Why quality of life in Mumbai is poor

A recent PricewaterhouseCoopers report stated that Mumbai [ Images ], India's [ Images ] financial hub, is likely to witness a significant jump in economic growth along with other emerging markets and make it to the league of the world's wealthiest cities by 2025.

The report further states that in the league table of the world's great cities Mumbai will rise from it's present rank of 29th to 11th in 2025.

There is little doubt that most Mumbaikars will scoff at this report, and a gullible few may actually celebrate these finds.

But the fact remains that 'quality of life in Mumbai is poor'. A state that, unfortunately, no stakeholder of the city - citizens (rich or poor), urban administrators, elected representatives, media, corporate leaders or civil society organisations - will disagree with.

In a report titled 'Governance in the Mumbai metropolitan region', and compiled for Bombay First, Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy delves deep into the problems that plague the metropolis.

The unanimity in opinion that all is not hunky-dory with Mumbai is based primarily on two sets of perceptions:

The first is the visible evidence of poor quality of urban life, both in absolute terms as well as when compared to other cities around the world.

And the second set of perceptions arise out of transactional experiences:

• A trader looking to get a license or permit to establish a business;
• A citizen seeking to pay his property taxes;
• A widow attempting to get a promised pension allowance for her deceased husband;
• A community association wishing to participate in the choice of municipal priorities in their neighbourhood;
• A multinational organisation seeking to find clean title land to invest in the city; and
• An irate resident seeking to complain about a broken water pipe.

These transactional challenges also exist for people within the government:

• Junior clerks in the accounts department;
• Executive engineers in the works department;
• IAS (Indian Administrative Service) officers in so-called decision-making roles within the municipality, but with minimal control over the actual decision-making outcomes;
• Ward corporators who have little control over even their ward budgets, let alone on decisons over the larger city-wide infrastructure;
• A water utility provider who is constantly being pressed to serve more and more citizens in far-flung areas, with broken distribution systems and minimal pricing discretion.

Seeking solutions at an operational level
One way of thinking of such operational challenges is as at the interface between citizens and their local governments, in this case, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. Essentially, there are six different categories of citizen interface with their local government:

• Payment of taxes
• Payment of user charges in return for service benefits
• Procurement of licenses and permits
• Access to social welfare benefits
• Redressal of grievances
• Participation in the decision-making process

There are enormous gaps in ensuring that these interfaces are running smoothly, to the satisfaction of the citizens. These gaps can be thought of as having two perspectives: that of citizens and that of those within the government:

Citizen perspective

From a citizen's perspective, some of the reasons for these operational gaps are:

• Structures of government
• Procedures of government

Government perspective:

• Accountability of officers
• Transparency in the system
• Over-centralisation of enforcement

Addressing these gaps in the day-to-day interfaces that citizens have with government can go a long way in relieving the operational conflicts that confront both citizens and those within the government.

While many of the operational challenges can be solved by looking at Mumbai's quality of life in purely tactical terms - i.e. improving interactions/awareness/simplifying administrative procedures etc, there is merit to the argument that even these changes will not address the larger issues that confront urban quality of life in the city region.

The case for urban governance

The operative term needs to move from 'managing' Mumbai to 'governing' Mumbai, because this not only encompasses the function of managing but also locates it in a larger context.

The problems of urban governance in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region are not trivial. There are technical issues, such as urban planning, design and management of mass transport systems, and access to such resources as water and power along with their pricing and distribution.

There are public finance issues of ensuring that the local bodies in the region get access to the resources they need to provide services of acceptable quality. There are regional issues too: how does Mumbai relate to the larger region in which it is located and the other local bodies in the region, and how can the relationship between these be managed?

Examples of gaps that arise out of these 'governance' related issues include:

Affordable housing: the lack of sufficient affordable housing is driven by a complex set of inter-related issues:

• Complexity of current regulations and control on urban land
• Social issues of the poor and how they are oppressed
• Challenges in enforcement, due to political interference and criminal-politician nexus
• Poor urban planning that extends from the neighbourhood to the metropolitan level
• Weak design and implementation of urban infrastructure projects, resulting in time and financial costs
• Lack of opportunities for citizens to participate
• Insufficient financial resources available to urban local bodies

These issues cannot be solved merely by thinking of the urban 'quality of life' problem purely in visible or transactional terms. These challenges arise because there is something more fundamentally wrong with how our cities are run.

Viewed in this perspective, the approach of solving only transactional issues seems an over-simplification of the complex urban challenges that confront Mumbai.

It is this perspective that can be called 'Urban Governance': analysing Mumbai's problems through this prism of institutional arrangements and deeper issues helps to answer the more complex questions, and offer answers that - while their implementation may take time and political will, technical competence and administrative skill - are the ones that will result in long-term sustainable improvements to quality of life in Mumbai.

Anti Naxal operations a cover for exploiting tribal people

the Salwa Judum movement, an armed counter-Naxalite campaign in Chhattisgarh comprising of local tribal and non-tribal people backed by the state, is precipitating a deeper crisis in the state instead of solving the problems posed by extreme Left insurgency. Involving civilians directly in the fight against armed insurgents (mostly local tribal people) has widened the canvas of the conflict (see Cover Story: Red alert in Chhattisgarh). Earlier, the local people were caught between the police and the Naxalites. Now, with the entry of Salwa Judum, they are also involved in a fratricidal conflict. The situation is chaotic in the forested state, in danger of spinning out of control.

Long back, both the government and the Naxalites promised ‘land and liberation' to the tribal population of the state, mostly eking out a living selling forest produce and harvesting patches of land. Most tribal people living in forests are officially ‘encroachers'. They live under the constant threat of being alienated from their land and livelihood. While the government completely failed to reach out to them, the Naxals succeeded in connecting to sections of the people. They spread to the state's 11 districts (200 districts in the country). Unable to contain them, government supported the creation of a civilian militia — Salwa Judum.

After a year, the tribal residents of Dantewada, the epicentre of the Salwa Judum movement, neither have land nor liberation. Not only are they being further alienated from their land, they are also being cut off from local markets by the government in the name of cutting off logistical supplies to Naxals.

Even though the conflict in Dantewada district has been dampened to some extent by the monsoon, the ulterior objectives of the state's campaign continues to be pursued. Dantewada, and for that matter the whole state, is witnessing another desperate battle – tribals fighting against land acquisition by the state government on behalf of private companies. The state has massive bauxite and iron ore reserves and is expecting close to us $6.6 billion worth of investments in steel and iron plants, with an aggressive policy of attracting capital. It is hardly a coincidence that the 11 Naxal-affected districts in the state account for all the minerals and forests resources of Chhattisgarh.

As tribals fight each other, state government officials broker lands for companies, engineering the consent of village councils, required by law, with heavy-duty arm-twisting. For a state with close to 45 per cent land classified as forests and inhabited mostly by tribals, industry finds it easy to prey on these people. The conclusion that the state government is using Salwa Judum to displace people and make land acquisition easier for industrialisation is becoming inescapable.

Tribal lands are the most sought after resources now. Whether it is in Orissa or Chhattisgarh or Andhra Pradesh, if there is a patch of tribal land there is an attempt to acquire it. It is no geographical coincidence that tribal lands are forested, rich with mineral resources (80 per cent of India's minerals and 70 per cent of forests are within tribal areas) and also the site of a sizeable slice of industrial growth. The tribal districts of Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand, Karnataka and Maharashtra are the destination of us $85 billion of promised investments, mostly in steel and iron plants, and mining projects. This investment will require huge amount of lands, crucial for the survival of tribal people. Ironically, these lucrative resources are of no benefit to the local people: an estimate of 10 Naxal-affected states shows that they contribute 51.6 per cent of India's gdp and have 58 per cent of the population. As with Chhattisgarh, all these states have a strong Naxal presence and are witness to movements against land acquisition. The state governments say these protests are Naxal-inspired. Local people say, however, that all they are trying to do is protect their land, forests and livelihood.

Of late, state agencies are beginning to recognise that the Naxal movement is not merely an issue of law and order; it is rooted in real problems that poor, marginalised people face. Even the prime minister pointed this out while emphasising the need for the socio-economic development of tribals as the major policy thrust to tackle the crisis. But what type of development programme is needed is an issue that has not been adequately addressed.

