Dark Side of Giving- The Rise of Philanthro- Capitalism

Source- Economic Times (25th March 2011)

This article makes a shocking revelation about the so called philanthropic interests of Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation. Warren Buffet is currently in India requesting Indian Business Men to contribute Funds to the Gates Foundation. 

The article says that they are not doing it out of charity, but to propagate and encourage American Corporate interests.

Africa is one place where the French and Europeans have greater influence than the Americans. Now both the Gates foundation and Rockefeller foundation is planning a new activity. It's termed as Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).  The real intention is to make 'MONSANTO' a dominant player in Africa. In due course of time they plan to make African agriculture fully dependent on the Genetically Modified varieties as they are trying with India and other Asian countries. 

There's another accusation against the Gates foundation. ie they have invested $23 billion in Monsanto, when asked about this Bill Gates replied that investment and charity must be seen separately. How can it be so when the main aim of the organisation is to help them come out of difficulties in life?

Some time back, Bill Gates had visited India and requested Indian business men to donate to their foundation. Shiv Nadar of HCL technologies said that he would do charity through educational institutions in rural areas and not through their foundation. He must have known the actual scenario there itself. 

Bill Gates initially ruled the world through Microsoft, he eliminated all other players. Now he's trying to do it in Agriculture through Monsanto. It seems his strategy is like making the India pay to ensure their dominance over us. It reminds me of the British era when taxes were collected from Indian peasants to maintain the army which was in turn used to suppress the freedom movement. Gates wants to repeat history once again it seems.

I don't know why Americans are always so selfish? Why don't they peacefully coexist with other nations instead of always trying to dominate?

I had a Quarrel with my Spouse!! How are you going to be affected??

Ever heard of this sentence before? Well, I have been hearing this sentence right from my 10^th standard board exams. This is a very famous excuse given by teachers who participate in centralized valuation. The students are of course at the mercy of these valuators. They suffer for no reason of theirs.Teachers give the excuse that they have quarreled with their spouses or on the huge quantity of answer sheets corrected by them for this poor performance.

I feel when they are being respected and obeyed; they also have the duty to be responsible enough. They cannot let innocent students score poor marks or fail for no fault of theirs. This situation shows lack of commitment among the teachers who indulge in such excuses. If they have a fight with their spouse, it’s something which is really personal and that cannot be spilled into their professional lives. What if the same happens with a student? Suppose he has a fight with one of his friends and comes to the class. If the student hasn’t done the homework or doesn’t pay due respects to the teacher, is he left scot free? It rarely happens. Infact the student in most cases will be punished again for his failure.

I wouldn’t say that the teacher should be punished in a similar manner. For every action there’s an equal and opposite reaction. If the result is not going to be immediate, then they will somehow or the other going to suffer for their irresponsible behavior in the near future. Even they have sons and daughters who are going to appear for university exams. These smart teachers mustthink about what will happen to then if somebody else corrects their ward’s papers in the same manner.

To conclude, such silly excuses are not at all acceptable. Teachers must be responsible enough to give a good job when they go for university paper corrections. Personal problems and professional duties must be viewed separately.

Environmental Impact- Policies With Long Term Vision Needed

The A.B. Vajpayee government successfully tested Indian Nuclear Bomb in 1998. There were big hues and cries regarding this. All major world powers termed this act despicable. The US even went on to impose sanctions on India. Twelve years have passed and look at the situation now. The governmental heads of all five major super powers have visited India and declared directly or indirectly that the prosperity in their nations depends to a large extent on India and its population.If people of the developing nations don't travel and prosper, for who else will Boeing and Airbus manufacture air-crafts for? If the capital markets of the emerging nations were not there, where else will Foreign Institutional Investors put in their money and get decent  returns? 

There's another scenario which has arisen recently. Jairam Ramesh was widely acclaimed and appreciated for his pro poor stand. He single handedly denied permission to Vedanta Industries limited for mining in Niyamgiri district of Orissa. Most politicians would have accepted bribes and allowed the company to mine at the expense of tribals who doesn't have any voting rights. Jairam Ramesh certainly chose to differ from others in the case of Vedanta, Lavassa and Posco.

Now it seems the whole government machinery is turning against him. Jairam Ramesh has been forced to give clearances with conditions. The companies are most certain to flout these rules and proceed as they please. The government argues that if companies are turned away in similar fashion, then India won't attract any FDI. 

This is an absolutely wrong perception. We must set the standards for environmental protection and sustainable development rather than doing it in the erstwhile imperialist  manner. The British and other colonial countries thought only about the welfare of their industries. They never took into account wheather the people in the colonies perished or went to hell. Our government certainly can't afford to behave in such an irresponsible manner.  

Initially it might cause a bit of distress and reduced FDI into the nation.Talking about long term, Where else can the developed nations invest their money if not in the emerging markets? Their markets are already saturated and there's not going to be any further significant growth. It's high time that we set the standards for pollution and environmental impact rather that letting the MNCs dictate terms to us. If we don't control them, they will start controlling us like the East India Company did in the 17th and 18th centuries. Should we allow history to repeat? Let's put on our thinking caps and get our acts together.