Commonwealth Human Rights Initiave's (CHRI) 2007 report on policing explores the current police accountability in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India, Maldives and Pakistan. The Report calls for the transformation of policing to a model of democratic policing in which the police are subject to the rule of law and responsible to human rights, accountable to a variety of institutions, transparent about policies, decisions and actions taken in their work and responsive to and representative of the people they serve.

http://www.humanrightsinitiative.org/publications/police/feudal_forces_democratic_nations_police_acctability_in_cw_south_asia. pdf

The right to information is a unique human right, the touchstone for all freedoms to which the United Nations is consecrated. More than 70 countries have enacted laws to provide people access to government-held information.

Our Rights, Our Information is a compilation of case studies that illustrate how the right to information has been used to secure a range of human rights from the right to food and healthcare to the right to be free from torture and gender-based discrimination.


Publisher: Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, 2007

http://www.humanrightsinitiative.org/publications/rti/our_rights_our_information. pdf

The regional partner of the Friedrich Naumann Stiftung, SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) captured the investment scenario in the region through their three publications each featuring Bangladesh, Pakistan and India (alongwith Bhutan and Nepal). In the series on Bhutan, India and Nepal, the report identifies some major constraints on Investments in these three countries and comes out with opportunities and challenges in important sectors like Tourism, Airports and Aviation, Telecommunications, IT and outsourcing, Energy, Health, Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical and the SME sector.

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The regional partner of the Friedrich Naumann Stiftung, SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) captured the investment scenario in the region through their three publications each featuring Bangladesh, Pakistan and India (alongwith Bhutan and Nepal). On of the titles is 'Investments in Pakistan : A stock-taking. The report on Pakistan is indicative of Pakistan’s economy which continued to maintain its solid pace of expansion for the fourth year in a row in the fiscal year 2005-06 despite rising energy prices and wide spread damage caused by the earthquake of Oct 8, 2005.

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The regional partner of the Friedrich Naumann Stiftung, SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) captured the investment scenario in the region through their three publications each featuring Bangladesh, Pakistan and India (alongwith Bhutan and Nepal). One of the titles are 'Investments in Bangladesh: A stock taking'. The report on Bangladesh recognizes the growing potential of the country and its strategic location connecting South Asia to the South East Asia and ASEAN markets, it suggests that Bangladesh has the potential to be an entry port to the region, a potential small scale Singapore, for the region covering Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and eight north eastern Indian states.

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Discussion Paper National Finance Commission: An Incomplete Guide to the Issues in Resource Distribution in Pakistan published in cooperation with Lead Pakistan The paper addresses the issue of resource distribution in Pakistan; and examines the distribution of fiscal and Natural resources between federal and provincial governments.

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FNSt partner Business Development Services (BDS) launched their promotional brochure titled “Stand on Your Own Two Feet” in May 2007. The Brochure details the much in demand “Gainful Employment” programme, which targets the young adults in their formative years. Ms. Caroline Heun, the Second Secretary of the German Embassy in Sri Lanka was the Chief Guest at the official launch. The Head of the GtZ in Sri Lanka, Dr. Roland Steuerer and Member of Parliament Hon. Ravi Karunanayake too attended the official launch.

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The greatest challenge of the 21st century is for us to come together to discover our common identity, reaffirm and restore core human values, to appreciate our common history and to create a shared future.

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Mumbai Citizens’ Handbook 2006 is a compilation of studies of various services provided by the government.

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There are more than a million laws, regulations, gazette notifications and government orders in India, which restrict the economic freedom of business and citizens alike.

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People’s Forum is a joint initiative of the Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies, Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung. The Forum was started in January 2003 and is a monthly event.

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FNSt Pakistan in collaboration with the Liberal Forum Pakistan, as a national citizens group, conducted dialogues on various aspects of federalism and provincial autonomy in 2006. These dialogues were attended by national, provincial and local political leadership as well as active citizens groups and the media. The perspective at these dialogues varied and have been documented in this report. This report is also a documentation of the Pakistani Liberal’s perspective on the question of Federalism in Pakistan.

The publication “Revisiting Reservations” as the name suggests is an attempt to focus on the debate whether or not quotas or reserved seats for women in Parliament are the most effective way to facilitate women political empowerment. This debate perhaps is of particular relevance to the present pre-election scenario that is prevalent in Pakistan today.

The publication “Equal citizens?” seeks to explore how religious minority communities in Pakistan are faring and also attempts to document as to what challenges are they confronted with in terms of cultural, social and political assimilation. The religious minorities of Pakistan are demanding more say in running their own affairs and are articulating a number of demands such as representation in the Senate etc. This paper also seeks to document such demands and discuss the reception that these demands are getting.

