National integration: one nation, one people, one destiny

By Lionel WIJESIRI

National integration cannot be built by brick and mortar; it cannot be built by chisel and hammer. It has to grow silently in the minds and hearts of men - Dr. S. Radhakrishnan  

“The wish of all Sri Lankans was unity as one nation notwithstanding their racial, religious or caste differences but that was what Sri Lankan nation had failed to achieve even after 65 years of Independence,” President Mahinda Rajapaksa said recently. He added that there is an attitudinal change among the people and everybody has to make maximum use of this moment to create one nation.

In the context of President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s comments, I think it is time for us to address seriously the broader issue of national integration within the context of current political perception and vision to create one nation.

Meaning

National integration is the awareness of a common identity amongst the citizens of a country. It means that though we belong to different races, religions and regions and speak different languages, we recognize the fact that we are all one. It also means unifying all the forces in the country so as to give the idea of one nation. National Integration involves:- 1. The sentiments of nationalism, 2. The feeling of oneness, 3. Social, political, economic, linguistic and cultural unity, 4. Common ideas of life and common code of behaviour, 5. The ability to subordinate sectarian and parochial loyalties to loyalty of the nation.

National integration is a complex concept. It has social, political, religious, regional and economic dimensions. The three basic factors of national integration are; 1. Structural equality: equal opportunity must be provided for all especially those who are socially and economically backward, 2. Cultural unity: discriminations due to race, religion, and caste should be eradicated, 3. Ideological unity: awareness about ‘national objectives’ should be created among the people who hold divergent views on political and religious and similar other fields.

The societies that have been integrated into bonds of unity have always enjoyed peace, stability, prosperity and permanence. And those torn by mutual disruptive tendencies among various sections of the society have always been short lived and become non-existent.

Co-existence

Sri Lanka is a small country. We have only 20 million people speaking three languages and practicing four major religions. There are also great varieties in costume, food habits and social customs. Geographically our land is diverse and there are amazing differences in climate.

Despite these differences Sri Lanka is a political entity, every part of which is governed under the same constitution. We need to co-exist with each other peacefully, respect the culture and religion of our fellow Sri Lankans.

Our national symbols like the National Flag, the National Anthem, and the National Emblem help to remind us that we are all belong to one identity. These act as strong unifying forces both in times of celebration and adversity. Other forces like the communication system and the mass media help in the exposure to all the cultures of different regions of Sri Lanka bringing the whole country together as one nation.

Sri Lanka has been facing certain disintegrating forces from inside the country as well as outside the country. These elements’ primary loyalty is not ethnicity, not religion, not language but narrow political advantage. Some of these destabilizing groups are understandably supported by foreign countries.

Recent events show us beyond doubt that the threats of disintegration are staring us in the face.

If we do not sink petty differences our freedom is in peril. We should not forget that divisions on the basis of language or community will have serious repercussions.

Turn to Indian experience. India is hailed by many as a shining example of a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic democratic state, which has successfully weathered many internal threats of disintegration. But still, the assertive face of multiple ethno-cultural identities has worried many observers.

According to reports, analysts have hinted at India’s diminishing capacity to address the developmental aspirations of the multiple ethno-national groups. The unfolding internal divisions, characterized by lack of trust (if not distrust) among diverse ethno-cultural groups, have threatened to wreck India from within.

No right-thinking citizen would want this to happen in Sri Lanka.

Ways of integration

How do we bring about national integration? There are few proven ways.

It can be forced out, or can be made to strengthen from within the core of our hearts. The result of force would always be weak, unsuccessful and it would be for a temporary phase only. But when the sense of national integration stems from within our hearts, it would be strong stable and ever-lasting. History speaks for itself, the British government brought about national integration when they ruled Sri Lanka. They never forced it on us. It came naturally.

