LyrArc Article Gist
1940 US Census shows about a third to half of Americans did not have the basics- no flush toilets 50%, no running water 30%, no electric lighting 35%, wood/coal cooking used by 30%, no refrigeration about 40%. Research shows the tremendous progress the US made since 1935 to 1963 both with growing incomes and with taxes and transfers, and again from 1963 to the present focusing on the black American population and backward states in the South with the War on Poverty of LBJ/John F. Kennedy. What it showed to Asian nations that studied the growth of America, Japan in 1950's in war devastated country, China in 1990 coming out poor from the failed Great Leap Forward and Proletarian Cultural Revolutions, India in 2017 after 70 years of failed Democratic Socialist experiments was that this kind of backwardness and poverty could be resolved by learning from America and applying the same principles with dogged determination, clear vision, and careful planning for commiting the large amounts of capital investment, labor education, and technology infusions from the US and EU, and very importantly capitalizing on the goodwill for Asia in America and the European nations. Much of Africa and India today in its efforts can draw inspiration from what was achieved in America over this span and China's effort to do this in just 30 years from beginnings in 1990 when China was mostly a bicycle nation to its complete transformation by 2020.  ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Just about half of Africa's population is within 25 kilometres of a fiber network for mobile telephone connections. In Nigeria this is much lower at 14%. Instead of having to lay costly fiber optic networks for high speed broadband connections Africa can benefit from new 5G network technologies that enable Africa to leapfrog to better high speed internet connections. The telecom company MTN has started testing 5G mobile internet in Nigeria with live demonstrations in Abuja and Calabar, and in other Nigerian cities during a 3 month trial period. Nigeria is one of the few African countries that is pushing 5G with rollout in 2020. 5G uses radio waves to transmit and receive data between an antenna and one's mobile phone. It operates at high radio wave frequencies which cannot travel as far as other frequencies, so a denser network of base stations or masts is needed. This makes it highly suitable for large urban areas. A report by GMSA shows that South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya and four other African countries will have 5G by 2025 and this will be about 3% of mobile data compared to 16% worldwide. Problems with use of 4G in Nigeria show the issues facing Africa. Cost of using 4G is high for the average user, so that only 4% of users of mobile internet in Nigeria are 4G even though Nigeria has an extensive 4G network. Instead 40% of Nigerian users use 3G networks. 5G faster internet could help Africa in areas such as health with telemedicine, and in remote education, say experts. They also say 5G rollout in Africa will benefit from drop in costs as the technology becomes widely used in Europe, China and America. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Kristof in the NYT shows what it looks like to go to school in African countries. He visits schools and classrooms in Sierra Leone in West Africa and shares his experiences. For children there, even in a free education system because of the low subsidies from the government, the need to pay school fees remains a difficult one for children going to school.

LyrArc Article Gist
Leaders of Africa's development banks and the president of Kenya make this plea for adjustments on debt repayments and a moratorium on debt servicing before the annual conference of global finance at Marrakech, Morocco. The problems are: a 35% increase in debt repayments to $62 billion for Africa with increase in interest rates. The total debt of Africa now at $1.8 trillion. The neglect of education and health when countries such as Zambia and Ghana default on debt. The complexity of debt renegotiation with 40% of debt in private hands and 31% with China which is not part of Paris Club. It took 3 years for Zambia to negotiate its way out. And 23 nations in Africa are near default out of the 52 in the world facing this situation.

