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sMASH wrote:She was just a figure head any way, they may take off the mask now
pete wrote:Could never be sure about that. Would he have really inspired people to come out and vote for the UNC? His reputation in the rice deal would've been brought up, who knows what else.
Glenn’s mom gets big post
...vice-chairmanship in Siparia
By Sue-Ann Wayow sue-ann.wayow@trinidadexpress.com
Story Created: Nov 5, 2013 at 10:09 PM ECT
Story Updated: Nov 5, 2013 at 10:09 PM ECT
LEO DOODNATH is the returning chairman for Siparia Regional Corporation.
Doodnath, councillor for Siparia East/San Francique South, took his oath at the Council Chamber, Siparia Regional Corporation, High Street, Siparia.
The new vice-chairman is Chanardaye Ramadharsingh, councillor for Otaheite/Rousillac.
Ramadharsingh is the mother of Minister of the People and Social Development Dr Glenn Ramadharsingh.
The election of members of standing committees was supposed to be held yesterday, but the meeting was adjourned to tomorrow.
Doodnath, in his first address to the council during his second term in office, said: “The elections are now over, we are all now representatives of the people.”
The council consists of seven United National Congress (UNC) members and six People’s National Movement (PNM) members.
Doodnath said the council will be working together as one body for the benefit of the 80,000-plus residents of Siparia, even though there were many challenges faced in running such a large corporation.
Doodnath listed several projects that were completed under the last council, including road works, drainage and upgrade of recreation grounds.
He said with the recent budget allocation of nearly $29 million to the Corporation, residents can expect more work being done.
Ramadharsingh said she was elated by the appointment.
“I felt very happy because it is not the first time we made history in that Corporation. This is second time the family made history because my husband was a councillor there, then my son became a councillor, and I also am sitting as a councillor. And now being the first female vice-chairman of the corporation, I feel very elated.”
Asked whether there was a conflict of interest in her appointment, given her son’s ministerial position, Ramadharsingh said: “Of course not. This is local government, this has nothing to do with Minister of the People and Social Development. I was a councillor before. I am in politics for quite a long time. I worked hard for the last three years as a councillor, that is why people have that trust and confidence that I could serve as a vice-chairman. That has totally nothing to do with being the mother of a Minister.”
Also attending the ceremony were Minister of Local Government Marlene Coudray, Member of Parliament for Fyzabad Chandresh Sharma, MP for La Brea Fitzgerald Jeffrey and MP for Oropouche West Stacy Roopnarine
pioneer wrote:A woman should never be allowed to run this country, ever.
eliteauto wrote:had Vasant Bharath been selected to run for the St Joseph seat the PP would have won it
eliteauto wrote:me eh know bout all dat (me being PNM and all) but the man is intelligent and can speak well, I think he would have been a good representative and more attractive to the electorate than Ian Alleyne
rocknrolla wrote:eliteauto wrote:had Vasant Bharath been selected to run for the St Joseph seat the PP would have won it
yes the move is to replace kamla with vasanth isnt it?
is he the true leader of the cabal?
pioneer wrote:When PNM gets back into power I hope they create the Ministry of Galvanize Affairs
Drivin tru pnm strongholds and all you see is one setta house make outta galvanize..gate...fence...walls...roof everything is rotten galvanize
Perhaps they consider a galvanize subsidy and offer scholarships for galvanize engineering
UTT can consider offering a BGz - Bachelor of Galvanize
want2liqur wrote:pioneer wrote:When PNM gets back into power I hope they create the Ministry of Galvanize Affairs
Drivin tru pnm strongholds and all you see is one setta house make outta galvanize..gate...fence...walls...roof everything is rotten galvanize
Perhaps they consider a galvanize subsidy and offer scholarships for galvanize engineering
UTT can consider offering a BGz - Bachelor of Galvanize
Seriously you thought up all that by yourself???
Habit7 wrote:And sadly he lives in the biggest PNM stronghold
pioneer wrote:Not always, pnmebc shifted the upper class UNC seats into a galvanize area.
pioneer wrote:Some years back we were doing some renovations, workmen an dem put some ole galvanize out on de road for when TPRC truck pass dey go pick it up.
Next day ah oleman gunta come in ah ole datsun pickup and ask we fuh it. I ask him if he gonna dump it in de labasse, he say u mad o wat?...how he daughter geh pregnant and he lookin to build up ah lil room fuh she an she chile. Had some 2x4 dem workmen use to do sumn which was covered in cement...man ask fuh dat too.
I honestly felt sorry for this man cuz of how pathetic he look eh. Mammy had jus make roti so I offer him one and ah drink ah johnny walker...man lap dong that like ah pothong who eh geh food fuh ah week. He eem ask fuh one tuh go.
I thought it was something I only saw in movies based in haiti or africa, but trinis building house with galvanize too oui.
Sad times.
Caste Is Not Past
Boys in the Dharavi slum next to Mumbai’s international airport. Raghu Rai / Magnum Photos
By LAVANYA SANKARAN
June 15, 2013
BANGALORE, India — CASTE is not a word that modernizing India likes to use. It has receded to the unfashionable background. Newspapers reserve their headlines for the newer metrics of social hierarchy: wealth and politics, and those powerful influencers of popular culture, actors and cricket stars.
There are two stories we tell ourselves in urban India. One is about how education transforms lives. It is the golden key to the future, allowing people to rise above the circumstances of their birth and background. And sometimes, it does. In my own neighborhood, a few sons and daughters of cooks and gardeners are earning their engineering and business degrees, and sweeping their families into the middle class. Not many, certainly. But enough that this is a valid hope, a valid dream.