The national integration was strengthened when our country fought a united struggle for freedom. In our struggle for freedom people from different communities participated, keeping one thing in mind that they all are Sri Lankans first. It proves that emotional integration is the basic foundation on which the main structure of national integration can be created.

Challenges

We need today synthesis of the power of the mind that can give rise to a vision of the whole and oneness. The school and university teaching material should be suitably revised wherein importance and need of oneness should be emphasized. From one end of the country to the other end, regular long distance tours must be conducted, so as to, foster emotional integration among the young students of our country.

We cannot afford to be parochial, narrow-minded, provincial and communal because we have a great mission to accomplish. Political integration has already taken place, but emotional integration is a must for national integration. Political freedom has brought in its wake new forces of narrow fanaticism which threaten to destroy the concept of one country and one people. In their theory, attachment to community is given priority over devotion to the motherland.

Another key challenge facing Sri Lanka today is the mainstreaming of values and ethical behaviour that will promote national cohesion. In this regard, there is a need to urgently develop a policy on a national values system. I am optimistic that such values will have a positive influence on the work ethics and productivity of all Sri Lankans.

In addition to helping create national integration, these values will also result in substantial improvement in the quality of leadership, management practices and efficient utilization of national resources at all levels and sectors of the economy.

I also wish to suggest that the government initiate a ‘National Integration Day’ as India has done. India observes November 19, the birthday of former Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, as National Integration Day. Its main aim is to promote among the people unity, peace, affection and brotherhood. Indira Gandhi was the victim of the demand for the separation of Khalistan.

In India, the National Integration Day is celebrated to bring people, especially youths of different religious background, different economic, social, cultural and education, together and in common platform so that these young people will understand and learn about each other. The Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration is the prestigious award accorded by the Indian National Congress. This Award is given annually starting from 1985 to distinguished persons or institutions for promoting national integration of India.

Through national integration, we can prosper and flourish; we can carry with us, power, strength and solidarity and the element of cohesion which will give us further permanence to stay strong in present struggling world.

DMK DISMAYED OVER NO MENTION OF UN RESOLUTION IN PRESIDENT'S SPEECH

The absence of any mention of plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka in the Indian President Pratibha Patil’s address today caused some discontent in DMK which said India should support a US-sponsored resolution on the island nation. 


“There was no mention of the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka...there was no mention of the ongoing discussions on the human rights violations in Sri Lanka,” DMK leader T. R. Baalu told reporters after the President’s address. 


He said India should also support a resolution brought by the US, Norway and France. When asked whether DMK would support the idea of India abstaining on the resolution, he said his party will not support anything “short” of supporting the resolution. 


Baalu urged the government to vote in favour of the United States-backed resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) session in Geneva.


The DMK, a UPA ally, had raised slogans at the start of the President’s address on the first day of business in the Indian Parliament this year, seeking that India vote against Sri Lanka on a resolution in Geneva, reports PTI.

Economists and economy

 By Dr.C. S. Weeraratna

csweera@sltnet.lk

The fact that the economy of Sri Lanka is in a crisis is evident if one examines the critical data for the last six years, indicated in the table indicated below.

Source- Central Bank of Sri Lanka

Note: Values given for 2011 are upto the end of 3rd quarter 0f 2011.

As indicated in the table total debts and the trade deficits have continued to increase during the last few years. GDP according to Central Bank has been fluctuating around 6.0 during the last six years.  However due to a number of reasons, a high GDP does not necessarily indicate an increase in the productivity of a country and vice versa, and it can be considered a dumb value with no significance

The main factor responsible for the current economic crisis in Sri Lanka is the increasing trade deficit (TD). As indicated in the table, TD has continued to increase during the last six years except in 2009. Some economists recommend devaluation of the rupee to reduce the trade deficit while others are of the opinion that the rupee should not be devalued. Economics stick to their theories and what finally happens is that the country and the people are affected. A medical doctor when treating a patient has to identify the causal factor/s and treat the patient accordingly. Our economists are simply prescribing treatments for TD, without giving consideration to the factor/s which has caused TD to increase. It is quite obvious that widening TD is due to increase expenditure on imports and relatively lower exports earnings. Hence, what needs to be done is to reduce our expenditure on imports as much as possible, and increase our net export earnings. Exchange rate alone does not affect the economy. A large number of factors need to be considered. Plans which benefit the poor people need to be developed and implemented. We do not have plans which benefit the majority of the people. Even what we have are not implemented effectively. 

