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...!!!
