Once a good economy crumbles, results go wrong, inflation hurts more frequently and GDP rate turns slow. Read these three articles to understand, how India has been ruined by Congress !
Blog Post 1 - All confusion apart, I strongly feel that the Congress (I) must not come back to power in 2014–directly or behind the scenes. They must be made to sit in opposition and lose big time like PPP did in Pakistan. That should be our first priority.
Let India not become Bihar of 1990s where you could be incompetent with impunity because you were sure to come back to power with the caste equation in your favor. There was not even any attempt to perform; there wasn’t even a pretense of integrity. Let India not become Jharkhand of today either where lobbyists rule and voters suffer–again without an end in sight to the nightmare.
Blog Post 2 - A story of destructive governance and citizens who did not speak out.
Blog Post 3 -If patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel, there is nothing like appearing to care for the poor to divert attention from the arduous, painstaking task of building public institutions that are critical to implement the provision of public goods for the underprivileged. Instead, progressive legislation has become a substitute for building the state's implementation capacity to do even the most basic of tasks. Indeed, it is undermining it - if you can barely do three things well, adding five more will undoubtedly ensure that everything is done poorly.
There has always been a gap between public policy and public will ; But performance of UPA is really bad and the scorn is well deserved on them !
Showing posts with label Corruption. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Corruption. Show all posts
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Ten Issues - 14
1- How China reports the Arab world :- In a post made to his Chinese-language weblog on April 15, Ezzat Shahrour, chief correspondent for al-Jazeera Arabic in Beijing, voiced his frustration with Chinese state media reporting on the upheaval in the Arab world this year.
2- The rules of entrapment :- The noise against Tehelka after last week’s cover story was to be expected. Much more surprising was the confusion over the ethics of political baiting.
3- Haaretz prides itself on being the conscience of Israel. Does it have a future? :- by David Remnick
4- James Gosling joins Google, what can startups learn? :- Cultivating talent is not about hiring only those people who will work on assignments or wait on benches for projects that are in the sales pipeline. You also require people who are not in the thick of daily grind; those who can think up new paradigms and new ways to doing things without the pressure of how it will impact the company's next quarter's bottom-line.
5- Should you drop out to become an entrepreneur? Posted by Nikhil Kulkarni
6- What’s Left of the Left: Paul Krugman’s lonely crusade. By Benjamin Wallace-Wells
7- Top 10 Reasons Ayn Rand was Dead Wrong By Geoffrey James
8- Ambedkar, the forgotten free-market economist in Perspective by B Chandrasekaran
9- P. R. Brahmananda Memorial Lecture by Stanley Fischer Governor, Bank of Israel :- Central Bank Lessons from the Global Crisis
10- Kaushik Basu has suggested a radical solution: Paying bribes should be legal [PDF] and opposition of Jean Drèze to this idea in The bribing game.
Quote of the Day : “When Kepler found his long-cherished belief did not agree with the most precise observation, he accepted the uncomfortable fact. He preferred the hard truth to his dearest illusions; that is the heart of science.” - Carl Sagan
2- The rules of entrapment :- The noise against Tehelka after last week’s cover story was to be expected. Much more surprising was the confusion over the ethics of political baiting.
3- Haaretz prides itself on being the conscience of Israel. Does it have a future? :- by David Remnick
4- James Gosling joins Google, what can startups learn? :- Cultivating talent is not about hiring only those people who will work on assignments or wait on benches for projects that are in the sales pipeline. You also require people who are not in the thick of daily grind; those who can think up new paradigms and new ways to doing things without the pressure of how it will impact the company's next quarter's bottom-line.
5- Should you drop out to become an entrepreneur? Posted by Nikhil Kulkarni
6- What’s Left of the Left: Paul Krugman’s lonely crusade. By Benjamin Wallace-Wells
7- Top 10 Reasons Ayn Rand was Dead Wrong By Geoffrey James
8- Ambedkar, the forgotten free-market economist in Perspective by B Chandrasekaran
9- P. R. Brahmananda Memorial Lecture by Stanley Fischer Governor, Bank of Israel :- Central Bank Lessons from the Global Crisis
10- Kaushik Basu has suggested a radical solution: Paying bribes should be legal [PDF] and opposition of Jean Drèze to this idea in The bribing game.
Quote of the Day : “When Kepler found his long-cherished belief did not agree with the most precise observation, he accepted the uncomfortable fact. He preferred the hard truth to his dearest illusions; that is the heart of science.” - Carl Sagan
Monday, April 11, 2011
Corruption, Agitation and Wealth Creation
George F Will was referring to the US government but his words apply with greater force to India when he wrote, “The administration’s central activity — the political allocation of wealth and opportunity — is not merely susceptible to corruption, it is corruption.” [Tincture of Lawlessness. The Washington Post, May 2009.]
Corruption: Mostly poor and partially middle class in India are victims of state indifference and corruption; The money released for subsidy and loan waiver schemes is stolen by corrupt government officials. And yet if one asks us what jobs they would like to have the number one answer is to job for the government.
The very base of your very social order – and this lie includes the need for you to be clever, jugaad, and constantly try to hinder others growth. Literacy was supposed to create a level playing field for all. However, investments in education have actually widened the gap between the English-speaking classes and the vernacular masses. The same people when complaining about corruption will vote for the most corrupt politicians because those are the politicians with the resources to protect them. Now these are the structural problems to TACKLE for the development.
