The 1999 riots, 25 years later, what has changed ?

Most of the participants at the ICJM conference on the above title and some of our top opinion leaders are of the view that nothing much has changed and that the country is not immune to such riots in the future.

Why ?

The nomination of cronies on Boards !

I cannot understand the present outcry at the nomination of a certain Dulthumun - brought to national prominence and fame by the “katori” incident- as Director on the board of.....

How many of the Directors nominated on the boards of BoM, SBM, DBM, MauBank, MT, Air Mts.... and the State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) /parastatals deserve to be on these boards ?

PM, l’homme du secteur privé !

Have a look at today’s headlines : profits de 7.8 millards pour le groupe MCB; Le chiffre d'affaires d'IBL passe à Rs 52 milliards ; Groupe CIEL : bénéfices nets en hausse de 37 %; malgré les risques inhérents au Caudan Waterfront les profits ont eu le dernier mot.

Mauritianism : We are regressing….!!!

My comments on Nad Sivaramen’s editorial in today’s l’express: "The Perpetuation of Ethnicity and Loyalty"

Some extracts :

“…This year, it seems, the same ethnic formula will likely follow… …These politicians who plow their constituency know that it's not on the level of ideas that a legislative campaign is played out. When they "go down" to the field, when they go door-to-door, they appeal to the lowest instincts of the population, those that divide people while promoting a supposed discourse of national unity. ……In short, it appears that nothing is changing despite all the talk of change. So, what exactly is change?”

Wrong economic model for Mauritius and Singapore : increased gentrification in recent years.

Mr Chee Soon Juan will be launching his book titled "It Starts With A Dream” on the 17th of this month . What is it all about ?

It is about the wrong economic model adopted by Singapore which is the cause of its high cost of living and gentrification in the island. He argues that “……productivity growth is the only way forward to ensure a better life. .… without productivity, we can't improve our quality of life in Singapore.The PAP, the governing party , has taken the easy way out to grow our economy. How? By attracting wealthy families from overseas and turning Singapore into a tax haven…. with dangerous consequences for our society..."

"Notre environnement est malade de notre modèle économique .."

A must read in today’s Le Défi, the article ” Les réalités environnementales sont nos contraintes, mais aussi nos opportunités” by Nalini Burn, chercheuse et consultante en environnement.

The opposition parties’ proposals on the reform of our education system : Mere tinkering at the edges.

Following the 2023 HSC results and the proclamation of the list of laureates, the education committees and education spokespersons of different opposition political parties, via their press conferences and comments, gave us some indications of their main proposals on the reform of our education system.

Celebrating the failure of an elitist education system !!!

Some thoughts on our elitist education system: The whole education system is skewed towards elitism; all our resources are focussed on producing laureates at the cost of addressing efficiency and equity issues in the system . Now on top of all that, we are now celebrating the failure of the system , how stupid ?

"Strong” growth forecasts but FX shortages and depreciation of the rupee !!!

Refer to our post of the 20th Dec 2023 titled “Recent BoM Forex Interventions !” and yesterday’s article in L’express titled “PÉNURIES DE DEVISES:La Banque de Maurice ne vend plus des dollars, mais en achète”

A reform agenda for the rainbow nation.

When multiethnic countries face critical junctures, which are by definition times of high uncertainty, we would expect that the support for radical reforms would compel us to choose between class politics and identity politics, social democracy and multiculturalism, redistribution and recognition. “These, however, are false antitheses. Justice today requires both redistribution and recognition. Neither alone is sufficient.” Nancy Fraser’s working paper “Social Justice in the Age of Identity Politics: Redistribution, Recognition, Participation”

Hypocrisy of African leaders, including ours !

Is our commitment to humanity , to justice , to protection against genocide selective, myopic and politically influenced ?