by BIEN | Nov 30, 2017 | News
At the Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal, from November 5th to 8th, Guy Standing took part in this big event. Over 60,000 participants from 170 countries attended the event; the event hosted about 1,200 speakers.
Some speakers included influential individuals like Elon Musk, Al Gore, Bono, Margrethe Vestager, Travis Kalanick, Jack Dorsey, Reed Hastings, Mike Krieger, Eva Longoria, Professor Stephen Hawking, and others. In addition, the 800th anniversary of the Charter of the Forest, which is a companion document to the Magna Carta, was also celebrated and represented at the event.
It was held in the Speaker’s Chamber of the House of Commons. Guy Standing’s panel asked, and was themed, on two questions, “Is it the answer to inequality for which we have all been waiting? Or a convenient way for governments to evade the provision of real social services?”
More information at:
Web Summit, “University of London’s Guy Standing, Kela’s Marjukka Turunen, GiveDirectly’s Michael Faye, Government of Portugal’s Augusto Santos Silva & Yahoo Finance’s Rob Pegoraro”, November 2017
by BIEN | Oct 19, 2017 | News
The Future We Need campaign was launched by the Goa Foundation (GF), mines, minerals & People (mm&P), Common Cause and the Goenchi Mati Movement (GMM). Dr. K.R. Rao Committee has been entrusted by the Ministry of Mines in order to draft the National Mineral Policy, due October 31st, 2017.
A letter has been made by the campaign as a draft statement on values, which can be found here.
BIEN has reported on Goa several times (Madhavan, 2017; Shanahan, 2017; McFarland, 2017; McFarland, 2016). The article invokes the Intergenerational Equity principles, or IE, which is the protection of the inheritance resources for future generations.
“In Goa, over an eight year period (2004-2012), 95% of the value of the minerals was lost. The per-head loss from recent “legal” lease renewals was Rs.10 lakhs,” the Director of the Goa Foundation, Claude Alvares, said, “Data from across the country for iron ore, coal, oil and gas shows a similar trend. Everyone is losing equally, while a few are becoming super-rich. This is looting economics, not trickle-down economics.”
The Future We Need proposes some principles for a National Mineral Policy which regards natural resources as the Commons, in such a way that people in general are entrusted as the natural custodians of these resources In this new agreement, the Commons shall be preserved, and if sold the income must be equally shared by all.
More information at:
Alvares, C, “Goa Foundation, mines, minerals & People, Common Cause and the Goenchi Mati Movement jointly launch The Future We Need Campaign”, Futurism, October 3rd 2017
Madhavan, M, “India: Goa Foundation provides recommendations to Expert Committee to push a Citizen’s Dividend out of mining fund”, BIEN, September 29th 2017
McFarland, K, “GOA, INDIA: Citizen’s Dividend promoters find support in Archbishop’s address”, BIEN, January 10th 2017
McFarland, K, “GOA, INDIA: Mining reform group releases Manifesto, calls for citizen’s dividend”, BIEN, November 26th 2016
Shanahan, G, “GOA, INDIA: Goenchi Mati Movement gains political support”, BIEN, February 8th 2017
Photo: Goa mines, CC BY 2.0 Abhisek Sarda
by BIEN | Oct 1, 2017 | News
José Pereira Coutinho. Credit to: Macau Daily Times.
In the Legislative Assembly (AL) elections for The New Hope (Nova Esperança), a political party from Macau, candidacy is headed by lawmaker José Pereira Coutinho. He is urging for the redistribution of the second share of the Wealth Parking Scheme, as reported on by BIEN in late July, by the end of 2017.
Under this second share, local permanent residents will receive an increment in their annual unconditional (partial) basic income of US $1,128, while non-permanent residents will get more US $672. This constitutes a development considering what the program has been until now.
Coutinho urged political candidates at a press conference to act and not simply talk for solving people’s issues. The New Hope is looking for the construction of 80,000 affordable housing units. He also noted houses are not being built properly.
