Spectrum: Issue 5

Colours of Development...

Issue 5: October 2010 - January 2011

Contents

Experiencing Livelihoods Through Participatory Learning Methods .................................... 1 Effective Communication? ............................................................................................................... 3 Drought and the Nation ................................................................................................................... 5 Revisiting the Indicators of Women’s Empowerment ............................................................... 6 A Yogic Approach to Development: An Awakening into Development ................................ 6 Sex: Male / Female (circle only one) — Transgenders in Contemporary India .................... 7 An Organised Push into Poverty .................................................................................................... 8 Every Human Can Contribute ........................................................................................................ 8 Practicing Five Teachings from the Gita in Management ........................................................ 9 A Pinch of Politics with A Lot of Statistics: A Review of “Data Analysis for Politics and Policy” ................................................................................................................................................. 10

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Experiencing Livelihoods Through Participatory Learning Methods

any people, even experienced development practitioners, feel that participatory learning methods are only applicable during the promotion stage of primary groups. Some of us ignore these techniques while doing the expansion stage of a project area. However, participatory learning methods can also be used to understand different issues (for example, a community’s access to credit, or the health scenario in a village) in depth.

In this article, I am going to describe how we used participatory learning methods to understand the livelihood scenario of a coastal village. The article is based on a visit by PDM 10 students of the Tata-Dhan Academy to the coastal village of Mangadu in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu (Ramnad region). When reading, try to keep in mind similar applications of participatory learning methods to different development issues. The techniques we applied during our visit which are presented in this report were social mapping, seasonal mapping, and well-being ranking.

During the social mapping exercise, we made a conscious effort to not only collect information about the housing patterns and infrastructure, but also collect information about the occupations of each household. It was found that there are 152 families living in 140 houses (multiple families per house); the houses were either concrete (33%), tiled (8%), or thatched (59%). We also found 14 different occupations (see Table 1). Seaweed cultivation (73 families) and fishing (60 families) were found as the two dominant livelihood activities. Fishing is one form of wage employment, while seaweed cultivation is a form of self-employment.

We conducted a seasonal mapping exercise to understand the flow of income and expenditure of the villagers throughout the year; such an exercise also helps to understand how structural factors (such as seasonality) affect livelihoods and how people cope with shocks and emergencies. In Mangadu,

there are festivals spread throughout the year; while these festivals help to build a good relationship among the villagers, they do also involve significant costs. In all, the average family in Mangadu spends at least ₨ 13,000 per year on festivals, with the largest single expenditure being for the Deepavali celebrations. Spending on festivals is seen as a prestigious act and often leads to villagers taking loans from money-lenders.

The livelihoods of these families is also seasonal. During the fishing season, people will go fishing six days per week. October, November, and December are considered off-season, during which time fishermen migrate for work. There are also seasonal government constraints on their livelihoods such as bans on different fish varieties during different months.

Continued on page 2...

Seaweed cultivation and fishing are the main occupations in Mangadu.

Faculty Editor’s Welcome Issue 5: October 2010–January 2011 Spectrum is the result of a student initiative started with the seventh batch of PDM students. Each issue includes articles written by both students and faculty of the Tata-Dhan Academy. The student Editorial Committee is responsible for collecting, shortlisting, and reviewing articles.

Editorial Committee: • Kunj Bihari Pratap (PDM 10) • Yogesh Bhatt (PDM 11)

Spectrum is proudly created using the following free and open-source tools.

Document layout: Scribus http://www.scribus.net/ Image editing: Gimp, Inkscape, and Photoscape http://www.gimp.org http://www.inkscape.org http://www.photoscape.org Fonts: Linux Libertine font family and Raju’s Indian Rupee Font http://linuxlibertine.sourceforge.net/ http://rajudasonline.wordpress.com/

c b n a This collection copyright 2011 by Tata-Dhan Academy.

Each article copyright 2011 by its respective author.

All work licensed under a Creative Commons “Attribution—NonCommerical—Share Alike” license http://bit.ly/bfE4wv Painting of Arjuna and Krishna meeting Karna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra (page 9) from http://bit.ly/gyfg4p.

Estimated date of painting: 1820.

Tata-Dhan Academy

T. Malaipatti, Thenkarai Mullipallam Post Vadipatti Taluk Madurai District 625 207 Web: http://www.dhan.org/tda Email: tatadhanacademy@dhan.org Blog: http://tdapdm.wordpress.com

DHAN Foundation

18, Pillaiyar Koil Street S.S. Colony Madurai 625 010 Web: http://www.dhan.org

Broadly speaking, livelihoods can be seen as the utilization of our human and material assets to meet the requirements of our selves and our households. However, unlike regular employment, which can often be seen as transitional, livelihoods are typically seen as a way of life.

Our lead article in this issue of Spectrum describes how participatory learning methods were used to understand the livelihood opportunities in a coastal community. The article “An Organised Push into Poverty” also explores the issue of livelihoods, but from the perspective of large-scale retailers. “Drought and the Nation” describes how droughts can affect not only livelihoods, but also the economy of the entire nation. Also included is an article on transgenders—a marginalized group for whom the livelihood opportunities imposed upon them by society can be quite dangerous.

Besides these, you can also find a book review of a classic statistics textbook, as well as reflections on the Gita, communication, women’s empowerment, yoga (from an alumnus), and global warming.

We hope you enjoy this fifth issue of Spectrum, and once more, we invite you to visit us online at http://tdapdm.wordpress.com where you can offer your own reflections on the articles in this and previous issues.

