Till last year the “World Social Forum”:http://www.nirajweb.net/mt/niraj/archives/002106.html was funded by the Ford Foundation and this year they have been kept away. The Economic Times even had a headline which said “This communist war brought to you by Ford Foundation, Oxfam”:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/421483.cms
bq. With war against globalisation on their mind, top Indian left leaders are reaching Mumbai this week for the World Social Forum which ironically is associated with champions of globalisation such as the Ford Foundation and Oxfam.
But then why was Ford Foundation asked to keep away from this years Forum ? The answer to that is given by “Lisa Jordan of Ford”:http://www.opendemocracy.net/debates/article-6-91-1678.jsp in an interview with Casper Henderson
bq. We are not supporting this year?s forum because the Indian Organising Committee (IOC), which represents a comprehensive attempt to bring together a large cross-section of Indian society, includes some groups who have objected to Ford?s activities in India since 1953 ? especially support for the Green Revolution in the 1960s and 1970s. They feel that contributions made by the Ford Foundation helped to prevent India from undergoing communist revolution.
So what happened during the “Green Revolution”:http://www.indiaonestop.com/Greenrevolution.htm and why are the communists so opposed to that ?
An estimated 4 million people died in what is known as the Bengal Famine in 1943. So when India became independent Food security was high on the agenda. This resulted in the Green Revolution which resulted in the continued expansion of farming areas, double-cropping existing farm lands, and using seeds with superior genetics.
bq. The Green Revolution resulted in a record grain output of 131 million tons in 1978-79. This established India as one of the world’s biggest agricultural producers. No other country in the world which attempted the Green Revolution recorded such level of success. India also became an exporter of food grains around that time. [“India One Stop”:http://www.indiaonestop.com/Greenrevolution.htm]
bq. India paid back all loans it had taken from the World Bank and its affiliates for the purpose of the Green Revolution. This improved India’s creditworthiness in the eyes of the lending agencies.
So India became self sufficient, people had food to eat. The Ford foundation helped in achieving this, and for this they have been asked to keep away.
Why Ford Foundation was kept away from WSF
Published
I guess the image managers of WSF deliberately kept FF away from the main event even while availing their finances in myriad of other events that happen as side dishes across the country. One that i know of is the lecture by Stigliz that happened in Delhi University. I wrote about it in ‘thoughts etcetera’.
” 4 million people died in Bengal”
That was due to that scumbag churchill who refused to move grains from other parts of India (it was just a loca famine and there was plenty of grains in other parts of india; churchill comptemptuouly refused to move grains to bengal saying “they all breed like rabbits”; his excuse was he needed trains for war efforts but i don’t think he would have let 4 million anglo-saxons die). My pet peeve is that somehow churchill gets a gentlemanly greatment among many indians although he held some of the most unflattering views about indians.