Open Mike 14: Gender bias, stereotypes, and sensitization [India] - I

Thursday Open Mike 14 (now on Tuesday)
Topic: Gender bias, stereotypes and sensitization (India) - I
May 13, 2008 [Tuesday]
@ 8PM in Gaurav's House.
1781 Spyglass Drive, #244
Austin TX 78746

Open Mike 14: Gender bias, stereotypes, and sensitization [India] (links)

Here are links for tomorrow's topic. Many of the links here deal with the issue at a larger scale -- societal level, national level etc. One thing that we could also focus on, at the meeting tomorrow, is these issues at a more personal (individual) level.

[1] My favorite one: Gloria Steinem's famous speech -- "If Men Could Menstruate" http://www.haverford.edu/psych/ddavis/p109g/steinem.menstruate.html

[2] A UNICEF report (one of many in the State of the World's Children series) on Women Politicians, Gender Bias, and Policy-making in Rural India. By Lori Beaman, Esther Duflo, Rohini Pande, and Petia Topalova. http://www.unicef.org/sowc07/docs/beaman_duflo_pande_topalova.pdf This report is rather academic in its structure and methods of analysis, but there are interesting charts at the very end.

[3] India Together links:

1. Seven markers for gender balance -- indicators to assess gender sensitivity in governance, set up by the Center for Women's Development Studies
   
2. Who is a feminist? Paromita Vohra's film Unlimited Girls explores the ideas and experiences of feminism in contemporary urban India
3. Long and arduous road -- Educationists and social scientists are increasingly veering around to the view that persistent gender biases are rooted in India's failed education system. As a result, the search for gender parity must begin with guaranteed access to quality education for all.
4. What happens to girls? -- Despite quality education, the mindset of people is not changing in this country
5. Sexual harassment at work -- a practical guide
6. Raw deal for women journalists -- The recently released `Status of Women Journalists in India' report, commissioned by the National Commission for Women presents a disturbing picture of women journalists
7. Girls without power -- Despite islands of progress and even a paradoxical government-run success, the larger picture of girls' education and their empowerment is dismal. There is an enormous gap between fact and paper fiction, and the task for feminists and activists is cut out
8. A newborn's first right -- Less than 50 per cent of girl child births are being registered by parents because of gender bias, says former Census Commissioner Jayant Banthia, speaking at a Panchayats and Child Rights convention recently at New Delhi
9. Are girl students safe? - - The fleeting attention that is given to the rape of a girl in school hides the systematic harassment and violence that so many are subjected to - an important reason why girls drop out of the education system around the age of puberty
10. Barriers to girls' education -- We should not be too quick to attribute low literacy among girls to poverty alone. A number of other factors are just as responsible
11. Her mind, her country -- The State Council for Educational Research and Training in Delhi has taken a surprisingly different approach in its preparation of text books for students in classes 6-8 (gender sensitivity in curricula)

[4] Times Foundation has a collected set of links:

1. Literature on gender sensitization
2. Downloadable resources on Women's rights, etc. (mostly PDFs)
3. An article on Women's Entitlement to Property
4. Report of the Workshop on Gender Justice : Forging Partnership with Law Enforcement Agencies by Dr. Poornima Advani from National Commission for Women

[5] Gender bias perspectives from the developing world factsheet

[6] Gender and Language

1. Gender bias in an Indian language by G. Sankaranarayanan, in the Language in India journal (link to the online version) [the language in this article is Tamil]
   
2. Undoing gender stereotypes in Hindi by Anjali Pande

[7] A report on India Gender Profile by Bridge Institute of Development Studies. This report is more factual (factsheet) than anything else

[8] Gender stereotyping in advertising -- Majority advertisements featuring children show boys in diverse, challenging and macho roles while girls are portrayed in a more streotyped and objectified manner

[9] Promoting Gender Equity in Community Institutions: Evidence from Indigenous Communities in Western India by Kalpana Jain and Nihal Jain (pdf link)

[10] Gender stereotypes: Representation of men and women in Indian mass media -- a paper by Krishna Pokharel from Center for Civil Societies

Open Mike 13: US Fed, money matters, and the war in Iraq

Thursday Open Mike 13 (now on Tuesday)
Topic: US Fed, money matters, and the war in Iraq
May 6, 2008 [Tuesday]
@ 8PM in Gaurav's House.
1781 Spyglass Drive, #244
Austin TX 78746

Open Mike 12: Universal Health Care

In open mike 12, we watched the PBS Frontline documentary Sick Around the World. Go to http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/ to watch the documentary as well to follow other links and analysis.

In short, the documentary traces (very successful implementations of) universal health care in 5 countries (England, Japan, Germany, Taiwan, and Switzerland) and summarizes three key points of learning from all these systems:

• Insurance companies must accept everyone (with or without pre-existing conditions) and cannot make a profit on basic care.
• Everybody is mandated to buy insurance, and the government pays the premium for the poor.
• Doctors and hospitals have to accept one standard set of fixed prices.

The entire capitalist world criticized (and continues to do so) when Nehru famously called profit a dirty word. However, the world's most successful universal health care implementations in the richest capitalist countries, seem to be based on the tenet of eliminating profit in the business of basic health care! Sweet Irony!

A description of the documentary from the PBS site follows:

In Sick Around the World, FRONTLINE teams up with veteran Washington Post foreign correspondent T.R. Reid to find out how five other capitalist democracies -- the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, Taiwan and Switzerland -- deliver health care, and what the United States might learn from their successes and their failures.

Reid's first stop is the U.K., where the government-run National Health Service (NHS) is funded through taxes. "Every single person who's born in the U.K. will use the NHS," says Whittington Hospital CEO David Sloman, "and none of them will be presented a bill at any point during that time." Often dismissed in America as "socialized medicine," the NHS is now trying some free-market tactics like "pay-for-performance," where doctors are paid more if they get good results controlling chronic diseases like diabetes. And now patients can choose where they go for medical procedures, forcing hospitals to compete head to head.

While such initiatives have helped reduce waiting times for elective surgeries, Times of London health editor Nigel Hawkes thinks the NHS hasn't made enough progress. "We're now in a world in which people are much more demanding, and I think that the NHS is not very effective at delivering in that modern, market-orientated world."

Reid reports next from Japan, which boasts the second largest economy and the best health statistics in the world. The Japanese go to the doctor three times as often as Americans, have more than twice as many MRI scans, use more drugs, and spend more days in the hospital. Yet Japan spends about half as much on health care per capita as the United States.

One secret to Japan's success? By law, everyone must buy health insurance -- either through an employer or a community plan -- and, unlike in the U.S., insurers cannot turn down a patient for a pre-existing illness, nor are they allowed to make a profit.