Promoting Exports:

One way of reducing TD is to increase our net export earnings by producing more exports at lower costs. Simply increasing exports will not increase net export earnings.  The COP of our exports such as tea, rubber etc. is bound to rise due to increase in fuel prices. Hence, strategies to reduce COP need to be implemented by effective use of Science and Technology. In this regard organizations such as National Science Foundation need to have effective programmes. SME sector plays an important role in increasing exports but those who want to promote this sector appear to think that financing alone will improve it. Among the main limiting factors in the SME sector are shortage of raw-materials and lack of marketing and technology.  An integrated approach is important if we are to develop this sector.

Reducing Imports:

As indicated in the table, expenditure on imports has almost doubled during the last six years. The cost of importing petroleum is about 20- 25% of the total imports. The expenditure on petroleum has increased from Rs. 215 billion in 2006 to around  Rs. 400  billion in  2011 which. With the devaluation of rupee and increase in fuel prices in the world market due to a number of reasons, expenditure on fuel imports will continue to rise in 2012 and beyond. A high expenditure on petroleum will widen our annual trade deficit. Hence, in trying to decrease the TD, first priority need to be given to reducing the expenditure on fuel imports.

According to some news paper reports, the Minister of Petroleum Industries has said Sri Lanka imports 70% of refined oil and if there is a problem it could import refined oil to meet the balance 30% requirement ". He appears to be not concerned about the rising cost of fuel and the increasing expenditure on fuel imports. Such decisions on critical issues which affect the economy of the country will cause serious problem. If what the Minister recommends is carried out the expenditure on fuel imports will increase, and along with it increasing the trade deficit and the debts. It will also increase local fuel prices further.  Should the government simply increase the fuel prices corresponding to world market price? According to some economists, who appear to be not bothered on the future of the country, the only alternative to face the fuel crisis is to raise the local fuel prices. How long can we do this? Providing subsidies will not reduce the expenditure on fuel imports. In fact, it will have work the other war around.

The consequences of increasing fuel prices have not been given adequate consideration. Increasing fuel prices will increase the cost of production of all our food used locally, and exports including tea, rubber, coconut, garments etc, resulting in a reduction in our competitiveness in the world market. Everything will go up in price except the air we breathe! It will result in an increase in poverty and social unrest and affect the health of the people. The effects of increasing the cost of petrol, diesel and kerosene oil will enter a vicious circle resulting in disastrous effects to the people and the economy. Therefore, all the drastic effects of increasing fuel prices should be given adequate consideration before a decision is made on this issue.

The authorities responsible for controlling imports appear to be not aiming at a reduction in fuel imports. Otherwise, the import of high capacity vehicles should have been curtailed. But what happened during the last few years is promoting import of cars irrespective of the rate of fuel consumption. Duty free permits were given to some categories of workers, which obviously promoted vehicle imports. In 1970s, permits to import cars were given only to those who earned foreign exchange. The number of vehicles imported during 2011 is 150% more than what we imported in 2010. Effective plans to reduce the consumption of fuel as indicated in a previous paper by the author (The Island- 20 February 2012) need to be developed and implemented.

