Women and Prout Cooperatives

How Prout Cooperatives can address the issues Surender Reddy ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------A woman is the full circle. Within her is the power to create, nurture and transform. -Diane Marie child Women and water In developing countries, fetching water is the job of women and girl children. walking for hours, they carry home as much as 60 liters of water, day after day, for their families. . On an average, a rural woman walks several thousands of Miles a year just to fetch water, more so in the parched lands.. Their urban sisters are only slightly better off- they may not walk such distances, but they stand in long queues for hours on end to collect water from roadside taps or water Lorries. Women are the worlds water carriers Women and Nutrition Women are worlds bread-winners and have a direct role in familys nutrition. Water and food go together. Women also produce more than half the worlds total food supply. Most Indians are in fact eating less today than a decade ago; the per capita daily availability of food has declined from 485 to 419 gms per day. One million children die every year for lack of food. The poor are worse off because their food and livelihoods have been destroyed. Since the 70s The chemical mono -culture of food crops, neglect of cereals and bio-diversity and use of water guzzling hybrids, has eroded the productivity of soils and has led to water mining instead of harvesting, eroding the water resources of extensive regions, impoverishing farmer communities. The shocking scale of farmer suicides since the 90s is the direct consequence of these policies and practices. The middle classes are worse off because the corporate food giants have imposed through clever media blitz, for their obscene profits the harmful junk food and processed foods. On the one hand poor are facing malnutrition on account of deprivation while middle classes malnutrition is linked to a junk-food diet and its equally debilitating health effects.

Women, Water and Nutrition Chronic health problems result from their role water carriers and breadwinners in the rural areas. When such is the expenditure of energy and time, there is no room left for education and, by extension for development and economic independence. While women carry water and work for food on lands, they have little role in the water and land policies and rights to mitigate their problems in access to inputs, technology and finance. This has to change. Women and Education Even today women are slaves to the male-dominated social order. This is not only bad but deplorable. We should decry such domination of women and their psychoeconomic exploitation through the evil design of dogmas. To abolish dogma and liberate women from psychic exploitation, there should be: 1. Free education for all women in all countries of the world. 2. No discrimination in the social, educational and religious realms. 3. The provision of economic and social security to all women. We stand to create a powerful, dynamic and up surging social consciousness, especially among women, so that they are inspired to rise, abolish dogma and annihilate all symbols of slavery, and usher in a new era of coordinated cooperation and glorious achievement. Let women be the vanguard of a new revolution which humanity must achieve for a glorious tomorrow. Shrii P. R. Sarkar Women and Micro-finance Micro-finance Institutions have targeted women in the last more than one and a half decade, originating among poor women in Bangladesh and now a global phenomenon, attribute their success to the following socio-economic and bio-psychological features. 1. Women Are the Poorest of the Poor. 2. Women have a higher unemployment rate than men in virtually every country. 3. In general, women also make up the majority of the lower paid, unorganized informal sector of most economies. 4. Giving priority to increasing womens access to financial services on the grounds that women are relatively more disadvantaged than men. 20 April 1981, Calcutta (inputs from Smt Vandana Shiva)

5. Income-generating activities, microfinance institutions can significantly reduce womens vulnerability to poverty. A reduction in womens vulnerability can sometimes also translate into empowerment of greater financial security. 6. Allows the women to become more assertive in household and community affairs. 7. Women have been shown to spend more of their income on their households; when women are helped to increase their incomes, the welfare of the whole family is improved. 8. Womens success benefits more than one person