Reid's journey then takes him to Germany, the country that invented the concept of a national health care system. For its 80 million people, Germany offers universal health care, including medical, dental, mental health, homeopathy and spa treatment. Professor Karl Lauterbach, a member of the German parliament, describes it as "a system where the rich pay for the poor and where the ill are covered by the healthy." As they do in Japan, medical providers must charge standard prices. This keeps costs down, but it also means physicians in Germany earn between half and two-thirds as much as their U.S. counterparts.

In the 1990s, Taiwan researched many health care systems before settling on one where the government collects the money and pays providers. But the delivery of health care is left to the market. Every person in Taiwan has a "smart card" containing all of his or her relevant health information, and bills are paid automatically. But the Taiwanese are spending too little to sustain their health care system, according to Princeton's Tsung-mei Cheng, who advised the Taiwanese government. "As we speak, the government is borrowing from banks to pay what there isn't enough to pay the providers," she told FRONTLINE.

Reid's last stop is Switzerland, a country which, like Taiwan, set out to reform a system that did not cover all its citizens. In 1994, a national referendum approved a law called LAMal ("the sickness"), which set up a universal health care system that, among other things, restricted insurance companies from making a profit on basic medical care. The Swiss example shows health care reform is possible, even in a highly capitalist country with powerful insurance and pharmaceutical companies.

Today, Swiss politicians from the right and left enthusiastically support universal health care. "Everybody has a right to health care," says Pascal Couchepin, the current president of Switzerland. "It is a profound need for people to be sure that if they are struck by destiny ... they can have a good health system."

Open Mike 12: Universal Health Care

Thursday Open Mike 12 (now on Tuesday)
Topic: Universal Health Care
April 29, 2008 [Tuesday]
@ 8PM in Gaurav's House.
1781 Spyglass Drive, #244
Austin TX 78746

Open Mike 11: Global Food Crisis (links)

From Gaurav on the mailing list:

For the topic of discussion- how about a discussion on the current global food crisis -

"The head of the United Nations' world food program says "a perfect storm" is hitting hungry people around the globe. The cost of food is soaring. Food riots have broken out in Indonesia, Pakistan, and Egypt, where the price of bread rose 10 times in a week. Afghanistan has asked for urgent help. Forty countries are judged to be at risk of serious hunger, or already suffering from it.

Here in America the number of people using food stamps is projected to be the highest since the program began in the 1960s."

1. The World Food Crisis - http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/10/opinion/10thu1.html

2. Hunger in America - http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04112008/profile4.html

3. Asian Food Crisis - http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/18/asia/food.php

4. 30 Years ago Haiti grew all the rice it needed. What happened now? - http://www.counterpunch.org/quigley04212008.html

5. "India clocked in 94th in the Global Hunger Index - behind Ethiopia"
Indexing inhumanity, Indian style - article by Sainath - http://www.indiatogether.com/2007/nov/psa-index.htm

Open Mike 11: Global Food Crisis

Thursday Open Mike 11 (now on Tuesday)
Topic: Global Food Crisis
April 22, 2008 [Tuesday]
@ 8PM in Gaurav's House.
1781 Spyglass Drive, #244
Austin TX 78746

Vandana Shiva: Globalisation Pills for Globalisation Ills: Offering the Disease as the Cure for India's Deepening Food and Agrarian Crisis

Globalisation Pills for Globalisation Ills: Offering the Disease as the Cure for India's Deepening Food and Agrarian Crisis

Apr, 10 2008 By Vandana Shiva
Vandana Shiva's ZSpace Page / ZSpace

Over the last 15 years, India's food and agriculture systems have been severely destabilized as a result of policies of economic globalisation and trade liberalization. Two aspects of this destabilization are the agrarian crisis and the rise in food prices. Both have their roots in the same processes of globalisation. However, the government treats each separately and independently, and every false solution makes the crisis deeper.

The agrarian crisis has emerged as a result of the withdrawal of the state from public investment in agriculture, public supply of seeds and inputs, public procurement for public distribution of food. These functions have been increasingly handed over to corporate players who work for profits, not the food security of the poor or the livelihood security of farmers.

The World Bank imposed Structural Adjustment Programme of 1991, and the Rules of WTO that came into force in 1995 have jointly worked to dismantle the public framework for food sovereignty and food security and the forced integration of India's food and agriculture systems with the food and agricultural systems of rich countries.

This has resulted in deep agrarian crisis and an emerging food crisis, with farmers incomes crashing while food prices go through the rood. The food and agriculture ills the country faces are a direct result of policies of corporate globalisation. Yet it is the globalisation pill the government is offering as a cure for globalisation ills.

Prices of food started to rise as a result of India's domestic market being connected to global markets, especially through the imports of edible oil and wheat. In the early days of globalisation, the agribusiness that dominates trade lowered prices to grab markets. This is what happened with the dumping of soya in the 1990s. Now that global corporations like Cargill have created import dependency, they are increasing prices. Price fixing is a common practise of MNCs.

In addition to price fixing there is speculation through futures trading. And climate change as well as diversion of foods to biofuels are also adding an upward pressure on international prices. The increase in international prices provides a perfect reason to focus on food sovereignty. It makes both political and economic sense to focus on self-reliance in food and agriculture.

While India was being made dependent on imports of food staples, Indian agriculture was being shifted to growing cash crops for exports. The agriculture export zones were a major policy thrust. While the government has banned export of pulses and non-basmati rice, its priority to diverting land to fruits and vegetables and cotton for exports continues. This too has impact on food security and food self-reliance. Vegetables prices have also gone up. Why is there a ban on exports of pulses and no ban on exports of vegetables? Is it because powerful countries like U.S want to control the market of pulses, including selling to India? And will India continue its policy of being a supplier of cheap vegetables to rich consumers in the North while the poor in India are denied food? Instead of decoupling the domestic food economy from the unstable, speculative global market, the government is strengthening the coupling, thus introducing major turbulence in both production and prices.

Low import duty of edible oil had already had negative impact on our coconut farmers, mustard farmers, soya and groundnut farmers. The government has further lowered customs duty, which will aggravate the agrarian crisis for edible oil growers and also harm public health because the imported genetically engineered soya oil and palm oil are not really edible oils, they are industrial oils introduced into the food system by global agribusiness.

A year and a half ago edible oils carried an import duty of 99.4%. In late March the Government brought down the duty of palm oil from 45% to 20%. This has now been cut to zero.

Duty Changes

Basic Custom Prior to April 2008 Duty in percent From April 1, 2008

Crude Palm Oil 20 0
Refined Palm Oil 27.5 7.5
Crude Sunflower Oil 20 0
Refined Sunflower Oil 27.5 7.5
CrudeSoyabean Oil 40 0
Refined Soyabean Oil 45 7.5
(Business Line 2.4.08)

As a result of reduction of import duties on edible oils, the wholesale price of mustard oil came down from Rs. 80/kg to Rs. 68/- kg (Business Line 2.4.08). Since the duty cut has been announced just as the mustard is being harvested, mustard growers will face a deeper crisis than they are already facing.