The Chhattisgarh government says industries will bring prosperity for tribal people. Tribal people say access to forests and lands will set their lives on sustainable path. Naxals have exploited this gap in perspective, focusing on the need for land reforms, which have not been pursued. In fact, settlement of rights over land has not been attempted seriously till now. Also, access to forests that sustains livelihoods remains a ‘concession' instead of a right. This policy perspective needs to change, along with attempts to rejuvenate ecological niches that sustain marginalised people.

In a situation of endemic poverty, small changes make the difference between survival and destitution. The rapid process of change in the age of liberalisation is unfortunately sending tribal communities on free fall into greater poverty. Salwa Judum is one of the agents of this change.

The war against the poor

We are living a third world war. It is an economic war, waged by transnational corporations on poor people. We have plenty of problems, in fact development problems. There are 200,000 people in our country who do not get adequate food. There is a great deal of people living below the poverty line. People are desperately seeking jobs.

Big financial houses are the ones that own us. They bar development possibilities for us, and peoples are becoming extinct. In this way super powers define our fate, our way of living and our culture. Since the beginning of the 1970's we have suffered from many global problems. An economic recession occurred at the time and the state changed its way of intervention in public affairs. The economy became ever more imperialistic. We have already gone through 20 years of neoliberalism where transnational corporations gain the most in everything. They are growing still and invest productively but not in such a manner that would provide employment to people or so that they would think of the world's best interest in general. They are in search of big profits for themselves and do not care about oppressed poor indigenous peoples.

Two hundred most important corporations on our planet control the most of production. The multi-millionaires earn the biggest share of the dollars. It happens at the expense of the poor. Almost half of humanity lives in poverty. Ecuador is therefore under the control of transnational corporations. There are altogether 17 oil deposits in our country. Eighty per cent of the production goes to private business.

In 1918 Hommovil Corporation began its operations in Santa Elena. In 1921 a new legislation was passed on petroleum issues. In 1938 many oil companies acquired permission to operate. Esso began its operations in 1948. An Ecuadorian company obtained in 1961 the most of the Amazon region. In 1964 an agreement was reached with Texaco and it acquired many areas. In 1966 an Ecuadorian company acquired grounds in Pastaza. A new law on oil exploitation came into force in 1971. Texaco left the country in 1992 without leaving behind any benefits to the country. Instead it caused a lot of damages.

Millions of hectares in our region have been given out to oil companies. The presence of these companies has promoted the destruction of our culture, animals, plants and biodiversity. That has been capitalist development. Transnational corporations do not think about the fate of our people. To them we do not exist.

Our lands are considered free. Whoever wishes can come there. The government shapes the policy on this. Our lands have been occupied: new migrants have been settled on our lands. Thus, our government is racist towards our people. A thousand million hectares have been handed over to petroleum and cotton companies, and our people have been forced to become victims in this situation. Migrants and migrant communities of different religions are continuously flooding onto our lands. These are all in the pay of companies. Economic power has the biggest force. Our country has a constitution that is supposed to guarantee our rights but in spite of that the present Christian Democratic government still pursues an old policy. Twelve million Ecuadorians are suffering from this policy.

I would like us to discuss the problems of indigenous peoples. We hope that all peoples, also Finnish people and your government would understand our problem and help. We hope that everyone would become aware of the extensive nature of the problems of indigenous peoples.

A question to Arturo Yumbay by Yeremei Aipin:

Are there any laws in your country concerning indigenous peoples or oil companies?

Answer:

In 1972 a nationalist military government came into power in our country. It attempted to follow a policy that would be on the side of the people. But after that all have been operating in such a way that laws and decrees would benefit only transnational corporations, and foreign capital would flow into the country. There have been laws protecting indigenous peoples and the environment but they are inadequate. That is why we have launched a legal battle against Texaco. We do not have good environment laws or laws protecting us. Last year (in 1998) Ecuador ratified the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention of the ILO (number 169) which from our point of view contains a lot of important matters. A new constitution came into force in the previous year, which expresses the will of our people and our struggle for collective needs, but we do not yet know the outcome.

A response to Yuri Vella's comment

We would like first of all to live in peace in our own living environment without a single petroleum or cotton company disturbing our lives on our own land. But we cannot shut our eyes to reality and the world's situation in general. Perhaps we would not oppose the exploitation of our natural resources, but it has to be discussed among the indigenous peoples. The decision about our happiness or unhappiness should not be taken on the top floors of the capital city's high buildings. We do not want to be oppressed. Yes we want to use high technology but we do not use technology brought from outside with which we could acquire money. We want to determine our aims and decide for ourselves what is the reasonable way to exploit natural resources.

Speech in the seminar on February 6

We have exchanged views in the last few days. It has been important to listen to the Khanty's opinions on the issue. We have also cosmically moved closer to the meaning of life and the importance of land to us. Land is not a commercial issue, rather a life issue. We have compared our conception to that of governments' and corporations'. The comparison helps us to find alternatives to preserving and improving our living conditions. The world knows very little of what is happening in the countries of South America. There is especially little knowledge of what is happening in Ecuador.

In February there erupted a stir becausse the government raised the price of gas from one to five dollars. Electricity price was also increased 300 per cent. The government works on the behalf of corporations because we are an oil-producing country and have plenty of gas deposits.

I will say what Texaco has done in Ecuador in its 28 years of pumping oil on our land. Texaco came into Ecuador in 1964 at a time when oil production was on the rise, and after 28 years it left. During the time 191 million tonnes of oil were pumped out of Ecuador. Sixty-five billion litres of petroleum and 72 million litres of waste water flowed into rivers. Fire burns continuously in oil wells where 6,670 million cubic metres of gas were flared. Six hundred basins that contain toxic waste have been left in the grounds. Domestic and international researches have been done on this so the figures are not exaggerated.

After the destruction we have been left with the reality where our living conditions and living places have been changed. Particularly affected are the Siona, Secoya, Cofan, Huaorani and Quichua peoples and workers who moved there and who were in the service of the oil companies. The very small Tetete people has already been destroyed and the culture of the Zapara people is closed to disappearing. It has to do largely with the impact of oil companies.

We have already seen how many plants and animal species have gone extinct. Such deadly diseases have come with the oil companies which previously we did not have. School children are in difficulties because they cannot cope with. That is to say, children are lacking behind. This stems from the activities of the oil companies in their region. Billions of hectares of forests have been destroyed, and because they use bulldozers and other heavy equipment the destruction is extensive. The situation is impossible to restore to its origin.

There is also evidence that Petroecuador and Texaco have earned seven billion dollars in Ecuador during the period of their operations. This is bigger that the foreign debt of Ecuador at the time Texaco left the country in 1992. Texaco has benefited but our government, and our people have actually not had anything. We filed a lawsuit against Texaco in 1993. We want three things.

• First a modernization of the technology that companies employ. Petroecuador inherited equipment used by Texaco. The companies have used very outdated technology that is no longer accepted in other countries.

• Secondly we demand that they repair the damages done to the environment. Oil leakage should be patched, waters cleaned and poisonous basins should be shut down.

• Thirdly we want compensation paid to all the inhabitants.

The opinions of the rulers have not made it possible to hold the trial in Ecuador, but in New York there is now a public court case going on. We shall see what happens there.

Our case has global significance. It may mean that companies and states will take seriouly these issues before embarking on drilling oil in any part of the world. We hope that organisations are in solidarity with us and that at the close of the seminar all organisations interested in our cause would sign a petition that will give support to our case in New York. Seventy-five representatives of ours are defending the case of 30,000 people. Our country's legislation does not recognise class action lawsuits. If we had taken our case in an Ecuadorian court, we would have to file 30,000 separate suits. In any case we hope that the people would express solidarity with us and that we could continue our process and benefit from it. Thank you.

Speech during a meeting with Pekka Haavisto on February 2

I bring you greetings from the indigenous peoples of Ecuador. I am thankful for the attention that we have received here in Finland. Like brothers and sisters now at this table and others at parts of the globe, we have uncountable number of problems.

These have been caused in particular by companies seeking to benefit from oil and mineral resources. Rivers have been polluted, forests have disappeared and along with them cultures. I would like to ask for three things:

• The first is concerned with a court case which we have brought against Texaco and which is now going on in New York. Perhaps the case is not known here. We would like to ask for support from administrative organs in Finland, and on that basis open up a dialogue with the Ecuadorian government so that the court case of the indigenous peoples would receive support.

