PRABODH- The Youth Awakening

Prabodh Begins the Active Citizenship Internship Program at IILM

2010-09-19T07:14:00.000-07:00

14^th Sept, 2010

Mehak Garg

After great success and appreciation for the last year’s tie up program with Prabodh, IILM and its student group ICCHA invited Prabodh for conducting training cum internship program for students with the dual objective of social service as well as making the students aware about Active Citizenship, Globalization, Governance, New Public Management and Policy Reforms. Prabodh accepted the offer with a promise for a program with higher input and output this year. 12 students attended the Orientation session who would be working with Prabodh as interns. About the same number are expected to join from the second session.

The pedagogy of the program has three constituents. First, the Classroom sessions that will take place at the IILM campus and would consist of lectures, screening of documentaries and short films, discussions, role plays, working group exercise, reality check, games, etc. Weekly assignments would follow each of these sessions. Second, the students would work in group of five each on projects one by one on a rotational basis. Hence each group will work on a project for a month and then move to next project. Third is the skill Based training that would involve applying the theory and skills in real world exercises. This training will focus on social media marketing and online advertising, direct marketing, event management, campaign management, reporting, monitoring and evaluation, etc.

So, the first session was organized on 14th of Sept at IILM, Lodhi Road campus by Mr. Prashant Narang & Mr. Himanshu Dev from Prabodh. The students who attended the session were Mehak Garg, Dipanshi Kochar, Monisha Batra, Shivam, Naina Mishra, Shewta, Guransh, Harshita, Vikram, Shilpi Tiwari, Saurabh, Pramath and the Student Coordinators Rounak Nahata and Chandni.

The session began with a presentation on Prabodh about the objectives, mission and the work domains of the organization. According to the Team Prabodh, they are a think-tank based in Delhi that envisions corruption-free governance and prosperous society where the common man is sovereign and awakened as a citizen and a consumer. To achieve that, it aspires to improve the life and livelihood conditions of a common man in India by advocating for public policies favouring good governance and free exchange based on liberal democratic values. This initiative with the management students is a step in the same direction.

Then an inspiring leadership documentary video called “Imagine Leadership | By XPLANE & Nitin Nohria” that had examples of people who have led by example and have dedicated their lives to services to the society as Mahatma Gandhi, who by his life characterized his saying “be the change you want to see in the world.” A Question and Answer session and discussions followed the video.

Then, “THIRD WHEEL” a documentary, putting forth the issues regarding the Auto rickshaws, made by Prabodh in 2009 was screened. It envisages on the opening up the permit system to facilitate choice & competition in the area of Intermediate Public Transport in Delhi.

In the end, everybody was asked to give their opinion about the documentary and the issues involved, about their personal experiences, whether they agree or disagree to the concerned subjects. Everyone had different views; some students agreed saying that, “they are also entrepreneurs, they have to earn for their livelihood there should not be any limit to it.” While others disagreed on the bases of immigration, overcrowding of the capital, pollution, corrupt practices, other better alternatives, etc.

Is comparative advantage dead?

2010-09-17T20:07:00.001-07:00

By Pascal Lamy, Director-General, World Trade Organisation

In this talk given in Paris last month, Pascal Lamy examines six fallacies concerning international trade.

The first fallacy is: Comparative advantage does not work anymore.

Lamy begins by paying tribute to Paul Krugman’s contribution to international trade theory which was developed at the end of the 1970s and is now known as “new trade theory”. In this theory Krugman looked at the presence of increasing returns to scale which had been ignored in traditional theory, and also the variety of products which trade offers. There is a conflict here between economies of scale which will reduce costs and a desire for variety by consumers which will push costs up. Increasing product variety reduces the opportunity for economies of scale by limiting the potential sales which could be achieved by only having a single product. (There is an interesting article by Broda and Weinstein published by the New York Fed in April 2005 which tries to assign a value to growth in variety in US imports. Read the article here.)

Lamy points out that “while the new trade theory reduces the role played by comparative advantage, it identifies new sources of benefits from trade that were not emphasized or recognized by classical economists. More trade benefits all countries because specialization in production reduces average cost and consumers gain access to a wider variety of products. In contrast, traditional theories of trade assume the variety of goods remains constant even after trade-opening.”