Ananda Mahto, Faculty “Experiencing Livelihoods...” continued from page 1...

These bans are designed to prevent big fishermen from depleting the fish stock, but it also affects small fishers since traders do not bother to come to the village during those times.

Seaweed cultivation is commonly done by women and is carried out for eight months of the year. Seaweed cultivation requires extra equipment, but brings in a decent income for the families. A typical family involved in this occupation will earn around ₨ 67,000 per year (₨ 42,000 from February to July, and ₨ 25,000 for August and September). However, the occupation is not without its challenges. The women have to walk about 10 kilometers per day, and there are no proper roads. If the winds or tides are too strong, the seaweed cultivation equipment can be damaged, thus reducing the family’s earning potential and increasing their expenses.

Because of the poor housing condition in the village, the people of Mangadu face different health problems. During the summer, the heat and humidity can be unbearable; in this season, health problems like jaundice and chickenpox are common. In the rainy season, malaria is a serious threat to the villagers, and again, their poor housing conditions do little to protect them.

The well-being ranking participatory learning method is commonly used to rank and group houses and communities on the basis of income, wealth, and other perceivable well-being criteria; the criteria are decided by the local community and helps us to understand the local perception of wealth, wellbeing, and socio-economic disparities between households.

During the well-being ranking, the 152 families were divided into five categories: very rich, rich, middle, poor, and very poor; the middle category was subdivided into two categories.

One characteristic of the very rich families (16 families) was that they get regular income or wages from the temple. Because Mangadu is holy and is a tourist attraction, there are many employment opportunities and the wages are higher than other activities. Some of the families in this category were money lenders.

The rich families category (18 families) included families who owned petty shops, have been abroad, own concrete houses, and are involved in the accounting work of the temple. Most of these families were self-employed, 2

had immovable assets, and secure work.

There were 86 families in the middle category, which included characteristics like families earning less than ₨ 300 per day, those involved in labor work, and those with irregular employment. These families were barely able to meet their basic needs. The middle category was divided into two groups. Some characteristics of the first group (56 families) included owning patta land, being engaged in fishing activities, and having children who could work to contribute to the family income.

Some characteristics of the second group (30 families) included not having own land, working for daily wages, alcoholism, and high debt.

The poor families (20 families)

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were characterized as including people who were unable to work or elderly, widows, housemaids, and daily wage earners. Their wages were irregular and their livelihoods were unstable.

The very poor families (12 families) were generally elders who were on the verge of being destitute.

Many of them had been abandoned by their family members who saw the elders as a burden. Some of the families in this category were daily wage earners involved in wood cutting.

As can be seen, participatory learning methods are useful for revealing a wide range of information.

In the case of Mangadu village, it has helped to highlight some of the livelihoods-related issues. This per-

Effective Communication?

spective can help us in many ways.

For instance, we can extend the activities to do a series of detailed occupation analysis studies to identify the occupations that are best suited for improving income and reducing expenditure while also being steady and with reasonable risk. To further reduce risk, insurance can be provided, particularly because families living in coastal areas face a wide range of risks to life and livelihoods. Participatory learning methods can also help to identify different credit products, particularly those used for productive purposes. Ultimately, the goal of such activities should lead to an improved quality of life for the participants.

N. Shanthi Maduresan, Faculty

Exercise 1: Oral Instructions

The first exercise involved oral descriptions of drawings composed of basic geometric shapes. One student (we will call him the “sender”) was shown a simple drawing to describe to his classmates (the “receivers”) who were, in turn, supposed to try to recreate the drawing being described.

However, there were restrictions. There were encoding restrictions on the person giving the instructions: they could describe the image only by using basic terms relating to shapes, lengths, directions, distances, and so on, and they could not use gestures in their instructions.

For instance, in the second source drawing, the sender could not say, “Draw a house sitting upon a mound...” but would have to say something like “Draw the top half of a circle. Above that semi-circle, draw a square...” and so on. In the decoding process by the receivers, the option to ask questions of the sender was removed. The channel was handicapped by imposing a five-minute time limit for the descriptions and the drawing.

hen people begin the study of communication, their attitudes vary anywhere from “I think this would be a very important class: it is important to understand the communication process if I want to improve the effectiveness of my communication,” to “What a waste of time. I’ve been communicating all my life. Do I really need to take a course to understand communication?”

Whether or not we take a course in communication, there is considerable value in trying to refine our understanding of communication. To demonstrate, I will present two class exercises. In describing the exercises, hopefully some of the jargon common in the communications discipline (for example, encoding, decoding, channel, and congruence) will become clearer, and you will be at least a little more sensitive to trying to verify the effectiveness of your everyday communication approaches.

Figure 1: Three sets of drawings based on oral instructions. The first (outlined) drawing in each set is the source figure that the sender had to give instructions for; the remaining are the interpretations of the instructions by the receivers.

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As can be seen in Figure 1, the resulting drawings are quite varied, although in some cases (particularly the drawing of the cube with a six-pointed star on its face), they do come close to reproducing the source.

both side lines; one line should be as a base line. (4) In the next step, make the same triangle but opposite on the first triangle, which should have five points.

What Went Wrong?

Exercise 2: Written Instructions

In the discussions following both exercises, there were a lot of attempts to explain why things did not go as expected. When discussing the experience giving oral instructions, some criticisms included the restrictions, which some argued were somewhat arbitrary. Yet, we deal with such restrictions regularly. Many of us, for instance, rely on text messages (or services like Twitter) for a considerable amount of our communication, and these messages are restricted to less than 200 characters. An organization preparing a television or radio advertisement has to work within a limited time frame, somewhere between 10 and 30 seconds. When writing a classified advertisement or a newspaper advertisement, you are likely to be restricted by the number of square inches of space your advertisement occupies.

