Updates to the charitable activities

Well, I took the plunge and offered up my services as a trustee to a another local charity. Its called as Home Start. This is what they do.

We help to increase the confidence and independence of families by:

• Visiting families in their own homes to offer support, friendship and practical assistance
• Reassuring parents that their childcare problems are not unusual or unique
• Encouraging parents' strengths and emotional well-being for the ultimate benefit of their children
• Trying to get the fun back into family life

Our volunteers, who have parenting experience themselves, can offer:

• Precious time for listening and talking
• Help with the children
• A break for parents
• Practical help and reassurance
• A chance to meet other parents in similar situations
• Support to use local services and resources

Parents ask for Home-Start's help for all sorts of reasons:

• They may feel isolated in their community, have no family nearby and be struggling to make friends
• They may be finding it hard to cope because of their own or a child's physical or mental illness
• They may have been hit hard by the death of a loved one
• They may be really struggling the with emotional and physical demands of having twins or triplets - perhaps born into an already large family

Not sure how much I can do as a volunteer although that will definitely be helpful. There are many immigrant families here in Harrow and if I can help. But I think as a trustee, I can bring on some force multipliers in terms of communications, fund raising, technology and and and. Lets see, will be invited soon for an interview soon

I have fulminated before how charities aren't charities but act as government departments, whining and moaning about the lack or reduction of government funding. Here was a great letter on this issue. I quote:

David Robinson, the co-founder of Community Links, speaks for many publicly funded charities threatened by cuts (Charity chief: cuts may doom PM's big society, 30 December). While praising the "big society" concept that promises influence for third-sector organisations, he bemoans the pace of the withdrawal of public cash underpinning the sustainability of nearly a quarter of all charities.

But with over 250,000 charities in the UK, the last thing the UK needs is another. All may have been set up with the best of intentions, but there's massive duplication in giving and huge operational inefficiencies, with ferocious competition for funding, influence and profile. It's an unsustainable model at the best of times, so why should the taxpayer continue to prop it up now?

The third sector will be much better for consolidation where back-office costs can be cut, income streams enhanced and brand presence increased. Mergers are increasingly common, while one well-known firm of solicitors is touting for business using a line on how to conduct a hostile takeover of a charity. Trustees are beginning to recognise that increasing their public benefit is similar to increasing shareholder value. The jury's still out on the "big society", but the consequence of having paid charities to deliver public services over so many years is the inevitable commoditisation of the third sector.

It's about time that the third sector woke up to these unpalatable but necessary private-sector realities. In developing the most profuse charitable sector in the world, Britain has also created the most self-indulgent, where over one in 10 charities rely on state funding for more than half their income. David Robinson is right to be concerned about the pace of change but, "big society" or not, the coming storm is unavoidable. In 2011 the winners will be those organisations that start to behave more like corporate raiders than third-sector martyrs.

No fleas on Rafael Correa!

Caught this typo on the front page of the FT.

Quite surprised that something like this can happen to an august newspaper as the Financial Times!

The Indian Schindler

We all have heard about the Schindler List, a movie which talks about Oskar Schindler who saves thousands of Jews from the concentration camps. But not many people know the history of India taking in refugees. The land has a very long history of welcoming persecuted people from other lands and giving them succour. Think back about the Parsi’s or the Zoroastrians who fled the fanatical Muslim invaders who had invaded Iran. They settled in India and are now one of the most advanced components of Indian society. The second example are the Tibetans who with Dalai Lama, escaped from Tibet and settled in India. The next example is that of the Sri Lankan Tamils who escaped the civil war in Sri Lanka and then settled back in Tamil Nadu. Another example are the Bengalis who escaped the genocide and persecution of the Pakistani’s and settled in India. India also offered Palestinian and Afghanistan leaders a safe place and many leaders and their family know India as a safe place to live and raise their kids. Hamid Karzai, the current Afghan President studied and lives in India for a long period of time.

But I did not know about Sassoons. The Sassoon family and the Prime Minister of Cochin state (now Kerala) offered to harbour Jewish Refugees. So at a time that USA and UK were actively stopping the relief of Jews who were desperately trying to escape the Nazi’s, a small corner of India was welcoming them with open arms. Here are some references. Incidentally, some Indian Jews in North East India are claiming to be Jews and are emigrating to Israel. Now that the Church, bloody hypocritically, is whining about losing adherents. When the shoe is on the other foot and all that.

Anyway, found this quite interesting about how India welcomed refugees.

Dear Leader in action

Keep your puke bucket ready!