Kerala Chief Minister, V.S. Achuthanandan has said that the Union Government's decision to withdraw duty on edible oils would be a big blow to Kerala as it would bring down the price of coconut, a major farm produce of the state (Hindu 2.4.08).

Instead of protecting our rich biodiversity of oilseeds and our healthy indigenous edible oil, the government is destroying our biodiversity and oil seed farmers to make us dependent on bad oils which will in anyway not be available in the future because they will be used to produce biofuels for the cars of the rich.

Mr. Achuthanandan said the right way to contain the prices of essential commodities was to strengthen the public distribution system. However, this too the government is dismantling.

First the universal PDS was destroyed and replaced by the TPDS on grounds that this would reduce public expenditure on food subsidies. However, the food subsidy bill has kept going up even while larger numbers go hungry. The wheat allocation for BPL category households has dropped from 7.34 million tones in 2005-06 to 5.5 m.t. in 2006-07 to 1:735 m.t in 2007-08. BPL households earn less than Rs.330 a month.

The reduction in off take led to a build up to stocks with FCI. This was used to open up markets to private players. The APMC Acts were dismantled. Global giants like Cargill, ITC, Lever, AWB bought up food grains and drove the prices up. The center had also dismantled the essential Commodities Act, which prevented hoarding and speculation. While the Government puts ads against hoarding, private mandis allow leagalised hoarding and speculation.

The seeds of the price rise were sown with the corporatisation of India's food markets. The artificial scarcity this created for the PDS system was then used as an excuse to import high cost low quality wheat, which further pushed up prices.

Increasing dependence on imports, will not solve the problem because international prices will keep going up under the triple pressure of speculation, climate change and biofuel and also because many countries Argentina, Ukraine and Russia have imposed export controls.

Neo liberal economist Bibek Debroy has welcomed the food crisis "the food crisis may finally catalyse agro reforms" he says in his article "No Time for Field Theories" (Indian Express 2.4.08). "Liberalisation and integration bring domestic prices closer to global prices.

Hence, Indian consumers will pay more for agro products, but pay less for manufactured products. That's the reform argument".

However, most poor Indians who are earning less than Rs. 20/- a day only spend on food - not on fridges and A.C's. They can only loose with rising food prices. What economists like Debroy forget is that globalisation links prices, but wages grow more unequal. Rising prices with lower incomes for the poor translates into hunger and famine. While Debroy might celebrate the rising prices of food in India due to integration of our food economy with the corporate controlled global food economy, the people of India are not celebrating. With 90% of the incomes of the poor, and 45 - 55% incomes of the average Indian going to food, the globalisation recipe does not work in a period of global rise in food prices.

The agrarian crisis and the rise in food prices have the same roots in globalisation policies, which have promoted the corporate interest and discounted the rights of farmers and consumers. These policies have been based on India growing export crops such as cotton and vegetables, and importing food staples such as wheat and edible oils. They have been based on dismantling the public systems on which agriculture and food security rests. The food crisis cannot be solved by pushing more trade liberalization and further undermining our food security and food sovereignty.

The solution to bringing food prices under control and ending farmers indebtedness and suicides are same - the promotion of food sovereignty based on maximizing nutrition per acre while lowering input costs, as well as on localization of distribution chains.

Globalisation ills need a localization pill. Not more globalisation.

Open Mike 10: PDS, NREGS (collected links)

Santhosh:

A critical component to such schemes is also identification of BPL
(Below Poverty Line) families. Here is a campaign that LSS (Lok
Shikshan Sansthan) was involved with in Rajasthan.

http://studentorgs.utexas.edu/aidaustin/projects/lss-prayas/bpl/index.html
At the very minimum they use the BPL 2002 census for easy data
maintenanceand kind of track whether a family is BPL or not.

http://nrega.nic.in/presentations/critical_issues_new_distts.htm
http://nrega.nic.in/user_manual_nrega.pdf

There are also other schemes, like the government pension for
individuals in BPL families who are above 65 years old -
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Personal_Finance/Savings_Centre/Govt_may_give_old_age_pension_to_60_yrs_in_BPL/articleshow/2865746.cms

Murali:

This is an interesting summary/report of all the public schemes and programs related to food distribution, PDS, employment schemes etc. in India by a commissioner of the supreme court:

http://www.righttofoodindia.org/data/pds/comrs_sixthreport.doc

Some of the programs available: subsidized rice and wheat through PDS and Antyodaya, ICDS (Integrated child development services), mid-day meals, NSAP (National social assistance program), Annapurna, NREGA etc.

The Right To Food campaign website has more info and links as well:

http://www.righttofoodindia.org/
http://www.righttofoodindia.org/pds/pds_intro.html

Ani:

One of the consequences of PDS has been people moving away from
growing local crops for their subsistence. In many places, the
indigenous crops - usually millets, were grown. With the introduction
of cheap rice etc at the PDS, people find it much easier to buy the
rice and grow cash crops on their land. This has had all kinds of
impacts on the farmers, the soil and water. With PDS also supplying
very specific types of grain (usually rice, wheat and some dals), our
diets have changed accordingly and have become quite like
monocultures.

here are some articles that talks about traditional cropping and PDS:
http://www.indiatogether.org/agriculture/dds/cropsoftruth.htm
http://www.infochangeindia.org/agenda7_06.jsp

So PDS, in its avatar as a central scheme supplying specific kinds of
food, has had a huge impact on farming patterns, food habits,
livelihood, soil and water. Traditional crops that are essential to
food security, as we are now realising, are almost gone. I think NREGA
is likely to result in a situation where people with traditional
skills that might not be fetching them enough money will make use of
this scheme. Skills are lost and no new skill is being learnt in the
process. It might make sense in certain places - it started off to
help people in drought-prone areas but when floated all over the
country, it is not clear what impact this will have.

