thinking about Muslim rulers is now being shaped along predictable, clichéd lines. This is true of all shades of opinion, perception and scholarship. There is evidence from a number of established scholarly discourses that the[Read More…]
Of all the lawful acts the most detestable to God is divorce –Prophet Muhammad (This an authentic saying recorded by Abdullah ibn Umar, a highly respected companion of the prophet in an authoritative treatise “Divorce (Kitab Al-Talaq)” of Sunan Abu-Dawud (Ref. 63-2173) The Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down the practice of instant triple talaq, calling it unconstitutional and in[Read More…]
The farmers in northern Maharashtra had suffered badly on account of low yields of cotton; additionally, the government procurement prices for cotton were pegged low. As a result, our loan recoveries plummeted. I conducted a detailed assessment of the farmers and realized that their plight was genuine and a rehabilitation package had to be worked out. I informed my[Read More…]
Finance is the glue that holds all pieces of our life together. Ideal financial societies are those which provide safe and convenient ways of managing these simple monetary affairs. This philosophy is known as financial inclusion. It is providing financial tools to people —tools that people can afford, that are safe and properly regulated, that people can access conveniently[Read More…]
The increasing tendency towards seeing people in terms of one dominant ‘identity’ (‘this is your duty as an American’, ‘you must commit these acts as a Muslim’, or ‘as a Chinese you should give priority to this national engagement’) is not only an imposition of an external and arbitrary priority, but also the denial of an important liberty of a[Read More…]
Even as India celebrated its 70th year of independence, the number of suicides of beleaguered farmers in Marathwada, the drought prone belt of Maharashtra, touched a new high. In the last seven and half months ending with !5th August ,580 cultivators have committed suicide .At the end of July, the toll stood at 531 and it has gone up[Read More…]
When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw. -Nelson Mandela Most of us who lead lives of privilege tend to take freedom for granted. On the edge of our own realities are those that can’t. Between the time a young IT professional was[Read More…]
The poor themselves can create a poverty-free world all we have to do is to free them from the chains that we have put around them -Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus When I first initiated livelihood finance projects through women collectives called as self help groups, more than two decades back, I encountered stiff resistance from the local elders who[Read More…]
Women are the mainstay of small-scale agriculture, the farm labour force and day-to-day family subsistence. The biggest myth is that the rural woman is part of her land’s wealth. Yes, but only to the extent of generating it. They don’t own land but produce secondary crops, gather food and firewood, process, store and prepare family food and fetch water[Read More…]
While debates continue to rage on reforming the agricultural sector to improve the economic conditions of farmer, there has till now recently been no attempt to focus on the likely mental problems arising out of economic stress that may be leading to suicides. Farm suicides are a reflection of the economic plight of an ailing rural economy but demonstrate the utter state of mental hopelessness and weak resilience of farmers who have become emotionally so fragile that they are meekly taking their own lives.
Water is crucial to all societies as it has a myriad of uses. However, in India, it is of much more importance as over 600 million people make a living off the land. They rely on the monsoon to replenish their water sources and the unpredictable nature of rain leaves them vulnerable. The country breaks out in a cold sweat[Read More…]
Tackling poverty requires a fundamentally different approach: one that starts with people themselves and encourages the initiative, creativity and drive from below .This principle must be at the core of any programme aiming at transformation of their lives. It is only then that if it can be lasting and meaningful. If people can be given the support they need[Read More…]
One of the toughest tasks I had to handle in my long career as a banker was handling the recalcitrant defaulters who made us literally beseech and supplicate before them when they refused to pay up the loan. I had to make regular appearances in the witness box whenever we filed a law suit against any tough loan defaulter.[Read More…]
This has been a phenomenon quite old with the corporate world, but now it has acquired a glamorous face. .It is rural development or euphemistically called CSR tourism—brief visits by corporate leaders whose businesses are obliged to take up community development as part of public commitment. But, as is their wont, many businesses are using these opportunities for brand[Read More…]
Woman Work I’ve got the children to tend The clothes to mend The floor to mop The food to shop Then the chicken to fry The baby to dry I got company to feed The garden to weed I’ve got shirts to press The tots to dress The can to be cut I gotta clean up this hut Then[Read More…]
At least 217 farmers have ended their life in the month following Maharashtra Government’s farm loan waiver announcement on June 2 this year.This numbers for the month of June equal the average monthly figures in the past six months.