Moreover, Coutinho also proposed an increase in the health care voucher scheme from 600 (Macanese) Pataca (US $75) to 1,000 Pataca (US $124), with a 3,000 Pataca (US $372.76) handout for senior citizens.
More information at:
Renato Marques, “Al Election: New Hope Urges Gov’t to Double Wealth Partaking Scheme This Year“, Futurism, 5th September 2017
by BIEN | Sep 29, 2017 | News
On August 2, 2017, the Supreme Court (SC) of India delivered a judgement imposing a 100% penalty on illegal mining in Odisha, India and asked the Government to review the National Mineral Policy (2008). The court also called for an expert committee to be setup to identify the lapses that have occurred over the years enabling rampant illegal or unlawful mining in Odisha.
The 29 member committee to review the policy was established on August 14, 2017. A draft report by the committee is due on October 31, 2017, and the final submission to the SC on December 31, 2017. The first meeting of the Committee was held on August 28, 2017 where civil society representatives were not present.
The Goa Foundation, an environmental NGO based in Goa, India has submitted a note to the committee highlighting specific recommendations on the Mineral Policy. Titled “The Future We Need”, this 44 page document outlines recommendations for proper valuation, management and extraction of mineral resources to ensure inter-generational equity and environmental sustainability. Among others, it includes a recommendation to establish a Future Generation Fund, where capital received from the sale of minerals can be deposited for distribution to all citizens.
As previously outlined on Basic Income News, The Goa Foundation and the associated Goenchi Mati Movement (GMM) have been advocating for mining reform in India, including establishment of a permanent fund, which would be used to finance a citizen’s dividend – a kind of Basic Income. The movement has received political support in the country and abroad, including from Labour MP and Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer in the UK who met with GMM in Christmas of 2016.
The idea of a permanent fund has also received previous mention from the SC. The SC in its landmark judgement in the case of mining in Goa in 2014 included the creation of a Goan Iron Ore Permanent Fund. The idea of creation of Permanent Funds based on extracting economic rent from oil or other natural resources dates back to 1876, and at present over 50 countries/sub-nations have created such a fund.
The Goa Foundation has published its 44 pages policy note and letter, and has presented its recommendations to the Committee at its 3rd meeting on September 26.
For more information:
Supreme Court of India, “WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO. 114 OF 2014: Common Cause (Petitioner) versus Union of India and others (Respondents) With WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO. 194 OF 2014 Prafulla Samantra and another (Petitioners) versus Union of India and others (Respondents)”, 2016
Goa Foundation, “Letter from the Goa Foundation to the Committee to Review National Mining Policy”, September 2017
Goa Foundation, “The Future We Need”, 11th September 2017
Ministry of Mines, Government of India, “Order for Creation of Committee to Review the National Mining Policy”, 14th August 2017
by BIEN | Aug 22, 2017 | News
Futurism reported on automation, robots, and universal basic income through the provision of a chart-article. Some of the information summarized by the chart includes that fact that as there are 4.73 robots working per 100 human workers in South Korea. The global average is 0.66 per 100 workers. That ratio is reported to be rising rapidly throughout the world. Also, with more robots, they become cheaper to implement. Workers in the developing world are most at risk of losing jobs due to automation.
The problem is not limited manufacturing, however. It includes diverse areas such as farm labor, construction labor, truck drivers, mailer carriers, and so on. The chart mentions that $2,600 per month as a UBI solution is being considered in Switzerland, which BIEN has reported on, and only $1,000 per year in Kenya.(same paragraph as above) The chart also describes the cases of Alaska, Namibia, and Harper Lee.
It ends with quotes from supporters of a UBI, including Martin Luther King, Jr., Bertrand Russell, Harris Levine, Jeremy Howard, F.A. Hayek, and Thomas Paine.
More information at:
Futurism, “Universal Basic Income: The Answer to Automation?“, Futurism, June 2017
