Statistician Nic Marks asks why we measure a nation's success by its productivity -- instead of by the happiness and well-being of its people. He introduces the Happy Planet Index, which tracks national well-being against resource use;
The Happy Planet Index
Weblinks On Developemt :-
Multidimensional Poverty Index: OPHI and the UNDP Human Development Report launch the Multidimensional Poverty Index or MPI – an innovative new measure that gives a vivid “multidimensional” picture of people living in poverty.
Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness Index : The GNH index was created using the Alkire Foster method for multidimensional measurement. The 2008 GNH index took a strong view and identified any person who has not achieved sufficiency in all dimensions and all indicators as unhappy.
The Alkire Foster Method : An Innovative Technique for Multidimensional Measurement used for measurement of the poverty.
Index of Economic Freedom World Rankings : India is ranked 24th out of 41 countries in the Asia–Pacific region, and its overall score is below the world average.
Corruption Perceptions Index 2009: The CPI score indicates the perceived level of public-sector corruption in a country/territory. India ranks 84;
Statistics of the Human Development Report : The HDI provides a composite measure of three dimensions of human development: living a long and healthy life (measured by life expectancy), being educated (measured by adult literacy and gross enrolment in education) and having a decent standard of living (measured by purchasing power parity, PPP, income). The index is not in any sense a comprehensive measure of human development. It does not, for example, include important indicators such as gender or income inequality nor more difficult to measure concepts like respect for human rights and political freedoms. What it does provide is a broadened prism for viewing human progress and the complex relationship between income and well-being. And overall India ranks 134.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
The Art of Writing
I assume myself as a scholar and dreaming to become a revolutionary’. I am willing to infuse soul rather than image in writing. Even after listening the lecture embedded below, I don't know what invokes creativity. Creativity might just be a term to describe accepted dysfunction of the norm.
A bad phase in writing has been going on as I am becoming compiler these days. One blogger commented also : Once you start getting 'inspired', you may never realize the extent of your 'inspiration' . The tilt between adaptation, copying and original ideas shifts from one end to another. I am writing for awareness of the whole world and gathering all existing knowledge.
I have been advised to generate some positive wave. Otherwise there are hell lots of things wrong in world and we have to pick the priority. Still, a positive news should be balanced with showcasing negativity around. Its very hard to maintain a truly moral perspective on anything in the writing. The ambiguity and randomness changes ours perspective each moment. When it comes to taking stand on the issues, I tend to focus on intention rather than outcome. That is to say, the 'attempted harm' scenario seems worse than the 'accidental harm' version. The ability to make this distinction seems to develop throughout the understanding events, however. Writing only refines in orderly way.
That Facebook and Twitter are like junk food just before dinner that blunts the desire to blog. They may be our instantaneous response but don't give us answers for the phenomenon. Blog is like a patience way of observing and documenting the world. With everything in the life, there is a place of balance. That I am seeking...
Novelist Amy Tan on creativity : She digs deep into the creative process, looking for hints of how hers evolved.
Loved final summary of the video:
As from nothingness comes something.
In randomness comes chance.
In chance comes finding but also loss.
In replacing the observer with the participator there indeed comes responsibility.
In participating with a true heart comes balance.
As seeking balance is survival.
In survival there is creativity.
A bad phase in writing has been going on as I am becoming compiler these days. One blogger commented also : Once you start getting 'inspired', you may never realize the extent of your 'inspiration' . The tilt between adaptation, copying and original ideas shifts from one end to another. I am writing for awareness of the whole world and gathering all existing knowledge.
I have been advised to generate some positive wave. Otherwise there are hell lots of things wrong in world and we have to pick the priority. Still, a positive news should be balanced with showcasing negativity around. Its very hard to maintain a truly moral perspective on anything in the writing. The ambiguity and randomness changes ours perspective each moment. When it comes to taking stand on the issues, I tend to focus on intention rather than outcome. That is to say, the 'attempted harm' scenario seems worse than the 'accidental harm' version. The ability to make this distinction seems to develop throughout the understanding events, however. Writing only refines in orderly way.
That Facebook and Twitter are like junk food just before dinner that blunts the desire to blog. They may be our instantaneous response but don't give us answers for the phenomenon. Blog is like a patience way of observing and documenting the world. With everything in the life, there is a place of balance. That I am seeking...
Novelist Amy Tan on creativity : She digs deep into the creative process, looking for hints of how hers evolved.
Loved final summary of the video:
As from nothingness comes something.
In randomness comes chance.
In chance comes finding but also loss.
In replacing the observer with the participator there indeed comes responsibility.
In participating with a true heart comes balance.
As seeking balance is survival.
In survival there is creativity.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Development of India -1
Anil Gupta: India's hidden hotbeds of invention
Employment, Investment and Entrepreneurship can change the future of India.
