As Obama-mania spreads beyond the atlantic over to India it is worth recounting democratic hopeful Barack Obama’s tryst with Ganesh Beedis, a Mangalore based premier beedi maker back in 1999-2000.
An incisive expose on the use of child labour in India’s beedi industry on CBS‘ celebrated 60 Minutes program has resulted in the Clinton administration banning imports from Ganesh Beedis
Reacting to the ban Ganesh Beedis had this to say:
Rejecting the US government’s charge, he said there was a 15 per cent fall in demand for beedis. And without a workload, where is the need to employ children, he asked. Presently, the company’s beedi exports stand at $ 60,000 per year, he claimed
But the real story of the effect of these sanctions comes from a field study by CUTS Centre For International Trade, Economics and Environment (CITEE) in the Beedi making areas of South India.
It is almost one year after imposition of sanctions that CITEE conducted a field survey in order to find out whether the sanctions in any way have helped in eradicating child labour from the Indian Beedi industry. The survey indicates that after the sanctions the Beedi workers are getting less work from Ganesh and have been forced to take work from other Beedi companies, which pay far less than Ganesh.
In the wake of reduced earnings, parents have been forced to pull their children out of school and put them into Beedi making or other works.? The boys have chosen to polish boots, domestic home service, or agarbatti manufacturing over Beedi rolling as they get higher wages there. But the girls cannot do anything other then Beedi rolling, as they aren?t able to go out of their homes (More than 80 percent of the Beedi workers are from the highly conservative Muslim community). The survey further indicates that around 60 percent of the poor children who used to help their parents also went to schools before the sanctions. However after one year of the sanctions this number is not even one fourth of the earlier. In case of girls, 90 percent of them have dropped out of schools and helping their parents to earn enough for meeting the basic needs or in some cases to arrange school fees for their younger siblings.
The highlight of this sordid saga is the role played by Senator Barack Obama in getting the Beedi ban. This story in the Rediff in 2000 recounts the role played by then State Senator of Illinois Barack Obama on legislation that would ban the sale of bidis across Illinois. In fact Illinois was the first U.S. State to take action on Bidis.
Offstumped Bottomline: For all those in India getting carried away with Obama-mania and those Indian Americans rooting for change they can believe in, you may well take your cue on what a Barack Obama Presidency will likely mean for India. With a history of standing for bans and sanctions, that hope for change may end up just being a mirage for those who survive on cottage industries that are next on the hit list of the Obama type of liberal-progressive activism.
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While you may have a point about liberal-progressive action, the instance you site is pretty lame. It is important to keep a few things in mind:
- Beedi-making, while being a cottage industry, is not exactly the paragon of virtuous cottage industries that India should be proud of
- I did not read/follow Obama’s exact role/comments in getting beedi banned in Illinois. However, so long as it was just beedis, I’d say he showed more balls than India’s vote-conscious politicians. Smoking is proven to be dangerous and should be banned across the board
- The parents who forced their children in the beedi-making industry are the major culprits here, not Obama or Illinois senate or the US govt
So, as far as this article is concerned, your arguments are hardly substantive and fall short of making a coherent point. It just seems to be unsubstantiated Obama bashing
PS: On a side note, I have enjoyed quite a few of your positions and articles. However, please do take care that you do not end up a hate-spewing, loud, uncouth Rush Limbaugh / Ann Coulter gasbag!!
[...] yossarin wrote an interesting post today on How Obamaâ??s beedi ban affected India ?Here’s a quick excerptThe highlight of this sordid saga is the role played by Senator Barack Obama in getting the Beedi ban. This story in the Rediff in 2000 recounts the role played by then State Senator of Illinois Barack Obama on legislation that would … [...]
SM -
Offstumped’s position is less about bidi’s and more about America’s “liberal-progressive” face and the impact that this activism has on economics.
Unfortunately, this paradigm of interventionism is not understood by many who fall for this liberal trap.
In this light – for example – Obama or Hillary, if elected, could very easily continue the war in Iraq to “liberate Muslim women.”
Once you accept the notion of interventionism, it can be used for any goal and any means, under the guise of “progress.”
In the same light, it was England justified its oppressive rule in India, as England’s “burden” to bring “civilization” into a “decadent” India in the nineteenth century. Liberals do not understand that India’s social dysfunction was caused by an economic decline, not because of its civilization and its polity. Unless people understand this, practically anything and everything in the world, today, can become America’s “burden” to carry.
Offstumped has given a simple and specific example of how this so-called “progressive” action by American liberals has a negative effect.
I’m not sure if one can blame Obama for the plight of beedi workers in India.