In other instances, the receiver was simply confused.

In the second drawing example for written instructions, the receiver got stuck trying to figure out how to draw a six-pointed star: around her paper there were many star scribbles, but they were all the more typical five-pointed star that we would be inclined to draw if someone had asked us to draw a star. In the end, she did not have enough time to complete her drawing. While the sender would have interpreted her message as being clear and direct, the receiver clearly needed some supplementary instruction.

There were also cases where the instructions were not congruent. In the third drawing example for written instructions, the sender tells us to draw two overlapping triangles, but then tells us that the resulting shape should have five points. Similarly, in the first drawing example, the receiver felt most confused by the fifth instruction. The fourth instruction did not specify which direction the parallelogram should be oriented. After she had already drawn what she interpreted as the fourth instruction, the fifth instruction did not seem to be in congruence with what she had already drawn.

It is also interesting to note that it is difficult to say whether people were right or wrong in what they drew.

Most of the receivers would strongly assert that they drew according to their interpretation of the instructions that they were given. From that perspective, what they drew was correct. Many senders, on the other hand, did acknowledge that they had not tested their message to see whether it conveyed what they intended. A few of them also admitted to “cheating” a little by being close to the receiver and reinforcing the written statements by providing supplementary oral instructions.

After a classroom discussion of the outcomes, one of the students strongly felt that things would be quite different if the instructions were given in written form. “By taking time to write the instructions,” he asserted, “we would be able to make sure that the instructions are clear enough that anyone reading it would be able to understand them.”

We decided to test his theory by writing instructions for drawing a cube with a six-pointed star on one face.

Here are some of the instructions written by the students and the resulting drawings from various faculty and staff.

Drawing 1

(1) First, draw a square.

(2) In the middle of the square, make a small triangle. (3) Make another triangle also in the middle of the square just opposite to the first triangle, but it is on the first triangle. (4) Above the square, draw a line parallel to the line of the square and join the sides and form a parallelogram. (5) From the left side, make another parallelogram with the help of one side of the square.

Drawing 2

(1) Draw a square (4 centimetre). (2) Make a sixpoint star inside square.

(3) Put the name of square ABCD. (4) Take line AB and draw two slanting lines of 1 centimetre from A and B leftward. (5) Give E above A; give F above B. (6) Match F and E. (7) Now take point A and D. Draw a slanting line of 1 centimetre upward.

(8) Give the name G. (9) Match F and G. Drawing 3

Please make a diagram with the help of the following instructions. (1) First, make a square (which has all four sides at 90 degree angles). (2) Next, on the upper side and right side of this square, increase a line which will join. After joining, it should look like a cube, but only on upper and right sides. (3) Then, within the box, make a triangle which has 60 degree angles from

What Can We Learn From This?

Perhaps the most important message from these experiences is that we should not assume that our commu4

nication is effective. Rather, we should try to build methods into our communication that try to confirm that the receiver has understood our message. (In teaching parlance, this is commonly referred to as a comprehension check.) Often, these are simple questions or brief activities presented to the audience to verify that their understanding of the message is correct.

These experiences also indicate that there is no single channel that is best for effective communication.

Most likely, a combination of approaches would be most effective since different receivers have different learning or comprehension styles. Imagine, for instance, how much easier it would have been if we could have simply shown the audience the drawing and asked them to re-

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produce it. Or how helpful it would be if we could also use gestures along with our words to mimic the act of drawing, thus also helping the receiver to create an accurate drawing.

Keeping these lessons in mind, we should also try to identify what type of communicator we are. For some, their strengths will be in written communication; others might prefer speaking, demonstrating, illustrating, or employing one of the many communication reinforcement tools available to us. Once you have figured that out, practice—both to keep your strengths strong, and to improve upon your weaknesses.

Ananda Mahto, Faculty

Drought and the Nation

Since agriculture in India contributes a significant share in the gross domestic product (GDP), a decline in agricultural productivity translates into a decline in net GDP. When a large number of people are not able to earn with agriculture, they are pushed to migrate. A decreased supply of food products increases the prices in the market, which impacts the poor the worst. In critical drought conditions, poor people die from hunger. Since agriculture is a prime source of raw materials for many industries, the manufacturing sector is also ultimately affected (Bhandari, 2010). With the industries, agriculture, and the population suffering economic blows, the revenue collection of the government also declines. Thus, a drought can indirectly affect public investment, which will further reduce opportunities of income for the poor.

The devil of drought can therefore pervade the whole nation. In such conditions, the government takes action to reduce the intensity of the issue. At this stage, the government acts in a typical delivery mode, for example by providing diesel subsidy, interest subsidy, and loan waivers to farmers. In many parts of India, droughts have been happening frequently but it was not the same in earlier days. The current approaches adopted to counter the issue are reactive which are not effective to generate sustainable solutions. Proactive steps should include focus on the conservation of the environment, promotion of indigenous water harvesting systems, regeneration of forest cover, controlling pollution, and ensuring the ecological balance of flora and fauna. Each individual can share the responsibility to maintain the ecological balance, control pollution, plant trees, and to ensure judicious usage of water. As a composite effect, it would contribute to the timely arrival of monsoon and prevent extreme situations of drought and hunger deaths.

ature has endowed us with various resources but not everybody has equal control over them. Despite an inequitable distribution, all natural resources are important for humanity. Some resources have greater importance because they are either scarce or they lack substitutes; scarcity and a lack of substitutes make these resources expensive and sometimes out of the reach of the poor. Among all such resources, water has a great importance for all categories of people, whether rich or poor. Though water is abundantly available on our planet, access to safe water for drinking and sufficient water for various livelihoods is not ensured. Indian villages, most of which are substantially dependent on agriculture, suffer huge losses due to irregularity of monsoons and the worst: droughts.

