‘New Women’ of Japan and Rising Wave of Entrepreneurship

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  For women, in traditionally male dominated society it is believed that, “Home is public place where private feelings should be forgotten.” Male-female relationship began to change due to influence of Confucianism which had great affect on how people think. Because of many of the paternal aspects of Confucianism, the idea of “men outside and women inside” became widespread, and this attitude is still prevalent in Japanese society today.
  
  A few decades before, in earliest part of 20th century, there was wave of New Women in Japan who spoke language of liberty. One such, Yosano Akiko who went to Paris along with her husband in 1912 wrote something which is still regarded as ignition of new movement leading towards starting of liberation of Japanese women from the custody of traditional customs.
  
  Yosano writes:
  “The day the mountain move has come,
  I speak but none believes me;
  For the time the mountains have been asleep,
  But long ago they all danced with me;
  It does not matter if you believe this,
  My friends, as long as you believe;
  All the sleeping women, Are now awake and moving!!!
  
  
  This woman of modern ideas, a "bluestocking" was born near Osaka, Japan in 1868 just as the country restored the emperor to power. The times, along with the ideas, were changing rapidly and Akiko was in the center of change. Born into a prosperous family of confectioners, she graduated from the Sakai School for Women where she was the foremost poet, evolving into a social critic. She fell in love and openly lived with Yosano Tekkan, a married man and publisher of Myojo, a publication featuring new concepts: the new 31 syllable waka poetry, as well as traditional forms. Akiko was not a woman to restrain her emotions or her voice. She openly criticized the government for entrance into the Russo-Japanese war and, with her colorful vocabulary, condemned them in her writing.
  
  
  How was ‘new woman’? Just like today’s one…She was not hysterical. She was direct, aggressive and she began to check male counterpart whether he is sexually compatible is or not…She scoffed at chastity… She could be poor but that was not obstacle or damaging reputation for her self esteem, she started feeling liberation from double fetters of class and gender…She was setting trends by being anarchist…
  
  
  Now moving ahead with this flash back let us land in 21st century Japan ! The Japanese language also has a great many expressions used only for females, which sometimes make fun of women or dictate how they should behave. There are three words explaining this: First is otoko-masari meaning a woman who is superior to men physically, spiritually and intellectually…this even though is positive aspect sounds negative in Japanese because perception is that it lacks “womanhood”. Otenba is applied to healthy and active girls. This word is used negatively when parent feel girl is out of control and hako-iri-musume refers to the ‘daughters in the box’, the parents grow up children as if they are some kind of treasure trove.
  
  
  Face of New Woman of Japan in a new resurgent spirit was reflected in Symposium ‘Entrepreneurship in Japan’. This was held on 29th May 09 in Todai Hongo Campus jointly organized by Stanford University’s Project on Japanese Entrepreneurship (STAJE) and The University of Tokyo. Speaking at this occasion, Charla Brown who is Associate Professor of Technology Management and Innovation in Pepperdine University elaborated on the new wave of Women Entrepreneurship in Japan.
  
  
  Govt. of Japan has already introduced “Mentor Introduction Service for Women Entrepreneurship”. This was followed by Amendment in Act on Securing, Etc. of Equal Opportunity and Treatment between Men and Women in Employment i.e. Equal Opportunity Act in 2006. There are some contemporary reasons which facilitated the rise of New Women in today’s time. Here the concept of loyalty and lifetime employment is slowly loosing it`s charm. Also, seniority based payment structure is paving way for quality and competitive compensation mechanisms.
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• Looking at the shrinking workforce population in Japan the new business leadership is evidently being transferred to highly educated woman who is simultaneously taking care of family, office and new challenges of learning the changing technology and management practices. This is possible here because of lowest cost of connectivity and easily available technological assets in the cluster of people which are easily accessible. For example, internet penetration in Japan has gone up from 37% of total population in 2000 to more than 74 % in 2007. Also this country is cheapest ISP (0.09 $ for 100 Kbps) in whole world not to forget fastest connectivity (26. Mbps).
  
