Microcredit Institutions

I remember watching a program on Mohammad Yunus a year or two ago. I clearly recall him saying that poverty and deprivation among masses is not due to lack of enterprise, but due to lack of capital. He had stressed that with paltry sums as credit, poor people will lift themselves out of poverty.

For the section of society he's talking about the issue seemingly is not about lack of human skills or will, but just a question of "means" to acquire capital.

The Nobel prize is surely well deserved. And relevant too, because it's a peace prize for working towards eliminating poverty. A prosperous Bangladesh is extremism and violence nipped in the bud.

Some critics of micro-credit institutions say that they "individualize the solution to poverty, thereby negating the possibility of social mobilization and the need to change social structure". Of course, this criticism holds no water when we view the empowerment of women Grameen Bank has brought about. Empowering rural women does lead to a change in social mobility patterns and social structures.

However, I wonder if capital is the only bottleneck in raising standards of living among the not-so-poor masses. Isn't lack of knowledge of what is out there a big constraint in unleashing the Human Will? Don't social norms and patterns in one's community constrain one's ambitions? As in.. A wants to be a trader because he's born in so and so community, B wants to get into the Army because he's born in that community, getting a second grade is good enough in so and so community.

In sum, don't sociological factors play as big a role as economic..? Thinking out loud..

Bio in news

Biotechnology has been the star news item of the past week for me.

Firstly, of course, the Nobel prizes in physiology and chemistry have gone to studies in information transfer from the DNA to protein synthesis.

Indian agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, announced that a number of transgenic crops were in the pipeline. Apparently these new crops can not only ensure food security, but also nutritional security. Potatoes will have a lot more amino acids in them, adding one more reason to eat French Fries!

The National Commission on Farmers, chaired by M.S.Swaminathan (the father of Indian green revolution), has a curious recommendation too. He wants the government to make farming intellectual, thereby attracting smart youth to the field. Any takers?

The Finance Minister also seems worried about the career choices of Indian youth. IT and ITeS are attracting all engineers, depleting other engineering fields of their legitimate personnel.