• The second problem is that the government intends to start exploiting oil resources in areas that are declared natural parks. Natural parks and areas that provide protection to animals are earmarked for destruction. Along with them the cultural communities that live there would be destroyed.

• The third issue is that the Finnish government should directly establish contacts with representatives of indigenous peoples, and that it should have a direct co-operation with us and not with the government. One never knows whether anything good comes out of a direct co-operation with the government. I hope that Finland's ministry of the environment and environmental organisations would work equally active as they have done till now so that we could also keep nature clean.

Real Life In Our Country

The real life in our country for most of our people. Then people read these articles and do nothing to get involved with helping to change the hard life for people in our country who need the most support. writing news to inform people about all the problems that are wrong and need to have the most attention to get these problems changed. Its time to make life better for the tax payers. What is the big news of the day some senator had his foot in another person's stall. What about all the people that are homeless and hungry in our country? Who writes and talks until no body goes hungry in our country?

An article about some billionaire that made another billion dollars and every body wants to read about it right away. What about all the poor children who get shot down in the streets everyday in our country? This kind of news gets about five minutes on the national media news. What gets done to stop the worthless death of all these children? When will start news media to write and keep writing until our government puts a stop to all these street gangs and the deaths they cause?

people have to involved to help stop the drug abuse in our country. Some famous person gets in trouble with the law and this headline becomes front page news. What ever gets in done our country to help change life so that people will have another choice besides using drugs? Some famous person dies of a drug overdose and this becomes front page news in our country. What are we doing as a nation to stop all the daily overdoses and death for the people that poor? Some body on the news says I am sorry and nothing ever gets changed to end this problem in our country. I would like to know is one famous person`s life more important then the hundreds of poor people that overdose on drugs everyday in our country? Then its on to the next famous person that has a problem. Who talks about all the tears the get shed when these children over dose ?

Is the loss of life that much less because these people do not sell air time ? When will these people that face so much harder a life every hour of every day get some air time to stop this death for their children? Poor people only get air time when there are so many deaths that it sells air time or newspapers. Still nothing gets done affect change. How many poor people are murdered across of nation every day ? I would bet the real numbers are staggering. What gets done to make life safer for these people in life? I want to understand something is the pain of a poor person less to their family then people of wealth and fame?

There is so much more pain and every day death for so many poor people in our country. How many people even hear about all this pain and death ? Does anyone think that the death in a poor family feels less then painful then a famous family? There are far more poor people in this nation and this is a real problem that needs to be changed. Until people help to change this growing problem so many poor lives will pass and nothing will ever get changed . Take a senses about how many more poor people then there are rich people in our country .

How many poor people really get proper medical care in our country? Let alone be able to worry about eating the proper food to become physically fit. How can we make our nation physically fit when people can not get food? How many old people really get the chance to eat the proper food? How can poor people become more physically fit without the proper medical care? This kind of news brings pain and need for change.Then some one gets elected to office then these problems get push aside.

If this government is doing every thing they can to help these poor people? Why are more people becoming poor in our country? This kind of real news would show the real life of our people and our country. Nobody wants to face these problems this is the reality of being poor. Poor people make up the most people in our nation this is so sad. Then nobody wants to step forward and write the truth about real life for most poor people in our country.

Is writing about poor people meaningless because nobody sells air time? then no one hears and sees what most real life is like for poor people. Its easy to sit in your safe homes and pretend that this kind of life is what these people asked for. Would setting off a nuclear bomb in a poor neighbor hood even rate news time? What would really happen if some terrorist set off a dirty bomb in a poor neighbor hood? These people can not afford the proper things to survive? How many poor people would die while all the best medical care went to famous and rich important people?

This is why some writer need to write for real change for so many every day forgotten poor people in our country. How many poor people have family members fighting in Iraq and afghanistan compared to rich and famous people? I would think its more then a hundred to one for the poor people. But as some smart publisher wrote unless your famous or rich do not write articles about unknown poor people. Poor troops that are fighting and dying to make life better for the rich and famous people in our nation.

The real idea of writing and article was to help those that have no one to write to help make changes that are needed to make life a little bit better and safer for most of the poor people that live in the real world. How can any publisher or real new person not want to deal with the real news? How many rich people buy your papers and watch the news shows compared to poor people that really need help the most?

To long rich people have pushed aside the needs of the poor people of our nation this must stop. Remember these are the real people that buy your newspapers and and watch your news shows that you sell for air time to these rich companies. This nation has to bring the needs of the poor people out in to the open. Then start solve these problems to make life better for our poor people. I will write and keep writing these articles until some publisher stands up for the poor people. Instead of the rich and famous people. Poor people articles might not sell but these people are the biggest part of sales for newspapers and news shows.

To sell air time or newspapers. I write these articles for the people that need to most help and change in our country. I remember a time in our country when people championed for the poor people in our country. Who has the love of a good news fight to stand with me for the poor people against the rich people to even the balance of people? I will bet that we will not only sell a lot of newspapers. This will bring all the poor people out to vote for changes that they needed long for time in our country.

It has been always a natural born fighter because I was born poor and had to become tough to survive all these years. Now I champion a better way of life for so many poor people that need a champion to write for them once again. I think that with the proper publisher together we could make the biggest news fight for poor people of all time. Come on over to the poor people`s express and lets change write to change life for the poor people in this nation. Then lets write for all people rich middle class and poor people. I am not saying this will not be a fight to get these changes made. Well as my mother has always told me that I did not know when to quit.

It is supported the underdog to win the ultimate fight in every sport. This is a fight that must be won for the future of our poor people and our nation to bring equality to all people. Come and help the choice is up to each person. I promise this fight for real change will not have a dull moment. This is because all people should support this fight for change in our nation.

Father tries to cash in on daughter's fame

THE poverty-stricken father of Slumdog Millionaire child star Rubina Ali plans to become a millionaire himself-by SELLING his nine-year-old daughter.

In a bid to escape India's real-life slums, Rafiq Qureshi put angel-faced darling of the Oscars Rubina up for adoption, demanding millions of rupees worth £200,000.

As he offered the shocking deal to the News of the World's undercover fake sheik this week, Rafiq declared: "I have to consider what's best for me, my family and Rubina's future."

Rafiq tried to blame Hollywood bosses for forcing him to put his daughter up for SALE.

As he tried to fix the illegal adoption deal, real-life slum dweller Rafiq declared: "We've got nothing out of this film."

Then, almost embarrassed to speak it out loud, he whispered to an accomplice the price tag he has put on his innocent young daughter: "It's £200,000!"

That was an astonishing FOURFOLD increase on his opening demand. But Rafiq's equally demanding brother Mohiuddin insisted: "The child is special now. This is NOT an ordinary child. This is an Oscar child!"

Dad Rafiq is desperate to cash in on their nine-year-old's success in the blockbuster film by selling her to the highest bidder.

He sees it as his family's escape route from the notorious Bandra slum sprawl of Mumbai.

Rafiq revealed his scheme to undercover News of the World reporters posing as a wealthy family from Dubai.

Why our country is poor? Some thoughts:

This Website contain plethora of ideas with regard to developing our country. These ideas primarily revolve around exploiting “Infrastructure”?, “Education”? and “technology”?.

Undoubtedly, in sharp contrast to poor countries, the rich countries have abundant of universities, roads, bridges, electricity, hospitals etc. So, the solution to the poverty, at least at a very high level, is very intuitive: invest as much as possible in infrastructure, education and technology .As a result of this thinking, millions of dollars have been poured into not only in our country but also in other developing countries, in the form of donation, loan and charity, to enrich education and infrastructure.

Despite the obvious solution and these efforts, as a society we are unable to exploit these funds. The popular answer to this puzzle is: the donors themselves take back 50-75% of what they have donated. In case the question is raised if donors take 75% (a worst case) away what about the remaining 25%. Now the second flood of answers follows: Our government is corrupt. It is too bureaucratic. We don’t have good leaders.