Thus, Womans rights are human rights and, by extension womans empowerment is human empowerment.
Banks versus Cooperatives Huge centralized banks are serving as instruments of transfer of resources and assets to the wheeler-dealers, across regions and countries, equating rights on economic resources to human rights. A Sahara bank collected money from the poor in India and bought a 7- Star hotel in England, an IPL Cricket team and built villas in forbidden Western Ghats for the pleasure of the rich. People should be educated that, investments in local cooperative bank mandated to serve the local people, would only ensure local employment, purchasing power and strengthen local economy and avoid migration of labour and human misery. To ensure that the local resources and assets serve local communities, exclusive Samaj-wide Cooperative Banks should be promoted. That is, in each of the 44 Prout Samajas in India a Samaj Cooperative Bank should be established to promote Prout economy of Neo-humanism. You can google for further information on Prout. Women and Peoples Economy Prout (the Progressive Utilization Theory offers a vision for a more sustainable future. A new socio-economic model developed by philosopher Shrii P. R. Sarkar (1921-1990). Prout is based on economic self-sufficiency, cooperatives, environmental balance and universal spiritual values. The Prouts concept of Peoples economy is unique and is basic to the quadridimensional economy, the other dimensions being General, Commercial and Psycho economies. (Psycho economy of Prout is Shrii P.R. Sarkars novel concept, extending the boundaries of conventional economic theory.)

The issues highlighted in the foregoing, can be solved by securing minimum essential needs of goods and services to all, as mandated in the Prout Sutra yugasya sarva nimna prayojanam savesham vidheyam. The propounder of Prout Shrii P. R. Sarkar said. Most economists today understand only a little of the principles of general economy and something of commercial economy, but both of these parts are still in an undeveloped stage. Peoples economy and psycho -economy are totally overlooked by modern economists, and as such could find no place in the present mode of economic thinking. Peoples Economy Peoples economy deals with the essential needs of the people in general the production, distribution, marketing, shipping, storage, pricing, sales, freight charges, pro forma costing, and all related activities of such essential needs. Most importantly, it is directly concerned with the guaranteed provision of minimum requirements such as food, clothing, housing, medical treatment, education, transportation, energy and irrigation water. Continuous improvement in and ready availability of these requirements is the key factor in peoples economy. The minimum requirements can be assured through guaranteed purchasing capacity which should be enshrined in the constitution as a fundamental or cardinal human right. This will give the citizens of the country legal power if their minimum requirements are not met, hence the necessity of purchasing capacity will be reinforced by constitutional law. As peoples economy will deal with minimum requirements and peoples subsistence problems, it must take precedence over other parts of the economy. Peoples economy should also be concerned with the development of both private and cooperative industries. Private industries would be limited in size and scope to prevent monopoly production and exploitation, and would be required to function as cooperatives once they grow too large. Cooperative industries are the best means of independently organizing people so that they take collective responsibility for their livelihood. Peoples economy also includes employment for all; the eradication of mass poverty; the development of rural economy; the phase-wise socialization of land into the hands of those who work physically or intellectually for proper production; practical training programs to impart skills which enable people to find employment in their immediate urban or rural locality; work placement; and the transportation, trans-shipment, loading and unloading of any materials, even if they are not economically viable in the shortterm. It is also concerned with the generation of cheap power and the supply of water, which are essential if people are to control their local economies. Finally, it includes economic decentralization, cooperative dynamo and block-level planning. (Quadra-dimensional Economy, 5 June 1986, Calcutta) 5

Communities should strive to promote Producer, Consumer or producer/consumer Prout Cooperatives for gainful employment and purchasing power to secure Food, Fiber (clothing), Housing, Healthcare, Education (Internet) and Energy. Food: Farmer Cooperatives of Producers in rural and urban Consumer Cooperatives will secure fair deal. The critical resource of water for agriculture should be treated as community asset and managed through local agency. The irrigation problem can be solved by any of several methods, including shift irrigation, lift irrigation, tank irrigation and small-scale river projects. Shrii P. R. Sarkar When food travels across the samajas/regions and countries, the communities suffer the following three consequences. Avoidable carbon foot-print of energy for preservation (AC/ cold storage) and transport, harming the environment. Local unemployment and lack of purchasing power. Exploitation by the global food Corporates, converting food-sufficient into fooddeficient communities and countries.