Open Mike 10: Subsidies, PDS, and NREGS (topic)

Thursday Open Mike 10 (now on Tuesday)
Topic: Subsidies, PDS, and NREGS
April 15, 2008 [Tuesday]
@ 8PM in Arvind & Ashwini's House.
4201 Monterey Oaks Blvd #1911
Austin TX 78749

Open Mike 9: Affirmative action in India -- more links

In response to Arvind's question on geographical population %age versus reservation %age --

Here are the numbers for Tamilnadu:

Total population: 623 lakhs; reservation 69%
(TN doesnt classify as OBC -- they break it down into BC and MBC)

Backward Classes -- pop:289 lakhs (46.2%) -- reservation 30%
Most Backward and denotified tribes -- pop:129 lakhs (20.7%) -- reservation 20%
Scheduled Castes -- pop:118 lakhs (19%) -- reservation 18%
Scheduled Tribes -- pop: 7 lakhs (1.1%) -- reservation 1%
All others -- pop:80 lakhs (13%) -- open (no reservations) 31%

Even at 69% reservations, the reservation percentages are lesser than population percentages. In rest of India with 27% reservations, its clearly evident what the ratios are. I dont have a link which gives us population-wise percentage breakdown of OBC/SC/ST/Others at the national level. If someone can find that, please post.

best references for the TN numbers are:
[1] Tamilnadu government policy note on BC and MBC welfare:
http://www.tn.gov.in/policynotes/archives/policy2007-08/pdf/bcmbcwelfare.pdf
[2] Ravishankar Arunachalam's article on the mathematics of reservations:
http://studentorgs.utexas.edu/aidaustin/issue/reservation/Ravishankar.pdf

Also, to address the example that Ashwini was talking about, take a look at the national policy on creamy layer, from the Indian govt.'s National Commission for Backward Classes(NCBC) website:
http://ncbc.nic.in/html/creamylayer.htm
Particularly look at issue VI. Income/Wealth Test. That addresses the "economic" creamy layer who will not fall under reservation category.

Son(s) daughter(s) –
(a) Persons having gross annual income of Rs. 1 lakh or above or possessing wealth above the exemption limit as prescribed in the Wealth Act for a period of three consecutive years.

(b) Persons in Categories I, II, III and V-A who are not disentitled to the benefit of reservation but have income from other sources of wealth which will bring them within the income/wealth criteria mentioned in (a) above.

EXPLANATION:-
(i) Income from salaries or agricultural land shall not be clubbed;
(ii) The income criteria in terms of rupee will be modified taking into account the change in its value every three years. If the situation, however, so demands, the interregnum may be less.

The other categories are also quite illuminating in providing a picture of what the NCBC considers as privileges in the Indian society.

Another interesting link from the NCBC site is the set of guidelines that determine whether a community can be categorized as OBC.
http://ncbc.nic.in/html/guideline.htm

Thanks,
Vinod

Open Mike 9: Affirmative Action in India

Folks, our next open mike session will be at our usual meeting place:

@ 8PM in Arvind & Ashwini's House.
4201 Monterey Oaks Blvd #1911
Austin TX 78749

My suggestion for the topic is Affirmative Action in India

Some links:

[1] Customary wikipedia definition

The term affirmative action describes policies aimed at a historically socio-politically non-dominant group (typically, minority men or women of all races) intended to promote access to education or employment. Motivation for affirmative action is a desire to redress the effects of past and current discrimination that is regarded as unfair...

[2] Reservations in India

Reservation in Indian law is a form of affirmative action whereby a percentage of seats are reserved in the Parliament of India, state legislative assemblies, union and state civil services, public sector units, union and state government departments and in all public and private educational institutions, except in the minority and religious educational institutions, for the socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or the Scheduled Castes and Tribes who are perceived by the government to be inadequately represented in these services and institutions.

[3] Arguments for and against reservations

There are several arguments provided both in support and in opposition to reservation. Some of the arguments on either side are often disputed by the other, while others are agreed upon by both sides, with a possible third solution proposed to accommodate both parties.

Pro-Reservation:
[4] Mandal Commission Report by Dinkar Sakrikar

The report of the Mandal Commission has generated a furious controversy. A peculiar feature is that the controversy is not being fought between the right and the left; on both sides of the divide are ranged both right and the left.

[5] Why Reservation for OBC is a Must by V.B. Rawat

[6] Reservations: a larger perspective by D. Parthasarathy, IIT Bombay
A fairly detailed paper with some interesting comparisons.

Going by the logic of anti-reservationists that merit alone and not accident of birth should be the criteria for seats or positions, one can ask why a son (or, rarely a daughter) should get the property of a parent when the parent dies.

Anti-Reservation:
[7] Youth for Equality
I believe this group was at the forefront of protests against the UPA government's institution of the Mandal commission recommendations.

Youth for Equality is a forum which was initiated by the students of the 5 medical colleges of Delhi, to bring together those Youth (irrespective of field/caste/class) who feel strongly against populist measures (reservations on basis of caste/religion) which are wrong, unjust and harmful to India's future.

[8] Some prominent personalities against reservation

Reservations for forward-caste poor?
[9] Diluting Mandal by M. S. Gill

...Gill used to be an Central Election Commissioner in India and is now a cabinet minister?
The move to extend reservation to the poor among the forward castes not only goes against the basic concept of affirmative action, it also violates the spirit of the Constitution.

Links by email from Santhosh:

Hi,

Here are some links that can help :

A PBS documentary on discrimination -
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/divided/etc/view.html

Here are a bunch of links that I think we should read up on -
http://studentorgs.utexas.edu/aidaustin/issue/reservation/

Very informative comparisons can be drawn on racism and affirmative
action in the US. Here is an article by UT prof, Bob Jensen -
http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~rjensen/freelance/whiteprivilege.htm

A paper on understanding merit -
http://home.iitk.ac.in/~amman/articles/amman_sociologizing_merit.pdf

Thanks,
Santhosh.

More articles on free press (links)

[1] Even as we were having our open mike on Free Press, M.J.Akbar had been sacked by Asian Age a week before that. After the sacking of M.J.Akbar by the Asian Age, Khushwant Singh has the following to say:

The hard truth about Indian journalism is that proprietors matter, editors do not; money counts, talent does not. The latest instance of money trashing ability and experience is the unceremonious sacking of M.J. Akbar, founder-editor of the Asian Age. He is perhaps the most distinguished living member of his tribe. He started the weekly Sunday and the Telegraph for the Ananda Bazaar group of papers based in Calcutta. He has been elected member of the Lok Sabha and is the author of half-a-dozen books, all of which have gone into several editions. Fifteen years ago, he, with a set of friends, launched the Asian Age. It was a bold venture as the Asian Age came out of all the metropolitan cities of India as well as London. It had little advertising but had a lot more readable material taken from leading British and American journals than any other Indian daily. It was as close to being a complete newspaper as any could be. Besides these unique qualities it also published articles by writers critical of the government and the ruling party. It was probably this aspect of the journal that irked Akbar's latest partner in the venture; he had political ambitions of his own and wished to stay on the right side of the government. So without a word of warning, on the morning of March 1 while he was on his way to office, Akbar learned that his name was no longer on the Asian Age masthead as its editor-in-chief. It was an unpardonable act of discourtesy committed by someone with less breeding and more money.