This year’s return on Karn’s portfolio–27.59%

Just to give a quick update on his portfolio. If you recall, I am trying to get him to learn how to invest and stuff. In 2010, his overall portfolio portfolio return is 27.59%. Some of his stocks have shown more than 50% uptick, and one (XTRATA) has shown 170.46% upturn. Not bad, eh?

The hedge fund results for the last quarter are in as well and its fairly good return, again not bad for 1 quarter..Cant say much more, the investor call is scheduled in a few weeks and then I can revert back.

Current thinking on India’s energy security

Besides the personal links to India, I also have a significant chunk of investments in India. So the question of India’s energy security is rather high on my list of questions to be answered. If India can navigate its energy path properly, it will emerge as a great country, screw it up (as it keeps on doing), then it will constantly have issues with its economic, political and foreign policy.

This was one partial answer in an article written by sMalavika Jain Bambawale and Benjamin K. Sovacool, in Energy Policy. I quote the abstract:

Abstract

This article explores the concept of energy security perceived and understood by a sample of government, business, civil society, and university stakeholders in India. Based on a literature review, the authors hypothesize what energy experts suggest energy security is for India. The article then tests these hypotheses through the use of a survey completed by 172 Indian respondents. The article begins by describing its methodology before summarizing the results of the literature review to distill seven working hypotheses related to energy security in India. These hypotheses relate to (1) security of energy supply, (2) equitable access to energy services, (3) research and development of new energy technologies, (4) energy efficiency and conservation, (5) self-sufficiency and trade in energy fuels, (6) nuclear power, and (7) the energy-water nexus. It then tests these hypotheses with our survey instrument before concluding with implications for energy policy in India and beyond.

Research highlights

► We measured the concept of energy security for India through a survey that tested the importance of 16 dimensions. ► For our sample of respondents from India, as hypothesized, security of fossil fuel supply, R&D in new technologies, centralized energy systems, and the availability of clean water emerged as important dimensions. ► Equitable access to energy and low energy intensity did not emerge as important dimensions of energy security for our sample even though we hypothesized them to be so.

Quite an interesting set of responses. The current thinking is quite progressive across the board with the exception of couple of points. The current thinking is still the static centrist centrally planned socialist model of huge investments in huge plants rather the small scale decentralised energy systems that India needs. This can really help in improving our energy grid. Second, they dont seem to care about a good pricing policy. No wonder, they are still sucking on the subsidy tit. And finally, they dont think that equitable access to energy is good. Which is storing up trouble.

But by and large, happy about the thinking that’s going into energy policy.

We don't need no education

I saw this status update on facebook

“Goin 2 pursue m.sc diz year so frndz plz sugst me sme gud colgs 4 m.sc :-)”

Wasn't very sure what to make of it besides hitting myself over the head with a cudgel and wanting to stab myself with a toothpick!

The world in 2050

My bank released a report on what will happen in 2050. Here’s the summary

With the rapid growth of the emerging markets, the global economy is experiencing a seismic
shift. In this piece, we argue that this shift is set to continue. By 2050, the collective size of the
economies we currently deem 'emerging' will have increased five-fold and will be larger than
the developed world. And 19 of the 30 largest economies will be from the emerging world.
At the same time, there will be a marked decline in the economic might – and potentially the
political clout – of many small population, ageing, rich economies in Europe.

Anyway, I sent the report on to my son when i realised something interesting. Here’s what i said:

Kannu
this report tries to predict what will happen in 2050. In other words, you will be about as old in 2050 as I am now in 2011. You might want to have a quick look through it as you will worry about your children then as we are worrying about you now and Dadu worries about me.

How time flies, eh? I will most probably be dead when 2050 comes along, based upon the life expectancy and the pretty heavy body destruction i did, lol. So this is what we will leave behind for our kids. Here’s another longer article which talks about the study.

HSBC sees China and America leading global mega-boom

The greatest global boom of all time has barely begun. Over the next forty years, economic growth will quicken yet further as the rising powers of Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America reach their full stride

In a sweeping report entitled "The World in 2050", HSBC said China at $24.6 trillion (constant 2000 dollars) and the US at $22.3 trillion will together tower over the global economy.

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard 6:00AM GMT 05 Jan 2011

Crunching everything from fertility rates to schooling levels and the rule of law, HSBC predicts that the world's economic output will triple again by 2050, provided the major states can avoid conflict - trade wars, or worse - and defeat the Malthusian threat of food and water limits. Growth will rise to 3pc on average, up from 2pc over the last decade.

