Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Talibanisation of Indian private banks



Talibanisation of Indian private banks

Around 70 per cent credit card holders with Indian private banks never pay their debts. So, these banks hire miscreants who take extreme steps involving harassment and even assault to recover their debts from customers..
CJ: Ashok K. Jha ,  16 Oct 2008   Views:471   Comments:1
’CREDIT CARD casualties...’, screams the headline of a leading daily newspaper. As per the report, an MNC executive was allegedly kidnapped, assaulted and robbed of Rs 1 lakh ($2100) by recovery agents of HDFC Bank. The incident happened on October 8, but no action has been taken so far. A few weeks earlier, complaints against the HSBC perpetrators were also lodged, but no arrest has been made in that case. The soft approach adopted by investigating agencies has emboldened these banks to take law in their hands and act with utmost impunity.

These banks charge up to 60 per cent interest per annum and levy various hidden and unexplained charges. They justify these hefty charges citing the unrecoverable loans. As per their own admissions more than 70 per cent Indian credit card holders never pay their debts to the banks. So, they target remaining unfortunate customers, fallen somehow under debt trap to squeeze and extract as much as they could by hook or by crook, who are in significant numbers. If anyone is unable to conform to a bank’s deadline, s/he is subjected to brutal treatment. This is nothing sort of ’Talibanisation of Indian private banks’.

American and European financial meltdown could have been averted if they had outsourced all their banking services from India. Like their Western counterpart, Indian private banks also have thousands of collection executives working in shifts. However, these executives modulate their voice as the local miscreants speak. They are well-trained to apprehend customers, but unlike the West, Indian private and MNC banks like HSBC, ICICI, HDFC, hire recovery agents who are criminals and known thugs. Had the Western countries allowed these thugs to rob, assault and kidnap customers to recover loans, they would have succumbed to the pressure and paid by any means or would have committed suicide, but they chose financial meltdown over barbaric banking, which shows that rules laid down by respective governments actually work in these countries.

In India, anybody with a bagful of money can do anything and get away with ease. They just don’t bother about ethics, law and civility. Journalists, lawyers, police personnel and politicians are least likely to get credit cards of any private banks issued in their names. There has been leniency in recent years and the court even asked these banks to clarify the reasons for denying these services to anyone. Thus, this is not anymore a prerogative of a bank to take any whimsical and discriminatory decision.
The primary reason for keeping persons belonging to these professions out is that the bank would not be able to unleash its brute force against them as they do with thousands of hapless customers. The way these banks conduct their business is predatory and cruel. Banks are fully aware about the means adopted by their recovery agency, yet they would feign ignorance and innocence blaming the agency for these unlawful activities. There is easy money to be made by thugs and goons under the protective legal umbrella provided by the bank.


Now, dreaded criminals are also roaming around posing as recovery agents. They can barge into anyone’s house, beat the person and loot whatever they can lay their hands on. Due to certain social stigma attached with non-payment of any form of credit or loan, victims remain quiet and submit themselves before the brutality without uttering a word.

The dreaded bikers gang, which had killed many innocent persons was residing in an outskirt Delhi village posing as recovery agents. There are certain Reserve Bank of India’s guidelines regarding credit recovery, but banks care least about these. They keep their papers as per the guidelines and outsource these services to some agency. This is akin to giving ’supari’ (bribe) to some underworld don to eliminate somebody. There has been so much hue and cry over this barbaric banking for many years, but these bankers who are seen lecturing government about all and sundry subjects, are not bothered a bit about these shameful practices adopted by them.
http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=144838

India escapes global credit crunch - for now 

   By Karishma Vaswani
India business correspondent, BBC News, Mumbai 
 Satya Nagda, 45, thought he was going to lose everything last year. The cornershop owner in one of Mumbai's small suburbs had run into bad financial trouble and lost a lot of money.

A father of three, he could not afford to keep his fledgling business running.

The shop is his life. It provides him and his family with their only means of survival.

Then, he got a second chance, in the form of a $1,000 (£500) loan from Cholamandalam DBS, one of the biggest lenders in the Indian sub-prime business.

"I needed money to keep my shop afloat", Satya says as he packs away a bag of groceries for one of his customers in his small cornershop.

"If I had tried to get a loan like this 10 or 20 years ago, it would have been impossible.

"People like me were never given loans from banks. I've been lucky. I got $1,000 I am paying it back over a number of years."

Financial failure

Getting a loan in India has never been this easy.

 
 There's no real tried and tested way yet of telling what the credit history is of the customer

Atul Pande, managing director of Cholamandalam DBS

But it wasn't always so.

As recently as three decades ago, if you lived in one of the back alleys of Mumbai and did not have a large salary or a reliable income, then chances are you would be overlooked for a loan.

Many had to turn to informal ways of borrowing money to find their way out of financial difficulties.

Borrowing from money lenders or pawning the family jewels became common place. But interest rates were exorbitant - at times over 100%.

There was also what analysts call the "shame factor" that stopped consumers from borrowing money officially.

Getting into debt was considered embarrassing by many Indians. Encouraged from a young age to save their money rather than spend it, a frugal lifestyle was lauded during the days of India's planned economy.

Admitting you were not able to maintain a secure and consistent bank balance was basically admitting that you were a failure.

Intense competition

Times have changed.

In India's new economy, an opulent and flashy lifestyle is a sign of success.

 
 Unless there is a huge global slowdown the credit boom in India is set to continue for a very long time

Akhilesh Tilotia, Parks Financial Advisors

Borrowing money to buy a new car, a new home, or expand your business is no longer seen as something shameful. It is seen as savvy banking.

Banks and financial institutions in India are pulling out all the stops to capture all segments of the consumer loans market. But the sub-prime market in particular has attracted the interest of both foreign and local banks.

Cholamandalam DBS, the financial institution that Mr Nagda got his loan from, is a joint venture between Singapore's DBS Bank and India's Murugappa group. The firm now has more than 100 branches spread out across India, specialising in consumer loans.

But there is intense competition in the sub-prime market in India.

HSBC, GE Money and Standard Chartered are just a few of the foreign banks fighting for the business of Indian borrowers. Dozens of Indian banks are also involved in this business.

There are worries though that in the rush to add new customers, banks in India could overlook whether or not borrowers will be able to pay back their loans - sparking fears that India could be headed for a debt crisis of its own.

"In India, what we have is a rudimentary credit bureau," Atul Pande, managing director of Cholamandalam DBS, says as he gazes across one of his crowded branches in Mumbai.

"So there's no real tried and tested way yet of telling what the credit history is of the customer.

"That will change over time as the sector here becomes more sophisticated. Also, as competition for business increases, there's a risk that banks and financial institutions will over-lend to borrowers who have paid back their loans in the past, to try and attract them as new customers. That could endanger the customer because he may not be able to pay back this loan."

Lasting boom

But those fears are not affecting the credit card business in India, another form of lending to customers.

 
 These people harass me by using bad words, and insult me and my profession

Dr Girish Kulkarni

Although it makes up just a fraction of the consumer loans business, credit cards are a growing sector here, and it' is common to see youngsters whip out a plastic card to pay for their meal at a restaurant, or to buy a fancy new MP3 player in a shop.

India's attitude to credit is changing , yet some local financial services professionals doubt that this new mindset will set India up for a debt trap - the way we've seen in the US recently.

"I don't think so," says Akhilesh Tilotia, a financial advisor with Parks Financial Advisors.

"The difference between the US and India is that the loans in the US were asset-backed, and the value of those assets started to deteriorate. In India you don't have that situation.

"You also have an environment here where salaries are rising quickly, and are expected to continue rising. I think unless there is a huge global slowdown the credit boom in India is set to continue for a very long time."

Violent creditors

But there are those who have suffered as a result of this credit boom - and are now paying the price for it.

Girish Kulkarni, a doctor in Mumbai, took on a loan of $9,000 seven years ago to keep his medical clinic running.


He says he was cheated by a fraudulent bank agent who stole the money he borrowed from the bank by writing checks to himself. To reclaim its loan, Mr Kulkarni says the bank has sent people to threaten him to him.

"They have sent recovery agents to my house at least once every two months," he says during an interview in his clinic.

"These people harass me by using bad words, and insult me and my profession. It's insulting to hear such abuse, and I have felt very distressed by this entire incident."

Because there is no formal way of recovering loans here, many Indian banks have taken to the practice of outsourcing their debt recovery services.

There have been many reports in Indian papers recently of these agents harassing and at times even beating up or making threatening phone calls to customers who have not paid back their loans.

The Reserve Bank of India is looking into this, and it has been suggested that banks need to clamp down on such practices and be more stringent about who they employ to recover their loans.

But until stricter regulations are enforced in India's banking sector, Mr Kulkarni and his family are in for a traumatic time.

He has now taken legal action against the bank, and has lodged an official complaint over the tactics used by the debt recovery agents, but it is unlikely with the number of cases backed up in the courts here that he will get a swift resolution.

The strong economic growth in India has meant that banks here are in a rush to entice new customers.

But the worry is that in this race for business, the risks of a looming debt trap have not been accounted for - and regulations to protect India's borrowers have yet to be implemented.

India Business Report is broadcast repeatedly every Sunday on BBC World.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6993609.stm

 

Police your recovery men, top cop tells banks
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Parish Joshi
Posted: Jul 09, 2008 at 2341 hrs IST

Rajkot, July 08 In a first of its kind in Gujarat, Rajkot Police Commissioner Sudhir Sinha has issued a notification, making it mandatory for banks, money lenders and financial institutions to register the details of their recovery agents with the police.
The notification is created under Section 144 of the CrPC and violation of this order is punishable under Section 188 of the IPC, which is a non-bailable offence.

Sinha said they have already registered the first case against an officer of ICICI bank for violation of order and taken adequate steps. But next time if any bank or moneylender is found encouraging recovery agents to violate the law again, they will be charged for robbery or extortion. "There is a Securitisation Act under which the bank can seize the property of the defaulter to pay installments, but it should be done within the precincts of the law," Sinha said.

In the past few months, several cases of suicide due to harassment (mental and physical torture) by the recovery agents, has come to light in Rajkot.

Sinha said they have found that on an average, 4-5 cases of suicide have come to light in Rajkot. "Around 15-20 cases are registered with us under the Moneylender Act, which include harassment and threatening by recovery agents. As such, there should be some legal format to give a little protection to the borrower, as well as to control the prevailing crimes in the city," he said.

He added that both the Reserve Bank of India and the Supreme Court have issued notifications against the use of muscle power in loan recovery cases.

He said they have issued copies of the notification to all the banks and institutions in the city. As such, no banks or financial institutions will be able to deny that they were not informed of these regulations, he said.

He said the notification was made provisional for two months and from this month onwards, it will be implemented on a permanent basis.

So far, only a few banks have come forward for registration under this notification. But the police are hopeful that after the first complaint filed against the ICICI bank, other banks will understand the seriousness of the issue.

Cardinal points
1) Banks, private moneylenders, financial institutions have to register the name, permanent address and other details of the recovery agent, including their identity proof with the police station.
2) Before appointing the agents on contract or through outsourcing, all the banks and moneylenders have to take a police verification report.
3) Agents should not visit any residence between 10 pm to 6 am.
4) If any bank or their officers encourage their agents to violate this notification, then the bank will be solely held responsible for violation of the law.