A drought is a situation of shortage of water for people, animals, and agriculture. Droughts directly affect agricultural economics. Agriculture is the backbone of rural India since it employs the majority of the rural population, most of whom are poor. In most parts of the country, the farmers rely on monsoons for irrigation and practice rainfed farming. They are helpless when the monsoon sets early or late, because a major share of food grain production happens during the monsoon season (Bhandari, 2010). In other words, the monsoons are a key factor in Indian agriculture, and they determine the success and failure of crops. Sometimes, the monsoon is delayed to such an extent that it creates a situation of drought, thereby hampering all agricultural activities. In India, droughts usually occur due to the failure or delay of the South-West monsoon (June—September). The State declares a drought considering the amount of rainfall, damage to crops, availability of drinking water, and moisture in the soil. Droughts can result in crop failure, food insecurity, and a shortage of drinking water. A drought can also lead to problems like an economic crisis, uncontrolled inflation in food prices, unemployment, and large-scale migration.

Amarendra Kumar, PDM 11

References Bhandari, R. (2010). How dependent is India on good monsoon. Retrieved December 28, 2010 from http://trak.in/tags/business/2010/08/11/india-monsoon-economic-growth/

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Revisiting the Indicators of Women’s Empowerment

Turkey and published in the Indian Journal of Social Work highlights that domestic violence against women is reduced in case of educated as well as employed women and educated but unemployed men. However, the realities are not so promising in India. The problems of anaemia, low birth weight, malnutrition, IMR, MMR, rape, and domestic violence are not exclusive to India, but the issues of child marriage, sex-selective foeticide, dowry, and “honour killing” are much more pronounced in India than elsewhere. As a mistake, the real indicators of women empowerment such as anaemia, malnutrition, and female illiteracy are given little attention.

Thus, girls are killed for varied reasons but they are not killed for money, not for honour, and not for pleasure. They are killed because they are weak—physically, socially, and sometimes, economically. When I asked a villager in Madurai about women’s empowerment, he innocently said that it is a mix of a woman’s education and her ability to earn. Strength is derived from knowledge, income, health, and authority. It is time that we think in these specific terms of strength that can combat the weakness. These are the factors determining the strength of a woman and are thus the relevant indicators of women’s empowerment. Let us not measure it in terms of “violence against men” and percent reservation, but rather, work to improve the knowledge, income, and health of the women around us. Those who are looking for a marriage, say no to dowry, and say yes to a girl child.

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omen’s empowerment, as the term per se, has been hammering the Indian minds from the days of our struggle for freedom. Not to rule out that there have been initiatives during all stages of Indian history to establish the deserving position of women in the society, but changes gained velocity during (and after) the War of Independence from the British. The movement is mostly remembered for the likes of Sarojini Naidu, Gandhi, and Raja Ram Mohan Roy. That is the history.

Besides the history, the culture makes India one of the few countries where a woman is worshiped in various forms and stages. Since Independence, there have been widespread discussions of the issues related to women such as dowry, female infanticide, foeticide, sex ratio, and female illiteracy. It has been artistically captured in a recent movie Matrubhoomi (2003), which shows the future of several districts of India if our culture does not improve.

It has been widely acknowledged that the problem is also severe whether in states which are economically developed like Punjab and Haryana, in states which have a high female literacy like Tamil Nadu, or in states which have cultural practices unsuitable to a mother and child safety like Rajasthan. In such a case, it is no surprise that a sitting woman MLA from Bihar, a state which has quite low female literacy rate, suffers from domestic violence (Lawyers Club India, 2010). Now, what is the direction of the movement of women’s empowerment? Do people kill the girl child primarily because of dowry or poverty or illiteracy? These are the popular reasons advocated by most people, but the position of women is no better even in the societies of reverse dowry (some tribal pockets of Rajasthan and Orissa) and relatively not-sopoor and literate communities like Tamil Nadu (Aravamudan, 2001). People have innovative mechanisms to kill a girl child. Some girls die in the womb; others die soon after birth, and those who survive may die due to malnutrition. Additionally, a high current maternal mortality rate of 407 means over 0.13 million mothers die every year at the time of delivery—one mother every five minutes (Indian Express, 2006).

Unfortunately, while most leaders of the movement for women’s empowerment will take no time to jump into discussions over women’s empowerment, they are whirlpooled in so many discussions that they hardly have time to do much work on the ground. The real problems lie under the blanket. Today, for most of such “activists”, the only aim is a 33 percent reservation in as many horizons as possible. I doubt if that is the most important thing they need to focus on. Is 33 percent reservation or representation a valuable indicator of women’s empowerment? One of my female colleague once said that it is the domestic violence against men that is the true indicator for women’s empowerment. A recent study conducted in

Kunj Bihari Pratap, PDM 10

References Aravamudan, G. (2001). Born to die. Retrieved December 25 from http://www.rediff.com/news/2001/oct/24spec.htm Indian Express. (2006). UNICEF: India slips on MMR, unlikely to meet 2015 target. Retrieved December 25 from http://www.indianexpress.com/news/unicef-india-slips-on-mmr-unlikely-tomeet/19195/ Lawyers Club India. (2010). Bihar woman MLA beaten by husband.