Let us take a step back, and pose a few more questions to ourselves: Who are these leaders? Who are in our government? Aren’t these Nepalese? Aren’t these people products of our society? I am more and more convinced that we should stop blaming leaders and bureaucrats: not because they are innocent, but this blaming culture will lead us to nowhere. We must pause for a moment and think why as a society we could not produce great inventors, great athletes, great scientists, and great leaders so and so forth. Don’t we all must share the blame?

Raising this questions, at least will enable us to examine the fundamental reasons of our lagging. It is not the case that we have dearth of talents. Many students who were toppers in the class in Nepal had stood toppers abroad. There are many examples of entrepreneurs who could excel in the international cut throat environment. Unlike our neighboring countries, why our society lacks the capability to recognize this facts, let alone tap this enormous energy.

I don’t intent to say that we should not invest in infrastructure, education and technology-we must. However, one should bear in mind that in most developing parts of the world this obvious formula has not worked. Therefore, in parallel we should identify deeper underlying problems, make people aware of these problems and try to find solutions to these problems.

The primary reason why we are poor, although it will provide answers to a limited set of question raised earlier nonetheless, in my opinion, is the way to achieve “happiness”?. Whether it is West or East, whether it is materialistic or spiritual view, most of the time people do something in order to become happy.

In our society the mantra to become happy goes like “Santosam Param Sukham”?. Most of our spiritual teachings point towards this essence. This has a detrimental effect on our society. First it teaches you to be content with what you have. Next, when you start going deeper into spiritual understanding it asks you to renounce worldly belongings and essentially “desire”? to obtain more. It teaches that possession of worldly stuff will eventually lead to suffering. There is also an extension to this teaching that you cannot become reach by following a straight path. In other words, in order to become rich you have to be corrupt, smuggler, etc. As a result, it is not surprising that during my school age, I did not hear from anyone that I would like to be a successful businessman, not to mention about becoming the richest man in the world or country. In contrast everyone wanted to be either a doctor or an engineer.

There is nothing wrong with becoming doctors and engineers, however you need to generate affluence to build the country, and you need businessman and entrepreneur to generate the money. In addition, it is not necessary to be corrupt or smuggler to be rich. Once you become rich, at least you have choice to invest in society or yourself. Take Bill Gates for an example.

what makes our country poor ?

most of the time when a young man is being asked what do you think why our country is poor the answer is " its because our government is corrupt ",does it mean all 3rd world countries' government officials are corrupt ? the answer is NO,not even a big factor.Most 3rd world countries belongs to tropical climate or belongs to the equators belt
,this climate created an undesirable intellectual evolution that disables us to solve problems easily,design machines,discover new experiment, invent new hi-technology,invent powerful weapons ,that we can export and have money for our country.Its the Climate we need to change from tropical to humid continental. Climate affects intelligence,intelligence affects economy.Climate is a constant factor eversince no government yet,no colonization yet,no war yet,when population
was yet a problem,when all our natural resources were not yet used by other races.Most of our ancesto's work were on farming and fishing way back year 1400 when lapu lapu and Rizal was not born yet. Their works ,without their knowledge,
exposed their head to the sun all day long,this process greatly affected their cerebral cortex for centuries or over 400 years ,that eventually created an evolution different from the other parts of the world like Japan,Europe,North America,
South Australia,South America.Cerebral Cortex is the main part of the brain which conceptualization,abstraction,designing and ideas were being processed, so as a result their works disables or lessen their and our mental capability to EXPERIMENT and INVENT.Our ancestor and us lack or(less) these two factors that is why our ancestor were not able to defend themselves from colonization and war against other races ,and so as we of today still defenseless.If you disagree with this idea,imagine all imported goods will be taken back by them,what will be left for us to use? will still be able to use cellphone or computers or even watch pirated CD's. Is telling the truth degrading?Im talking about Climate,only climate
makes us all different from the 1st world countries.See the difference between american,japanese
(skin complexion and nose shape) against africans,filipinos, it is a simple physical reaction over hundreds of centuries.if there is a PHYSICAL reaction there must be a MENTAL reaction, and that is the incapability to EXPERIMENT and INVENT and it was proven and still proven by our history experience 1. colonized 2. poor country 3.. less exports 4.no high-tech
invention 5.no weapons for war or defense.It is time to stop barking our government.There is hope but not by barking , changing the CLIMATE to humid continental is the only way

what makes our country poor ?

most of the time when a young man is being asked what do you think why our country is poor the answer is " its because our government is corrupt ",does it mean all 3rd world countries' government officials are corrupt ? the answer is NO,not even a big factor.Most 3rd world countries belongs to tropical climate or belongs to the equators belt
,this climate created an undesirable intellectual evolution that disables us to solve problems easily,design machines,discover new experiment, invent new hi-technology,invent powerful weapons ,that we can export and have money for our country.Its the Climate we need to change from tropical to humid continental. Climate affects intelligence,intelligence affects economy.Climate is a constant factor eversince no government yet,no colonization yet,no war yet,when population
was yet a problem,when all our natural resources were not yet used by other races.Most of our ancesto's work were on farming and fishing way back year 1400 when lapu lapu and Rizal was not born yet. Their works ,without their knowledge,
exposed their head to the sun all day long,this process greatly affected their cerebral cortex for centuries or over 400 years ,that eventually created an evolution different from the other parts of the world like Japan,Europe,North America,
South Australia,South America.Cerebral Cortex is the main part of the brain which conceptualization,abstraction,designing and ideas were being processed, so as a result their works disables or lessen their and our mental capability to EXPERIMENT and INVENT.Our ancestor and us lack or(less) these two factors that is why our ancestor were not able to defend themselves from colonization and war against other races ,and so as we of today still defenseless.If you disagree with this idea,imagine all imported goods will be taken back by them,what will be left for us to use? will still be able to use cellphone or computers or even watch pirated CD's. Is telling the truth degrading?Im talking about Climate,only climate
makes us all different from the 1st world countries.See the difference between american,japanese
(skin complexion and nose shape) against africans,filipinos, it is a simple physical reaction over hundreds of centuries.if there is a PHYSICAL reaction there must be a MENTAL reaction, and that is the incapability to EXPERIMENT and INVENT and it was proven and still proven by our history experience 1. colonized 2. poor country 3.. less exports 4.no high-tech
invention 5.no weapons for war or defense.It is time to stop barking our government.There is hope but not by barking , changing the CLIMATE to humid continental is the only way

WHY IS OUR COUNTRY POOR?

The difference between the poor countries and the rich ones is not the age of the country. This can be shown by countries like India & Egypt that are more than 2000 years old, but are poor. On the other hand, Canada, Australia & New Zealand that 150 years ago were inexpressive, today are developed countries, and are rich.

The difference between poor & rich countries does not reside in the available natural resources. Japan has a limited territory, 80% mountainous, inadequate for agriculture & cattle raising, but it is the second world economy. The country is like an immense floating factory, importing raw material from the whole world and exporting manufactured products. Another example is Switzerland, which does not plant cocoa but has the best chocolate of the world. In its little territory they raise animals and plant the soil during 4 months per year. Not enough, they produce dairy products of the best! quality. It is a small country that transmits an image of security, order & labor, which made it the world's strongest, safest place.

Executives from rich countries who communicate with their counterparts in poor countries show that there is no significant intellectual difference. Race or skin color are also not important: immigrants labeled lazy in their countries of origin are the productive power in rich European countries.

What is the difference then?

The difference is the attitude of the people, framed along the years by the education & the culture. On analyzing the behavior of the people in rich & developed countries, we find that the great majority follow the following principles in their lives:

1. Ethics, as a basic principle.
2. Integrity.
3. Responsibility.
4. Respect to the laws & rules.
5. Respect to the rights of other citizens.
6. Work loving.
7. Strive for saving & investment.
8. Will of super action.
9. Punctuality.

In poor countries, only a minority follow these basic principles in their daily life. We are not poor because we lack natural resources or because nature was cruel to us. We are poor because we lack the correct attitude. We lack the will to comply with and teach these functional principles of rich & developed societies.

Village life in India

Contrary to the general urban perception in India, villagers are not always wearing long faces and being perpetually sad. As a matter of fact, they are not as stressed and depressed as their urban counterparts. Though no more content with the situation they find themselves in, they are not exasperated either. There is drive and willingness to generate surplus income, in order to acquire inspirational lifestyle products.