The institutional reform in India is usually the outcome of pressure from the middle and educated class. Opinions of poor are under represented due to their illiteracy and lack of access to information in judging good and bad systems and demanding reforms. Under representation of weak gender and lower caste is hindering inclusive growth. We have to form new partnerships on the basis of equality and not on the basis of domination. In democracy, political parties are learning it. In business and educational sector, its still out of scope.
Our government believe that they could direct economic growth in top down model. The state of India typically encompassed two aspects : as provider of goods and services and as a regulator and decision maker. But a country's economic structures are finally run by people, and power held in a vacuum- either by the state or by markets- allows them to circumvent rules and tilt decisions in their favor. That causes corruption to grow
Ignorance of ability brings disability. To be effective and sustainable, there is no need of political compulsion. Extrapolate only from what happening in present, we can expect transformation. When we start thinking of solutions in terms of the future, rather than just the present our past, it unlocks the imagination and energizes people.
Here's a simple management lesson that I follow with the money: borrow money to buy things that go up in value. Bad policy is the result of bad lobbying. In a limited and closed (localized) market, increased productivity only resulted in surplus goods and falling prices and there is no legal limit on how little you could offer a human being for their labor. Avoid both glitches to see the new incentives at grass root level.
Employment, Investment and Entrepreneurship can change the future of India.
The institutional reform in India is usually the outcome of pressure from the middle and educated class. Opinions of poor are under represented due to their illiteracy and lack of access to information in judging good and bad systems and demanding reforms. Under representation of weak gender and lower caste is hindering inclusive growth. We have to form new partnerships on the basis of equality and not on the basis of domination. In democracy, political parties are learning it. In business and educational sector, its still out of scope.
Our government believe that they could direct economic growth in top down model. The state of India typically encompassed two aspects : as provider of goods and services and as a regulator and decision maker. But a country's economic structures are finally run by people, and power held in a vacuum- either by the state or by markets- allows them to circumvent rules and tilt decisions in their favor. That causes corruption to grow
Ignorance of ability brings disability. To be effective and sustainable, there is no need of political compulsion. Extrapolate only from what happening in present, we can expect transformation. When we start thinking of solutions in terms of the future, rather than just the present our past, it unlocks the imagination and energizes people.
Here's a simple management lesson that I follow with the money: borrow money to buy things that go up in value. Bad policy is the result of bad lobbying. In a limited and closed (localized) market, increased productivity only resulted in surplus goods and falling prices and there is no legal limit on how little you could offer a human being for their labor. Avoid both glitches to see the new incentives at grass root level.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
The Sanctity of human life
I am not talking about human rights today. I am asking a burning question : Do some Lives are less worthy than others? Today, an American life is equivalent to thousands Iraqi lives. Genocide in Iraq and Palestine is taking place. And all of the world is mute spectator. Do I have to rephrase the cynical quote from Animal Farm to describe about human lives in tis situation : All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.
The article War and the American Republic by Namit Sir has prompted me to write on this issue. I detest military as it shows brute force in countering the intelligent arguments. The ultimate purpose of a military is as a primarily destructive force to be utilised in only the direst of circumstances. But, as the authority resides in fewer hand in any society or world politics, military power is used to constantly wage war or to exploit millions for elite few. Embed here is the lecture of Noam Chomsky to understand power structure at global level (mostly American).
Obama, the Middle East, and the Prospects for Peace
In the interest of human civilization and progress, ideas must be subjected to logical and empirical scrutiny. They must be challenged and rejected when warranted. Idea of questioning policy of the state in in the times of war is treated as a sign of betrayal. Every ultra and irrational act is not only done and justified but also glorified in the veil of nationalism and security of religious identity.
In politics we often mistake stubbornness for strength and ideology for idealism. And we pay heavy price for that. In the words of Thucydides: "The nation that makes a great distinction between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools."
The price of liberty has never been cheap in any part of world. But, no idea is greater than human life. Even the blood of martyrs was to protect future generation, it had not flown to nourish the belief and life of the 'holy' war. Only hate and war grow on such wrong notion of ideas of nationalism and identity. Unfortunately, loyalty to an idea rather than its purpose is a recipe for disaster.
The article War and the American Republic by Namit Sir has prompted me to write on this issue. I detest military as it shows brute force in countering the intelligent arguments. The ultimate purpose of a military is as a primarily destructive force to be utilised in only the direst of circumstances. But, as the authority resides in fewer hand in any society or world politics, military power is used to constantly wage war or to exploit millions for elite few. Embed here is the lecture of Noam Chomsky to understand power structure at global level (mostly American).
Obama, the Middle East, and the Prospects for Peace
In the interest of human civilization and progress, ideas must be subjected to logical and empirical scrutiny. They must be challenged and rejected when warranted. Idea of questioning policy of the state in in the times of war is treated as a sign of betrayal. Every ultra and irrational act is not only done and justified but also glorified in the veil of nationalism and security of religious identity.
In politics we often mistake stubbornness for strength and ideology for idealism. And we pay heavy price for that. In the words of Thucydides: "The nation that makes a great distinction between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools."