As Atanu dey pointed out in Anna Hazare Goes to New Delhi that this bill is more a palliative and not curative rule change. He is is giving valid reasons on the changes necessary to the structure of government, not just adding another law in the rule book.
Agitation: The delay in implementing is definitely meaningless. Do we educated Indian are full of apathy and nihilism? Recent uproar for support of Anna Hazare proves me wrong.
A petition and peaceful protest has always been ignored. And the government gives in to demands — reasonable or not — when sufficient violence is employed. One wonder whether the government responds only to threats of indefinite fast and violent retreat.
While people suspecting on the motives of Anna Hazare protest, they have to know that a certain level, any act of protest is a form of blackmail. And no protest can succeed without the will of the people. The will of the people don't need impotent and parasitic government slowing down their movement. The vibrant democracy don't need to wait five years for even a small change. If the public has full fledged support, then government should listen and act on the raised concerns. Indian democracy needs volunteer like Hazare to raise their points in public.
Corruption cannot be tackled just through a non-partisan anti-corruption body though that is important but rather through transparency at all transactional levels. Every person with an opinion now has an opportunity to be heard and redesign of system will be a better start.
Wealth Creation: Does wealth have a social value? Corruption, crooked capitalism and lack of transparency has piled up to an uneven development of few. When millionaire is becoming billionaire and so on... while poor are suffering from proper transportation, rehabilitation, medical facilities, education, food security & public distribution system, there is need for a change.
Corruption is the manifestation of a systemic problem. Government power and control forms the foundation on which the massive structure of corruption is built. Visible mechanism and adequate punishment are the standards of system design, not the structure itself.
So there is a much more fundamental question is why do some elites make their money by destroying their economies and others make their money by growing their economies. It is due to having illiterate & unconscious politicians who don't think about state or nation.
Corruption: Mostly poor and partially middle class in India are victims of state indifference and corruption; The money released for subsidy and loan waiver schemes is stolen by corrupt government officials. And yet if one asks us what jobs they would like to have the number one answer is to job for the government.
The very base of your very social order – and this lie includes the need for you to be clever, jugaad, and constantly try to hinder others growth. Literacy was supposed to create a level playing field for all. However, investments in education have actually widened the gap between the English-speaking classes and the vernacular masses. The same people when complaining about corruption will vote for the most corrupt politicians because those are the politicians with the resources to protect them. Now these are the structural problems to TACKLE for the development.
As Atanu dey pointed out in Anna Hazare Goes to New Delhi that this bill is more a palliative and not curative rule change. He is is giving valid reasons on the changes necessary to the structure of government, not just adding another law in the rule book.
The license-permit-control-quota raj is at the root of the criminalization of Indian politics. The less scruples one has, the greater the loot; the greater the loot, the more intense the competition to win the position; the more intense the competition, the greater the cost of fighting elections; the greater the cost, the greater the need to recover them; the more greedy and unprincipled people in government, the greater their desire to increase the government’s choke-hold on the economy.Even awareness of systematic injustices is not enough. Here is the need of new policymakers and participation of the people in politics. The people has to evolve from typical "Operational conservative and theoretical liberal" to "Active Liberal Participant" for a solution.That is my conclusion.
The root cause of corruption and the related issue of absolutely abysmal governance is our set of bad rules. India’s persistent deep-rooted poverty is due to that. Douglass C. North noted that “economic history is overwhelmingly a story of economies that failed to produce a set of economic rules of the game (with enforcement) that induce sustained economic growth.” The road out of poverty starts off with people deciding on a different set of rules.
A petition and peaceful protest has always been ignored. And the government gives in to demands — reasonable or not — when sufficient violence is employed. One wonder whether the government responds only to threats of indefinite fast and violent retreat.
While people suspecting on the motives of Anna Hazare protest, they have to know that a certain level, any act of protest is a form of blackmail. And no protest can succeed without the will of the people. The will of the people don't need impotent and parasitic government slowing down their movement. The vibrant democracy don't need to wait five years for even a small change. If the public has full fledged support, then government should listen and act on the raised concerns. Indian democracy needs volunteer like Hazare to raise their points in public.
Corruption cannot be tackled just through a non-partisan anti-corruption body though that is important but rather through transparency at all transactional levels. Every person with an opinion now has an opportunity to be heard and redesign of system will be a better start.
Wealth Creation: Does wealth have a social value? Corruption, crooked capitalism and lack of transparency has piled up to an uneven development of few. When millionaire is becoming billionaire and so on... while poor are suffering from proper transportation, rehabilitation, medical facilities, education, food security & public distribution system, there is need for a change.
Corruption is the manifestation of a systemic problem. Government power and control forms the foundation on which the massive structure of corruption is built. Visible mechanism and adequate punishment are the standards of system design, not the structure itself.
So there is a much more fundamental question is why do some elites make their money by destroying their economies and others make their money by growing their economies. It is due to having illiterate & unconscious politicians who don't think about state or nation.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
India Against Corruption
Please join this Page at Facebook : India Against Corruption
Read also Full text of Anna Hazare's letter to the PM
Politicians has drafted the Lokpal bill that would allow to provide far too many loopholes. And Anna Hazare has moral stature to challenge this corrupt government.
We can really convert Jantar Mantar to Tahrir Square. Thanks Anna for leading us today.
When India won World Cup, people were there seen everywhere with joy on the streets and now when Anna Hazare is doing fast against corruption, media vans are over-numbering protesters. I hope this Caravan does not met its demise due to IPL. And that will be real tragic for this nation.
