Poverty: July 2006 Archives

Socio-economic units will not only have to fulfill peoples social and economic needs, but also their cultural aspirations. Culture denotes all sorts of human expressions. Culture is the same for all humanity, though there are differences in cultural expression. The best means of communicating human expressions is through one's mother tongue, as this is most natural. If people's natural expression through their mother tongue is suppressed, inferiority complexes will grow in their minds, encouraging a defeatist mentality and ultimately leading to psycho-economic exploitation. Thus, no mother tongue should be suppressed.

Humanity represents the highest manifestation of the Supreme Entity. This impoverished man, on a street in Nepal, is humanity. And this humanity is higher than all laws, higher than all scriptures, higher than the rules and regulations of any state or any government or any religious institution. There is nothing higher, nothing greater, than humanity. - WPA

"The value of human life surpasses all other values. Be it state or scripture, society or religion, the significance of everything lies in developing humanity to the optimum point through knowledge, culture, health and affluence of life. It is for the unfoldment of humanity that civilization has so many impediments, the state presents various forms, theories multiply and the scriptures abound in ordinances and regulations. What does the state stand for, what is the use of these regulations, or what are the marvels of civilization for, if humanity is deprived of manifesting itself, if human beings do not get any chance to build a good physique, to invigorate their intelligence with knowledge and to broaden their heart with love and compassion? Instead of leading humanity to the goal of life, if the state stands in the way then it cannot command loyalty, because humanity is superior to the state."

"Lopez Obrador [of the Mexican Democratic Revolutionary Party] is a popular -- some would say populist -- left-of-center leader whose main campaign slogan is 'for the good of everyone, the poor first.' "

"[I]n Argentina, President Nestor Kirchner did what the financial markets didn't want, and the economy has been booming at about 9 percent annually for more than three years."

A brilliant documentary by Rachel Boynton, released this year, chronicles the adventures of one of America's most influential public relations firms as it applies the most advanced polling, advertising, and focus group techniques to the 2002 presidential elections in Bolivia. The company, Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, has the daunting task of winning the election for Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, a former president who speaks Spanish with an American accent and is not well-liked.

In 1613, when a British company by the name of the East India company was granted permission by the Mughal emperor Jehangir to start their trading activities, nobody imagined that the British would one day rule India. Starting from the West coast they gradually established their centre on the East coast and in Bengal. Bengal was then under Mughal rule. In 1717, Murshid Kuli Khan was appointed as the Subadar (administrator) of Bengal. At this time, Bengal was for all intents and purposes independent, though nominally it was under Mughal rule. In 1756, after the death of Nawab Alivardy, Sirajuddaula, who succeeded him, was the last independent ruler of Bengal. Lord Clive was then the governor of the East India Company in Bengal. Lord Clive hatched a conspiracy with the commander in Chief of Nawab's army, Mirjafar, and defeated Sirajuddaula in the battle of Palashii in 1757. After this victory, the British aggressively expanded their domination of India.