Koilakh, a village 14 km. east of the town of Madubani in the state of Bihar, has undergone a drastic change in the last 25 years. The population of this village used to be around 7,000, and the upper caste of Brahmins made up around half of them. The rest were divided among various lower castes that are commonly referred as backwards or as outcasts.

Brahmins are educated and have landed properties as well. They are economically more stable, because they do not depend upon income from agriculture and take up vocations well-suited for their qualifications and temperaments. Those who rely solely upon agriculture have a very poor economic background.

Other than Brahmins, most of the villagers used to be dependent upon agriculture as a sharecropper or farm laborer. Some of them were also well off, but they were too few. The village economy was sustained through the expenditure of the Brahmins, a situation that now has been completely reversed.

Lalu Prashad Yadav, a product of the movement launched by Jay Prakash Narayan, recognized the simmering discontent and anger amongst the marginalized and disadvantaged section of society and seized upon the opportunity to usher himself in as the savior of the downtrodden and unprivileged. The Mandal Report, and the subsequent agitation against it, split the society in two. Lalu deliberately fueled people’s anger and emerged as the undisputed leader of a large coalition representing the upper castes.

But Lalu had only his own interest in mind and did nothing for the people who trusted him to work to better their situation. Lalu indulged in trickery and ensured that his workers actually ruled the state, by proxy. As a result, all the anti-social elements of society, seeking justice, started harassing the upper castes, forcing most of them to seek refuge outside the state.

Much earlier, before the arrival of Lalu onto the political scene of Bihar, those who were poor and desperately unemployed had already started migrating to other parts of India, in search of greener pastures. The young and literate moved to the cities, while others went to Punjab, as the nature of the jobs there was familiar to them, and they were comfortable with that. Work in Punjab provided them with money in hand, which they had seldom had before. What started as a trickle became a flood, and soon all the able-bodied people, of all ages, were moving away to find jobs. The situation came to the point where finding laborers in the village became extremely difficult, and their wages became comparable to that found in larger towns.

The education system collapsed, social harmony deteriorated, and civil society rotted, so the Brahmins had no choice but to leave the village for the cities. Those settled in towns started avoiding frequent visits to the village, which gradually led them to make only the occasional visit.
Koilakh, once a thriving village, became the home of the unemployed, disabled, and elderly persons who were solely dependent on farming. The village lost its luster and began to look deserted as people started gravitating away from village activities.

Due to encouragement provided by some local caste-conscious leaders, non-Brahmins started to assert themselves and those who opposed their wrongdoings were harassed by the very biased administration. Using fabricated litigation was a widely used tactic. The Sarpanch of Koilakh was not able to get bail for more than seven years, despite having ample resources at his command.

Those who had emigrated in the 1980s and 1990s had settled themselves in their new areas and had amassed a considerable amount of money. They would later return to the village and buy land, irrespective of the cost. Soon, most of them started visiting the village regularly to flaunt their earnings and to invest in land. The village economy again chugged along and, gradually, it gained momentum.

There is much less visible poverty now, and most of the villagers are not as bad off economically as they were during the 1980s. Many Brahmins who depended solely upon agriculture were also economically distressed. Their sons migrated to cities to find work and sent money back to their families, supporting them financially.

Pro Poor Tourism in Africa,Kenya,Kibera Slum, Africa Slum Tours

This tourism is set up in developing countries as a means to improve the local economy for local poor people. It enhances the linkages between tourism businesses and poor people; so that poverty is reduced and poor people are able to participate more effectively in Tourism Development. The aims of pro-poor tourism ranges from increasing local employment to involving local people in the decision making process. Victoria Safaris, being a tour Operator based in a third world country - Kenya is determined to improve the lives of the poor both in urban and rural Kenya. The most important factor is not the type of company or the type of tourism, but that poor people receive an increase in the net benefits from tourism.

Africa Slums Tours:

These are escorted tours into the impoverished communities of Africa living within the urban and rural areas. The concept of pro poor tourism in Africa is not new as it has been and is being practiced in South Africa. Soweto and Shanty tours in Johannesburg and Cape Town respectively are not new tours but have been ongoing slum safaris that are changing the face of South Africa's Slum areas. Kibera Slum dwellers in Nairobi - Kenya are gradually beginning to reap the benefits of Kibera Slum Tours just as other Kenya Slums dwellers, courtesy of Victoria Safaris.

Africa is the poorest continent in the world with its large number of poor populace living on less than a-dollar-a-day. At the same time Africa is the most toured continent due to its massive and abundant wildlife, daily 12 hourly sunshine, rich natural resources, mountains, lovely beaches and welcoming cultural people. All these tourism revenue earners to the African continent, most individual African countries, are yet to plough the tourism revenue towards the alleviation of poverty among their poor communities - not to mention the wiping out of Slums in the Africa continent.

Kenya Slums Tours:

Kenya has its fair share of the world's poorest people.5.4 million Kenyans live in informal settlements. A large number of Kenya's poor, living on less than a-dollar-a-day, stay in the urban centers such as Nairobi and Kisumu. It is estimated that it may cost 12 billion US$ and approximately 13 years to eradicate slums in Kenya. That is over a decade. Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya is home to some of the richest and some of the poorest people in the country. The greatest population of this booming metropolis of over 3.5 million people stays in the slums without the necessary amenities such as adequate housing, adequate food and clean drinking water. These pro-poor tourism activities takes Victoria Safaris clients to these rarely visited regions and enables interaction with the local people even as the guests experience first hand the problems that these urban people face in their day-to-day living.

Victoria Safaris has come up with this new noble idea of Kenya Slum Tourism as a means of creating awareness of the plight of the poor in Kenya to both foreign and domestic tourists with an intention of wiping out the slums in Africa and Kenya in particular as a long term measure by using tourism business, the highest Kenya government revenue earner, and reducing poverty by engaging the poor participate more effectively in tourism development in Kenya and at the same time receiving an increase in the net benefits from tourism as a short time measure. As the aims of pro-poor tourism ranges from increasing local employment to involving local people in the decision making process, Victoria Safaris has hired and is continuing to recruit its local staff for the Slum tour programmes among the inhabitants of the slums areas where it performs the Slum tours.

These include the Tour van drivers from the affected slums, the slum tour guides among which are the community leaders who understand the slum community locations better and the Slum Community policing security teams. All these personnel live within the Slums where the escorted tours are performed. . Let us take you for a pro poor tourism in Kenya as we have the Know how and the capacity to deliver these services to both foreign and domestic tourists in Kenya.

We have three types of Clientele for the pro poor tourism in Kenya. These include;

1. Individuals:These include individuals who are interested in visiting the poor in their various locations and sharing their experiences in order to understand the difficulties of the poor as they contribute towards the alleviation of poverty. It counts when you have a day or and hour with the less fortunate of a community. From our experience, these individuals contribute their unwanted house hold items to the poor, foods stuff to the individual family members, clothing, beddings, cutleries, books and bicycles from their residences.
   
2. Groups: These include groups of individuals such as churches, welfare associations, Non governmental Organizations', social welfare organizations, colleges, students associations. These contribute foodstuff, build schools, provide feeding centre's with foodstuff, build health centres and provide sanitary facilities, build churches and community based centers. A group can offer to prepare lunches for the school going students. Colleges and youth groups perform cleaning activities within the slums and along the river banks that pass through the slums. Some groups build toilet facilities. Victoria Safaris organizes pro poor tours around Lake Victoria for the benefit of the rural poor along and around the lake basin.
   
3. Corporate Bodies:
   These include the limited Companies, the Parastatal and government departments. From our experience, the corporate bodies contribute foodstuff, build infrastructures and sponsor students to higher learning institutions not to mention offering employment to the slum bright students. The hotel industry is encouraged to donate used beds, beddings, linen, and used cutlery to the slum based community institutions. Victoria safaris organize corporate slum tours with the assistance of the community leaders within the slums and the poor rural areas.

Nairobi City Slum Tours:
This is a customized Escorted - Charity Slum tour of the Nairobi Slums including Kibera, Korokocho, Mukuru and Mathare Slums. The tour starts from a designated agreed point in the city of Nairobi then it proceeds to the particular slum amongst the named above where you will be escorted by the local inhabitant tour guides of the designated slum. These are usually the community leaders of the slums. You will be taken to the various house holds for you to sample their daily routine life. Then you will be taken to witness projects being undertaken by the other organizations. After the tour, you will be handed back your contribution for you to donate it to a project of your choice. You will then be driven back to your destination back to the City centre.

