http://troubledgalaxydetroyeddreams.blogspot.com/
Amartya Economics
Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams: Chapter 39
Palash Biswas
Bengal famine of 1943 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Citing the Bengal Famine and other examples from the world, Amartya Sen argues that famines do not occur in functioning democracies. ...
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Amartya Sen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- 8:14am Amartya Sen's books have been translated into more than thirty languages. ... Sen's interest in famine stemmed from personal experience. ...
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India Together: Interview with Amartya Sen, for Alternative Radio ...
David Barsamian of Alternative Radio talks to Amartya Sen on various influences on ..... They got drowned by the famine. I had not met anyone of that kind. ...
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Tanco Memorial Lecture by Amartya Sen - August 1990, London
Thus, the costs of such public action for famine prevention are typically ..... (15) See Jean Drèze and Amartya Sen, "Public Action for Social Security," in ...
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Amazon.com: Development as Freedom: Amartya Sen: Books
Key Phrases: food countermovement, potential famine victims, capability deprivation, ..... Recently I discovered "Development as Freedom" by Amartya Sen. ...
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The Prize in Economics 1998 - Press Release
Amartya Sen has made several key contributions to the research on fundamental problems ... of welfare and poverty indexes, to empirical studies of famine. ...
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A Critique of Amartya Sen’s argument on Democracy and Famine ...
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Democracy, News Media, and Famine Prevention: Amartya Sen and The Bihar Famine of 1966-67. by Thomas L. Myhrvold-Hanssen, June 2003 (Original version was ...
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The Guardian Profile: Amartya Sen | Books | The Guardian
As a child, he was deeply affected by an encounter with famine victims. ... Amartya Sen went to a school in Bengal which promoted curiosity rather than exam ...
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Hunger is quiet violence: Amartya Sen
26 Apr 2007 ... Hunger is quiet violence: Amartya Sen ... One, some issues are easy to discuss - like famine. An editor says how dreadful and publishes an ...
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Democracy, News Media, and Famine Prevention: Amartya Sen and The ...
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constitution will at least prevent the disastrousness a famine represents. Although, Amartya Sen. is highly sceptical towards the combat of endemic hunger ...
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Book results for Amartya sen on famine
Development as Freedom - by Amartya Kumar Sen - 396 pages
Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement ... - by Amartya Kumar Sen - 276 pages
Amartya Sen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Amartya Kumar Sen CH (Hon) (Bengali: Ômorto Kumar Shen) (born 3 November 1933), is an Indian economist, philosopher, and a winner of the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences (Nobel Prize for Economics) in 1998, "for his contributions to welfare economics" for his work on famine, human development theory, welfare economics, the underlying mechanisms of poverty, and political liberalism.
From 1998 to 2004 he was Master of Trinity College at Cambridge University, becoming the first Asian academic to head an Oxbridge college. Amartya Sen is interested in the debate over globalization. He has given lectures to senior executives of the World Bank and is a former honorary president of Oxfam.
Among his many contributions to development economics, Sen has produced work on gender inequality. He is currently the Lamont University Professor at Harvard University. Amartya Sen's books have been translated into more than thirty languages. He is a trustee of Economists for Peace and Security.
Quotes
When referring to sanctions against Myanmar: they "are more likely to be effective there than almost anywhere else I can imagine" — provided other countries join in.
No substantial famine has ever occurred in any independent and democratic country with a relatively free press.
--Democracy as a Universal Value, Journal of Democracy 10.3 (1999) 3-17
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amartya_Sen
So called Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen will deliver the inaugural Hiren Mukerjee Memorial Parliamentary Lecture in the Central Hall of Parliament on August 11. Sen will speak on "Demands of Social Justice". Mukerjee, an exceptionally gifted intellectual and a brilliant orator, was a member of Lok Sabha for five consecutive terms from 1952 to 1977.
Vice-President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee would attend the lecture.
Amartya Sen and Md yunus are the Economists who lead the Globalisation supporter economists in third world countries and rewarded accordingly. Besides his global role as Pro Imperialism economist, Amarty gets enough time to stand rock solid with the Ruling Brahminical Hegemony and its regemented Marxist Gestapo led by Buddhadeb Bhattacharya.
Anand Bazar group fed by over FDI leaves no stone unturned to make Market sovereign. Latest issue of Desh is an excellent expression of the XXXXX agenda of Global ruling Class. Soft Porn short Stories consist the meat of the issue. Dipankar Dasgupta advocates the sovereignty of the market as pronounced as Last Word! Cover is illuminated by a portrait of the Supreme Slave Prime Minister with his famous Parliamentary quotes from guru Govind Singh! The issue is dedicated to economic reforms and sovereignty of Market with a little bit of salt called Civil Society pro activism! Nuke Deal is supported by FDI fed Media in general which projects the Trust Vote reality show as the last horizon for Hindu Super Power shining India emerging. Shantiniketan Don Somnath Chatterjee has been made a National Hero as he spiritually defended well the Brahminical Interests so well. CPIM is hammered for its so called anti imperialist role! But ironically, Brand Buddha remains in the centre stage with his agenda of indiscriminate industrialisation and urbanisation with blind annihilation of indigenous communities and production system. Nandigram and Singur insurrections are thrashed all round. Mamata is branded as a real Vamp!
Desh addresses the Brahminical West Bengal brand Bengali Nationality represented by micro minority Brahmins dominating every sphere of life and so called Civil society living in Metro and sub Urbans!
Amartya Sen on Tuesday warned that if “the Tatas pulled out from West Bengal, no other industrialists would even consider coming to the state in future” . Mr Sen was addressing an education convention at University Institute Hall organised by All Bengal Primary Teachers’ Association. Mr Sen, who is known to the world for his contribution to development economics, underscored that no country in the world can progress without industrialisation . “I have never seen any country that has progressed without industrialisation. Agriculture alone cannot help. Industrialisation is a must and I support the West Bengal government’s industrial policy and the Tata Motors car project in Singur.” He felt some problems may have cropped up regarding implementation of the Nano project. “These problems can be sorted out through negotiations,” he felt. While Mr Sen was strongly batting for the Tata Nano project, the state government was busy clearing the air of apprehension on the status of the Nano project. The state government categorically stated that the Tatas had no plans to pull out from the state and Tata Motors was going ahead with its plans to roll out the Nano by October.
Anandbazar and its sister publication The Telegraph planted a story depicting Possible departure of Tata Motors and production of Nano from Uttarakhand. The group created such a tight position for Mamata Bannerjee projecting her as the most responsible person for unemployment and starvation in West Bengal. The group never highlights the crisis in the basic industries of Bengal, for example Jute, Cotton, Coal, Tea and engineering.It never highlights the fact that 56 thousand factories have been closed in Bengal and promoters and builders with the rush of MNCs rule Bengal. But it successfully pressed the panic button for the resistance Hegemony, Mamata and her associates. Mamata has been threatened! Mamata has been isolated.
Ruling Hegemony fielded its best weapon, the Amartay economics against People`s insurrection and it hit Mamata so well.
Mamata softens on Singur, may talk to Tata
NDTV reports:
After several weeks of controversy there is a possibility of peace, Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee on Thursday indicated that she is willing to talk to the Tata group if they approached her.
"We don't want to send a message to anybody. If anybody wants to talk to us we can talk. A dialogue is political courtesy. What we accept or not is different. I feel the state government should take an initiative if they want the Tata Motors factory," said Mamata Banerjee, leader, Trinamool Congress.
This comes as a big relief to Tata Motors who said last week that they would stay in Singur only as long as their patience lasted.
In response to Mamata Banerjee's offer, they have said they are not averse to talking to anyone.
http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080060556&ch=8/7/2008%208:56:00%20PM
This is the item fed to media by Anand bazar Group!
