Jatinhandoo

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2010-03-27T00:19:00.001+05:30

Microfinance Gateway>Jatinder Handoo

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DEVELOPMENT BUDGET 2010: HUMANE VISION WITH REFORMS.

2010-03-09T11:13:00.000+05:30

Any attempt to analyze GoI’s annual budget is a challenging endeavor due to tapestry of flavours, most of which are ideologically inclined and thus attracts multitude of appreciation and flak simultaneously. Here I shall restrict myself mainly to the points in the budget 2010 pertaining to social and financial inclusion of poor.
“Vision continuity”
The budget 2010 maintains continuity of the Government of India’s (GoI) vision of “prudential reforms” oriented economic growth with social equity. It reinforces GoI’s hybrid approach towards economic growth and social development along with a perceptible mix of welfare economics and neo liberal proclivity. This is in addition to the policy support for good governance initiatives like UIDAI and Technology advisory group for unique projects (TAGUP).
“Flavours of welfare state and neoliberal proclivity”
The USP of budget is a clear cut limelight on aam aadmi, mazdoor and kisan by bringing socio-economic convergences like MGNREGA and RSBY , setting up of National social security fund(NSSF), and extension of swavalambhan initiative under New pension scheme(NPS) concomitant to bharat nirman and other infrastructure development initiatives. The four pronged strategy for krishi aur kissan (agriculture) which has once again brought a special focus on increasing agricultural credit and interest subversion of 2 per cent a is continuity of past legacy of UPA . What is remarkably different this time is special focus on infrastructure, which could be a public policy response to sporadic food inflation cycles. All this arrows towards the flavours of welfare state.
On the other hand three major announcements in the budget which went off relatively twilight are Financial sector legislative reforms, GoI intent to open food retail sector and shift towards nutrient based fertilizer policy for containment of subsidy in the long term. These announcements are in a way pointers to the colours of “reforms”.
“Financial Inclusion”
Anticipated area for the actors of financial inclusion from this budget was support to financial inclusion initiatives and new emerging models which the Finance Minister has not left completely untouched. Enhancements to the corpus of Financial inclusion fund and Financial inclusion technology fund along with Government’s intention to take banking facilities to all habitations with 2000 plus population by 2012 by use of appropriate technologies and business correspondent model is a welcome announcement.
“Ye Dil Maange More”
“More is better than less”. Being a voracious consumer of government policies and programmes I feel more could have been incorporated in the budget , at least the two specific points, one related to livelihoods and other to microfinance. Incentives for actors of livelihood promotion in demographically and socially challenging terrains and special fund for impetus to JLG based microfinance activities to spur local entrepreneurship in strife torn states like Jammu and Kashmir NE states would have been a cheery at the top of sarkari cake.
I welcome your comments on this piece.

***The post was appeared for the first time on FINO blog.

Do Human Beigns recognise rights of non human Species :Districtn 9

2009-09-16T23:09:00.000+05:30

Hi All, Sorry for a long gap.
Last week I watched District 9 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_9 and I left audi with a few question in mind,
- Do we humans respect and care for ethical rights of non human species on the earth?
- What could be the future of human race in an unequal world where skills and income inequalities have already led to menances like terrorism,climate change and alarming poverty .
your thoughts pls.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSgLOvH_MMk

Fortnightly for rural women bags UNESCO prize

2009-08-06T20:41:00.001+05:30

Fortnightly for rural women bags UNESCO prize

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VALENTINE DAY & LIBERALISATION IN INSTALLMENTS

2009-02-09T16:30:00.000+05:30

Celebrations of V-Day apparently reel under clouds and dictums of vanguards ofBharatiya sanskriti after the recent macabre at the Mangalore Pub which has renewed interest of dhartiputras of India towards cultural soverignity in agora of issues that face the nation.

I am not using the space to be judgmental or attributing values to either group, both have their own reasons and beliefs which differ starkly as both belong to opposite paradigms.