The other story is about how the last two decades of economic growth have fundamentally changed the country, creating jobs and income and nurturing aspiration where earlier there was none. New money and an increasingly powerful middle class are supposedly displacing the old social hierarchies.
These are exciting stories, even revolutionary in a country where, for centuries, the social order was considered immutable. Traditionally, Indian society was divided into four main castes. At the top, Brahmins, as priests and teachers; second came the Kshatriyas, the warriors and rulers; third, Vaishyas, who were merchants; last, Shudras, the laborers. And below them all, the Dalits, or untouchables, called Harijans, or “children of God,” by Mahatma Gandhi (for indeed, who isn’t?).
The castes were ostensibly professional divisions but were locked firmly into place by birth and a rigid structure of social rules that governed interaction between and within them.
That, famously, was then. Discrimination based on caste has been illegal in India for more than six decades. In today’s urban India, this land of possibility, separated from rural India by cultural and economic chasms, it seems reactionary even to speak of caste. Certainly it shouldn’t — and usually doesn’t — come up at work or at play or in the apartment elevator.
If it features in urban conversations at all, it is defanged, reduced to cultural stereotypes and amusing-if-annoying tropes that never bother with political correctness. Gujarati Baniyas of the Vaishya caste have a keen eye on finance. Tamil Brahmins do math and classical music. Nobody parties or fights harder than a Punjabi Khatri (of the Kshatriyas). It’s the equivalent, in America, of expecting the Asian kid to have good grades, the black man to be the best dancer and the Jewish guy to be well-read and have some slight mother issues.
As India transforms, one might expect caste to dissolve and disappear, but that is not happening. Instead, caste is making its presence felt in ways similar to race in modern America: less important now in jobs and education, but vibrantly alive when it comes to two significant societal markers — marriage and politics.
No surprise on that first one. Inter-caste marriages in India are on the rise but still tend to be the province of the liberal few. For much of the country, with its penchant for arranged marriages and close family ties, caste is still a primary determinant in choosing a spouse.
Politics is where caste has gotten a surprising new lease on life. After money and education, democracy is, of course, the third powerful force transforming Indian society. But Indians, it turns out, are passionate about the caste of their politicians. Nearly half of the voting population of even a highly educated city like Bangalore considers caste to be the No. 1 reason to vote for a candidate.
Democracy gives power to people who previously had none. But, like race, caste can shift political discussions from present-day merit to payback for historical injustices.
Six decades of democratic statehood have attempted to correct the imbalances of the past through “reservation” — job and education quotas for the so-called backward castes, like the Dalits. This program has been effective, in a fairly hit-or-miss fashion. Some say that nearly all university seats are reserved for lower castes, effectively blocking Brahmins from higher education. Others point out that the vast majority of high paying jobs are still in the hands of the top three castes.
This, then, is the problem of discussing caste in India: the profound lack of information and contradictory data on the subject. Succeeding governments for years shied away from gathering caste-based data, preferring, with obscure political wisdom, to enact their policies in the dark. This changed in 2011, with the first Indian census to visit the subject in eight decades.
The ostensible reason for the caste census was to see where we were economically. But let’s have no doubt, the impact will be political.
Indian political parties have played caste politics for years. The powerful Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party and its derivatives have thrived on an anti-Brahmin platform in Tamil Nadu. The compelling rise of Mayawati, a Dalit woman who goes by one name, to chief minister of Uttar Pradesh was built on the support of her caste. But, once in office, her reputation as one of the world’s most influential female politicians was marred by corruption and mismanagement in her administration. Last year, her party lost control of Uttar Pradesh’s legislative assembly, and Ms. Mayawati resigned her position. Now, in an intriguing twist, she hopes to regain power by wooing not just Dalits but also Brahmins, arguing that the latter are newly marginalized.
The census results will give strategists their best tools for precisely targeting voters and tailoring campaign messages to caste concerns and fears. Caste will probably grow as a voter focal point, at the expense of administrative competency in economics, education, foreign policy, women’s rights, the environment and every other vital matter of governance that concerns a growing India.
So that is the fascinating conundrum of Indian society: on one hand, caste is losing its virility as India opens up opportunities and mind-sets, while on the other, the forces of democratic politics ensure that it will thrive and never be forgotten as a crucial social index.
Lavanya Sankaran is the author of the novel “The Hope Factory.”
pioneer wrote:Some years back we were doing some renovations, workmen an dem put some ole galvanize out on de road for when TPRC truck pass dey go pick it up.
Next day ah oleman gunta come in ah ole datsun pickup and ask we fuh it. I ask him if he gonna dump it in de labasse, he say u mad o wat?...how he daughter geh pregnant and he lookin to build up ah lil room fuh she an she chile. Had some 2x4 dem workmen use to do sumn which was covered in cement...man ask fuh dat too.
I honestly felt sorry for this man cuz of how pathetic he look eh. Mammy had jus make roti so I offer him one and ah drink ah johnny walker...man lap dong that like ah pothong who eh geh food fuh ah week. He eem ask fuh one tuh go.
I thought it was something I only saw in movies based in haiti or africa, but trinis building house with galvanize too oui.
Sad times.
right now I'm in the process of building a structure out of galvanize... Due to its cost effectiveness... sMASH wrote::shock: right now I'm in the process of building a structure out of galvanize... Due to its cost effectiveness...
* am i PNM at the bone??*
sMASH wrote::shock: right now I'm in the process of building a structure out of galvanize... Due to its cost effectiveness...
* am i PNM at the bone??*
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