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| Anil Tharayath |
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 Registered Member #8 Joined: Wed Dec 26 2007, 01:14PMPosts: 21 | We are in the midst of a intense shift in the history of the world, history of ideas and that of the international order. Many of the ideas and framework that have emerged during the last three hundred years and particularly during the enlightenment period are not adequate enough to address the new challenges faced by humanity in the 21st century. The roles of technology and communications have substantially changed the way we think, talk, act and live. The mode of technology often shape the mode of communication (and travel) and this often determines our mode of thinking which shapes our mode of action and this in turn shape the mode of living. What are the challenges we face today? a) Increasing Inequality across the world b) Marketisation of Development, Politics and State. Increasingly, big corporations are influencing the political process and development through media empires, corporate funding of election and political parties and by strengthening corruption. c) Growth lead, market driven and consumerist based economic syndrome that undermine the immunity of people, nature and earth, resulting in global warming and increasing inequality and violence. d) More than a billion people are at the receiving end of poverty, marginalization and communicable disease like HIV/AIDS. The further marginalization of some of the poorest countries due to the collapse of the state and economy, aid dependency, and internal conflicts pose big challenges. e) Global Warming and Climate Change pose the single largest threat to the present and future generations. f) Militarization and the unprecedented growth of arm industry and resultant globalization of violence and terror by the state and non-state parties. g) Emergence of exclusive identity politics and revival of fundamentalist religious groups. When we do have unprecedented challenges we do also opportunities. There is a crisis of credibility of political parties and electoral process in most of the so called democratic countries. The global hegemony of power and ideas are under challenge and the so callrd terrorist attacks signified the new challenges and the emergence of new global identity politics and its unfortunate consequences. Hence, there is a need to think and act together to make this world more just, more democratic, more sustainable and more safe place. We have global, national as well as local challenges that need to be addressed in order to strengthen a more sustainable, secure, just and democratic international order. At the same time, there has to be new policy framework or paradigms that would enable countries to address the internal challenges of poverty, civil conflicts and increasing identity politics and violence. Here are some of the Policy Options mainly I’ll be addressing the National context: At the National Level, policy framework may vary from country to country. However, there could be potential policy options for ensuring equity, justice, sustainability and accountability. Some of the options are the following” 1) Budget Transparency and Accountability: There has to be clear mechanism for citizens’ participation and role in budget formulation and budget monitoring. Participatory Budgeting is a prerequisite for economic justice as well as for ensuring efficient and effective use of budget. 2) Transfer of economic resources to rural areas as to regenerate rural economy, agriculture and market. This will help to reduce the unprecedented rural-urban migration and resultant increase in urban poverty and violence. 3) Investing in Human Development: A National Level Fund to ensure human development for all and particularly to ensure health and education of the marginalized sections and groups. 4) Electoral Reforms to make sure those Political parties are well funded, accountable, democratic and transparent and measures to put a maximum limit of eight years for any particular person to be the head of the government or the chief functionary of the government. 5) Strengthening Local Self Governance: Local Self Governance should be strengthened through the devolution of finance, administration and service delivery. Local Self Governance can have clear mechanism for participatory budgeting and planning to ensure accountability and transparency. This can also reduce the number of employees at the national level. 6) Strengthening Women’s Political Participation in all elected bodies: Active participation of women can substantively change the political process and strengthen democratization. There has to be conscious measures to ensure the participation of women as well as the marginalized sections. 7) Affirmative Action for Right to Education and Right to Work: There has to be conscious legislative and policy measures to ensure high quality public education to the citizens in general and marginalized sections in particular. Conscious efforts to generate employment and economic opportunities in the rural areas will help to address issues of poverty. 8) Economic and other reforms to ensure equity: This will include land reforms as well women’s right over land and conscious efforts to strengthen the economic capability of the poor through rural credit programmes and financing self employment and helping to build up sustainable local economies and market through forming and strengthening cooperative finance service, cooperative production facilities and marketing. One can also develop mechanism to link up local market with global market. 9) High Investment to ensure quality higher and technical Education and Research: Unless national governments invest in high quality higher and technical education and research, there will always be knowledge and technical dependency on rich countries in the north. The hegemony of the rich and powerful northern countries (and erstwhile colonial and imperialist powers) is primarily due to the knowledge domination and trade domination. Hence, a very conscious efforts to invest in higher and technical education and research is an absolute prerequisite to build a more just and multi polar world. 10) Right to Information and Public Accountability Mechanism: There has to be an effective Right to Information law and accountability framework for all the public officials, including elected representative. The sources of income of the elected representative and public official need to be made public and their tax returns also need to be public. In case, if such information proved to be wrong, or fabricated stringent measures including the preventing them from occupying public office or contesting elections need to be contemplated. Such strong accountability framework will help to reduce corruption to a large extent. Many of these public policy options are indicative rather than comprehensive. There is indeed a need to have a paradigm shift of public policy making and implementation. The present neo-liberal and neo-conservative policy making process are inherently divisive and will perpetuate violence, poverty and agony all over the world. So we need to think, act and move towards a more humanist, ethical, human rights based and democratically accountable Policy Paradigm for heralding another world: A world of Human Rights for all where every person can live with dignity, where no one will go to bed hungry, a world without wars, a world of freedom from want and freedom from fear, a world that is sustainable…a world where every human person can realize her or his creative potential, a world of ethical consumption, ethical market and democratic state…a JUST World. We as social workers need to keep alive our capabilities to envision, seek, change and transform this world to make more just and wonderful to us and to the coming generations. We need to create a new politics and new praxis’s towards such a world. We still need DREAMS!! ANIL THARAYATH VARGHESE | ||