This piece is an attempt to observe the issue from a public policy lens. Whether the incident is an isolated one or a spontaneous outrage of some jilted people who mix concoction of tradition and religion in the beaker of poverty and resourcelessness or is it the entropy of an intricate development model which has widened the resource gap, bred inequity and inequality.

What has been flashed on TV and computer screens and print media recently could be attributed to the “sequel of economic liberalization” coupled by a large divide of "Haves and Have nots" that has evolved into cultural conservatism colored into religion and tradition.

Now let’s have a look at this ---------

Around 3 per cent of the India population falls in “middle class” category, which means around 30 million people [which is approx. 10% of the total population of the USA]: The class is "reinvention mode" and "harbinger of socio cultural transition and economic change" ---- vibrant face of post structural modern India and darling of capitalistic liberal West .

A study by Navdayna -- a Delhi based NGO suggests that on Purchasing Power parity basis this 3 per cent of population in India spend around U.S $ 30,000 per capita per annum on consumption (including consumption of entertainment, Pubwala ), On the contrary there are

nearly equal (27% approx) number of Indians who live below poverty line (BPL), which loosely means they do not consume more than Rs 12/Day (as per 1994 base price).

With this picture on canvas, it should not be an utter surprise if V-Day and “sequels of economic liberalization and globalization" would be under fire from disgruntled majorty who fall in the spheres of have nots or have little to celebrate.

Branding Senas of Rama or Siva as zealots , violent militia and questioning their mandate or bashing late night outings of vivacious Gen X in the name of culture or tradition in print and electronic media will definitely help in increasing TRPs and circulation numbers of publications but not the issues that the people face in real life.

Ther is need of an open discussion to delve into the causes for anger and violence and the options that policy can offer.

But this cannot be the last word as India is complex beyong Comprehension so is the culture.

Your comments are welcome.

2008-08-26T10:51:00.000+05:30

Yeh Hai Mumbai (Indiya) Meri Jaan.

But.......What about the left outs?
Those who have no hope and exist amid of a crowd of gifted ones in India?
Unequal growth patterns within the society : A fast growing babu bashing aspirational upper middle class – a breed of tech savvy Masters of Business Acumen MBAs ---The money minting human machines; Snail pace generation of sarkari karmchais and babus of lower middle class and a sea of unnoticed Proletariate who have a perhaps meagre hope left to move up in the ladder . Yet all are interLINKED ----------- one way or the other.

Who will fine tune these (im) balances—State or Trade or Both? And where these imbalances will lead to; Terrorism, Naxilism or.....................God Knows?
Access to means to meet at least physical comforts in life if not development (which itself is a debatable ) seem to be elusive for a particular group of population in the country as suggest by Mr Justice Sacchar in his report. The consequence?
Groping of the new breed into despair and they see no incentive being part of THE SYSTEM and the booming capitalistic mode of development; The G-R-O-W-T-H.
What interest does the left out have if telcom majors launch One India Plan for its customers? Or TATAs pulls out of Singur, Nano is not sold at Rs 100,000? , Mr.Mittal takes over another iron ore mine or Ranbaxy sells out its shareholdings to Japanese Pharma major or ................

India wins one gold and two bronze medals in Olympics? The “economic growth” or cheap Drugs or getting nuclear power for India is just NOT ENOUGH BUT the point here is to be reckoned is the issue of Inequality (which is again debatable) but what is important ---- the policies that promote hopeful Inequality; Inequality may be considered good if it leads to hope but the same is dynamite RDX if it kills hope. Whether the lowest rung left outs will opt for Kashmir style Gun Culture or follow a path of development will depend upon the quality of Policy makers and nature of Public Policies and not merely on Mall manic, tech savvy money minting MBAs or Sarkari babus who have little incentive but to maximise their rational self interest..
Access to inclusive and economically equitable patterns of growth, may be by the way of access to potable water, quality education or healthcare of really poor. Incentivising socially excluded and economically left outs is perhaps the Real Growth. If business and trade is ladder to growth then it cannot go with a selected privilege few. It has to be expansive and out of box.
Perspective towards the Bottom of Pyramid(BoP) has to be changed, BoP not solely as a lucrative, scalable market which the marketing guru C.K Prahlad propounds, but BoP needs to be made a partner in trade and access thru trade be the mantra for hopeful inequalities.
Modern cinema like recent one “Mumbai MERI Jaan” has raised some banal questions which are commendable but what is certainly not appreciable is attitude and mindset of most of the weekender money minters for whom the cinema is merely a good piece of work and a paisa vasool time pass.