Food Imports:

In 2010, we have imported food to the tune of Rs. 150 billion. Among the food imported are kurakkan, fruits, lentils, maize, milk and milk food, sugar etc. Most of these can be produced locally. We import milk and milk food annually to the tune of Rs.30 billion. There appears to be no integrated plan to increase milk production in the country. What the NLDB has done to increase milk production in the country is to import 10 Jersey bulls at a cost of Rs. 30 million. There appears to be no integrated plan to increase the cattle population by establishing breeding centers, increase the production of improved varieties of grass, improve veterinary services essential for a plan to increase milk production in the country. Merely importing Jersey bulls is an exercise in futility in spite of its cost.

We import nearly Rs. 30 billion worth of sugar annually. Pelwatta and Sevanagala sugar factories have been taken over by the government and the production at these two factories appear to have come to a standstill. There was hardly any planting done during last Maha season and the production of sugar at these two factories in 2012 is likely to be less than what was produced in 2011 and the cost of sugar imports in 2012 is likely to exceed Rs. 40 billion.

We spent nearly Rs 30 billion annually on wheat imports. There is no plan to reduce this expenditure by promoting the cultivation/production of crops such as kurakkan (which is called tropical wheat) which can be used as an alternative to wheat. Already we produce rice in excess which can be used to replace wheat.

There should be an integrated approach to solve the economic ills of the country. Simply devaluing the rupee is not going to help the problem of increasing TD.  At least now the Ministry of Finance and Planning ought to take appropriate action to lift the country out of the economic mess for which they are responsible.

Reconciliation should be achieved through everyone’s hearts and minds-Gotabaya Rajapaksa

“Soon after the war with the blessings of Triple Gem we managed to face many challenges successfully. The government’s efforts towards reconciliation is commendable”.


Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa laid foundation stone for a new building which is to be built at Maharagama Pamunuwa Sri Sumangalarama Vihara yesterday, (11 Mar).






This building has been a long necessity for the Maharagama Pamunuwa Sri Sumangalarama Vihara Daharma School according to Most Venerable Iththapane Sri Dhammalankara Thero, The Chief incumbent of Sri Sumangalarama Vihara Pamunuwa Maharagama.
The total estimated cost for the 21 200 Sqft building is 55 million rupees and also it is estimated that Rs. 3000 will cost per square feet.


Addressing the gathering, the Secretary said “soon after the war with the blessings of Triple Gem we managed to face many challenges successfully. The government’s efforts towards reconciliation is commendable”.


He further said that no one wants to punish ex LTTE combatants who had surrendered or captured during the last stages of humanitarian operation, instead, now they have been rehabilitated and released by the security forces. There are only very few remaining. That is our way of treating the enemy. That is our morale standards.


The secretary further said that reconciliation should be achieved through everyone’s hearts and minds not by rules of law, and the dharma schools today play valuable role providing dharma education for the students.


Advisor to the Kotte Sri Kalyani Sama Sri Dharma Sabha Most Venerable Iththapane Sri Dhammalankara Thero, Colombo Ananda College Dharmacharya – Viharadhipathi Shasrapathi Rajakiya Panditha Habarakada Jinnanda Thero, Member of Parliament Mr. Karu Jayasuriya and many other dignitaries were present at the occasion. - defence.lk

Peaceful development of China's Tibet

R. Jinith de Silva


Chinese Tibet is known as the 'Roof of the world'. The average height of the country is over 15,000 feet. From the days immemorial, Tibet has been a part of China, from the time of emperor Yuan in 1279. Whole of Tibet was under Chinese rule by the beginning of the 20th century. The British imperialists entered Tibet and tried to distance it from China.




Chinese Tibet is known as the ‘Roof of the world’
They received the fullest co-operation of the aristocracy and Lamas for this sinister scheme. They wanted to create a division between China and Tibet so that an independent state could be created thus weakening China. Before the British got involved in the affairs of Tibet there was no equivalent word in the Tibetan language for independence.


The main object of this article is to depict how Tibet advanced in every field after it was liberated from the yoke of Lamas and the aristocrats and brought under the control of the central government in Beijing.