Tata Motors fed up, Bengal government alarmed
Yet another hint that Tata Motors is fed up with the disruptive agitation against the Nano car project unleashed by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has sent alarm bells ringing in the Bengal government and the CPI (M).
WITH THE Tata Motors on the brink of losing its patience over the sporadic disturbances in its Nano small car project in Singur, the Bengal government is a flap. No less a person than Ratan Tata has sent word to the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government that while Tata Motors is keen to bring out the small car from Singur but given the destructive goings on at the site, the company is losing its patience, media reports said. Only a few days ago the company managing director Ravi Kant had said “as long as our patience lasts we will be at Singur."
Tata Motors annoyance with the volatile ground situation in Singur has sent the state administration on an alarm mode. The chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Commerce and Industries minister Nirupam Sen have briefed the Alimuddin Street mandarins in the Communist Party of India – Marxist (CPI - M) state secretariat.
With Mamata announcing her programme of laying a siege on Singur as of August 24, the state administration is mulling whether to impose prohibitory orders. There is speculation that the Trinamool chief could be arrested to prevent disruption.
The Tatas have withdrawn from a project in Bangladesh and there is no reason why it cannot withdraw from Bengal given that it can bring out the Nano from Pune and has sites identified in Uttarkhand for a factory. This is in effect what the minister for industries told the CPI (M)'s state secretariat.
Meanwhile, seven chambers of commerce in the Kolkata, which have been watching the situation closely is debating whether it should make its stand clear and decided that it should in the larger context of industrial revival in the state. They are going over a joint appeal to keep the Tata Motors project going. The contention of industrialists, who have been watching the Singur imbroglio with a lot of apprehension, is that the small-car project has drawn attention from across the globe and that it would lead to new investments in Bengal. The chambers want all those concerned to sort out the matter keeping the welfare of the state in mind.
Soon after Buddhadeb and his colleague informed the CPI (M) leadership, they went into a huddle yesterday. After the meeting party state secretary Biman Bose called on Jyoti Basu.
Wrong political signals are also emerging from among the CPI (M) leadership with veteran leader Benoy Konar pointing out if the Tata's withdraw, Mamata Banerjee would be the worst affected. “We will launch a state wide propaganda that the Tata's have left because of her.” He found support from some leaders on this. The industry minister, however, said that he would keep trying for a rapprochement and try to ensure that Tata Motors does not leave. He also pointed that it had taken a lot of effort to persuade the Tatas to invest. If the project succeeds the people of the state will benefit and if the Tatas go the people of the state stand to lose.
The CPI (M) leadership also issued a statement appealing to people from all walks of life to foil Trinamool Congress's disruptive agitation which was coming in the way of completing the Tata Motors factory. This only shores up Ravi Kant's contention that in the final analysis the people of Bengal have to decide whether they want industrialisation.
The CPI (M) leadership has urged the unemployed to participate directly in implementing all efforts at job generation which in effect boils down mobilising jobless youths to tackle Mamata Banerjee's agitation at a political level.
Meanwhile, the CPI (M) has launched a campaign to counter the Save Farmland Committee's agitation. The CITU-led Nirman Karmi Union took out a procession with workers of the Singur project yesterday demanding that they be allowed to work. On August 10, the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) will hold a rally near the project site. On August 13 and August 16, the CPI (M)'s youth wing and the CPI (M) labour wing the CITU will organise separate rallies.
The party meeting also discussed an increase in the compensation to land losers who had not collected their cheques yet but some among the leadership pointed that others who had given up land without making an issue of it would feel discriminated and could recourse to the courts.
To pre-empt disruption the state government has stepped up security in and around the Tata Motors plant site in Singur. There are over 1200 police personnel deployed at the project site and police reinforcement were sent after an engineer was assaulted by activists of Save Farmland Committee on July 29. The indefinite dharna announced by Mamata will be spearheaded by committee activists.
On the security side, a couple of water cannons have been positioned at the project site and apart from the 1200 police personnel, the administration increased the number of watchtowers to 30 within the boundary of the project site and set up about 70 camps to keep constant vigil.
http://india.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=138917
SC dismisses PIL claiming Amartya Sen is not a Nobel Laureate
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEW DELHI, DEC 16: Whether noted economist, Amartya Sen, won the Nobel prize for economics or received the Bank of Sweden prize for economic sciences in memory of Alfred Nobel cannot be the subject matter of a public interest litigation (PIL), the Supreme Court said today. Dismissing a PIL claiming that Sen was not a Nobel laureate but winner of a prize given by the Swedish bank, a three-judge Bench headed by Justice S P Bharucha cajoled the petitioner, S C Roy, for bringing such an issue to the court and said ``this is a classic example of PIL being misused.''
The Bench repeatedly asked the petitioner's counsel, T P Misra, as to how the issue could be a subject matter of a PIL When no satisfactory reply was provided by the counsel, the Bench said, ``the petition was totally misconceived''. The court also rejected the oral request of Mishra, to approach appropriate forum to seek redressal.
INDIAN EXPRESS FRONT PAGE
Thursday, December 17, 1998
http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19981217/35150824.html
Amartya Sen not a Nobel laureate, says PIL
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEW DELHI, DEC 8: Did Amartya Sen win Nobel Prize in economics for the year 1998? No, says a petition filed in the Supreme Court, adding that he won only the Bank of Sweden (Sveriges Riksbank) prize in economic sciences in memory of Alfred Nobel, which was instituted by the bank in 1968.
The petition, likely to be heard next week, filed by Dr S C Roy from Calcutta seeks a direction from the Court to the government to clarify the confusion over the award to Sen. Roy, in support of his claim, has annexed a letter from the chief legal counseller of the Swedish Bank R Sparve, who, said, ``difference between the Bank of Sweden prize and the others (Nobel prizes)is, in my opinion, evident from its name and the authorities in Sweden responsible for the selection of the laureates consistently repeat it.''
``I fail to see that any reasonable ground for confusion. If some news media omit the difference in every report about the prize in economics, it is not, in my opinion, an omission for which Swedish authoritiesshould be made responsible,'' Sparve said.
Roy said Alfred Nobel in his will made on November 27, 1895, had envisaged award of Nobel prizes in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace and that economics was never a part of the will. The first Nobel prize was awarded in 1900.
The petitioner has arrayed Union of India, Amartya Sen, PTI, UNI, State of West Bengal and Calcutta Municipal Corporation as respondents. Roy said he held a press conference in Calcutta to remove the confusion created by the press in India due to mistake of fact, but, instead of being appreciated for his efforts in this regard, he was accused of tarnishing the image of Sen.
However, Roy could not answer a query from PTI as to why the Nobel Foundation has not protested against the economic prize winners being called Nobel laureates since 1968, when the prize was instituted and 43 persons have got it till date.
He said he was being threatened with life for bringing out the truth and sought a direction fromthe Court to the government to restrain circulation and publication of any report that claims that Amartya Sen won Nobel Prize in economics.
Roy has also annexed his communication with the Nobel Foundation through Internet to establish his claim. Roy had asked -- as the Nobel Foundation awards the five Nobel prizes and the Swedish Bank prize for economics in memory of Alfred Nobel, whether all the recipients could be called Nobel laureates? The Nobel Foundation said the winner of the Swedish Bank award should be called a prize winner and not a Nobel laureate.
Wednesday, December 9, 1998
Economics of Amartya Sen/edited by Ajit Kumar Sinha and Raj Kumar Sen. New Delhi, 2000, xix, 268 p., $30. ISBN 81-7629-259-1.