SHRI AMARNATJI SHRINE BOARD (SASB) LAND ROW: HAS THE STATE GOVERNMENT BUCKLED UNDER THE SESSIONIST PRESSURE IN KASHMIR?

2008-07-02T22:49:00.000+05:30

A Political scenario which has unfolded in the state of Jammu and Kashmir in the last ten days has fanned the sentiments of people in the state and has transcended across the nation.
Failure of the state Govt to foresee the repercussions of land diversion in the first place is unacceptable and has brought the precarious political situation not only in the state but in the whole country.
Leaders of the ruling congress party are singing the same tunes as the separatist groups in the valley by calling the upsurge as an "Awami Tehrik"------- A Public movement. Notably this is the first time for last two decades that star studded green flags have been hoisted in protest against the Govt. at the public places in the valley. Protesters shouting anti Indian, Pro freedom slogans were flashed on national media channels. Is this what they call an "Awami Tehrik? Is Kashmiri awam really against Govt. of India?
In his recent interview to BBC Hindi Prof. Saifuddin Soz, Union minister for water resources and a senior congress party leader has unequivocally proclaimed that movement in the valley was an awami tehrik and no anti national element was involved in it.
Failure in the governance and myopic decision making process has been overshadowed by putting blame on previous governor of the state which is just an act of whitewash. Transfer of land to the SASB was not done overnight but it took ample three and a half years after it got clearance from the state forest and law depts. and approval from Deputy Chief Minister . Passed through a prescribed set of bureaucratic and political processes the decision got the final approval in the state cabinet on 18th May 2008 and inexplicably so called awami tehrik which involved a bunch of anti Indian, Pro-freedom secessionist groups outstripped the governance of the state?
All this has casted a grave concerns and has given rise to various open ended questions like,
1.Has the ruling Congress led govt. paved a path for communal forces not only in the state but in the whole country?
2.Failure in the governance has resulted into communal disharmony among peace loving masses in the state? Who owes the responsibility?
3.Has the state Govt buckled under pressure from so called tehrik or is it due to political and electoral compulsions of the Government?

I conclude with these open ended questions and welcome comments of the esteemed readers.

Aam Aadmi Aur Garib???

2008-06-10T08:14:00.000+05:30

The Union Government of India has decided to raise selling price of petroleum based products including LPG which has attracted public wrath and flak from all quarters in the country. Be it political parties from the opposition or UPAs own allies (like CPI, RJD etc) The Congress led govt at the centre is under tremendous ‘domestic political’ and ‘international economic’ pressure. Uncertain fluctuations and weakening of US Dollar against crude and bullion accompanied by continuous rising in the rate of unemployment in the USA (latest 5.5%) for last five months is perhaps driving the sole superpower and the whole global economic order into a situation like economic depression (?) .
Interestingly, it is not only the Indian Govt which has taken a decision to raise price (cut Oil Pool subsidy) but neighbouring Asian states like Malaysia, Taiwan, Indonesia and Pakistan has also taken similar steps in the recent past.
On the domestic front , opposition political parties and( some Civil Society Groups) are leaving to stone unturned to take a political mileage out of this situation by flaring emotions of common masses in the name of “Aam Aadmi” and “Garib” ----------- both of the categories are themselves unclear. And some actors in media are making a good business by running rhetoric laden panic mills.
Below are some serious issues of Public Policy both at the domestic and international levels which need Public opinions and viewpoints.
- What options does Govt really have to contain inflation in short run? Money market interventions seem to be very bleak when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Repo rate is already 7.75% and CRR has touched 8.25%. The increased interest rates have hampered the growth rate of manufacturing sector in advance (from 14% to 3% p.a). Devaluation of rupee can be other option but dollar itself is not fixed and what about international trade effects in such a scenario?
- Next very pertinent question is whether the Govt should really shield oil pool (and other sectors) by subsidy? Is it not a high time now for civil society, Public policy think tanks and political leadership to initiate deliberations and discussions across the country on a draft frame work and a final Nation Policy on Subsidies which constitute whopping 8% of national GDP?
- Issues pertinent to supply side bottlenecks which have played a key role in fuelling inflation to current 8.24%. More precisely in farm sector , to prevent a “bubble formation” .
- Role and responsibilities of an independent media in forming Public opinion and affecting Public policies?
- Alternative sources of energy and energy security, to be specific Nuclear energy and Indo-US Nuclear deal in wake of recent international developments like possibility of Iran-Israel war and further spiralling of oil prices (upto USD 200/Barrel). Since energy (Crude oil) is traded from some of the most politically sensitive and unstable regions of the world like the middle east (Iran, Quwait,Iran etc) and Africa(Nigeria, Angola etc). There needs a long term energy security plan for fuelling Indian economy.
With some of these pointers I leave the discussion open for all friends. Please share your points of view on the Issue.