LyrArc Article Gist
This indepth report from the Economist looks at the damage done in 9 years of rule under Jacob Zuma, and the prospects of the African National Congress under the new leadership of Cyril Ramaphosa. The South African economy suffered under Jacob Zuma. The Zuma government hurt the government's finances, and suffered from corruption and mismanagement. Only 21% of South Africans trust their government in one poll. This indepth report also asks the question- how much has changed since the days of Apartheid South Africa? Mandela's release from prison in 1990, and the ANC party winning elections in 1994 changed South Africa into a multi cultural and multi ethnic society with democracy. A liberal constitution protects the rights of all of South Africa's communities and citizens. Share of households without electricity fell from 42% in 1996 to 10% in 2016. Black people make up 50% of the middle class. Blacks now make up more buyers of suburban homes than whites. Race relations are better today. The problem is that progress and improvement in living and economic conditions stalled after 2009 when Jacob Zuma as head of the African National Congress became president. GDP per person declined after 2013. Half of South Africans were born after the end of Apartheid in 1994. Nearly 40% of people of age 15-34 are not in work, training or education. To get into the middle class one needs a job. About 62% of South Africans would trade democracy for an unelected leader who could deliver on housing and jobs and the economy. Cyril Ramaphosa was made president and head of the ANC after a bruising struggle to oust Jacob Zuma in 2017 ANC conference. He now faces elections in May 2019. In the 1980's he led the National Union of Mineworkers. He later became secretary general of the ANC in the 1990's and led talks for democracy. Ramphosa was passed over by Mandela because of pressure within ANC to select Thabo Mbeki. Mbeki was followed by Zuma, also from ANC. Ramaphosa then joined business, as a small number of well connected black South Africans and made $450 million through preferential access to equity in large firms for a few black South Africans. Then went back to the ANC as deputy president,  then deputy president of the country. The Economist says after Zuma South Africa is running out of time, and Mr. Ramaphosa expected to win, faces many challenges, particularly youth unemployment. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
There is something about John F. Kennedy that makes his 1000 days simply the blueprint for America's first 100 years since his presidency in 1960- in space and by extension in climate change, in civil rights, in diversity that spans the whole world of Asia-Africa-Latin America, in the struggle for global literacy and education.

LyrArc Article Gist
Additional funding of $100 billion is proposed for the World Bank to meet the needs of Africa, and other countries in Latin America and Asia. These needs are for climate change investments, renewable energy, and for health and education that has suffered as debt repayments have increased with higher interest rates, putting 52 countries near default on debt. The US with 16% of the shares in World Bank would contribute $3.2 billion for this to happen.

LyrArc Article Gist
African continent debt reached $1.1 trillion in 2024. About 900 million people live in African countries where interest payments on debt exceed money spent on healthcare and education. In Nigeria external debt is $40 billion, in Kenya $35 billion and Uganda $12 billion.  Take Nigeria with 220 million people. 40% of the revenue collected goes to meet interest payments on debt. For many African countries there is zero per capita income growth for a decade. During the 2010 crisis as interest rates reached new lows US and European Reagan era intellectuals including Democrats encouraged African countries to borrow at low rates and banks loosened restrictions putting more African countries into debt buildup borrowings. As interest rates went up the cost of paying the debt accumulated required more loans at higher interest rates. Nigeria paid a premium over that of 10% for a loan of $2 billion just for interest payments. The debt crisis means African currencies depreciate reducing purchasing power.  With war in Ukraine and Covid prices of food and energy rose. Only the strong and disciplined leadership and rapid industrialization provided breathing room as with Modi in India, Jinping in China, the African continent and Latin America lacked this and are feeling the pain. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Young South Africans, the so called born frees- born after the end of Apartheid and free elections in 1994- are diillusioned with the African National Congress of Nelson Mandela. They are disssatisfied with the lack of jobs, a poor education system, and tired of the corruption scandals under former president Jacob Zuma. A recent IPSOS poll shows only 55% of 18-24 year olds supporting the ANC compared to 61% overall. Some polls showed support dropping from born frees to below 50%. Almost half of the 58 million people of South Africa are born frees. Their view is expressed by one mother of three living in a shack in Alexandra Township in Johannesburg. She says we tried the ANC but are still living in squatter camps and dirty places. Only the ANC's reach into rural areas, its superior organization, and lack of viable alternatives, are likely to keep the ANC back in power. The Economic Freedom Fighters led by Mr. Malema, a former head of the ANC youth wing is likely to double its vote to 12% from the last election.  ...