  Starts up are providing safe environment for women to work hard. These start-ups provide anonymity so as to remove prejudice in the minds of male counterparts. As all these new emerging companies are knowledge- ICT bases they are providing flexibility for women to set working hours as per their convenience. This helps them to minimize traditional barriers. More and more new woman could assert themselves and lead start ups in the market place of fierce race. But still some significant problems of society cannot be ignored. Few of the companies which are making their mark as new symbol of rising women entrepreneurship in Japan are: Digimom, Coolgiris, Palias, eSampo, SOHO, Women, Photonet, DeNA, New Year Group etc.

Ownership Facts

(Source Report on: http://www.cipe.org/pdf/programs/women/jalbert.pdf)

• Women in advanced market economies own more than 25% of all businesses · In Japan 23% of private firms are established by women · In Russia women own 64% of firms employing 10 people or more · In China women founded 25% of the businesses since 1978. In Germany women have created one-third of the new businesses since 1990 representing more than one million jobs. In Europe and Newly Independent States Transition Economies women are 25% of the business owners

Above report goes on to say that: Entrepreneurship is a highly personal,subjective process. Becoming an entrepreneur is an evolution of encountering, assessing, and reacting to a series of experiences, situations, and events produced by political, economical, social, and cultural change. These diverse circumstances prompt individual entrepreneurs to modify their personal living conditions. Women who own and operate a business are not a homogeneous group. Cultural and social patterns prescribe whether a woman can become an entrepreneur within her society or not.

Some constraints are obvious; others are disguised in patriarchal heritage within cultures that preclude female entrepreneurship. ...In spite of many obstacles, women somehow find a way to engage in entrepreneurial activities. For the woman entrepreneur, the process of starting and operating a new enterprise can be tremendously difficult in both the formal and informal sector because she often lacks the skills, education, and societal support system to facilitate her efforts. Although women’s efforts may be thwarted in many ways entrepreneurship among women is a vibrant and growing trend internationally...”

Apart from these developments, there is tension between traditional family and changing socio-economic paradigm. Increasingly a higher level of cohabitation of non-married couples is being observed. Birth rates are declining. When I discussed this issue with Chief Priest of Kamakura Shinto Shrine he said that people listen to the government and not to the religion. If government gives incentives for early marriage then only citizen will really start to think about it seriously. When I asked about this to member of UNU Women Association then she said that girls do not wish to lose their privacy. Also majority of the women realize that Man does not know how to behave responsibly like a MAN but women certainly know how to complete the responsibility in any form of relationship.

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The Ruin of the Nation begins in homes of it`s people...

While listening to the words in title of this posting, I pleasantly recall another by Swami Vivekananda: Destiny of the nation is being shaped in the classrooms of the nation....In spotlight of these words let us take a considerate look at what children urged at the inaugeration of 2009 'UNU Africa Day Symposium' -'The global financial crisis and its impact on Africa: the role of Japan and TICAD.'


"We are the children of the Earth
Our Smiling faces are always kindling
We want peace here and now
All of us who like on this planet are one big family

Small smiles are coming from all corners of the world
Now they will become a big power; Piece to Peace

We all grew up on this shining earth
Creating tomorrow with a lot of smiles
The sky holding clouds is a part of our planet
The shining light becomes stronger and stronger
Even new born babies hold their mother`s happiness with their little hands
Here, everything gathers and becomes part of big picture..

Now, from us to you; Piece to Peace
Let`s move on toward the future; Piece to Peace
Now, lets fill the world with smiles; Piece to Peace"

Former President of India wrote Ignite Minds by the inspiration he recieved from one child who questioned him to know how to eradicate poverty from this beautiful earth. While the ambitious target of Millenium Development Goals still needing the redoubling of the efforts and assistance from developed countries, current financial crisis has made it more difficult for the developing and least developing countries to focus on providing Essential Services to their citizens.