Police Destroy Slum, Evict People in Hyderabad

As the name suggests, the Basti named after Bhimrao alias Babasaheb Ambedkar faced the brutal attack apparently for the plans to expand or rebuild Ghandi Bhavan, this time in remembrance of not Mahatma but Indira!

The demolition that took place at 4 am with a 'sena' of bull dozers, and a huge (hundreds, strong police force) was surprisingly just the day when Rashtrapatiji Pratibha Patil was here! Is the timing deliberately chosen? If not anything else, the early warning time when it was still dark was, for sure to avoid people's resistance.

Since, right now the Courts would remain closed till end of the year 2008! In the process there was no notice issued and if at all, the government could only claim of warning the residents only on the basis of notices issued months before but not 24 hours before, as is required to be done!

The bulldozing of this 80 years old community with pukka houses, built with the sweat and blood of the families of men and women in unprotected work, many of the families being single- widow headed was no doubt brutal. Force was used by male and female police who pulled the hair, lifted persons, even lathi charged but without leaving a wound to leak! Many of the hard earned belongings of the working class families were broken or destroyed. Many of the families belonging to the Gangapurtra clan were originally fish workers but now engaged in various other forms of unprotected work.

The children, women and the aged, all were arrested for peaceful protest. When the brother of Chiranjivi, the nearly emerged political 'actor' was also arrested while standing by the screaming people, politicians came in with a competitive yet supportive spirit and none else but Chandra Babu Naidu along with CPI (M) leaders too courted arrested. The activists of people's organisations, Sister Selvin, Ashfaqullah & Bilal of CHATRI were spared, but targeted for entering the land full of rubble.

The scene of demolition which has no place in the national slum policy which speaks mainly of regularisation, improvement and development of urban slums was no doubt violation of human rights but also a blatant legal violation. First and the fore most, this 'notified' i.e regularised slum that was suddenly de-notified in April was knowingly to give way to the Congress Party use the land to build its new office- 'Indira Bhawan', close to the present one, Gandhi Bhawan. The land in possession of the 95 families on which many a civic amenities were also provided with lakhs of rupees worth expenditure, by the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad, was to be transferred not for a public purpose but for party's political purpose- which is obviously a fraud.

The basic issue here is one of right to the land on which a poor locality exists. While the corporates are getting lands leased out at throw away prices, the urban poor do not have any right, not even usufructory right to the land under their habitats since generations. It, therefore becomes easy to evict the community even without its consent and force' unwilling 'rehabilitation' on to them. The claim made in the case of Bhimraowada by State government of AP has been that the houses for them are ready at Dhobighat area, 3 to 4 kms away. The families evicted are, therefore, dumped forcibly into the new buildings with the remaining belongings by the police and authorities.

When we visited this resettlement site this morning at around 7.30 am, we found the women and youth to be furious about the forcible eviction and the brutality of the police authorities. The officials present were only of the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad who had this excuse to say that they were there to provide civic amenities and had nothing to do with eviction. The people were however questioning them and calling them a part and parcel of the State. The houses were not acceptable to the families for more than one reason. First and foremost those are far away from their earlier place of residence especially for toiling women. Secondly, out of 95 families at Bhimrao wada, about 20 are left out of the list unilaterally prepared by the Govt authorities. We found out that one or two members of larger families were left out and hence the grievance. There were even widows who were excluded and the same was found to be very painful and unacceptable.

These poor families living on hand to mouth existence found that the new houses were almost the same size of their earlier ones and found no reason for their displacement, even while the right to land was not recognised. Why could not they be rehabilitated there only as they were promised at various times earlier and also during the dialogue that was brokered by the local MLA is a question that remains unanswered?

It is obvious to us that the land grab the Congress Party was related to the fact that the Bhimrao Wada was located in an elite area while they are now dumped in ''garib nagar" a vast area with many kinds of unprotected workers residing. We also found that the land under the new buildings indeed belonged to two communities of fishermen and washermen, the fight amongst themselves over the right to land which happened to be a graveyard (the remnants we could even see today) has gone to the court although, we are yet to see the papers which, we are told, include a contempt petition. The resettlement offered to the evicted families cannot, therefore, be accepted in this form and unless the land rights issues are resolved and the people of Bhimrao wada find it to be acceptable.

The slogan of the people her, as elsewhere, is "Let us live where we were". The political parties having joined the struggle, even if with the upcoming elections in mind, has no doubt helped the people, while the Congress has given them an opportunity which can be considered as most unstrategic, with TDP declaring a state wide protest day. We, the people's organisations, with CHATRI our ally in Hyderabad working with Bhim Rao wada and other bastis have to prepare ourselves to prevent the divide and rule politics and ensure that politicisation of such issues do not lead to further betrayal. Kumarayyia the local leader, with Rukmini and other women leaders are up against state atrocities and for their right to livelihood and shelter both.

Let no Bhawan in the name of Gandhi, Bhimrao or Nehru become a cause of deprivation and engine of destitution for the poor that continues to be part of the urban development and is protested and challenged to by in every city and town.

Living in a poor area 'raises risk of heart attack'

People who live in poor neighbourhoods in Sweden are much more likely to suffer from heart disease than people living in richer areas. They are also more likely to die from the condition, according to a new study carried out at Stockholm's Karolinska Institute.

• One in five kids in Malmö live in poverty: report (23 Nov 09)
• Five percent of Swedes on sickness benefits (18 Nov 09)
• Young woman with swine flu dies in Sweden (18 Nov 09)

The study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, showed that the risk of suffering from coronary heart disease was 1.9 times higher for women living in poor areas than for women from rich neighbourhoods. The risk for men in poor areas was 1.5 times higher.

The higher incidence of heart disease was independent of factors such as age, marital status, family income, educational attainment, immigration status and mobility.

The authors of the study said that even when higher incidence of obesity, diabetes, smoking and high blood pressure in deprived neigbourhoods were taken into account, the incidence of heart disease was still higher than in high-income areas.

"We know that there is a neighbourhood effect, but we don't know what it is that makes people ill," said Kristina Sundquist, one of the authors of the study, to The Local.

The study, led from Stanford University and involving researchers from UC-San Francisco, analysed data from the whole Swedish population aged between 35 and 74. The researchers followed each individual from 1996 to 2000, noting incidence of coronary heart disease and comparing this to the neighbourhood the person lived in.

The findings have so far baffled researchers, who are unable to find a simple explanation for the large differences between rich and poor areas.

"Previous studies in the United States have shown that poorer neighbourhoods have more liquor stores, but that does not apply in Sweden," said Sundquist, referring to Sweden's limited number of state-controlled liquor stores.

Poor exercise facilities or built environments that discourage walking could also be factors.

Other theories that could explain the difference is higher levels of depression and psychological stress in poorer areas.

"Previous studies have shown that depression affects coronary heart disease," said Sundquist.

Higher levels of chronic infections in areas with more crowded living conditions could also play a role, Sundquist said.

Another factor that could be significant is the difficulty in retaining staff in primary care centres in poorer areas, with better access to medical care for those who live in better-off neighbourhoods.

Sundquist said it was possible that the differences between rich and poor areas could be even greater in other countries with more uneven income distribution than Sweden.

"I would expect the differences to be larger in a country such as the United States, but this is not certain."

indian Lifestyles

In a country as diverse and complex as India, it is not surprising to find that people here reflect the rich glories of the past, the culture, traditions and values relative to geographic locations and the numerous distinctive manners, habits and food that will always remain truly Indian. According to five thousand years of recorded history.

From the eternal snows of the Himalayas to the cultivated peninsula of far South, from the deserts of the West to the humid deltas of the East, from the dry heat and cold of the Central Plateau to the cool forest foothills, Indian lifestyles clearly glorify the geography. The food, clothing and habits of an Indian differ in accordance to the place of origin.

Indians believe in sharing happiness and sorrow. A festival or a celebration is never constrained to a family or a home. The whole community or neighbourhood is involved in bringing liveliness to an occasion. A lot of festivals like Diwali, Holi, Id, Christmas, Mahaveer Jayanthi are all celebrated by sharing sweets and pleasantries with family, neighbours and friends. An Indian wedding is an occasion that calls for participation of the family and friends. Similarly, neighbours and friends always help out a family in times of need.