Prior to 1959 the government in control of Tibet was aristocratic. The ordinary people who were peasants and nomads did not own 95 percent of the land. All the arable land was owned by Lamas and aristocrats who comprised 5 percent of the population. The ordinary people were surfs and the system that existed in Tibet could be termed as semi-slavery. It was said that ordinary people owned nothing but their shadows and footprints. These enslaved people received their political, religious, economic, social and cultural freedom after 1959. They obtained the same freedom enjoyed by the people of other provinces of China.


Political freedom
After 1959 millions of former serf become masters of their society and destiny. Tibet changed from an autocracy to a democracy. Tibet become a autonomous region under the umbrella of the central government. The administration of the region was done by the Tibetans themselves. The chairperson of the People's Congress was a Tibetan and women too received voting rights.


The people of Tibet obtained full economic freedom after 1959. Ninety five percent of the population who were peasants and nomads received the freedom they needed to till and graze animals on the lands and receive the income of those lands. As a result their incomes started to rise since 1959.


People who were deprived of having a square meal managed to fill their belles with this change. The gross domestic product which was 174 M Yuan reached 50.74 B Yuan by 2010. The per capita income which was 144 Yuan in 1959 reached 15,000 Yuan in 2010.


The central government obtained assistance from other provinces to develop Tibet. A certain percentage of the revenue of other provinces was diverted for the development of Tibet. The centre was keen on creating economic parity in Tibet comparing to other provinces.


The partnership assistance programme started in 1994 and fifteen other provinces have helped Tibet to initiate 62 new projects.


Agriculture
With the freedom they received in their land the peasants of Tibet, diversified their crops, they cultivated. The grain production on which was 182,000 tons in 1951 reached a staggering 1,100,000 tons in 2010. The annual paddy production of one Mu in 1959 was 91 Kgs. The peasants managed to increase it to 400 kgs in 2010. The number of animals under the nomads and peasants in 1959 was 9.56 million and it increased to 26 million in 2010.


There were no industries in Tibet prior to 1959. Some people started industries with the direction provided by the central government. After 1959 generation of electricity, mining textile, cottage industries and some medium sized industries started in Tibet. Fruits of opening the economy in 1978 brought many benefits to Tibet. Comparing to the provinces, Tibet holds the second position in the production of copper. Tibetan beer produced from barley is famous today. The industrial added value skyrocketed from 1.5 M Yuan to 3,500m, in 1910.






Foreign trade
In 2004, the value of foreign trade was US $ 22.355 million and it increased to US $ 835.94 million in 2010. Tibetan products are exported to countries like India, Nepal, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and America.


A good road network is a basic necessity for economic development. Prior to 1984 all the roads of Tibet were in a ramshackled state. People who lived in remote areas had to carry their products on their shoulders or on the back of animals, when transporting them to markets sometimes miles away. It was indeed a miserable existence.


A reporter of China daily who travelled from Beijing to Lhasa in 1959 had spent 21 days travelling. The central government which understood this drawback started constructing new roads with the concurrence of the provincial government all over Tibet from 1959. Today new roads are constructed from Lhasa to very remote areas such as Metog. The first expressway was started in 2009, from Lhasa to Gonggar airport. By 2006, the central government managed to link Lhasa to Beijing railway reducing the travel time between the two cities to 24 hours. Before 1959 the traveling time was 21 days.


As a result Tibet managed to send its exports to other provinces as well as to the world market in double quick time. New airports not only in Lhasa but also in Nuingahinao, Ngari and Xigwge, paved way for rapid development in remote areas. There were only 7,300 km of highways in Tibet and by 2010 it increased to 58,200 kms.


New houses
Prior to 1959 most of the peasants lived in mud huts along with their livestock. After 1959 the central government along with provincial administration launched a programme to improve the housing standards of these peasants. By 2006 they managed to provide decent housing to about 1.4 m ordinary people, spending RMB 1.7 billion. The name of this was 'Safe and Cozy' with amenities such as electricity running water paved roads, post officers, telephones and facilities for TV and radio reception. Electricity was provided to 740,000 persons and drinking water was provided to 952,000 people. The coverage of telephone and TV/radio signals now stands at 90.28 percent and 91.41 percent respectively and 135,000 rural households are new cooking with biogas.