Today being the tenth anniversary of the conclave, event witnessed former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and Deputy Foreign Minister of Govt. of Japan both of them raising the agenda of PRIORITY AFRICA for coming years which is emphasised by Yokohama Declaration, Yokohama Action Plan and TICAD Follow up Mechanism. TICAD stands for "Tokyo International Conference on African Development". TICAD has become a major global framework for Asia and Africa to collaborate in promoting Africa's development. The first Tokyo Conference was held in 1993 and ushered in a continuing process of support for Africa and consensus-building around African development priorities. That process was bolstered with a second Tokyo conference in 1998.

All the people speaking at the occasion were having one common priority in the backgorund of financial crisis, that we should invest more in childern. In the devastating experience of crumbling financial institutions in developed world and crashing national budgets under heavy burden of huge fiscal deficts in developing countries where no system is in place, the message is clear...We have to invest heavily in 'Social Security' measures compared to delievery of physical infrastructure and services.

As asserted by Mr. Mori, Japan`s decision to doube it`s ODA to Africa by 2012 despite current shocks of crisis speaks volume of this country`s determined resoultion to build Conflict Resolution approaches through the means of development schemes. Recently Scandanivian countries also have taken certain initiatives to invest heavily in human resources for education and research, human resources rather than physical development of country.

While JICA representative talked about need to define Crisis Recovery Mitigation Measures by understanding the implications of macroeconomic measures, Mr. Mori asked the question that why Africa is suffering despite availability of resources at hand and it is the responsibility Global Community not to give up hope on the front of contribution to build Africa. According to UNU-WIDER representative, identifying the vulnerabilites remain top agenda while supporting the resilience in the system is the concern of the many nations in the mechanism devoted to the plans developed countries may have about Africa. Besides this, strengthening of knowledge skills by enhancing information respurces and networks will certainly help the efforts of reconstruction of whole continent yearning for progres. Here we must remember that Last Mile is always hardest.

Taking a line of thought from presentation of UNICEF, Tokyo office at the conclave and according to The State of Africa`s Children 2008 report on CHILD SURVIVAL 2008 published by UNICEF says: " Prospects for child survival are shaped by the institutional and environmental context in which children and their families live, as well as by the provision of essential services and practises. Infant and child mortality rates are highest in poorest countries, among the mpst impoversihed, isolated, uneducated and marginalised districts and communities, and in countires ravaged by civil strife, AIDS, food insecurity, weak governance and chronic underinvestment in public health systems and physical infrastructure. Similarly fragile states, characterised by weak institutions with high levels of corruption, political instability and shaky rule of law, are often incapable of providing basic servies for their citizens"

Idea of Functional Food: Eat Silver, Think Gold, Act Platinum !!!

While having food for thought about how Human Rights can be and are being protected all over the world under the roof of UN system, today it was my longest ever dinner in one Japanese family where I went for home stay programe. There is no end to evening dinner in kind Japanese family～　it goes on and on. Salad, soup, slowly slowly some snacks, sea-food, every kind of non-veg you are used to, not to forget sushi with sake, juice, goes on and on...why to leave behind green　vegetables, fruits, cake and lastly green tea...Can you imagine a dinner for four hours...I had today.

Everyday I am observing here in Tokyo people are used to packed lunches. I was told that rarely someone carries lunchbox from home. All the people believe in branded/unbranded pack lunch and this culture I realised is better than having occassional raw fast food where you are just left to the mercy of god for the disastrous nutritious value they posses and exaggerrating prices the companies charge for the minute quantity of food.

It was mainly the advances in understanding the relationship between nutrition and health that resulted in the development of the concept of functional foods, which means a practical and new approach to achieve optimal health status by promoting the state of well-being and possibly reducing the risk of disease. Functional foods are found virtually in all food categories, however products are not homogeneously scattered over all segments of the growing market.