While the government is set to forgive billions of dollars of farm debts, the actually distressed class among them will have little respite from their misery .They owe their debts to moneylenders whereas the government waiver applies only to formal credit. In Maharashtra, farmers’ dependence on private money lenders has shown a steep rise. Loans disbursed by private money[Read More…]
The portrayal of Muslim women in the media is grim and sombre. The public perception of them is one of stubborn stereotypes: supposedly powerless and oppressed, behind walls and veils, demure, voiceless and silent figures, discriminated and bereft of even basic rights. This picture keeps reinforcing itself, largely because this is how the Western media caricatures women in Islam.[Read More…]
While the government is set to forgive billions of dollars of loans of farmers, the actually distressed class among them will have no respite from their misery .They owe their debts to moneylenders whereas the government waiver applies only to formal credit. Almost every farmer in India’s massive rural swathes is tethered, in one way or another, to the sahukar, the[Read More…]
The Indian women farmer, almost never publicly acknowledged, reviled by superstition and patriarchy, and increasingly troubled by entrenched social and cultural mores and taboos bears the real burden of farm labour. Nearly 98 million Indian women have agricultural jobs, but around 63% of them, or 61.6 million women, are agricultural labourers, dependent on the farms of others, according to[Read More…]
India is now the world’s fastest-growing major economy, but years of drought and a failure to create jobs for a burgeoning young population has left millions of rural Indians struggling. India’s 120 million farmers are considered e the backbone of the country’s food security but disillusionment runs through almost entire rural India. Farming remains the country’s dark spot and[Read More…]
Farmers in India do a lot of talking about the weather—especially, it seems, when there is no weather in sight. During the month of May, when the land heats up like a furnace and most fields lie fallow, when wells have run dry and the sun taunts from its broiling perch in a cloudless sky, there is no topic[Read More…]
An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics. ― Plutarch It has been said that women who are closest to the world’s most pressing issues are best placed to solve them. Women are economic factors: They produce and process food for the family; they are the primary caretakers of children, the[Read More…]
India spends more on programmes for the poor than most developing countries, but is not getting the expected dividends that significant public expenditure would seem to warrant, and the needs of important population groups still remain partly addressed. This has been haunting social scientists and policy makers . India has ranked a lowly 131 among the 188 countries surveyed for[Read More…]
A decade or two ago, many in India’s development community acted with the best of intentions, but without the best of evidence. If households lack clean water—help build wells ; if people suffer ill health—set up health services; if the poor lack capital to start businesses, give them credit. But the actual reality is not simple, it is very[Read More…]
The large swathes of cotton farms in Central India have been the epicenter of a global crisis that has gripped the rural population in crippling debts and has driven thousands of them to suicide. But the great news is women in this region have creatively and doggedly used the power of hope to reemerge form the ruins. This new[Read More…]
Nagpur’s oranges, which were the pride of the country, are fast losing sheen. Nagpur still retains the appellation of “Orange City” but the scene today is nowhere near the mystical description that famous Englishman Major Henry Bevan gave following his visit to Nagpur in 1818. “The greatest ornament of the garden is… (an) orange tree called Cintra (santra) or[Read More…]
We live in a world in which women living in poverty face gross inequalities and injustice from birth to death. From poor education to poor nutrition to vulnerable and low pay employment, the sequence of discrimination that a woman may suffer during her entire life is unacceptable but all too common. When we want to help the poor, we usually[Read More…]
The claims of microfinance are not necessarily dubious but then as the saying goes, there are three sides to every story—your side, his side and the truth. The good claims are trumpeted and the bad evidence is rubbished. It is a reminder that those who provide microfinancial services need to monitor carefully not only their positive impacts but also their[Read More…]