They succumbed to pressure...
In the last one year many cases of suicides raised eyebrows in Rajkot. One particular incident was the mass suicide of five members of the Patadia family, who committed suicide in August 2007 to escape harassment by the moneylender's recovery agents. The deceased included Jayesh Raghunath Patadia, his wife, their elder son Bhavin (30), daughter-in-law Nisha (28), and younger son Ramnik (25). Singer Dilip Jain from Syamnagar in the city committed suicide after private moneylenders harassed his wife Nita and tortured him for failure to repay. He committed suicide in February 2008. More then 20 complaints of harassment and issue of threats by recovery agents have been filed with the Rajkot police in the current year under Moneylenders Act.

Police home in on bank manager
On Monday, the Crime Branch arrested ICICI Bank branch manager Krishna Subhashchandrasinh, 30, for employing two recovery agents with past criminal records and for failure to register themselves with the Rajkot police as per the notification. Commissioner of Police Sudhir Sinha said the bank manager was arrested because he did not get a police verification certificate for agents Harpalsinh Zala and Raghuvirsinh Vaghela. Moreover, the two had forced passengers travelling in complainant Hanif Umar's car to get down on the Jamnagar Highway in the middle of the night. Later the two seized the vehicle, which is also an illegal act.
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Police-your-recovery-men-top-cop-tells-banks/333190/

China wary of India's growing global role: Expert
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Agencies
Posted: Nov 26, 2008 at 0924 hrs IST

Washington, November 26: Wary of the US plans to support India's position in Asia, Beijing will seek to blunt Washington's overtures towards New Delhi driving home the point that America has to pay close attention to the dynamics of the relations between India and China, a top South Asia scholar has said.
"The completion of the civil nuclear deal will likely raise the confidence of the Indian defence establishment in the US as a reliable supplier and, therefore, set the stage for a much broader and deeper defence relationship between India and US over the next several years," Lisa Curtis of The Heritage Foundation has said in a Web Note.

Beijing may discuss in private and public forums the importance of simultaneous development of both India and China to try to show it welcomes India's rise. New Delhi, however, will pay closer attention to Beijing's actions along the disputed Indo-China border to gauge Chinese overall strategic intentions towards India.

"China's unhelpful stance at the recent NSG meetings on the Indo-US civil nuclear agreement was a reminder that Beijing remains uncomfortable with India's growing global role," Curtis said.

Washington needs to pay close attention to the dynamics of the Indo-China relations while the relationship between the world's oldest and the world's largest democracies grows.

"The future direction of relations between China and India, two booming economies that together account for one-third of the world's population, will be a major factor in determining broader political and economic trends in Asia directly affecting US interests," the South Asia scholar of the Conservative Think Tank said.

Trade between India and China has increased eight-fold in the last six years to almost USD 40 billion but both harbour deep suspicions of the other's strategic intentions.

Despite improvements in economic and trade relations, border disputes continue to bedevil Indo-China ties. India accuses China of illegally occupying more than 14,000 square miles of its territory on its northern border in Kashmir, while China lays claim to more than 34,000 square miles of India's northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh.

"India is a long-term host to the Dalai Lama and about 100,000 Tibetan refugees, although the Indian government forbids them from participating in any political activity" Curtis remarked.

Out of concern for Chinese sensitivities, the Indian government placed restrictions on Tibetan protesters in India during the uprising in Tibet, and Beijing praised New Delhi for preventing Tibetans from marching to the Tibetan capital of Lhasa.

The Indian political opposition, however, criticised Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for appeasing the Chinese and for not defending Tibetans' human rights.

"Renewed tensions in Tibet would likely put pressure on New Delhi to show greater solidarity with the Tibetan people.

China has recently started to raise the issue of the Dalai Lama's status in India in diplomatic talks for the first time in several years, indicating its increased concern over the issue," she added.

US's increasing attention to India over the past five years, especially Washington's decision to extend civil nuclear cooperation to New Delhi surprised Chinese policymakers and led them to reassess their policies towards India.

"Chinese officials have developed a more serious policy towards India and now acknowledge that India is becoming a major Asian power" Curtis said in her research note.

Mainstream, Vol XLVI No 32

Globalisation and India’s Economic Identity : An Overview
by V Mathew Kurian, 30 July 2008

       


1. Introduction

By imposing colonialism and imperialism, the British deprived of India’s ‘economic identity’. During the freedom struggle, great leaders like Dadabhai Naoroji, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and many others thought about an ‘economic identity’ for India. However, the privilege of constituting and implementing it mainly went to Pandit Nehru. The ‘economic architecture’ of post-independent India was largely Nehruvian. Nevertheless, in the (new) globalisation1 era, the Nehruvian ideas were dismantled by neo-liberal globalised economic forces.2 In this article, we will first trace the intellectual contributions of Jawaharlal Nehru in the constitution of the Indian economic identity. It will be followed by an examination of the interaction between the neo-colonial forces and the Indian state. The paper also intends to explore the impact of (new) globalisation on India’s economic identity. Finally, we propose ‘deglobalisation of the Indian economy’ to retrieve the genuine indigenous economic identity for the nation.

2. Nehru and India’s Economic Identity

As India was nearing freedom, there arose multiple views on the ‘economic identity’ for the emerging Indian nation among the members of the Indian National Congress. While leaders like Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and C. Rajagopalachari stood for a Western type liberal economic order for India, the Marxist oriented members, including M.N. Roy, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Jayaprakash Narain and others advocated for ‘socialism’. Gandhian economists like J.C. Kumarappa wanted the emerging Indian economy freed from any type of foreign influence. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru assimilated all these suggestions and put forward an integrated economic identity for India.

Pandit Nehru as the grand architect of the Indian economic identity, instead of following the Western type ‘capitalism’ or the Russian type ‘socialism’, wanted India to follow a ‘mixed economy’. So he perceived that the good elements of capitalism and socialism be enjoyed in the ‘mixed economy’. Instead of socialism, he proposed the formulation of a ‘socialistic pattern of society’ with public sector achieving the ‘commanding heights’. He was also hopeful in blending a democratic polity with a planned economy.

In the above perspective, Nehru started driving the Indian economy. The remarkable achievements of the First Five Year Plan imparted great optimism to him and he, with the intellectual collaboration of the great statistician, P.C. Mahalanobis, prepared an ambitious model for the Second Five Year Plan.

The ‘model’ set economic growth and social justice as the twin broad objectives of the Plan. It prescribed a ‘two-pronged industrialisation’ strategy to achieve these goals. For rapid economic growth, the perspective was to build up heavy and key industries, particularly in the public sector. It was hoped that the ‘forward’ and ‘backward’ linkages of it would generate a revolution in industrial and agricultural growth and thereby in economic growth. In order to realise ‘social justice’, the model suggested the development of light industries. It was hoped that this segment of industries would provide jobs as well as ‘wage goods’ to ordinary people. For the just advancement of rural agricultural economies, the model recommended land reforms, community development programmes and cooperative institutions including cooperative farming.

As India inherited a heritage in cottage and small scale industries, the model did not anticipate any constraint in the promotion of it. But as India was lacking in modern technology and capital, the country had to depend on the Western sources for building up heavy and strategic industries. Since India then possessed a huge foreign exchange reserve, the model builders thought that Western machinery and expertise could be bought by using the foreign exchange reserves.

Though the Nehru-Mahalanobis model was a magnificent one, in the actual implementation of it in the Second Five Year Plan, the country failed to make a headway. This was largely due to the ‘neo-colonial’ intervention in the political economy of India in those times. The Western capitalist forces did not welcome the development of the country through an indigenous pattern of economic identity. As the Second Plan had to buy foreign technology and capital from abroad for building up the heavy industrial sector, the available foreign exchange was quite insufficient to meet the then requirement. So by 1958-1959 there arose a severe foreign exchange crisis in India compelling the government to seek foreign assistance. The Western forces, particularly the multinational corporations, found it a congenial situation to make India to oblige to their conditions. These capitalist forces, through multilateral institutions like the World Bank and IMF, required India to undo ‘the socialistic pattern of society’, with ‘public sector achieving the commanding heights’. So during the Second Five Year Plan the government was forced to succumb to the diktats of the global capitalist forces in allowing the private market forces sufficient role in the functioning of the economy.

This intervention of multinational corporations and their patrons wreaked two havocs to the Second Five Year Plan. Though India required foreign capital to build heavy and key industries, the MNCs took keen interest in the consumer goods sector. That, to a large extent resulted in the displacement of indigenous industries and a big blow to the Indian economic identity.

3. Indian Struggle to Preserve ‘Economic Identity’

Though Nehru initially compromised with neo-colonialism, subsequently he initiated a new international strategy in the formulation of Non aligned Movement (NAM) to break the onslaughts of global capitalism in the Third World. In international relations, India leaned more to the side of Soviet Union. It enabled India not only to obtain Soviet technology but also in enhancing the ‘bargaining power’ of India with the Western powers.

Jawaharlal Nehru expired in 1964 and Lal Bahadur Shastri emerged as the new Prime Minister of India. But he could run the government only for a brief time due to his untimely death. Shastri had a unique vision in governing the country according to an independent Indian identity. The very slogans ‘Jai Kisan’ and ‘Jai Jawan’ reflected this vision.

After the demise of Shastri, Mrs Indira Gandhi became the Indian Prime Minister. In her initial years she proved a bold Prime Minister coming in conflict with multinational capital. In this period, her government could enact a number of progressive measures like the termination of privy purses, bank nationalisation, Indian Patent Act 1970, MRTP3 and FERA.4 However, she committed a mistake in declaring an Emergency in 1975 which was used by multinational capital to pressurise the government to undo all the progressive steps. The oil crisis also made India very vulnerable. The people of India taught Mrs Gandhi a lesson by ousting the Congress party from power in the 1977 election. But the Janata Government formed after the election could not persist in power for long due to divergent views and interests in the party.

In the subsequent election, Mrs Gandhi’s government resurged into power. But by this time the Indian state was weakened and failed to counter neo-colonialism. The second oil crisis triggered a BOP crisis in India. Mrs Gandhi’s government approached the IMF for a fabulous loan to tide over the crisis. The IMF sanctioned the five billion SDRs loan on the basis of ‘conditionalities’. Along with the IMF loan, the first wave of liberalisation and privatisation entered the Indian political economy, posing a big challenge to the political and economic identity of the country. During the 1980s the foreign exchange situation of India still worsened. By 1990 India fell into a serious crisis.

The newly assumed Narasimha Rao Government approached the World Bank for external assistance. The Bank stipulated the globalisation agenda recorded in the ‘Anderson Memoranda’ to be followed by India. The then Finance Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, adopted it and christened it as ‘New Economic Policy’. From a policy perspective, that resulted in the liquidation of the Indian economic identity.

4. New Globalisation and Indian Economic Identity

From an economic point of view, the new globalisation may be perceived as a process of ‘global marketisation’. The two pillars of it are ‘privatisation’ and ‘liberalisation’. From 1991 onwards, the politicians who assumed ‘power’ in India accepted this philosophy, even though the masses of the Indian people disliked it.

In the management of the economy, ‘planning’, was pushed backward and ‘market mechanism’ was given the driver’s seat. Public sector was pruned and displaced by disinvestment programmes. Private sector firms, including transnational corporations, started enjoying the privilege of assuming the ‘commanding heights of the economy’. The exim sector was considerably liberalised. The service sector, including finance, also was brought under liberalisation.