F*** all editors! The hard truth about Indian journalism: proprietors matter, editors don't.
By Khushwant Singh

[2] Pritam Sen Gupta, from New Delhi, on MJ Akbar's sacking:

Akbar joins a long list of fine editors who have been unceremoniously shown the door by publishers Arun Shourie, B.G. Verghese, Dileep Padgaonkar, V.K. Narasimhan, Vinod Mehta… But as the only elected Member of Parliament among the lot (he served as a Congress MP from Kishanganj at the instance of Rajiv Gandhi), Akbar has seen Indian politics like not too many Indian editors have. In the end, Indian journalism’s loss may be Indian politics’ gain.

Never let your head stoop as a journalist.
By Pritam Sen Gupta

[3] Thejas from Madras in the Churmuri blog on the changing face of The Hindu --
When my newspaper is no longer my newspaper.

[4] A rather interesting essay on the media in India by Fulbright scholar James Mutti; link courtesy the folks at SAJA Forum

The media may do a good job of providing news to the estimated 300 million members of the Indian middle class – in fact, coverage of political issues tends to be quite good – but as long as over 700 million Indians are sidelined from the media’s gaze by their inability to conspicuously consume, the media’s role as public service is severely limited.

MEDIA: India, democracy and the press.
By James Mutti
(More links on media and India at the SAJA Forum, and at the bottom of the above article.)

[5] P. Sainath's article link sent by Gaurav on the yahoogroups (archival here)

Another interesting article by Sainath on this year's budget - http://indiatogether.com/2008/mar/psa-waiver.htm

I have quoted from the article about the repsonse from the press to the loan waivers in this years budget.

On budget eve one anchor posed a question to his panel in words to this effect: "Will it be a pro-poor, aam aadmi budget or will Mr. Chidambaram use the opportunity to do something good [for the country] in terms of reforms."

When the budget rolled out, one anchor said: "And now for the budget bad news. India Inc.'s plea for a cut in corporate tax rates went unheeded."

[6] Jawed Naqwi's article in the Dawn on the role of press as PR for the government, posted by Vinod on the yahoogroups (archival here):

Check out Jawed Naqvi's editorial in the Dawn -- a very interesting perspective (and an interesting story) on Free Press in India --
"Press assuming the role of government PR"!
http://www.dawn.com/weekly/jawed/20080324.htm

Open Mike 8: Open (topic)

Thursday Open Mike 8 (now on Tuesday)
Topic: Open
March 25, 2008 [Tuesday]
@ 8PM in Arvind & Ashwini's House.
4201 Monterey Oaks Blvd #1911
Austin TX 78749

Open Mike 7: Microfinance (links)

Posting this here for Savi:

What is Micro-finance?

Refers to a movement that envisions "a world in which as many poor and near-poor households as possible" have permanent access to an appropriate range of high quality financial services, including not just credit but also savings, insurance, and fund transfers.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microfinance

[2] http://www.developmentgateway.com.au/jahia/Jahia/pid/2701

Difference between Microfinance and Microcredit

[1] http://www.microfinancegateway.com/section/faq#Q2

[2] http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/00282/econ_finance.htm

More on micro-credit : http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/00282/econ_credit.htm

What are the services offered by Microfinance??

[1] Saving (Pension plan, deposits )

[2] Insurance

[3] Fund transfer or remittance from abroad

[4] Loans (Emergency , short-term , long-term)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Needs_and_Services.jpg

A few Micro-finance Models (courtesy Sanjeev Ranganathan)

1) Creation of SHGs generally involves a savings group this in turn give out loans to their members e.g. MATS (Mutually Aided Thrift Society - Timbaktu). The funds are that of the group and there is a clear incentive in ensuring that the loans (their money) is repaid by other members of the group. All account keeping is done by the group that elects it's own leaders and organizations have a person only overlooking the accounts and giving training (neither are full time jobs).

While some local politics can exist e.g. the wife of the panchayat leader taking more loans than others, etc. But, a few rules, e.g. no loan without returning 75% of current loan and a small amount of account keeping can keep things fair.

2) Anawim had implemented the SHG concept in the following fashion. Creation of womens groups (6 months to 1 yr of running weekly meetings – there act as a platform for discussing issues faced by women in the community, maintaining minutes and if possible savings. But, the savings was not necessary). Next a loan was given to the entire group to maintain. They also ran an evening center for the children in the community and the interest generated from the loans would help run the center. The interest in maintaining proper accounts was in the interest in the education of their children.http://www.paadhai.org/First%20Year%20of%20PAADHAI-India.pdf

3) Timbaktu Organic (TC) has a micro-finance program for encouraging farmers to take up organic/low-cost farming. TC also serves as a link to market the goods if they do not get utilized locally. The reason to mention TC is their approach to raise the capital – they reach out to socially responsible individuals to fund their initiatives. A nominal 4% interest is available to the individuals on request, further if it is a really bad year, they commit to take care of the principal if not the interest. http://www.dorabjitatatrust.org/annual_rep/pdf/mnr_livelihood.pdf

4) Geneva-Global

Microfinances and Women Empowerment (Keeping Project Freedom in mind)

[1] http://www.kiva.org/about/microfinance/ (Question 9) [2] http://www.genfinance.info/

Microfinance: The Downside

[1] http://blog.perfectspace.com/2008/01/19/starting-your-own-microcredit-or-microfinance-franchise/#mf-problem

[2] When is microfinance NOT an appropiate tool?http://www.microfinancegateway.com/section/faq#Q5

[3] Why do MFIs charge such high interest rates to poor people? http://www.microfinancegateway.com/section/faq#Q6

[4] Chances of poverty alleviation: http://books.google.com/books?id=RvcMNBYvMnMC&pg=PA4&lpg=PA4&dq=downside+of+microfinance&source=web&ots=o2nx0UON0T&sig=zWlgZz2m-qSMeBFUE3BZuWOXdNQ&hl=en#PPA4,M1

[5] Link to NYT article on problems for microfinancing in Mexico

Open Mike 7: Microfinance (topic)

Thursday Open Mike 7 (now on Tuesday)
Topic: Microfinance
March 18, 2008 [Tuesday]
@ 8PM in Arvind & Ashwini's House.
4201 Monterey Oaks Blvd #1911
Austin TX 78749

Open Mike 6: Free Press in India (links)

We'll be continuing our Racist India discussion from last week, since we came no where close to finishing anything. However, since at the end of the discussion (and as it happens, in many discussions), we were discussing freedom of press, I've titled the topic as Free Press in India.

Rajaram Mohan Roy, back in 1823, explained the importance of freedom of the press with extreme clarity, while protesting the British ruling to clamp down on local publications:

“….. a free press has never yet caused a revolution in any part of the world …….. whereas, where no freedom of the press existed and grievances consequently remained unrepresented, innumerable revolutions have taken place in all parts of the globe.”

“……..ever since the art of printing has become generally known among the Natives of Calcutta numerous Publications have been circulated in the Bengalee Language which by introducing free discussion among the Natives and inducing them to reflect and inquire after knowledge, have already served greatly to improve their minds and ameliorate their condition”.