Prior to 1959 only 2 percent of the children of pre-school age attended school. Illiteracy rate was 95 percent.


Today the illiteracy rate has come down to 1.2 percent. Today the education is provided free of charge. In other provinces of China a fee is charged for education.


Financial assistance granted to village students in Tibet was increased to 2000 Yuan in 2011.


First university was started in 1984 and today several universities are found in Tibet. Medical College of Tibet was started in 1989. There are more than 100 PhD holders in Tibet and Tibetan botanist Nunyuna Zhovna is one of the ten leading women scientists of China.


Tibetans are free to follow any religion they wish. This has been accepted by the regional administration as well. There are about 1,700 Buddhist temples and monasteries and over 40,000 Buddhist monks in Tibet today. Huge sums are spent by the central government and the provincial administration to preserve Buddhism, to develop Buddhist places of worship, to preserve Buddhist books and manuscripts and for the restoration of the Buddhist temples.


Living standard
Under the new administration the living standards of the Tibetan people have gone up tremendously. Tibetans who led a miserable existence in past lead somewhat a better life like most of other people of China today.


The people who used dung cakes for cooking purposes today use L.P. gas. Some own motor vehicles and most of the people use small comforts like television and cellular phones.


As life has become somewhat comfortable the population has increased from 1.23 million in 1959 to 30 million today. Life expectancy of average in Tibetan is 69 today. Sixty years ago it was 35.5 years.


Some Tibetan separatists who have escaped to India spread canards with the assistance of some Western media agencies that genocide is being conducted by China to decimate the population of Tibet. But in reality Tibet that was backward in every sphere before 1959 is advancing at an unprecedented growth rate like the rest of China.


The writer is the Secretary of Sri Lanka - China Society

The politics of ‘civil society’

The website of the Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency (SIDA) has this to say about its work in Sri Lanka: 

 

‘Sri Lanka lacks a broad and firmly established plan to combat poverty. The development plan that does exist, Mahinda Chinthana, has been produced without consultation with the civil society and does not therefore form the basis of Sweden’s development co-operation.’

Hence, SIDA does not agree with how the democratically elected government of Sri Lanka sets about developing its economy and society, but requires the government to base its plans on what it is told to do by ‘civil society’. 

What is this nebulous, much talked about entity? One definition is ‘a public space between the state, the market and the ordinary household, in which people can debate and take action'. In Sri Lanka, this space is occupied by various non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which have no popular basis of representation and which have no responsibility to anybody but their funders - invariably foreign funding bodies. And therein lies the crux of the problem regarding ‘civil society’.

Religious institutions

NGOs have been a part of the socio-economic set-up of Sri Lanka for over a century. In the colonial era, ‘development policy’ was tied to imperialist aims, and various societies and associations were formed for the cultural, economic and social regeneration of the ordinary people - many of them associated with religious institutions. 

More modern institutions of ‘civil society’ were formed in the 1950s and ‘60s; the archetypical NGO was Sarvodaya, which began as a work camp in 1958. Marga, founded in 1972, was the prototype for a different branch of ‘civil society’, the social research NGO. However, ‘civil society’ really began taking off after 1977 - NGOs began to proliferate, along with a bewildering number of acronyms. 

This had partly to do with the collapse of the old Left, which had occupied the ‘civil society’ of its day. Financially starved, the socialist parties articulated social needs and carried out volunteer work, a tradition which began with the crucial relief work done by the Suriya Mal movement in the villages during the mid-1930s malaria epidemic. 

