It is time once again to lay that old chestnut to rest. The specious claim that the IITs are better than some of the best universities in the world is beyond slack-jawed silliness. I am reminded of that by this tweet by my friend @KiranKS
Month: March 2013
India Policy Institute Conference-workshop on India’s Governance Apr 13-14th, New Delhi
Sanjeev Sabhlok, Exec Dir of India Policy Institute, is having a conference on “How can India’s governance become world class?” in New Delhi on 13-14th April. Shri Gurcharan Das will give the inaugural address and Sanjeev Sabhlok will present the keynote address. Details are here (pdf). Who should attend?
All Indian citizens who want to learn about good governance principles and practices which are commonplace in the West, but almost entirely absent in India, are a suitable audience for this conference. Participants will learn about a range of intuitive (and some not-so-intuitive) solutions to India’s problems, enabling them to directly address such issues if they have a direct capacity to implement such solutions, or demand that such issues be addressed in India.
I regret that I won’t be able to attend as I am not in New Delhi on those dates. I wish IPI and Sanjeev great success in the event and the mission that he is on.
Open Thread: Say what you will
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, comrades and friends. (Hitchens favored that greeting at many public events.) Sorry for the relative silence around here. Things are in a mess. But there’s hope. Anyway, do leave a comment with your thoughts. I just want to point out a 2008 blog post, “Blaming the Victim“. Comments are closed on that post. So please leave a comment here if you wish.
On Immigrants’ Love for their Old Country
I live in the US and call California home. Yet, I am an Indian; having being born one, I will always be one. The US is home but so is India. I owe loyalty to both countries. I explored that thought in my recent piece on NitiCentral.com. (I do not take responsibility for the title used for the piece.) Here it is, for the record (with a different title.)
Continue reading
AAP’s Prashant Bhushan’s Extraordinary Claim
An extraordinary claim made despite all the contrary evidence, just as contrary to all evidence, Islamic terror is dismissed with the facile statement that “terrorism has no religion.” 
The English translation says,
“In India, Hindu sponsored terrorism is at its peak. As long as these Hindu terrorists exist, Kashmiris are not safe in any corner of this country.
Prashant Bhushan, Aam Aadmi Party”
AAP is Arvind Kejriwal’s political party. Bhushan is endorsing what Raul Vinci aka Rahul Gandhi of the Congress party claimed — that the greatest threat to India is from “Hindu” terrorism. That’s not the surprising bit. The surprising bit is that some Hindus will certainly vote for AAP. This is part of the big pattern: Hindus acting against their own long-term interests. As long as this goes on, the future is bleak for Hindus — and for India.
Narendra Modi shreds Pseudo-secular Journalist Rahul Kanwal
The power of having truth on your side is Narendra Modi’s biggest weapon against the barrage of pseud-secular bullshit that he has to routinely face from journalists. A few days ago I had posted one example of Modi’s devastating reply to one such journalist (see “Imported Leaders and Imported Laws“) and this is another example that needs to get serious airtime. Below is the video and the English transcript of the conversation between Rahul Kanwal and Modi. The translation is once again thanks to my friend Amit Malviya.
Continue reading
Modi Kicked the Hornet’s Nest
Greetings from San Jose, CA. I am back and ready to get cracking. I have not been writing much of late (how’s that for an understatement) but the little grey cells have been busy. My colleague Rajesh Jain asked me to write an opinion piece on the Wharton India Economic Forum fiasco and I said, “I don’t have anything to add but if you say so, I will drag my lazy knuckles across the keyboard.” So I went over to twitter and wrote a few tweets (follow me @atanudey) about how I felt about Modi being un-invited. Then I wrote a piece that I sent to NitiCentral. They published it. I am pleased to report that the twitterati liked what I wrote. So alright, you should go read my opinion piece — Modi Kicked the Hornet’s Nest — at NitiCentral.com. I append the piece below the fold here, for the record.
Continue reading