The First National Consultation on International Criminal Court (ICC) and India was held in New Delhi on 8-9 December 2005 with financial and content input from Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung.

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"Autonomy and the Tibetan Perspective" is the most recent publication on the topic of autonomy, it is one more book in support of Tibet's objective of promoting awareness on the concept of Autonomy.

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There are many problems related to land markets in India. This paper highlights one aspect of land transactions where ownership is defined in an extra-legal sense.

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The term economic freedom has many connotations. Different studies and measures of economic freedom use different definitions of economic freedom. According to Milton Friedman, economic freedom is one part of the concept of "human freedom"- which is a mix of economic, social and political freedom.

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A joint effort of the Indian Liberal Group and the Project for Economic Education, this is the third such budget in as many years.

The five chapter-40 page document provides an assessment of economic reforms in the last fifteen years; a retrospect on the Central Budget 2005-06; the strategy of LB3; an analysis of the Central Government’s expenditure; and the need for reforms in Tax Policy and Tax Administration.

Summary of Liberal Budget.

Strategic planning and thinking has traditionally been commonplace in economic and military planning. In politics it has been an exception.

German original by Mr. Peter Schroeder has been translated and printed by Friedrich-Naumann-Foundation's New Delhi office.

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A number of national and international organizations observed the first two phases of the Pakistani local bodies’ elections, the media reported on it and statements on how the elections were conducted in different parts of the country appeared in the local media.

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Devolution of power is an important liberal value and the Liberal Forum Pakistan has been consistently been in favor of having individual citizens be the master of their destinies. Pakistan has had a very sporadic experience of local bodies and the recent experiment, although welcomed by Pakistani liberals, has a lot of room for improvement.

Just what are the gaps in the present set up, what has been the experience of the last four years and what could be the alternatives is the subject of this booklet on local bodies that has been printed by the Liberal Forum Pakistan. The report has been penned by the Chairperson of the LFP, Mr. Asif Khan, himself an active elected member of the District Assembly.

We invite you to read it and join us in demanding for grass roots democracy that is for the citizens, by the citizens and from the citizens.

Free and fair elections are imperative for democracy to flourish in any country. The Election Commission, thus, has a very important role to play and it is essential that it must be fair and free from any pressure.

The Liberal Forum of Pakistan has come out with a report on the issue. This report attempts to serve as an impetus for debate has been penned by Ms. Gulmina Bilal, a member of the Liberal Forum. This report tries to address the main issues in the context of controversies around elections and public perceptions in Pakistan, seeks to map out the present challenges in conducting a free election, tries to share the global principles of election management on which different models are based, seeks to give a more concrete impetus to the demand of reforms in the present working of the election commission. Most importantly, it seeks to give an impetus to more focused research on the topic.

Book Cover

Mr. Wickremasinghe, the Leader of the United National Party (UNP) and the Leader of Opposition in Parliament of Sri Lanka, has authored this book. The foreword to the publication was written by one of Sri Lanka’s most erudite scholar Monks, who has received many awards for his contribution to literature.

This is not only a "buddhist reader" but also raises a lot of controversial issues.

This book is in Sinhalese.

This study deals with the measurement of economic freedom in different states of India. According to Milton Friedman, economic freedom is one part of the concept of 'human freedom'- which is a mix of economic, social and political freedom. This study is limited to measuring economic freedom. While 'economic freedom' is difficult to quantify, such an exercise is easier than concepts of social and political freedom that are more abstract. The term economic freedom has many connotations. Different studies and measures of economic freedom use different definitions of economic freedom.

The Index of Economic Freedom (Heritage Foundation, 2002) defines economic freedom as "the absence of government coercion or constraint on the production, distribution, or consumption of goods and services beyond the extent necessary for citizens to protect and maintain liberty itself'. This Economic Freedom Index for India accepts this definition of freedom, but carries it a little further. While identifying that the government should not interfere in the working of the market, it further requires that the government should fulfill its duty of protecting life and property, and enforcing legal contracts and law. This study is more on the lines of the Economic Freedom of the World (EFW, latest 2003) conducted by the Liberales lnstitut (Liberales Institut, Economic freedom of the World: 2002 Annual Report, The Fraser Institute, Vancouver, Canada.).