The culture of the Left encouraged co-operation at every stage: from neighbourhood support for strikers to Shramadanas for building village schools. The intelligentsia has played a very important part in this culture. Leftist thought was hegemonic in intellectual circles; every major cultural figure, from Martin Wickremasinghe to Esmond Wickremasinghe had been linked to the Left at some time or other.

Seminars and conferences

In the late 1970s, young intellectuals, seeing no prospects for the Left, began joining NGOs. It was exciting to actually be paid for doing what one wanted to do - which had hitherto been purely voluntary. And where, earlier the outlook for foreign travel was extremely bleak, now there was a pleasing vista of endless, sponsored trips to exotic locations for seminars and conferences. The cream of the intellectual elite was drawn into the maws of ‘civil society’.

An entirely new lexicon came into general use, replacing the previously dominant language of the Left. Old words took on entirely new meaning - for example, a ‘workshop’ had been something in which workers worked, while now it meant ‘seminar’. This can’t even begin filtering into everyday usage, so that it became possible rapidly to identify civil-society personages through conversation.

Gradually, an entire cohort of well-meaning intellectuals and activists was weaned away from their Left-leaning ideology, their ideals corrupted by mammon and by the pressure of their peers. This was done by foreign funders steering funding into specified areas.

Commercial needs

Foreign intelligence communities involved themselves quite early, but disguised themselves. For example, from 1982 funds which had earlier been channelled through the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) began to be disbursed through a variety of new organizations, such as the National Endowment for Democracy, the National Democratic Institute, the Centre for Private Enterprise and the American Centre for International Labour Solidarity.

It has long been axiomatic that funds were available for social-science research, but that none would be granted in natural sciences or technology - in which fields the companies of the countries of the donors might feel competition. However, funding has much deeper implications and targets are very specific.

It is used to steer society towards the commercial needs of multi-national companies; e.g. massive funds are available for programmes for distributing title for previously communally held land; very little for combining uneconomically-sized privately held blocks of land into production co-operatives.

Monies are also used to subvert governments: for instance, abundant funds are available for studying discrimination and impunity in government; however, none is forthcoming for examining the same phenomena in the corporate sector, the private mass media or indeed ‘civil society’.

Development activities

The corrupting influence of funding is all the greater because of the very manner in which it is administered. A rule of the thumb is that a given organization will keep 60 percent of the funding that passes through it for its own purposes.

For instance, if a person in, say, Canada gives a charity 100 dollars it will pass on 40 cents to the NGO in the target country; which in turn will pass on 40 cents to the community based organization (CBO) in the target community; which will spend 16 cents on the project being funded.

The corruption of ‘civil society’ has had a knock-on corrupting effect on development activities in society as a whole. Corruption and embezzlement has become a fact of life in CBOs. Even worse, core values are contaminated: where voluntary ‘Shramadana’ activities used to be part and parcel of community life, now no labour contribution free of payment can be expected.

Rather than ‘development co-operation’, funders such as SIDA have supported ‘development non-co-operation’. ‘Civil society’ has played no small part in destroying the very ethos of community-based development that early NGOs such as Sarvodaya were established to promote. 

India reverses cotton export ban after farmer outrage

India has reversed a ban on cotton exports, less than a week after imposing it.

There was an angry reaction from farmers when the government announced the policy last Monday.

The government justified the ban by saying that India needed to protect supplies for its own cotton mills.

But farming groups were outraged and the agriculture minister complained that he was not consulted about the new policy.

"We must realise that we are a cotton surplus country and our surplus needs to be exported. These are short-sighted views that [the textile] industry sometimes takes by asking to ban cotton exports," said Nayan Mirani, vice-president of the Cotton Association of India, which represents exporters and traders. 

India is the world's second biggest producer of cotton and its exporters had outstanding orders for 2.5m bales of cotton when the ban was imposed.

Exports had been running well above government targets and, at the time, officials at the textile ministry said the ban was needed due to "the trend of domestic consumption and depletion of domestic availability".