How many deaths will it take ‘til he knows That too many people have died The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind, The answer is blowin’ in the wind. –Bob Dylan, Nobel Laureate India’s economy may be soaring, but agriculture remains its Achilles’ heel, the source of livelihood for hundreds of millions of people but a fraction[Read More…]
This is the centenary year of the Champaran sayagraha (policy of passive political resistance) – the first experiment by Mahatma Gandhi of his epic philosophy .This tool was to become Gandhi’s most powerful amour and earned him a cherished and coveted place in the pantheon of world ‘s legendary leaders . Gandhi launched his satyagraha in Champaran district on[Read More…]
Pride and dignity would belong to women if only men would leave them alone. Egyptian Proverb Gender inequality is not only a pressing moral and social issue but also a critical economic challenge. India has a larger relative economic value at stake from advancing gender equality than any of the ten regions analyzed in a McKinsey Global Institute report, The Power of Parity:[Read More…]
Woman must not accept; she must challenge. She must not be awed by that which has been built up around her; she must reverence that woman in her which struggles for expression. – Margaret Sanger Providing women with more and better opportunities to fulfill their social, economic, and political roles is now deemed so essential for reducing poverty and[Read More…]
Women are the mainstays of small-scale agriculture, the farm labour force and day-to-day family subsistence. The biggest myth is that the rural woman is part of her land’s wealth. Yes, but only to the extent of generating it. They don’t own land but produce secondary crops, gather food and firewood, process, store and prepare family food and fetch water[Read More…]
I always believe that people can do wonders, if their energy is channelized and focused on a given task. Tomorrows are made by people. A lesson I learnt early in life is that great leaders don’t teach. They touch and transform. They don’t instruct; they inspire by their conduct and disposition. They help people discover within themselves the strength to[Read More…]
Any sensible government must learn to unleash the energy of its people and get them to perform instead of trying to get a bureaucracy to perform ―Verghese Kurien, I Too Had a Dream Tackling poverty requires an approach that must start with the people themselves and encourages the initiative, creativity and drive from below. The strategy must be at the[Read More…]
There can be no higher law in journalism than to tell the truth and to shame the devil. -Walter Lippmann In an ideal world, journalism is a profession of incredible integrity. Good journalists are amongst the most dexterous and skilled people in the world—and also the most respected. We have all benefited from the work of indefatigable journalists who[Read More…]
India spends more on programs for the poor than most developing countries, but it has failed to eradicate poverty because of widespread corruption and faulty government administration. India is not getting the ‘bang for the rupee’ that its significant expenditure would there is need for a radical overhaul of India’s social programs. Marginal changes alone may not deliver the kind[Read More…]
I often wondered why was it that when there were so many social programmes for the poor that poverty was yet so endemic and stubborn. Despite such vast investments there were regions in which we could just nibble at the frozen layers of poverty. This is not to discount the enormous progress we have made in improving the social indicators,[Read More…]
The perception that the poor do not have skills or would not be able to survive on their own is a myth. My experience with development finance has demonstrated that we have to encourage strategies that ensure wider participation of poor in schemes aimed at solving their problems. It is the unleashing of their social and mental energies and,[Read More…]
Access to the right financial tools at critical moments can determine whether a poor household is able to capture an opportunity to move out of poverty or absorb a shock without being pushed deeper into debt. When microfinance-provision of financial services tailored to fit the needs of low income people – made its first appearance, everyone was infatuated by[Read More…]
Each time a woman stands up for herself, without knowing it possibly, without claiming it, she stands up for all women ― Maya Angelou Over the years several strategies have been used to empower women .One of them relies on community groups whose members can be trained and equipped to use their collective strength and wisdom to tackle their problems. [Read More…]
Of all the world’s major ills – such as war, hunger, and natural disasters – none can quite compare to the millions of baby girls and female fetuses killed by parents .The National Family Health Survey 4 data for 2015-16 indicates that the practice of aborting female fetuses and murdering girls after birth is being contained efforts The sex[Read More…]