The facts are quite simple:
* It *is* a well-known fact that underaged children work roll beedis for a living, when they should be at school.
* Therefore, an obvious way for the consumer to bring about some pressure on such unscrupulous employers is by banning their products. This is precisely what Obama has done. As consumers, they’ve merely exercised their right to choose.
* The second order effect is that adults in those companies also lost jobs and consequently couldn’t afford to educate their children.
* Moreover, this shows that the beedi industry was not competitive enough, and merely used the wage difference to make a profit.
* Well, this is the price that we in India should pay – after all, our children should be in school, not earning us exports.
[...] Right Voices wrote an interesting post today on Comment on How Obamaâ??s beedi ban affected India ? by Barack Obama…Here’s a quick excerpt…role played by Senator Barack Obama in getting the Beedi ban. This story in the Rediff in 2000 recounts the role played by then State Senator… [...]
To me it looks like no more than a half-hearted reaction to a sensation created by a TV program. The constituency in US needed to be satisfied in the wake of this program and since any measure wouldn’t really effect the constituency, the lawmakers decided to take the easy way out by simply banning the product, instead of studying whether a ban really helps in getting the children(..in the land far war away..) out of the factories.
Instead, we should use this post to remind ourselves that a measure like banning child labour, instituted in India some time back, doesn’t really fix the problem and in some cases exacerbates it.
//It just seems to be unsubstantiated Obama bashing//
How come it is unsubstantiated bashing.
I thought you didn’t know what obama did…
PS: I love Rush Limbauh/ Ann Coulter/ Dick Cheney/ GW Bush
[...] The Corner on National Review Online wrote an interesting post today on Comment on How Obamaâ??s beedi ban affected India ? by…Here’s a quick excerptTo me it looks like no more than a half-hearted reaction to a sensation created by a TV program. [...]
[...] Make Them Accountable wrote an interesting post today on Comment on How Obamaâ??s beedi ban affected India ? by AnonymousHere’s a quick excerpt//It just seems to be unsubstantiated Obama bashing// How come it is unsubstantiated bashing. I thought you didn’t know what obama did… [...]
[...] Obama’s beedi ban affected India ? February 20th, 2008 Eric Pfeiffer wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptAs Obama-mania spreads beyond the [...]
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Therefore, an obvious way for the consumer to bring about some pressure on such unscrupulous employers is by banning their products. This is precisely what Obama has done. As consumers, they’ve merely exercised their right to choose.
//
There is a Fundamental fallacy in your argument.
Any Ban essentially deprives the consumer’s RIGHT TO CHOOSE.
I think offstumped has rightly pointed out the alternative outcomes of such measures. But I wonder how can banning single factory from exporting its stuff can have such huge social effect? There are other very easy ways for ganesh to keep exporting beedis to US, using overseas contractors etc. There are many Indian companies who do that. I think the whole exercise done by CBS, Clinton and CITEE were futile. As far as I can think, suck tactics like banning dont work, it will just give rise to more rotten systems.
It’ll be interesting to see if Obama (if elected) will really prove to be an able President. That post will require a lot from him. So far, his “Change” campaign seems to be catching everyone’s fancy.
However, most of the major candidates have mostly spoken in the popular voice. Folks like Ron Paul have fallen back because they speak the inconvenient truth. That’s just not acceptable to Americans. His proposal of the US minding it’s own business & not meddling in others affairs, or of shutting down most of the over 700 US military bases across the world to solve the economic crisis was not popular.
I’m not saying he’s the right candidate, he may or may not be, but saying that America was in the wrong on many issues wasn’t going to take him far. It’s appreciable that he was unwavering in his opinions. Whether he got any delegates or not, he did not change his opinion. For once, here was a candidate who spoke the truth & called spade, a spade.
@Shankar
‘There is a Fundamental fallacy in your argument.
Any Ban essentially deprives the consumer’s RIGHT TO CHOOSE.’
A ban brought about by legislative action cannot be contrived to deprive anyone’s right to choose. After all, the legislature itself is chosen by the people to be their representative in taking decisions. That’s what representative democracy is all about!
^^^
Sorry I meant government.
Well, for all what about Barack Hussein Obama ?
http://www.danielpipes.org/article/5354
Yossarin, did you cover this before ?
Barak Obama is very liberal, but he speaks about working ‘across the aisle’ with the republicans. That means his foreign policy positions are going to be either liberal or centrist.
What can we expect from Mr Obama in terms of India ?
