-Caveat Lector- Human Rights Celebrated and Reaffirmed By Ken Gewertz Gazette Staff There is no recorded case of a famine occurring in a democratic country. The statement sounds incredible, and yet, according to Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen, it can be backed up with facts. His own country of India, for example, has not had a famine since it won its independence from Great Britain in 1947. The most recent famine took place in Bengal in 1943, a disaster that claimed the lives of millions. The reason democracy renders a country famine-proof is quite simple, Sen explains: "When the poor are given a voice, then the government has an incentive to do something about the problem. No government can afford to have a famine if it has to face a free electorate." Sen, who is currently Lamont University Professor Emeritus, adjunct professor at the School of Public Health, and a visiting professor in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, in addition to serving as Master of Trinity College in Cambridge University, England, is one of the worldıs leading authorities on welfare economics. For years he has argued that freedom and democracy (and related social issues such as education, health care, and gender equity) are not separate from the alleviation of poverty. Rather, the two concerns are inextricably connected. "Freedom is both the primary end and principal means of development," Sen says. Receiving the 1998 Nobel Prize has given wider scope to Senıs lifelong promotion of this key idea. Using roughly half of the $1 million prize money, he has set up a charitable organization named the Pratichi Trust, after his family home in Santiniketan, a university town north of Calcutta. Sen announced last December that he would be donating part of his prize money for such a purpose. The announcement was made at a public reception in Calcutta at which 10,000 people crowded a sports arena to honor Sen for receiving the Nobel Prize. This past August he formally announced the establishment of the Trust, a statement which promptly became front-page news in major Indian papers. In a related event, Sen has just published a new book, Development as Freedom (Alfred A. Knopf), which presents in an accessible, nontechnical style many of the issues that the Pratichi Trust will address. Sen is currently on tour promoting his book, beginning with a book signing this past Monday at the Hasty Pudding Club, sponsored by the Harvard Book Store. One major focus of the Trust will be elementary education in India, an area Sen feels has been neglected. India, he said, has always emphasized higher education at the expense of basic education, a situation that has led to a high proportion of people with advanced degrees but only a 50 to 60 percent literacy rate. Sen said that the Pratichi Trust will attack these problems by setting up an institute for the study of primary education and its problems. He has identified inadequate government support, structural inefficiency, the reluctance of families to send children (particularly girls) to school, and the lack of interaction between parents and teachers as some of the principal difficulties the institute will address. "There is a lot to learn from the successes and failures of different Indian states, and also from international experience," Sen said. Sen will also set up a related trust in Bangladesh that will work on alleviating the special disadvantages suffered by girls and women. Part of Senıs childhood was spent in Bangladesh (then part of India) and he has been granted honorary citizenship by that country. The Indian trust is managed by a board of Trustees, including Senıs daughter, Antara Dev Sen, formerly senior editor of the Hindusthan Times. Before taking on her duties as a board member of the Pratichi Trust, she wrote a report for the Red Cross on war-torn Angola, which involved traveling through rebel territory. "She is quite a courageous woman. I am very proud of her," Sen said. Sen acknowledges that the money he is donating to the trusts, approximately $400,000 after taxes, is "tiny in an American context, but it can get things going in India." He is also hopeful that his initial donation will attract more funds, which will allow the trusts to widen their research and advocacy activities. He said that he is delighted to be able to make such a contribution, having spent many years encouraging the federal and state governments of India to do so. "It gives me the chance to go beyond my academic and scientific work, and even beyond my advocacy roles in public discussions, to do something tangible and immediate in the direction in which I would like to see things happen." Copyright 1999 President and Fellows of Harvard College DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substancenot soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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