Indian edible oil sufficiency was destroyed by the greed of global corporates for profits, delivering cheap palm oil, reducing oil-seed farmers and consumers to meek submission to market forces. Each Samaj should plan for self-sufficiency in food production to secure Food sovereignty, invariably. Secondly, food retailing should be reserved for small private sector or large consumer Cooperatives, with applications of technology and management that outstrip and replace Wal-Marts of the day. Clothing: Women, they say take interest in clothing. Weaving, designing and tailoring Cooperatives can cater to the demands, while generating huge employment opportunities. Housing: The architecture to suit local climatic conditions of the Samaj and drawing on locally available Construction materials which are abundantly available should be preferred. The Producers Cooperatives of local Construction materials should be promoted for affordable decent houses as the productivity and well being of all the members of the family depends on living conditions. The late Laurie Bakers concepts should be explored, for affordable and eco-friendly housing.

Healthcare: Ninety percent of the illness is traced to contaminated drinking water. Treating water as community asset, purified water projects should be managed by community Cooperatives for consumption and as well as agriculture. As prevention is better than cure, besides hygienic living, habits, prefer food that is produced organically. The object of the art of healing is to cure a patient, both physically and mentally. So the main question is not to uphold any particular school of medical science; rather , the key task is the welf are of the patientJust as diseased body organs can be restored to normal by administering medicines internally or externally, they can also be healed, more safely and more perfectly, with the help of Yogic asanas and mudras Shrii P. R. Sarkar Access to free Health care to all, of equal standard is a part of Prouts Peoples economy. Instead of Corporate hospitals Doctors of various Schools of medicine can come together to start Doctors Cooperative hospitals. As cheap generic medicines and costly branded medicines give equal relief to the patient, generic medicines shops of life saving essential drugs can be housed in such hospitals, to prevent the prevalent doctor-pharma nexus of exploitation. Education: Ones mother tongue is the natural medium of expression; hence ones mother tongue should be the medium of instruction in schools. English, which is presently the global language, should be the second language. So higher education should be imparted in English. Optionally, Sanskrit can be taught to enrich the cultural heritage. Neo-Humanist Education (NHE) must be imparted to all children invariably to enshrine compassion in the hearts, for all Creation. Access to free education to all of equal standard is a part of Prouts Peoples Economy as well as universal free access to Internet connectivity, as part of human rights. The corporatization of education is going on at a fast pace under the influence of greed based economy, making education unaffordable. To address the issue women can be given training in teaching and management of educational schools and local teams of them can come together to start pre-primary and primary Teachers Cooperative Schools. Energy: Until solar energy can be manufactured cheaply, other energy sources such as hydro-electricity, thermal power, tidal power and wind power can be utilized. While the fossil fuel based energy availability is becoming questionable, their price that is, of electricity, gas and fuels are skyrocketing. Economic activity dependent on energy and transport is in jeopardy. Renewable energy from solar, wind and other resources can be locally produced and utilized by the members of the community. Such community projects can be eminently managed as Cooperatives by the stakeholders. 7

Role of the State: State should legislate for governance that peoples economy based on communitys consumption needs, is not subject to adverse market forces and exploitation for obscene profits and greed of few individuals and the corporates. The public land and resource grab and privatization of public services by politico-bureaucrat-capitalist class has to be reversed in Peoples economy and managed by local communities under Cooperatives. The advances in science and technology related to the sectors of peoples economy should be excluded from patent regime, directly rewarding Innovators with life-time Prize money and award of finest amenities. Seeds and water of food production and life saving drugs must be free from inhuman profiteering, in the guise of patents and privatization. Conclusion: Under Prouts Peoples economy Women in the Cooperative symbiotic economy mode will have opportunities in sectors of food, clothing, health, housing, education and energy for sustainable economic activity for balanced growth and holistic development. Womankind will face the challenges and make the decade ahead, glow with feminist neohumanism, empowered by digital, knowledge-based civilizational leap of the 21st Century. The need of the hour is training mentors for Prout Cooperatives, to educate women in the art and science of launching producer-cum consumer Cooperatives in each village and community, to beat poverty and secure balanced growth of the individual, family and community. And before that we need to create a network of Prout cooperative Training Centers. Localize Economy; Globalize Humanity ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------(For Comments, reach me at reddy.gsurender@gmail.com) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Redefining the economy by embedding it in society and nature is the first step in a paradigm shift. Shifting from GDP and GNP to measures of real wealth, welfare, well-being and happiness is another. Smt. Vandana Shiva

Continued Annexure-II