LyrArc Article Gist
A sense of entitlement and hold on power can be seen throughout Africa. A lack of the kind of education that creates an ethic of responsibility for the educated and ruling classes, an honest civil service, and experience with and development of democratic institutions with their own checks and balances, account for some of the principal reasons for this failure in government. Even in South Africa, which has experienced several elections and is on the path to gaining experience in democratic government, Jacob Zuma and the African National Congress display some of these tendencies of entitlement to power.

LyrArc Article Gist
As a civil rights campaigner Harry Belafonte's efforts were legendary. NYT gives these black and white pictures of Belafonte in an anti Apartheid protest outside the South African embassy in 1964, addressing a civil rights rally in New York in 1960, with Sidney Poitier at a civil rights rally (he studied theater at the American Negro Theatre with Poitier), and checking on free primary education in Kenya in 2004 for UNICEF.

LyrArc Article Gist
Kirsty Lang talks about the government failures in not investing in the British Council. Her husband Misha Glenny, 63 years, the writer and producer of the BBC 4 series How to Invent a Country, took a British Council scholarship to study in Prague at the age of 21. The neglect of British Council is happening at the same time that Germany is rejuvenating the Goethe Institut with new leadership and making it an instrument of cultural and educational exchange with Africa, Asia, and Latin America. This needs to happen with the British Council. People in these countries look for cultural and educational exchange with Europe and America through these institutions of culture and education. The libraries of these institutions perform an invaluable role. Long forgotten is the role these institutions including the US Information Service played in Asia, Africa and Latin America in the period after World War II, long before Misha Glenny's time. There is eagerness, even a hunger to learn about other countries in the young minds of Asia, Africa and Latin America, and this makes for a two way exchange that helps Europe and America learn about these countries- the way the Goethe Insitut is now setting as a new model for the future.      ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Anthropic's settlement for $1.5 billion at $3000 a book, and it's efforts in Education that conflict with the Nation's need to get 4th graders to Read and Learn. Anthropic's website shows it trying to get into Education and to measure the Economic Index from effects of AI. Yet the pretensions to goodwill for the public cause is not supported by facts, facts that the AI companies have nothing to show for the dismal situation for Global Literacy that is the case today. Literacy in the US that is dismal with about two thirds of 4th graders not able to read and comprehend the English language at a level of proficiency in American schools. These AI purveyors care only for the money they can make using vast amounts of electricity for these servers, and pretensions for public purpose are intended to smooth their access to public resources not some genuine interest in whether kids can read, which requires the hard work of the teachers in the public and private schools of this Nation and others in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa. The Movement for Global Literacy is Lyrarc's effort to support reading and learning and Lyrarc serves this purpose without such massive funding and without charging for the public service to the Nation and to other Nations in the world community. Anthropic settlement of $1.5 billion at $3000 a book for its AI bots use of copyrighted books, can lead to future litigation for OpenAI model that consumes vast amounts of data. Anthropic was founded by siblings Daniela and Dario Amodei after leaving OpenAI in 2021 in San Francisco. It hired Google Books Turvey to scan books for its large language models on a massive scale to train Claude its version of OpenAI's ChatGPT.  An investment of $4 billion by Amazon and additional $2 billion by Google provided funding. In this way it is a competitor to Microsoft funded OpenAI which made early advances in AI.  This article in WSJ says by making the settlement for $1.5 billion Anthropic is trying to make it harder for Open AI to scan material easily without paying for the access and thus blocking it's rival.   ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Common sense comes to the German Border with Merz and the national emergency rule at the border, just as has happened under DJT at the US Border. May 8-25 turned back at Germany's borders with 9 European countries about 100 persons- success of national emergency rule at the German Border. This relieves not only pressure on public services in German towns and cities, it also removes a source of anxiety in the people who experienced political divisions and random attacks in public spaces from migrants. It also removes the threats of extreme factions in politics that have used the migrant crisis for exacerbating political divisions. Merkel's policy was not workable from the beginning and based on assumptions that were not correct as Germany and the EU could do more to improve the modernization and improving health and education, industry and agriculture inside Asia, North Africa to help the people in these regions than by taking in migrants. Who has ever suggested migration to Europe or the US  as a solution to the problems of China and India in the 1930's and 1940's, from wars and even famines. The right solutions of decolonization turning back invasions into the 1940's, and providing technology and capital for modernization after 1950 and accelerating this after 2000 have created two modernized nations of 2 billion people. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The first president to install solar panels at the White House. The first to enter a nuclear reactor space for 89 seconds on a US nuclear submarine. The first to adopt zero based budgeting which requires all agencies to start from zero to justify spending. The first to teach Sunday School with the Bible in hand while president. The first southern governor as evangelical to say that racial discrimination in education had no place in his state or the country. The first former president to fight tropical diseases in Africa including the Guinea worm for their eradication. The first president to live an active life style well into his eighties.

