FB Discussions - Hyper-consumption

Hyper-consumption increases GDP . It increases trade. It also increases use of water and energy .

(via Sunny Narang)

A very wise hand-block printer in a village in Rajasthan used to tell me in the 90's that they had never seen so much of fabric in their lives . Printing 1000 meters in a season (about 6-8 months , so about 5-10 meters a day) was a great effort, as blocks were about 2-3 inches big .
Now a hand-block printer uses tables and bigger blocks and can do a two or three colour hand-printed fabric at the rate of about 30-50 meters a day , so 1000 meters will take a month only.
A screen-printer can do 2-300 meters in a day (5-600 meters among a team of 2) and a machine can print thousands of meters in a day .
In the early 20th century most rural couples bought at most 2-3 "jodas" or combined dresses of lehanga-choli-odhni and dhoti-bandi in a year !

Hyper-consumption increases GDP . It increases trade. It also increases use of water and energy . Just see the below figures . It also increases the power of fashion and the power of wastage . Every meter of fabric uses water to make or grow, to dye or finish .

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Alwar Narayanan Honable Prime Ministers reply to Arnab on the interview. Answering a question on economy growth.....

"You must have seen that the maximum electricity generation since Independence has occurred this year. The maximum amount of coal mined has been in this year. The maximum length of roads being constructed daily is happening in this year. The fastest loading and unloading of steamers at sea ports is happening now. "

Happy ?

Prakash Thangavel And yet we have to import food, pay more for drinking water and worry about air pollution. That too happened this year. Very Happy.

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 · 30 June 2016 at 11:37

Alwar Narayanan No Sorry. you must feel happy. You must roll on the ground with laughter with tears rolling because.....

Pure and pristine underground moving aquifer from Shivalik Hills in Himalayas packaged as Himalayan brand by Tata Global is going to be exported and marketed in Singapore by PepsiCo - Sorry Starbuck coffee, the US giant.

You must also tear your shirt and burst into happiness since they are exploring opportunities to introduce the bottled water brand to stores across Starbucks China and Asia-Pacific region.

Remember The fastest loading and unloading of steamers at sea ports is happening now....

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 · 30 June 2016 at 12:54

Alwar Narayanan Mahatma Gandhi :

God forbid that India should ever take to industrialism after the manner of the West. If an entire nation of 300 millions took to similar economic exploitation, it would strip of the world bare like locusts.

Unless the capitalists of India help to avert that tragedy by becoming trustees of the welfare of the masses, and by devoting their talents not to amassing wealth for themselves but to the service of the masses in an altruistic spirit, they will end either by destroying the masses or being destroyed by them.
(YI, 20-12-1928, p. 422)

Now it is time to go to Africa. Keep chanting Gandhi and keep signing deals at cheaper rates, for Africa is available now (to be exploited)

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 · 30 June 2016 at 14:26

Siddharth Mohan Nair Read in the biography of Mother Theresa written by Mr Navin Chawla that she had just 3 sarees - all of the same colour, white with blue border. She used to wear two of them as daily wear and the third one was kept for special occasions. I am following that, mam. I have only 3 veshtis all khadi white with black border, and three khadi white kurtas. (I have 2-3 kurtas/shirts that I had bought before reading about this and am using it for now till they get worn out.) But for home wear I have 2 more kaavi veshtis. I wish I could reduce more. 

ஸ்ரீராமதாஸ் துந்துபி Ya. That is nested with export and import and rupee dollar difference. Its a web and mess.

Vidyasankar Sundaresan This is the logic of "growth" in today's world economy. The assumption is that the growth will always be infinite. Unfortunately, the resources that have to feed the growth are finite.

Aparna Krishnan No assumption - everyone knows everything. Climate change has overtaken us. Simply bulls on a rampage, thats all.

Shyamala Sanyal Sunny Narang. People used to buy two or three sets of clothing for the year. That fabric must have truly SUPERIOR STUFF. I buy three cotton sarees for my staff and they don't last for four months. And they cost more than 500/each.
 

Aparna Krishnan My village children used to buy one set of new clothes a year - for Sankranthi. This was fifteen years ago. now at least 4 to 6 new sets are bought, or there is a sense of deprivation. "Developmen' has won, hands down.

Sunny Narang Shyamala , the cotton species were all indigenous , even before the printing began it was dyed in myrobalan or harad and kept for a few months . Everything took time . The modern buildings at most last 30-80 years , old homes out of stone can last hundreds ,look at the Rajasthan havelis . You cannot have GDP without quick fixes and things getting bad faster !
26 April 2015 at 07:03 · Edited · Unlike · 2