Ethnically Indians speak different languages, follow different religions, eat the most diverse varieties of food all of which add to the rich Indian culture.The beauty of the Indian people lies in the spirit of tolerance, give-and-take and a composition of cultures that can be compared to a garden of flowers of various colours and shades of which, while maintaining their own entity, lend harmony and beauty to the garden - India!

EARLY INDIAN LIFESTYLE

Life in the Forest:
The Indians felled trees before the introduction of the iron tomahawk by fire. They built a fire against the trunk of a standing tree and kept it burning until the tree fell. This method was found still in use among the older men and those who did not own a hatchet. Trees were felled both for firewood and for canoes. The canoes had formerly been hollowed out of a whole tree trunk by burning.

Wood for fuel and for other purposes was burned into pieces of such length as to be easily carried home. They used much wood for fuel and wished their food well cooked. When they have lived long in one place, it at last becomes troublesome to secure wood for fuel because all the wood in the neighborhood had been used. This causes them to leave the place and plan a new village for the sake of the wood and other conveniences.

Hunting:
The bow and arrow had fallen into disuse with the tribes, which traded with the whites and were used only for small game, such as the pigeon, fox and raccoon, in order to save powder. There were still, however, whole tribes to the west and northwest that used nothing but the bow and arrow and had no desire to obtain European weapons; boys, however, were trained to shoot with the bow. The first deer a boy shot proved an occasion of great importance.

The best time for hunting was in the fall when the game was fat and the hides in good condition. In September and October the men went hunting with their families, remaining away until the new year or later. After New Year, they devoted themselves to catching the beaver, the raccoon, the fox, and other fur-bearing animals. The Indians had already learned from the whites how to use the steel trap, and the beaver, which had been numerous, were becoming scarce. Their skins were of considerable value. They also hunted the bear. The winter hunt lasted until spring.

Deer were most hunted among the larger game, there being considerable trade in skins, a buckskin being worth about a dollar. The deer was killed mostly for their hides, only they as the hunters could consume while on the chase consumed so much of the meat. Most of the meat was left in the woods for the wild animals; the wolves especially followed the hunters, moving in the direction of the shooting.

The white man's firearms were already in general use. Some Indians used no other than rifle-barreled guns, but farther north muskets were more common. The Delawares in Ohio had acquired some skill in repairing their gun when out of order and had learned even to furnish them with stocks. How many deer could an Indian hunter kill with his gun? One source says: "As an Indian shoots from 50 to 150 deer each fall, it can easily be seen that game must decrease."

Game, Large and Small:

Occasionally an elk would be shot in the region as this lent to good meat. The buffalo is described as being numerous in quantity, numbering in the hundreds.

Of the smaller animals were three kinds of squirrels, not including the ground squirrel, viz: the black, the grey and the red. The black were most commonly found, the grey being the largest, and the red the smallest in size. Their flesh proved tender, and was eaten by the Indians in case of sickness, or when they were very hungry for meat.

Of the many different kinds of larger birds, the largest was the crane, supposed to be the sand-hill crane. When it is standing on its long legs and stretching its neck upwards, it was as tall as a man and its body proportionately heavy. When shot and only wounded it attacks its pursuer. The fall wild turkeys might be seen in flocks numbering hundreds. The Indians hunted their eggs and were quite fond of them.

Crows did much damage, especially in the Indians' cornfields, both when the corn was planted and when it was ripening.

The smallest bird in the region was the honey bird, (the hummingbird) which without perching on the flowers sucks the honey out of them.

It is known that the Indians in different parts of North America had, when first seen by the whites, dogs which seem to have been their only domesticated animal. These dogs were used in the chase and sometimes killed for food. The origin of this breed is unknown, the same as that of the domesticated dog in every part of the world. Our source says:

"Dogs they likewise possessed in former days of a kind still to be found in considerable numbers among them. These may readily be distinguished from European dogs, which are now most commonly found among the Indians. The ears of Indian dogs rise rigidly from the head and the animals have something of a wolfish nature, for they show their teeth immediately when roused. They will never attack a wolf, though set on to do so, in this respect also differing from European dogs. Of their origin their masters can give as little information as that of the Indians themselves."

In another place at their war feasts they would sometimes kill a couple of dogs, not because dog's flesh was a delicacy, for the Indian dogs were very lean, but because it was thought to inspire them with the spirit of war and murder. Women at these feasts would eat dog's flesh with a level of greediness.

The Problem and The Opportunity

Poverty imposes an oppressive weight on India, especially in rural areas where almost three of four Indians and close to 80 percent of the Indian poor live. Despite decades of efforts at poverty alleviation, the absolute number of poor has doubled since Independence in 1947. India today has the largest number of poor people on the planet. India also has the greatest concentration of rural households that are totally landless — 60 million households. Landlessness and rural poverty are closely linked. In fact, a recent World Bank report, India: Achievements and Challenges in Reducing Poverty (A World Bank Country Study 1997), showed that landlessness is by far the greatest predictor of poverty in India—even more so than caste or illiteracy.

Another 250 million rural residents live in households that own less than 0.2 hectares of land. For many of these households, gaining access to more land would be an opportunity to climb out of poverty. However, land policy and the legislative and administrative framework in India present substantial obstacles to gaining greater land access and rights.

Rural women in India feel the weight of poverty the most. Females are more likely than males to die as infants and children. More than six of ten women in India are illiterate—almost double the male rate. And, most significantly, Indian women rarely have legal rights to land, despite the fact that they are often more engaged in agriculture than men.

Rural land problems in India have not gone unnoticed. In the decades following Independence, many Indian states passed land reform laws aimed at broadening access to rural land. But these efforts—except for a few notable successes—were poorly designed and implemented. Measures aimed at taking significant land from larger landowners (with very little compensation) and strictly regulating the landlord-tenant relationship were difficult to administer and aroused strong opposition. They provided little relief to the rural poor and women and, in many cases, led to perverse results that stymied land access and rights for the poor. Until recently, these failures caused Indian policy-makers to conclude that land reform was not an answer to problems plaguing India's countryside.

In recent years, RDI research and advocacy has encouraged policy-makers to put land reform issues back on the agenda. Numerous government actors at both the state and national level are actively exploring a revised agenda for land reform with the continued assistance of RDI's research and comparative experience.

The Program:

RDI is working with partners including key government actors, selected research institutions, and NGOs to study, develop, communicate, and help implement feasible legislative, policy, and administrative reforms. RDI is currently active in Karnataka, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh and has begun the work in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh. Additional states have also sought RDI's advice on land policy matters and we have dialogued with officials in numerous other states through national and state workshops.

The India program was established by RDI Executive Director, Tim Hanstad, who was stationed in-country for two years. Following his return to the U.S. in June 2003, RDI has continued its work through a team of Indian nationals based in Delhi, Bangalore, and Calcutta.

Work to date has consisted of a series of field studies, reports, workshops, and other advisory activities. This work has pointed to a set of new, practical measures that promise to provide meaningful land rights to the rural poor, women, and other marginalized groups. These include:

• Allocating house-and-garden plots to impoverished landless laborers;
  
  
• Revising tenancy laws to increase the rural poor’s access to land;
  
  
• Providing joint titling and other protections for women;
  
  
• Turning informal “possessors” (squatters) into formal owners; and
  
  
• Making land markets work better for the poor.

Homestead Plots:

RDI's central recommendation is that Indian states allocate small house-and-garden plots to the landless poor. RDI's field studies in Karnataka and West Bengal, along with parallel data from other countries, has shown that families with house and garden plots of roughly 2,000 square feet or more enjoy greatly enhanced livelihoods. Such plots, though extremely tiny by developed-country standards, can be intensively cultivated to supplement existing sources of food and income. Benefits include improved nutrition, increased income, access to affordable credit, and improved status in the community.

Based on RDI's findings, the Karnataka state government is moving ahead with plans to distribute such house-and-garden plots to the rural landless in 35 of the state's most impoverished tahsils (counties). The West Bengal and Gujarat state governments are also actively considering similar policies. To implement such programs, state governments can distribute state-held land and could purchase the land on the market for distribution at very modest cost, averaging less than $100 per family. And the evidence—including RDI's further field research in Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh—suggests that this recommendation is applicable to other Indian states with large numbers of landless poor.