Today, microfinance — an approach to financial inclusion based on providing small loans and other financial services to poor people, primarily women — is a global multi-billion dollar industry with operations on all continents .Microfinance had once generated considerable enthusiasm, not just in the development community but also at political levels. It was considered a marvelous innovation and was expected[Read More…]
We live in a world in which women living in poverty face gross inequalities and injustice from birth to death. From poor education to poor nutrition to vulnerable and low pay employment, the sequence of discrimination is very hard, but all too common. They face significant constraints in maximizing their But there are also silvery strands in this dark[Read More…]
A decade or two ago, many in the development community acted with the best of intentions, but without the best of evidence. If households lack clean water—help build wells ; if people suffer ill health—set up health services; if the poor lack capital to start businesses, give them credit. But the actual reality is not simple, it is very[Read More…]
This woman, who is your beloved, is in fact a ray of His light, She is not a mere creature. She is like a creator -Rumi In recent years, due to the global socio-political climate, the phrase “Muslim woman” might conjure an image of a demure un-empowered woman sheltered by her veil Yet this image is not what our[Read More…]
If you’re in trouble, or hurt or need – go to the poor people. They’re the only ones that’ll help – the only ones. ― John Steinbeck The Indian women farmer, almost never publicly acknowledged, reviled by superstition and patriarchy, and increasingly troubled by entrenched social and cultural mores and taboos bears the real burden of farm labour. Nearly 98 million[Read More…]
We will have to sign off 2016 with a cultural baggage of a new vocabulary which elderly and illiterate Indians may not be comfortable with , but have to embrace it in order to honour the government since the new rules of democracy leave them with little choice. . Most of the conversations in the new year we will have[Read More…]
Demonetization has left deep scars on the economy and, despite assurances from the government, the journey to normalcy may be slower and more painful than expected. The denudation of India’s vast informal economy, almost entirely dependent on cash, has put the marginalized and economically vulnerable – farmers, daily-wage labourers, street vendors , small businesses, tiny industries, shops, and countless[Read More…]
daak laaya kushi ka payaam kaheen dardanaak laaya daakiya daak laaya …” —From the film Palkon Ki Chhaon Mein’ (1977) The Rajesh Khanna, Hema Malini starrer 1977 film was a flop in the Box Office, but the song, penned by Gulzar and sung by Kishore Kumar remains a strong favourite for that generation. The lyric reflects a reality all[Read More…]
In India, most development programmes for poor have been designed on the assumption that the poor need charities and they cannot afford to pay for the services .This is erroneous and we have witnessed how dollops of free money have stifled their initiatives .Several studies have revealed that the poor are keen to have access to proper healthcare ,[Read More…]
When I first initiated livelihood finance projects through women collectives called as Self Help Groups, more than two decades back, I encountered stiff resistance from the local elders who couldn’t believe that their women could attend a meeting without a male chaperone. There were some who felt that since I was a male, I had no customary sanction to interact[Read More…]
The orange growers of Nagpur have now joined the fellowship of pain of their peers in the cotton farming community. Demonetization has dented the orange trade in Vidarbha. The orange exporters who export to Bangladesh have suffered the most as the fruit prices have fallen by up to 50%. “Prices have crashed by 50% and the time to harvest the fruits is getting over. We fear that the situation can lead to increase in suicides of farmers,” was written in a memorandum that was given[Read More…]
Almost every farmer across India’s arid cotton-bearing central plateau is a hostage, in one way or another, of the moneylender. The present demonetization has come as a blessing for the moneylenders For centuries moneylenders have monopolized rural Indian credit markets. Families have lost land, farmers have been asked to prostitute their wives to pay off debts and, when all else[Read More…]