First Understand :What is Lokpal bill ? and What is proposed Jan Lokpal Bill ? then only read further.
Read also Full text of Anna Hazare's letter to the PM
Politicians has drafted the Lokpal bill that would allow to provide far too many loopholes. And Anna Hazare has moral stature to challenge this corrupt government.
We can really convert Jantar Mantar to Tahrir Square. Thanks Anna for leading us today.
When India won World Cup, people were there seen everywhere with joy on the streets and now when Anna Hazare is doing fast against corruption, media vans are over-numbering protesters. I hope this Caravan does not met its demise due to IPL. And that will be real tragic for this nation.
Friday, January 28, 2011
WikiLeaks on Corporate Corruption
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 romance between men and women is often forbidden without approval.
7. The economy is centrally planned.
8. There is pervasive surveillance of movement and electronic communication.
9. The society is heavily regulated, to the degree many employees are told when, where and how many times a day they can go to the toilet.
10. There is little transparency and something like the Freedom of Information Act is unimaginable.
11. Internal opposition groups, such as unions, are blackbanned, surveilled and/or marginalized whenever and wherever possible.
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 romance between men and women is often forbidden without approval.
7. The economy is centrally planned.
8. There is pervasive surveillance of movement and electronic communication.
9. The society is heavily regulated, to the degree many employees are told when, where and how many times a day they can go to the toilet.
10. There is little transparency and something like the Freedom of Information Act is unimaginable.
11. Internal opposition groups, such as unions, are blackbanned, surveilled and/or marginalized whenever and wherever possible.
While having a GDP and population comparable to Belgium, Denmark or New Zealand, many of these multi-national corporations have nothing like their quality of civic freedoms and protections. This is even more striking when the regional civic laws the company operates under are weak (such as in West Papua, many African states or even South Korea); there, the character of these corporate tyrannies is unregulated by their civilizing surroundings.
Through governmental corruption, political influence, or manipulation of the judicial system, abusive corporations are able to gain control over the defining element of government the sole right to deploy coercive force.
Just like a country, a corrupt or unethical corporation is a menace to all inside and outside it. Corporations will behave more ethically if the world is watching closely. WikiLeaks has exposed unethical plans and behaviour in corporations and this as resulted in recompense or other forms of justice forms of justice for victims.
Source - WikiLeaks
Sunday, December 19, 2010
I protest !
Why there is a Julian Assange at all ? Reason: watchdog journalism is dead. The media is bought and paid for the PR work. We have to be careful to distinguish between the man and the institution since confusing the two can lead to the unfortunate mistake of shooting the messenger for delivering an unpalatable message. Its the individuals who had changed the world by creatively destroying the old institutions and building new ones.
We need more people speaking out. This country is not overrun with rebels and free thinkers. It's overrun with sheep and conformists. This country suffers from an excess of civil obedience. As Oscar Wilde said: “Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man's original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.”
The right to protest clears the path to progress and inclusion. There is a short term sacrifice of protest. Every person is the beneficiary of a long line of protesters stretching back through the centuries who has stand up for the unprivileged and oppressed. Every worker gets minimum wages, every woman reading this can vote and every pensioner gets enough to survive because protesters demanded it. What what life would be like if all those protesters through all those years had been frightened into inactivity? We were left at the whim of an elite, whose priority is tax cuts for themselves, paid for with spending cuts for the poor.
When two entities exchange value for mutual benefit, it is symbiosis. When two entities exchange value with one gaining more than the other, it is exploitation. When two entities exchange value at the cost of the third, it is…yes, drum-roll the word we Indians love to hate, talk about and practice the most, Corruption. The measure of corruption is not just the exchange of money. It is the distance and dissimulation rulers exhibit in relation to their own governments. To be always honest and aware about ground realities is enough in the fight against corruption.
India is a nation of sheep walking in herds and try to stick as closely as possible with the caste and enclosed community with not willing or able to break rank or file for anything. Opportunists align themselves with changing beliefs to temporarily form identity-based groups in order to achieve political or economic objectives subsuming the manifest differences between their identities. This country needs large numbers of anarchists and entrepreneurs for the progress and mobility across various groups.
Examples of this unbreakable code of silence are prevalent everywhere around us. Our moral compass tends to be so tilted in the favor of strongly armed with money power than the needy. Then, we justify lack of emotions and sensibility to each other with by the name of Immunity or barbaric I ask? Ours society punishes the victims and ensure that the torturers or criminals roam free without any sense of guilt.
Our various fortune tellers think one day some of us will rise and bring about some sort of revolution led by a savior to end all our evils. Well newsflash! Saviors come from people who are determined to save themselves. They don't arise from those who keep their heads down in the rat race making sure not to be noticed, because if someone stops them and asks, they will have to say something which will challenge the system, and then their lives will stop as they will become aware of their own soullessness because they are the system.
It's the nature of a human that when you get neglected somewhere you want to go back and prove a point. I don't give respect to do-gooders as they are idiots who actually believe that everyone is trying to do their best and don't have an intention of harm. Squeezed between well-intentioned stupid people and the essentially criminal, I am pissed. I have a foolish head that does not abide by the moral values of everyone and absurd traditions of honor. I am a emotional and over aggressive as well as because I can't cover up the truth. The power of truth and transparency will surely unveil the hypocrisy around and in us.