Food Crisis and Inflation.CRISIS or OPPRTUNITY?

2008-05-16T03:32:00.000+05:30

Hi Everybody,
I wonder whether the C-R-I-S-I-S projected in food sector is really a touch and go signal or a new window of growth and opportunity?
Recently I came across a piece of news which has reported “If every household in India hoards just one kg of wheat flour as a panic reaction due to food crisis and inflation , wheat flour will not be available in India----------- a flour famine ?. Quiet a revelation?
But what does it mean? Sceptics may alarm a warning bell about Malthusian theory of food crisis turning into reality? Unexpectedly, even the Indian Prime Minister, a seasoned economist, perhaps under “coalition compulsion” has reiterated once again in the Confederation of Indian Industry(CII) meet and implored upon for a “balancing act” in corporate remunerations to contain inflation and keep a socio-economic equity(which itself is not well defined).
And then rest of the job is done by M-E-D-I-A. Running panic mill and fear stories about food shortage and (Bad Capitalism?).
Undoubtedly food price across the globe have increased and it is the poor who are the worst hit when price increases, not only food price but essential commodities price, simply because a large percentage of their earnings is spent on essential commodities; but this time there is an indication that inflation is perhaps good and there is a positive aspect in inflation and I am of the opinion that it needs to be discussed and highlighted .
Economic activity across the world has increased manifold due to globalisation and especially India and China are the harbingers , more and more individuals have got gainful employment in these countries which means access to money and therefore access to food and other commodities, Hence a demand pull inflation. African countries like SierraLione, Sudan (Darfur) etc are an exception due to failure in institutions and governance system.
Other factors like “Farm to Fuel” Policy in the USA, Brazil and other countries perhaps is one of the reasons for food shortage but at the same time FAO has predicted increase in the global Rice Output by 1.8% and also increase in other food products.
In India, the reasons are different, supply side bottle necks in farm sector and more and more people having access to food are the main cause . Bharat Nirman Plus is one of the policy solutions in the long term and I personally feel that there is hardly which the Govt. should do in short run. Frequent changes in Money market by the central bank (RBI) will hamper the economic growth and populist actions like ban on future trading in agro commodities can not be of any help but a huge blow to farming community.
Solution lies in the Technology, Policy, Markets and public deliberations but definitely not in PANIC REACTIONS .This need to be highlighted and understood by all concerned.

FREEDOM TO CHOOSE?