Contents: Preface. Introduction. I. Economics of Amartya Sen: An Overview: 1. Economics of Amartya Sen/R.S. Mishra. 2. Economics and ethics of Amartya Sen/S.S. Banhati. 3. Nobel laureate: Amartya Sen/S.C. Sharma. 4. The economics of Amartya Kumar Sen-a note/J.N. Tewary. 5. Radical Sen/Amalesh Banerjee. 6. A.K. Sen--The Harbinger of a revolution in economic theory and planning objectives/C.B. Padmanabham. 7. Amartya Sen--The great economist: a note/Debansu Roy. 8. Amartya Sen--The nobel economist: a note/Pragati Mohanty. 9. A note on economic ideas of Amartya Sen/Kalipada Basu. 10. Sensibility in senology: a note/Kumar B. Das. II. Economics and Philosophy of Amartya Sen: 11. Sen's economic philosophy in tune with Indian economic thought/R.P. Sarma. 12. Magnificent man in quest of ethics/Ratan Lal Basu. 13. Amartya Kumar Sen: An economist, a philosopher/Tapati Sanyal. III. Amartya Sen and Welfare Economics: 14. Amartya Sen and welfare economics--some reflections/K.M. Naidu. 15. Sen's welfare economics/Anindya Bhukta. IV. Amartya Sen and Development: 16. Amartya Sen, development economics and freedom/Biswajit Chatterjee. 17. The entitlement approach: its conceptual contours and contextual issues/P. Jegadish Gandhi. 18. Amartya Sen: On human development and famine/Ram Naresh Thakur. 19. Sen's model of economic development--an inter-state analysis. V. Poverty, Inequality and Amartya Sen: 20. Amartya Sen on poverty, inequality and famine/Asim K. Karmakar. 21. Amartya Sen on the measurement of poverty/Debesh Bhowmick. 22. Sen's capability approach/S.L. Pedgaonkar. 23. Poverty estimation in India and Amartya Sen's P. Index/Amarendra. 24. Amartya's world of poverty and public action: a lesson to Bihar/Shyam Sunder Prasad Sharma. 25. Inequality, discrimination and Amartya Sen/Raj Kumar Sen. Index.
"Economics of Amartya Sen is an edited volume arising out of the contributed papers on this topic organised by the Indian Economic Association to honour its former President, Prof. Amartya Sen on the unique occasion of his winning the Nobel Prize in Economics, in 1998. The present volume consists of 25 articles and notes distributed over five sub-themes, viz. (i) Economics of Amartya Sen: An overview, (ii) Economics and Philosophy of Amartya Sen, (iii) Amartya Sen and Welfare Economics, (iv) Amartya Sen and Development, and (v) Poverty, inequality and Amartya Sen. The articles are authored by R.S. Mishra, S.S. Banhati, S.C. Sharma, J.N. Tewary, Amalesh Banerjee, C.B. Padmanabhan, Debansu Roy, Pragati Mohanty, Kalipada Basu, Kumar B. Das, R.P. Sarma, Ratan Lal Basu, Tapati Sanyal, K.M. Naidu, Anindya Bhukta, Biswajit Chatterjee, P. Jegadish Gandhi, Ram Naresh Thakur, Anju Kohli, Sadhna Kothari, Neelima Shrivastava, Asim K. Karmakar, Debesh Bhowmick, S.L. Pedgaonkar, Amarendra, Shyam Sunder Prasad Sharma, Raj Kumar Sen." (jacket)
Return to Economics/Development Studies Catalogue
http://vedamsbooks.com/no15311.htm
Globalization Needs Social and Political Support Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen addresses International Labour Conference
Type Press release
Date issued 15 June 1999
Reference ILO/99/20
Unit responsible Communication and Public Information
Other languages Español • Français
GENEVA (ILO News) - Globalization needs social and political support if it is to appear other than as "a terrorizing prospect for precariously placed individuals and communities" delegates to the 87 th International Labour Conference were told today in a special plenary address given by Professor Amartya Sen, the Nobel Laureate in economics in 1998.
The distinguished author and economist told the gathering that if globalization is to fulfill its potential, it has to be accompanied by "well-deliberated action in support of social and political as well as economic changes to the conditions that govern our lives and work."
While emphasizing the potential of globalization to raise living standards worldwide, Professor Sen warned that in a world teeming with unemployed and underemployed people only "a significant broadening of national and international efforts to promote equity and protect the rights of workers can transform the dreaded anticipation of the globalization economy into an agreeable and constructive reality."
He applauded the commitment of ILO to providing "universal coverage of all working people, including unregulated wage workers, the self employed and homeworkers" and endorsed the goal of providing decent work as "a banner under which all should rally." He said that "given the massive levels of unemployment that exist in many countries today, it is right that policy attention be focused on expanding jobs and working opportunities. And yet the conditions of work are important too."
He said the notion of an inevitable trade-off between jobs and the quality of work is "often exaggerated and is typically based on very rudimentary reasoning." Furthermore, "even when trade-offs have to be faced, they can be more reasonably addressed by taking a broader and inclusive approach rather than by simply giving full priority to just one group over another."
He supported the comprehensive view of society presented in the report, Decent Work prepared by the ILO Director-General Juan Somavia and presented to the 1999 Conference. Professor Sen called particular attention to the report's insistence on the need for "acknowledging certain basic rights, whether or not they are legislated, as part of a decent society; the practical implications that emanate from this acknowledgement go beyond new legislation to other social, political and economic actions."
He said that the protection of workers against vulnerability and contingency was conditional on the working of democratic participation and the operation of political incentives. By way of illustration, he argued that "it is a remarkable fact in the history of famines that famines do not occur in democracies, because famines are, in fact, easy to prevent and a government in a multi-party democracy with election and a free media has strong political incentives to undertake famine prevention." Similarly, "political freedom in the form of democratic arrangements help to safeguard economic freedom and the freedom to survive."
He said that the recent problems of some of the East and South-East Asian economies "bring out, among other things, the penalty of undemocratic governance." This is so in two striking respects involving the neglect of two crucial freedoms, protective security and transparency guarantees, both of which are related to safeguarding decent work and to promoting decent lives.
The ILO Director-General, Mr. Juan Somavia, warmly welcomed Mr. Sen's participation in the conference proceedings as a symbol of the fact that "the ILO needs to become a knowledge based organization" which could draw upon the advice and wisdom of one of "the most original and creative thinkers of our time", whose intellectual distinction has been matched by an abiding concern for people and for human welfare.
Amartya Sen is currently Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, and Professor Emeritus of Harvard University. He was Drummond Professor of Political Economy at Oxford and a Professor of Economics of the London School of Economics and Delhi University. The recipient of Doctorates from over 40 leading Universities in the world, and he won the Nobel Prize for Economics last year.
http://www.ilo.org/global/About_the_ILO/Media_and_public_information/Press_releases/lang--en/WCMS_007940/index.htm
Home | Industry Information | Business News | Browse by Publication | M | M2 Presswire
Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen stresses empowering role of education and need to reform school curricula, in address to Population Commission; Commission also concludes discussion of national experiences and population activities of the UN System -- Part 1 of 2.
Publication: M2 Presswire
Publication Date: 03-APR-03 Format: Online - approximately 3571 words
Delivery: Immediate Online Access
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M2 PRESSWIRE-3 April 2003-UN: Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen stresses empowering role of education and need to reform school curricula, in address to Population Commission; Commission also concludes discussion of national experiences and population activities of the UN System -- Part 1 of M2 LTD...
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...2(C)1994-2003 COMMUNICATIONS
RDATE:04022003
The single-mindedness of Western civilization strengthened separatism in the non-Western world, which could be seen in the spread of Islamic fundamentalism, Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen told the Commission on Population and Development today, as it continued its thirty-sixth session.