It is to hard to pigeonhole the man in any identity or role as Jonathan Swift, author of the English classic Gulliver’s Travels (1726), had pithily observed that “when a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him.”
We need more people speaking out. This country is not overrun with rebels and free thinkers. It's overrun with sheep and conformists. This country suffers from an excess of civil obedience. As Oscar Wilde said: “Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man's original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.”
The right to protest clears the path to progress and inclusion. There is a short term sacrifice of protest. Every person is the beneficiary of a long line of protesters stretching back through the centuries who has stand up for the unprivileged and oppressed. Every worker gets minimum wages, every woman reading this can vote and every pensioner gets enough to survive because protesters demanded it. What what life would be like if all those protesters through all those years had been frightened into inactivity? We were left at the whim of an elite, whose priority is tax cuts for themselves, paid for with spending cuts for the poor.
When two entities exchange value for mutual benefit, it is symbiosis. When two entities exchange value with one gaining more than the other, it is exploitation. When two entities exchange value at the cost of the third, it is…yes, drum-roll the word we Indians love to hate, talk about and practice the most, Corruption. The measure of corruption is not just the exchange of money. It is the distance and dissimulation rulers exhibit in relation to their own governments. To be always honest and aware about ground realities is enough in the fight against corruption.
India is a nation of sheep walking in herds and try to stick as closely as possible with the caste and enclosed community with not willing or able to break rank or file for anything. Opportunists align themselves with changing beliefs to temporarily form identity-based groups in order to achieve political or economic objectives subsuming the manifest differences between their identities. This country needs large numbers of anarchists and entrepreneurs for the progress and mobility across various groups.
Our various fortune tellers think one day some of us will rise and bring about some sort of revolution led by a savior to end all our evils. Well newsflash! Saviors come from people who are determined to save themselves. They don't arise from those who keep their heads down in the rat race making sure not to be noticed, because if someone stops them and asks, they will have to say something which will challenge the system, and then their lives will stop as they will become aware of their own soullessness because they are the system.
It's the nature of a human that when you get neglected somewhere you want to go back and prove a point. I don't give respect to do-gooders as they are idiots who actually believe that everyone is trying to do their best and don't have an intention of harm. Squeezed between well-intentioned stupid people and the essentially criminal, I am pissed. I have a foolish head that does not abide by the moral values of everyone and absurd traditions of honor. I am a emotional and over aggressive as well as because I can't cover up the truth. The power of truth and transparency will surely unveil the hypocrisy around and in us.
It is to hard to pigeonhole the man in any identity or role as Jonathan Swift, author of the English classic Gulliver’s Travels (1726), had pithily observed that “when a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him.”
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Ten Issues - 9
1- India's Telecom Scam: How Can a Corrupt System Be Cleaned? : The telecom scam that recently forced the resignation of telecom minister A. Raja defrauded the country to the tune of nearly US$40 billion. Since telecom is an industry that links backward and forward to several others, the total economic cost could well be hundreds of billions of dollars. This scandal shows that corruption has deep roots in Indian society, but informed voters and the democratic process can help eradicate it, argues Rajesh Jain, managing director of Mumbai-based Netcore Solutions, in this opinion piece.
2- Audre Lorde’s quote “anger is loaded with information” ; When you are at the wrong end of the unjust societies, many truths that are clear to you come out loaded with information. Read complete 6 page essay on Uses of Anger. Thanks to Anu.
3-The narcissism of the neurotic by P Sainath : The Commonwealth Games were no showcase, but a mirror of India 2010. If they presented anything, it was this — Indian crony, casino capitalism at its most vigorous.
4- This is not a panel discussion : Meet four Adivasi intellectuals whose lives have changed the politics and conversations about indigenous people, says G VISHNU
5-The Burden Of Knowing By Charles Hugh Smith: Knowing what lies ahead is a great emotional burden. The knowledge that the present is unsustainable is, for many of us, a great emotional burden. It troubles our sleep, our minds, and our basic emotional well-being. Knowledge, like memory, cannot be erased at will, and thus it runs in the background of our lives, unseen by others but deeply troubling to the knower.
6- Religious Excuse of barbarity by Johann Hari: If you are engaged in an act of cruelty, there is an easy, effective way to silence your critics and snatch some space to carry on. Tell us all that your religion requires you to do it, and you are "offended" by any critical response. Erect an electric wire fence around your nastiest actions and call it "respect".
7- Microfinance is under attack. Even the normally reticent pink newspapers have now begun to bring out the inherent flaws in the microfinance model.Check some facts here- MFIs: Profiteering from poverty and Five myths about microfinance.
8- When girls fear school by Kalpana Sharma: The reasons for the high drop-out rate of girls are simple: Fear of corporal punishment, sexual abuse and the lack of basic amenities like toilets in schools.
9- Valerie Plame, YES! Wikileaks, NO! : It is the American people who should be outraged that its government has transformed a nation with a reputation for freedom, justice, tolerance and respect for human rights into a backwater that revels in its criminality, cover-ups, injustices and hypocrisies.
Thought of the Day :
Julian Assange writes in his blog: “True belief is when a voice booms ‘the prisoner shall now rise’ and no one else in the room stands”.
2- Audre Lorde’s quote “anger is loaded with information” ; When you are at the wrong end of the unjust societies, many truths that are clear to you come out loaded with information. Read complete 6 page essay on Uses of Anger. Thanks to Anu.
