Change the Guard

Sadaket Malik asked:


There is an urgent need to put an end to distortions in social development and evolving institutionalised mechanisms of collaboration between the government and the NGOs and the people’s institutions.

CJ: SADAKET MALIK , 14 Oct 2008 Views:482 Comments:0

VOLUNTARY SOCIAL work, voluntarism, voluntary organisations, non governmental organisations (NGOs) not profit making organizations, religion based social development organisations, individual donors, philanthropy and corporate social development organisations have grown tremendously in the 21st century.

Similarly international developmental organisation like the World Bank, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations International Children Education Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), World Trade Organisation (WTO), Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Asian Development Bank (ADB), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JAICA), Department Fund for International Development (DFID), Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), United Nations Economic, Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (UNESCAP) and many other organisations are relentlessly campaigning for the cause of the social development.

Under United Nations systems several international conventions are being held, several laws are being promoted, several policies are being evolved and several projects are being implemented in various areas like the human rights, education, health, natural resources, development and environment.

The government of India and many governments of various nations of the world like South Africa, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Uganda, Zambia and Mexico have enacted several laws, established various government departments, evolved policies, and created schemes for the cause of social development.

Though social development has emerged as a very important sector in 21st century there are no institutionalised mechanisms of collaboration of the government and the NGOs. The need of the hour is to evolve long term, sustainable and institutionalised collaboration between the government and NGOs.

The government of India has prepared and released a draft national policy on NGOs, incorporating the areas of collaboration of the government and NGOs. The Planning Commission of India and various ministries of the government of India are working on the modalities of collaboration between the government and the NGOs.

Similarly the government of Andhra Pradesh on an inn

ovative approach given by us has formed a state level coordination committee of government officials and NGOs headed by the chief minister for promoting the coordination between the government and the NGOs. On the same lines district level coordination cells have been formed headed by the district in-charge ministers with collectors, officials and NGOs as members. Government orders are issued for frequent meeting of the committees and evolving the mechanisms of collaboration between the government and the NGOs. (GOMS No 28 of government of AP enclosed)

There is imminent need for the government of India and various state governments to release the national policy as well as the state policies for institutionalised mechanisms of collaboration between the government and the NGOs, on the lines of the National Policy of the government of India.

The government of India is promoting the work, projects and involvement of NGOs in a big way. The Union Ministry of Rural Development has established Council for Advancement of Peoples Action and Rural Technology (CAPART) and is promoting the NGO sector in a big way.

Rural Development Department in many schemes like the Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP). Drought Prone Areas Programme (DPAP), Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA), Swarna Jayanti Swarajgor Yojana (SJSGY) National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), Watershed Development and in many other schemes has elaborately issued guidelines, with specific reference to involvement of the NGOs in implementation of various schemes.

Rural development department through National Waste Lands Development Board have issued guidelines, focusing on the importance of participation of the people and involvement of NGOs in implementation of the schemes.

Similarly, several Ministries like Ministry of Human Resources Development, Ministry of Environment and Forest, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Ministry of Women and Child Welfare, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Labour, Ministry of Agriculture among others have issued guidelines for implementation of the schemes, with focus on peoples participation and participation of NGOs in implementation of thousands of schemes of the government of India.

On the same lines, various state governments have issued government orders and guidelines for people’s participation and participation of NGOs in implementation of various schemes.

The government of India through various ministries has been funding the NGOs to a tune of Rs. 10,000 corers per annum for implementation of various schemes. CAPART and various ministries have evolved schemes to be funded to the NGOs for implementation in various areas concerning human and social development of people. Similarly several schemes are also being funded in natural resources development and environment.

Various ministries of the government of India have evolved formats, prescribed procedures, and evolved inspection and monitoring mechanisms for effective implementation of the schemes being funded in the NGOs sector. All the details of grants in aid being sanctioned to the project of the NGOs are being made available on the websites of the respective ministries of the government of India.

Similarly World Bank, DFID and various funding agencies have also evolved mechanisms, procedures for inspection, assessment, sanction, monitoring and evaluation of grant in aid projects to the NGOs.

In addition to the above, International Development Agencies like Action Aid, Plan International, Oxfam, CCF, Leonard Chesire, CARE and several other international donor agencies have also evolved mechanisms and guidelines for assessment, sanction, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of projects which require grants in aid. They have also prescribed formats for donor service reporting and displaying on websites.

While the international scenario, and national scenarios are very encouraging all is not well in collaboration of the government and the NGOs in social development.

Some of the distortions and recent trends in a few states of India are to implement the projects of social development with-out any collaboration between the government and the NGOs. People’s participation and participatory development is a distant dream which is yet to be realized.