Microfinance continues to thrive despite being under fire from legions of critics. One plausible reason for the lingering faith in the power of microfinance is that it provides a convenient strategy for investors to demonstrate that that they are active fighters against poverty and are trying to save the poor while making a substantial amount of money from them. Microfinance –[Read More…]
The portrayal of Muslim women that we glimpse in the media is grim and somber. The public perception of them is one of stubborn stereotypes: supposedly powerless and oppressed, behind walls and veils, demure, voiceless and silent figures, discriminated and bereft of even basic rights. This picture keeps reinforcing itself, largely because this is how the Western media caricatures women[Read More…]
The best of you are those who are the kindest to their wives. Prophet Muhammad The Allahabad High Court has finally got the clock of judicial activism ticking by saying that triple talaq is unconstitutional. It was no surprise and the liberal strands in Muslims thought had already stood out clear. Indeed, one of the reasons triple talaq has[Read More…]
The Indian women farmer, almost never publicly acknowledged, reviled by superstition and patriarchy, and increasingly troubled by entrenched social and cultural mores and taboos bears the real burden of farm labour. Nearly 98 million Indian women have agricultural jobs, but around 63% of them, or 61.6 million women, are agricultural labourers, dependent on the farms of others, according to 2011[Read More…]
More than a billion people in the world are employed in agriculture, and in India, one out of four people are farmers or agricultural workers. Farm output contributes $325 billion. ( about 15 per cent) to India’s $2-trillion economy. Small farmers—who constitute 85 percent of farmers globally—make up one of the largest constituencies among the world’s poor .Small and[Read More…]
Worldwide millions of women have traditional responsibilities as food growers, water and fuel gatherers, and care-givers. In South Asia, women make up make up 43% of the agriculture workforce in developing countries and account for around 66% of the world’s subsistence livestock keepers. Women secure clean water for drinking and cooking; they are familiar with non-timber forest products (medicinal plants[Read More…]
The transformation of women’s roles is the last great impediment to universal progress. Indian women haven’t always had much by way of social agency or power whereby they could formulate strategic choices, and control resources and decisions that affect important life outcomes. This , however, hasn’t stopped them from elbowing past certain patriarchal structures to powerful effect. The introduction of[Read More…]
Despite being the country with the second largest agricultural land in the world, hardly two fifth or forty percent of the agricultural land is irrigated. Also, even though the country boasts of being the highest producer of many major agro commodities in the world, it suffers from low productivity. The naked and cruel truth is that agriculture remains its Achilles’[Read More…]
It has been more than 20 years since the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts – termed as post-Independent India’s most revolutionary exercise in democratic decentralization and devolution of power – were passed by the Parliament, mandating one-third seats in all local governments be reserved for women. The biggest significance of women’s reservation was that it unlocked the power, talent[Read More…]
If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman -Margaret Thatcher If we want to bring a truly transformative gender revolution, we must remember that all women, regardless of their marital status, need access to education, good jobs, and support for domestic duties. Although transforming long-held laws, beliefs and practices may be difficult,[Read More…]
A mother is a school. Empower her and you empower a great nation. -Hafez Ibrahim, Egyptian poet The real tragedy of the poor, particularly the women among them, is that their voice is unheard in forums, even at those which are exclusively devoted to their problems. As the Madagasy proverb goes, “poverty won’t allow him to lift his head, dignity[Read More…]
Money is the seed of money, and the first guinea is sometimes more difficult to acquire than the second million. —Jean-Jacques Rousseau The 21st century poses many challenges that require new ways of thinking, none more important than the economic role of women in a rapidly changing world. Over the last several decades, it has become accepted wisdom that improving the[Read More…]
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My Amma (Malayalam word for Mother) passed away on August 22, 2023 at 3.10 AM. It is always difficult to deal with the passing of a parent, that too one’s mother. I thought the grief would go away. No it didn’t. All those bitter sweet memories won’t go away. At night I lie awake for hours. My friend, guide and[Read More…]