3-The narcissism of the neurotic by P Sainath : The Commonwealth Games were no showcase, but a mirror of India 2010. If they presented anything, it was this — Indian crony, casino capitalism at its most vigorous.
4- This is not a panel discussion : Meet four Adivasi intellectuals whose lives have changed the politics and conversations about indigenous people, says G VISHNU
5-The Burden Of Knowing By Charles Hugh Smith: Knowing what lies ahead is a great emotional burden. The knowledge that the present is unsustainable is, for many of us, a great emotional burden. It troubles our sleep, our minds, and our basic emotional well-being. Knowledge, like memory, cannot be erased at will, and thus it runs in the background of our lives, unseen by others but deeply troubling to the knower.
6- Religious Excuse of barbarity by Johann Hari: If you are engaged in an act of cruelty, there is an easy, effective way to silence your critics and snatch some space to carry on. Tell us all that your religion requires you to do it, and you are "offended" by any critical response. Erect an electric wire fence around your nastiest actions and call it "respect".
7- Microfinance is under attack. Even the normally reticent pink newspapers have now begun to bring out the inherent flaws in the microfinance model.Check some facts here- MFIs: Profiteering from poverty and Five myths about microfinance.
8- When girls fear school by Kalpana Sharma: The reasons for the high drop-out rate of girls are simple: Fear of corporal punishment, sexual abuse and the lack of basic amenities like toilets in schools.
9- Valerie Plame, YES! Wikileaks, NO! : It is the American people who should be outraged that its government has transformed a nation with a reputation for freedom, justice, tolerance and respect for human rights into a backwater that revels in its criminality, cover-ups, injustices and hypocrisies.
So savor the Wikileaks documents while you can, because soon they'll be gone. And for the government criminals of the world, and for those who protect them, it will again be business as usual.
10- Meet Dr. Dani: One of the unsung heroes of our public service institutions : . Yet, there are people such as Dani in many of the small hospitals in the country, whose toils go unheard, and whose stories go unsaid.Thought of the Day :
Julian Assange writes in his blog: “True belief is when a voice booms ‘the prisoner shall now rise’ and no one else in the room stands”.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Ten Issues - 5
1- Who pays the price for paid news? : In mid-June, the Election Commission of India directed Chief Electoral Officers of all states and Union Territories to enforce the law against "paid news" during elections. The institutionalised racket has been running into hundreds of crores of rupees. Ammu Joseph brings you up to speed.
2- Lokayukta stand on illegal Bellary mining has put Government of Karnataka in trouble. Santosh Hegde, the Lokayukta (ombudsman) for Karnataka gives first hand account to Tehelka Magazine.
3- Why you must read this censored chapter: Raman Kirpal reports, When the truth about the flouting of tribal rights in the Red Corridor struck home, the government dropped a whole chunk of damning material from a report it had itself commissioned.
4- Living with the Enemy: Applying the ideas of Holocaust survivor Jean Améry to present day Rwanda, our author argues that reconciliation after genocide is just another form of torture.
5- How Goldman gambled on starvation: Speculators set up a casino where the chips were the stomachs of millions. What does it say about our system that we can so casually inflict so much pain?
6- Why You Shouldn’t Leave the Web to the Web Guys : Here are a few simple rules that will help you get the most out of your web development and digital strategy.
7- “10 Ways to Run a Banana State” ; Kopach, a columnist for the independent portal Okno.mk, published a list translated at Global Voice Online.
8- Size of the Public Domain : The basic take away from the analysis was the finding that, based on library catalogue data. A take on copyright issues.
9- Narayana Hrudayalaya: A Model for Accessible, Affordable Health Care.
10- The Narcissism of the Small Difference: In ethno-national conflicts, it really is the little things that tick people off. Check conclusion of article here only :
One of the great advantages possessed by Homo sapiens is the amazing lack of variation between its different "branches." Since we left Africa, we have diverged as a species hardly at all. If we were dogs, we would all be the same breed. We do not suffer from the enormous differences that separate other primates, let alone other mammals. As if to spite this huge natural gift, and to disfigure what could be our overwhelming solidarity, we manage to find excuses for chauvinism and racism on the most minor of occasions and then to make the most of them. This is why condemnation of bigotry and superstition is not just a moral question but a matter of survival.
Thought of Day : When an ordinary farmer unable to feed his family commits suicide, it is not even a footnote. When a model, no matter how faded, kills herself, it is in headlines on all television channels. That is corporate media for us.
2- Lokayukta stand on illegal Bellary mining has put Government of Karnataka in trouble. Santosh Hegde, the Lokayukta (ombudsman) for Karnataka gives first hand account to Tehelka Magazine.
3- Why you must read this censored chapter: Raman Kirpal reports, When the truth about the flouting of tribal rights in the Red Corridor struck home, the government dropped a whole chunk of damning material from a report it had itself commissioned.
4- Living with the Enemy: Applying the ideas of Holocaust survivor Jean Améry to present day Rwanda, our author argues that reconciliation after genocide is just another form of torture.
5- How Goldman gambled on starvation: Speculators set up a casino where the chips were the stomachs of millions. What does it say about our system that we can so casually inflict so much pain?
6- Why You Shouldn’t Leave the Web to the Web Guys : Here are a few simple rules that will help you get the most out of your web development and digital strategy.
7- “10 Ways to Run a Banana State” ; Kopach, a columnist for the independent portal Okno.mk, published a list translated at Global Voice Online.