Globalisation integrated the Indian political economy with ‘world capitalism’. This process could unleash ‘dependent development’, enabling India to achieve a relatively higher growth in GDP. India is now branded as an ‘elephant’, emerging as a ‘global economic power’. But the vast majority of the people are still in the periphery of the economy.5 They are being marginalised, excluded and even exterminated. Poverty deaths and suicides have become regular occurrences.

Of late, globalisation on a world scale, has started addressing its own limitations.6 The energy crisis, global warming, agri-flation, massive unemployment and mounting food insecurity all make globalisation unpopular. The cradle of globalisation, the American economy, is currently undergoing a severe recession. The sub-prime lending crisis triggered a vulnerable monetary and financial situation with which, many economists fear, the country is heading towards a depression similar to the one that happened in the 1930s.7 A number of Indian financial institutions like ICICI lost huge amounts in this crisis.8 The ‘American Contagion’ may affect India in many other fronts.

5. De-Globalisation for Indian Economic Identity

Retrieval of the genuine Indian economic identity is essential for the sustainable human and social development of the Indian people. This ‘identity’ has to be a concern for all committed Indian people. We need a historical and interdisciplinary intellectual enquiry for rediscovering the true economic identity of India. We can start our intellectual journey from the Buddhist economics to the present times. This does not mean that we have to be fundamentalists. Rather, we must take history as a source of intellectual inputs.

Further, we need to identify our resource potential including traditional technology. India is a continental economy with a diversified resource base. We have to accept our vast population as an asset and political power has to be made accountable to the people. Then only would there be true democracy. 6. Conclusion

In this article we took the premise that Jawaharlal Nehru attempted to formulate and implement a distinct economic identity for India. But it was betrayed mainly by neo-colonialism. However, there was a struggle between the Indian state and neo-colonialism on economic identity. But in this struggle, the Indian state was gradually defeated and new globalisation was imposed on India which facilitated rapid economic growth. But globalisation only enhanced the misery of the people of India. So ‘de-globalisation’ is required for evolving a genuine economic identity for India.

Notes and References

1. The term ‘globalisation’ may be viewed from three points of view: (a) as a programme, (b) as an ideology, and © as a process. As a programme it is by TNCs for TNCs, and of TNCs. As an ideology it is ‘neo-liberalism’. As a process ‘globalisation’ is as old as capitalism. Globalisation is only the new phase of historical capitalism. See V. Mathew Kurian, “Life and Death through Globalisation: The Indian Experience” in P. Jegadish Gandhi and K.C. John (ed.), Upon the Wings of Wider Enumerrism (Delhi: ISPCK/Eec, 2006), pp. 223-235.

2. V. Mathew Kurian, “Economic Policy Changes from Nehru to Narasimha Rao: What Lessons we Draw?”, Mainstream, Vol. XXXII, No.5 September 24, 1994, pp. 11-13.

3. Monopoly and Restrictive Trade Practices Act.

4. Foreign Exchange Regulation Act.

5. R. Radhakrishna and S. Chandrasekhar, “Overview: Growth: Achievements and Distress” in R. Radhakrishna, (ed.), India Development Report 2008 (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2008), pp. 1-19.

6. Jeffrey D. Sachs, “Roots of America’s Financial Crisis”, The Economic Times, March 31, 2008, p. 15.

7. Visi Tilak et al, “Will Wallstreat’s Flu Make India Sneeze?”, Tehelka, February 9, 2008, pp. 38-41.

8. Bikram K. Tena, "Did he do it?—Special Feature”, 4 PS Business and Marketing, March 14-27, 2008, pp. 36-41.

Prof (Dr) V. Mathew Kurian is a Visiting Professor, School of International Relations and Politics, School of Management and Business Studies, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam.
http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article849.html

Privatisation and Commercialisation of Water Resources and Services in India: An Overview
Monday 16 January 2006 by Manthan Adhyayan Kendra

Since 1991, large-scale changes have been initiated in India’s economy with the liberalization, privatisation and globalisation of almost every aspect of the economy.
While this process began in 1991 itself in sectors like power, in the water sector it is just beginning. 13 years after the blind and hasty liberalization and privatisation, the power sector is in a mess. The reforms have been a disaster, with severe power shortages and rocketing electricity tariffs, locking the country into expensive contracts for years to come. All this has now been acknowledged even at the official level. Instead of learning from the process, an almost exactly similar process of liberalization, privatisation and globalisation is being undertaken in the water sector.

Modes of Reforms

In India, "reforms" in water sector are taking place through two modes. The first mode is outright privatisation of water services through either BOT projects or management contracts. This mode is being used for industrial water supply and urban water supply projects. The second mode, which is more insidious and will have a far-reaching impact, is through the water sector reforms.

Outright Privatisation

This includes BOT projects, Concessions, Management Contracts and so on. There are several such projects ongoing or in pipeline in the country. Some such projects are the Shoenath river in Chhattisgadh, the Tiruppur project in Tamil Nadu, the proposed private management contracts in Delhi, private hydel projects like Maheshwar in M.P. etc. The Database Section gives a list of the privatised water supply and sanitation projects and of privatised hydropower projects in India.

Reforms and Restructuring

The water sector reforms or restructuring are following the same line as the power sector reforms in the country, and indeed, are similar to the water sector reforms all over the world. These policies, pushed by the World Bank and ADB, have the underlying thrust of converting the whole sector into a market.

While the water sector in the country desperately needs reforms, in the World Bank led prescription they invariably mean only one thing:

  Transformation of the water sector into a commercial operation
  Changing the basis from social responsibility to a commodity to be bought and sold

They invariably include:

  Unbundling (separation of source, "transmission" and distribution)
  Independent regulator to free the sector from “political interference”
  Steeply Increasing tariffs
  Full cost recovery
  Elimination of subsidies
  Cutting off supplies for non-payment
  Retrenchment
  Privatisation and Public-private partnerships
  Allocation of water to highest value use through market mechanism
  Almost invariably pushed by the World Bank, ADB, DFID
  Policy prescriptions, restructuring process, even legislation being drafted by highly expensive international consultants like Price Water House Coopers (e.g. salary of 20,000 Euro per month!)

While reforms are supposed to be a solution to the water problems, they are mostly concerned about only the financial side. Moreover, hardly ever are these reforms based on a detailed study of the root causes of the problems. Studies are conducted with recommendations already known. Thus, the same sets of reforms are prescribed not just for different parts of the country but indeed in different parts of the world.

Reforms in various stages are going on in many states in India. The Database Section also gives a list of the states where reforms are ongoing, the World Bank and ADB loans associated with these reforms, and some features of these reforms. States undergoing the most extensive and comprehensive reforms include Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Delhi.

Since water is a state subject, major part of the reforms are going on at the state level. The Central Government has also taken many measures for privatisation and commercialisation in water sector, like:

  1991 – Power Sector Opened for Privatisation : PSP in Hydropower
  2002 – New Water Policy Calls for PSP in water
  2004 – Guidelines for Urban Water & Sanitation Sector Reforms and PPP
  2005 – Financial Support to Bridge “Viability Gap” of Private Projects

(PSP = Private Sector Participation PPP = Public Private Partnership)

Impacts

The impacts of these "reforms" are felt by all sections, but the poor families, and vulnerable sectors like agriculture will be worst hit. Even middle class will feel the pinch. Impacts include:

  Severe increase in price hikes leading to many not being able to afford even water for domestic use
  Non-payment or inability to pay will lead to disconnection
  Disconnection means people will shift to lesser quality supply if available. Else, serious political unrest
  Agriculture sector, already in severe crisis, will be pushed even more into distress as water prices for irrigation zoom
  Dismantling of common public facilities meant for the poor like handpumps, public standposts etc.
  System transformed to cater to only paying customers. Thos who can’t pay the (steep) charges, will be thrown out or on the periphery
  Ultimately capture of water resources by those who can pay
  Huge profiteering by private companies
  Sale of public infrastructure built over generations with the use of public money for pittance
  Likely private control on community sources of water like groundwater, rivers etc.
  Large scale retrenchment of public sector workers
  Little likelihood of major problems of the sector being solved, including financial problems, quantity and quality of supply, equitable and affordable supply, protection and enhancement of resources

Why “Reforms”

There has been a shift in the discourse and practise of privatisation of water in the last several years. The initial attempts at classic, direct privatisation resulted in huge political backlash all over the world. Many companies also found making profits not so easy. Both these resulted in the shift in the rhetoric to "pro-poor" privatisation and also the Public Private Partnership (public takes the risks, private takes the profits). This has not been sufficient and the political backlash and difficulties in making profits did not go away with this.

Hence the renewed push for "sector reforms". In this, the private players are not immediately on the scene. The whole responsibility of taking and implementing unpopular and harsh decisions falls on the Government and public bodies. These include the all the measures outlined above

The idea is to make the sector fully commercial, the blame and the political backlash to be taken by the Government, and then bring in the private sector. This is the route now taken to ensure private profits, to protect private sector from burden and risks of social responsibility.

Also, the water sector reforms must be seen as a direct part and parcel of the larger neo-liberal agenda of globalisation and privatisation.

WTO and GATS

There a strong push, especially from the EU to include water services in the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) of the WTO. Negotiations for expansion of GATS are going on currently. It should be mentioned that the implications of opening up the sector under GATS (as against an “autonomous” opening as is happening now) are far more serious. The inclusion of water services in GATS will mean that the opening up of the sector will be virtually irreversible, and will severely constrain the Government’s ability to regulate the sector in terms of public interest policies.

Prepared by


Manthan Adhyayan Kendra,
Dashera Maidan Road,
Badwani (M.P.) 451 551
India
Ph: 91-7290-222 857 (O)
Email: manthan_b@sancharnet.in
July 20,2005

Manthan: Monitoring, Research, Analysis of Water and Energy Issues
http://www.manthan-india.org/article2.html

Intersections: Gender, History and Culture in the Asian Context
Issue 15, May 2007 

 

Neo Liberal Globalisation,
National Security and Border Control
Impacts on Displaced and Refugee Women


Gillian Vogl 
Introduction
 

Structural adjustment policies introduced throughout Asia in the last two decades have led to increased social inequality in the region and have resulted in massive displacements of people. In this article, I situate gendered displacement in its neo-liberal global context and explore the complex links between developed and developing countries with regard to displacement and exclusion. An increasing number of people are becoming displaced within their homelands as a result of a multitude of interconnected factors; 80 per cent of these displaced persons and refugees are women and children. Yet they are severely under-represented in refugee determination processes and claims for asylum and settlement.[1] It is thus important to illuminate the gendered commonalities of women's experiences of forced migration. Although globalisation is produced and responds to particular historical and geographic settings in specific ways, women often undergo common gendered experiences with regard to flight and resettlement. While women cannot be constructed as a homogenous group, it is the commonalities between women's experiences of forced migration that are the focus of this article, rather than differences among woman. By very briefly and broadly showing how globalisation interacts with specific gendered, ethno-religious and class relations of domination in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka, I highlight the connection between national and international elements with regard to gendered forced migration. The gender blindness of refugee determination processes and the increasing exclusion of those seeking asylum is highlighted by focusing on Australia due to its status as a 'Northern' country within the social divide between North and South and therefore as a likely destination for those seeking asylum.[2]


