Arundhati Roy: What Have We Done to Democracy?

Arundhati Roy: What Have We Done to Democracy?

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INDIA SOUNDSCAPE: DJ Cheb-i-Sabbah Mix (Part Three)

INDIA SOUNDSCAPE: DJ Cheb-i-Sabbah Mix (Part Three)

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What does home mean to you?

“Ajami” is named for the eponymous Jaffa neighborhood where the story unfolds. Written and directed by the Arab-Jewish team of Scandar Copti (a resident of Ajami) and Yaron Shani, “Ajami's” complex storyline reflects a popular narrative style in Israeli literature and film.

"It hits you in the face, Scandar Kopti's and Yaron Sheni's movie “Ajami”‘ bluntly. It's overpowering. And yes, this is where i live. It's about “my” neighbourhood. Of course this is not going to be an objective film review. I know most, no, almost all of the actors, at least by face and some are very good friends. The cast has been trained, but they are not professional actors, just my neighbours, more or less playing themselves, situations they know, reacting naturally as they would have done were the story real. It could have been real." - Yudit of OCCUPIED

अहम नगर : महानगर मानव मग्ज की तरह अयोजित है

विज्ञानं रोजाना के अनुसार Rensselaer पॉलिटेक्निक संस्थान में शोधकर्ताओं ने एक नए अध्ययन से स्थापीत किया की हमारे नगर व्यवस्था, प्राचीन तथा आधुनिक, शायद हमरे मग्ज के कोशिकओं के उद्भेद एक दुसरे के अनुकरण है. तो क्या काशी जैसे नगर की व्यवस्था हमारे मग्ज के बारे में का बताते है?
"ScienceDaily (2009-09-19) -- Cities are organized like brains, and the evolution of cities mirrors the evolution of human and animal brains, according to a new study."

www.riseindustries.org

www.riseindustries.org

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Missing you Dida

Gronmama

I am not myself

until my blood

is infused with you

in all of my veins

I am not myself

until my roots

sink down, shoot

into you, my earthmother,

I am not myself

until I manage

to keep, to carry

your image in my soul

I am not myself

until you cry out

with pleasure, or pain

in my voice

- Trefossa

दुनिया के में हर तरफ यह इल्म कुद्राती है, हम सब मिटटी से है और बस एक दिन मिटटी में मिल जाने के ओर बह चले है.

affluent Indians watch Tele more in their Local languages

http://trak.in/tags/business/2009/09/04/rich-affluent-indians-factfile/

--
Saugat
Media Artist
604.725.9263
Skype: saugatgiri
http://saugatdatta.blogspot.com/

Aboriginal Youth Group from India Wins Best Doc Award

Loha Garam Hai, won the Best Environmental Film Award from IDPA (Indian Documentary Producers Association) Mumbai, in July this year. Meghnath and Biju Toppo, two founders of Akhra ( An Aboriginal Youth group from Ranchi, India) , directed the film jointly. Loha Garam Hai  (When the Iron Is Hot) tells the story of how people struggle with India's most polluting industry - the sponge iron industry.
When grassroots people make their own media I see glimpses of revolution through information.

"The film opens with live footage of a protest against a sponge iron plant; a local woman is seen raising her voice. Slogans like "We will fight, we will win" "we want food, not iron", "close down the Siddhi Vinayak Company," fill the air. From these protests, the film moves back to trace the history and data on the industry's growth in India. The voice-overs begin with a male voice, alternating with a woman's as the film progresses. Among the protestors too, one finds women are aware, vocal and angry. " -Shoma Chatterji, IndiaTogether

A day with Rickshaw pullers!!!

A giant market opportunity for micro credit banking in urban centers of India.

 

 

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A day with Rickshaw pullers!!!

via India Development Blog by Deepti on 9/2/09

One of our MRAP participants has received funding to study how Rickshaw pullers from Delhi manage their money. Last week, I participated in interviewing several groups of Rickshaw pullers.

The study focused on understanding where these pullers migrated from, what kind of life style they lead, how much they make and spend, what kind of items they spend on (such as alcohol, tobacco etc), how many meals they take per day, etc. Most of the Rickshaw pullers I met that day were from Bihar and shared similar stories. On an average day, they made Rs. 200-250, out of which they paid Rs. 50 to the owner, spent Rs. 20 on alcohol and/or tobacco and Rs. 20 on food and the rest they used on paying loans or saved the money. Not surprisingly, none of them had bank accounts. Some of the interesting observations that I made that day were:

• None of them skipped their meals in order to save for the future.
• They had a very strong social network, however, only within their village group. Some pullers have been in Delhi for 10 years, yet, they never talked with any other pullers from other places even though they operated in the same neighborhood. They preferred borrowing and lending among these few trusted friends only.
• Only one had a rental apartment as he had recently got his wife and children to Delhi. The rest of them slept under the bridges or the rickshaw garages, used public toilets, skipped meals if failed to make enough money on any day, and surprisingly, one of them mentioned that he preferred having alcohol than food.

The only way for them to transfer money to their loved ones in their respective villages was through local travelers who came to the city from their villages to collect money from them. Obviously, such money collectors charged for their services. Whenever such people came to the city, these Rickshaw pullers borrowed money from the local moneylenders. One group relied on a manager of a local motel, and the other group relied on an owner of a tea shop. They viewed these moneylenders as saviors and had high regards for them.

It was interesting to understand that in order to send money to their families, these Rickshaw pullers paid interests to two parties - one to the moneylender and the other to the person who came from the village to collect money from them. Most of them realized this problem and expressed their desire to open bank accounts. The following were some other observations:-

• Most of them knew about smart cards, ATMs
• One puller even knew that money could be transferred through the internet
• All of them mentioned that they wanted to open bank accounts. All of them asked how we could help them in opening bank accounts.

It was interesting to find out that all of the Rickshaw pullers I met that day expressed the importance of bank accounts and talked how they could just deposit whatever they save and transfer money to their families without paying anything to the moneylender and the traveler (money collector!). However, none of them knew the procedures to open bank accounts. Alas!!!

 

 

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