8- Size of the Public Domain : The basic take away from the analysis was the finding that, based on library catalogue data. A take on copyright issues.
9- Narayana Hrudayalaya: A Model for Accessible, Affordable Health Care.
10- The Narcissism of the Small Difference: In ethno-national conflicts, it really is the little things that tick people off. Check conclusion of article here only :
One of the great advantages possessed by Homo sapiens is the amazing lack of variation between its different "branches." Since we left Africa, we have diverged as a species hardly at all. If we were dogs, we would all be the same breed. We do not suffer from the enormous differences that separate other primates, let alone other mammals. As if to spite this huge natural gift, and to disfigure what could be our overwhelming solidarity, we manage to find excuses for chauvinism and racism on the most minor of occasions and then to make the most of them. This is why condemnation of bigotry and superstition is not just a moral question but a matter of survival.
Thought of Day : When an ordinary farmer unable to feed his family commits suicide, it is not even a footnote. When a model, no matter how faded, kills herself, it is in headlines on all television channels. That is corporate media for us.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Ten Issues - 3
1- The Dance of Indian Democracy covers about a democratic form of governance, a liberal constitution, and secular public institutions in India since 1947.
2- The email Interview with Anupama Rao is largely about her new book, The Caste Question: Dalits and The Politics of Modern India. Anupama Rao is an Associate Professor of South Asian History at Barnard College, New York.
3-The Southasian Idea debates intensly on Development and Violence: Some Clues? : How does one characterize the Indian state and understand its actions on the issues of development.
4- Over at An Academic View of India, Vikram highlights key differences between the US and India in the way their higher ed institutions interact with the community at large . Extending the discussion with more opinions by Prof. Abi at nanopolitan and Rahul Siddharthan at Universities and cities ;
5-Contract Workers at IITK: A Response to Commonly Held Misconceptions : Rahul Verman is attempting to understand various aspects of the problem about Contract Workers at IITK and what can be the possible ways of addressing them as have understood personally with all its biases and limitations.
6-One Country, many Worlds..and a forgotten Manipur: There is a state in India that is hit by 60 days blockade and government is unable to do anything. And our fellow patriotic countrymen haven't even noticed this issue seriously. Also check Living in a Blockade: A first-hand account from Manipur for getting a non political view on the problem faced by Manipuri people. Added Late: Economic Blockade In Manipur State.
7- Sick Man Walking: Satyam’s Raju has been in hospital for nine months, evading trial even via video conferencing. Pushp Sharma got himself admitted into the same hospital and found the former IT czar ill, but fit for trial.
8- David Brooks voices his opinion in History for Dollars on the positive side of study of humanities. Studying the humanities will give us a wealth of analogies....
9- Britain: The Disgrace of the Universities: Author has an argument that Slow scholarship—like Slow Food—is deeper and richer and more nourishing than the fast stuff. But it takes longer to make, and to do it properly, you have to employ eccentric people who insist on doing things their way.
10- The Global University in Crisis-I: Knowledge Struggles in Europe and USA : This is the first part of on the politics of global higher education today. In the first part, it is a discussion of the Euro-US movements against the University.
2- The email Interview with Anupama Rao is largely about her new book, The Caste Question: Dalits and The Politics of Modern India. Anupama Rao is an Associate Professor of South Asian History at Barnard College, New York.
3-The Southasian Idea debates intensly on Development and Violence: Some Clues? : How does one characterize the Indian state and understand its actions on the issues of development.
4- Over at An Academic View of India, Vikram highlights key differences between the US and India in the way their higher ed institutions interact with the community at large . Extending the discussion with more opinions by Prof. Abi at nanopolitan and Rahul Siddharthan at Universities and cities ;
5-Contract Workers at IITK: A Response to Commonly Held Misconceptions : Rahul Verman is attempting to understand various aspects of the problem about Contract Workers at IITK and what can be the possible ways of addressing them as have understood personally with all its biases and limitations.
6-One Country, many Worlds..and a forgotten Manipur: There is a state in India that is hit by 60 days blockade and government is unable to do anything. And our fellow patriotic countrymen haven't even noticed this issue seriously. Also check Living in a Blockade: A first-hand account from Manipur for getting a non political view on the problem faced by Manipuri people. Added Late: Economic Blockade In Manipur State.
7- Sick Man Walking: Satyam’s Raju has been in hospital for nine months, evading trial even via video conferencing. Pushp Sharma got himself admitted into the same hospital and found the former IT czar ill, but fit for trial.
8- David Brooks voices his opinion in History for Dollars on the positive side of study of humanities. Studying the humanities will give us a wealth of analogies....
9- Britain: The Disgrace of the Universities: Author has an argument that Slow scholarship—like Slow Food—is deeper and richer and more nourishing than the fast stuff. But it takes longer to make, and to do it properly, you have to employ eccentric people who insist on doing things their way.
10- The Global University in Crisis-I: Knowledge Struggles in Europe and USA : This is the first part of on the politics of global higher education today. In the first part, it is a discussion of the Euro-US movements against the University.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Yeh hai mera India
Why people in India die for the government service?
I got the indirect answer of not only this question but few more by an article by Gurcharan Das. It explains our mindset and employment of large amount of workers in unorganised sector.
"India's labour laws protect jobs, not workers. They assume that a job is for a lifetime, and do not allow employers flexibility to lay off workers in a downturn. Thus, Indian companies avoid hiring permanent employees, and 90 per cent of India's workers have ended up in the informal sector without any benefits or safety net. This is one of the reasons that the manufacturing sector has not become an engine of mass employment in India."