The development and commerce of these products is rather complex, expensive and risky, as special requirements should be answered. Besides potential technological obstacles, legislative aspects, as well as consumer demands need to be taken into consideration when developing functional food. In particular, consumer acceptance has been recognized as a key factor to successfully negotiate market opportunities. I came to know all this because I could meet Masaya Yabe, Project Manager of Licensing & Business Development Dept. of NIPPON SHINYAKU Co. Ltd.

This company in their Annual Report of 2008 says: "In the functional food business, Nippon Shinyaku isinvolved in the development, production and sale of functionalfood ingredients that meet the requirements of processed food manufacturers and health food manufacturers. Research is being conducted by our Food Development Research Laboratory in Kyoto, and recently we have been making a particular effort in the research and development of health food ingredients that help maintain and improve public health. We have two production bases – the Chitose Functional Food Plant, and our subsidiary Tajima Syokuhin Kogyo Co., Ltd. inToyooka. The majority of our customers are major　Japanese food manufacturers."

What is Functional food ?
Functional foods are "those foods that encompass potentially healthful products including any modified food or ingredient that may provide a health benefit beyond the traditional nutrients it contains," as defined by the Institute of Medicine. The Institute of Medicine based in Washington D.C. is a body under National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A. and provides independent, objective, evidence basedadvice to policymakers, health professionals, the private sector, and the public.　

Functional foods can include foods like cereals, breads and beverages which are fortified with vitamins, herbs and nutraceuticals. The healing power of foods is a popular concept that focuses on how "super foods" can have health protecting properties. Medicinal foods or "nutritionally high powered foods" have been part and parcel of the natural products industry for a long time and, through emerging scientific research and particularly through growing public interest, they have reached the mainstream.　


According to Proposal for the Establishment of Scientific Criteria for Health Claims for Functional Foods published by Nutrition Reviews in the issue of 27 April 2009　authored　by Fergus M. Clydesdale： Functional foods are defined and used differently in different nations.
Health claims for these foods influence consumer behavior and potentially affect public health. In an increasingly global economy, health claims for functional foods should meet internationally agreed upon scientific criteria.
The concept of health claims as it exists internationally is discussed, and suggestions to assist consumers, government, industry, and academia in deciding on a scientific and ethical basis for international agreement on health claims for functional foods　are offered.

Celebrating Cultural Diversity while understnading Biodiversity

How many names of trees and flowers you can recall? I tried a day before and I was shocked to know I did not know more than twenty five names of flowers in Marathi, fifteen in Hindi and ten in English. It is not only about love I have for charming beauty of flowers but if we go much beyond than that, it is silent witness to our relationship with the sorroundings, nature and environment.

“The cultural wealth of the world is its diversity in dialogue” are the preambular words of UNESCO Declaration on Cultural Diversity Cultural Diversity adopted by 31st Sesssion of General Conference of UNESCO held on 2 November 2001 in Paris. It raises cultural diversity to the level of “the common heritage of humanity”, “as necessary for humankind as biodiversity is for nature” and makes its defence an ethical imperative indissociable from respect for the dignity of the individual.

While the world is celebrating "Cultural Diversity" on 21 May which is marked as 'World Day for Cultural Diversity, for Dialogue and Development'; Prof. Jose` Sarukha`n Kermez a Senior Researcher at Inst. of Ecology, National Autonomous University of Mexico was talking at UNU about "The Privililege and Challenge of Megadiverse Country".

He was trying to explain the importance of Biodiversity as an integral component of wealth developing countries possess and it being a characteristic feature of evolution. Mexico being fifth largest country possesing vast pool of available Biodiversity has made special arrangements to preserve this treasure trove of nature which is truly a "Bank by God".

