Wealth Equals Wisdom? The Rockefeller and Ford Foundations in India

Author(s):  
LEONARD A. GORDON

Two giants of American philanthropy, the Rockefeller and Ford foundations, have had a complicated history in South Asia. The sources are considerable, but mainly on the grant-giver side, with little attention to the impact of the grants. The Rockefeller Foundation started its grants to India in 1916 and through 1947 worked mainly in the field of medicine. Later it broadened its interests to include agriculture and humanities. It curtailed most of its India interest in 1973. The Ford Foundation entered India in the 1950s. Douglas Ensminger, its representative, became the most powerful foreign representative of the foundation, calling himself a “change agent” and enjoying unusual access to Prime Minister Nehru. He presided over the expansion of Ford Foundation technical assistance, with over 100 foreigners working for it in India by 1970. Thereafter it decided to cut the number of foreigners working in India and change its mode of operation to one of grant giver. The golden age of the foundations was in the 1950s and 1960s, when they played a most important role; thereafter significant changes occurred.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanju Gautam ◽  
Nipun Shrestha ◽  
Sweta Mahato ◽  
Tuan P. A. Nguyen ◽  
Shiva Raj Mishra ◽  
...  

AbstractThe escalating burden of diabetes is increasing the risk of contracting tuberculosis (TB) and has a pervasive impact on TB treatment outcomes. Therefore, we conducted this systematic review and meta-analysis to examine the burden of diabetes among TB patients and assess its impact on TB treatment in South Asia (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka). PubMed, Excerpta Medica Database (EMBASE), and CINAHL databases were systematically searched for observational (cross-sectional, case–control and cohort) studies that reported prevalence of diabetes in TB patients and published between 1 January 1980 and 30 July 2020. A random-effect model for computing the pooled prevalence of diabetes and a fixed-effect model for assessing its impact on TB treatment were used. The review was registered with PROSPERO number CRD42020167896. Of the 3463 identified studies, a total of 74 studies (47 studies from India, 10 from Pakistan, four from Nepal and two from both Bangladesh and Sri-Lanka) were included in this systematic review: 65 studies for the prevalence of diabetes among TB patients and nine studies for the impact of diabetes on TB treatment outcomes. The pooled prevalence of diabetes in TB patients was 21% (95% CI 18.0, 23.0; I2 98.3%), varying from 11% in Bangladesh to 24% in Sri-Lanka. The prevalence was higher in studies having a sample size less than 300 (23%, 95% CI 18.0, 27.0), studies conducted in adults (21%, 95% CI 18.0, 23.0) and countries with high TB burden (21%, 95% CI 19.0, 24.0). Publication bias was detected based on the graphic asymmetry of the funnel plot and Egger’s test (p < 0.001). Compared with non-diabetic TB patients, patients with TB and diabetes were associated with higher odds of mortality (Odds Ratio (OR) 1.7; 95% CI 1.2, 2.51; I2 19.4%) and treatment failure (OR 1.7; 95% CI 1.1, 2.4; I2 49.6%), but not associated with Multi-drug resistant TB (OR 1.0; 95% CI 0.6, 1.7; I2 40.7%). This study found a high burden of diabetes among TB patients in South Asia. Patients with TB-diabetes were at higher risk of treatment failure and mortality compared to TB alone. Screening for diabetes among TB patients along with planning and implementation of preventive and curative strategies for both TB and diabetes are urgently needed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6185
Author(s):  
André Ruoppolo Biazoti ◽  
Angélica Campos Nakamura ◽  
Gustavo Nagib ◽  
Vitória Oliveira Pereira de Souza Leão ◽  
Giulia Giacchè ◽  
...  

During the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic, farmers worldwide were greatly affected by disruptions in the food chain. In 2020, São Paulo city experienced most of the effects of the pandemic in Brazil, with 15,587 deaths through December 2020. Here, we describe the impacts of COVID-19 on urban agriculture (UA) in São Paulo from April to August 2020. We analyzed two governmental surveys of 2100 farmers from São Paulo state and 148 from São Paulo city and two qualitative surveys of volunteers from ten community gardens and seven urban farmers. Our data showed that 50% of the farmers were impacted by the pandemic with drops in sales, especially those that depended on intermediaries. Some farmers in the city adapted to novel sales channels, but 22% claimed that obtaining inputs became difficult. No municipal support was provided to UA in São Paulo, and pre-existing issues were exacerbated. Work on community gardens decreased, but no garden permanently closed. Post COVID-19, UA will have the challenge of maintaining local food chains established during the pandemic. Due to the increase in the price of inputs and the lack of technical assistance, governmental efforts should be implemented to support UA.