LyrArc Article Gist
British establishment Labour's Mandelson and Conservative's Prince Andrew -the Epstein connections in the Epstein files and the political fallout for Labour and the Conservatives. This happens as they approach local elections with the Greens, Liberals, and Reform UK already taking 50% of Labour's 2024 general election voters with disillusionment over results in the first 2 years of Labour. Labour assumed it had the immigration issue under control with some headline grabbing  stories of it taking tough action when it won in 2024. That has not deterred illegal migrant trafficking. Labour soon lost sight of the ball, and did not realize that the cultural issues around excessive tolerance of such migration itself had not been resolved such as ECHR rights which were completely misinformed when written to approve of such illegal migrants rights and ignore the citizens and women of the neighborhoods in which people had lived for generations. After decade and half of Conservative Cameron austerity Labour needed time to wrestle with the issues of levelling facing Britain's north and the Midlands. Instead Labour found itself on the backfoot and Farage was brought out of retirement after issues in towns like Epping and all across England, where migrants were put in hotels as women and locals loudly disapproved. Labour thought under Conservatives  that over 50,000 were in asylum hotels in 2023 and this has come down to 35,000 in 2025 under Labour, as a kind of improvement not realizing that the public mood questioned the whole idea of the migrants in hotels itself, of little tolerance for any illegal migrants in neighborhoods itself. It shows the political processes have great importance and a series of mediocre leaders from Blair, Brown, Cameron, Johnson, Sunak, Starmer and Farage over a period of 4 decades can change the trajectory for nations and region. A similar period for India in 1720-1760 with warring factions and regions inviting British East India Company troops to opposing sides fractured the country and led to losing its grip on itself. Gandhiji describes this for introspection in Hind Swaraj (1905) not taking the easy road most now discredited anticolonial writers after 1950 took in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Where does this leave Britain in 2026? It can only come to grips with it knowing that the quality of education, quality of leadership, honesty and introspection of the kind suggested by Teddy Roosevelt in Applied Idealism in his Autobiography, chapter 5, and in Gandhiji's Hind Swaraj are essential.  ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Americans in retirement are able to rebuild their savings with interest on money market funds of over 5%. This is the result of 5% percentage points of consecutive rate increases by Jay Powell's Fed. In addition about $121 billion went to savers as they faced $151 billion in higher interest rate costs on mortgages and loans. The result with a strong labor market and lower inflation of about 3% is an economy that is resilient and can provide the 5 or 7 plus  years of growth needed for America to meet the challenges it faces with its allies in the EU, Asia and Latin America, Africa- to tackle climate change, to rebuild America's crumbling infrastructure, to invest in education and healthcare, to improve worker incomes, and build its manufacturing at home into a strong thriving sector for good paying worker incomes.

LyrArc Article Gist
How the Bush presidency started with hopes in domestic policy that were never to come to fruition. Jacob Weisberg, editor of Slate, reflects on the promise of the Bush State of the Union address of Feb. 2001, and the compassionate conservatism it evoked- the Bush priorities of education, setting higher educaion standards, immigration reform, helping needy and at risk children, health care access. He recalls the words used by Bush in Spanish: "Juntos podemos," we can do it together. As governor of Texas Bush had focussed on racial disparities and gaps in education, winning 27% of black votes and a third of Hispanic votes. Then came 9/11 (2002), weapons of mass destruction (from 2003 onwards), which soon overshadowed the education efforts, grants to extend health insurance coverage, initiative to encourage mentring of at-risk children. The $10 billion program to fight AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean is a part of the Bush legacy, other areas were overcome by the distraction of wars in the Middle East....