Freedom of Press is supposed to be sine qua non for a democratic society. The question is how true is that in actuality? Adding a few links here related to freedom of press. Please add more.

[1] The Hindu, one of the few family owned papers still remaining so in India, published this article Kudos to Tata Motors in October 2004, blasting Mahindra & Mahindra. After the furore raised by the article, N Ram, the editor-in-chief, wrote an apology. Now, both the article and the apology are on the website and if you read the article, there is no link whatsoever to the apology.

[2] Krishnaprasad, a journalist, blogs on how the New Indian Express does not need old hands. Particularly interesting in this link is a scathing open letter from a former IE editor P. Venugopal to the editor-in-chief of the IE group Aditya Sinha.

[3] This is from Wikipedia:

The Indian Constitution, while not mentioning the word "press", provides for "the right to freedom of speech and expression" (Article 19(1) a). However this right is subject to restrictions under subclause (2), whereby this freedom can be restricted for reasons of "sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, preserving decency, preserving morality, in relation to contempt of court, defamation, or incitement to an offence". Laws such as the Official Secrets Act and Prevention of Terrorism Act ^[2] (PoTA) have been used to limit press freedom. Under PoTA, person could be detained for up to six months for being in contact with a terrorist or terrorist group. PoTA was repealed in 2006, but the Official Secrets Act 1923 continues.

For the first half-century of independence, media control by the state was the major constraint on press freedom. Indira Gandhi famously stated in 1975 that All India Radio is "a Government organ, it is going to remain a Government organ..." ^[3] With the liberalization starting in the 1990s, private control of media has burgeoned, leading to increasing independence and greater scrutiny of government. Organizations like Tehelka and NDTV have been particularly influential, e.g. in bringing about the resignation of powerful Haryana minister Venod Sharma.

[4] A TheHindu report on a BBC finding that Indians prefer "peace and stability" over "free press".

[5] An interesting article titled One Way Street by Arvind Lavakare in Rediff.

[6] An explanation of Freedom of Press, who threatens it, what are the arguments, etc. in the context of India, from People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL).

[7] Article on Democracy and Freedom of Press in India from Project Monitor.

[8] Links from India Together:
(a) Media barons and press freedoms -- How relevant is the argument of a threat to freedom of the press in cases where the financial interests of a media baron could ostensibly conflict with that of the public? The question resurfaced recently in Andhra Pradesh over the Eenadu-Margadarsi controversy, writes B P Sanjay.

(b) Plight of the vulnerable -- Legislatures around the country are invoking privilege on all sorts of issues, even as the political parties condemn each other's actions to limit press freedom. Sevanti Ninan reports.

(c) An Interview on the Indian Press with Veerendrakumar -- M P Veerendrakumar is a staunch opponent of FDI. He predicts that the new deals signed in the Indian media will hit small and medium newspapers and open the floodgates to foreign control.

(d) Articles on the role of the press, and trends in media -- there are many articles of interest in this link.

Moving the link from Murali's comment into the post itself:

[9] Press Freedom Index: India's Rank
I guess it depends on how press freedom is defined: is it how much is available, or how much is availed of? India is ranked 120th in the world in press freedom in 2007 (down from rank 105 in 2006), so we know what the current trend is. http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=24025

Open Mike 6: Free Press in India (topic)

We are changing the day of the OpenMike. Moving to Tuesdays to accommodate interested members. Looking forward to an increased participation now.

Thursday Open Mike 6 (now on Tuesday)
Topic: Free Press in India & Racist India Contd...
March 11, 2008 [Tuesday]
@ 8PM in Arvind & Ashwini's House.
4201 Monterey Oaks Blvd #1911
Austin TX 78749

Open Mike 5: Racist India (links)

Many links. Many perspectives. Not endorsing one over the other. Read away. We can discuss one or the other or all.

[1] Discrimination by caste is outlawed in India, but it is a part of daily life
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1495052.stm

[2] Symonds racially abused by monkey chants in Vadodara?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/7039776.stm
[3] and in Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai? (good picture, this one)
http://mksviews.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/wankers_wankhede_stadium.jpg
[4] apparently he just mistook antics for racism
http://cricket.expressindia.com/news/Symonds-mistook-antics-for-racism-Pawar/230126/
[5] India blast latest Harbhajan racism claims
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2008/03/03/ucharb103.xml

[6] and India does get offended by racism towards herself -- Shilpa Shetty in Big Brother
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/news/archives/2007/01/19/big_brother_racism_debate_rages_in_india.html

[7] Caste and Racial Discrimination in India - Can the UN Help?
http://india_resource.tripod.com/caste.html

[8] The Stain that just wont wash, an article by Shivam Vij
http://www.shivamvij.com/2007/02/the-stain-that-just-wont-wash.html

[9] Does bollywood prefer fair women?
http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/001945.html

[10] Fair=Lovely?
http://vsequeira.blogspot.com/2005/07/fair-lovely.html

[11] Remote Racism to counter Bangalore-d jobs?
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/987643.cms

[12] India does not believe caste discrimination is racism
http://www.rediff.com/news/2001/sep/02caste.htm

[13] An Untouchable subject -- NPR on caste systems
http://www.npr.org/programs/specials/racism/010828.caste.html

[14] Dalit Freedom Network -- many interesting posts here
http://www.dalitnetwork.org/

[15] Casteism as Raceism and Is Caste Racism or what?
http://ambedkar.org/WCAR/Casteismas.htm
http://ambedkar.org/WCAR/IsCaste.htm

[16] Racism in North India?
http://www.boloji.com/wfs5/wfs677.htm

[17] On Racism and Censorhip, an article by Shashi Tharoor in TOI
http://www.shashitharoor.com/articles/toi/racism.php

[18] Racism in India: The arrogance of Power
http://www.ndtv.com/debate/showdebate.asp?show=1&archive=yes&story_id=197&template=&category=Humanstory

[19] Post-Colonial Racism in India
http://baltimorechronicle.com/052404RacisminIndia.shtml

[20] UPA govt. no less racist -- providing the other perspective
http://www.ivarta.com/columns/OL_070210.htm

Phew! There is no shortage of links! But I did have a great time researching this set.

Open Mike 5: Racist India (topic)

Thursday Open Mike 5
Topic: Racist India
March 06, 2008 [Thursday]
@ 8PM in Arvind & Ashwini's House.
4201 Monterey Oaks Blvd #1911
Austin TX 78749

Open Mike 4: Westernization of India (collected links)

Collecting links that folks have been sending around by email --

Savitha:

The topic for next week's discussion in TOM is : Westernization of India in all its flavors ranging from native customs, religion , social structure, literature , art , food habits , human conditions , work, etc.