One more worth reading page about India's tryst with corruption is available for readers. Your concern and opinions are welcome.
I got the indirect answer of not only this question but few more by an article by Gurcharan Das. It explains our mindset and employment of large amount of workers in unorganised sector.
"India's labour laws protect jobs, not workers. They assume that a job is for a lifetime, and do not allow employers flexibility to lay off workers in a downturn. Thus, Indian companies avoid hiring permanent employees, and 90 per cent of India's workers have ended up in the informal sector without any benefits or safety net. This is one of the reasons that the manufacturing sector has not become an engine of mass employment in India."
One more worth reading page about India's tryst with corruption is available for readers. Your concern and opinions are welcome.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Playing Devil's advocate for Banaras Hindu University
Banaras Hindu University is an internationally reputed temple of learning, situated in the holy city of Varanasi. This Creative and innovative university was founded by the great nationalist leader, Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya, in 1916 with cooperation of great personalities like Dr Annie Besant, who viewed it as the University of India.
Recently, The South Campus of the Banaras Hindu University is attempting to become the first carbon neutral (rate of emission and absorption of carbon being equal) university campus in the country, with a massive plantation drive of 1.76 lakh saplings on 400 acres of land under National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) Scheme in the region. Already BHU has placed a ban on Coke and Pepsi on campus. They are the positive aspects of the development and more can be found out here.
These are good news but now I will embark our journey to some 'negative items' unknown in mainstream media. I often quote the Spanish born American philosopher, George Santayana, ''Those who do not remember their past, will be condemned to repeat it.” Hence remembering some forgotten chapters is indeed needed.
There is always a feeling that BHU is doing the country a great favor by its existence in the profit making education system. Nice trees & old buildings with great names attached to them is the first thing you notice when you come to BHU, Varanasi. It is an oasis of greenery in a desert of narrow, crowded and ill equipped infrastructure of Varanasi. Another thing one notices is the number of people from U.P. & Bihar here, which is close to despairingly high in student's population. Special section of North east, Nepal and foreign students are there, still an environment of national university is missing.
1- Once upon a time, BHU also had stand for “Banaras Hooligan's University" for its university election politics. Sandeep Pandey, Ramon Magsaysay award winner and alumnus of the Institute of Technology at the Banaras Hindu University (IT-BHU), says: "As a Banaras Hindu University student with a rosy picture of politics as an instrument of social change, I had run for the post of representative of the university’s Institute of Technology in 1985. It was a shocking experience: the candidates for the posts of president, vice-president and general-secretary asked me to align with them on the basis of a common caste, and they offered me access to any movie in town — and also liquor, if needed, for students who could pledge their votes. Having won the election, I attended the first few meetings of the union. They left me disillusioned for life about Indian electoral politics."
For full report, read in detail.
2- Oct 06 , 2007 News Item, Cast Color to Varsity Blues: " Rajesh Kumar Mishra, Congress MP from Varanasi, is leading a campaign against casteism at his alma mater Banaras Hindu University (BHU), alleging that its Vice-Chancellor Dr Panjab Singh has appointed Rajputs to all important posts and new recruitment. The “Thakurvaad” in BHU has Varanasi’s Brahmin academics up in arms, the Prime Minister’s Office has been requested to order an inquiry and fingers have been pointed at Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh, himself a Thakur from Madhya Pradesh.?"
The report seemed sour grapes for brahmins then. Anonymous (can be uncredible) that Brahmin forget the brahminvaad prevailing during Vice-Chancellor D.N. Mishra. who was better know as Do Nothing Mishra in student community. Little information about chronological list of VC of BHU. I don't know the follow up but pretty sure, Can there be Smoke without Fire ?
3- BHU Funds Scam(1956) : In one of the first instances of corruption in educational institutions, Benaras Hindu University officials were accused of misappropriation of funds worth Rs 50 lakh.
Great People in the respectable positions has taken corrupt route but I can't just digest the amount of money involved in the corruption in 1950's.
4- "Micro-inequities are ways in which people are ignored, disrespected, undermined, or somehow treated in a different (negative) way because of their gender or race (or some other intrinsic characteristic). A micro-inequity can be very micro. It can involve an action or words or even a tone of voice or a gesture. The inequity can be a deliberate attempt to harm someone or it can be unintentional, rooted in a person's perceptions about others. Whatever the source and however minor each separate event, over the years the cumulative effect of these little incidents, words, and gestures on an individual and on various segments of society (academia, business, even within families) is not so micro." [Source]
These micro- inequalities exist in BHU, Varanasi like any other university or working place due to patriarchal society structure. Personally, I felt there exist gender segregation attitude in BHU administration. More light about this issue can be shed by the readers of this post only. I hope that my analysis was wrong...
Pankaj Mishra has written at length about foreign women in Benares who face frequent verbal and physical harassment. e.g., Chapter 14 of his book, `Butter Chicken in Ludhiana: Travels in small town India' (1995, Penguin India). He describes the harassment experienced by several foreign women students in Benares, whom he had interviewed. Indian women too suffer harassment, but the frequency and severity seem to be much worse for foreigners. Most of the women Mishra spoke to felt that the Benares Hindu University (BHU) was the most difficult place for them. One of the reasons conjectured for the situation is the emergence of a new class of people in BHU and in the city, who came there from the extremely feudal areas around Benares, combining the feudalism of their upbringing with the mindless consumerism of a growing city.