There is an urgent need to put an end to distortions in social development and evolving the institutionalised mechanisms of collaboration between the government and the NGOs and the people’s institutions. There is the malaise among some organisations to be excessively dependent on foreign aid. This can be somewhat offset if our business houses start contributing more to the voluntary sector than they do now. Some voluntary organisations also tend to be individual-centric with little internal democracy and sometimes transparency. Such organisations find it difficult to outlast their founder. There is also a need for greater cooperation among NGOs themselves. Together, they can achieve much more than if they choose to operate in their own small autonomous area.

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jakoxn asked:

Sep. 18, 2008.
Ron Paul explains how misguided policies and actions by the Federal Reserve and the government led to the current financial crisis.

Many who agree with me on a lot of other issues, do not understand my enthusiasm for gold and sound money or why I spend so much time studying and talking about monetary policy. Its true that I talk about money differently than most, but the fact is sound money offers many benefits. For example peace.

Can sound money really bring about peace? Actually, it plays a big part in peaceful international relationships. Money based on commodities, rather than paper, is not subject to government manipulation, and is a key component to free and honest trade.

History shows that if countries engage in trade with each other, their governments tend to find ways to get along for the same reason you do not kill your customers at your place of business, even if they occasionally annoy you.

If someone outright cheats you, however, you may engage in war by taking them to court, for example, and the relationship will sour. Governments and central banks with unfettered power to manipulate currency also have the ability to cheat their creditors. One way they do this is to simply create enough currency to pay off debts. This devalues the currency and cheats the recipient out of what they are owed. It would not be fair if you watered down your product the way our government waters down its currency, so it is not hard to understand, in these simplified terms, why loose monetary policy contributes so much to ill will and war around the world.

Sound money, on the other hand, simply is what it is. Removing governmental power to manipulate money, removes the temptation for government to spend, print and cheat. Sound money ensures that our governments spending priorities would be brought into sharp focus and reduced to only what we can afford.

Sound money also limits the ability to wage wars of aggression. Imagine how much more careful Washington would have to be about starting a war if they did not have this financial sleight of hand at their disposal! Fiat currency allows government do expensive things they should not be doing while paying the bills with cheap money. The Federal Reserve has lately been auctioning off large amounts of treasury bills as a way to finance the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and our crushing entitlement burden. The resulting devaluation of the dollar is quickly eroding our image as a good trading partner in the world. As a consequence, there is therefore more talk of economic isolation and war.

This vicious cycle of spending, fighting and inflating is not what Americans want. It is what the government wants, and it has had to deceive the citizens into allowing and supporting it. Sound money curbs the governments ability to engage in these shenanigans and reduces the wars we fight to only truly defensive ones, for which Americans are more than willing to stand and fight. So in these ways, sound money is very conducive to peace.

Source:
http://www.ronpaul.com/2008-09-16/ron-paul-on-gold-and-sound-money/

Hammock Tester asked:


Do you rely primarily on news from network TV, newspapers, Internet, FOX News, CNN, Op-Ed columns, books, magazines? Other sources? With so many different options to choose from, which source do you feel best helps you understand political and world events? Why is this source better than the others?

Economywatch asked:


The basic principles of the Indian Foreign Policy were sown at the time of the freedom struggle for Indian independence. The primary tenets of this can be summarized as :-

Keeping faith in maintaining good relations with the neighbors as well as all other countries round the globe.

Strong belief in non-interference with the sovereignty of all nation.

Non-partisan outlook towards world powers with stress on non-alignment.

India believes that the conflicts between the nations can be resolved through peaceful negotiations.

Significant part of Indian Foreign Policy occupies Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). The first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, was one of the main proponents of this movement. NAM stresses on the fact that the countries under this banner would not have any kind of biasness towards any world power. The importance of this movement gained momentum at the time of Cold War between USA and the then USSR.

India considers colonialism as one of the main hindrances in the path of a nation’s development. Hence, to pursue its motive in eradicating the evil of colonialism from the global arena, India has taken a leading role in the same. Indian Foreign Policy had initiated the process of raising a special fund called Action For Resistance to Invasion, Colonialism and Apartheid or simply AFRICA, meant for eradicating the racial and colonial discrimination from the world. This initiative was started in the year 1986.

One of the main objectives of Indian Foreign Policy is general as well as total disarmament of all nations around the world. As per India, the main concern of todays world is the race among all the countries of the world in becoming nuclear power. In achieving this end, India has also placed an action plan before the UN General Assembly in the year 1988 for establishing a peaceful world with no threat of nuclear warfare. At the same time Indian Foreign Policy has denounced two discriminatory treaties, namely, CTBT and NPT. These treaties refer to nuclear disarmament without mentioning any course of action for the already manufactured nuclear arms by the Nuclear Power Countries.

