You have got to give the person her due. She has empowered village folks to make sure that things get done in the village.
If she is a Mao sympathiser, then that is a real shame. You could do the things she did without being infected by the communist germ. Otherwise, I think she has done a little bit for the village.
You can be a volunteer too. I had mooted an "ADOPT YOUR VILLAGE" idea before.
We need more and more people like her to go to villages and raise the standard of living. To raise level of the basic amenities of people there and to increase their technology awareness.
We need to demonstrate to them how to use technology to solve their problems and make their lives better. We need to help them tune into the outside world.
If she is filling their heads with Marxist crap then that is shameful.
The knee-jerk reaction of the left against technological collaboration with the west is a shameful and ignorant attitude. An educated villager in India would actually support such a deal.
Everything from Fiber Optics to prosthetics has made great advances in the US. It would be a shame not to tap into this.
BTW check out this site: http://www.namastesolar.com
We need All Village oriented NGOs to be technology oriented instead of ideology oriented.
RE:Of the three people Arun Roy has done some good.
by on Aug 24, 2007 04:06 AM Permalink
Medha, readers
I am born and bought up in Kerala and I am not ashamed to say that the communists have converted the state into a pseudo intellectual minded pro-left place. I have been also interested in the SFI movement when I was a teen and participated in some of the activities, but thank god I had something called "Ability to think" and I decided to get out of it. A place like Kannur in Kerala is converted into a terror bastion by the left and they use terror tactics to do this. I wish Medha was lucky enough to be a housewife with 3 kids and a working husband in the Kannur area. So much for your social activism. I used to respect you at one time.. but since I know that you have convoluted logic and support the political opportunists like the communists.. I am happy to say that I dont even respect you as much as I respect Benazir Bhutto.
There is a simple equation to the communist thought process.. Rich India -- > People have good jobs --> No one has time for political activism and hold the red flag --> People are happy --> No more poor --> No need for communism --> What happens to you then Medha ? You dont get the limelite again ? so .. prevent India from developing --> More poor --> Communists get stronger. People like me vows to you Medha.. one day we will see that there is no communism left in India. As for your co-authors they are not worth a comment. What do u think will be the result of a nationwide opinion poll on the nuclear deal ? Let me know your guess.
RE:Of the three people Arun Roy has done some good.
by shiva on Aug 24, 2007 06:54 AM Permalink
Mr Vishnu Sharma,
Everyone has to be given his/her due including our leftists brothers. The concept of communism was good, but became utopian due to the nature of man.
How practical are we? How to make progress without the basic ingredient, energy to power our needs. Even the optimists admit, there are are no practical alternatives to fossil fuels at the moment. They can maximum meet about 30% of world energy needs by 2050. India is 70% dependent on Middle East oil and it can be used to blackmail us any time. MM Singh tries very hard to get Iranian gas through Afganistan & Pakistan. That shows the options that are available to us. US is dead against this, but all the same we keep trying. Nobody seems bothered about the fate of our huge investments and repurcussions on this deal, which is highly risky.
We have to have practical solutions than hope that status quo will solve our problems. No country is really independent and we have to make best use of the options. We should get help from wherever, without being too rigid to put off well meaning overtures. Let us admit we have benefited from other coutries like others, from USA even.
RE:Of the three people Arun Roy has done some good.
by Vishnu Sharma on Aug 24, 2007 07:10 AM Permalink
Precisely, Being rigid does not help. The US has only helped us before with grain and later with FDI when our economy opened up.
RE:Of the three people Arun Roy has done some good.
by shiva on Aug 24, 2007 07:25 AM Permalink
Mr Vishnu Sharma,
What a contrast our leftists are compared to the Chinese? They just stand in the way of any progress and initiative. Time Medha aligned herself with people who believe in progress.
Despite suffering so much at the hands of Japan, ten times Japanese companies have invested in China. All the major US companies, including big retailers have huge investments there. Even highly cutting edge technological companies are doing world class manufacturing in China.
THe US navy chief yesterday thanked China for reciprocating his gesture in allowing his visit to top secret areas. Now, if MM Singh had done that, the repurcussions by our leftists can only be imagined.
