Week 15 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations?

The biggest surprise in the reading for me was the fact that the woman mentioned in the introduction of the article would later play a major role in the founding of a company as its very first customer. I just thought of her as one of the more recent or “prepared” cases by public relations for distribution.

2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

One part of the reading that was confusing to me was the amount of opposition towards the microfinancing companies and how religious officials attacked them. If the thugs were attacking them anyway, why would they need to go to the religious leaders? Plus, a more senior and respected cleric could easily overturn this.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

Are there any tax mechanisms in place for the new found revenue to be collected, or is taxation in the rural poor areas of India simply put an ignored task because of how complex it is? The reason I ask is because SKS must be bringing in a ton of revenue into the local economy that governments must be looking to exploit to grow their tax base.

What is the overall reaction by the NGO as their business is being taken by a more effective and privatized force? I don’t know what they did in response to this and would like to see to have a better understanding of how the industry works.

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

The author was wrong about leaving the town as they put the people of that town in the arms of the thugs, instead of combating it using other methods. It would be quite easy to a cleric from a more modern part of India to counter that Islamic ruling or create an alternative company for these situations.