Globalisation and its impact on women in the Asia Pacific region
 

Angela Mitropoulos claims that while globalisation invokes an image of a borderless world due to the increasing free flow of goods from one country to another, globalisation is in reality about borders which are both permeable and exclusionary.[3] Globalisation encompasses elements which are both neo-liberal and neo-conservative, resulting not in a borderless world but rather a capitalist world where borders are either present or not according to the interests of global elites in the North.[4] Neo-liberalism can ideologically be defined by the three economic principles of deregulation, liberalisation and privatisation.[5] While the ideology of neo-liberalism has emerged as a commitment to the logic of competitive market forces with aggressive state downsizing and public service reform, there is a gap between the ideology of neo-liberalism and the way it operates on an everyday level. The ideology of neo-liberalism conjures up an image of a world where markets rule free from state regulation; in practice, the implementation of neo-liberal policies has involved increasingly punitive types of state intervention.[6] Neo-conservatism, on the other hand, is defined by an ideology which emphasises the significance of free trade and markets while combining this emphasis with a belief in the regulatory actions of governments.[7] As James Peck argues, globalisation does not involve the simple application of a free market ideology but is also characterised by social conservatism and an increasing obsession with national security and control in terms of law and order and border protection.[8] These dynamics of inclusion and exclusion have resulted in greater social inequality in the South and have led to certain areas of deterioration in the North. They have also led to an increase in conflict and forced migration, along with a blurring of the difference between various categories of migration. As Stephen Castles states, 'North' and 'South' refer to a social divide rather than a geographical divide, with the North referring to developed countries and the South to developing countries.[9]
 

In places where neo-liberal policies have been implemented, existing gender relations and dynamics have been transformed. In some cases, opportunities have been opened up for some women; in other cases there has been a detrimental impact on particular groups of women. A reduction in social programs, for example, is the most visibly gendered aspect of these policies. Reductions in health services have led to higher maternal mortality. The introduction of school fees in many Southern countries has made education even more inaccessible for the poor, particularly girls. These changes have both increased the impoverishment of women and made it difficult for them to find work. Neo-liberal policies aimed at the eradication of national social safeguards in the South have led to increased inequalities and crises that have impacted on women even more adversely than men, leading to massive gendered displacements.[10]
 

Rannabir Sammadar claims that women are the most abused refugees and the most unwanted migrants. The sexual victimisation faced by women is the most gender-specific human rights violation of forced migration. These abuses violate both women's rights to their own bodies and to their physical and psychological well-being. Women also do the most low-skilled, least paid, most abused and dishonourable jobs.[11] Economic crisis, which often impedes a girl's ability to get an education, makes the trap of sexual violence in the form of sexual slavery, trafficking and prostitution much harder to escape.[12] Within refugee and displacement camps, women are effectively 'invisible' refugees who are rarely consulted in the planning and design of programmes which impact upon them. Whilst women represent 80 per cent of health care workers in refugee camps, they have little say in the construction of national and international policies regarding migration. Women often do not get a fair share of food, water and shelter allocations, with resources often given to male heads of households.[13]


 


 
 
Indians were sold 45,000 credit cards a day in 2004, and together they spent over Rs 120 crore a day through credit cards during the year. Both the figures represent more than 60 per cent rise over the previous year-an impressive feat by any reckoning. But they tell only half the story. The other, far less impressive half of the story is not captured by the figures. Rather, it is showing up in the frustration and fatigue of a growing army of cardholders. From haunting sales persons to unsolicited cards, from complicated (and occasionally wrong) billing to excessive and unexplained charges, the users of plastic money are realising that the ease of using a credit card is coming with a bill of harassment they had not bargained for.

 
THE LURE OF PLASTIC IS RISING ... 
 


The current poverty and inequalities which exist in many countries in Asia can be partly attributed to the debt crisis. After the Second World War, Northern investors, including the World Bank, lent money to many Asian countries so that they could build hydroelectric dams, highways, steel mills and power plants. To begin with, the capital for these loans came from Northern investors and governments. During the 1970s, record profits by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) resulted in an overabundance of investment money, with Northern bankers hurriedly making loans to cover interest payments to pay depositors. Frequent large loans were made without forethought as to how countries would repay these loans or the appropriateness and feasibility of these projects to the countries in which they were being carried out. Between 1985 and 1995, an average of ten million people were displaced each year as a result of the building of hydroelectric dams and urban transportation projects.[14] These projects were often unsuccessful or benefited only local elites and Northern-based corporations.
 


Beginning in the late 1970s and continuing into the 1980s, interest rates also increased dramatically, nearly doubling between the 1970s and early 1980s.[15] As a result, many countries have been able to pay only the interest on their loans, leaving the principal untouched. This development led to the start of a crisis among developing countries within Asia and the rest of the world. Beginning with Mexico in 1982, many developing countries stated that they would have to default on their payments. As a response to the threat of default, institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) began enforcing structural adjustment programs (SAPs) attached to conditions of international grants-in-aid. These programs have required government cutbacks to social services such as health care and education. Countries have also been required to privatise essential services such as water and utilities.[16] SAPs have led to increased poverty and violence and have impacted particularly adversely on women, compounding pre-existing gender inequalities and leading to massive gendered displacements. India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka all provide good examples of how neo-liberal policies have interacted with localised patterns of inequality to worsen the situation of women within these countries.



India
 


Like other countries in Asia, India was forced to adopt an SAP by the IMF and World Bank in July 1991. According to Dooly Arora, within India there exists a complex pattern of social relationships where class, caste, religion and community create a mutually dependent and hierarchical set of social relations. It has not been easy for those at the bottom end of the hierarchy to contest economic and political exclusion. Intersecting with all these categories in a crucial way are gender relations, where in many facets of everyday life, women, particularly those in the lower rungs of society, have continued to be exploited.[17] While neo-liberal policies resulting in workplace changes have been positive for some women, the privatisation of workplaces has also led to huge retrenchments leading to unemployment and displacement of many others. The commercialisation of agriculture and the establishment of development programmes have displaced many women who then end up in low paid, unskilled and unsafe employment.[18] Women have also suffered the most from increased poverty brought about as a result of cuts to public expenditure, due to the unequal distribution of goods within their households and also due to their lack of access to societal resources.[19] Displacement caused by development projects has a detrimental impact upon women due to the patriarchal contexts in which they are situated. Women, for instance, are not considered independently under rehabilitation policies set up to help those who have been displaced and thus woman-headed households are often overlooked.[20]



Factors Leading to Migration from Bangladesh to India
 


Both women who have been internally displaced and women who have come to India from Bangladesh share common gendered experiences of flight and resettlement. Such experiences also cut across the categories of so-called 'legal' and 'illegal' migrants. Debt default and pro-market policies leading to industrial and agricultural reforms in Bangladesh have resulted in job losses and increasing inequality between the rich and poor. The situation for women has been especially bad, as they are the main victims of poverty due to widespread gender discrimination. Women are particularly discriminated against with regard to access to employment. According to a Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics labour survey carried out in 1995/96, of 40.3 million employed people in Bangladesh, only 7.1 million were women.[21] Women have suffered the most due to privatisation of industries as employers find it easier to fire women as they are generally less well organised as a group and less violent.[22] Farida Khan argues that there have been two forms of violence against women in Bangladesh: long-established forms of violence (which include maltreatment from family members, domestic violence, lack of rights with regard to divorce and custody and a lack of property rights), and violence linked to displacement and globalisation. It is the second type of violence which is of interest in this discussion.[23]
 


Since economic liberalisation, garment factories have materialised as a major source of employment for women. Within these factories, women have no job security, are paid low wages and work in unsafe conditions. Women have increasingly been subjected to violence outside their homes by supervisors, people on the street and police, and as a result of ethno-religious conflict.[24] Khan claims that there has not been enough preparation for the emergence of women in the public sphere. According to Khan, women have remained invisible within the public sphere and economic liberalisation policies have taken women from the 'protected' private sphere and have exposed them to exploitation and powerlessness in the marketplace, as well as a backlash from more established forms of patriarchy.[25]
 


While the research which will be discussed below focuses on the persecution of Hindu women in Bangladesh, it is important to note that Hindu nationalists in West Bengal also discriminated against Muslim refugees. Michael Gillan argues that the Hindu Nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) distinguished between migrants who were perceived to be legitimate and those who were not. This distinction was made on an ethno-religious basis with Hindu migrants viewed as legitimate migrants escaping Muslim oppression and Muslim migrants seen as illegitimate refugees.[26]
 


Within the interviews discussed below, women who migrated from Bangladesh did so under varying circumstances. Both women who provided poverty-induced reasons for leaving Bangladesh and those whose movements were a result of a fear of persecution shared similar experiences with regard to their flight and resettlement. In addition, the interviews suggest that the alleviation of poverty is a motivating force for both internal and cross border migration. Although refugee and internally displaced women do not constitute a homogenous group of women, the following accounts of security and safety highlight gender-specific similarities in women's experiences of forced migration.[27]



Gendered Experiences of Forced Migration
 


The quotes below are taken from ongoing fieldwork in Calcutta (now Kolkata) in the Indian state of West Bengal and its border regions being carried out by Ruchira Ganguly-Scrase. During the time of writing this article, Dr Ganguly-Scrase and the author, along with a number of other researchers, were working collaboratively on a project on gendered experiences of forced migration where my role was to theorise the link between the researchers' ethnographic work and neo liberal globalisation. The Bangladeshi participants in this study are both documented and undocumented immigrants. Their experiences are compared with women who are internally displaced within the state of West Bengal due to poverty. The findings so far suggest that reasons for the migration of Bangladeshi women are political and religious persecution and economic dislocation. The internally displaced women spoke of the poor economic conditions which made them leave their villages. By comparing a number of areas in the lived experiences of these women, including the nature of their home villages, their reasons for flight, and their settlement processes, Ganguly-Scrase found that there are close similarities between female refugees and poverty-induced displaced women.[28]
 


Both Minati and Sohba, for example, who immigrated to India, share some very gender-specific reasons for leaving Bangladesh. Minati is a forty-year-old Hindu woman who is a legal migrant living in North Bengal. She lives with her twelve-year-old daughter and is employed as a cook in two houses. Minati provided very gender-specific reasons for her flight.



Things were deteriorating fairly rapidly in the 1980s. The seana [post pubescent 'grown up'] girls in our village were often the target of verbal attack and sexual harassment. Thinking about the future of our daughters we decided to move out.


Hindu women and grown up girls had to live with a sense of insecurity. We normally avoided venturing alone in places outside our house. Women and girls from our community were constantly under threat. There were incidents of sexual harassment by Muslim youths.


We did not have much property. We were not physically attacked. But there was a fear of attack always. There were some property disputes with the landed Kayasthas in our village. But we had no such problem.[29]



Sobha, a fifty-year-old, semi-literate undocumented migrant, is a widow with one son and two daughters and came to North Dinajpur in 1980. In addition to 'local Muslims targeting her husband's property,' she left Bangladesh for similar reasons to Minati.



The women had a feeling of insecurity, the grown up ones in particular. However, nothing untoward happened in our village.