Delivering a keynote address, he said no historical justification existed for categorizing science and mathematics as Western science, and religious beliefs as the foundation of the non-Western world. Arab and Muslim societies, in fact, had historically contributed greatly to both science and math.
Categorizing civilizations, he continued, encouraged societies to adopt singular identities, resulting in ill-education and social hatred. Sectarian schools and teaching crude categorizations, making one group dominant over another, led to aggressive and intolerant identification. Greater focus, he stressed, must be given to school curricula worldwide.
That did not mean issuing global guidelines, but bringing concerns over content more strongly into public debate.
Mr. Sen also discussed the empowering effect education had on people's lives. He noted that literacy was vital in finding employment, understanding legal rights, overcoming deprivation and raising the political voice of underdogs. Also, educating women could sharply reduce fertility and child mortality rates, limit family size, and increase their input into family decision-making.
In the exchange that followed, moderated by the Director of the Population Division, Joseph Chamie, Mr. Sen was asked about a myriad of issues, among them, the merits of informal education. There was no substitute for formal training in reading, writing and arithmetic, he replied. Moreover, schools gave children the opportunity to socialize and interact with people of different backgrounds and were important in developing healthy social skills.
Another question pertained to the importance of developing standards for testing and measuring students' progress in reasoning. Mr. Sen agreed that students' ability to reason was as important as their ability to read, write and
do arithmetic, but said that measuring that ability was difficult and had to be approached in more complex ways.
Also today, the Commission discussed programme implementation and future programme of work of the Secretariat in the field of population. Speakers highlighted ongoing activities to achieve population goals, as well as the need for new measures to combat persistent challenges.
Vast differences in health and welfare between rich and poor countries and between the rich and poor within countries was unacceptable, said the representative of the World Bank.
The Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (Cairo, 1994) and the Millennium Declaration mapped an effective strategy to link population and reproductive health issues to poverty reduction, education for all, improvements in gender equality, and protection of human rights. The challenge was one of effectively implementing that strategy.
China's representative stressed that population had remained a serious issue that should not be ignored, despite the dropping fertility rate. His country was facing new population issues, such as ageing, internal mobility and HIV/AIDS. He hoped the Population Division would devise new measures for approaching HIV/AIDS,...
http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-2640186/Nobel-Laureate-Amartya-Sen-stresses.html
Dr Amartya Sen, said that the country has failed to provide the required nutritional values to its children although it has advanced on the economic front.
While speaking at the annual convention of All Bengal Primary Teachers’ Association, Prof Sen said that many children lack nutritional value which affects their concentration level as a result of which they are unable to perform well in school.
Prof. Sen, however, appreciated the state government’s efforts at introducing mid-day meal scheme as it has helped in encouraging students to attend school. Children from economically weak families are unable to concentrate due to hunger. Teachers have an added responsibility to teach these students, he added. Besides this teachers have to also handle students who are first generation learners. These students depend entirely on what is taught in school as there is nobody to guide them in their homes, said Prof Sen
As fresh violence claimed two lives in Nandigram over the past two days, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has convened an all-party peace meeting at the East Midnapore district headquarters in Tamluk on August nine, the Chief Minister's office said.
"The Chief Minister will attend an all-party meeting at 9:30 a.M. In Tamluk on August nine in the wake of the recent developments in Nandigram," it said this evening adding, district administration officials will also be present.
Earlier in the day, a person identified as Dulal Gadu of Gadupara in Gokulnagar was shot by some unknown miscreants, during a bandh being observed in five blocks of East Midnapore district against yesterday's killing of CPI(M) worker Niranjan Mandol, Nandigram OC Debashis Chakraborty said. Gadu died on way to hospital.
Inflation cracks 12 per cent mark
Inflation has crossed 12 per cent for the first time in over thirteen years as prices of food items continued to rise.
It’s a rich man’s court: House panel
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice slams the judiciary for ignoring the rights of common citizens and suggests the Govt consider higher court fees for corporate disputes.
BSE Sensex closes 43 points up at 15,117
The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex closed higher by marginal 43 points even as investors adopted a cautious approach ahead of the weekly inflation data.
‘We are poised for growth in a shrinking industry’
Tata Consultancy Services chief operating officer N Chandrasekaran speaks to Indulal PM about TCS.
Economy
OPEC crude price dips below $115
The price for crude oil produced by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has dropped below $115, to its lowest price since early May.
Writers Buildings in Kolkata catches fire
A major fire broke out this morning at the Writers Buildings here, and it took about two hours to douse it.
The fire broke out in the E-Block, or the top floor of the Secretariat building at around 6.45am.
Twelve firefighting engines were required to bring the blaze under control. No casualties were reported. Damage was limited to heaps of paper, documents and furniture of the departments of Refugee Rehabilitation, Fire and Municipal Affairs.
Surrounding roads and offices were closed during the fire-dousing operation. Forensic experts have been called in to investigate the cause of fire.
Important works of Dr Sen
Sen's papers in the late 1960s and early 1970s helped develop the theory of social choice, which first came to prominence in the work by the American economist Kenneth Arrow, who, while working at the RAND Corporation, famously proved that all voting rules, be they majority voting or two thirds-majority or status quo, must inevitably conflict with some basic democratic norm. Sen's contribution to the literature was to show under what conditions Arrow's Impossibility Theorem would indeed come to pass as well as to extend and enrich the theory of social choice, informed by his interests in history of economic thought and philosophy.
In 1981, Sen published Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation (1981), a book in which he demonstrated that famine occurs not only from a lack of food, but from inequalities built into mechanisms for distributing food. Sen's interest in famine stemmed from personal experience. As a nine-year-old boy, he witnessed the Bengal famine of 1943, in which three million people perished. This staggering loss of life was unnecessary, Sen later concluded. He presents data that there was an adequate food supply in Bengal at the time, but particular groups of people including rural landless labourers and urban service providers like haircutters did not have the monetary means to acquire food as its price rose rapidly due to factors that include British military acquisition, panic buying, hoarding, and price gouging, all connected to the war in the region. In Poverty and Famines, Sen revealed that in many cases of famine, food supplies were not significantly reduced. In Bengal, for example, food production, while down on the previous year, was higher than in previous non-famine years. Thus, Sen points to a number of social and economic factors, such as declining wages, unemployment, rising food prices, and poor food-distribution systems. These issues led to starvation among certain groups in society. His capabilities approach focuses on positive freedom, a person's actual ability to be or do something, rather than on negative freedom approaches, which are common in economics and simply focuses on non-interference. In the Bengal famine, rural laborers' negative freedom to buy food was not affected. However, they still starved because they were not positively free to do anything, they did not have the functioning of nourishment, nor the capability to escape morbidity.
In addition to his important work on the causes of famines, Sen's work in the field of development economics has had considerable influence in the formulation of the Human Development Report, published by the United Nations Development Programme. This annual publication that ranks countries on a variety of economic and social indicators owes much to the contributions by Sen among other social choice theorists in the area of economic measurement of poverty and inequality.
Sen's revolutionary contribution to development economics and social indicators is the concept of 'capability' developed in his article "Equality of What." He argues that governments should be measured against the concrete capabilities of their citizens. This is because top-down development will always trump human rights as long as the definition of terms remains in doubt (is a 'right' something that must be provided or something that simply cannot be taken away?). For instance, in the United States citizens have a hypothetical "right" to vote. To Sen, this concept is fairly empty. In order for citizens to have a capacity to vote, they first must have "functionings." These "functionings" can range from the very broad, such as the availability of education, to the very specific, such as transportation to the polls. Only when such barriers are removed can the citizen truly be said to act out of personal choice. It is up to the individual society to make the list of minimum capabilities guaranteed by that society. For an example of the "capabilities approach" in practice, see Martha Nussbaum's Women and Human Development.