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| Paulami |
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  Registered Member #44 Joined: Sat Jan 19 2008, 11:11PMPosts: 12 | wonderful... Paulami De Sarkar Project Manager The Hope Foundation paulami.hope@gmail.com www.hopefoundation.ie | ||
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| Anil Tharayath |
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| Registered Member #8 Joined: Wed Dec 26 2007, 01:14PMPosts: 21 | thanks paulami. could you help me in getting certain references in voluntarism in India ANIL THARAYATH VARGHESE | ||
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| Paulami |
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| Registered Member #44 Joined: Sat Jan 19 2008, 11:11PMPosts: 12 | Yeah Anil whatever your wrote is like a dream. We all need these dreams. Presently in India we have everything but again in Black and White. We are the world's largest democracy. We have Panchayati Raj Institution for rural administration-an unique model of decentralization. We have Right to Information. But all are in the paper. I think what India lacks is a LEADER. Youth is the most important section of the society to bring any change in the system; they are the most powerful instrument of any revolution. In India there is no Leader, who can channelize this huge resource for doing this Herculean task. I think whatever we have is enough; but what is important is to ensure proper implementation and practice. Paulami De Sarkar Project Manager The Hope Foundation paulami.hope@gmail.com www.hopefoundation.ie | ||
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| Anil Tharayath |
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| Registered Member #8 Joined: Wed Dec 26 2007, 01:14PMPosts: 21 | Paulami i agree to what you said. I think that there should be leaders among youth but once again we always have this burden of juxtaposing our generation with the baggage of the 'glorious' periods before which is in fact a burden for the youth of today is my opinion. but there is a lack of the sense of "politics" (not referring to the political parties). To site an instance there a campaign against a Hydroelectric project in Silent Valley, a virgin forest in Kerala India. The Silent Valley campaign (1978-83) was basically meant to protect bio-diversity and to raise critical questions about the nature of development. No community was to be displaced by the project. The entire media, political establishment and trade unions were for the hydroelectric project. Yet over a period of time four poets and five poems changed the public mood and political context. The poems caught the imagination of the young people and many were mobilised through the People's Science Movement. Media could not afford to ignore the concerns of such a large number of middle class youth nor the opinion of poets, writers and intellectuals. This created one of the first public discourses on the environment and sustainable development in India during the late seventies and early eighties. to day the scenario is far more different and new strategies have not been developed to tap these resources. In fact there is'nt proper mechanisms to ensure proper implementation and practice but we should also think what can be the ways to involve the people in this implementation process too. we know that we mention about the term empowerment. According to me there are two stages of empowerment. The first stage is the realization freedom from fear and freedom from want: acquiring a sense of security and rights. The second is acquiring a sense of confidence to make choices in one’s own life and the ability to go beyond oneself to make a positive difference in other’s life; ability to initiate, inform, influence and inspire change: acquiring a sense of vision, mission and leadership. True empowerment helps a person to be both humble and confident: a critical self awareness wherein one is humble enough to know what one does not know and confident enough to realize what one can do. In a larger context I feel there are five key conditions to move towards the collective empowerment of the majority of the disempowered people in India. 1) Economic growth with distributive justice; 2)Democratisation of knowledge; 3)social and economic justice to the most marginalized communities; 4)responsible management of natural and energy resources; and infrastructure, 5)agriculture and industrial development in the rural areas. However, democratic and accountable governance is a necessary condition to empowerment of the people. But for these i think we need collective conviction and commitment to challenge the process of discrimination and disempowerment that happen in the midst of us every single day. ANIL THARAYATH VARGHESE | ||
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| Jitendra |
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 Registered Member #151 Joined: Fri Mar 28 2008, 09:38AMPosts: 2 | Paulami wrote ... Yeah Anil whatever your wrote is like a dream. We all need these dreams. Presently in India we have everything but again in Black and White. We are the world's largest democracy. We have Panchayati Raj Institution for rural administration-an unique model of decentralization. We have Right to Information. But all are in the paper. I think what India lacks is a LEADER. Youth is the most important section of the society to bring any change in the system; they are the most powerful instrument of any revolution. In India there is no Leader, who can channelize this huge resource for doing this Herculean task. I think whatever we have is enough; but what is important is to ensure proper implementation and practice. HI Paulami, I 100% agree with you. Thanks & Regards, Jitendra Kumar Treasurer - JEEVANRAKSHAK, The Lifesaver Community Email: jitendra@jeevanrakshak.org Url: www.jeevanrakshak.org | ||
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