Declaration goes ahead to assert that "ONE CANNOT EXIST WITHOUT THE OTHER" by saying that "...each individual must acknowledge not only otherness in all its forms but also the plurality of his or her own identity, within societies that are themselves plural. Only in this way can cultural diversity be preserved as an adaptive process and as a capacity for expression, creation and innovation. The debate between those countries which would like to defend cultural goods and services “which, as vectors of identity, values and meaning, must not be treated as mere commodities or consumer goods”, and those which would hope to promote cultural rights has thus been surpassed, with the two approaches brought together by the Declaration, which has highlighted the causal link uniting two complementary attitudes."

Prof.Sarukha`n was describing Mexican efforts to coserve Neotropical, Boreal and Endemic species which range in thousands throughout the topography of the country. Mexico has established CONABIO, a comprehensive databse of different species found in whole region. Through database, Govt.is trying to promote and coordinate actions towards increase in sustainable knowledge. As observed by Prof.Sarukha`n the main challenge ahead of Biodiversity practises is to obtain, organise and make Conservation managment more efficient. In this, he says, role of Information Communication and Education is extraordinary.

In the age of rampant Biopiracy, he advocated the national intelligence to help conserve and manage sustainable Biodiversity with the help of "Local Action" i.e. with the help of indigenous peoples, organisations and their experience. Without saying anyhting about the term "Benefit Sharing" Prof.Sarukha`n said that actors in conserving and managing Biodiversity should be owner`s of country`s natural capital.

As maintained by Office of CONABIO, "This information in the database has become absolutely essential to public-interest tasks like monitoring, ecological cordination, environmental impact assessment including its supervision. Moreover, in many countries,the law protects by name certain species and in practice this has been a very powerful tool for protecting areas (specified in Endangered Species Act of Mexico), but also it is now doubly important to be able to access as much scientific information as possible, to avoid erring in any direction."

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The University of Tokyo... Todai !!!

Nothing is more fascinating that visiting the centres of excellence in Universities across the world as they are really the citadels of strength nations possesse. " A University stands for humanism, for tolerance, for reason, for the adventure of ideas and for the search of truth. It stands for the onward march of the human race towards ever higher objectives. If the universities discharge their duties adequately, then it is well with the Nation and the People." ...this we all know said Jawaharlal Nehru.

I was fortunate to visit two campuses of one of the greatest universities- The University of Tokyo, in Hongo and Komaba. The University of Tokyo was established in 1877 as the first national university in Japan. The University of Tokyo has a faculty of over 4,000 and a total enrollment of about 29,000, evenly divided between undergraduate and graduate students. As of 2006 there were 2,269 international students, and over 2,700 foreign researchers come annually to the university for both short and extended visits.

Prof. Yoichiro Nambu, a graduate of the Department of Physics, the University of Tokyo, Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago, and Professor Emeritus at Osaka City University, was awarded the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physics sharing the prize with Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Masukawa. He has contributed to the development of Physics by making a great deal of achievements reaching beyond the walls of many branches of Physics, including ‘The Discovery of Spontaneous Broken Symmetry’, which is common in various physical phenomena: the origin of elementary particle masses, superconducting phenomena etc.

According to Times Higher Education (THE) Supplement, Tokyo University stands on 17 th place in World University Rankings 2007. Further 'THE' comments: "Many Asian universities have higher scores in 2007 than previously. Their governments may regard this as more important than the number of appearances for their own country. The Asia-Pacific region now has five of the world’s top 30 universities, two fewer than the UK but four more than France. Some of the improvement may be due to their enhanced citations performance. But it is also very possible that these and other Asia-Pacific institutions will become yet more visible in the rankings in future years."

This University is member of IARU(International Alliance of Research Universities. The members are The Australian National University (ANU),National University of Singapore(NUS),Peking University, ETH Zurich, University of California, Berkeley, University of Cambridge, University of Copenhagen, University of Oxford, The University of Tokyo and Yale University.

Thomson Scientific, a division of Thomson Corporation, have announced the top 20 ranking of Japanese research institutions for all fields based on citation data of academic papers published from January 1997 to December 2007. This includes the Top 10 ranking for each of the four fields in which Japan’s contribution is particularly noteworthy. Tokyo University tops the list among Japanese institutions after comprehensive review of 22 fields of sciences being considered into evaluation process.

