Author: Atanu Dey

Economist.

The Directness of Zen

Here is a brief video on the Zen Mind — An Introduction. I like Zen Buddhism. It is profoundly simple and direct. The voice-over states clearly at the end of the clip that “… do not differentiate yourself as apart from others, or from the world outside. The search for self-realization is powered by our anxieties and our fears which feed our ego causing frustrations in our daily life. Selfishness, jealousy, anger, hate — which unconsciously serve to protect us, and in doing so, set us in opposition to everyone and everything. To awaken to this realization is the practice of Zen. ”

Then from the Department of “Do as I say, Not as I do” the copyright notice warns, “No part of this motion picture may be copied or broadcast unless authorized. Copying is illegal and subject to prosecution.” Now what was that bit about not differentiating ourselves from others?

Inclusive Growth Discussion

Where is India today? How did it get here? Where should India be going? And how should it get there? These are the big questions that I try to grapple with. And that is how I began my presentation.

Indian School of Business ISB at night [source]

Recently I was on a panel discussion titled “Business Strategies for Inclusive Economic Growth” held during the semi-final round of the Global Social Venture Competition at the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad on the 9th and 10th of March. The panel–moderated by my friend Dr Reuben Abraham–included Mr Varun Sahni of Acumen Fund, Mr K Krishan of Malavalli Power Plant Pvt Ltd, and Arjun Uppal of the IFMR Trust.
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Denying reality

The business plan was about creating a business which would help the blind become more productive. But the presenter took elaborate pains to avoid the word “blind”and instead constantly referred to the “visually challenged.” I suppose the PC police would have immediately handcuffed and hauled off anyone who was so insensitive as to directly point to blindness and call it such. No, a person is not blind but visually challenged. And I wondered how long before the PC police decree that “visually challenged” is itself un-PC and now you have to refer to blind people as “visually differently enabled” and in due time, it would have to be “non-visually enhanced” and then to “non-visually gifted.”
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Economics in One Lesson

The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups.
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The Narrow Corner

“Short, therefore, is man’s life; and narrow is the corner of the earth wherein he dwells.” Marcus Aurelius Antoninus – (121-180) noted that in his Meditations. Here is a picture of how small the earth is whose narrow corner we dwell.
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India Needs More Incubator Funds

Sramana Mitra writes about the seed investment situation in India and says “more money chasing India, and simply not enough deals to absorb the interest. A VC mentality “India is booming, let’s send $200 Million to India” prevails at the moment in Silicon Valley. The grass, washed by the monsoon rains, seems infinitely greener in India, than the dry California hills along Highway 280.”

She adds that the “truth is, India is still very busy being the back-office of multinationals. It is downright impossible to hire senior management for startups, luring them away from $100,000+ packages.” Go read her insights and recommendations on what needs to happen in the incubator space.

Making Distinctions

Hauled from the archives, here is a bit on the distinction between information and knowledge. This is important because I think we are in an age of superfluous information (followup to that here.) Making distinctions aids comprehension and consequently the ability to efficiently effect change. I like to distinguish between economic growth and development because economic development is the goal and in many cases economic growth is the instrument for development.

Rambling on about technology and development

This one is a pointless ramble. OK, most blogging is. But this one is only more so.

Invariably during discussions on India’s development, technology is thrown around and often the notion that India will leapfrog some barrier or the other surfaces. I find myself disagreeing with many of those propositions. I think much semantic confusion is caused by not having a clear understanding of the terms.
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Craig Barrett on the OLPC

The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project has powerful interests on both sides of the debate. It is easy to guess who’s on which side. Bill Gates, for instance, is predictably against the OLPC as it does not use Microsoft software. The OLPC is not using Intel chips. That could explain why Intel Chairman Craig Barrett will be a critic. Mind you, merely because they are not disinterested observers, it does not follow that they are wrong in their criticism of the OLPC project of Mr Nicholaus Negroponte.
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