No specific threat, but we heard of stories from other villages about how Hindu girls were raped and lifted by the Muslims. The women had a strong feeling of insecurity. Some of our Muslim neighbours threatened us the most.[30]


We could not move freely or perform our religious functions freely. Puj^#257;s[31] were always low-key affairs. The growing girls were always under the threat of sexual harassment. I have already told you about the land dispute. There were similar problems with a few of the other landed families. The local Muslims looked at our landed property and homestead with great degree of greed.[32]



While all Hindu interviewees seemed to share the same sense of fear and insecurity about being attacked, as the above quotations suggest, not everybody had a direct experience of violence. In addition, women spoke both of fearing Muslims and of incidents where Muslims had protected them. Both Minati and Sobha crossed the border from Bangladesh to Calcutta (now Kolcata) in the Indian State of West Bengal through bribing security staff. Sobha's husband told the border control guard that they were on a temporary tour. While Sobha is a not a legally recognised refugee, she feels safe in comparison to how she felt in Bangladesh.



We are safe and protected. The feeling of subjugation is no longer there. We can sleep at night free of anxiety. We live here with dignity.[33]



Apart from the threat of eviction from the university, Minati also feels safer than when she lived in Bangladesh:



We feel completely secure here; our neighbours do not give us any trouble. The University however has kept us under the threat of eviction. This is our only worry.[34]



Rina, a recently arrived refugee living in Calcutta, had moved to India to escape poverty. When asked what influenced her decision to leave Bangladesh she claimed that:



I made it because my husband was no longer there. My brother-in-law had just got married. Then he started creating trouble, he would not feed us. That's why we left. When his father died, then my elder son, I had a sister in law here, so we came to our sister-in-law's house with my mother-in-law. My sister-in-law put us up.[35]



Perbati, an internally displaced woman living in Calcutta, left her village in order to find work and alleviate her poverty:



Yes, here. Then my husband objected to it, asking, 'why did you come here? You must stay in the village.' But how was I to stay there? How would we survive? I said to him, 'you don't give me any money, what am I to eat?' He told me that as the others eat once a day only, I should do the same. But you tell me how could I do that, especially with the children? I have been living here now for nine years. I came here nine years ago.[36]



Both Rina and Perbati's dependence on men resulted in their inability to survive financially. While Rina moved from India to Bangladesh, Perbati was an internally displaced woman. The above excerpts which outline these interviewed displaced women's own interpretations about their security and safety, highlight the way in which 'illegal' and 'legal' refugees and internally displaced women share many gendered experiences. An unequal distribution of financial resources in the private sphere and a fear of sexual harassment and abuse by conflicting ethno-religious groups in the public sphere provided the reasons for these women's flight. Once they reached India, the displaced women who were forced to flee from Bangladesh had to find employment in order to support their families. Previously, woman, such as Sohba, had only participated in unpaid work at home. However, after moving many of the legal/illegal and internally displaced women, Ganguly-Scrase interviewed, had to take on the role of breadwinner in their families. While the interviewed women', told Ganguly-Scrase about vulnerabilities and confronted threats of violence, Ganguly-Scrase found that migration also led to possibilities of empowerment for both externally and internally displaced women. Both the externally and internally displaced woman experienced an increase in their self esteem as a result of being in a new environment and being able to participate in paid work. For the women, who however, were classified as 'illegal' migrants, their lack of citizenship was experienced with great anxiety.[37] Neo-liberal policies introduced into India and Bangladesh have exacerbated the poverty and gender inequalities already experienced by women.



Government Responses to Displacement
 


The previous sections have focused on migration experiences in South Asia, and the reasons for the displacement of women. In this section, I shift attention to the policies of receiving countries. I choose to focus on Australia's migration policies to highlight the kinds of policies being put into place by some developed countries to deal with the entry of migrants and asylum-seekers. In Australia, as with some other developed countries, such as the UK and Denmark, government responses to displacement have essentially been linked to an increasing obsession with preventing the entry of migrants and asylum-seekers. As Teresa Hayter states, this has resulted in unsustainable levels of repression and suffering for many thousands of innocent people.[38] Despite the huge number of women among migrants and asylum-seekers, the gender-blind nature of Immigration laws and asylum policies means that women are often not acknowledged as an identifiable category in relation to these regulations and policies but are viewed rather as dependants of men.[39]
 


Australia takes in only 0.5 per cent of the world's refugees, while Asia as a whole takes in more refugees and internally displaced people than any other region across the world.[40] Over the last decade governments across the globe have increasingly focused on national security and more stringent border control policies. These processes will be illustrated through a brief case study of a Sri Lankan Tamil woman applying for asylum in Australia. The increasingly exclusionary nature of these regulations has had a particularly adverse affect upon women.
 


In Sri Lanka's post-independence phase since 1948, the majority Sinhalese, who constitute 75 per cent of the population, were unwilling to share power with the minority Tamils. This has led to widespread violence between Tamil and Sinhalese. By July 2000, more than 600,000 people were displaced in the war-torn northeast Province, with women and children suffering particular difficulties among this displaced population.[41]
 


According to Jennifer Hyndman, the civil war in Sri Lanka, while having its foundations in competing Tamil and Sinhalese nationalisms, is also perpetuated by those who are economically marginalised.[42] Unemployed men and women from southern Sri Lanka have joined up as soldiers to earn enough money to support their families. Unemployment among both Tamil and Sinhalese youth has been a crucial contributing element in Sri Lanka's civil war. Neo-liberal policies put in place to attract foreign investment have not eliminated high unemployment rates but have tended only to benefit elites within Sri Lanka. The UNP (United National Party) government elected in 1977 deregulated the market. This government stated that they would endeavour to create a more just society for Tamils. However, within two weeks of being in power, the police burned down a market in Jaffna, which signalled the beginning of increasing violence against Tamils throughout the country. The government did little to stop the violence, while simultaneously providing less protection for the poor. Tamil areas became increasingly excluded from any of the gains brought about by neo-liberal policies.[43] The introduction of trade liberalisation resulting in the shift from a Socialist State to a neo liberal state which came to be defined by export orientated industralisation, while benefiting some, has also led to increased poverty, debt and income disparity, and increased unemployment and malnutrition, particularly among women and children. This has led to increased violence; in 2001, Sri Lanka had the greatest levels of political violence connected to the total powerlessness of the poor.[44] Many from Sri Lanka have sought refuge in other countries, including Australia.
 


Australia, however, has been increasingly reluctant to be seen to be accepting refugees. Australian Prime Minister John Howard has developed a very firm connection between sovereignty and exclusion in present asylum policies, making statements such as '[w]e have the right to determine who comes here.'[45] In 2001, the World Organisation Against Torture strongly condemned changes to Australian immigration laws which were aimed at narrowing the definition of a refugee, restricting the role of the legal system in determining the rights of asylum seekers, and imposing long prison sentences on people who protected and concealed asylum seekers. The World Organisation Against Torture argues that Australia's non-revisable mandatory detention policy for the unauthorised arrival of asylum seekers has resulted in physical, emotional and social neglect, depriving detainees, particularly children, of development opportunities. According to the World Organisation Against Turture report, Australian immigration laws remain discriminatory and repressive and are not in accordance with international standards and law.[46]
 


According to Leanne McKay, changes to immigration laws have impacted particularly adversely on women asylum seekers. Recently, it is women and children who have increasingly applied for asylum. Despite this increase, however, there has been no recognition of women as a group with specific needs. Legislation has not included measures which recognise the specifically gendered experiences of women in terms of sexual violence and other gendered forms of persecution and discrimination.[47]
 


McKay explains that changes to Australia's Migration Legislation Amendment Act 2001(MLAA) have meant that individuals who are denied status as refugees are unable to make further claims individually or as a group. As a consequence, women and their dependent children may be prevented from making claims. Any family who arrives in Australia must put in an application for a Permanent Protection Visa (PPV). Each family member is then recorded as a dependant on the form of the person making the application, usually the male head of the household. Each member can then make his/her claim separately by filling in a section further on in the application. While gender guidelines given to officers at the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA) highlight the social and cultural barriers which may prevent women from putting in their own applications or having their experiences recorded on applications, in practice these are often ignored. McKay claims that male heads of the household—and even women themselves—often pay scant attention to the ways in which women's experiences of persecution can amount to a successful claim.[48]
 


The ways in which women are treated under the MLAA diverges significantly from international regulations which have been put in place to protect refugees. As a result of the MLAA, if a female asylum seeker is not interviewed before the principal applicant's claim is denied, then there is a large possibility that her claim will not be heard at all. In contrast to the application process in Australia, in both Canada and New Zealand all family members must complete individual application forms explaining why they cannot return to the countries from which they have originated. In New Zealand, all family members are interviewed, with women interviewed individually by a female and with a female interpreter if they wish. By taking this approach, all family members are given the opportunity to speak about their experiences.[49]
 


A recent case where a Sri Lankan woman sought a judicial review of a decision made by the Refugee Review Tribunal and won, as reported on the federal government's website, presents one example where there was an initial failure to adhere to international law and a failure to follow DIMIA's gender guidelines.[50] In the majority of cases listed on the Federal Court website where applicants are appealing against decisions handed down by the Refugee Review Tribunal, the applicants are male. As explained above, males are over-represented in court processes because women are often not acknowledged as an identifiable category in national asylum policies and are consequently often viewed as the companions of male asylum seekers; it is usually males as heads of households who make the claims. Although not typical of the many cases which come up for judicial review, this case provides strong evidence that DIMIA's gender guidelines are not always followed in practice. Indeed, it was precisely this lack of consideration that allowed the Sri Lankan woman to win her judicial review, and for the court to state the need for this case to be reconsidered.[51]
 


In this case, a woman who was a citizen of Sri Lanka and whose ethnic background was Tamil claimed that she was denied the opportunity to provide a full account of her experiences of persecution in Sri Lanka. She claimed that if she had been allowed to overcome the cultural barriers which prevented her from telling her full story she would have been able to put forward a good claim for asylum. This woman had stated that she would reveal more detail of events which made her leave Sri Lanka if she was allowed to tell her story without any men being present, particularly her husband.[52]
 


On 8 December 1997, a delegate of the minister made a decision refusing to grant protection visas to the applicant and her husband. The applicants then asked to have this decision reviewed by the Refugee Tribunal.[53] The Tribunal conducted a review on 9 August 2000 at which the woman and her husband gave their stories. The tribunal supported the decision not to grant protection visas to the applicants. Between October 2000 and October 2001, the applicants put in two applications to the Federal Court asking for a review of this decision. These applications were both dismissed. On 22 January 2004, the applicants again applied for review of the Tribunal decision.[54]
 


At this review, the woman described two events that had occurred in Sri Lanka in 1995. In the first case, the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) members came to her family home and demanded that they be given a particular motorbike. The husband told one of the PLOTE members that they would not be able to handle this motorbike, which angered the men, who left without the motorbike. The second event happened two days later, when the applicants' house was raided by PLOTE. Five men forced their way into the house, with more waiting outside in a vehicle. When the husband asked these men for a permit or for some identification, they reminded him that his brother-in-law had been killed by the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF). The woman was separated from her husband and taken into the bedroom by two of the men. They accused her of supporting the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). She was four months pregnant at the time and they told her that she was 'carrying a tiger-cub,' kicked her in the stomach and warned her that she would be killed if she were seen outside. In addition to her original description of what happened in July 1995, the woman also said:



I shall confess certain secret matters of sensitive issues, if I am called for an interview. I shall prefer a lady case officer to handle my case.[55]



