ConradKBarwa

Development economist, Harami account originating from the depths of a Third World dungeon.

[ConradKBarwa @ConradKBarwa]

Wow, this is a new one!

[Radon Nikodym @cruindggn]

Did he ever go to Africa to check about the descendants of those whose hands were cut by King Leopold?

[Frances 'Cassandra' Coppola @Frances_Coppola]

Er no, 2,000 years ago there was a Roman empire, not a Jewish kingdom. The Roman province called "Judea" was run by a puppet Jewish "king" appointed and supported by Rome. The aqueduct was almost certainly built by the Romans.

History matters, David. Don't rewrite it.

[ConradKBarwa @ConradKBarwa]

🤭🤭🤭

[Mukhtar @I_amMukhtar]

She thought "I'll print an Israeli flag on an A4 sheet, that we'll show them."

[ConradKBarwa @ConradKBarwa]

It’s like I have always said; Hindu Nationalism itself is very much a derived discourse from the West; so the internalised Orientalism means they are always desperate for Western validation as much as they might bleat on about “Lutyens elite” “brown sepoys” etc etc 🤦🏽‍♂️🤦🏽‍♂️🤦🏽‍♂️

[Siddharth @DearthOfSid]

When the media is called out for failing to recognise Jean Drèze, the usual suspects dismiss it as a need for white validation. But it’s actually them who’ve always sought it.

For example, here police brutality in Germany is being cited to justify police brutality in India.

[Amir @AmirAminiMD]

He used his 50 years in this world to the fullest -standing tall and speaking the truth until his last breath.
Your father was an amazing human being who will be greatly missed.
May he rest in peace, - we will honor his life by continuing his legacy.

[ConradKBarwa @ConradKBarwa]

I don’t agree with the characterisation and the tone of the criticism here as well as the snide swipe at Dreze but it’s long been a legitimate criticism of the NREGA that the public works it constituted weren’t really creating much value-added, mostly were simple brick roads

[Harsh Gupta Madhusudan @harshmadhusudan]

Jean Dreze reminds me of this Milton Friedman exchange:

'While visiting a worksite in the 1960s, Friedman was shocked to see that, instead of modern tractors and earth movers, the workers had shovels. He asked why there were so few machines. The bureaucrat explained: “You don't understand. This is a jobs program.” To which Friedman replied: “Oh, I thought you were trying to build a canal. If its jobs you want, then you should give these workers spoons, not shovels.”'

I am very glad we are reforming our welfare programs to increasingly separate asset creation from income redistribution. Conflating of objectives is one of the most common policy errors around. While my views on industrial-trade policy have evolved and I would disgaree with Friedman there, his basic point is rock solid here. Even in welfarism, 'how much help' should be separated from 'how to help'. Conflating them creates problems.

Many years ago, I have myself seen NREGA type programs being abused by JCBs doing the actual work in the dark, so to speak, with the payrolls being manipulated by village officials. And quite frankly to force people to work with shovels, when better machines are available, is masochism even if it would be even worse if they were forced to work with spoons.

In a modern economy, we need redistribution. The less corrupt and more efficient it is, the better. The more identity neutral, the better. The more skill-creating than dependency-creating, the better. But we do need redistribution. To take the 2004-09 fiscal boom and redistribute it did not take a genius. To do it smartly and honestly was a different thing.

And worst are those folks who say just because he is a white Belgian who has taken Indian nationality and works in villages - we have to somehow put him on a pedestal. Please get a grip: you are embarrassing yourselves with such outdated self-hatred.

[Makepeace Sitlhou @makesyoucakes]

From Manipur to Delhi, cops have caste and ethnic affiliations.

[Barry Malone @malonebarry]

Note the very clear personal irritation coming through in the presenter here. Her opinion is palpable. This is one of the many issues with BBC, as also demonstrated by Nick Robinson two days ago. This was not a journalist playing devil’s advocate or, in adherence with BBC policy, stating Israel’s line in response. It was opinionated questioning. What she said was also inaccurate. The genocide is not “greatly contested”. It is contested by Israel.