Retrieved December 25 from http://www.lawyersclubindia.com/forum/Bihar-woman-Ruling-Party-MLA-beaten-byhusband-28656.asp Matrubhoomi: A nation without women. (2003). Retrieved December 25 from http://www.planetbollywood.com/displayReview.php?id=041406045817 and http://funatoz.com/movie_review/Matrubhoomi

A Yogic Approach to Development An Awakening into Development

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hen I first attended the yoga class at the Academy, the only time I waited for was “Shantiashna”, where I sometimes fell into a deep sleep. I would say I was good at it because some of my friends even snored!

Shanti-ashna is, however, not simply lying flat on the ground; it is the point of maximum consciousness where our consciousness is given to all the parts of the 6

body from internal organs to external organs, from head to toe. Yoga teaches consciousness in every action we do, whether we breathe, eat, sleep, rest, or work. Nothing is let alone to chance to just go on as it is. Leaving things or waiting for things to come naturally is unnatural, and will lead to uncertainties that we actually cannot anticipate. The Vedic saint Patanjali, who compiled the Yougsutra, says that “Yoga of consciousness is about developing the skills and abilities to raise our awareness of who we are, simultaneously releasing the limitations of who we are not.” Everything should be covered under consciousness for the truest neutrality to be expressed.

Development, also, should happen with full consciousness of the processes without leaving it to chance.

The great German philosopher Johan Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) said that the path of development should be treaded consciously. And everyone should have a continuous conversation with the events happening around them, see the process of the natural transformation, and incorporate this into his knowledge.

“Development and disaster” is a buzz-phrase today.

Why has disaster become so common when we claim development all around? In every sphere, the development processes takes its own path. Unplanned development is what cripples the road to sustainable development. Developing countries are mostly at the receiving end of unplanned development. Look at a disaster story about global warming: had the path of development been treaded consciously it would still be fiction today. Instead, at this juncture, developing countries bear the brunt of global warming more than the countries which actually went on a spree to pollute the environment. Disasters obviously are disastrous, but there are ways to prevent them or make them less intense by conscious planning.

A yogic consciousness in one’s actions is the secret to a healthy life. In our endeavour on the path of development, consciousness is the secret to make development more healthy and sustainable.

Why are transgenders discriminated against at every stage of their life starting from their birth? If parents come to know that their child is a transgender, they throw him out. [Editor’s note: Even our language does not have pronouns to adequately accommodate transgenders, as reflected in the previous sentence.] In such circumstances, the basic facilities like food and housing become serious issues for the child. Discrimination against them starts from their home and continues in the society at various places such as railway stations, hospitals, police stations, educational institutions, and at all government support systems. In applications for admittance into schools, colleges, or hospitals there are only two options of entering one’s sex: male and female. A transgender is not acknowledged by most such systems. Again, medical science recognises only the two popular sexes of males and females. This creates problems for the transgender people, as they do not belong to either group. For example, most health insurance providers demand that all consumers must identify themselves as either male or female and there have been reports that the healthcare system in our country, both public and private, routinely declines service to the transgendered people, solely because they are transgenders. In this situation, transgenders avoid going to hospitals. They are sometimes regarded as dirty and at other times, untouchable.

Transgenders are also denied of many facilities from the State such as ration cards, voter identity cards, basic amenities, shelter, and property rights. They lack the support of society and often face violence by the police.

Their prime concern is to get alternative employment, but this is very difficult. It can be generalised that it is out of the question for a transgender to secure a regular and respectable job in the current scenario. It is not because they lack the skills and capabilities, but because organisations are not open to employing transgenders.

Since they are denied of all rights, discriminated at all places, and do not get a regular employment, they face many problems. Hence, they are forced to beg or work as commercial sex workers. Whose mistake is it? Is it the mistake of the transgender, of our society, or the almighty? Nature made them transgender, but society has made them into beggars and sex workers. The inclination of the transgender community towards commercial sex as an income generation activity has increased the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, some of which have no cure. Is not the curse given by the mainstream society to the transgender ultimately backfiring? Perhaps the mainstream society needs to take some time to realise their mistake and take corrective actions.

Limlenlal Mate, PDM 8 Alumnus

Sex: Male / Female (circle only one) Transgenders in Contemporary India

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t railway stations, bus stations, public places, and sometimes on trains we encounter some people who approach us saying “Bhaiya, give me ten rupees” or even more rudely, “Oye, take out some money.” Generally, we get scared and try to escape from such people. If it is not possible to escape, then we give them some money along with many verbal abuses. We know that they are also human beings, so why are we afraid of them and why do we abuse them? Why do they keep begging and asking for money even after been abused? These are the problems faced by transgenders today. Most people do not bear any compassion for them; others hate them.

Mallesham Edla, PDM 10

Editorial Committee’s Note: Mainstream society, the State, and other institutions need to begin to acknowledge the existence of transgenders and modify the procedures in their favour. This issue can be approached in a three way process: increasing the acceptance of transgenders in society and institutions, the behaviour modification of trans7

Unfortunately, the State, too, has succumbed to the corporate lobby of organised retail and favours the move to create structural unemployment.

Due to this phenomenon, there is a great loss of capital and labour. Earlier, poor people migrated from rural areas to urban areas in pursuit of employment, but now, poor people have to migrate from the urban areas too.

