Organ Trade, e-Ursury and India

"Salah, ek dum phulto bhankas kidney mila dha yaar...Masth karkey mein woh madherchoud ko bhej detha... kider se aay maayth nai yeh lund fakir chini mera sale poora ullat phulat liya re..." "Kahan se mein aaj ka FDI online sale quota reach karooon... yeh job ich poora ek dum pakaao hein re!!!"

That's a line to be uttered in a chai-walah's dabbha in Mumbai 2020, by some savvy call-center employee trying to make an honest days living. What's he selling- a couple of kidneys, livers, sickle cell anaemic cure packages, organ donor compensation fund diwali savings bonus, still born babies for stem cell research, LGBTQ child care savings pack, the list goes on...

His job description involves snipping for better deals, bidding wars, trying to get the best price for his client - an 'anghutta-chaap ghatti' in rural india selling his/her organs at premium for a signing bonus of 6 months supply of drinking water for the family.

"Innak endhinaada monjathi pennu, kaarukunnah aad porey!" asks an entrepreneur in North Kerala to a young man who applies for a visa to go to the Gulf, his gullibility and will to rid his family of their poverty will succumb him to rent his wife's womb to a gay couple in North America who will in turn sponsor his trip and family for the next 9 months. The entrepreneur will be the effective middle man who make's sure he gets his cut.

Online snipping for last minute deals on organs will be quite the lucrative venture capitalist enterprise to take off. Call centers, will have blackberry wielding hench men on the streets look out for a prime candidate.

Fuzzy moral arguements and kosheresque trade sentiments find no place in the potential of the commerce in flesh trade. Once state support will be acquired the flood gates will have opened. The Halal kidney store on Mohammed Ali Road, will have SMS of a "Gora khoon - 5 litre" CS Shivaji Airport will accept the FedEx package and Visa payment for the trade. When an elderly Paris Hilton wants a new liver, because her old one was damaged she will have the power and prowess to acquire one from the shoe-shine kid who sits in front of Infosys, Bangalore. Nicole Ritche might prefer an organic solution to skin grafting than the 90's botox treatement Cher had. Bahraini National Mohammed Jaffer (formerly known as Michael Jackson) will have the "Peal the World" Campaign to raise awareness of the organ trading little boys have to undergo...

In the words of Appu,"Thank You, Come Again!"

Implementing an Effective Leadership Development Program for Community College Students

Abstract

Community colleges are a democratizing force in post-secondary education, different from but equal to universities. They offer an expedient route to the labour market. This suggests the need for colleges to focus on the development of their students' leadership ability and to implement strategies for evaluating the success of leadership development efforts on college campuses. Student leadership development administered as a comprehensive, integrated and complimentary program is a proactive and strategic investment in the students’ educational experience. The goal of this paper is to document some of the ways community colleges can further promote student leadership development and implement innovative approaches to increase student engagement.

Click here for full paper.

I Wanna Be Like You

Artist: Louis Prima
Song: Wanna Be Like You
Album: The Jungle Book Soundtrack

"Now I'm the king of the swingers
Oh, the jungle VIP
I've reached the top and had to stop
And that's what botherin' me
I wanna be a man, mancub
And stroll right into town
And be just like the other men
I'm tired of monkeyin' around!"

That's my theme song in my graduating semester in 'Electronics Engineering Technology' a 3 Year Diploma Program here at Mohawk College. Why?

My 'terminal education' credits can't be 'transfered' to an undergraduate degree in any university in the province of Ontario. Elitist educational institutions (read universities) consider the occupational mobility of college graduates is better restricted because of the narrow skills and credentials college students' possess. So I better start 'cooling-out' because there's an unskilled, low-level service sector job with my name on it. I don't know if I will be as fortunate as some of my peers who will very shortly be employed in paraprofessional/assistant level jobs working under university graduates, in jobs divorced from all conceptual level work.

Today as I ride my 'cycle of despair' dodging motivational difficulties I ask myself did my diploma strengthen my academic skills and how did it lead to higher educational attainment. As my terminal vocational training comes to a close, I cringe thinking of the tommorow when I wait in line to be the next hired hand. I am disoriented as I try to comprehend this system of dual expectations and it's ambiguous commitment to democracy and education for all.

I have demonstrated by compliance to the system, have I not? I have jumped through all the attritional hoops of academia to reach thus far, ready to advance to the next ideological boot-camp. But then why isn't my diploma being considered an objective indicator of knowledge, why do the registrar's at universities treat me like a leper when I ask about transfer agreements.

Are there any educational reconstructionists in the theatre tonight? Anybody out there who's interested in improving my position in the educational hierarchy. Maybe you could ask the loyal gatekeepers who have pledged their allegiance to the system. How absurd would it be to demand for a "call of change", to be accepted as equal participants in a flat global terrain. It would be impossible for today's college graduate to continue to adhere to many of the traditional claims of the college system. The fallen statue of Mercury (Roman god of trade, profit and commerce) at the old Mercury Mills site is a reminder of why we don't study at the Provincial Institute of Textiles.

Are there any professionally competent, socially responsible and interculturally literate college students out there? Can you help me address this socially untenable system of implied superiority of an elite community of post secondary students and the rejection of all others. Would you help me examine the social inequalities in access to technology and its implications for educational equity.