Shreya was making do with Rs. 3000/month salary. It was not much, especially since she was raising her son by herself, but still it was a livelihood and she managed. She taught Computer Science to middle and high school kids at a private school. A few years after her B.Sc in Mathematics she had finished her computer diploma course at a private computer center. Her teaching work typically kept her busy every hour of the day - the computer teacher was often called upon to fill in for other teachers who were absent and to help with a variety of school activities.
She had begun a correspondence source to get an MCA from Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU). This might expand her horizons and increase her expertise. In spite of her heavy workload and caring for her son she signed up for the course. The bulk of the course material was sent to her to learn by herself. Programming projects were done at the computer center MKU staffed in her town. This meant that after a long day at work she had to come home and work on assignments and when necessary go to the computer center to use the computers there. It was hard work, but she was diligent. She was determined to do well in the course.
Her first year exams were coming up, there were 10 papers. Relational database systems, programming languages, operating systems, all the standard computer science courses that one would see in the first year in a course at this level. She was working hard for the exams.
"Will you get leave to take the exams?" I asked.
"Oh, yes", she said. "They are very good about all that."
We went back to looking at her relational database course material. It was only some time later when the topic came up again that I realized - she would lose 10 days pay when she took the exam. 10 days pay cut when she took exams that would help her improve professionally. 10 days pay cut for something that would potentially help her do her job better. The job would wait for her to come back 10 days later - that was the school was being "good about."
As long as there are people who need jobs employers will get away with the least possible pay.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Prices of Toor Dal in India
Talking about food prices in India, I was totally taken aback on a recent trip when I saw that the price of a kg of Toor Dal was Rs. 90. I had to the shopkeeper a couple more times to be sure I had correctly. Good quality rice was selling at Rs. 30 - Rs. 40/kg and refined sunflower oil was Rs 80/liter or so. Oil cheaper than Toor Dal? (Yes, I know a liter is not the same as a kg, but still) Has that ever happened before? All through the years I was growing up oil was the most high priced item on the grocery list and was careful used in kitchens. But now Toor Dal was more expensive?
I began to ask around to understand why Toor Dal had risen in price. I asked shopkeepers, friends, family, NGO coordinators. "Oh yes, prices of Toor Dal has risen, doubled over the 3 months and tripled over the last 6 months", they would say. "It has become very hard to maintain meals for the children", said the coordinator of a NGO I know well. When pressed for reasons, I heard many: "hoarding by Tatas and Birlas and Reliance to shoot up prices later", or "exports have gone up", or "middle-men are hoarding, the businessmen have become ruthless", or, "consumption has gone up". The last reason seemed somewhat plausible as a contributing factor, and if so, did that mean that the supply was not keeping up with the demand? The hoarding sounded implausible, because when I asked further about reasons that could cause the hoarding at this particular point in time (was there a relaxation of some regulation?) there was no answer. It was quite surprising how hard it was to find out some plausible reasons for the increase in the price of Toor Dal.
By contrast in the US if the gas prices goes up by as much as 10 cents there is a slew of analysis and discussions on the topic. Every major media agency weighs in and there is much analysis on the airwaves. I am sure data is available in India as well, it just did not seem easily obtainable. Perhaps academic journals and some magazines have written on the issue.
It is not that people in the US speak sensibly on every topic, after carefuly gathering facts. The healthcare debate is a prime example of the contrary. But at least there is a framework to have discussions based on facts. Information seems more accessible to people who want to understand. And there are people who sensibly analyze topics based on facts.
Isn't this type of analysis based on facts and access to facts that education in India's schools should help achieve?
I began to ask around to understand why Toor Dal had risen in price. I asked shopkeepers, friends, family, NGO coordinators. "Oh yes, prices of Toor Dal has risen, doubled over the 3 months and tripled over the last 6 months", they would say. "It has become very hard to maintain meals for the children", said the coordinator of a NGO I know well. When pressed for reasons, I heard many: "hoarding by Tatas and Birlas and Reliance to shoot up prices later", or "exports have gone up", or "middle-men are hoarding, the businessmen have become ruthless", or, "consumption has gone up". The last reason seemed somewhat plausible as a contributing factor, and if so, did that mean that the supply was not keeping up with the demand? The hoarding sounded implausible, because when I asked further about reasons that could cause the hoarding at this particular point in time (was there a relaxation of some regulation?) there was no answer. It was quite surprising how hard it was to find out some plausible reasons for the increase in the price of Toor Dal.
By contrast in the US if the gas prices goes up by as much as 10 cents there is a slew of analysis and discussions on the topic. Every major media agency weighs in and there is much analysis on the airwaves. I am sure data is available in India as well, it just did not seem easily obtainable. Perhaps academic journals and some magazines have written on the issue.
It is not that people in the US speak sensibly on every topic, after carefuly gathering facts. The healthcare debate is a prime example of the contrary. But at least there is a framework to have discussions based on facts. Information seems more accessible to people who want to understand. And there are people who sensibly analyze topics based on facts.
Isn't this type of analysis based on facts and access to facts that education in India's schools should help achieve?
Saturday, October 17, 2009
No one is quite sure why the situation is so dire ....
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/magazine/11FOB-Rieff-t.html?emc=eta1
Sometimes these articles make me really mad. It includes a line, "No one is quite sure why the nutrition situation in India is so dire. The lack of women’s empowerment in both rural and urban areas is thought to play a major role." I should say it is quite simple why the situation in India is dire. First, food is expensive and the economic boom has not increased the income of everyone to make nutritious food within reach for all. The government subsidies food through ration shops but there is a lot of corruption. The net result is the poor cannot get access to enough nutritious food. Simple.
The empowerment of women affects the nutritious levels of girls. That is a different issue from the fact that 43% of all children in India (boys and girls) are undernourished as the article describes.
Sometimes these articles make me really mad. It includes a line, "No one is quite sure why the nutrition situation in India is so dire. The lack of women’s empowerment in both rural and urban areas is thought to play a major role." I should say it is quite simple why the situation in India is dire. First, food is expensive and the economic boom has not increased the income of everyone to make nutritious food within reach for all. The government subsidies food through ration shops but there is a lot of corruption. The net result is the poor cannot get access to enough nutritious food. Simple.
The empowerment of women affects the nutritious levels of girls. That is a different issue from the fact that 43% of all children in India (boys and girls) are undernourished as the article describes.
This Complex World of Ours
"Follies and Inconsistencies do divert me I own, and I laugh at them whenever I can", wrote my favorite author Jane Austen. The world we live in often reminds me of that phrase: follies and inconsistencies. Very quickly this is not a laughing matter - unfairness, exploitation, unequal distribution in our inequitable world are not just to be laughed off. It makes one mad, frustrated, and motivated to do something, as it should. But laughing at them can help one find the strength to address them.
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