They are left with either no work or dangerous and dirty jobs. In total, organised retailing has made the families of small shopkeepers highly vulnerable. Since they mostly belong to the middle class, their life, their livelihood, and the education of their children are all at risk.

A vulnerable middle class indicates that organised retail has hampered the development of society in general.

Presently, the interest of this vulnerable group is being ignored by both the State and NGOs.

genders in public places, and favourable legal measures. To begin with, the State should accommodate the concerns of transgender community in all procedures such as application forms and ensure equal treatment in all institutions for education, health, justice, recreation, and employment.

This should be followed by countrywide seminars and discussions in educational institutions and academic bodies over the changes to be adopted by the mainstream society.

This would hopefully fuel a breeze of change of people’s attitude. Additionally, the transgender community should develop their code of conduct in public places. They deserve respect and compassion like every human being. A transgender should have all rights available to you and me. KBP

An Organised Push into Poverty Big Bazaar has become the popular Indian face of organised retail. It is a place where we can get all the necessary household commodities under one roof. When I first heard about the inauguration of Big Bazaar in my hometown, Kanpur, I was glad. Only recently did I realise its consequences on small shopkeepers. The outlets of organised retails display modern technology, fashion, and commodities, and are the centres of attraction for youth, children, and women. They also offer discounts on heavy purchases even on branded items—a concept somewhat new in Indian markets. Now, a homemaker prefers to purchase from organised retailers rather than from the local shopkeepers. While they offer appreciable services to the consumers, have they snatched the livelihoods of middleclass entrepreneurs?

On one hand, these Big Bazaars are good because they provide all the modern facilities to people with convenience; on the other hand, they threaten the livelihoods of millions of small-scale businesses who are already in market. The small shopkeepers invest capital to set up their business and solely depend on their shops; most of them live on subsistence. The small shops cannot compete with the capitalist ideas of organised retail primarily because they lack professional management, large scale of operations, and streamlined logistics.

Gradually, all small shops would be engulfed by incarnations of organised retail that are owned by the rich and will capture most of the revenue from the market.

In the coming years, there will be great inequality in terms of income for the sellers. In a country like India, where the middle class represents a substantial share of the population, organised retailers are getting permits to operate at the cost of the small shopkeepers. This “development”, as it is popularly called, benefits only the big business persons and will increase the divide between the economic classes in the society. This may not be the best form of development for our country. Organised retail defies the Gandhian model of development which advocates “Dignity of Labour: everyone must earn his bread by physical labour.” If organised retailers spread their tentacles at their current speed, it will increase the issues of push-migration and unemployment by multiples times.

Shanti Gupta, PDM 11

Editorial Committee’s Note: This phenomenon is, perhaps, ignored by the State and NGOs because they perceive that the urban middle class shopkeepers are able to survive after the entrance of organised retail. This may be justified to some extent because the urban shopkeepers operate at slightly attractive margins. However, organised retail will not differentiate between urban and rural markets and soon will create unbearable pressure on small-scale rural entrepreneurs. The rural poor, who are already vulnerable to the issues of food security, health, and sustainable income, will surrender to this phenomenon without putting up a fight. Poor sellers and poor buyers who obviously operate at minimal margins and low marginal costs characterise the rural haats (rural fairs), which are the most important avenues of local trade in rural and tribal India. The villagers will be required to search for new avenues to sell their products, because the rural fairs may disappear. This is why, when visualizing the future of organised retail in India, it is necessary to act now and prepare rural and urban entrepreneurs to meet the pace and skills of organised retail. This will offer better competition in the market and better markets for the organised retailers and small shopkeepers, not to mention, another pool of happy consumers. KBP

O

Every Human Can Contribute

ur planet has always been beautiful. The real beauty of our planet comes from life–plants and animals. The planet takes care of all living creatures by itself. The plants are the producers of food, the animals are the consumers, and the cycle goes round. With this natural cycle of consumption and production, everything is peaceful because the elements in this system are organised by nature, which accommodates the needs of every creature. In the past two centuries, human civilization has manipulated the elements of this system. This has been possible with the help of new technology, which promises efficiency and optimum usage of resources. Unfortunately, this has happened at the expense of nature, which has continually been ignored without caring for the needs of our future generations.

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changes have caused huge losses to the clueless farmers.

An increase in the average temperate of Earth has also adversely affected the survival, yield, and fertility of livestock. The same has maladjusted the breeding cycles of the aquatic animals like fish and crustaceans. As an effect, there has been unemployment and migration from the primary sector to the secondary sector. It has troubled the process of development of the poor people who mostly depend on the primary sector and do not have the skills required for secondary sector.

The malpractices of indiscriminate deforestation, inhumane disposal of waste, and use of the technology to dismantle the elements of nature should be stopped. To achieve this, the governments of all countries have to join on a common platform and agree to take the required measures to their capacity. Furthermore, the corrective action for environmental damage must be done before it becomes irreparable. Let us put a stop to the blame-game and own our share of fault. Every individual can contribute and correct what she or he wronged. Let us take care of our planet and do our share to create a better place to live.

Earth’s temperature has been reportedly rising every day and the climate has changed across the globe. While the intellectual societies of the world continue to debate over the cause of this problem, their effects are being experienced all over in instances of disasters and destruction. Clearly, the climate has not changed for the better.