From that time onwards, the woman was so afraid that she did not even go to the hospital for her routine check-up or go shopping. In spite of her very clear comment that she had more details to reveal which she could only do in a more culturally-appropriate situation, the woman was denied an interview. A delegate of the minister rejected her claim for a protection visa. The Tribunal member who was then assigned to deal with the review of the delegate's decision was male. While this member had all the information from the woman's application, he ignored the fact that this woman had said she would reveal more of her ordeal in the absence of any men.[56] While at the Tribunal, the woman gave evidence in the absence of her husband. This evidence, however, was given in the presence of the applicants' migration agent, who was male. This evidence was given through a female interpreter. The woman's migration agent had requested that a female interpreter be made available. However, other than the female interpreter and the applicant, every other person at the Tribunal was male.[57]
 


During the time that they were applying for protection visas, the husband had also prepared an affidavit to say that there was information that his wife had disclosed that she did not want him to be privy to in accordance with 'the culture of the Sri Lankan people.' The husband wanted to respect the decision of his wife not to reveal that information to him. In the course of the hearing in the court, whenever the contents of the relevant parts of his wife's affidavit were discussed, the husband chose to be absent from the court room.[58]
 


During the woman's initial application and her appeal to the Refugee tribunal, the gender guidelines were totally ignored. The lawyer defending this woman's right to appeal to the high court stated that:



From the first applicant's statement accompanying her original application for a protection visa, [it] could not be construed as anything other than giving notice that she had more to say about the July 1995 incident, and that she was sensitive about saying it to a man. At the very least, this should have sounded warnings to the Minister's delegate that there may have been gender-related claims and that there were cultural reasons why the first applicant did not wish to reveal them to a man. Anyone making a serious attempt to comply with the gender guidelines would have arranged to interview the first applicant in a manner that would have been conducive to ascertaining what she wanted to say. As it was, the Minister's delegate dealt briefly with the July 1995 incident in written reasons, without mentioning either the first applicant's claim to have been kicked, or her statement that she had more to say about the incident.[59]



The excerpts above, taken from a federal court case, provide an example of the way the specific experience of women as refugees and asylum seekers and the cultural barriers which may prevent women from speaking about these experiences have been ignored within the refugee determination process, although in this case the federal court affirmed the necessity for gender sensitivity.
 


The right of asylum seekers to the type of judicial review that the Sri Lankan woman was seeking have been restricted since 2001. Since then, judicial reviews to the Federal Court or Federal Magistrates Court have been severely curtailed. At present, as long as it can be seen that the decision-maker (a government official) was acting in good faith, has the authority to make the decision, that the decision relates the subject matter of the legislation, and does not exceed constitutional limits, the decision is considered lawful. The limitations placed on a refugee's right to a review are in breach of Article 16 of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, a key legal document which states that refugees should have free access to the courts of law on the territory of all contracting states. These limitations apply only to those seeking asylum. No other laws in Australia exempt citizens or other persons from appealing decisions of administrative tribunals to the courts to this degree.[60]



Conclusion
 


While refugee situations are often presented as a string of isolated and disconnected humanitarian emergencies,[61] Castles states that the situations are in fact connected and a fundamental part of globalisation and cannot be studied as isolated situations.[62] Particular groups or situations are connected to a wider social, political and economic context, as this paper highlights. Castles states that by considering the broader structural causes of forced migration, one can generate explanations both for why forced migration has risen in the South and why Northern countries have responded similarly to the plight of refugees and asylum seekers.[63]
 


Women as internally displaced people and as illegal and legal refugees share gendered experiences of forced migration. Forced migration is linked to the implementation of neo-liberal structural adjustment policies into Asia by Northern elites. Yet, the north has responded to this increasing displacement with more exclusionary and punitive forms of governance. In both international and national policies, women are often constituted as the companions or dependants of refugee men rather than as refugees in their own right. To adequately address the needs of displaced and refugee women, their diversity and diverse experiences need to be recognised. The gendered similarities between women's experiences also need recognition. The gender-blind way in which immigration laws and refugee policies are constituted needs to be challenged. To be effective, policies need to recognise not only the gendered dimensions of forced migration, but also its neo-liberal causes.



Endnotes


[1] Carolina Rodriguez Bello, 'Refugees and internally displaced,' Women's Human Rights Net, 2003, URL: http://www.whrnet.org/docs/issue-refugees.html, site accessed 21 August 2005.


[2] Many of the arguments in this paper have been strengthened through discussions and joint conference papers with Ruchira Ganguly Scrase, Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt and Roberta Julian with whom I have been working on developing a collaborative project on gender and forced migration since November 2004. I would like to thank Amarjit Kaur for reading and providing me with feedback on the first draft of this paper. In addition, I would like to thank the three referees who reviewed an earlier version of this paper for their very thorough and constructive feedback.


[3] Angela Mitropoulos, 'Habeas Corpus,' in Arena Magazine 55 (2001): 52–54, p. 54.


[4] Manfred B. Steger, 'Ideologies of globalisation,' in Journal of Political Ideologies 10(1) (2005):11–30, p. 17.
[5] Hans–Peter Martin & Harald Schumann, The global trap, Sydney: Pluto Press, 1998, p. 109.


[6] Neil Brenner & Nik Theodore, 'Cities and the geographies of "actually existing neo liberalism",' in Antipode (2002): 349–79, p. 352.


[7] Steger, 'Ideologies of globalisation,' p. 17.


[8] James Peck, 'Geography and public policy: constructions of neo liberalism,' in Progress in Human Geography 28 (2004):392–405.


[9] Stephen Castles, 'Towards a sociology of forced migration and social transformation,' in Sociology 37(1) (2003):13–34, p. 17.


[10] Alison Jaggar, 'A feminist critique of the alleged Southern debt. (Highlights from the 9th Symposium of the IAPH),' in Hypatia 17(4) (2002):119–42, p. 123.


[11] Ranabir Sammadar, The Marginal Nation: Transborder Migration from Bangladesh to West Bengal, New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1999, p. 40.


[12] Victoria Britain, 'The impact of war on women,' in Race and Class 44(4) (2003):41–51, p. 44.


[13] Sammadar, The Marginal Nation, p 40; Rodriguez, 'Refugees and internally displaced.'


[14] Robert Polak, 'Social justice and the global economy: new challenges for social work in the 21st century,' in Social Work 2 (2004): 282–83, p. 281.


[15] Polak, 'Social justice and the global economy,' p. 283.


[16] Polak, 'Social justice and the global economy,' p. 283.


[17] Dooly Arora, 'Structural adjustment programs and gender concerns in India,' in Journal of Contemporary Asia 29(3) (1999):328–61, p. 330.


[18] Arora, 'Structural adjustment programs and gender concerns,' pp. 338–40.


[19] Arora, 'Structural adjustment programs and gender concerns,' p. 345.


[20] Arora, 'Structural adjustment programs and gender concerns,' p. 347.


[21] Mohammed Naruzzaman, 'Neo liberal economic reforms, the rich and the poor in Bangladesh,' in Journal of Contemporary Asia 34(1) (2004):33–54, p. 51.


[22] Naruzzaman, 'Neo liberal Economic Reforms,' pp. 39, 44, 48 & 51.


[23] Farida Khan, 'Gender violence and development discourse in Bangladesh,' in International Social Science Journal 57(184) (2005):219–30, pp. 221–22.


[24] Khan, 'Gender violence and development discourse,' p. 24.


[25] Khan, 'Gender violence and development discourse,' p. 29.


[26] Michael Gillan, 'Refugees or infiltrators? the Bharatiya Janata Party and "illegal" migration from Bangladesh,' in Asian Studies Review 26(1) (2002):73–95, pp. 73–74.


[27] Ruchira Ganguly-Scrase, 'Infiltrators, illegals and undesirables: gender and forced migration in South Asia,' in TASA 2005 Conference Proceedings: Community, Place, Change, ed. Roberta Julian, Reannan Rottier & Rob White, St Lucia: Australian Sociological Association CD Rom, 2005.


[28] These excerpts are from interviews with displaced and refugee women who live on the outskirts of Calcutta, India. The interviews are part of fieldwork carried out by Dr Ruchira Ganguly Scrase in January 2005. The interviews were conducted in Bengali and translated by Ruchira Ganguly Scrase. The ethics committee clearance number is HEO4/313.


[29] Interview with Minati, January 2005. Kayasthas refer to upper caste Hindus.


[30] Interview with Sobha, January 2005.


[31] PUja refers to an act of showing reverence to a God, through prayer, songs or ritual.


[32] Interview with Sobha, Calcutta, West Bengal, January 2005.


[33] Interview with Sobha, Calcutta, West Bengal, January 2005.


[34] Interview with Minati, Calcutta, West Bengal, January 2005.


[35] Interview with Rina, Calcutta, West Bengal, January 2005.


[36] Interview with Perbati, Calcutta, West Bengal, January 2005.


[37] Ganguly-Scrase, 'Infiltrators, illegals and undesirables,' p. 4.


[38] Teresa Hayter , 'No borders: the case against immigration controls,' in Feminist Review 73 (2003):6–18, p. 7.


[39] Susanne Binder & Jelana ToÅ¡ji , 'Refugees as a particular form of transnational migrations and social transformations: socio anthropological and gender aspects,' in Current Sociology 53(4) (2005):607–24.


[40] 'William Maley, A global refugees crisis,' in Refugees and the Myth of a Borderless World, ed. Jean-Pierre Fonteyne, Greg Fry, James Jupp & Thuy Do, Canberra: National Library of Australia, 2002, URL: http://rspas.anu.edu.au/ir/keynotes/documents/Keynotes-2.PDF, site accessed 23 February 2005, p. 2.


[41] Jennifer Hyndman, 'Aid conflict and migration: the Canada-Sri Lanka connection,' in Canadian Geographer 47(3) (2003):251–68, p. 253.


[42] Hyndman, 'Aid conflict and migration,' p. 253.


[43] Oxfam Sri Lanka and the Asian Development Bank, Oxfam Community Abroad, 2001, URL: http://www.oxfam.org.au/campaign/Submissions/Sri_lanka.pdf33, site accessed 26th May 2006.


[44] Oxfam Sri Lanka and the Asian Development Bank, Oxfam Community Abroad.


[45] Michael Humphrey 'Humanitarianism, terrorism and the transnational border,' in Social Analysis 46(1) (2002):118–24, p. 119.


[46] World Organisation Against Torture, 2001, URL: http://www.dci-au.org/html/omct.html, site accessed 3 September 2005.


[47] Leanne McKay, 'Women asylum seekers in Australia: discrimination and the Migration Legislation Amendment Act (No 6) 2001 (Cth),' in Melbourne Journal of International Law 4(2) (2003):439–68, pp. 444 & 439.


[48] McKay, 'Women asylum seekers in Australia,' pp. 444–45.


[49] McKay, 'Women asylum seekers in Australia,' p. 447–49.


[50] Federal Court of Australia, Applicants M16 in 2004 v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs [2005] FCA 1641 (24 November 2005), URL: http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/disp.pl/au/cases/cth/federal%5fct/2005/1641.html?query=+%28%28women+refugees%29+and+%28on%29%29, site accessed 4 January 2006.


[51] The Refugee Review Tribunal Decisions Digest, 1 (9 January 2006), URL: http://www.rrt.gov.au/publications/bulletin/decbull06.01.rtf, site accessed 6 June 2006.


[52] Applicants M16 in 2004 v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs [2005] FCA 1641.