Ponder about this for a bit over the weekend....More related material soon!

Santhosh:

For a different twist - we often hear the "westernization" leading to "immodest" dressing styles of women. Here is an article on the dual standards of the morality police and the heavy gender bias underlying many cases where the victims are blamed for the crime.
http://www.indiatogether.com/2008/feb/wom-dress.htm

Vinod:

and these men were arrested for "indecent clothing"!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7260314.stm

Santhosh:

Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, delivered a lecture at an UNESCO convention, titled "AN ASSESSMENT OF THE MILLENNIUM" - It addresses two myths :
1. The "pure" homogeneous pre-islamic culture in India - He analyzes historical events to show how Islam was integrated into Indian culture and what was the situation before the advent of Islam in India.
2. The idea of 'westernization' - He questions the basic idea of questioning 'westernization' :) - he attacks generalizations, he believes there should be more emphasis for the thought as such rather than its origins.

Part 1 - http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Pantheon/4789/India/Amratya1.htm
Part 2 - http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Pantheon/4789/India/Amratya2.htm

Increased Divorce rates - western influence on Indian 'culture' or more freedom for women ?
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mp/2002/09/23/stories/2002092300290200.htm

Morality codes have been espoused as part of religion in all corners of the world. It is rather sad when the 'state' curtails the freedom in the name of protecting 'morals' :
http://www.indiatogether.org/2007/aug/ksh-dont.htm - Delhi police on increased rape of women from north-eastern India
http://www.indiatogether.org/2006/jul/soc-dancebar.htm - Dance bar ban and the State of Maharashtra
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1166055.stm - Cultural policing of valentine's day in India
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2749667.stm - Hindu extremists and Islamist extremists against 'westernization' in different regions.

Open Mike 4: Westernization of India (topic)

Details:
Thursday Open Mike
Topic: Westernization of India
February 28, 2008 [Thursday]
@ 8PM in Arvind & Ashwini's House.
4201 Monterey Oaks Blvd #1911
Austin TX 78749

Open Mike 3: Health Care (more links)

Santhosh:

Its kind of interesting that a major player in the health insurance
industry is closely covering the presidential debates on health care
and providing 'insight'/'analysis' - http://www.health08.org/index.cfm

Ganesh:

One more...to some extent informative
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/aboutus/mission/haveyouheard/medicine-costs-11-06/overview/1106_have-you-heard_ov.htm

Open Mike 3: Health Care (links)

This Wikipedia article gives some background information about the health care systems in various countries, how much countries spend on health care, etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care

We can broadly discuss

- Universal health care vs. private health care
Arguing for universal health care in India - http://indiatogether.org/2005/oct/ksh-health.htm

- Role of the insurance companies in providing health-care
An article in yesterday's NYTimes - http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/19/business/19health.html

- High cost of medicines vs. funding for future research

- Is it okay to market drugs directly to consumers/patients?
http://www.pbs.org/now/science/scienceforsale.html
http://www.pbs.org/now/science/drugads.html

- Franchise model to provide health care
Link to such an enterprise in Kenya - http://www.pbs.org/now/enterprisingideas/cfw.html

- and since it is open mike.....anything else that comes up

Some more links to a lot more useful links -

http://www.pbs.org/now/classroom/healthcare.html#sites
http://www.pbs.org/now/classroom/medicare.html#sites

Couple of articles on state of healthcare in India
http://www.indiatogether.org/2006/oct/hlt-nocare.htm
http://indiatogether.com/2006/jan/psa-health.htm

Open Mike 3: Health Care (topic)

Details:
Thursday Open Mike
Topic: Health Care
February 21, 2008 [Thursday]
@ 8PM in Gaurav's House.
1781 Spyglass Drive #244
Austin TX 78746

Open Mike 2 : Uniform Civil Code etc. (a comment republished)

I'm creating a new post of one of Santhosh's comments since the comments are hidden away from the main page. Lots of relevant points and interesting links in this comment post. Hence putting this up here.

Hi All,

In last TOM, one discussion led to another and we reached a point
where we talked about 'Religion and State' in the US. So, the general
thought was that religion and state are sufficiently separated in at
least how laws are formed. I was not so sure about it. Did some more
research to find that -

1. Legal cases regarding interpretation of laws and separating the
bible from rights/laws -
http://www.pbs.org/flashpointsusa/20040127/infocus/topic_02/

2. While its generally true that the federal constitution is free from
the mention of 'god', state constitutions are not -
http://www.usconstitution.net/states_god.html
( In fact, in Arkansas and maryland, if you don't believe in God, you
are constitutionally forbidden from being witnesses in a trial.)

3. When presidents form opinions on aspects like abortion or gay
marriage based on their faith or bible
(http://www.pbs.org/flashpointsusa/20040127/infocus/topic_03/index.html
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=33837), it
does mean that religion could play a role in the direction of law
making process.

4. If a presidential nominee can put an 'advtmt' mentioning himself as
a 'Christian Leader' (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjtGgfhKIvo
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/27/us/politics/27adbox.html?_r=3&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1203354583-04/njadOVSrhAAvZSuRbkA&oref=slogin).
it again shows the belief of the nominee who is not hesitant to admit
most of his thought process would be based of what his faith taught
him. If elected, this faith could play a role in law making process.

Now, I sent these links to not discuss the merit vs demerits of
religion in state - but, just to understand that religion does
influence policies and law making process in many countries including
the US.

Thanks,
Santhosh.

Open Mike 2 : Uniform Civil Code etc. (minutes)

We started the discussion with Uniform Civil Code and then it meandered after a rather desultory fashion.


* Discussion on Uniform Civil Code. Details of what is legal, and what is open to social interpretation. When is human rights violated and the law should step in, and when is the local community law applicable? Specifically talked about the details in issues of:
-- land holdings and property acquisition
-- marriages and divorces
-- inheritance and bequeaths

* Discussion on Prison systems, and death penalty. Should we ever have death penalties? What is the motivation of a prison system? Is it to isolate the bad elements of society (hide the problem) or is it to reform the harmful-non-conformists to become either conformists or harmless?

* Discussion on the freedom of press, and what level of personal privacy is legally considered okay to invade.

Open Mike 2 : Uniform Civil Code etc. (links)

[1]Winds of change : The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) recently suggested that the custom of the man declaring "talaq" at one go and divorcing his wife should be discouraged. It stopped short of drafting further reform to the marriage contract, but this decade is seeing muslim women asserting for more, says Kalpana Sharma.