Three JNU students currently are pursueing their Ph.D. from The University of Tokyo. Mr. Manish Kumar Singh, Mr. Punkaj Kumar, Mr. Ram Avatar are all students of SES over the years in successive batches. Mr. Ram said difference between what we research in India and what in Japan lies in the perception; where in India we lay more emphasis on results rather than on the failures and small steps being taken in the process of research have to be justified in Japanese Universities. One of the striking disparities ramain the key infrastructure and funding patterns. Also, as mentioned in one of my previous blog postings, with the dwindling population of Japan, Ministry of Science & Technology, (MEXT) is trying to attract more tallent to study fundamental sciences.(http://www.mext.go.jp/english/kaihatu/index.htm)

Few days before I met Dr. Babasaheb Sankpal on the sidelines of Nobel Laurete Conclave in Allahabad. He is Associate Proffessor of Physics in North Maharashtra University. He was also in Japan for nearly three years for Post Doctoral studies in Material Sciences. He was sharing with me his concern that he could not get the desired machines for his lab for more than six months due to administrative delays in UGC, let alone the pressing urgency of Ph. D. students who really deserve JRFs. With the kind of scholarships foreign universities are giving to attract the students from India, it is certainly alaraming situation for S&T System in India. It is agreed that UGC and CSIR have increased in recent months the JRFs and SRFs but compared to kind of committment and sacrifise one student makes to come to do reasearch, they are not and not at all rewarded well. The reward system remains at the helm of debate when India is witnesing passionate debate about recently introduded Bill in Parliament i.e. 'Utillisation and Commercialisation of Public Funded Research'.

"Washington Consensus is Dead"

How soothing to listen from the representative of World bank from Japan that Washington Consensus is dead and we are following the lessons learnt from fall of south-east Asian tigers in 1997-98, current traumatic financial crisis and not to forget the increasing debt of national governments across the globe including abrupt negative fall in trend of booming growth of developed economies !!!

Mr. Kazushige Taniguchi, Acting Special Representative for World Bank Japan Office was very confident about the role World Bank and IMF is playing in mitigating the global crisis characterised by fall in demand and likewise fall in demand. He was talking in special lecture organised by UNU here. He tried to explain what special effort bank is taking with cooperation of developiong countries to improve the infrastructure citing the example of India that how the country is reaping the fruits by concentrating on the connectivity issues.

World Bank is sponsoring one Transmission project of which development objective is to strengthen India's electricity transmission system in order to increase reliable power exchange between regions and states. The project will finance five regional transmission schemes for strengthening the transmission system and/or facilitating inter-regional power exchange for the National Grid.

The project is to be spread over various parts of the northern, western and south-west regions of the country. The project is primarily aimed at building a strong national transmission network. The five schemes include works in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh.

Representative was very much taken aback by question of one delegate that what is the reason that people in developing countries are still looking at them as a mouthpiece of Washington Consensus? He said that reason behind all the Asian economies of Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan which experienced growth due to high technology export led system was not policies which followed 'Washington Consensus'. He was assertive that world, in this time of financial crisis is learning from Japanese experience that how country tackled long term growth recession. This is also having one another silver line: Japan is experiencing fast decreasing population rate and at this rate it will reach half to the current figure around A.D 2100.

Ohayo Gozaimasu...Arigatozaimasu

When I first reached in Tokyo, a warm-pleasant-equanimous ambience of cityside looked almost to motivate me to engage in a silent and innocent dialogue with the sorroundings. Travelling from Narita to Tokyo station is a gradual cinemascope imagery of how Tokyo would have been transformed over the decades. I just lost in imagination of the reach of the vision and height of the ambitions of the planners of Tokyo city.

Some pagodas, rice fields, farm houses and then suddenly when you arrive at the Tokyo station, you are still grappeled in the thoughts that how diligently, delicately Japanese have made assertion over world map, Tokyo being the principle locus of it.