[53] Applicants M16 in 2004 v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs [2005] FCA 1641. Applicants in this case refer to people who are applying to the court to have their cases reviewed.


[54] Applicants M16 in 2004 v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs [2005] FCA 1641.


[55] Applicants M16 in 2004 v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs [2005] FCA 1641.


[56] Applicants M16 in 2004 v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs [2005] FCA 1641.


[57] Applicants M16 in 2004 v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs [2005] FCA 1641.


[58] Applicants M16 in 2004 v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs [2005] FCA 1641.


[59] Applicants M16 in 2004 v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs [2005] FCA 1641.


[60] Alice Edwards, 'Tampering with refugee protection: the case of Australia,' in International Journal of Refugee Law 15(2) (2003):192–211, p. 209.


[61] Castles, 'Towards a sociology of forced migration and social transformation,' p. 21.


[62] Castles, 'Towards a sociology of forced migration and social transformation,' p. 30.


[63] Castles, 'Towards a sociology of forced migration and social transformation,' p. 27.
http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue15/vogl.htm
 


Tasks :


A brief report of TUI of Public and Allied Employees presented before the Directive meeting of Trade Union International of Public & Allied Employees on 8-9 November 2008 held at Colombo, Srilanka.


Organizational Activities since the Last Directive Committee Meeting at Cyprus on 16-17 November 2006 at Cyprus :


After the International Congress of TUI of Public & Allied Employees held at Johannesburg, south Africa on 20-22 March 2006, the first Directive Committee meeting was held at Cyprus on 16-17 November 2006. During this period TUI Head Qrs has tried to remain active and maintaining connections with the affiliates. In all the countries’ struggles TUI Headquarters also sent messages of solidarity. During the TUI Congress on 20-22 March, 2006 in South Africa, two organizations of South Africa were granted affiliation. Again one application from an African Trade union is pending with us for approval.


Decision of the Cyprus Directive Committee Meeting :


In Cyprus the Directive Committee resolved that all affiliates should observe Anti-Globalization Solidarity Day on 10 January 2007 by rallies and demonstrations of the employees of their country at all levels on the following 3-Pointg demands.


1. Workers’ Right to Strike and other trade union and democratic rights should be guaranteed in accordance with relevant ILO Conventions No. 187, 198 and 151 and all anti-labour legislations to be withdrawan;


2. Existing social security benefits including pensionary benefits should be guaranteed and should not be privatized;


3. Privatization of Public Service and Finance sector has to be stopped and contract system of work be stopped. New recruitment to public services should not be stopped and the Govt should take measures to provide jobs to the jobless.


The meeting urged the affiliates to make all effective and maximum mobilization of the employees for observance of Anti-globalization Solidarity Day on 10 January 2007.


Com. Muthubanda of Ceylon was appointed one-man Audit Commission of TUI.


Proposal for next TUI-PAE Congress :


TUI-PAE is mainly based in the Asian and African countries, with only Syria in Arab territories, Cuba, Brazil as Latin American affiliates and Cyprus as the European affiliate. Absence of TUI in the major countries of Europe and also in Australia points out to its organizational weakness so far as these countries are concerned. This is so, despite the fact that in France, Germany and other European countries vigorous trade union struggles are developing against the offence of neo-liberal globalization. This is also the reflection of WFTU’s organizational weakness in those countries.


It is in this situation, the leadership of World Federation of Trade Unions connected with Latin America suggested for holding the next TUI World Congress in a Latin American country so that the Public Service unions of some Latin American countries can be motivated for the Congress.

 In fact, presently, almost all the Latin American countries are in political turmoil and on the strength of big mass struggles against the offensives of globalization and intervention of US imperialism, in one after another country of this region is witnessing regime change from pro-globalization and pro-US regimes to left and left-wing regimes. This is a very hopeful sign in the world today that the working class and the poor people are advancing in the direction of Left-wing politics.


Next TUI World Congress :


This is the background of the suggestion for holding the next TUI Congress in a country at Latin America so that Latin American Public Service trade unions get an easy access to this Congress and TUI’s organizational base in Latin America develops strongly.


It was suggested that Brazil would be most suitable place for such a Congress, because it is a vast country and have strong progressive trade unions who will help, even financially to host the Congress. And I am invited to visit Sao Paulo on 10 Decermber’08 to discuss with Brazilian trade unions the modalities of the Congress so that they can start preparation.


It may be pointed out that according to TUI Statute, we are to hold a World Congress generally every four years. But there is no bar in holding it earlier and it is suggested by the WFTU leaders connected with Latin American trade unions that we hold the Congress as early as possible. The TUI Directive Committee’s approved the holding of World Congress at Brazil in July-August 2009. Brazilian trade unions also want such timing.


It may be mentioned in this connection that as TUI General Secretary, Sukomal Sen was invited to Havana, Cuba by WFTU, America Regional office to attend a Trade Union training class of different Latin American trade unionists which was held for 2 weeks, ending on 28 September’08. He attended the last four days of the training class. 45 trade union activists attended. My subject was ‘offensive of neo-liberal globalization and struggle against it in Latin American countries and at global-level’. There were interactive sessions also with questions and answers. He also met the Ecuador and Panama participants separately. He also placed before them the suggestion of holding TUI Congress at Brazil. The participants jubilantly supported it.


More Solidarity Actions and Closer Connection :


The TUI has made it a point to establish closer connection between the TUI Head Quarters and WFTU Hd. Qrs, WFTU Europe office, WFTU Asia Pacific office and the affiliated organizations.


Of late, our comrades of the affiliate in Zimbabwe are in trouble. President of the Zimbabwe Public Service Union was also arrested. TUI has expressed full solidarity with our comrades in trouble in that country and we extended full support to Zimbabwe trade unions who are fighting for restoration of democracy.


Moreover during the struggle in any country, all TUI affiliates should organize solidarity actions in their own countries and establish mutual fraternal contacts with other affiliates and organizations.


Organization’s Bulletin :


TUI has been publishing a multi-coloured quarterly English Bulletin – FOCUS regularly and being dispatched free copies to all TUI affiliates and other International Organizations. The Bulletin is not priced, but being published regularly for free sample distribution to TUI affiliates and other international organizations.


Fund Position :


It has to be noted that for all international activities require huge expenses. But only some affiliates of TUI like South Africa, Cyprus, Vietnam, Japan and Indian affiliates pay their fees regularly. Some other pay only occasionally and that too very meager amount. We will have to improve our financial position if we want to act properly.


Relation with ILO and other UN Agencies :


TUI is maintaining close connection with ILO and other UN Agencies when they organize meetings and other sessions. Without having close connection with ILO and other UN agencies it is difficult to fight for protection of employees’ rights, particularly when the employees are under attack by the so called economic restructuring and capitalist globalization. Present Global Crisis of Capitalism, obviously, will direct more offensives on the workers and employees.


At international level also TUI is trying to establish contact with other international organizations so that on common issues affecting the employees, struggles may be organized at the global level


For the last 97th ILC, the delegates composed of TUI President from South Africa, General Secretary from India and another comrade from South Africa attended.


Movemental Activities :


Among the recent struggles conducted in different counties, General Strike in India was quite noteworthy.


Nationwide strike was organized in India against IMF-Sponsored Contributory and Privatized Pension Scheme and other demands in India by the TUI affiliates representing Public Service.


About 10 million Govt employees and teachers from Primary to University and semi-Govt employees took part in a nationwide strike demanding total scrapping of IMF sponsored anti-employee Contributory New Pension Scheme and the 12-Point Charter of Demands including Interim Relief to the Central employees, grant of Right to . Strike and other demands on 30 October 2007.


TUI affiliates in the Public Service, teaching services, telecom employees and Board, Corporation and Municipal, University employees organized the massive strike in India. It was a totally successful strike. The strike was supported by various Central Trade Unions within the Sponsoring Committee of Trade Unions in India.


In total about 60 million workers of different sectors including the informal sector participated in the strike which was the biggest ever strike organized in India.


During the strike, TUI received solidarity messages from various Trade union organizations from other parts of the world and the WFTU Asia Pacific office.


Women’s Convention :


We receive all help and assistance from WFTU office at Geneva and we are thankful to them. All India State Govt Employees’ Federation, the biggest affiliate of TUI organized a massive Convention of women employees at Mumbai, India on 8-9 December’07 with the technical assistance from ILO. That was a very inspiring women convention with 1300 women activists participating.


8TH SIGTUR Conference :


TUI actively participated in 8th Congress of SIGTUR (Southern Initiative on Globalization & Trade Union Rights) from 19-23 April, 2008 at Kochi, India.


During the 8th SIGTUR Conference, a joint meeting of the Public Service Delegates from different countries attending the SIGTUR Conference was held in the evening of 21 April 2008 at the Conference venue itself. 37 public service delegates from different countries attended the meeting. Sukomal Sen, General Secretary, TUI explained at the beginning that the purpose of this meeting was to know each other and hear their respective form of struggles and exchange of mailing address for mutual correspondence. After self-introduction, then delegates briefly narrated their experience in their respective countries. It was an interesting session.


TUI President Lulamile Sotaka, Vice-President, Com. Michalis Archondides were among the Public Service delegates attending the Conference.


The Trade Unions International takes an active part :


in all questions interesting the personnel of the public services in the professional, economic and social field, and priorities are: the safeguarding of full employment, the improvement of the conditions of work and remuneration, labour, hygiene and safety, the prevention of negative effects of the introduction of new techniques and technologies, the securing of the necessary vocational training and further training as well as the end of any discrimination against working women and youths.


in all questions concerning the public services, their utilisation, their developments, their means, their role especially with a view to preventing the social character of public services from being destroyed by projects of massive privatizations, and in order to achieve that the financial, material, and human resources which are being wasted in the armament race are employed in favour of socially useful expenditure, of the development of public services, for the well-being and for raising the living standard of the population.


in all questions concerning public employees’ unions, their development, their struggles, the organization of their activities, principally for : the intensification of international solidarity between public employees’ unions who authentically represent the interests of the employees, without considering their international affiliation, the increased participation of the trade unions in the struggle for peace and disarmament, for guaranteeing trade union rights and liberties, for the rights of man, against racism and militarism.


TUI Programme :


1. Directive Committee Meeting of TUI at Cyprus :


The Directive Committee meeting of TUI of Public and Allied Employees was held at Larcana, Cyprus on 5 & 6 May 2002. Members of the affiliates from South Africa, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Japan, Ghana, Syria, Libiya and hosts Cyprus attended the meeting. The meeting was presided over by Lulamile Sotaka, President, TUI from South Africa and Michalis Archondides, Vice-President, TUI from Cyprus.


Several issues facing the present world trade union movement in the backdrop of offensive of globalization was discussed. The increasing exploitation of the workers vis-a-vis increasing profit-taking of MNCs was also highlighted. The need for a unified struggle against this neo-liberal globalization was felt by the members. The members urged TUI to play a greater role in the fight against privatization and globalization.


The organizational and financial report placed by Genneral Secretary, Sukomal Sen was accepted after discussion. The Geneal Secretary called for increased interaction between members and the TUI headquarters as this would help in building greater trade union solidarity.


The meeting also accepted resolutions against the US backed Israeli military offensive in Palestine and occupation of Cypriot terrirories by Turkey.


