Nobel Peace Prize winner and micro-finance innovator Muhammad Yunus said during a speech honoring former South African President Nelson Mandela that "This economic crisis suddenly awakens us to the fact that this system is not working. When the system is not working that is the best time to undo it and redo it in a new way...The financial crisis on top of the food crisis, the energy crisis, the environment crisis, the social crisis -- all these are combined. Isn't it time to wake up and redo things?"..He said social businesses -- like his bank and other companies he has created -- can be used to bring health care to the sick, safe drinking water to villages and nutrition to poor children.
Yesterday I took a cab from Gurgaon to visit friends in Delhi. The cabbie, a down-to-earth young man, was describing his life. A decade ago, he was making Rs 3000 a month and he could feed plenty of "dal roti chaval" for his family, could come home at 6 and spend time with his wife, and have the Sunday for relaxation. Now, he make three times the amount, works many nights and Sundays, and has a worse quality of life..He said he cannot get good grains and flour for reasonable prices, and while everyone in his family has mobiles, it has only added more pressure to work. A classic example of real inflation outpacing real wage growth...something the government always fudges when it releases inflation statistics. As one journalist pointed out, India has twenty plus dollar billionaires,...but the gaps between the wealthy, the middle and the lower segments is just exploding.. Social Value Billionaires, people with extraordinary hearts dedicated to social improvement are needed, far more than money billionaires..
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