Sometimes I wish my life had a erase/rewind button

Friday, December 11, 2009

How does one measure poverty

Interesting that it took so long to finally junk calorie intake as the poverty estimation tool. Even if one take mere food as an indicator I wonder if the calorie intake took into account nutritional needs like proportion of protein/carbs/minerals/vitamins etc.
I think putting things like Education, access to health-care in ambit of calculating poverty is a step in right direction. After all these define your quality of life and also define in a rudimentary way the opportunities available to better the quality of life. Lack of opportunity is what will keep the poor poor and as such is as much a handicap as lack of food/shelter etc.
Its kind of sobering to think by that yardstick India is still miserably poor. I suggest we also put in place a mechanism to evaluation the effectiveness of poverty removal programs. Accordingly government agencies (and private/NGOs) can also be rated as 'good to reduce poverty, not so good etc'. Organizations that serve to reduce total poverty can be given additional incentives. Otherwise I wonder if any real poverty alleviation will happen in near future.

Thursday, December 03, 2009

Bollywood as the new Quettawood

I usually enjoy our neighbour's newspapers. Some to keep track of what is happening next door, sometimes for entertainment - that comes from wild 'facts' quoted by writers who lament why no one else quotes those 'facts', and sometimes well because there are good writers.
Read this piece in Dawn a newspaper and a writer that I usually enjoy. But then suddenly you come across a comment like "It seems that rightwing Jews, who often guide the Indian media’s worldview..." and I was left scratching my head. I've come across all sorts of religions in my personal circle but somehow never a Jew! A quick check on wikepedia and I found there are around 15000 Jews in India a land of a billion. Must be a remarkable set of people to "guide" Indian media's worldview with so few a number. Maybe the author meant US media which maybe is guided by Jews and in turn guides Indian media. A very long shot but still worth trying.
Anyways so that is a problem. Even seasoned journalists which credential to be taken seriously do make such wild statements in the guise of 'facts'. No wonder the common man on streets in Pakistan (and I am sure plenty in India have similar narrow worldview) believes in all sorts of fantasies.
Reading another column in the news gave me an idea. There is no reason why India should not support Baloch fight for justice in a moral support sort of way. Maybe India can allow Baloch movies to be made in India (easy visas, maybe some technical support) which highlight legitimate Baloch struggles. It will be a soft power projection, being totally non-violent can be easily shared with the world and allow Balochis a creative outlet that otherwise might hunt for other expressions. Frankly any more guns in neighborhood is simply too many guns.