Some time back there are was a lot of talk in the media and also in the general public about the hike in salary, perks of the elected representatives in the parliament, Yes, why not as it has gone up from 16,000 Rs/month to 50,000 Rs/month a staggering 300% increase. On one side the people are saying that there should not be any hike in the pay as they are already making a lot of money through various sources which is well known to everyone. On the other side there is a saying that if a person is paid well with a good salary then there are very chances that he will not indulge in corruption, his performance will improve and he will be more sincere and accountable towards the work.
My question to the policy makers and the parliamentarians is that why are we not talking about the increase in the salary/honorarium for the elected representatives of the PRI members. They are being paid very less and the expectations from them is very high, in delivering the various development programs/schemes. My experience in the field says that many of the PRI members (not all) are daily wage earners and to attend any meeting they have to loss the daily wage, in fearing of going to bed food less they are attending for work and giving a miss to the meetings which they are suppose to attend as a elected representative, because of this the corruption taking place and also the programs are not being implemented properly as they are not monitoring it regularly. If they are being paid well then there are very high chances that they will perform well.
We need to push in for increase in the salary/honorarium for the PRI members.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
Platform for Youth
Recently I was attending on youth conference, the atmosphere in the hall was full of enthusiasm where youths where in their best by throwing lots of ideas and bringing new dimensions in discussion and debates. In the middle of all the discussion in the hall there was one section who were keeping silent and watching all the show, when enquired came to know that they were attending such conference for the first time and in fact participating in any such discussion for the first time. As the discussion progressed the silent group started to speak. So happy to see a group which was keeping silent has got so much of ideas. This meeting is taking place in the urban setting, where atleast youth have got platforms where they can share their thoughts, ideas and learn from one other and in fact in the meeting came across many groups who come together and do some kind of voluntary activities.
The next day I was talking to various youth groups in the tribal area, many youth don’t have aspirations and those who have aspiration in life don’t know how to achieve it. I was just comparing this youth group with the group which I met the other day in the urban setting. One who have grown up in the city have so many opportunities, if not have various platform where they can come together and share their opinions and thoughts. This privilege of having the platform is not available for the youth in the rural area, they don’t even sit and discuss, debate on any such issue, even if they do, it is mostly of unproductive, the reason is due to lack of facilitators as there is no one to facilitate the discussion, because of this there is no exposure, experience sharing, inter change of ideas and no one playing the role of the facilitator by taking the group in the right direction and in right thinking.
One way of addressing this is by NGOs and school teachers. There are so many NGOs working for the children education and with the adolescents groups (Boys and Girls). They have a very important role to play the role of a facilitator by conducting discussions and debates among the groups and bring out the hidden thoughts in them, but it has to be done in a very facilitative and in a constructive manner. We need to encourage such kind of discussion, where the brain starts thinking and brings out the new aspirations and innovativeness among youth. . They need platform and we need to give it to them, for example in a village bring out interested youth and have a debate on some topics and then when the group is ready try to have a group discussion with the neighboring village and in the same way try to have a discussion at the panchayat level and then a inter panchayat level discussion and then at the block level. The same thing can be done at the school and the college level also.
The next day I was talking to various youth groups in the tribal area, many youth don’t have aspirations and those who have aspiration in life don’t know how to achieve it. I was just comparing this youth group with the group which I met the other day in the urban setting. One who have grown up in the city have so many opportunities, if not have various platform where they can come together and share their opinions and thoughts. This privilege of having the platform is not available for the youth in the rural area, they don’t even sit and discuss, debate on any such issue, even if they do, it is mostly of unproductive, the reason is due to lack of facilitators as there is no one to facilitate the discussion, because of this there is no exposure, experience sharing, inter change of ideas and no one playing the role of the facilitator by taking the group in the right direction and in right thinking.