2008-04-01T16:25:00.000+05:30

GLOBALIZATION & ITS DISCONTENTS
REVIEW ………………….. FREEDOM TO CHOOSE?
In this chapter, as the name indicates, the Author has dissected the modus operhandi of the operations followed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the developing nations of the Asian, the Latin American and the African continents. The fund did choke the economic freedom and impinged upon the “economic sovereignty” of these countries by the way of ‘bounding’ their choices to choose a trajectory of their economic growth. These Countries around late 1980s and early 90s had already been suffering of fiscal deficit, hyper inflation, extra ordinary rate of unemployment, etc for a while and needed money to stabilise their economy which was already in shambles and the IMF in the name of macroeconomic stabilisation programme left no stone unturned to foist upon the agenda of Privatisation, Liberalisation and Globalisation as a panacea under the auspices of the Washington consensus despite of the fact that these countries were ill equipped in terms of structures of the market and the governance to implement this agenda.
Privatisation: The idea of privatisation is based on the belief that the govt has no business to do business of private goods. The author says that although privatisation of the economy may be a nice idea but it has hit the poor very hard especially in the developing nations like morocco where the govt. was forced to pull out from business of poultry under the IMF condtionalities and thus a gap was created which was not plugged in by any private player immediately, consequent of which the subsistence poultry farmers were hit very hard and this led to unemployment. The author has used this example to support his point that how the developing countries were compelled to make “forced choices” under the IMF brinkmanship which dumped growing industries (like poultry in morocco) in the developing countries and eventually the poor were victim in absence of social security network. Prof. Stieglitz mentions that the fund did force the recipient countries to privatise their economic units even before social security net of the workforce was put in place. Not only social security was put at the stake, there were no competition and regulatory mechanisms in place before privatisation which later on, in some Latin American countries led to the social unrest accompanied by the problems like alarming unemployment, high crime rate, urban violence etc. The author also mentions in this chapter that even legal mechanisms were not strong enough to control corruption that got aggravated under the Fund’s policies.
Liberalisation: 1990s onwards the wave of liberalisation, particularly the liberalization of money markets and the trade liberalisation under the influence of the Washington consensus swept across the developing world with the aim of enhancing income of these countries by channelizing the factors of production from less productive use to the higher productive use based on the theory of comparative cost advantage. Developing countries lacked terribly in what it takes to be successful in the liberal trade regime --------- ‘Education’ and ‘capital’. Consequently, most of the countries that followed the path of trade liberalism observed that the rate of new job formation was less than the rate at which existing jobs were destroyed with an exception of some of the south East Asian countries that opened up slowly. The author has mentioned in the book that the Liberalisation was a much disputed and a debatable idea even in the US at that time but shockingly the Fund was hell bent on implementation of the same in the developing countries. Countries like Bolivia were in the eye of the storm due to the Fund’s policy prescription. The liberal trade regime promoted an unfair agenda (from developing countries’ point of view) that was manifested by the protests in Seattle and Uruguay round of WTO.
The Role of Foreign Investment, Sequencing and Pacing, Trickle Down effect and the Priorities and Strategy of the International Monetary Fund.
Prof. Stieglitz mentions in his book that the foreign investment is one of the most powerful tools of the Washington consensus and a key part of new Globalisation. The consensus is of the opinion that the foreign investment brings along with it new business and the technical expertise that leads to the economic growth and is therefore a panacea to reduce Poverty in the developing world. But the fact of the matter is that the foreign investment, foreign business and technology when intrudes into the markets of developing world demolishes local competition due to the huge financial and technical clout e.g. in the case of soft drinks across developing countries where there is hardly and local domestic brand. Similar is the case with ‘beast of Bentonville’------------ the Wal-Mart. In absence of competition laws local domestic industry has paid heavily in the developing countries. The author has chosen to highlight the case of banking industry liberalisation, which in the developing countries particularly in the Latin American countries like Argentina and Bolivia led to a banking system failure in the year 2001 and the phrase ‘credit for development’ became irrelevant. The fund prescribed these countries to allow their domestic industries to have access to international financing agencies in the form of Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) which was even more dangerous prescription of access to notorious “Hot Money” accompanied to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) which comes only at the price of undermining democratic process especially in sectors like natural resource e.g. mining, Natural oil, etc which are common pool resources. Following of the fund’s policies led to problems like the notorious ‘Dutch disease’----------the currency appreciation that the developing countries could less afford.
The author mentions in the chapter that the whole economic agenda was mis conceived, ill sequenced and paced untimely. Forced liberalisation before social safety nets in place, high rate of destruction of the domestic jobs etc were the biggest blunders according to the author .The blind pursual of the market fundamentalism in the countries where there existed no facilities for the “perfect information” and “perfect market” which are the pre conditions for market fundamentalism was a grave failure of the fund. The author mention that the much celebrated “trickle down effect” or “Trickle down plus” was another failure in the developing countries. Prof. Stieglitz has mentioned that the very idea of trickle down economy was very much debatable even in the US in Bill Clinton’s govt. This policy of trickle down effect in the developing nations like Thailand did nothing best but led to the cutbacks in social sectors like education and health and adversely impacted the country’s fight against AIDS.
Finally, in the last section of the chapter the author mentions that the priorities and the strategies of the Washington consensus were faulty. Author says that whatever the fund had put on its agenda had a negative economic repercussions in the developing countries that the fund’s economists failed to foresee. Prof. Stieglitz mentions that the stated objective of the Washington consensus is to reduce poverty in the developing countries and in this if they could have prioritised issues like land reforms in the developing countries that would have been much useful than trade liberalisation and financial deregulation. The author says that the growth and poverty are related and there is no ambiguity in this, but the manner in which developing countries have followed the Fund’s policy prescriptions has only revealed that the economic growth necessarily do not reduce poverty as desired or stated in the funds objective.