It has resulted in loss of many species that have been jeopardised and has rotated the crop seasons. One of the very important assets that has suffered loss is drinking water. The ground water has been widely contaminated by industries and the surface water abounds with contamination due to other human activities. The release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere due to human activity is catalysed by the industries and deforestation.

Additionally, polar ice has undergone rapid changes due to melting of ice: freshwater useful for consumption is now converted into saltwater that is not useful for drinking. According to the National Snow and Ice Data Centre, there are 5,773,000 cubic miles of water, glaciers, ice caps, and permanent snow on our planet which are continuously melting owing to the rising global temperatures (Lindell, 2010). Ultimately, this phenomenon leads to the rise in sea levels and subsequent flooding of islands and coastal nations up to 200 feet above sea level (Simmons, n.d.).

To look for evidence of climate change we do not need to browse the internet and libraries or ask an expert. We can find evidence in our garden too. The flowering seasons of many plants have shifted from the normal.

In agriculture, climate change has affected the time of germination of seeds and disturbed the ideal temperature required for germination and growth. These subtle

Practicing Five Teachings from the Gita in Management

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hrimad Bhagwad Gita is such a piece of motivation that every time I visit it, I find new things to ponder and practice. The Gita deals with management—not with the perspective of factors of production, but with a focus on self: the core of all management. This time, I have taken five sharp lessons from Gita, which can benefit us in our daily affairs, especially in the art of management. In the lessons that follow, familiarity of the reader with Shrimad Bhagwad Gita and the epic Mahabharata is assumed.

Sandeep Kumar, PDM 11

References Lindell, N. (2010). An overview of global warming: An overview and the causes of global warming. Retrieved December 28, 2010 from http://geography.about.com/od/globalproblemsandissues/a/globalwarming.htm Simmons. (n.d.). 5 deadliest effects of global warming: Global warming effects. Retrieved December 28, 2010 from http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/sciencetech/5-deadliest-effects-of-globalwarming/276

its origin to many incidents, one of which is the case where Dhritrashtra unconsciously used the words maamkah (my sons) and Pandvah (sons of his younger brother Pandu) for his sons and his nephews. This vexed the Pandavas and later proved fatal for the whole generation of the Kauravas. The lesson here is that, under all circumstances, words should

Choice of Words

Words can win hearts and wars.

The war of the Mahabharata owes 9

be chosen wisely. Words do not only assist in communication; they also expose our mind and personality. In fact, Dhritrashtra correctly addressed the Pandavas by their relation, but they expected to be addressed like sons. Similarly, people should act as they are expected to under social circumstances, and not as they wish to. An example

of this can be wearing a smile when we deal with people, irrespective of our state of mind.

Choice of Alternatives

Resources are increasingly becoming scarcer which augments the challenge of managing them. There will always be trade-offs between more than one alternative. This is why it is important to learn how to choose wisely and utilise optimally.

Krishna mocks the moment when Duryodhana chose Krishna’s large army for help while Arjuna selected Krishna’s presence and wisdom.

Therefore, unlike Duryodhana, a good manager should never fail to see the bigger picture and act wisely to evaluate the alternatives. Evaluation of alternatives is critical to make decisions; this demands patience, wisdom and managerial skills.

Attitude Towards Work

Personalities differ with one’s perspectives. The Gita advocates that everyone should build a visionary perspective in his or her work.

One should see the importance of one’s work beyond their desk, organisation, and niche markets, because the importance extends to society in general. It is defined in the subtle concepts of Swadharma, Vidharma, and Adharma. It suggests that while one does some work, they should not get preoccupied with the outcomes.

It advises non-attachment to the res-

ults of actions performed while remaining accountable for the output of one's duty. It says that by acting without attachment, one can accomplish distant outcomes. An attachment sprouts ego in our work and detachment generates emancipation from the harmful energies.

It further advises us to perform our actions with a feeling of love to the Divine and emphasises that all work should be taken as a service to God. To excel in the performance of the work, the best way is to immerse oneself in the work so much that it no longer appears as work (karma) but rather, a duty (dharma). This gives rise to a value system in the work of an individual.

Decision-making Process

When Arjuna fails to convince himself to wage war against his elders, Krishna assists him to make a decision. The Gita talks about the righteous decision-making process. It says that in the midst of a tempest, one needs to take decisions, and those should be righteous. In difficult circumstances, one should be guided by the principle to refrain from thoughts that may make her weak, either physically or psychologically. Faith in self and dharma (ethical action) guides the way to making better decisions. This will not only streamline the process and minimise the use of resources, but

A Pinch of Politics with A Lot of Statistics: A Review of “Data Analysis for Politics and Policy”

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orecasting is an important word in financial markets, disaster management, and many other areas that involve extensive decision-making. The book under review, titled Data Analysis for Politics and Policy and authored by political scientist and statistician Edward R. Tufte from Yale University, is unique in its kind. It drives a reader to think of politics from a statistical perspective. To write this book, Tufte has taken advantage of his experience as a political science teacher, his education in statistics, and his [then budding] expertise in the field of visual presentation.

The book has expressed statistical techniques with respect to politics and policy-making. The statistical proced10

also ultimately lead to better outcomes.

Social Good

The fact remains that while doing great work, one needs a great amount of energy and motivation. A person may run out of energy and motivation when he is doing something for personal gains, but he will always be driven by higher energies when he is able to see the larger interests of the world. Krishna taught Arjuna to fight against his elders not with the intention of sheer personal pursuits of materialism, but for Lok-kalyan: the good of many, with a firm belief in the virtue of ethics (dharma) over unethical actions. Moreover, work done for personal gains delivers a certain set of benefits which may outweigh the cost but works done for the common good reaps a quantum of benefits so great that it overthrows all the costs. Thus, the margin always remains high in the actions of Lokkalyan. Sensing the responsibility of the work, a manager should ideally be able to evade negative mental states like greed, anger, jealousy, hate, and suspicion.