In quest of freeing the oppressed people of the world, India has played historic roles in liberating Bangladesh from the oppressive clutches of Pakistan. As Indian Foreign Policy believes in peaceful negotiations in resolving a conflict, so India had implemented two agreements of 1964 and 1974 for establishing the right of people of Indian origin to live in Sri Lanka.

But with the fall of USSR, the priorities along with the policies of the Indian Government have changed. For maintaining its pace with the changed scenario and time, Indian Foreign Policy has also seen certain readjustments.

Some of the main foreign issues that would give an overview of the current trend in Indian Foreign Policy are listed below in the bulleted format :-

Highest emphasis was given in building good as well as productive relationship with the neighbor. Resolving the internal crisis of Nepal through repeated negotiations was brokered by India. Indian Foreign Policy is giving highest priority in the maintenance of peace in the South Asian region for the sake of mutual benefit of countries through profitable trade relations.

India has shown maximum restraint in dealing with Pakistan and has opted the route of repeated round table negotiations between the heads of the states along with their respective foreign affair executives.

Indian Foreign Policy has also stressed in building up long term commercial as well as peaceful relation with China. This process was kicked off through visit of top notches from both the countries to the other.

Indian Foreign Policy has been able to forge an alliance between the fastest growing nations of the world namely, Brazil, Russia and China. This commercial relationship is commonly known as BRIC.

European Union is considering India as an indispensable part of a strategic partnership in the world arena which are expected to be emboldened through joint declaration of political as well as trade related agendas in the near future.

Indian Foreign Policy is on the threshold of sealing a nuclear deal between USA and India which would help it in solving its energy related problems.

Indian Foreign Policy maintained its non-interference policy with the sovereignty of other state in case of Iraq. India had strongly maintained its stand against sending military troops to Iraq.

FDI India

Klaus H Hemsath asked:


new US administration drafted a new energy plan. Two oilmen, with secret advice of the oil industry, orchestrated and supervised the plan. The results have been devastating. Gas and oil prices have escalated to more than $4 per gallon and are forecast to hit $5 per gallon soon.

The problems our oilmen were trying to solve, were not of their doing. Their decision, to solve the energy puzzle, was laudable. Regrettably, they were not equipped to handle the consequences of their actions.

In November 2008 the US is reaching another milestone in history. A new president and a new Congress will be elected. Energy is becoming one of the main issues of the hotly contested election campaign. We already know one outcome for sure. Neither candidate has any idea about the seriousness of the energy problems confronting our country and the world.

The US needs swift and effective actions to stabilize world energy prices, to introduce measures for dealing with global warming and climate change, and to turn around an economy that has been looted by its financial sector. How can the US take the lead in fighting global warming? How can the US send the right signals to the rest of the world? How can the US convince the owners of the world’s oil reserves that coercive price fixing is breeding resentment?

The US does not possess a single weapon to force its intentions upon others. It can do so only by the quality of her ideas.

Owners of coal, petroleum, and natural gas reserves will only change, if they have to face risks. These new risks could be:

The near-future threat of a low priced petroleum substitute,

The threat of subsidized renewable energies for the generation of low cost electricity,

The threat of a treaty that will outlaw fossil fuel burning across the world.

When these threats become reality, we will see a rush to sell as many energy reserves as quickly as possible.

Without these threats the decision process is much simpler. Sell as little energy as possible and wait for prices to rise. The longer you wait, the more money you make.

Obviously, it will take time to convert fossil fuel fired power plants to plants that are powered by renewable energies like solar power, hydropower, wind power, marine power, geothermal heat, and nuclear heat. Obviously, it will take time to produce the first barrel of a high quality petroleum substitute from fast growing plants that have no resemblance to food crops and can be grown on arid lands. Obviously, it will take even longer to convince 200 countries to sign a treaty that forbids the use of fossil fuels. But what choices do the US and the world have? We cannot continue and emit huge amounts of greenhouse gases much longer. The environmental costs are beginning to escalate. Citizens across the world will demand actions from governments.

Countries with large coastal areas are already experiencing the accelerating rise of ocean levels. This rise will speed up in lockstep with greenhouse gas emissions. Once carbon dioxide, the major product of fossil fuel combustion, enters the atmosphere, it cannot be recaptured. The accumulation of carbon dioxide is irreversible and the accelerated melting of glaciers on mountains and of ice sheets in the Polar Regions is unstoppable.

Therefore, we must halt atmospheric accumulation of greenhouse gases. Temporarily, we can sequester about one third of all fossil fuel generated emissions. The carbon dioxide emitted by large smokestacks of coal fired power plants, oil refinery and chemical plant chimneys, and from flues of manufacturing companies making materials, industrial products, and consumer goods can be cleaned. The separated carbon dioxide gas must be compressed and transported to suited geological underground cavities.

