Saru Thukral

India has marked three per cent share in the GDP for education sector during 2007-08. The Common Minimum Programme had fixed 6 per cent.
It is easy to get carried away by the thought that the Left’s exit will liberate the UPA government to unleash economic and social reforms. A reality check reveals that the government itself needs to shift gears and put a deeper focus on implementation of key programmes initiated over the last four years. Yes, the UPA is freer now to push certain reforms opposed by the Left parties, but it also has to shake off its own legislative and executive stupor to deliver.
The other unfinished agenda

• In 2008, the UPA government earmarked Rs 34,000 crore to the education sector — an increase of 20% from 2007. But this is less than the 34% increase in 2006-07.

• The Right To Education Bill, which grants every child between the ages of 6 and 14 years the right to free and compulsory education, must be a priority in the coming months

• These are in the pipeline: 30 new universities, eight new IITs, seven new IIMs, 20 new IIITs, five new IISERs, two schools of planning and architecture, 10 NITs, 373 new degree colleges and 1,000 new polytechnics

• Access to higher education will remain a dream for many unless interest rates on education loans are reduced.

But the government is now more keen to pass the the Insurance Bill which had met with stiff opposition from the Left parties as it would allow for hike in FDI in private insurance companies to 49 per cent from 26 per cent
• Other proposals include increasing LIC’s paid-up capital from Rs 5 crore to Rs 100 crore and transfer of insurance ombudsman’s administrative control to the IRDA. It was already passed by the Parliamentary Standing Committee; the Bill is now with a group of ministers.

Private players with an eye of making the public sector subservient want the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2005 pending in the Parliament because of stiff opposition from the Left parties and trade unions passed.
• Another important proposal is to make the voting rights of shareholders in private sector banks equal to their voting shares. Currently, voting rights of the shareholders are capped at 10 per cent, irrespective of their actual equity holding in the bank. Foreign investors can buy up to 74 per cent of a private Indian bank but their voting rights are capped at 10 per cent — a major deterrent for investors trying to gain management control

•The government has been unable to hike the outlays for the health sector to 3 per cent of GDP as promised in the Common Minimum Programme
• For this, budget allocation has to rise by at least 30 per cent a year. Current, increase is 15 per cent over the previous year
• At present, government’s expenditure on health is only about 1 per cent and was 0.98 per cent in 2006-07. The Center’s share has increased to 0.34 per cent while it needs to be at least 1 per cent to reach the target of 2-3 per cent
•While the budgetary allocation for the National Rural Health Mission has not shown the necessary rise, the plan is also marred by infrastructural and political bottlenecks

•A new Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana, to be launched in Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan, providing cover of Rs 30,000 for BPL workers, would need efficient monitoring to show desired impact

• The Draft National Pharmaceutical Policy 2006 awaits clearance by a GoM
• Since the GoM is still holding meetings, the policy has yet to derive its final version
• The industry waits for clarity on the price-monitoring issues.

• Coal Bill 2000 has been pending in the Rajya Sabha due to the Left resistance. Its passage will facilitate private mining of coal
• Coal ministry is undecided on setting up a regulator which is expected to monitor coal prices.

•The steel ministry has not re-classified steel as an essential commodity which will reduce the demand-supply mismatch of the alloy, or to cap steel exports
• Proposal to set up a regulator is also gathering dust
• New Mineral Policy up for the coming monsoon session

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Sri Lanka: ‘Animal Tracks’ Lead Villagers Out of Poverty

Feizal Samath

AN impoverished village in southern Sri Lanka is slowly pulling out of poverty by churning out terra cotta moulds of animal footprints for tea connoisseurs all over the world.

Villagers here -- traditionally brick-makers -- have found value and economic potential in protecting the jungle, the wild animals and their natural habitat under a new project titled ‘Animal Tracks’, Ajith Perera, a celebrated Sri Lankan potter and team leader of the project explained. "Protecting the environment brings jobs and a secure future for their family," he told IPS. The project came to fruition when International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) staffer Asanka Abayakoon was seconded to Dilmah -- Sri Lanka’s largest value-added tea exporter -- to streamline its environmental sustainability and charitable work in villages.