He wrote a controversial article in the New York Review of Books entitled "More Than 100 Million Women Are Missing", analyzing the mortality impact of unequal rights between the genders in the developing world, particularly Asia. Other studies, such as one by Emily Oster, have argued that this is an overestimation, though Oster has recanted some of her conclusions.
Sen was seen as a ground-breaker among late twentieth-century economists for his insistence on discussing issues seen as marginal by most economists. He mounted one of the few major challenges to the economic model that posited self-interest as the prime motivating factor of human activity. While his line of thinking remains peripheral, there is no question that his work helped to re-prioritize a significant sector of economists and development workers, even the policies of the United Nations.
Welfare economics seeks to evaluate economic policies in terms of their effects on the well-being of the community. Sen, who devoted his career to such issues, was called the "conscience of his profession." His influential monograph Collective Choice and Social Welfare (1970), which addressed problems related to individual rights (including formulation of the liberal paradox), justice and equity, majority rule, and the availability of information about individual conditions, inspired researchers to turn their attention to issues of basic welfare. Sen devised methods of measuring poverty that yielded useful information for improving economic conditions for the poor. For instance, his theoretical work on inequality provided an explanation for why there are fewer women than men in India and China despite the fact that in the West and in poor but medically unbiased countries, women have lower mortality rates at all ages, live longer, and make a slight majority of the population. Sen claimed that this skewed ratio results from the better health treatment and childhood opportunities afforded boys in those countries, as well as sex-specific abortion.
Governments and international organizations handling food crises were influenced by Sen's work. His views encouraged policy makers to pay attention not only to alleviating immediate suffering but also to finding ways to replace the lost income of the poor, as, for example, through public-works projects, and to maintain stable prices for food. A vigorous defender of political freedom, Sen believed that famines do not occur in functioning democracies because their leaders must be more responsive to the demands of the citizens. In order for economic growth to be achieved, he argued, social reforms, such as improvements in education and public health, must precede economic reform.
Sen is criticized as anti-market proponent by some economists, and as uncritical of globalization by others.[2] Sen cites Peter Bauer as a major influence on his thinking.
Criticism
Amartya Sen has been criticized for his writings outside of economics, especially for his views on the history of Islam and Jihad, by Fouad Ajami in The Washington Post.[2]
Marketing economist Peter Bowbrick has accused Sen of misrepresenting historical data and being wrong on his theory of famines. In fact Bowbrick argues that Sen's views coincide with that of the Bengal government at the time of the Bengal famine and the policies Sen advocates failed to relieve the famine. Bowbrick accused Sen's theory of being the cause of famines.[3]
Historian Mark Tauger disagrees with Sen that food availability wasn't a problem in 1940s Bengal and argues that the famine was mainly the result of a natural disaster.[4]
[edit] Awards
He received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for his work in welfare economics in 1998.
He received the Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award in India 1999.
In 1999 he received honorary citizenship of Bangladesh from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in recognition of his achievements in winning the Nobel Prize, and given that his family origins were in what has become the modern state of Bangladesh
He received the 2000 Leontief Prize for his outstanding contribution to economic theory from the Global Development and Environment Institute.
In 2002 he received the International Humanist Award from the International Humanist and Ethical Union.
Eisenhower Medal, for Leadership and Service USA, 2000;
Companion of Honour, UK, 2000.
In 2003, he was conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Indian Chamber of Commerce.
Life Time Achievement award by Bangkok-based United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amartya_Sen
Talking to newsmen at Writers’ Buildings, state commerce & industries minister Nirupam Sen said: “We have neither received any letter, nor any proposal from the Tatas that they wish to pull out from Singur.” Incidentally , he was reacting to a media report which claimed the Tatas had written to the state government about pulling out of Singur, in the wake of the continuous agitation by Trinamool Congress.
Earlier, even though Mr Sen felt there is a need to solve problems through talks, the state commerce and industries minister reiterated the state government’s stand that the question of returning some 400 acres did not arise. “If we have to return the land, we will have to acquire it elsewhere . That would create fresh trouble,” he said.
The minister also indicated that there is no fresh plan to appeal to Trinamool Congress to come to the negotiating table. “Whatever I had to tell the opposition , I have said in the Assembly and also outside. I do not have anything new to add.” To maintain law and order at the factory site, state home secretary Ashok Mohan Chakroborty met Tata Motors local manager Dilip Sengupta and West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation’s representative Apurba Banerjee at Singur to review the security arrangement.
The home secretary was accompanied by DGP A. B. Vohra and IGP (law and order) Raj Kanojia.
The home secretary has indicated plans to increase the number of policemen at the factory site. The Tata Motors management has also been asked to beef up security cover to avoid any untoward incident which might affect the normal operations.
Tatas to stay in Singur: Nirupam Sen
Rejecting all speculation, West Bengal Indutry Minister Nirupam Sen Tuesday said the state government has not received any intimation from Tata Motors on backing out from its project in Singur.
"We have got no such information from Tata Motors that they want to roll back from the Singur project. The project work is almost nearing completion and I hope the Nano car will roll out from the factory on time," Sen told reporters in Kolkata.
Tata Motors is gearing up to roll out its dream small car in October. Nano, priced at Rs.100,000 or less than $2,500, is being manufactured at Singur, 40 km from here.
Tata Motors acquired 997.11 acres for the project from the state government. However, the project has been mired in controversy as farmers' groups allege the state government acquired farmlands under durress.
Commenting on whether the state government would give back 400 acres to unwilling farmers, Sen said: "There is no question of giving land back. The state government has no extra land to return to the unwilling farmers in Singur. If we want to do that, we have to acquire fresh land from other areas and, in that case, the same problem may arise once again."
A high-level meeting, attended by West Bengal Home Secretary Ashok Mohon Chakraborty, state police top brass and Tata Motors officials, was held in Singur Tuesday.
"During the meeting, Tata Motors officials said they are committed to the project. We discussed the security matters of the project site also. To ensure security to the workers at the factory, we will try to deploy more police personnel there. The Tatas are trying to strengthen the number of private security men," Chakraborty told reporters after the meeting.
Expressing concern over fresh turmoil in Singur, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) patriarch Jyoti Basu said in a press statement that some opposition political forces were united in trying to hinder the industrial progress of the state.
The land acquisition for Tata Motors had triggered a violent face-off between the state government and farmers led by civil society groups and political parties like the Trinamool Congress.
Addressing a gathering here, Nobel laureate and noted economist Amartya Sen said if the Tatas leave West Bengal it would affect the state's economy.
"The project is important to reduce the poverty level of West Bengal," Sen said.
Criticising the CPI-M-led Left Front government's industrial policy, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee said: "If the state government does not return land, we will go on an indefinite agitation. The Singur movement will be carried out in a democratic manner and it will have an impact on the entire nation."
Banerjee, who spearheaded the anti-land acquisition movement in Singur, went on a 26-day hunger strike in December 2006 for the cause of the farmers.
UPA shying away from convening Parliament: Left
The Left parties on Thursday accused the UPA of shying away from convening the Monsoon Session of Parliament, saying it feared it would not be able to sustain the majority achieved through "foul means" due to which the Indo-US nuclear deal would be in jeopardy.
Demanding the convening of the Monsoon session immediately, the parties said a delay would mean "contempt" of Parliament and "wilful disregard" for democratic norms.
The parties - CPI(M), CPI, RSP and Forward Bloc - alleged that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress leadership want to avoid Parliament till the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) clears the nuclear deal.
"The Manmohan Singh government is afraid of facing the Parliament...Failure to maintain its majority in Parliament before that (NSG clearance) would jeopardise the nuclear deal with the United States," the parties said in a joint statement in New Delhi.