He opposes outsourcing, perhaps will cut off ‘tax cuts’ for those companies that ’ship jobs overseas’, but that will not affect Indian outsourcing companies because it is not exactly a reversible process. Either an IBM hires Indians to make itself globally competitive OR it gets bought out by an Indian company that pays its employees Indian wages. He also speaks about imposing strict labor and safety standards on trade pacts, which just might work for India as India has a better record on both then commie China.
He will be tough on Pakistan about terrorism, but not sure how much that will change because there is not much leverage the US has against pakistan. If it chooses to sanction pakistan, it might destroy pakistan, and create a bigger ‘frankensteinistan’ then we have now.
We can kiss the nuclear deal goodbye, nobody will be as generous as Mr. Bush, and Mr Obama is bound to listen to the ‘preachy’ non-proliferation hawks. But then that goes for any republican or democrat that comes to power.
Mr. Obama may or may not be ‘good’ for India as Mr. Bush, but then again, NOBODY will be as generous as Mr. Bush to India, as much of a disaster he has been for the Americans.
India, US “natural” partners, says Obama
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/000200802231321.htm
Here are my 2 cents t00……
This is my personal opinion and is solely based on this article alone posted here.
It should be a matter of shame that our govt (at that time it was NDA in the power) allows children to work in beedi factories and that it requires a US senator to point a finger at us and tell that fact. A person’s intentions is one of the most important factors in judging about his/her actions. obama’s intention of acting against child labor in the form of sanctions against Ganesh is not the same as he having bad intentions against India. At least the argument used doesn’t show that. If the argument used was, say, his pro-Pak/China policy hurting India then it would have been valid.
Agreed that the ban/sanctions on Ganesh might have caused those beedi workers to look elsewhere. But will putting the blame on obama solve the issue inside our country in the long term?? It will not. As long as people have that mentality/frame of mind of putting the blame on others without first introspecting thoroughly, the root causes will never be addressed. If obama banned ganesh in Illinois then he has taken an action in the interest of his state/country/people so should he be held responsible for the loss of jobs of beedi workers in Ganesh/India?? If proper compulsory education had/has been ensured for all children then why would there be high dropout rates because some economists have/had floated an idea of improving the insurance policies in India where blue collar workers will be paying a part of their salary towards insurance which would come to their aid in case of layoffs. This may not be a panacea but new ideas could have been implemented that would help blue collar workers. Why weren’t such things initiated??
Another issue is feeling bad about sanctions. Why should we. Infact that should be used as an opportunity to undermine US and its intentions. In the scientific field it should be used as an opportunity to develop in house technology. Living on borrowed tech is not going tohelp us. Because of this attitude today India’s foreign policy is getting imbalanced. Relations with Russia is getting cold which mainly depended on strategic understandings. Anybody who says that Indo-US nuke deal is not tied to Indo-US arms purchase is just too naive. Agreed that Russia didn’t help us in the military issue out of sympathy and that it did that for it’s own interests but at-least things like agreeing to Chinese request of using Russian engines in the fighters for Pak would haven’t come up. Russia would have said no emphatically but right now there have been conflicting reports- some have said Russia hasn’t said no to CHinese request and some say they have said. Some articles even have gone to the extent of suggesting warming Russian Pak relations !!!!. Should old friends be trashed just like that (that too when 70-80% of our military is still Russian) for the sake of new people who don’t have an admirable history of commitment to friendship with developing countries unless they agree to complete subordination??
Unless off stumped uses obama’s if any pro-pak or pro-china or other policies as arguments to show that his presidency wouldn’t be good for India then I don’t see what’s the harm. Enough of wars and conflicts. How many of the countries which sided with US on Iraq war got economic returns in the form of contracts?? Was it any worth?? In any case democrats- doesn’t matter who, are left leaning believing in controlling or micro managing/sanction type attitude and as I said earlier that should be used as an opportunity to undermine US power/leverage over us. And of course this doesn’t mean that India should move towards China, which is another pain the rear. My intention of saying this is that India’s US policy should be US oriented and not obama or clinton or bush oriented. For example, in the Indo-US nuke deal, there is no guarantee that the next president doesn’t matter Republican or Democrat is not going to use Hyde act for arm twisting us. There have been good things about the deal but it is still not without risk.
[...] Nigerian Blogs Aggregator wrote an interesting post today on Comment on How Obamaâ??s beedi ban affected India ? by RHere’s a quick excerptHow many of the countries which sided with US on Iraq war got economic returns in the form of contracts?? Was it any worth?? [...]
[...] congratulates Mr. Obama on a job well done with these words of caution from an earlier post for fellow Indians still in the grip of Obama-mania For all those in India getting carried away [...]