Short term Foreign Money and the Impatient Poverty Healers!

Last updated on: October 27, 2007 at 5:35 am by Desh Kapoor

Short term Foreign Money and the Impatient Poverty Healers! 2007-10-27T05:35:30-05:00 Desh Kapoor

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Today I read a note from an NGO-leftist type of a guy from my alumni egroup…. pointing to the short term infatuation on part of the foreign exchange and stock exchange investments in India and how it would not be helpful, while publishing the credit mess from Merrill Lynch. It just makes me feel cheated. And this is what I replied back:

….And, which, FE is of the “long duration” variety? Are the world’s wealthy – in typical Punju lingo – “mere Chache ke puttar” that they will simply wire money to RBI till cows come home?

I mean what do we expect the world to do for us? And why?

India and Indians should invest in other countries because it will benefit us. Similarly it is with the others!

However, what the inflow of money does for the investors is boost their savings …. and adds more individual investors to the mix.. and slowly the wealth that was in the hands of a few….. is distributed through broad ownership of stock – diffused in the economy.

Yes, the Ram Pyari living in a poor Rajasthan village would not benefit from it directly – but anyone who had hopes that building a bridge in Delhi across Yamuna would be of any benefit to her is living in the same hallucination!

Economics and Money does not always work directly! The FE increase has its own benefit….. as does increased investment in Indian stock exchanges and proliferation of VC funding. Now, a young MBA can come up with an idea in his hostel room and get funding if its worth it.

Now Dreams have an unusual companion in India…. its called Reality!

Yes, it happens for a few thousands….. but a few years back…. thanks to Mr. MK Gandhi and Nehru – it used to happen for Birla, Tata, and a couple of other families!

The debate on poverty and money in India is soooo screwed up …. that its amazing! When we concentrate on wrong issues to uplift poor…. it usually comes at the cost of NOT concentrating on issues that DO uplift the poor!

I can understand when a yuppie kid is impatient and totally loses control and perspective….. but what amazes me is the COMPLETE lack of patience and high level of ADD on part of the guardians of our poor! They want poverty to go right now…. a thing that occured over thousands of years.. is expected to go away right away! Little do these people understand that poverty elimination is NOT a one time act… but a structural change! If the substance of our act is NOT matched by the structure of the system, no matter how charitable we are… and no matter how rich we are, nothing much will happen! So, structure should change first!

Economics

India

Previous Post

October 27, 2007

Taj and the Goddess

Next Post

October 27, 2007 Chinese economy: Is it going to crash?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Aarti Achievement and Leadership AfPak Africa Annual and Year-end Asia Audio Australia Behavioural Sciences Bhagwad Gita Bhagwad Gita Blogging Blogs Business Business Intelligence Business Strategy Cannes Careers Chanakya China Conservation Corruption Creative Daily Links Desh Poems Development & Welfare Devotional Audio Devotional Songs Drama Earth Economics Education Entertainment Environment Europe Everyday Quotes Featured Articles Featured Songs Finance Flickr Pictures Food Geo-Political Global Warming Globalization Health & Medicine Hinduism Historic History Humour India Indian Culture Indian music Indian Weddings Israel Issues Legal Link Love Minorities Misc Motivation and Personal Development Movie Lists Movie Reviews Movies Mumbai terror attacks Natural Disasters Nature News Outsourcing Pakistan Parenting Personal Philosophy Poetry Politics Poverty Quotes Recipe Regular Blog Post Relationships Religion Religious/Spiritual Audio Sciences Showcase Slideshow South Asia Special Stories Spiritual Quotes Spirituality Sports Stories Strategy Technology Technology Terrorism Travel Uncategorized US Video Women Women_s Rights Worship Yoga

Select a Month December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 June 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 September 2014 August 2014 January 2014 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

True or False: The Thessalonians were told that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

Select your answer to see how you score.

TRUE FALSE