Thanks Santanu. I am pleased to be able to spread the good news,
tiny as it may be, isolated as it may be.
My classmate and close friend from IIT, Murthy Sudhakar,of South
Pasadena, California, also is doing something similar in Tamilnadu,
with Dalits and other such people left behind by the kind of
'PROSPERITY' Ram and others love to cite in these 'PERFORMING'
states.
I was talking to Sudhakar the other day about RVC. He raised a
point, without MY coaching him :-), about something I debated
extensively here in Assam Net months back- that NGOs cannot be a
replacement for the GOs, who have the resources and the
responsibilities for doing what these NGOs are doing with little
resource and fighting the GOs who work against the interest of these
people, or do not co-operate or even pose as obstacles.
But without NGOs like RVC, so many would be in so much worse
shape than they are.
Most of all though I wanted to touch upon the point you raised
about "--integration
of the Indian economy into the global economy ".
*** This is something that is a very complicated issue and I have
learned, a little bit, how such 'global bodies' as the Asian
Development Bank, the World Bank, and WTO agreements are ACTIVELY and
DIRECTLY harming many if not MOST of these people in the margins of
our societies, their livelihoods, their environments and their very
existence.
Let me give you one tiny example someone gave me:
Ravindranath gave me another example about the negative impact of
WTO's market opening. The people he ministers to are people who will
be sold useless goods--like make-up, fancy clothing, cell-phones, but
will buy NOTHING in return from them. It is not MUTUAL trading! It is
ONE sided EXPLOITATION.
You being the economist will know far more about these than I
would. But from the little I saw and heard, it does not at all look
good Santanu. It left me very angry.
Perhaps you will enlighten us.
Take care,
c-da
At 10:57 AM -0600 1/3/06, Roy, Santanu wrote:
Dear Chandan-da:
Thank you for writing about the RVC. It was very uplifting. I think we should try to do something to help in our own small ways - whenever we can.
Of course, hats off to the people who dedicate their life and skills to such organizations.
For me, a greater sign of hope is the fact that an environment for such voluntary enterprises exists now. I don't think it would have been possible fifteen or even ten years ago. The success stories of some skillful and dedicated NGOs in other parts of the country (along with the bad eggs that are just out to make money), the recognition they receive now from society at large and the incentives from international bodies and global voluntary organizations that are a part of the integration of the Indian economy into the global economy - have created some of the essential conditions for sprouting of such activities in more neglected areas of the country where none but the missionaries had gone before. I also think it is a sign that sufficient "peace" exists for people to feel secure enough to work in such long term projects and that bodes well for the future.
Regards,
Santanu.
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