One way of addressing this is by NGOs and school teachers. There are so many NGOs working for the children education and with the adolescents groups (Boys and Girls). They have a very important role to play the role of a facilitator by conducting discussions and debates among the groups and bring out the hidden thoughts in them, but it has to be done in a very facilitative and in a constructive manner. We need to encourage such kind of discussion, where the brain starts thinking and brings out the new aspirations and innovativeness among youth. . They need platform and we need to give it to them, for example in a village bring out interested youth and have a debate on some topics and then when the group is ready try to have a group discussion with the neighboring village and in the same way try to have a discussion at the panchayat level and then a inter panchayat level discussion and then at the block level. The same thing can be done at the school and the college level also.
Friday, August 6, 2010
What is Women empowerment?
What is women empowerment?
There is no doubt that many organization are doing wonderful job in the field of empowerment of women. There are many women who have started to speak, there are many women who have never dreamt of going outside her village but now they have started to go out, all this are changing and thanks to all the wonderful people who are working for women empowerment.
We have been seeing many organization working for the empowerment of women and usually the approach which we have seen for empowerment is through SHG. In SHG they usually link them with some savings and credit and then they think that they are on the path of empowerment.
Is this the real empowerment?
Now we need to move one step.
Yes, If they are really talking about the empowerment then why don’t the organization move one step ahead and say you are doing a wonderful job in the community by taking care of your own group and then also helping other groups in the village, raising the voice against the atrocity and participating in all given platform. Now we are taking one step ahead and want to give you a job in our organization. This is the recognition of all your hard work and the growth which we have seen in you.
Now as part of the real empowerment I have seen you grow from the shy women, to the leader of the group, to community leader and now from there to a employment opportunity.
I have been asking this question to the organizations, as you always complain that staff attrition is high, in that case why don’t you promote someone from your SHGs women to the employment in your organization. As they are also competent to do all the work of an animator. Yes, she definitely need the guidance and the support from the organization, but she is a potential candidate for the post. We need to give them the chance as they stay in the same locality and if she has grown to such a level, she will be an asset to the organization and she will also be a role model for the community and in return the respect for the organization will also increase in the community.
The next level of the empowerment would be that the Group women are applying for jobs.
Yes, making the group women so empowered that now they have started to search for jobs, here I am not talking about the work which they are doing over the years but of different kind and in different places.
This is how the empowerment takes place from one step to next step. Organization needs to understand that just by linking them with the banks and providing them with loan is one step in the path of empowerment.
There is no doubt that many organization are doing wonderful job in the field of empowerment of women. There are many women who have started to speak, there are many women who have never dreamt of going outside her village but now they have started to go out, all this are changing and thanks to all the wonderful people who are working for women empowerment.
We have been seeing many organization working for the empowerment of women and usually the approach which we have seen for empowerment is through SHG. In SHG they usually link them with some savings and credit and then they think that they are on the path of empowerment.
Is this the real empowerment?
Now we need to move one step.
Yes, If they are really talking about the empowerment then why don’t the organization move one step ahead and say you are doing a wonderful job in the community by taking care of your own group and then also helping other groups in the village, raising the voice against the atrocity and participating in all given platform. Now we are taking one step ahead and want to give you a job in our organization. This is the recognition of all your hard work and the growth which we have seen in you.
Now as part of the real empowerment I have seen you grow from the shy women, to the leader of the group, to community leader and now from there to a employment opportunity.
I have been asking this question to the organizations, as you always complain that staff attrition is high, in that case why don’t you promote someone from your SHGs women to the employment in your organization. As they are also competent to do all the work of an animator. Yes, she definitely need the guidance and the support from the organization, but she is a potential candidate for the post. We need to give them the chance as they stay in the same locality and if she has grown to such a level, she will be an asset to the organization and she will also be a role model for the community and in return the respect for the organization will also increase in the community.
The next level of the empowerment would be that the Group women are applying for jobs.
Yes, making the group women so empowered that now they have started to search for jobs, here I am not talking about the work which they are doing over the years but of different kind and in different places.
This is how the empowerment takes place from one step to next step. Organization needs to understand that just by linking them with the banks and providing them with loan is one step in the path of empowerment.
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