The price of liberty has never been cheap in any part of world. But, no idea is greater than human life. Even the blood of martyrs was to protect future generation, it had not flown to nourish the belief and life of the 'holy' war. Only hate and war grow on such wrong notion of ideas of nationalism and identity. Unfortunately, loyalty to an idea rather than its purpose is a recipe for disaster.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Blind Faith - Prohibition
I will start the first part of trilogy on the blind faith. Trilogy will be composed of the essay on Prohibition, Denialism and Irrationality. This is an attempt born out of my anger on the ignorance, intolerance and indifference surrounding us. The need to confront violence and injustice began through questioning taboos and rituals. Overall, I am not here to worship what is known, but to question it.
Prohibition
When a small authorising groups such as state, businessmen or priestly class of a given population disapproves of and/or feels threatened by an activity in which a smaller group of that population engages, and seeks to render that activity legally prohibited. Most of the Blasphemy Laws, censor rules on piece of art like books, movies or music form in this category. Prohibitions are used as a tool to maintain status quo of the authority in the power.
Authority wants everything to be governed and monitored by too much closeness. It is all done in name of protecting the weakened from external harmful elements. They put prohibition by depicting falsely to inception of 'alien idea'. The deep belief that everything — especially anything open and external is already and by definition an intervention is part of the very identity and ideology of the image of the authority (state or religion).
Religion and state has always used prohibition masked as social customs to the majority. These victims of prohibition are mostly society's marginalized or uneducated working class member. Legally disadvantaged position of women, poorer sections and religious minority helps authority to put violence, oppression and discrimination against them.
Let us take example of Islamic theology. Today, Islamic Prohibition is not solving any problem of the Muslims. Millatfacebook & halaalsearch.com are way to grow in isolation than to confront others with reasons on world wide web. There is dearth need to question hypocritical religious laws that prohibit a wide range of normal human pleasures. Curosity of human nature is irrepresible by any laws. Take case of war on drugs. And only legalizers are the people who can bankrupt and destroy the rackets of prostitution and illegal alcohol and drugs. Only the prohibitionists can keep them alive as they try to repress the need of others. Demand and Supply principle is the axiomtic principle of the human nature.
The affinity for bans suggests the increasing prevalence of a worldview that wants to eliminate perspectives that are repugnant, rather than develop intellectual arguments against them. It is always more productive to engage with, rather than censor. Prohibitionism based laws have the added problem of calling attention to the behavior that they are attempting to prohibit. This can make the behavior interesting and exciting, and cause its popularity to increase. These prohibitionists made a serious miscalculations: they reacted to their failure by demanding the laws be tightened even more. When trying to block information backfires, it gives rise to the Streisand effect.
A conscious individual in this society has to constant tightrope walk between tradition and emancipation, between freedom and censorship. Today, there are many people that have been killed or persecuted, through bigotry, intolerance and iniquitous blasphemy laws. Hence,I am raged to ask this question: Is all and anything justified in the name of faith ?
Prohibition
When a small authorising groups such as state, businessmen or priestly class of a given population disapproves of and/or feels threatened by an activity in which a smaller group of that population engages, and seeks to render that activity legally prohibited. Most of the Blasphemy Laws, censor rules on piece of art like books, movies or music form in this category. Prohibitions are used as a tool to maintain status quo of the authority in the power.
Authority wants everything to be governed and monitored by too much closeness. It is all done in name of protecting the weakened from external harmful elements. They put prohibition by depicting falsely to inception of 'alien idea'. The deep belief that everything — especially anything open and external is already and by definition an intervention is part of the very identity and ideology of the image of the authority (state or religion).
Let us take example of Islamic theology. Today, Islamic Prohibition is not solving any problem of the Muslims. Millatfacebook & halaalsearch.com are way to grow in isolation than to confront others with reasons on world wide web. There is dearth need to question hypocritical religious laws that prohibit a wide range of normal human pleasures. Curosity of human nature is irrepresible by any laws. Take case of war on drugs. And only legalizers are the people who can bankrupt and destroy the rackets of prostitution and illegal alcohol and drugs. Only the prohibitionists can keep them alive as they try to repress the need of others. Demand and Supply principle is the axiomtic principle of the human nature.
The affinity for bans suggests the increasing prevalence of a worldview that wants to eliminate perspectives that are repugnant, rather than develop intellectual arguments against them. It is always more productive to engage with, rather than censor. Prohibitionism based laws have the added problem of calling attention to the behavior that they are attempting to prohibit. This can make the behavior interesting and exciting, and cause its popularity to increase. These prohibitionists made a serious miscalculations: they reacted to their failure by demanding the laws be tightened even more. When trying to block information backfires, it gives rise to the Streisand effect.
A conscious individual in this society has to constant tightrope walk between tradition and emancipation, between freedom and censorship. Today, there are many people that have been killed or persecuted, through bigotry, intolerance and iniquitous blasphemy laws. Hence,I am raged to ask this question: Is all and anything justified in the name of faith ?
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