Women and Land:

Field studies in Karnataka and West Bengal have also focused on empowering women through land ownership. RDI research in both states has indicated that:

• Women comprise a disproportionate share of the landless
  and rarely hold legal rights to land;
  
  
• The oppressive practice of dowry is integrally linked with women’s
  inferior access and rights to land; and
  
  
• Providing women with legal rights to land will increase their status
  and social and economic security.

Based on these findings, RDI is working with Indian counterparts to advance recommendations aimed at enhancing women's access and rights to land. Such recommendations include changing state legislation to require government-distributed land to be granted jointly to husbands and wives or independently to women. RDI is working actively in West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh to research and promote such measures.

Joint Projects:

RDI has also started two "grounded" pilot projects on house-and-garden plots with local partners. In Karnataka, RDI has partnered with the University of Agricultural Sciences on a project to provide agricultural extension services to families with small kitchen gardens to help them use their land most efficiently to improve their nutrition and income. And in West Bengal, RDI is working with a local NGO to provide house-and-garden plots to landless and near-landless families.

Now also underway are projects on land purchase by landless women in two states with the World Bank; and on women and land ownership with the National Academy of Administration.

How poor people live!

One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to
the country with the firm purpose of showing his son how poor people
live.
They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be
considered a very poor family.
On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was
the trip?"
"It was great, Dad."
"Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked.
"Oh yeah," said the son.
"So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.!
The son answered: "I saw that we have one dog and they had four.
We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have
a creek that has no end.
We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at
night.
Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon.
We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go
beyond our sight.
We have servants who serve us, but they serve others.
We buy our food, but they grow theirs.
We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to
protect them."
The boy's father was speechless.
Then his son added, "Thanks, Dad, for showing me how poor we are."


Isn't perspective a wonderful thing? Makes you wonder what would
happen if we all gave thanks for everything we have, instead of
worrying about what we don't have

Living Conditions in India

The management of AAFT deems its primary responsibility to offer a cozy, homely working environment to all its students, camping here away from their homes for their short-term foundation to graduating or post graduating courses. The inmates, day scholars while in the university premises are looked after as part of a large growing family with special emphasis on their professional as well as personal ambitions in life. Besides the advantages available in general in Noida; the city of the millennium and the film city around, life within the University premises is full of lights, action and drama both during and post teaching hours. While the day long schedules are wrapped up by the on going non stop hectic schedules of group/personal coaching, counseling, practicals, live shoots interspersed with celebrity addresses in between, the evenings become even more vibrant and colorful as the young budding artistes grace the sprawling lawns, play grounds for charging their life batteries for another grilling day ahead. For the fitness conscious, there is ample provision for gymnastics, and a number of indoor as well as outdoor games within the academy precincts itself. The jogger's parks next doors offer more than what meets the eye to the others, differently choosy and the discerning. There is no dearth of pubs, restaurants, fast food joints for those wanting a break from the round the clock cafeteria of the academy and the ambience that the close by five in one wave cinema housed in the biggest center stage mall offering almost every conceivable product all under one roof permeates can hardly leave even one singe soul away from a visit to this place at least once in a week. No wonder the students at UMA are enjoying the best of both the worlds, a life full to its brim for learning every conceivable form of creative art within AAFT and for imbibing cultural inputs only a environment friendly city of a millennium like Noida can offer today.

Some Useful Tips to First Time visitors to Noida

WEATHER Weather in India oscillates between extremes but remains generally predictable between fixed seasons of Winters, Autumn, Summers, Rains followed by Winters again in a cyclic fashion. The Skies remain clear generally throughout the year except during the rainy months. If Nov to Feb make up for winters with temperatures ranging from 0 to 20 degrees Celsius in plains like Noida around Northern India, the autumn season after Feb until April becomes very pleasant with temperature ranging between 20 to 30 at the most. During summers the average temperature can shoot from 30 to 48 in a gradual phased manner. The Rainy Season falling between mid July till end Aug witnesses a downfall to between 25 and 35 degrees Celsius but the humidity levels touch a real high during this period. The pre winter months of September till November gradually become very pleasant with temperatures falling once again from 35 to around 20. WHAT TO BRING Clothing: Casual wear in India is pretty cheap. And the country is already known for its fashion statements all over the world. Therefore, it is better to travel light and do some cheap buying here itself. The range of clothing and footwear available around Noida and the capital city of Delhi hardly ten kilometers away is of international standards and mind-boggling. It is good to carry a raincoat however with the minimal entry baggage. International students are advised to check on the quantum of baggage allowed through the airlines they choose to travel by, to avoid paying excess baggage charges. Electrical/Electronic Items: The operating voltage in India is 220 Volts. PCs, Laptops, Note Books, Chargers etc therefore if brought should be compatible with this input. Other Useful Items: Passport Size Photographs For Student ID and Discount Cards Alarm Clocks Walkman Stereos, cameras etc. WHAT NOT TO BRING No drugs, no weapons. It is advised that the students should also avoid any costly items like precious jewellary and heavy cash into the university premises. International students should also check on the amount of alcohol and tobacco allowed to be carried by the airline they decide to travel by. SOCIALIZING IN INDIA Indians are as warm as hospitable as any other modern community on the globe today. They like to socialize and make new friends. They might initially appear to be a little shy but that can be attributed more to any spoken language barriers than an attitude. More number of well settled and educated Indians particularly in cosmopolitan cities like Noida, Delhi and its NCR are increasingly willing to have friends from across the world than just their own communities. Noida and its NCR region has a number of clubs, pubs where a much larger number of especially younger Indians can be easily approached in the evenings and the like minded always like to progress social contacts further. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES Food: A modern city like Noida today offers all kinds of English, Italian, Japanese, Chinese Korean and Thai food besides a choice of the delicacies from its own vast range of specialties like the Mughlai, Kashmiri, Punjabi, Hyderabadi, Bengali, Southern and a number of others. Access to good food and a wide choice is no problem at all. SOCIAL NORMS Drinking: More and more Indians are getting fond of alcohol but people can drink only in licensed bars, hotels or clubs authorized to serve liquor. The pub culture is also picking up. There is a stigma to public drinking but drinking in private accommodation as per rules of the accommodation hired is not a constraint. Smoking: By and large, smoking in most public places and public transport is banned. Some organizations make an exception by offering separate smoking zones.Whatever excellent brands of cigarette are always available in the country. Relationships: Relationships between men and women are becoming increasingly informal.The younger generation, university students around Delhi and those frequenting clubs, hotels etc have already shed considerable inhibitions. A cursory glance at the party photographs carried by the leading English daily newspapers like the Times of India and the Hindustan Times is fairly indicative of how the richer class moving in expensive meeting joints around the cities is feeling increasingly reassured and liberated in kissing and hugging some one they like to now. Holding hands and dancing a few steps together is a matter of the past, now. Religion: India is a secular nation where people of all religious faiths can practice their respective systems of faith. Noida and Delhi is a host to a number of Churches, Mosques, Temples and Gurudwaras, where any one has the freedom to go and pray without any restrictions. DRIVING IN INDIA India is a right hand drive country and a valid driving license is a must before you are allowed to take an automated vehicle on the road. Plus the driver also has to be above 18. FESTIVALS OF INDIA India is a land of diversity. Besides its three national festivals of our Republic Day (Jan 26), Independence Day (15th Aug) and the 2nd Oct (Birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi; the father of the nation), amongst its other most commonly and lavishly celebrated festivals are Diwali, Dussehra, Holi and those dedicated to the birth anniversaries of Lord Rama, Shiva, Krishna and the birth and the martyrdom days of the Sikh Gurus. Id Ul Fitter and Id Ul Zuha are also very widely celebrated in India and communities of all shades join the others on all such days. DOMESTIC/OVERSEAS TRAVELLING Students are advised to plan their travel arrangements in advance and to book their reservations in advance to avoid last minute inconveniences. A wide variety of domestic airlines, overseas airlines, train, buses (both State run as well as private) and registered taxi service providers are available. Authorized travel agents and houses are easily available and in tie up arrangements with the university.