Developing Self Reliant Communities

In these days of World economy I came across a presentation from a organization called Swadeshi Jagran Manch which tells the Indians to buy Indian goods. Its motto is "Buy Local". Swadeshi means produce belonging to ones' native country and "Jagran Manch" means platform to raise awareness. This organization aims to raise the awareness amongst Indians to buy local goods and reject the multinational companies. I think there are similar kind of organizations all over the world in different countries.

As per this philosophy, every consumer should try to buy goods which are produced and manufacture locally and if they are not produced locally then go for imported goods if they are absolutely must. For example, if a person wants to buy grain he should buy that from a merchant or farmer from his own village. If it is not available then try to buy merchandise from his district, then from state and then from other states. If not produced in the country then go for imported goods. If at all we need to import then see if that is absolutely essential or has technical benefits for the country.

In my view it does makes sense. There are several benefits I can see.

Following are the benefits of Buying Local.
1. Firstly, it will develop micro economy.
2. Money will reach the small farmers and producers.
3. It will generate more employment locally and in turn it will stop migration of people to cities where they stay in improper conditions, as they will find employment there.
4. The wastage and expenses incurred during the transportation will reduce.
5. Big multinational firms spend more money in advertising there by increasing the price of the goods. Their involvement in selling these goods also means they lesser number of people are employable for selling the same amount of the goods. They hardly bring any value to the good and charge exorbitant amount for the shopping service they provide.
6. By going local you are providing money for a local family instead of filling the coffers of a cash rich company.

What are the steps you can take.
1. Buy local material. For example if you can see grains, cereal or spices manufacture by local company buy that instead of local brands. Just make sure they are of good quality.
2. There are certain items which may not be produced locally, there go for the companies which have manufacturing facilities in your state or district.
3. Try to avoid buying items such as toys which are made in China for example even if they are cheaper.

This can be done by people in all countries of the world. This will strengthen the local communities and not restrict the wealth in the hands of few individuals and corporations. Less babies will suffer from malnutrition and hunger and world will be a happier place.

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Dress Restriction for Girls in Colleges

Recently there was a news in the media regarding the dress code for girls in colleges in Kanpur city which is in northern India. The girls did not like the ban and reacted by protesting it. Similar bans have been called for recently in Karachi and various other colleges. The target is always the girls and they are told that wearing jeans would invite eve teasing. Some places the plea is that jeans is a western dress and we should stick to our culture.

I think the reasoning is absurd. The sickness is in the loafers and idiots roaming around in the streets and we are treating it by telling the girls to wear traditional dresses. As if you have a pain in the legs and instead of treating it we say amputating the leg will relieve the pain in the leg. Can the college authorities assure the girls that the eve teasing will stop if they start wearing traditional dresses? Another reason I don't like such bans is it is giving in to the rowdies.

I am not against the traditional dresses, and in fact I think girls look beautiful in them, but again choice should be with the person as to what they want to wear. If sticking to the culture is the main point then the boys should also not be allowed to wear T-Shirts or jeans and instead should come to college in Kurta and Dhoti which are traditional dresses for male in India.

Some people would argue that the crime against the women will rise if they are in Jeans and T-Shirt. That is also not very true. In fact if a girl is confident in these dresses then there are less chances of eve teasing compared to a weak body language in traditional dress. There are scores of rapes and crimes happening against girls and there is no statistics to suggest that most were in western dresses. I feel if the dress is dignified and not revealing it should be allowed. If compared to Tops, sarees, the traditional dress shows more skin. Some ladies wear Sarees in a very dignified manner while some can make it look vulgar.

The major solution in my opinion would be to run a public campaign to educate people on how to handle eve teasing, encouraging people to help girls live a dignified life and at the same time give police more power to tackle the culprits. Recently in Kanpur, police caught few eve teasers and invoked the strict national security act on them. Such kind of actions can be deterrents to crimes against the women and not the knee jerk reactions being shown by the weak college administrators.

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