The relationship between once-struggling villagers from this small hamlet adjoining Uda Walawe National Park, IUCN and Dilmah has brought man and beast closer to harmonious coexistence. "These villagers who never stepped into the national park [because they were so poor] are now collecting animal footprints and learning about the animals and their lifestyles," said Perera.

Young workers at the ‘Animal Tracks’ workshop and training centre this week were placing the finishing touches to dozens of tiny pendants made out of terra cotta. We need a quality raw material because the pendants are exported to consumers across the world, says Dilhan C. Fernando, Trustee of the MJF Foundation, Dilmah’s charitable arm. In September, the dainty pendants -- inserted into tea packets -- will make their way to stores in Poland, Australia and New Zealand. "This is a pure charity project. There is no commercial value that we seek or get. The pendants are free giveaways to our customers to show our gratitude and also profile what our villagers are capable of," Fernando said.

Recently competition in the brick business forced Koulara residents to take jobs in a nearby sugarcane plantation. "We would make less than 3,000 rupees [below 30 dollars] a month and that too if there is work," said Sriyani Subasinghe, manager of the Animal Tracks workplace.

"Now women and girls are making 24,000 rupees [nearly 240 dollars] a month through this initiative. We make in two months what would take more than a year to earn through the sugar plantation and other menial daily work," she said sitting in Animal Tracks’ thatch-roofed office. The complex employs 100 women in wattle-and-daub huts thatched with dry coconut leaves. Open spaces to allow natural light and ventilation.

A range of plates, ornaments and jewellery are also produced from clay using the footprints of elephants, leopard and other animals from the park. Venturing into the park, with the help of park wardens, villagers look for footprints and then fill them with plaster-of-paris, turning out a mould within minutes. "Often -- in the case of elephants -- you need to follow the animals and look for fresh footprints which provide a better mould," Abayakoon explained.

Perera, who regularly shuttles between Koulara and his own pottery studio in Boralesgamuwa near Colombo, says the MJF Foundation has rejuvenated the village. "From virtually nothing, the village has become a ‘somebody’. Imagine using the hitherto-unknown skills of these women to produce delicately carved ornaments and pendants for world markets? It’s like a dream for them," Perera said.

"This project has given hope to all of us. With the comfortable income they get, our workers are rebuilding their homes, buying other needs and also saving in the local bank," says 24-year old Anoma Jayaratne, Animal Tracks Production Manager.

Thirty-two-year-old Shanthi Kumar works in the comfort of her home turning out pendants. She started three weeks ago, after initial training at Animal Tracks, and now produces 300 pieces a day. "I am very happy with this job as I am able to earn a comfortable living working at home," she said while her two children -- aged 13 and 5 years -- watched as she worked. Her husband, who does not have a regular job and does odd work in the village, proudly sits near a TV set which they got on ‘hire-purchase’ terms just a few days back. "This project has lifted us," he says. Fifty other villagers work from their homes.

Animal Tracks has been picked as one of the five best environmentally sustainable projects to be profiled at the upcoming IUCN international conference in Barcelona, in which Dilmah founder Merril J. Fernando and his son Dilhan C. Fernando are also taking part.

Earlier this year Dilmah was congratulated by IUCN for its unique effort in integrating humanitarian and environmental aspects into the company’s business model. At a ceremony at IUCN headquarters in Switzerland IUCN Director General Julia Marton-Lefèvre commended the MJF Foundation for "the visible improvement in the lives of communities that depend on natural resources, and enhancing community appreciation of the need for conservation of natural resources for future generations".

The partnership between IUCN and Dilmah began in the aftermath of the disastrous tsunami that hit Sri Lanka and parts of Asia in Dec. 2004 when the Sri Lankan company sought IUCN assistance in a relief project. The contact solidified later when Dilmah sought the world environmental agency’s help to streamline its social responsibility work. It was a mutual kind of relationship, according to Dilhan C. Fernando, where "we learned sustainable work while they [IUCN] learnt management techniques and how the private sector works".