5- Babu Jagjivan Ram & Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar are alumnus of this university only. Caste discrimination faced by Jagjivan Ram isn't discussed openly (take few exceptions of seminars) due to higher caste dominated university administration. And about Guruji, how pseudo secular people can call him as notable alumnus ? There are bad people in BHU, there are good people. Just like anywhere, really. This is not the attempt to defame BHU but to unearth some deeply hidden facts or mere fictions. Your views will be regarded in high respect for the sake of truth.
*In common parlance, a devil's advocate is someone who takes a position he or she does not necessarily agree with for the sake of Logical argument. This process can be used to test the quality of the original argument and identify weaknesses in its structure.
These are good news but now I will embark our journey to some 'negative items' unknown in mainstream media. I often quote the Spanish born American philosopher, George Santayana, ''Those who do not remember their past, will be condemned to repeat it.” Hence remembering some forgotten chapters is indeed needed.
There is always a feeling that BHU is doing the country a great favor by its existence in the profit making education system. Nice trees & old buildings with great names attached to them is the first thing you notice when you come to BHU, Varanasi. It is an oasis of greenery in a desert of narrow, crowded and ill equipped infrastructure of Varanasi. Another thing one notices is the number of people from U.P. & Bihar here, which is close to despairingly high in student's population. Special section of North east, Nepal and foreign students are there, still an environment of national university is missing.
1- Once upon a time, BHU also had stand for “Banaras Hooligan's University" for its university election politics. Sandeep Pandey, Ramon Magsaysay award winner and alumnus of the Institute of Technology at the Banaras Hindu University (IT-BHU), says: "As a Banaras Hindu University student with a rosy picture of politics as an instrument of social change, I had run for the post of representative of the university’s Institute of Technology in 1985. It was a shocking experience: the candidates for the posts of president, vice-president and general-secretary asked me to align with them on the basis of a common caste, and they offered me access to any movie in town — and also liquor, if needed, for students who could pledge their votes. Having won the election, I attended the first few meetings of the union. They left me disillusioned for life about Indian electoral politics."
For full report, read in detail.
2- Oct 06 , 2007 News Item, Cast Color to Varsity Blues: " Rajesh Kumar Mishra, Congress MP from Varanasi, is leading a campaign against casteism at his alma mater Banaras Hindu University (BHU), alleging that its Vice-Chancellor Dr Panjab Singh has appointed Rajputs to all important posts and new recruitment. The “Thakurvaad” in BHU has Varanasi’s Brahmin academics up in arms, the Prime Minister’s Office has been requested to order an inquiry and fingers have been pointed at Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh, himself a Thakur from Madhya Pradesh.?"
The report seemed sour grapes for brahmins then. Anonymous (can be uncredible) that Brahmin forget the brahminvaad prevailing during Vice-Chancellor D.N. Mishra. who was better know as Do Nothing Mishra in student community. Little information about chronological list of VC of BHU. I don't know the follow up but pretty sure, Can there be Smoke without Fire ?
3- BHU Funds Scam(1956) : In one of the first instances of corruption in educational institutions, Benaras Hindu University officials were accused of misappropriation of funds worth Rs 50 lakh.
Great People in the respectable positions has taken corrupt route but I can't just digest the amount of money involved in the corruption in 1950's.
4- "Micro-inequities are ways in which people are ignored, disrespected, undermined, or somehow treated in a different (negative) way because of their gender or race (or some other intrinsic characteristic). A micro-inequity can be very micro. It can involve an action or words or even a tone of voice or a gesture. The inequity can be a deliberate attempt to harm someone or it can be unintentional, rooted in a person's perceptions about others. Whatever the source and however minor each separate event, over the years the cumulative effect of these little incidents, words, and gestures on an individual and on various segments of society (academia, business, even within families) is not so micro." [Source]
These micro- inequalities exist in BHU, Varanasi like any other university or working place due to patriarchal society structure. Personally, I felt there exist gender segregation attitude in BHU administration. More light about this issue can be shed by the readers of this post only. I hope that my analysis was wrong...
Pankaj Mishra has written at length about foreign women in Benares who face frequent verbal and physical harassment. e.g., Chapter 14 of his book, `Butter Chicken in Ludhiana: Travels in small town India' (1995, Penguin India). He describes the harassment experienced by several foreign women students in Benares, whom he had interviewed. Indian women too suffer harassment, but the frequency and severity seem to be much worse for foreigners. Most of the women Mishra spoke to felt that the Benares Hindu University (BHU) was the most difficult place for them. One of the reasons conjectured for the situation is the emergence of a new class of people in BHU and in the city, who came there from the extremely feudal areas around Benares, combining the feudalism of their upbringing with the mindless consumerism of a growing city.
5- Babu Jagjivan Ram & Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar are alumnus of this university only. Caste discrimination faced by Jagjivan Ram isn't discussed openly (take few exceptions of seminars) due to higher caste dominated university administration. And about Guruji, how pseudo secular people can call him as notable alumnus ? There are bad people in BHU, there are good people. Just like anywhere, really. This is not the attempt to defame BHU but to unearth some deeply hidden facts or mere fictions. Your views will be regarded in high respect for the sake of truth.
*In common parlance, a devil's advocate is someone who takes a position he or she does not necessarily agree with for the sake of Logical argument. This process can be used to test the quality of the original argument and identify weaknesses in its structure.
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