Sparsh

The value of national ‘ownership’ in development of involving 2.8 million milk producers with AMUL separates itself from other success stories . Dr. Kurien on Rural Development --- A large proportion of rural livelihoods in India are at the mercy of the law of diminishing marginal returns from land. This has led to the bleak phenomena of rural-urban migration, casualisation of urban labour and feminisation of agricultural labour etc. with the net effect of extremely insecure rural livelihoods. A successful rural development programme must help rural people stay on voluntarily and profitably in the villages. Cooperative dairy development on the Amul Pattern has been instrumental in securing rural livelihoods in many parts of India through income generation, agricultural diversification, risk distribution, female empowerment and assured employment. Employment generation in India has seen a spurt even through the much vaunted Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) organizations and In...

Corporate corruption comes in many forms. The number of employees and turnover of some corporations exceeds the population and GDP of some nation states. When comparing countries, after observations of population size and GDP, it is usual to compare the system of government, the major power groupings and the civic freedoms available to their populations. Such comparisons can also be illuminating in the case of corporations. Considering the largest corporations as analogous to a nation state reveals the following properties: 1. The right to vote does not exist except for share holders (analogous to land owners) and even there voting power is in proportion to ownership. 2. All power issues from a central committee. 3. There is no balancing division of power. There is no fourth estate. There are no juries and innocence is not presumed. 4. Failure to submit to any order may result in instant exile. 5. There is no freedom of speech. 6. There is no right of association. Even ro...

1- Let a thousand heretics bloom : Liberal education is a sustained and controlled matter, where practicality is directly related to searching analyses and the fecundity of thought processes. Sadly, the flag-bearers of a new India have no clue about such a pedigree of liberalism. 2- A Case of Conscience : Shiv Viswanathan writes to Manmohan Singh on the conviction of Binayak Sen. 3- Our phony economy By Jonathan Rowe : From testimony delivered March 12 before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Subcommittee on Interstate Commerce. Rowe is codirector of West Marin Commons, a community-organizing group, in California. 4- Lecture to the memory of Alfred Nobel, December 11, 1974 by Friedrich August von Hayek . The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 1974 was awarded jointly to Gunnar Myrdal and Friedrich August von Hayek "for their pioneering work in the theory of money and economic fluctuations and for their penetr...

What value does reason and tolerance have in a country that is rapidly on a downward spiral towards a social and political abyss? There was an angle of blasphemy in cold blooded murder of Salmaan Taseer at Pakistan recently. Sheer madness in the name of religion is going on and each justified by the religious schools. Targeted killings are unleashed for extermination of opposing voice of minorities and liberals. A book containing contradictory statement is quoted each time by both moderates and extremists. Still, there is nothing wrong with the book. I am tired of violence and its reflexive cynicism. And people giving solutions ask for more Islamic laws, its a limit of suicidal reaction. There is complete resignation of mind and triumph of brute force in Pakistan. This kind of ideology hides in the cover of 'sacred' in our societies. Most of the time, it remains dormant but resurfaces at the slightest of issues and destruct the soft fabric of the entire tolerant culture. I...

Problem arrives in a society when educated people have got a world view that is completely disconnected from reality due to their education. These individuals are manufactured in most of the universities in India. The curriculum enforces a particular world view on it’s students instead of helping the students to gather information from real world, analyze them and understand how or why something happens. That is why a good teacher comes into the role for each scholar. Administration : It is one thing to not have choices and make the best of what is available in India. But to be at top institutes, i.e. at the shores of a virtual ocean of choices and not to utilize those choices is tragic. To provide a successful framework for dialogue, you need specific places where people can discuss and argue with one another, meet and exchange ideas. To facilitate not only basic infrastructure but an positive environment by showing dynamism in bureaucratic work makes an administration cheer worthy...