Raijv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies
Jawahar Bhawan
Dr. Rajendra Prasad Road
New Delhi - 110 001, India

Tel. +91 11 23755117 or 23312458
Fax +91 11 23755119

Email : debroy@rgfindia.com

Book Cover

The work on Labour reforms was initiated to bring in reforms in the rigid labour laws that exist in India and the new discourse on liberalisation in India takes into account labour market reforms as a crucial area. The rigid labour laws in India (especially in the organised sector) artificially drive up the capital intensity and make it difficult for India to exploit the comparative advantage in labour. Although the project was to look into the organised sector and suggest reforms in the labour laws, however as work went ahead, an interesting aspect came to light namely that more than 92% of the labour force was in the unorganised sector. Within the organised segment, flexibility in labour markets is usually interpreted as changes in the Industrial Disputes Act (IDA), requiring what is sometimes called, an automatic hire and fire policy. Therefore, the purview of the project was extended to include reforms of the labour market and not just look at the narrow interpretation of bringing in reforms to the IDA. The result is a collection of well-written and well-researched articles on labour ranging from „Reservation in the Private Sector“ to the Womens Workforce and those of the service industry in India today. The publication evokes a strong debate on issues of labour law reforms and has been well-received by the Indian audience. There was a discussion on the issue of Labour Market Reforms during the programme.

The publication was released by Dr. Krishnamurthy, Chairman of the Committee on National Manufacturers Competititve Council on 20th December, 2004 at New-Delhi. The publication on „Small Scale Industry in India: Large Scale Exit Problems“ was also released during the function.

Tibet’s Parliament in Exile covers 45 years of the process of democratic polity of the Tibetans in exile, initiated by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1960 soon after coming into exile.

The seat of the Tibetan Government in exile is located at Dharamsala, a north Indian town. Unlike many other exile communities, Tibetans have set up a fully functioning democratic government that includes the organs of Legislature, Executive and Judiciary along with independent Election Commission, Audit and Public Service Commission.

Tibetan exiles all over the world exercise their franchise by electing their representatives. Members are elected from the traditional provinces and religious lineages of Tibet.

The book also encapsulates the Future vision of Tibet, the administrative structure and profile of the present members of parliament as well as cabinet members.

This is the 3rd edition of the book.

Democracy depends on a system of constant interaction and communication among citizens, accessibility of information at all levels, and a public sphere that allows conflicting ideas to contend, and compete. All this ensures effective participation to evolve consensus on citizens' socio-cultural, economic and political goals.

Liberals allover the world support enterprising spirit in the framework of free market economy. Pakistan has already embarked on an ambitious journey towards private independent electronic media. There are still a few grey areas in terms of restrictive regulations that need to be discussed, debated and decided in favor of freedom at appropriate fora.

This report has touched print, electronic and cyber media and throws light on other related issues like freedom of information and citizen's centered communication. Such research to understand and appreciate developments in new media environment is important to chart out futuristic ways ahead.

The publication of this report coincides with a conference on private media in Pakistan arranged by Friedrich-Naumann-Foundation Pakistan.

Director of Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemprory Studies and author of this article

Liberalisation is about ensuring economic freedom to citizens. “Economic freedom” is not a concept easy to pin down and any judgement is contingent on variables used to quantify and measure it. In cross-country comparisons, three such indices to capture economic freedom have surfaced, courtesy Fraser Institute, Freedom House and Heritage Foundation (in collaboration with Wall Street Journal).

Inevitably, rankings differ across these indices. Inevitable because the variables used differ. In any ranking, the ranker faces a perennial problem. Does one base one’s rankings only on objective data or does one include subjective perceptions? The former avoids subjectivity, but can always be criticised because it is not comprehensive. After all, if ranking is based on data, quantifiable and measurable data have to be available. And typically, for many concepts associated with economic freedom, you don’t have data.

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Special Indian Edition

The Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung's South East Asia office initiated a gathering of people from Asia in 1999 to discuss, understand and apply the Economic Freedom of the World Index to their home countries. The annual meetings of the Asain Economic Freedom Network have encouraged many to examine the importance of economic freedom.

This volume has been reprinted by Centre for Civil Society and Academic Foundation.

Copies of the Report can be ordered from:

Academic Foundation
4772 / 23 Bharat Ram Road, (23 Ansari Road),
Darya Ganj, New Delhi-110002
Tel.: +91 11 23245001 / 02 / 03 / 04
Fax: +91 11 23245005
E-mail:academic@vsnl.com
www.academicfoundation.com

The textbook war
"...the importance of education and the type of education cannot be over-emphasized... there is no doubt that the future of our State will and must greatly depend upon the type of education we give to our children, and the way in which we bring them up as future citizens of Pakistan... we should not forget that we have to compete with the world which is moving very fast in this direction. "
Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah: message to Education Conference 1947

Textbook war is not unique to Pakistan and India. Japan and Korea are also entangled in similar controversies over narratives depicting the past. Israel and Palestine have similar problems. Besides these examples, Franco-German, German-Polish and, during the chilly days of the cold war, USA and former USSR's projection of each other's demonized images and narratives, bear testimony to the fact that textbooks have been used and abused to create perceptions about others in a derogatory sense by many countries.