Kunj Bihari Pratap

References Bhattathiry, M. P. (2004). Bhagavad Gita and management. Retrieved on September 15, 2009 from http://www.boloji.com/hinduism/073.htm

ures, as explained with diagrammatic explanations, are easy to understand. The explanation process starts with a simple theoretical explanation, and follows with the formation of statistical equations and graphical presentation; finally, the most important and remarkable, the explanation of the whole mechanism ends with a real life example.

Throughout the book, the writer has targeted the politicians who know little about or do not know about

By Edward R. Tufte © 1974, Prentice Hall College Division ISBN: 0131975250; 179 pages http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/dapp/

statistical methods useful for politics and policy. To establish logic, the writer starts with a definition and then substantiates it with common examples, sometimes in the form of questions. To explain dependent and independent variables, for example, he asks “Does smoking cause lung cancer?” Clearly, lung cancer is the dependent or explained variable and smoking is independent or explanatory variable.

This book is ideally interesting, but operationally and practically challenged. It is interesting to read, easy to understand, and excellent to remember through real life examples. It is easy to internalise a stochastic variable with an expected mean of zero, which is graphically represented in the book as vertical drop from the population regression function. But can we determine the value of a stochastic variable for the next elected representative from “Z” constituency, for instance? It is difficult to determine by how much the average vote will differ for an old candidate.

Ideally, we can come out with a figure with the help of historical data, but this is still not very practical as in a political perspective, getting a vote is not dependent on a single factor like economic condition of the voter, age of the voter, or the voter’s marital status alone. Rather, it depends on a mix of factors including communication, racial diversity, and geographical homogeneity. A few explanatory variables in a regression model showing the effect on a dependent variable

TDA News General The Director, one professor, and 25 students from Bharadhidasan Institute of Management came on an exposure visit to the Academy.

Research Data validation workshops for the district human development reports for Kanyakumari and the Nilgiris, as well as a steering committee meeting for the studies were conducted.

are not sufficient to predict politics. A single vote in politics is a function of multiple factors. An appreciable attempt has been made in this book to explain this through multiple regressions; however, even a multiple regression model is subject to many disturbances within the model which dislocate the equation. These concerns are not addressed in the book in detail.

As a reader goes through the book, they may strongly feel that it reaches to politics but not to politicians and it reaches to policies but not to policy makers. One may like this book for its harmonised flow of thoughts to interpret politics and policies matters statistically; however, this book in itself seems insufficient to guide the one who is intended to use it in a practical manner. Going for multiple regression and dummy variable regression model is like walking on a razor’s edge: a little deviation will make a great difference. Plausible errors are always much more potential than the best possible outcomes in this respect. A little interdependence of any two or more variables will lead to a biased result. An omission of a single cross section of a data may lead to an invalidation of the whole process. Thus, the complexity defeats the purpose of the book because the politicians and policy makers (and perhaps their advisors) may not have the prerequisite expertise to comprehend these problem areas. To make the book qualified for its audience, the writer should have simplified it with

more examples and stories. However, simplification and further explanation may also require more equations and more use of statistical techniques that will multiply the complexity. Unfortunately, I feel the ultimate objective of the book to provide some basic material for drawing political and policy inferences is not fulfilled.

Despite the shortcomings, the book establishes the role that data analysis and statistical approaches play in forecasting. The objective to improve the quality of statistical thought has been satisfactory throughout the book. However, at times, it seems to be a collection of data from a purposive sample to show success stories. This is not the best way to deal with issues of politics and policy changes that are much more sensitive in nature, issues where the immediate and direct impact falls upon the people. Still, it is an attempt to blend two different disciplines for a single purpose. Setting aside its shortcomings in operational feasibility, the graphical representations and explanations through live examples are appreciable. Briefly, it may be noted that Data Analysis for Politics and Policy is a unique book, very clear in demonstrating statistical techniques. It is most advisable for classroom theoretical study rather than for day-to-day politics and policy matters.

PDM 10

PDM 11

After returning from their first Development Practice Segment, the PDM 10 batch returned to the Academy for their fourth term in which they focus on project management and project design.

They also had a motivational visit to Amar Seva Sangam, an NGO working on empowering disabled people. The batch has now left for their second Development Practice Segment during which they will be working with Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (India), DHAN Foundation, Foundation for Ecological Security, and Grameen Development Society (Lucknow).

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Dushasana Mahanta, PDM 10

References Gujarati D.N. (2006). Basic Econometrics. New York: Tata McGraw-Hill.

The PDM 11 students celebrated DHAN’s thirteenth Foundation Day (October 2) by presenting a short skit on the theme of “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil”. After completing their first term, they went on their first Fieldwork Segment. They were placed in rural, tribal, and urban (slum) contexts and spent just over one month trying to characterize poverty and identify development issues in each context. They have now returned to the Academy for their second classroom segment, which started with a short yoga camp.

Tata-Dhan Academy

T. Malaipatti, Thenkarai Mullipallam Post Vadipatti Taluk Madurai District 625 207 Web: http://www.dhan.org/tda Email: tatadhanacademy@dhan.org Blog: http://tdapdm.wordpress.com Tel: 04543 - 293405