LyrArc Article Gist
Greece's minister for migration tells the Times that seven charities including one in London form part of a chain stretching from Somalia to Britain in which smugglers move migrants illegally.  One of the seven charities is in London and is seen as colluding with human traffickers who are putting lives of migrants at risk. Greece has 70,000 migrants living in squalid refugee centres. Of these 17,000 are on islands in the Aegean sea. Europe cannot cope with all these migrants illegally making the crossing, much less during this pandemic. It has also unsettled the countries where migrants are settled on a humanitarian basis as there is at the same time serious neglect of poverty stricken communities inside Europe who are not getting the assistance they deserve. The result is even less focus on the development needs, on infrastructure, education and healthcare of the countries in Europe where migrants are headed, with the attention diverted to the migrants issue. Economic progress in Europe and rapid development could not only improve the condition of people in all communities, it could also help finance more foreign aid development project assistance to Africa and other countries. This would if vigorously done keep people in their home countries and help fulfill their development aspirations there, which is the better way.  Chancellor Merkel of Germany should have opted for a better way by setting up a program for aspiring migrants in the countries of Africa with a generous visa program offering training and technological skills, which could then be brought back to the country in Africa where it could generate jobs and opportunities with the necessary capital from European and other financial institutions and governments. This effort made in alliance with Britain and France could be powerful in its impact. Instead a haphazard three years of migration led to internal divisions, loss of confidence in the CDU and the SDP, FDP parties in coalitions, ending up where it should have started in the first place- reducing the migration to a trickle, returning some migrants back to their countries, and focussing on bringing economic assistance and development assistance to African countries for opportunities in these countries and a brighter future so that no one would want to leave and drift on oceans in tiny boats in the first place. The condition of the people in Africa is not so hopeless that the best they can do is to send their young people to drift on boats on the high seas in the hope of refugee status. China has shown that the there is a path from famine during the years following the Great Leap Forward to the development of today. India is doing that now and can repeat that story. Japan and South Korea, Taiwan have done this after devastating wars and out of nothing. Imagine what the world would be like if all these people in Asia set out on small boats for Europe.       ...

LyrArc Article Gist
How Africans see the Obama trip to Ghana, in places like Kenya and Uganda, and other African countries. Says Olara Otunnu, aformer Ugandan foreign minister, the single line that resonated throughout Africa was the one from the inaugural: "to those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history." The way Africans see Obama is that he is next of kin, a son of a Kenyan goat herder. Otunnu says people were saying, "our son is there, in the White House, God bless us." Says Rep Donald Payne, who heads the House subcommittee on Africa, the Obama adminstration would "concentrate on things that prevent terror, like higher education." The old lens of foreigh policy that veered from near neocolonial to cold warish, to benevolent, now shifts to a genuineness of concern for a continent that has gone through so much and still struggles. Here more than anyplace on earth the words of the Pope that Obama heard in Rome, echo through space, it is time to see other people in other lands not just as neighbors but brothers. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Leakage of state funds is serious. Just think how many hospitals and schools, how many solar panel farms or wind farms can be built with $4.5 billion that is reported as the money laundered in the 1MDB leakage of state infrastructure funds? Here it is reported that Goldman Sachs settles for its involvement in the 1MDB with $2.5 billion in cash and guarantee recovery of $1.4 billion in proceeds from assets lost by the Malaysia state infrastructure fund. This is what the WSJ says on July 24, 2020, Ben Otto and Chester Tay- "Goldman Sachs was the main banker for the Malaysian fund 1 Malaysia Development Bhd. or 1MDB. The bank raised billions of dolars for the fund which was allegedly stolen by people working for the fund, government officials and two senior Goldman bankers." It also says Goldman raised $6.5 billion for the 1MDB through bond sales in 2012 and 2013, much of which was stolen by a Malaysian government advisor. And that Goldman received $600 million in fees which would be about 10%. Many of the countries in Asia and Africa have a colonial past in which little or no investment was made for centuries in heath, education and infrastructure. This makes it all the