[Edgar Allan Poeha @vanilassenceles]

To keep up a semblance of illusion that this was a legitimate win.

[Marl Karx @BareLeft]

Lots of paedophiles are saying this.

[Abier @abierkhatib]

A friend of mine watched the NAZA film at an arthouse cinema in NYC. This is how he described the moment it ended:

“When the film was over, a wave of silence swept through the theater. People looked at one another, unable to speak”

Anyway, watch NAZA…

[ConradKBarwa @ConradKBarwa]

@girish_vr @sabsezyadaa Remember me kindly when the terrible potty mouthed one comes for me 🫡🫡🫡

[ConradKBarwa @ConradKBarwa]

TBF Punjab was one state where they were never gonna win anyway 😅🙏🏾

[Sarayu Pani @sarayupani]

Need to come to terms with the new normal where the BJP does not believe it needs voters to win elections

[Asim Ali @AsimAli6]

True to form. Our brown fascism is a derivative of white fascism "with Indian characteristics". Marzia Casolari in her book In the Shadow of the Swastika describes how RSS founding member BS Moonje was dazzled by his trip to Fascist Italy & informed Hedgewar of lessons from Rome

[Ori Goldberg @ori_goldberg]

Israel is patently responsible for generating antisemitism. When it becomes impossible to criticize local politicians for being beholden to foreign interests, when Israel becomes an amulet to be branded against fictitious villains, criticism of Israel is no longer antisemitism.

[Frances 'Cassandra' Coppola @Frances_Coppola]

The great Ori Goldberg. May his memory be a blessing.

[ConradKBarwa @ConradKBarwa]

Norman Finkelstein is prolly the closest American example; though he wrote pretty solely on US policy towards Israel, the Palestinians and the region.

Some might say Chomsky is another possibility but that has soured recently for obvious reasons.

[Linda Mamoun @mamoun_linda]

So sad to hear about the passing today of Israeli writer and academic Ori Goldberg. I used to read his posts, wishing there was an American “Ori Goldberg” writing in the same way about American social pathologies.

[ConradKBarwa @ConradKBarwa]

@girish_vr @sabsezyadaa I have always said this about Poonam, longtime 🤭🤭🤭

[ConradKBarwa @ConradKBarwa]

@Javedforpeace Actually all this is quite wrong; it moved almost to DBT rather cash payments quite early on; the public works were quite easily verifiable and muster rolls maintained records of those employed and for how long.

All were subject to RTI, social audits and oversight by the CAG!

[ConradKBarwa @ConradKBarwa]

By what logic, lol; poverty is so bad under the current dispensation that 60% of the population rely on subsidised access to food 🤦🏽‍♂️🤦🏽‍♂️🤦🏽‍♂️

[Supreme Commander MTKaezar🇮🇳 @MtKaezar]

By that logic, Modi has done more to alleviate poverty in India than Jean Drèze could do in 50 lifetimes, contrary to the ideological prejudices of brown sepoys.

[ConradKBarwa @ConradKBarwa]

@vjaaaak Actually he has compared both China and India in terms of nutrition policy and mortality; in his book “Hunger and Public Action” you should read it!

[ConradKBarwa @ConradKBarwa]

From the 1980s onwards his work on poverty, hunger and development has been the gold standard in economics and is taught is classrooms around the world; ofc only under the current regime can the ignorant ask why anyone should have heard of him 🤦🏽‍♂️🤦🏽‍♂️🤦🏽‍♂️

[Prapthi @prapthi_m]

Jean Dreze is someone worth knowing not because he was on the NAC, but because of the work that took him to the NAC.

Of course you wouldn't consider him important. His work is associated with the revolutionary MGNREGA, the RTI, with people-centric economics and grassroots development. He shaped the way we understand poverty, hunger and inequality. Things that actually improve people's lives.

I would go on to say a thing or two about integrity and pliability but I'll stop here.