2. Asia – Arab seminar at Dhaka :


An Asian-Arab Seminar on ‘Impact of Neo-liberal Globalization on ther Public Service’ was held at Dhaka, Bangladesh on 3-4 November, 2000.


The Seminar was organised by the TUI of Public & Allied Employees in co-operation with ILO and was hosted by Bangladesh Sarkari Karmachari Samonnoy Parishad. Representatives of diffderent affiliates from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Srilanka and Nepal participated in the Seminar.


Ms Claudia Coenjaerts, Director of Intenational Labour Organisation (ILO), Bangladesh while addressing the Inaugural Session stressed that ILO’s agenda is Decent Work and assured the employees to organise trade union without fear to protect their interests.


In the delegates session of the Seminar, Com. Sukomal Sen, General Secretary, TUI explained the written report placed by him for the Seminar and urged the affiliates of all countries to organise struggles to protect the interests of the employees from the onslaught of Capitalist Globalisation. He urged for global struggle against global offensive.


Representatives from various countries and affiliates explained their experiences about the privatisation, downsizing and retrenchment and also curb of trade union rights. Bangladesh representatives, in particular, mentioned about lack of trade union rights for the government employees.


At the end, the TUI General Secretary summed up the discussion and urged all countries to prepare for massive struggle to halt this unprecedented attack. Finally, the following Declaration was adopted by the Seminar unanimously.


Dhaka Declaration :


This Seminar of the Public Service Trade Unions of the Asian countries held under the auspices of TUI of Public & Allied Employees at Dhaka, Bangladesh on 3 & 4 November 2000 adopted the following declaration:


Globalisation of Economy at the dictate of IMF-World  Bank-WTO under the leadership of the capitalist super-power USA and imposition of this economy on all developing and developed countries is totally going against the workers, employees and the poor people.


This economy has become most harmful and disastrous for the developing countries.


This Economy of Globalisation is serving the interests of the MNCs and the financial interests of the advanced capitalist countries.


As a result of this Economy, indigenous factories are being closed down. MNCs are looting the people of developing countries, Public sector is privatised and ruining the economy of these countries.


So far as the Public services are concerned it is under severe attack of privatisation. From Banking, Insurance industry to Government departments, Railway departments and other Public sectors – everything is suffering from the attack of privatisation and therefore retrenchment of staff.


Health and Education sectors are being privatised causing harm not only to the employees but also to the entire common people of these countries.


Trade Union Rights are being curbed and in the Public services trade union rights are denied and ILO Conventions are being flouted. The Seminar feels deeply concerned that in Bangladesh for the Government employees, trade union rights are totally denied.


Participants in the Seminar therefore resolve that:


In each country and in each industry and sector powerful struggle has to be built up against the offensive of Capitalist Globalisation.


These struggles developing in different countries should be properly co-ordinated.


Workers in each country should develop struggle in solidarity with the struggle of the workers in other countries.


In each country each Trade Union should undertake massive training and educational programme for making the workers and employees aware of the danger of Globalisation.


This educational programme through countrywide, local of industry-wise Seminars, Conventions, publications and other training methods should be organised to raise the consciousness of the workers and employees. This programme should be taken up immediately.


Globalisation is a global offensive on the workers and the poor. So the workers and the poor should organise a global struggle against this global offensive.


The training programmes, seminars, etc. should aim at creating a clear perspective before the workers and employees – a perspective on new economic and social order serving the interests of the labouring people.


All affiliated organisations in all countries should keep close contact with TUI Headquarters and keep it informed about the developments in their industries and their countries.


3. TUI Directive Committee Calls for Mightier Struggle Against Globalization :


Directive Committee of TUI which met at Johannesburg on 20 & 2 November 20 & 21 November 2000 called upon the affiliated organisations to intensify united struggles against the offensive of Capitalist Globalization.


Com. Lulamile Sotaka of NEHAWU (South Africa) was elected new president of TUI in view in view of resignation by the earlier President Com. Christo Allekkou Christou as he was promoted in his national union.


The meeting adopted Declaration on Disastrous Impact of Globalization on the Public Services and the need to work closely with other progressive forces in our quest for a new world order which will be based on non-exploitative practices. TUI believes that unlike that in capitalism this will only be realised if there is unity of purpose and ideological cohesion amongst the organised working class. TUI is calling on our members to build up united struggles in all corners of the world against capitalist globalisation.


TUI called on the United Nations to immediately dispatch a peace enforcement force as a matter of urgency to ensure that there is peace and stability in Palestine and the occupied territories. In addition that the Oslo-brokered peace agreement and other related decisions must be unconditionally implemented with immediate effect.


TUI called for the withdrawal of Israeli’s Jewish settlers from the occupied territories and the recognition of the Palestine State by the international community. Finally, TUI strongly believes that the Palestinian sovereignty will never be realised until Israel has pulled out of the occupied territories and State of Palestine is declared.


4. The US Blockade of Cuba and Other Countries :


TUI supported the call by the 2nd Solidarity Conference, held in Havana, Cuba on 10-14 November, 2000 to increase solidarity action with the people of Cuba and declare October the 10th as an International Day of Solidarity with Cuba and the year 2001 as the ‘Year of International Solidarity against the Blockade, the law of Cuban Adjustment and all Imperialist Manoeuvres against Cuba’.


TUI demanded that Economic Blockade on other countries should also be withdrawn forthwith.


Denial of Trade Union Rights in Swaziland :


The Directive Committee noted with concern and dismay the continued harassment of trade union leaders in Swaziland and generally the lack of trade union and human rights in the kingdom. The monarchy is abusing its powers through unleashing brutality and fear on its opponents through detention and countless harassment of trade union leaders.


TUI condemns in the strongest terms and the lack of basic trade union rights and human rights despite the fact that Swaziland has been participating in the ILO sessions. TUI called on the international community and Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) to put pressure on the Swaziland monarchy to free political activity, and guarantee for basic trade union rights.


Against Turkish Occupation of Cyprus :


The TUI expressed its deep indignation for the continued Turkish occupation of Cyprus, which exists since July 1974. At the same time it called upon the United Nations to exercise their influence for the implementation of all the resolutions of the Security Council on the problem of Cyprus, so that this country maintains its full independence without foreign troops and where human rights and freedom are respected for all its citizens.


5. South-East Asian Seminar at Bangladesh Calls for Global Action of the Working Class :


The South-East Asian Seminar on ‘neo-liberal Globalization and its impact on Trade union Rights’ was successfully held at Cox Bazar, Bangladesh on 5 & 6 July 2002. The Seminar was organised by Trade Union International of Public & Allied Employees and locally hosted by Bangladesh Sarkari Karmachari Samonnoy Parishad.


A total of 93 delegates including 15 women from Srilanka, Nepal, India and Bangladesh participated.


Mr. Gopal Bhattacharya, Director of ILO, BANGLADESH, addressed the inaugural ceremony on 5 July 2002.


At the business session, after the welcome speech, Brother Sukomal Sen, General Secretary of TUI of Public & Allied Employees introduced the Discussion Paper. 40 delegates from different participating organisations took part in the discussion and narrated their experience about the offensive of neo-liberal globalization and the attack on trade union rights.


The Minister of Food of the Bangladesh Government Md. Abdullah-Al Nomin also addressed the Seminar and supported the workers’ cause.


When the Seminar was being held Jute Mills of Bangladesh – the biggest jute mill of the world – employing 25,000 workers was closed down. Speakers in their speeches condemned this closure.


After the delegates took part in the discussion on the Discussion Paper, TUI General Secretary Sukomal Sen summed up the discussion and placed the Declaration (Cox Bazar Declaration) highlighting the points of discussion and the tasks ahead.


The action part of the Declaration is reproduced below:


In each country and in each industry and sector powerful struggle has to be built up against the offensive of Neo-liberal Globalization.


These struggles developing in different countries should be properly co-ordinated.


Workers in each country should develop struggle in solidarity with the struggle of the workers in other countries.


 In each country each trade union should undertake massive training and educational programme for making the workers and employees aware of the danger of Neo-liberal Globalization.


All these policies resulting in formidable increase of unemployment in each country that has very disastrous social and political impact also.


Since this Neo-liberal Globalization is also directing severe attack on the trade union rights of the workers, the working class should rise up in determined struggle to protect their hard earned trade union rights.


This educational programme to be organized through country based local or industrywise Seminars, Conventions, Publications and other training methods should be aimed at to raise the consciousness of the workers and employees. These programmes should be taken up immediately.


Neo-liberal Globalization is a global offensive on the workers and the poor to help the thirst for super profit of the MNCs and indigenous capitalists. So the workers and the poor against this global offensive should organize a global struggle.


The training programmes, seminars, etc. should aim at creating a clear perspective before the workers and employees – a perspective on new economic and social order serving the interests of the labouring people in the context of the present deep structural crisis of capitalism.


All affiliated organizations in all countries should keep close contact with TUI Head quarters and keep it informed about the developments in their industries and their countries and make use of modern communication system for the purpose.
http://www.tradeunionindia.org/tasks.htm















































































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Listed below are top 10 NSE Gainers. Create your watchlist if you don't have one. Sign inif you have one.

























































Scrip CMP(Rs.) Chg%  
emksha 27.45 + 20.13 NewsChart
gssame 128.10 + 19.66 NewsChart
decavi 29.25 + 17.94 NewsChart
suryar 28.45 + 16.35 NewsChart
tanlso 64.95 + 16.29 NewsChart
sterin 231.25 + 12.50 NewsChart
shapai 190.65 + 12.44 NewsChart
jens 3.20 + 12.28 NewsChart
dcmfi 2.30 + 12.19 NewsChart
kalfor 57.20 + 12.15 NewsChart










Priyanka Chopra at Tag Heuer PC
Priyanka Chopra at a press conference in Chennai. (PTI)
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Dr A K Banerjee, Chairman of NPPA'


Ashok Chawla, Secretary, Dept of Economic Affairs


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Gir forest in trouble







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ET Headline


New reports reveal battered US economy

26 Nov 2008, 2200 hrs IST, AGENCIES


 






 


US government released a quartet of reports on Wednesday that paint a bleak picture of the nation's economy. Gainers: BSE (A, B), NSE | Losers: BSE (A, B), NSE




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US banks to write down about $44 billion in Q4
26 Nov 2008, 2130 hrs IST, REUTERS


 

US banks will incur about $44 bn in write-downs in Q4, & much of US Treasury capital will be diverted to plug holes on their balance sheets. The reverse wealth effect


 



Online networks a magnet for job-seekers
26 Nov 2008, 2235 hrs IST, REUTERS


 

The economic crisis slamming firms across the globe has sparked a spike in usage of professional networks. Cities that are IT hubs I Effect of fin crisis on tech cos


 


All headlines >>News on your MobileLog on to m.economictimes.com










Barack Obama: Plans & Future





Barack Obama: Way to White House









IT firms unfazed by Obama's tax plans
IT and IT-services companies seem undaunted by the potential impact from Obama's proposal to repeal tax breaks.

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India beat England by six wickets, take 5-0 lead in series
26 Nov 2008, 2227 hrs IST


India beat England by six wickets in the fifth ODI here tonight to take a 5-0 lead in the seven-match series.


Obama names Volcker to head new econ advisers 
26 Nov 2008, 2218 hrs IST


President-elect Barack Obama chose a former Federal Reserve chairman Wednesday to head a board of economic experts to advise him.





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http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/articlelist/1715249553.cms

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