Herewith attached is a very recent report on the state of Local Government in South Africa (RSA), published by the Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR), which subscribers may find interesting.
The sixth Summit of heads of state/government from 5 BRICS countries is taking place today at Fartaleza, Brasil. The Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi is attending his first multi-lateral meeting of this club of large economies outside the OECD. In the course of this Summit, the leaders of Brasil, China, Russia, India and South Africa are moving towards creating two new global financial institutions.
Global expansion of democracy has come to be associated with the ‘right to vote’ to elect the representatives who form the government every 4 or 5 years. Many countries around the world are now electoral democracies, though not necessarily substantive democracies.
A young boy from a north-eastern province was beaten to death in Delhi recently. Young girls from that region of India have been facing harassment and violence on the streets of Delhi for long. Discrimination, ill-treatment and harassment are faced by domestic maids in middle class homes of Delhi regularly. Abusive language is used against rickshaw-pullers by those driving a motorcycle or car to push them off the road and make the way.
There is now a growing social and political acceptance of private sector contributions to India's development. However, many recent big-ticket corruption scandals have brought into public glare the growing menace of crony capitalism. In addition, large-scale protests by tribal and other rural communities against displacement from their land, habitat and livelihoods have further painted business as a menacing predator.
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