more appalling and heartbreaking. Goldman bankers were also involved in advising China during the hyper growth years which are leading today to little or no growth and concentration in property sector, with appalling devastation of the climate in China over a compressed period of 10-15 years 1995-2010,  leading to fires, floods, drought in China and worldwide, including in Africa and Asia. Was this good advice or self-serving for investment banks as this was accompanied by shift of manufacturing to China leading to decay of communities throughout America and and now a reversal after the pandemic all compressed so as to wreak havoc first one way and then the other way leading to a world more prone to conflict and war. Was this good advice or a cautionary tale for both America, for African and Asian countries and for China most of all a country that has a colonial past and treated with respect by Americans. Two Americans come to mind  Theodore Roosevelt who helped establish the now famous Tsinghua University in Beijing in 1911, and Joe Stilwell who led the Allied operations in China against the Japanese. Were Roosevelt, Stilwell sincere friends of China and Asian countries or the Goldman bankers is a question that just comes up. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Many African countries have high growth rates but this can be misleading. Much of the wealth is generated from drilling or mining for resources. There is no transparency about the wealth generated and its use, with much of the wealth siphoned off to go to the ruling elites. Even the thriving private sectors can give the false impression of progress, when they are cartels of firms run for the benefit of the ruling party and its cronies. Independent media is purchased by the ruling elites and the information is one sided, concealing the imbalanced development and widening gaps between the wealthy and the vast majority of poor. When investments are made they show a stark reality of years of neglect of education and healthcare. Angola has built 24 new hospitals with oil revenues, but has only 1500 doctors for a population of 18 million. Much of Nigeria's electricity supply comes from small generators as the government electricity system has seen underinvestment for years. State owned firms are "privatised" in Nigeria by giving them to cronies of the government in power. These countries lack a honest civil service, an ethic of responsibility in the educated and ruling classes, institutions of democracy with checks and balances, and independent media. The anti colonialist movements in African countries have failed to deliver on education, democratic institutions, and building a prosperous middle class in most of Africa with a few exceptions. Both military and civilian leaders have failed to relinquish power once in control, with the rare exceptions....

LyrArc Article Gist
U.S. healthcare spending of about $3 trillion comes with poor results. The cost per person is about three times that of countries such as France, Britain, yet the results show U.S. doing extremely poorly. The author points out that less spending on healthcare and more on social services in areas such as education, nutrition, housing and other services would improve the outcomes and results. It is this missing factor that is helping other countries in Europe, Japan and China achieve better outcomes and returns per dollar spent.  Social spending can affect such things as nutrition, exercize levels, lifestyles, housing and result in dramatic improvements in obesity levels for instance, or inflammation levels in the population that play a role in many diseases. The idea is prevention. This is not happening because higher health dollar spending has lobbies to support it. Social spending also is a dollar expense that shows up immediately whereas results are spread out into the future as a longer term benefit with healthier populations that need to consume less healthcare and treatment. Elizabeth Bradley, president of Vassar College is an expert on this subject. She says social services spending gives more bang for buck  in health outcomes.  The point is relevant also for countries in South Asia and Africa that have taken some on some aspects of the U.S. health system resulting in health care spending that does not deliver the most for the dollar spent, and ignores the critical role of prevention.  The solution lies in moving these health care dollars out of the health care spending and into education for health outcomes, lifestyles, exercize habits education, and into social services that enable prevention and better health. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