[2] Obscuring the real issues : Opinion piece by Pratap Bhanu Mehta on Supreme Court judgement/recommendation related to Uniform Civil Code

[3]Unifying Personal Laws: By V.R.Krishna Iyer, retired supreme court justice

[4]Supreme Court Ruling that commented on UCC

[5]Open page on 'Hindu' : UCC and national integration

[6]Dissecting a directive : Book review

[7]India succession act amendments proposed by the NCW - National Commission for Women

[8]Hindu Code Bill

Open Mike 2 : Uniform Civil Code etc. (topic)

Details:
Thursday Open Mike 2
Topic: Uniform Civil Code and other topics
February 14, 2008 [Thursday]
@ 8PM in Gaurav's House.
1781 Spyglass Drive #244
Austin TX 78746

No session today

Everyone seems to be at the Team Asha pre-race dinner at Bombay Express tonight. So no Thursday Open Mike session today. Potentially we'll have an informal version of it at Bombay Express itself.

Open Mike 1 : Land Acquisition and Land Reforms (minutes)

Session I - Minutes/areas of discussion

Land Acquisition and Land Reforms

* Discussion on wall street journal article

* Land reforms turned into land acquisition.
- Zamindari system pre-independence was the reason for land reforms
- Land reforms were not implemented and land redistribution did not
happen to a large extent
- Now government uses the same laws and eminent domain to confiscate land

* Brief discussion on Land issues in other parts of the world - South africa and Brazil - implementation of Land reforms. India and China - Land acquisition by State.

* We moved on to discussion legal frameworks and what could be a possible solution in the case of SEZs. One suggestion was to repeal law that made sale of agricultural land impossible.

* Discussion led to forms of governance - how communities can have more say - more power/finances to local governments with a federal framework ?

* Discussion on corruption - why its most in India. Comparision to US. Why do we accept it as part of life ? - What is the solution - incentives - to be not corrupt and punishment when corrupt - Does the society need to encourage questioning of such corruption in the system, or will the solution actually cause such questioning to happen ?

* Discussion on the 9th Schedule - Tug of war for more power between Supreme court and legislative body. Discussion on how Supreme court can question any law and interpret the constitution and what constitutes a fundamental right. some discussion on judicial activism and specifics

Open Mike 1 : Land Acquisition and Land Reforms (links)

[1] Shruti Rajagopalan's article "India's Property Wrongs" in The Wall Street Journal. This article gives a history behind how India came to have its current version of land laws in the constitution, and presents an interesting viewpoint into the Singur and Nandigram scenario. Shruti is a former research associate of the Public Interest Legal Support and Research Center.

[2] Land Research Action Network's backgrounder on India's Land Reforms. LRAN is a network of researchers and social movements that work towards promoting the right of individuals and communities to land. The backgrounder (in two parts online, or a single PDF) details the history of India's land reforms and its various issues and challenges. LRAN has studies on many countries. Links here to Brazil, South Africa, and Venezuela. This page has link to all the countries they've researched on.

[3] The Great Betrayal: Indian Land Reforms by Venu Govindu. Venu Govindu reviews Siddharth Dube's Words Like Freedom : Memoirs of an Impoverished Indian Family 1947-1997. Artcile in India Together. Other articles in India Together related to land issues are here.

[4] "Give me Land" is a BBC four-part series on struggles for land - it covers South Africa, India, China and Brazil.

[5] "Ninth Schedule: What the Supreme Court judgement means" an article by Indira Jaising in Rediff on the January 11, 2007 Supreme Court judgement. Indira Jaising is a senior Supreme Court lawyer.

[6] Agrarian Reform for a Liberal Pattern of Society? Karnataka's Land Policy and the New Dispensation. By Ronald Herring of Cornell University. (pdf link) To quote from the Abstract of the article:

It is puzzling how much the discourse of development has backed away from the seemingly central question of rural poverty: land. Elaborate rules concerning its distribution, rights, regulation, protection, utilities have multiple development objectives, but poverty alleviation, individual liberty and community revitalization have long been on the stated agenda throughout India -- with radically varying levels of effort and effect. The Karnataka Land Reforms Act [Amended] that came into force on March 1, l974, is in line with the vision of the founders. Its pattern reflects -- more so than in West Bengal, which is widely lauded for its agrarian reforms -- the conclusions of the Congress Agrarian Reforms Committee of l949 and promoted over time with variable enthusiasm by Union governments. Such agrarian reforms have been considered among the most important mechanisms for achieving a socialist pattern of society as indicated in the Preamble and Directive Principles of State Policy (Part IV) of the Constitution. Elaborate and careful policy thinking by the founders connected classic agrarian reforms with poverty alleviation. What happens to land policy as liberal economic policy replaces “socialism” as directive principle? There are widespread claims -- both normative and empirical -- of "reversal of land reforms" in various parts of India under pressure of new export strategies, globalization, and multiplication of sub-subsistence holdings over time. What are the implications of reforming the reforms for poverty alleviation under new conditions?

[7] Various articles on Land Tenure, Agrarian Structure, and Land Reform by Professor Frithjof Kuhnen. (html and pdf links to the articles on the page.) Dr. Kuhnen is a professor of Rural Development at the University of Göttingen.

[8] Impact of Agrarian Reform on Poverty by Celia M. Reyes on the reforms in the Philippines. (pdf link)

[9] World Forum on Agrarian Reform

[10]India together articles on Land Reforms and acquisition

Open Mike 1 : Land Acquisition and Land Reforms (topic)

Details:
Thursday Open Mike
Topic: Land Acquisition and Land Reforms
January 31, 2008 [Thursday]
@ 8PM in Gaurav's House.
1781 Spyglass Drive #244
Austin TX 78746

Tonight's open mike will center around "Land Acquisition and Land Reforms". Just because that was the first topic I received. Anyway its open mike, so the discussions can go anywhere. I'll try to gather some information about this in different countries and such before the session.

Thursday Open Mike -- First Announcement

Starting this thursday, we'll begin a series of "Thursday Open Mike" sessions. The idea behind this is to have dedicated time to discuss what folks think are important issues that need discussion to further understanding. There is no compulsion on the discussions at these sessions to have any practical outcomes in the immediate or any future, although it would be nice if it did. The primary motivation is purely selfish, its to further one's personal understanding on different issues. Lets plan on a 90 minute session, starting at 8PM. Please try to come by 7:45, so that we actually spend all the 90 minutes on the discussion.

A note on topics. There is no restriction on the topic, except that it needs to be something that folks can think about and formulate their own thoughts about it. For example, we could learn the history of nation boundaries, starting from a society where tribes demarcated their territories from neighboring tribes to the current day nation states and discuss what the use of nation boundaries really are. Another example could be how would you organize Indian govt. political system for maximum democratic participation. These are just examples. Please send me an email about what you would like to discuss and I'll send an announcement out on Wednesday as to what we will be discussing.

I am hoping this will be well attended. The more folks we have, the more inputs and varied viewpoints we will be able to gather. Please come, and please bring forward what you would like to discuss. Please forward this email to anyone you think will be interested in this. Looking forward to the first meeting this Thursday.