Lamy also looks at the doubts surrounding the proposition that specialization based on comparative advantage results in higher total output, with all countries benefiting from the increased production. He cites a recent paper published by Paul Samuelson from 2004 which showed theoretically how technical progress in a developing country like China had the potential to reduce the gains from trade to a developed country like the United States.

However, he also points out that subsequent research by Bhagwati, Panagariya and Srinivasan contradicted this view. Lamy concludes by saying that “what Samuleson has showed is not that trade along lines of comparative advantage no longer produces gains for countries. Instead, what he has shown is that sometimes, a productivity gain abroad can benefit both trading countries; but at other times, a productivity gain in one country only benefits that country, while permanently reducing the gains from trade that are possible between the two countries.”

But, the important conclusion Lamy makes from this is that “the reduction in benefit does not come from too much trade, but from diminishing trade” and that “the principal of comparative advantage, and more generally, the principle that trade is mutually beneficial, remains valid in the 21st century.”

In his talk Lamy goes on to deal with five other supposed fallacies. These are: It is unhealthy for trade to grow faster and faster compared to output; Current account imbalances are a trade problem and ought to be addressed by trade policies; Trade destroys jobs; Trade leads to a race to the bottom in social standards; and, opening up trade equals deregulation.

Read the whole of this interesting talk here

Any Problems with Sarkari Agencies? Tell us!

2010-09-10T03:29:00.000-07:00

Were you asked for a bribe to get passport or driving license?

Has your name been deleted from the voter’s list without any intimation?

Irritated with VISA renewal officers?

Garbage not picked or street lights not working?

Come to us. Share your problem over a cup of tea. And leave the rest to us!

Endless queue, innumerable windows and countless documents! That’s harsh reality of our governance. Moreover there is bribery and corruption.

Mr. Narang, a store-owner applied for shop license in 2006 and thereafter visited MCD South Delhi Zonal office at least fifty times in next two and a half years to get the license. The officer was always in ‘meeting’. With help from Prabodh, he got the license in a week’s time. Without a penny of bribe!

This is what the Prabodh is all about. Whether you have been harassed by Government officials for a license or permit or it is a municipal bye-law that you find obnoxious or there is erratic delivery of service by a civic agency, you won’t find a better friend to assist you.

We also provide trainings to RWAs on ‘Right to Information’, conduct researches for Market/ Business associations, organise documentary screenings & discussions and campaign for Governance reforms.

You are most welcome to share your pet peeves, anecdotes, experiences, images and videos with others – on our blog and Facebook page. Just mail us at prabodh.delhi@gmail.com and we will do the needful.

We are an NGO that believes in self-sustainability. We charge for our services, yet we are affordable, more reliable and much more professional than many lawyers.

Where to find us :

(Prior Appointment only)

Timings: Monday – Saturday, 9:00 am – 5:30 pm

38, III Floor, Hauz Khas Village, New Delhi 110 016, India.

Email: prabodh.delhi@gmail.com

Mob: +91.9811322297

Prabodh launches Distance learning courses in Active Citizenship and Globalization, Governance and Policy reforms

2010-09-09T07:06:00.000-07:00

2010-07-14T03:44:00.000-07:00

Prabodh means ‘ultimate awakening’. The group was started by group of ten participants of ‘I, Society and public policy’ seminar in June ‘2006.

The old and the wise say, ‘if youth knew, if age could’. we beg to differ and think and believe the first generation of the new millennium who, came of age in its very wake, very well know and can!

We know that loads of baloney and non-sense rule our world. Myths and ideas very often masquerade as ‘truths’- too sacrosanct to be challenged and questioned. Lofty and grand phrases pre-empt the hard thinking. Ideological and political smokescreens abound.

We’ve heeded the clarion call of our time and age for our generation- the need for the ultimate awakening of our human consciousness. The awakening that our collective humanity deserve and can make possible a better and more humane world sans violence, conflicts and poverty; That we all human beings deserve to live in peace, harmony and prosperity.

We Prabodhians, riding on the wave of informed and empowered youth made possible by the on-going cultural and economic globalization, embody the spirit and dreams of our generation.

The time is now. The agent is US.