2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (20) ◽  
pp. 6930-6941 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xia Qu ◽  
Gang Huang

Abstract The tropical Indian Ocean (TIO)’s influence on the South Asia high (SAH)’s intensity experiences a decadal change in the late 1970s; after (before) the decadal shift, the influence is significant (insignificant). The present study investigates the role of tropospheric temperature in relaying the impact of sea surface temperature (SST) to the SAH and the change in the TIO’s influence. During the two epochs, the local tropospheric temperature responses to the TIO warming are distinct—more significant during the second epoch. It is inferred that this change may be responsible for the strengthening of the TIO’s influence on the SAH. Encouragingly, the ensemble simulations accurately capture the time of the decadal change, indicating that the enhanced influence is attributed to the SST forcing. There are two possible reasons for the change in the TIO–SAH relationship. The first reason is the change in the locations of the SST anomalies in the TIO. During the second epoch, positive SST anomalies lie in the Indian Ocean warm pool. Through the background vigorous convection and moist adjustment, the SST anomalies affect largely the tropospheric temperature and thus the SAH. The second reason is the decadal change in mean SST and the SST variability. During the recent decades, both the background SST and the variability of the TIO SST increase, which enhance the influence of the SST anomalies on the atmosphere. The influence of the remote oceanic forcing on the enhanced TIO–SAH relationship and its comparison with the contribution of the TIO SST are also discussed.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arlan Brucal ◽  
Arti Grover ◽  
Santiago Reyes Ortega
Keyword(s):  

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 55-78
Author(s):  
Simon Morley

I look at the impact of Zen Buddhism on western painters during the 1950s and 1960s, focusing on the monochrome in particular, in order to create a historical context for the consideration of transcultural dialogue in relation to contemporary painting. I argue that a consideration of Zen can offer a ‘middle way’ between conceptions of the monochrome (and art in general) often hobbled by models of interpretation that function within a binary opposition between ‘literalist/sensory’ on the one hand, and ‘intellectual/non-sensory’ readings on the other.


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 62
Author(s):  
Sahar Mohammad Abu Bakir

The public sector in Jordan is confronting many problems; reports show that citizens are not contented with the number and quality of current services. Consequently; persistent initiatives to uphold the sector performance took place at all levels, relying on the inventive employees and leadership to achieve the intended improvement. So this study seeks to test the impact of strategic leadership (charismatic, visionary, change agent and servant) on building entrepreneurial orientation (proactiveness, innovativeness and risk taking) in Jordanian public sector employees.A random sample was selected of 500 employees working at health, education, agriculture and other service governmental organizations. To obtain the required results multiple regression was calculated using (21) SPSS version.It was found that the charismatic, change agent, servant styles positively influence employees proaciveness, with no influence on the other two entrepreneurship dimensions. While visionary style has no significant influence on all entrepreneurship dimensions. However the public sector reform is achievable, through comprehensive strategies, successful implementation, and effective continuous control. Innovative departments need to be established and financed away from bureaucratic environments.


2019 ◽  
pp. 83-90
Author(s):  
Izabella Kimak

This essay constitutes an attempt at reading Bharati Mukherjee’s 2011 novel, Miss New India, through the prism of spatial locations depicted in it. Unlike many of the texts in the late South Asian American author’s oeuvre, which depict migration from the East to the West, Miss New India is located exclusively within South Asia. This notwithstanding, the novel focuses on the impact the West used to and continues to exert on the East. I would like to argue that through her depictions of places and non-places of Bangalore-the novel’s primary location-Mukherjee points to the spatial interconnectedness of the East and the West as well as to the temporal interconnectedness of the colonial past and postcolonial, late-capitalist present.


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