"We have an entry and exit strategy. We want them to stand on their own… [we] help in finding the markets. From Jun. 2008 we trained them in cash management, etc. and now they are strictly a business operation run by a cooperative society, which we helped set up. They made a 2.5 million rupee profit [more than 25,000 dollars] in three months this year," Dilhan C. Fernando said.

Dilmah has purchased thousands of pendants from the project, inserting them into flavoured tea packs as complementary items.

Dilmah plans to import a kiln and donate it to the village. "We want to expand this project to three villages," Dilhan C. Fernando says.

Perera wants to replicate the Animal Tracks model in every national park in Sri Lanka in partnership with Dilmah, IUCN and the Sri Lanka Department of Wildlife. "We also want to teach students in these villages… how a piece of clay can be turned into products using animal footprints that can sustain the village economy and also protect the animals and their habitat," he said. [Courtesy IPS]

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Sarkozy Deserts Bush, Europe Drifting From America

Dr Sawraj Singh

WHEN Nicolas Sarkozy was elected President of France, it appeared that for the first time a French President was going to play a second fiddle to President Bush. He gave the impression that he was also a staunch rightist who was bent upon reversing the liberal and leftist traditions of France and tows the neo conservative and reactionary policies of President Bush. However, the recent developments in Europe and the Middle East show that Sarkozy has parted company with Bush.
Sarkozy played a very different role in the Russia – Georgia conflict as opposed to the Bush administration that has taken a strong anti Russian stand. Sarkozy has taken a neutral stand in the conflict and has strongly opposed the American policy of provoking confrontation with Russia. Sarkozy does not want to antagonize Russia and wants to continue cooperation with Russia. As the chair of the 27 nation European Union, Sarkozy effectively resisted the American pressure to impose sanctions on Russia. He was able to get a compromise from Russia and Georgia regarding the withdrawal of the Russian troops from Georgia. Russia will withdraw its troops from Georgia except Ossetia and Abkhezia and in return, Georgia will not try to retake Ossetia or Abkhezia .
Sarkozy’s mission was very different than the American vice President Dick Cheney’s trip to Georgia and Ukraine that looked like a deliberate move to provoke Russia. The Russians have already blamed him for provoking the conflict in order to have McCain win the Presidential election. Sarkozy tried really hard to calm the tensions on both sides. Sarkozy does not want Europe to become an arena for the third world war. Europe has suffered enough in the two world wars and is very reluctant to again become a battle ground.
Sarkozy’s recent trip to Syria again showed that the French policy in the Middle East is fundamentally different from the American policy. America is heavily tilted towards Israel and is perceived as anti Arab and anti Muslim by the Arabs and the Islamic countries. He was the first head of a western state to visit Syria after the murder of the Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri. The west blamed Syria for the murder. In Syria, Sarkozy reasserted the French neutrality in the Arab-Israel conflict. Israel has become so used to the American one sidedness that it views the Europeans neutrality as a tilt towards the Arabs.
What made Sarkozy change his policies? Europe is fundamentally different than the United States. America remains the only country in the world that is loyal to the pure and unadulterated consumerist capitalism. Europe has long back deserted the traditional capitalism and has adopted the concept of a social welfare state based upon what can be called utilitarian capitalism. This form of capitalism can also be called “Capitalism with a human face”.
The poor performance of the American consumerist capitalism as compared to the European utilitarian capitalism has convinced Europe that it is on the right track. Failure of the American policies in Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea and Iran as well as the deepening economic crisis at home has convinced the Europeans that time has come to put a distance between America and Europe. The resurgence of Russia as a global power and the relative decline of the American power has also led the Europeans to review their relations with Russia and America and adopt a more balanced and independent stand in the conflict between the two countries.
England seems to be sticking to its subservient role to America. Some people called Tony Blair “Bush’s Peon”. It seems that Gordon Brown wants the same job. England has very little influence in Europe compared to the combined influence of France and Germany. America is looking to India as a replacement for the declining influence in Europe. So far, India seems eager to fill the vacuum. India can empathize with America because if America is losing global influence, India is facing the same in Asia, Third world and in the nonaligned movement.
[Sawraj Singh, M.D. FICS is Chairman Washington State Network for Human Rights]

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