This method cannot be applied to the exhausts of automobiles, trucks, trains, ships, and airplanes. Sequestration is unaffordable for homes, commercial buildings, and small manufacturing and fabricating establishments.

The challenges for the new administration and the new Congress to come up with a good, effective energy plan will be intimidating. Drilling for oil in the US, energy conservation, and “Cap and Trade” schemes will not solve our energy problems. Conservation may be necessary to provide temporary relief at the pump. Unavoidable future environmental disasters may be delayed by a couple of years. None of the three concepts can stop global overheating.

We must bite the bullet. We must replace all fossil fuels with renewable energies and nuclear heat. To operate our transportation sector, we need liquid fuels. We must learn to produce petroleum substitutes. Petroleum reserves and production capacities are getting tight and prices are skyrocketing. We must wake up. We cannot continue and let the present owners of fossil fuels destroy the habitats of our grandchildren and their offspring.

bam asked:


I need to write a reasearch paper on a VERY current world event and I need 5 topics so I can choose one. They have to be very current and not to hard because I’m only in middle school.

Tomas Anderson asked:


The Forex is essentially risk-bearing. By the evaluation of the grade of a possible risk accounted should be the following kinds of it: exchange rate risk, interest rate risk, and credit risk, country risk.

Exchange rate risk. Exchange rate risk is the effect of the continuous shift in the worldwide market supply and demand balance on an outstanding foreign exchange position. For the period it is outstanding, the position will be subject to all the price changes. The most popular measures to cut losses short and ride profitable positions that losses should be kept within manageable limits are the position limit and the loss limit. By the position limitation a maximum amount of a certain currency a trader is allowed to carry at any single time during the regular trading hours is to be established. The loss limit is a measure designed to avoid unsustainable losses made by traders by means of stop-loss levels setting.

Interest rate risk. Interest rate risk refers to the profit and loss generated by fluctuations in the forward spreads, along with forward amount mismatches and maturity gaps among transactions in the foreign exchange book. This risk is pertinent to currency swaps, forward outright, futures, and options (See below). To minimize interest rate risk, one sets limits on the total size of mismatches. A common approach is to separate the mismatches, based on their maturity dates, into up to six months and past six months. All the transactions are entered in computerized systems in order to calculate the positions for all the dates of the delivery, gains and losses. Continuous analysis of the interest rate environment is necessary to forecast any changes that may impact on the outstanding gaps.

Credit risk. Credit risk refers to the possibility that an outstanding currency position may not be repaid as agreed, due to a voluntary or involuntary action by a counter party. In these cases, trading occurs on regulated exchanges, such as the clearinghouse of Chicago. The following forms of credit risk are known:

1. Replacement risk occurs when counterparties of the failed bank find their books are subjected to the danger not to get refunds from the bank, where appropriate accounts became unbalanced.

2. Settlement risk occurs because of the time zones on different continents. Consequently, currencies may be traded at the different price at different times during the trading day. Australian and New Zealand dollars are credited first, then Japanese yen, followed by the European currencies and ending with the U.S. dollar. Therefore, payment may be made to a party that will declare insolvency (or be declared insolvent) immediately after, but prior to executing its own payments.

Therefore in assessing the credit risk, end users must consider not only the market value of their currency portfolios, but also the potential exposure of these portfolios. The potential exposure may be determined through probability analysis over the time to maturity of the outstanding position. The computerized systems currently available are very useful in implementing credit risk policies. Credit lines are easily monitored. In addition, the matching systems introduced in foreign exchange since April 1993 are used by traders for credit policy implementation as well. Traders input the total line of credit for a specific counterparty. During the trading session, the line of credit is automatically adjusted. If the line is fully used, the system will prevent the trader from further dealing with that counterparty. After maturity, the credit line reverts to its original level.

Dictatorship risk. Dictatorship (sovereign) risk refers to the government’s interference in the Forex activity. Although theoretically present in all foreign exchange instruments, currency futures are, for all practical purposes, excepted from country risk, because the major currency futures markets are located in the USA. Hence, traders have to realize that kind of the risk and be in state to account possible administrative restrictions.

iphoneprankster asked:

President Elect Barack Obama`s First interview on 60 minutes Part !

RonPaul2008dotcom asked:

Presidential candidate Ron Paul assigns some reading material to Rudy Giuliani. Discussion on CNN’s “Situation Room”

Sheza asked:


Is the world economic crisis is a threat to construction in UAE?
i got 2 know that,b’coz of the economic crisis some of the construction works are stopped in uae and it’s very difficult 2 find a job in uae these days for engineers,architectures,quantity surveyors and etc…is it true?hoping to go to uae to find a job.