EVERYBODY LUVS A GOOD DROUGHT---- A BIBLE FOR STUDENTS OF POLICY AND DEVELOPEMENT STUDIES.

2008-03-11T11:39:00.000+05:30

EVERYBODY LOVES A GOOD DROUGHT

- A Book review by Jatinder Handoo.

Straight from the heart of India’s one of the rarest species of Rural Journalists Magsaysay award winner Mr. Palagummi Sainath popularly known as P.sai. P.Sainath’s rare but an indispensable compendium of Socio-economic issues pertaining the most disadvantaged populace in India, “Everybody loves a good drought” published by Penguin Books -- the book is a bible for students of public policy. Author of the book Mr. P Sainath has vividly reported about (mis) formulation and (mis) implementation of public policies by various policy actors especially Sarkari babus and netas that have a direct bearing on some unfortunate Indian Junta who also live in this country of high growth rate and economic development. These people are primarily dwellers of rugged rural hinterland and associated with agriculture and allied sectors. Author has divided the book into eleven chapters and the single unified idea which he has pursued coherently in the book is failure of an efficient and need based of public policy formulation and proper implementation of policies and poverty alleviation programmes in the most backward and the poorest regions of our country. The author has obliquely raised some very banal questions about the direction in which our country has been moving in the name of development and growth especially after 1990s. P.Sainath has directly and indirectly questioned efficacy of public policies more specifically the economic policies being followed by the political leadership of this country in the name of Structural adjustment programmes and changing the so called old economic order by so called change makers Late. Mr. P.V. Narsima Rao and Mr. Manmohan Singh who surprisingly were themselves a key actor to myriad of public policies of the same old economic order which they dumped as the old and redundant in the year 1990. The author has taken support of statistical figures to buttress his argument about per capita availability of food grains and pulses and in order to convince his readers author reports that per capita availability of cereals and pulses in 1991 was 510gm but shockingly after economic reforms were initiated in 1990s per capita availability of food grains and pulses has fallen down to 461 gm. Author raises a question when millions are eating less, how does that constitute a reform? P.Sainath also questions about the model of development adopted for last sixty years, which has lead to the socio economic exclusion of the really poor and speechless communities in this country. Author has very strongly supported his arguments by mentioning specific cases particularly a case of virtually robbing poor farmers in Ramnad district of Tamil nadu state from community water resources by privatising them or case of keeping Koya tribal away from bamboo forests in malkangiri district of Orissa state and later on leasing same bamboo forests to Paper manufacturing Corporates. Mr. P.Sainath has very meticulously arranged his arguments in the form of short memoirs of his visits to convince readers about the state of shambles of rural areas in India. He has very intelligently made sarcasm on political establishment and policy makers about official celebration of poverty, agrarian crisis, backwardness, hunger, tribal status, casteism, illiteracy, absence of social security, failure of primary health services in rural countryside of Bharat.
Role of Policy Actors, Politics of Poverty and Development Business
The author has given description about various policy actors who have influenced the state of affairs and public policy formulation and implementation at grass root levels especially sarkari bubudom in the country. Other policy actors who find mention in the book are NGOs, politicians, Journalists alternate power centres in rural areas like moneylenders, govt. departments, middlemen etc. The author has also made a stark reference to the politics of poverty in India and dubious role of some corporate propped NGOs to promote obsolete technologies in the name of technology donation, harmful contraceptives and drug trials in the name of health care, even dumping of drip irrigation technologies in irrigated areas. The author mentions that development has become a money spinning business because Government has failed at various fronts.