In a sweeping report entitled "The World in 2050", the bank said China would snatch the top slot as expected, but only narrowly. China at $24.6 trillion (constant 2000 dollars) and the US at $22.3 trillion will together tower over the global economy in bipolar condominium - or simply the G2 - with India at $8.2 trillion far behind in third slot, and parts of Europe slithering into oblivion.

Turkey will vault past Russia, settling an Ottoman score. Egypt, Malaysia and Indonesia will all move into the top 20. Muslim societies may start to reassert an economic clout unseen since the late Caliphate. Yet Brazil may disappoint again, stalling at 7th place in 2050 as its birthrate slows sharply and bad schools exact their toll.

The surprise is how well the Anglo-Saxon states hold up under HSBC's model, which is based on the theoretical work of Harvard professor Robert Barro. America's high fertility rate (2.1) will allow it too keep adding manpower long after China's workforce has begun to contract in 2020s and as even India starts to age in the 2040s.

An eightfold jump in the per capita income of China and India will keep growth brisk despite demographic headwinds, but they will not come to close to matching US living standards. Americans will be three times richer than the Chinese in 2050.

Britain at $3.6 trillion also fares well, slipping one rank to sixth place but pulling far ahead of Italy and France, and almost displacing Germany as Europe's biggest economy. This is chiefly due to the UK's healthy fertility rate (1.9), although sceptics might question whether a birthrate inflated by the EU's highest share of unmarried teenager mothers is a good foundation for prosperity.

The low fertility of Korea (1.1), Singapore (1.2) Germany (1.3), Poland (1.3), Italy (1.4), Spain (1.4) and Russia (1.4), more or less dooms these countries to aging crises and population decline unless they open the floodgates to immigration.

Japan is already deep into this phase of atrophy, explaining why the country has had such trouble shaking off the effects of the Nikkei bust. Its total population began contracting outright since 2005. It shed a record 120,000 last year, and will shrink 37pc by 2050.

"Demography matters," said Karen Ward, the report's chief author. The "big losers" are the smaller states of Switzerland, Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, and Austria, which will mostly drop out of the top 30. "They may struggle to maintain their influence in global policy forums," she said.

HSBC works from the assumption that mankind will avoid the energy crunch and overcome the eco-deficit, a term used to describe the world's depletion rate of non-renewable assets. It calls for $46 trillion of investments in alternative forms of energy to break out of the carbon trap, and head off a supply crisis that could derail growth.

Feeding the world may be harder. The UN expects food demand to rise 70pc by 2050, yet the yield growth of crops has slowed to 1.5pc a year from 3.2pc in the 1960s. The number of people living in areas experiencing "severe water stress" will double from a third of the world population to two thirds between 1995 and 2025. The water basins irrigating the crops of the North China plain are being exhausted at an alarming rate.

HSBC admits that it economic projections are based on a "rather rosy scenario". Yet one thing seems clear. As superpowers of world food output, the US and Canada are sitting pretty.

Yearly leave of 3 months in the EU

Now this is very nice indeed. I quote:

Despite being paid six figure salaries, 1,962 of EU's most senior civil servants have been allowed to join a "flexitime" scheme, originally meant for lower paid secretarial staff, that gives an extra 24 days off work every year for those that put in an extra 45 minutes a day in the office.

The perk comes on top of annual holidays of 24 days as well as seven days off for public holidays, and in 2010, 11 "non-working" days out of the office when the Brussels institutions are closed in summer and at Christmas.

The allowances mean that last year many EU staff were entitle to 66 days or 13 weeks or a quarter of the year off work.

I found it further amusing that Inge Grassler thinks that leadership roles with 6 figure salaries in industry work 37.5 hours. Which industry would that be, Inge? Leadership roles at that level frequently put in 50 hour average weeks. bah!

This is indeed bloody strange and what a rip off.

More charity options

Given that I will soon be completing my studies, I thought of trying to find something local to assist. Also I am pushing Karn to join into doing something charitable, good for his development and good to give something back. Lazy git that he is, he was whining away but he has come up some ideas such as reading to partially or unsighted / blind people, assisting in website development, etc.

Anyway, I also checked out the Do-It website. Looks like a neat idea for people to search for volunteering opportunities, so I have plonked down couple of enquiries to assist as a Photographer with Community Link-Up, Trustee/director with Home-Start (Hillingdon) and Trustee with Creative Performance Limited. Dont have much detail on this, but the first one looks like it does projects with young uns, the second is for assisting people at their homes and the third is for creative performance. Lets see..