a more interesting 'bottom-of-the-pyramid' example i came across recently was the hindustan petroleum community kitchen.
each participating village contributes a 'room' that hp equips with lpg cylinders, pipes and gas stoves. the kitchen is shared by the community, each user paying Rs. 4 per 'gas-hour' consumed.
The operation saves users the time and effort of the trek for firewood and reduces smoke etc. within their dwellings. hp is able to expand their consumer base to include those who could not afford individual connections/cylinders.
hp claims to have successfully piloted the operation in 97 villages and is rolling it out nation-wide.
i'm sure caste dynamics are a constraint in many cases, but have no data on whether/how they're dealing with that.
On 3/21/06, Suresh Ramasubramanian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Ashok Hariharan wrote:
> i can agree with the argument if its just about improving the lot of the
> producers & their employees (which by itself is not a bad
> thing). agree that there is an employment potential involved in rural
> marketing, distribution, retailing etc....but this bottom of the
> pyramid thing doesnt talk about other impacts: people getting into debt,
> pollution, requirement for other social institutions
> (banks,education, saving plans), etc...
Well yes - but development has to take place somewhere or the other
The economy is basically agrarian in most villages - so heavily
dependent on the season. Having people become door to door salesmen for
consumer goods probably does boost the economy a bit by injecting more
cash into the economy, and encouraging a bit more spending .. of course
on stuff thats completely non-essential, not related to food / clothing
/ shelter. But that's the basic difference between a subsistence
economy and one that tries to rise a bit above it.
Of course there has to be real money in circulation for that, and people
should be paying more attention to microbanking schemes like Grameen
Bank ( www.grameen-info.org) where poor villagers can make deposits or
withdrawals that are a pittance, that regular banks (or even "district
cooperative" banks (sort of like credit unions) wouldnt want to deal in
at all.
> i see millions of dollars being spent on development training programs for
> poor people and for people living in rural areas,
> (the only benefit being the attendees get free lunch ) Havent seen one
> which talks about educating the people at the top
> of the pyramid on the problems of 'over' development....
Ah, the NGO variety of development. One endless gravy train for a whole
lot of people.
srs
--
I think that I think, therefore I think that I am.