Role of Press
In the last, the author has highlighted the role of modern Indian press in highlighting issues of social relevance, especially those with which some unfortunate, unknown, obscure human beings in some remote and the most underdeveloped terrains of this country grapple everyday. Author says that modern Indian press being a fourth pillar of democracy has a responsibility to impartially report and not merely analyse such issues. Author sarcastically mentions that the press and media today is seemingly lost in glamour of market today and developmental journalism has seemingly reduced to an idea of past but at the same time he reinstalls his faith in the capacity and prowess of the power of press to initiate an impartial nationwide debate about these issues which go unnoticed and lost in order to bring a policy level change in the system.

VEGETABLE SELLER TO A SUPER BLOGGER.

2008-02-27T15:26:00.000+05:30

This piece of writing is about ZHOU.

WHAT?????

Who Zhou?

Okay, Okay, Zara thand rakho (be cool ) , lemme use some desi lingo I M sure all of us (at least most r familiar with the (in) famous ad, ‘An IDEA Can change U r (W) Life”, what an IDEA sir JEE? Well, I must say a blogging can change u r life! ........... From a local vegetable vendor at some obscure location in china to a superstar darling blogger 26 yrs old, jobless, bespectacled guy who was featured in TIME Magazine(Feb 4 , 2008) held the flag of civil society high in china..................................... Mr. ZHOU a.k.a Zola.

Zhou’s vault to web stardom (and knighthood of Civil Society Championship) came in April 2007 when he was visiting Chongqing, a municipality in central China. Intrigued by a dispute that pitted a property developer against a “stubborn” homeowner whose refusal to leave his property had blocked the launching of construction, Zhou began to write blog entries, posting its videos and still images on the web. The incidence got eyeballs of vibrant cyber civil society in China; the developer and local govt. was apparently embarrassed by the publicity and they soon came to an agreement with the house owner. ZHOU was acclaimed and interviewed by various foreign reporters.
Soon ZHOU became a thorn in the eyes of the state with its site blocked. Zhou as usual used bloggers’ tricks to evade BLOG-BLOCK and kept his blog online. But ZHOU’S luck ran out when he travelled to Shenyang to interview victims of pyramid scheme involving a supposed aphrodisiac powder made of crushed ants. Victims were handed over cash and were told that they would get guaranteed 30% annual return if they kept supplying ants. Ultimately the scheme collapsed and hundreds of defrauded investors protested against the govt.
ZHOU was picked up by police and guys police in china is one step ahead of PUNJAB POLICE , so no prizes for any guesses what happened top ZHOU in the police custody : HE WAS SMASHED BY A (in)VALOUROUS COP.

ZHOU is now released from jail but has retired as an active blogger. The lack of democracy, liberty and freedom of civil society in China can be traced to the lack of freedom of expression and that’s why young people like ZHOU entre into the arena of cyber journalism by using blog as a platform.

Source :- TIME MAGAZINE(Feb 4 , 2008).

2008-02-09T15:40:00.000+05:30