The matrix of the metro, even if it reminds me of avalanche of commuters in Mumbai, there is calm meditating speed in people of Tokyo travelling in Metro: very less talk, majority of them either busy on cell-phone, PDA or book or novel... Even if there is mind boggling crowd, none complains or breaths in frustration...

Even though very few people know English, the eagerness to help people and let them have comfortable stay in Japan is unparallel. I was watching Japanese girls in metros, stations and roads. They experience no domination, no restriction for appearance, clothing etc. I can feel some cultural or traditional pulse running in my country forcing girls to do something and what not to do. Their confidence made me really think what is exact difference between Japan and India when many Indian thinkers, leaders, citizens and almost everyone claims with boasting voice that in our country women are treated in the form of 'Godess'.

No matter, the struggle have universal appeal and languages. Yesterday, when I went for morning walk, I observed one middle aged lady with her little child carrying itself in a bag attached along with her body and still was riding on a bycycle. I guessed she was going for work. I think there is special privilege Japanese girls enjoye in their society; this I have to investigate which other society committedly does so. This thinking was turned slightly right when I was skimming "Development as Freedom" by Amartya Sen. He says then that Japanese people enjoyee special social security and thats why they could make better choices on terms of education, job prospects and other livelihood opportunities.

Sen tells us a short story in which the Annapurna a lady with all the resources at her hand falls in dilemma whether to help person who is poorest or most unhappy or most weak by health. This aspect has been debated and discussed in the IC classes rigourously during the first four days. How far the pattern of aid is more relevant in development initiatives and is aid possible without political objectives was the core concern of the discussion.

The rise of strategic Marshall Plan to recover Europe after the ruins of second world war and continuation of that legacy by inception of ambitious programe in (a)political manner of Millenium Development Goals underscores the basic questions about how aid and participation can be proportionately assimilitated in the Vision Documents of the UN . The consensus emerged out of the discussion is that there is much burecratisation in the aid inspired developmental work implemented by NGOs and other international organisations. But it is also true as observed by one delegate from Maldova that the administrative mechanisms ensure the transperency and efficiency of the programes various UN bodies are initiating, UNDP being the foremost.

Among many delegates like the Siddhartha Dave who has worked for many years in UN organisations said that the idealism enshrined in the MDGs and lack of establishing the gorund level indexes for development process are making the visualisation of completion of MDGs more difficult considering the deadlines set forth.

In this context I was thinking about the trade surplus of Japan and their aid-policie around the world. It is heartening to know that I am sitting in country which is second largest donor to UN and second largest aid provider. My next task would be to investigate that how Japan is using it`s strong financial potential of donorship and aid capability to leverage the strategic objectives, even from the angle of realist school...!!!

Going out to throw away flowers offered to Buddha in Summer Rain

As I was reading the lines mentioned in the title of this posting while I was in Japanese Embassy in New Delhi reading Haiku of Busan......then I was just thinking about my journey to Tokyo.

Also I reflected upon the following:
"Mark of execellent man is that he writes easily in an acceptable hand, sings agreeably and in tune and though appearing reluctant to accept when win is presses on him, is not a teetotaler.....man may excel at everything else but he has no taste for lovemaking one feels something terribly inadequate about him, as if he were a valuable winecup without a bottom."
These are the lines I read from 'Essays in Idleness' writtent by Kenko a twelth century Japanese philosopher or sage, we can say.
Then he goes ahead,"The pleasantest of all diversions is to sit alone under the lamp, a book spread out before you."

The programe of United Nations University is about one core subject of Pressing issues ahead of United Nations System and optional being 1)International Peace and Human Rights, 2)Global Change and Sustainibility and 3)International Development and Cooperation

Dealing with development, progress and evolution of change in International Organisations, starting lecture elaborated on significance and role of international non governmental and business organisations in influencing the local governments in affecting the policy and other institutional changes during this globalised consultation about different grave issues; 'Cliamate Change' being the most debateable!!!