Noting that the government had earlier announced that the session will be held from August 11 to September five, the joint statement claimed that the session has not been convened on August 11 but efforts were on "to do away" with the session altogether.
"The reason is clear. After having manipulated a majority by foul means, the government is not confident of facing Parliament where its majority will be in question," it added.
Meanwhile, a senior Congress leader has indicated that the session is likely to be convened in the second week of September.
Bengal Govt, Tatas won’t back out of Singur: Buddha
Express News ServicePosted online: Wednesday, August 06, 2008 at 0049 hrs Print Email
Kolkata, August 5: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Tuesday said the Left Front Government will not back out from Tata Motors’ small-car project at Singur despite the blockades of the site and assault on workers by people still opposing the 2006 farmland acquisition. He said the Tatas, too, have no intention of withdrawing from the project.
“The Government will not move away from Singur and nor will the Tatas back out,” Bhattacharjee told a CPI(M) party gathering here.
With the first Nano scheduled to roll out during Durga puja, Singur has been on the boil again over the past fortnight as the Trinamool Congress stepped up its campaign demanding that the Government return 400 of the 997.11 acres acquired from farmers who have not accepted their compensation.
Bhattacharjee repeated the Government’s call to the Opposition to come forward for a “reasonable” discussion leaving behind “illogical and unwanted” arguments. “It is not possible to return 400 acres of land. If that is done, the Tata factory will be shut down,” Bhattacharjee said. “This is not like buying four shirts and then returning three because you did not like them.... If the factory does not come up, what will happen to the 6,000 or so people waiting for jobs?”
“I am not interested in whether the Tatas or Birlas build the project. Nor am I interested in whether the car will be priced at Rs 1 lakh or not, or who will ride the car. We want the project for the jobs it will create,” he said.
Meanwhile, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen warned that the state’s image will be adversely hit if the Tatas leave Singur at this stage. “There is no alternative to industrialisation. No nation has progressed and developed solely on agriculture,” he added. A visit to the project site revealed that work was on in full swing. “There were some reports of labourers being beaten up and threatened against taking up jobs at the plant site. But we cannot afford to stay back home. We have to run our family,” a worker told The Indian Express. Earlier in the day, the Director General of Police, Home Secretary and other senior officials visited Singur to oversee the security arrangements.
Millionaire Marxist, industrialist treads party line
Subrata Nagchoudhury
Posted online: Sunday, August 03, 2008 at 0120
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/343957.html
Host and friend to Kolkata’s comrades, Shishir Bajoria says Left ideology can solve India’s problems
Kolkata, August 2: Last month when the Lok Sabha debated and voted the trust motion, there was an unusual Left fellow-traveller watching the proceedings from the Speaker’s gallery.
An industrialist from West Bengal, a former chairman of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and, yes, a firm believer in the “Left ideology”—Shishir Bajoria.
Host, friend and well-wisher of West Bengal’s CPM leaders, Bajoria’s name had cropped up in news columns just a week before the vote. It was at a dinner that he hosted in London that the party’s state chief Biman Bose allegedly made a controversial statement on the possibility of the party’s future relationship with the BJP.
So who’s this millionaire Marxist?
The combined assets of the companies he heads are estimated at Rs 532 crore. His SK Bajoria group companies operates in four continents and in sectors ranging from refractories and bioceramics to art and travel.
Though not a card-carrying Marxist, he sticks to the party line—even if it is on issues concerning his friends.
Bajoria, though a very good friend of Somnath Chatterjee, toes the hardcore Prakash Karat line on the Speaker issue. Bajoria says: “I would not get into any political controversy, But as an individual, my opinion is that Somnathda should have resigned as soon as his party withdrew support to the UPA. After all, he was elected from the party first and then became the Speaker.”
Bajoria’s association with the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation as an advisor had brought him close to Chatterjee when he had headed it and other CPM leaders associated with the corporation.
“I had my Left leanings right from the beginning. I believe in the Left ideology,” he says, rubbishing the perception that he also had links with the BJP and the RSS.
“I come from the creamy layer. I come from that 2 per cent population for whom India shining is always true, be there a Leftist government or a Rightist government. But I have a firm belief that Leftist ways can rid the country of its problems,” says the son of well-known industrialist B P Bajoria.
“Consider the subsidy issue, for instance,” he explains. “Why should there be a move to do away with all subsidies? Even developed countries have subsidy for farmers for different sections. We are still a poor country, so why not us?” says Bajoria.
When Bose was on a fund-raising mission for an NGO he runs for educating the underprevileged, Bajoria threw a party. “It was actually a very small gathering of about 20-odd people. Every year Bimanda normally goes to the United States for fund-raising during the Bengali festival. This time he was in UK and I threw a party. Bimanda was the sole speaker,”says Bajoria.
Priya blames CM for Singur impasse
KOLKATA, Aug. 6: Union information and broadcasting minister Mr Priya Ranjan Das Munshi today blamed the chief minister for the impasse on the Singur project.
He said during the hunger strike called by Trinamul Congress chief Miss Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister had promised the Prime Minister to discuss and resolve the Singur issue once she ends her fast. But, the chief minister failed to keep his promise. Leader of the Opposition Mr Partha Chatterjee said that the chief minister had assured Miss Mamata Banerjee on 28 December, 2006 that he would hold discussion with her regarding Singur but till date he has not broached the topic with her.
“He has only been misleading people and yesterday his message was loud and clear that the state government will not return the 400 acres of land it had acquired to the farmers. We know how to take the land back. We will go on with our movement,'' Mr Chatterjee said.
Mr Das Munshi said that Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has been following the NDA model of SEZ. "Our model of SEZ has provision for compensation, rehabilitation, employment. Our policy is to set up SEZ in non-fertile and non-agricultural land," he said.
City based industry associations and chambers of commerce today expressed deep concern over the ongoing disruptions. “The frequent and intensified disturbances are not only delaying the projects but has been tarnishing the image of the state,” a joint statement issued by seven city based chambers of commerce said here today. n SNS
http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=6&theme=&usrsess=1&id=217299
HC directive to CPM trio
KOLKATA, Aug. 5: Mr Biman Bose, Left Front chairman, Mr Shyamal Chakraborty, state Citu president and Mr Benoy Konar, senior CPI-M leader, were today granted exemption from personal appearance in connection with a contempt of court proceedings.
A Division Bench of Mr SS Nijjar, Chief Justice, and Mr Justice Pinaki Ghosh of Calcutta High Court held this following an undertaking the three gave that they would appear whenever they were directed to by the court. The three allegedly made derogatory remarks about the judiciary at a rally on Rani Rashmani Avenue on 17 November last year after a Division Bench of the court had termed the police firing in Nandigram as “unconstitutional”.
The affidavit-in-opposition was directed to be filed in eight weeks and the affidavit-in-reply in another week. The matter will come up a week after the puja vacation.
The contemners are present before the court and as they are busy political leaders they should be exempted from personal appearance, Mr Bikas Ranjan Bhattacharya appearing for the three submitted. They will be present in court whenever it is desired, it was further submitted.
Opposing the exemption plea, Mr Jayanta Mitra, Mr Bimal Chatterjee and Mr Kashi Kanta Moitra appearing for the Bar Library Club, Bar Association and Incorporated Law Society submitted that the three were involved in a clear contempt of court. n SNS
Without a US war on poverty
http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?clid=4&id=243164&usrsess=1
The cream of America’s Black population has never done so well as in the last 10 years ~ two secretaries of state, a national security advisor, a chief of the armed forces, heads of major companies from American Express to Time/Warner, the world’s largest media and entertainment conglomerate, congressmen and congresswomen, rectors of major universities, bishops, newspaper editorial writers. The list goes on and on, and perhaps later this year it will be capped by the election of a Black President.
