DREAMS COLORED RED AND BLUE !!!

Poverty is as old as the world itself. Man has reached the moon, man has found vaccine cures for deadly diseases, man has celebrated victory in wars, man boasts of successful green revolutions, but still there are millions of people in the world, who struggle to master the basic skill- skill of survival. And in this struggle they fall in the clutches of the inevitable-poverty. We all grow up with poor people around us, but we never question why they are poor. No one is born poor. And hence this means there is an inherent defect in the economic system. There is money, but it does not reach the right hands. We live in a world where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

Thousands of universities all over the world teach economics, have eminent economic professors, but why is that no one questions as to why money doesn’t reach the poor. Poverty is not the sign of a civilized world. And charity is not the solution to poverty.A beggar knocks at ur car window as your wait for the signal to turn green,and out of your urgency to get rid of him your pay him a penny.But will dat penny pull him out from poverty?Noone is poor by choice.Every time you shop at Levis or WestSide,evrytym you eat from MacD or CCD, give a moment of thought to those multitudes who wait outside to eat from your trash,or dress in rags.

If noone is born poor then why do they live and die poor?

What can we do to end this vicious circle?

This is the root idea that gave birth to Bangladesh’s Grameen Bank and BancoSol in Bolivia. The one word solution was named micro finance. Understanding the needs of the poorest and downtrodden in the society, small amounts of credit at reasonably low interest rates is offered. This credit can be to rebuild a house, marry off a daughter, buy cattle, or even to be self employed.

The poor need to freed from the bondage of collateral. Like food and water and air, credit too is a human right. Credit ensures every individual his right to dignified living. The success saga of micro finance institutions all over the world has added to the growth momentum of this universal concept.An interesting observation was made by the Micro Credit Summit Council of Practitioners in 1998 while they studied the 925 member institutions. It was noted that 76% of the clients are women. The fairer sex have always been regarded as the weaker gender. There have been efforts in India to empower the hand that rocks the cradle. But all this plays only at a periphereal level. We see only the brighter side of the Indian woman upheld by world icons like Indra Nooyi, Chanda Kochar, Sania Mirza or Kalpana Chawla. We do not see the millions of women who toil at construction sites, tanneries, fisheries. We turn a blind eye to the bar dancers and prostitutes at night clubs.We opt to be comfortably unaware about such unparliamentary issues!!!

We talk of empowerment in a country of female foeticide and child marriage. We talk of empowerment to a country where men drink and make merry, while women work from sunrise to sunset to fill her stomach.

And yet these dogs bark when we talk of 33%reservation and empowerment!! We need to think of the rural woman who toils hard day and night. What is her contribution in terms of income, economic decision making, child health, family planning and ultimately women activism.

Human society has always tried to fight for equal opportunities. Through micro finance women can be uplifted to a status equal to her male counterpart. Poverty can be sent to museum, as every family can eat square meals a day, provide adequate shelter and education to children.

We brag of 8-9% CAGP, of international accords on climate change, of free trade agreements. But we shall go Nowhere....Not until we Wipe her Tears, Not until the hand dat rocks the cradle Holds the Sceptre!!!

Till then let's talk of empowerment.....