Although this study is unique in its approach and content, the inspiration and examples of the studies conducted by the above scholars and educationists have provided the intellectual framework necessary for the completion of our work. It becomes an objective obligation to mention their efforts and also express our gratitude to all of them. Their studies have been an integral part of our research process. However, the findings that result from this research do not necessarily represent the opinions or policy positions of the other authors or institutions.

This is the 1st publication in the Liberal Digest Series. The issue of WTO is being discussed for sometime now. Cancun meeting is the 5th in the series of WTO's ministerial meetings.

The Chairman of the board of the Friedrich-Naumann-Foundation Dr. Otto Count Lambsdorff in his speech in December 2003 at Bangkok dealt with the question: Where to go from Cancun?

The Indian perspective has been dealt with by Dr. Veena Jha.

An introduction to the issue has also been included in this booklet.

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This booklet is part of the Liberal Digest Series. It covers the topics

1. What is New Public Management

2. The need of New Public Management

3. Instruments of New Public Management

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Fazaldad Human Rights Institute conducted a special program called School Human Rights Day with the SLS Montessori & School. The excellent participation from the students in poster competition is been compiled in this publication, which is one of the manifestations of a wide array of positive human rights activities conducted by the Foundation's Pakistan office.

Das ausgesprochen interessante Buch enthält Beiträge von zwei Dutzend Experten – überwiegend Tibetern – zu den politischen und sozialen Strukturen der Exiltibeter. Die Themen reichen von der Geschichte Tibets und den völkerrechtlichen Aspekten der Ansprüche auf eine zukünftige Autonomie über die politischen Strukturen im Exil, das Bildungswesen, die Emanzipation tibetischer Frauen und insbesondere Nonnen, die sozialen Probleme vor allem der jugendlichen Tibeter in Indien, Europa und den USA bis hin zur Entwicklung tibetischer Medien und zu einem Ausblick auf die Möglichkeiten einer zukünftigen autonomen tibetischen Regierung in Tibet selbst.

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This book is an outcome of a study on bankruptcy of small businesses in India. The study included qualitative case studies of failed small enterprises and the analysis of laws, rules and regulations in five states across the country. Bibek Debroy of Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies, and Laveesh Bhandari and Peeyush Bajpai of Indicus Analytics conducted this study. FNSt sponsored it.

The process of doing the study brought forth revealing facts on the functionality of small businesses, their problems and possible solutions. Small businesses are treated as those productive activities whose stakeholders cannot access the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR), post-failure. The central idea being post-bankruptcy problems faced by the entrepreneur. To this work, insights from other published work on small-scale industries (henceforth SSI) have been studied and added to provide the reader with a holistic view about the small-scale entrepreneur and the problem of bankruptcy.

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A National Seminar on "WTO Membership: Opportunities and Challenges for SMEs in Nepal" was organised on 21-22 December 2003 in Kathmandu by Small and Medium Enterprise Development Project (SMEDP), a partnership project of Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung (FNSt), Germany and Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), Kathmandu, in joint collaboration with South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics & Environment (SAWTEE), Kathmandu and federation of Nepalese Cottage and Small Industries (FNCSI), Kathmandu.

This timely seminar provided a meaningful platform to the Nepalese SMEs, government authorities, policymakers, civil society organisations, development workers, and media to understand and discuss various vital issues emanating from Nepal's accession to the WTO. The seminar helped develop a common agenda on SMEs.

This compilation can be ordered from:

Small and Medium Enterprise Development Project
P. O. Box: 20294, FNCCI Building,
Shahid Shukra Milan Marg
Teku, Kathmandu, Nepal
Tel.: +9771 1 4261750
Fax: +9771 1 4258535
Email:smedp@wlink.com.np

The Tibetan community in exile is arguably one of the most reilient and succesful refugee groups in the world. For centuries, a people who had lived in seclusion, suddenly found themselves having to cope not only with the modern world, but also with the fact of exile. Yet, Tibetans the world over have proved themselves equal to this challenge, and have achieved a fully literate society, economic stability and a democratic government. Much of this has been possible because of commitment to these changes by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, temporal and spiritual head of the Tibetans.

This book is an attempt to document the lives of members of the exiled Tibetan community in India and elsewhere. It thus aims to fill a gap in our understanding - there have been few serious studies of the Tibetan diaspora.

A revised and enlarged translation of the German publication (Tibet im Exil), this book focuses on two main themes: how Tibetans in exile preserve their culture, and how the community prepares itself for the return to Tibet. This is done through a series of interrelated papers that include chapters which trace the history of Tibet, analyse the legal issues involved in the dispute over her territory and sovereignity, document the reforms and changes introduced at social and political levels, and also an interview with His Holiness the Dalai Lama.


Price of one copy: Rs 450.00

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Orient Longman
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