What a difference from as recently as the 1960s when only sport, the arts and preaching were open to ambitious Blacks. Even in the 1970s, as I long ago documented in Encounter magazine (few believed me), middle class professional Blacks in sizeable numbers were beginning to roar ahead, closing the gap with their White peers. Thank you Martin Luther King.
But like the US’s infrastructure, neglect has meant that the cracks and strains beneath are once again coming to the surface, if not, as in the past, in civil rights agitation or riots, but in the shearing of families, in educational failure and in its appalling state of health and morbidity. The “benign neglect”of Patrick Moynihan, social affairs advisor to former President Richard Nixon, has moved to malign neglect. Not that recent Presidents ignored the issue, but what they initiated paled before the ambitions of the US’s one and only big presidential plan, Lyndon Johnson’s “War on Poverty”, a farsighted plan of action, which was sabotaged by the Vietnam war. Another such war on poverty is now needed.
The basic statistics have been thrown into relief by a new report, ‘The Measure of America’, published by the American Human Development Report, modelled on the UN annual report of the same name. The UN report was the brainchild of the late Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq and based on the work of a Nobel laureate in economics, Professor Amartya Sen.
Haq and Professor Sen were convinced that the contemporary obsession with increased gross national product blinded both observers and participants to the tremendous advances that could be made in social well-being, even in quite poor countries, with only a modest rise in incomes. Haq produced sophisticated tables in which countries were not ranked by income per head but by yardsticks more telling ~ longevity, knowledge and a decent standard of living. He called this the “human development index”. Sweden and Norway came out top, with Denmark and Canada not far behind. The US was twelfth. Among the Third World countries, some of those low in GNP outranked much more “developed” countries.
Now the US is being measured, not just in the round, as in the UN report, but in great detail. Northeastern states are way ahead, the South way behind. Broken down by race and ethnicity, Asians are at the top of the index. They live an average eight years longer than whites and more than 13 years longer than African-Americans. African Americans have a lifespan shorter than the average American did 40 years ago, and worse than that of American Indians, the second most disadvantaged group.
Huge disparities in human development can be found in groups that live only a few miles from each other. In health, those living in New York’s 16th Congressional District (the South Bronx) are at a level that those living in New York’s 16th Congressional District (Manhattan’s East Side) were at 50 years ago.
Latino results are rather contradictory. They have the lowest ranking of all in education. But they score well on health, coming third behind Asians and whites. But in a disturbing pattern, known as the Latino paradox, the longer Latino immigrants live in the US the less healthy they become.
Another paradox is that in the better off groups, men earn more than women, but in the poorer groups women earn more than men. And one more: Asian females have the highest health index. But note, African-American men live lives 20 years shorter than Asian women.
Because the poorer groups drag the average down so significantly, American health care, although spending more per head than any other nation, ends up producing an average life expectancy lower than Western Europe, Singapore, South Korea and Costa Rica. The US infant mortality rate is on a par with Croatia, Estonia, Cuba and Poland.
The US has 5 per cent of the people on the planet, but 24 per cent of the prisoners, mostly Blacks and American Indians. Almost all three- and four-year-old children were enrolled in pre-school education in France and Italy; in the US it is 53 per cent.
The report continues like this. I have run out of space. Has the US run out of compassion and its sense of equal opportunity? Will the next election make a difference, even if a Black man is elected?
No awareness of land grab’
Mr Abhijit Guha is Reader, Department of Anthropology, Vidyasagar University, West Bengal. His views on land use and misuse have been published in newspapers and in journals like the Economic and Political Weekly. In Land, Law and Left: The Saga of Disempowerment of the Peasantry in the Era of Globalisation, Mr Guha’s recently published book, he studies the effect of land acquisition for industry. He has deposed, as an expert, before a parliamentary standing committee on two Bills ~ an amendment to the land acquisition Act and one on relief and rehabilitation policy. Mr Guha spoke to Shiv Karan Singh.
Some of the most insightful aspects of your book are the passages where you detail West Bengal State Legislative Assembly discussions on the subject of land acquisition. How do you explain these narratives in a state that has, on one side, been so openly concerned with correcting cultivator dispossession and landlessness via land reform while displacing lakhs of farmers, on the other?
The absence of any archival work on West Bengal’s land acquisition gave me the opportunity to look for the data in the Assembly. Since Independence, besides the colonial Land Acquisition Act of 1894, there existed another state Act entitled the West Bengal Land (Requisition and Acquisition) Act, 1948, which is no more applicable in West Bengal. In fact, when this particular piece of legislation was first enacted in the state Assembly, it was stipulated that it had to be renewed in the Assembly by a majority decision every five years since this was a coercive law. The long period (1948-1993) during which the West Bengal government kept this powerful Act alive was evidence of its frequent application.
In terms of politics during this long period both Congress and Left-ruled governments, which were in power, renewed the Act of 1948. Another important fact is that voting on the amendment of the Act had taken place only twice: once when the Congress was in power and once when the Left parties were in the government. On both the occasions, the parties that were in power won by a majority vote. No Leftist MLA ever raised the issue of the dampening effects of land acquisition on land reforms and no MLA raised the issue of reforming the colonial law by introducing the clause of rehabilitation. The reasons are: since the priority of every political party is to share and/or stay in power, reforming a law for humane cause is always secondary and secondly, our elected representatives care little to educate themselves.
Although sanctioning of hundreds of special economic zones and resistance in Nandigram and Singur has brought limited awareness about the coercive methods of land acquisition, it has continued uninterrupted since independence. West Bengal itself, according to Walter Fernandes, displaced and deprived over 70 lakh individuals between 1945 and 2000.
You are right that despite the frightening incidents in Singur and Nandigram, there is still very little awareness, particularly among the intellectuals (politicians of all hues and free thinkers are also included) regarding the continuation of the colonial Land Acquisition Act, 1894, in this largest democratic country of the world. Even Amartya Sen seemed to have no interest in reforming this highly coercive and entitlement-loss-causing legal (Act). The history on the study of Land Acquisition of West Bengal is a blank slate. No one has studied it either academically or politically. It is only after Singur and Nandigram you find some articles in academic journals and those too are based on short-time surveys and/or some bookish theoretical exercise. The articles published by Walter Fernandes on West Bengal’s displacement only gives some macro figures, no insightful case study or political analysis, let alone the history of land acquisition in West Bengal. The Leftist parties also have largely overlooked the issue. I feel land acquisition by the state and the thriving survival of the colonial law have been so deeply rooted in our minds that politicians and academicians might have accepted them as the normal affairs of running any kind of state.
eventeen years on, since the first industry in Kalaikunda opened the floodgates for more state land acquisition and more industry how have the local populations benefited?
Assurance for employment had fallen flat in the Kalaikunda area of West Medinipur, since in Tata Metaliks (TML) there was virtually no permanent employment from the locality. We had a number of MSc students in the area who lost land but did not get any job. Four years later, about 525 acres of farmland was acquired in the same area for another pig-iron company of the Birlas and the land remained unused for five years; it was not returned to the farmers. Only recently, the government has started leasing out portions of this huge chunk to other companies and earned some rent, which for the capitalist-friendly Left Front government was a better option than returning it to farmers. Truly, many of those farmers would not have been able to pay back the compensation money. After this debacle, people lost faith in the assurances given by political leaders. I don’t think anything radically different will happen at Singur. The only benefit the local people will get from these projects is temporary employment as daily wage labour in construction work.
What is it about the land acquisition policy that results in cultivators losing prime agricultural land, time and again?
