Month: January 2010

Re-thinking Entrance Exams

The ability to do things differently than was done previously must rank as one of the more desirable features of any entity. Individuals and institutions that have the flexibility to change as circumstance change are more successful than others. Those who are confident of themselves can dispassionately examine what about themselves needs change. It takes intelligence to figure out what is wrong and how to fix it. It takes courage to admit that the current system just does not work. It takes optimism and self-confidence to know that one has the ability to do better. Every problem that India faces is amenable to a solution. The first step is knowing that there is a problem, however. Then come the needed attributes of flexibility, courage, optimism, confidence, etc. I will touch upon one small but much needed change. And propose a solution.
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A Brief Introduction to RISC

I had been pondering India’s rural development for a while before I signed up as a Reuters Fellow at Stanford University in Sept 2001. As a Reuters fellow, I developed a model for catalyzing India’s rural development. I called it RISC — for “Rural Infrastructure & Services Commons”. Later, Vinod Khosla and I co-authored the concept paper. This is a short version introducing the why, what, how of RISC.
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We can learn from the United States

The particular strength of the US is that it has a great education system. As a consequence, it produces many people who are articulate, intelligent, thoughtful and above all, reasonable. That thought struck me forcefully once again when I was reading James Fallows’ essay in the recent issue of The Atlantic titled “How America can Rise Again.” Of course, the reason it has a good educational system is simply because it has a good set of rules, the primary source of which is the constitution of the US. Below the fold, I have some extended excerpts from the essay by Fallows. It’s one heck of a fine essay and I am certain you would learn from it.
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Rage Against the IPL Auction

I don’t follow cricket but this is too precious to ignore. I guarantee that it will crack you up. Thanks to lalbrofessor. AoA!
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Yeah but India is a Democracy

As tired as that cliche is, India does need to wake up and smell the coffee. The world is moving on while India is still stuck in the socialist swamp created by the government after independence. I write this as a public service. I have no doubt that writing this for the edification of Indian policymakers is as useful as trying to teach a pig to sing (which as they say, cannot be done and it merely annoys the pig), but perhaps the general public will take note.
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A Tragic Tale of Callous Hindu Indifference

The Russian word “pogrom” means “to destroy, to wreak havoc, to demolish violently” and is applied to “any incident of wanton and unrestrained destruction on a mass scale.” According to the wiki, the word came into English via Yiddish. The etymology of the word makes sense. Yiddish literally means “Jewish”. Jews have been the victim of pogroms by Christians and Muslims for millennia everywhere in the world except for India. The world will never be allowed to forget that because the Jews will make sure that they themselves will not forget what is the most tragic part of their civilizational history. Continue reading “A Tragic Tale of Callous Hindu Indifference”

Bose, Gandhi, Ghadar and India’s Independence

Did you know there’s a connection between UC Berkeley and India’s political independence from the British? Let me get to that after this.
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In Love, Losing is Winning.

On my way to Ahmedabad last week on Saturday, at Mumbai airport, I saw a poster which had increased the number of sri’s in Sri Sri Ravishankar. It proclaimed Sri Sri Sri Ravishankar. But I think I will stick with the SSRS short form instead of updating it to SSSRS.

One of the perils of reading newspapers in India is that you are exposed to some rather mindless nonsense. Sunday morning in Ahmedabad, I recklessly picked up a newspaper. It was the DNA Sunday. To my horror but not to my surprise, there was Sri Sri Sri Ravishankar’s hirsute image atop a column titled, “In love, losing is winning.”

losingiswinning2
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India: A Case of Bad Governance

In today’s Business Standard, Pranab Bardhan in his article “India — A case of bad governance“, makes a number of very important points.
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