Tracing the genesis of the formation of United Nations System, Prof. John Groom, Emiretus Prof. at University of Kent elaborated on the significance of Idea of UN and how it got generated over the decades. Governance of any international organisation is subject to power dynamics between different nations. He talked about the century starting from 1814 to 1914 when very less international instituions existed. Then, within the time frame of 1910-1940 nearly about 5, 000 organisations came into force. Thereafter, this number has been increasing rapidly and it reached upto 20, 000. These are seriously dedicated organisations whose credbile work is surpassing the initiatives of institutionalied nation-state to find sustainable solutions.

"Formation and later failure of 'League of Nations' contributed a major direction in regard to development of functional character of negotiation. United Nations emerged in late fiftees from the rubrics of military alliance of Britain, U.S.A and Soviet Union after the discussions at Teharan, Malta and Kairo. United Nations Charter is living political document and we cannot ignore this fact of the moment. Only thing to remember is that the document is far more flexible to accomodate the wills and wishes of the people of the member countries."

Different agreements framed from time to time(UNFCC and many other), formation of different international business associations (ITU e.g), different organisations evolved (International Court of Justice for instance) makes us realise that this world is moving away from conflict to resolution seeking approach but this initiative has to be more participative, transperent, responsible and representative.

So, new Policy making at the international podium is all about accomodating the diverse view- points Civil Society represents. This is evident by different meetings the world is having with lot of Civil Society representation in talks ranging from Rio Conference in 1992 to the coming Copenhegan meet in December 2009. This was easy to understand from Prof. Groom`s point of view that excessive nationalism in twenteeth century Europe has ruined the cooperation possibilties which were later materialised after second world war. I was lucky to witness birthday of Ravindranath Tagore on my journey day on 9th May to Tokyo who was assertive in his opposition to idea of Nationalism in solving the pressing issues ahead of the world upto his death in 1941 i.e. high time of second world war.

2008-2009 => Celebrating One Year in JNU......

“Whenever I will lay my body to rest, I should be buried
in the nearest University ‘frontyard’ where students debate,
creativity thrives, poetry germinates, movements originate,
research dominates, scholarships rule and beauty blossoms.

Despite the fact of my being a proud Hindu, I should be
buried because I want myself to remain in the
fragrance of Tulips of the Botanical Gardens of the University
where couples dance in company with each other, where dreams
nurture their souls, youth exercises, wisdom meditates,
literature is worshiped, ideals are idolized and legends are immortalized
in statues…!!!

I want to be remembered for my love for the University
rather than my writing influenced by kiss of the lips of my
sweetheart.

Let the landscape of University be my hill-station of
honeymoon after my death…Let everyone praying for peace
walk on my tomb ... let everyone realizing value of love cry
with me… let everyone trying to devote itself to nation
contemplate with me…let everyone forgetting similarity
between duty and beauty argue with me …Let me live for each
second forever even if I will be no more!!!

Some one after my death may say that "I was rascal of first class, loafer of second class,
academician of third class" but this university inspired me to say that I want to be super class human being by having my bone marrows decomposed in organic soil
of tranquil garden of knowledge.

Come share with me your dreams, your agony and your
joy. Because your every past will be having future in my novels.

You will be having every answer to your every question in my
books I will write. I am not the angel to rescue but I am
definitely a mortal compass to guide you to walk towards path
leading to light house of excellence.

Please, stay with me. Don`t go away. Allow me to write
something to transform someone`s life because I believe, my
pen is certainly mightier than the sword by all definitions
except the potential to shed the blood.

I have no regrets except one:
Burn me, not my writing! Hate me, not my poems!
Kill me, not my thoughts! Jail me, not my attitude!

I will be atomic, I will be electronic and I will be neutron,
proton, and quark in this great laboratory of University!!!

Salam-Namaste!!!”