This is one of the most crucial aspects of the land acquisition process because in case of acquisition for a private company, the company sends proposals (with maps) to the concerned ministry and the latter has the discretion to advise the company to prepare an alternative proposal (although there is no provision in the law that the government should take a referendum regarding the acquisition), but it rarely happens unless Nandigram-like people’s protest takes place. Interestingly, the companies most often propose to build industries on fertile agricultural land, probably because investment cost for initial construction phase is always less on fertile land than it is on uneven, uncultivable land. This is what happened in the Kalaikunda gram panchayat area. The Land Acquisition Act, 1894, should have provisions for corporate social responsibility by which the companies may be given tax rebates for saving peoples livelihood and the environment by choosing non-cultivable and undulating terrains.
In policy and practice, why is market-based compensation for acquired private property inadequate for affected rural populations? It’s not an issue of denying the market in providing proper compensation. The issue is to whom and how you are compensating, the amount and method of calculations; which of course have to be more innovative. One major drawback of monetary compensation is that it forces the poor to go for conspicuous consumption.
(The interviewer is on the staff of The Statesman, Kolkata.)
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India Offers Students Free Midday Meals
OhmyNews International, South Korea - 9 hours ago
The Kolkata Group Workshop, chaired by Nobel Laureate professor Amartya Sen, said, "We were appalled to hear of the proposed displacement of cooked meals by ...
VV: The presence of the past
Business Standard, India - 18 Jul 2008
"The Global Economy" (Part I) has interviews with Amartya Sen, Helena Norberg-Hodge, Sanjay Reddy and Joseph Stiglitz. Sen discusses the shortcomings of the ...
Honour the Mahatma's ideas
Times of India, India - 23 Jul 2008
Didn't we go to town when Amartya Sen was given the Nobel in economics in 1998? And why not? Not only did the award catapult the accomplished economist to ...
Thaindian.com PM assures Speaker of support
Times of India, India - 24 Jul 2008
Back from Kuala Lumpur, he will organise the Hiren Mukherjee memorial lecture to be delivered by noted economist Amartya Sen in Parliament House on August ...
Somnath to put politics behind for social work Merinews
On expulsion, Speaker to break silence ‘within couple of days’ Kolkata Newsline
Karat compliments ‘comrade’ Chatterjee Calcutta Telegraph
Times of India - Calcutta Telegraph
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$230 million per hour on health care, still US falls short
Los Angeles Times, CA - 23 Jul 2008
... which is only a part of it," the Nobel laureate economist Amartya Sen, who developed the HDI in 1990, said in a July 17 article in The Guardian. ...
The Island (subscription) Democracy & Development:
The Island (subscription), Sri Lanka - 30 Jul 2008
Indeed, Professor Amartya Sen reminds us that some of the major ideas put forward by the development economists remain valid. The rate of growth, ...
Commonwealth: Globalism, governance and growth critical for global ...
ISRIA (subscription), DC - 9 hours ago
... Mr Sharma said the Commonwealth Commission on Respect and Understanding, led by Nobel Laureate Professor Amartya Sen, had produced a report last year ...
The reality of GDP growth
The Post, Pakistan - 28 Jul 2008
In January this year, French President Nicolas Sarkozy mandated the Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz (along with the Indian Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen) to ...
Outline for a move to a sustainable agriculture system
Grist Magazine, WA - 29 Jul 2008
As Amartya Sen brilliantly demonstrated in his landmark work Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation (and subsequent work), ...
Spiraling rise of blacks in US polity
The Punch, Nigeria - 31 Jul 2008
... was the brainchild of the late Pakistani economist, Mahbub ul Haq, and based on the work of the Nobel laureate in economics, the Indian, Amartya Sen. ...
Amartya Sen
Official Nobel Foundation website, with press release (including summary of his contributions to welfare economics), and extensive (8000-word) ...
nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/1998/ - 15k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Books by Amartya Kumar Sen
Development as Freedom - 2001 - 383 pages
Development as Freedom - 2001 - 396 pages
Indian Development: Selected Regional Perspectives - 1997 - 454 pages
books.google.co.in - More book results »
Amartya Sen
Prof. Amartya Sen. This page will automatically be redirected to Prof. Sen's latest Website in 5 seconds. If the URL does not change please click HERE.
www.nd.edu/~kmukhopa/cal300/calcutta/amartya.htm - 2k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Amartya Kumar Sen - Democracy as a Universal Value - Journal of ...
Article by Sen in the Journal of Democracy 10:3, using ideas more fully developed in 'Democracy as Freedom'.
muse.jhu.edu/demo/jod/10.3sen.html - 56k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Harvard Econ Department - Contact Info for Amartya Sen
Amartya Sen Address: Littauer Center 205 E-Mail: slrich@fas.harvard.edu Tel: 617-495-1871 Fax: 617.496.5942 Staff Support: Shelley Rich Littauer 204 ...
www.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/sen - 5k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Amartya Sen Winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economics
Amartya Sen, a Nobel Prize Laureate in Economics, at the Nobel Prize Internet Archive.
nobelprizes.com/nobel/economics/1998a.html - 13k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Hunger is quiet violence: Amartya Sen
26 Apr 2007 ... India has done badly on three issues: fighting hunger, providing adequate health, and gender inequality, says the Nobel Laureate.
www.rediff.com/money/2007/apr/26amartya.htm - 28k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Access to Amartya Sen
From the Institut Catala de la Mediterrania, call it the Amartya Sen Executive Summary or maybe Amartya Sen in 105 words, plus a nice picture. ...
www.justpeace.org/sen.htm - 7k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
The Guardian Profile: Amartya Sen | Books | The Guardian
As a child, he was deeply affected by an encounter with famine victims. Now an Oxbridge academic and Nobel prize winner, he has spent a lifetime fighting ...
www.guardian.co.uk/books/2001/mar/31/society.politics - 101k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
News results for Amartya sen
Sen to deliver lecture in Central Hall of Parliament - 21 hours ago
New Delhi (PTI): Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen will deliver the inaugural Hiren Mukerjee Memorial Parliamentary Lecture in the Central Hall of Parliament on ...
Hindu - 3 related articles »
Amazon.com: Development as Freedom: Amartya Sen: Books
The Amartya Sen and Jean Dreze Omnibus: (comprising) Poverty and Famines; Hunger .... Recently I discovered "Development as Freedom" by Amartya Sen. ...
www.amazon.com/Development-as-Freedom-Amartya-Sen/dp/0385720270 - 294k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Foreign Affairs - The Man Without a Plan - Amartya Sen
Amartya Sen is Lamont University Professor and Professor of Economics and Philosophy at Harvard University. His last two books are The Argumentative Indian ...
www.foreignaffairs.org/20060301fareviewessay85214/amartya-sen/the-man-without-a-plan.html - Similar pages - Note this
Amartya Sen at IDEAS
Amartya Sen: current contact information and listing of economic research of this author provided by RePEc/IDEAS.
ideas.repec.org/e/pse23.html - 42k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Amartya Sen -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia
2008
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Conversation with Amartya Sen, cover page
Harry Kreisler interviews Amartya Sen on social science theory; March 2005.
globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people5/Sen/sen-con0.html - 4k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Tanco Memorial Lecture by Amartya Sen - August 1990, London
(2) Including Amartya Sen, Poverty and Famines (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981), and Hunger and Entitlements (Helsinki: World Institute for Development ...
www.thp.org/reports/sen/sen890.htm - 63k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
India Together: Interview with Amartya Sen, for Alternative Radio ...
David Barsamian of Alternative Radio talks to Amartya Sen on various influences on his life and his take on issues like globalization. ...
www.indiatogether.org/interviews/sen.htm - 102k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
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Palash Biswas
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