With the aggressive actions taken along the 1600 kilometre border in eastern Ladakh by China's People's Liberation Army, India needs a younger soldier to protect the border at high altitudes in below freezing temperatures. The entire 3500 kilometre border in the high Himalayan regions from east to west need technology driven surveillance with soldiers fit and ready for such duty. Agnipath's goal is to bring down the average age in the army from 32 years to 26 years to better reflect the youthful population in India. A tighter better disciplined force with high tech is needed. Bringing in more and new recruits is intended. Both the 25% of recruits retained after 4 years benefit and the 75% benefit. The 25% will have opportunities to move up the ranks. The 75% who come back out of the military will have the advanced technical training and courses, certification, that would make them attractive to the public and private sector companies in 2026 and beyond when India's economy will be 50% larger than today at growth rates of 10-12%. This is already seen in the way technologically trained military recruits from World War II in the US Army, Navy and Air Force were quickly absorbed at high salaries in the high growth period of America 1950-1970, with incentives like the GI Bill. Modifications that could be discussed- The 25% retained after 4 years. There is no magic number it could be raised to 30 or 40% during these post pandemic years and then lowered to 25% as the economy grows rapidly by 2025, or kept at 30% without changes, a number of options could be open.The financial aspect of the training can be modified where the 25% retained could have these 4 years added to their years for calculating pensions. The 75% are given 1.2 million rupees and even this can be adjusted upwards so that they could start businesses as entrepreneurs or have the time to pursue higher education before taking up for example with free education to enhance their education in areas of interest as was given by the GI bill to Americans in the armed services after World War II in 1946. Ideas from the GI Bill signed by president Franklin Roosvelt in 1944- Adding one year of unemployment payments, low interest loans to start a farm or business, full tution and living expenses for college. In 2008 the Veterans Act in the US continued support for education of servicement by making eduction free at a public college or university.  The Roosevelt GI bill benefited about 7.8 million servicemen in the US armed services. 2.2 million went to college, 7.6 million took training programs. It was an impressive achievement. No scheme is perfect there are budgetary constraints such as how to manage pensions to give the armed services the best possible funding including the training and course capabilities that also need good financing and the higher pensions for armed services. Every political party  government around the world without exception will have to face these budgetary constraints and the goal is to do right by the armed services providing the income and opportunities they deserve. Was a decent effort made with the right goals set? This is how these matters of national interest for India and the Free World that includes South East Asia, Africa and Latin America, should be discussed.    ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The UN badge and logo for sustainable development goals is becoming highly popular in Japan. It has 17 colors for the 17 Sustainable Development goals set by the UN- ending poverty, reducing inequality, improving education, other aspirations of the people of the world. It is something India, the US, Canada, Britain ,Germany, France and other nations should adopt in the way Japan has done. India has taken up specific goals, clean India, clean water, electrification, and made it available to all 1.2 billion people, in its own version of SDG. Introduced into Japan by 2016, this badge is now so popular that there it is everywhere says this report in NYT. In children's playgrounds, in comic books, on NHK broadcaster's video with about 1 million views, on Buddhist temple websites, and used by businesses. In 2016 it was made official national policy by Mr Abe's government and a task force established on them by the government. In 2017 it was adopted to its charter by Keidanren, the business federation.  In the US very few know about S.D.G.'s but in community oriented Japan it has been taken up with zeal. It is part of the conversation and one survey shows 40% of Japanese business were working towards the goals in 2021. It has been adopted by Education Canada Network and it is a good way to bring this idea in education to schools and colleges in North America, Britain, EU, India and China, as well as Africa and Latin America, other parts of Asia. In India some of the SDG's are already the focus of campaigns by the Modi government Goal 0  Clean Nation one that has not been coined yet one that is called Clean India or Swacch Bharat Goal 1 Zero Hunger was taken up during the vaccination for covid campaign to get free foodgrains and vegetables to all 1.2 billion people. Goal 2  Clean Water and Sanitation or Har Ghar Jal getting clean tap water to all rural homes by 2024. Goal 3 Infrastructure, Industry, Exports Goal 4 Renewable Energy The sequence is different from the UN SDG's. The difference is it is a goal set for universal meaning everyone and delivery meaning by a specific date, and the priorities are set in the numbering. The Indian SDG campaigns under the Modi government and at federal and state levels are unprecedented in history for a population of this size, and now present a model for all nations in Asia, Africa, Latin America on how to go about doing the SDG's in practice. ...