Here are the facts, very briefly. A magazine called JAM, did a story on a management institute called IIPM. The story said that IIPM makes tall claims. Many Indian newspapers carry full page IIPM ads. A blogger, Gaurav Sabnis, blogged about that and basically called IIPM claims fraudulent. IIPM served a legal notice threatening to sue Gaurav for a huge sum of money. They also contacted IBM, from whom they buy laptops for their students, to convey to them that they may stop that business relationship. Why? Gaurav works for IBM. So Gaurav resigned from IBM. The word got around and everyone and his brother is now blogging about the story–a rich corporation threatened a blogger and somehow managed to coerce him into quitting his job. Continue reading “The Blogger and IIPM: If the cap fits …”
Author: Atanu Dey
Economist.
Famous Scientist: “Dr.” APJ Kalam
In yesterdays post on science and famous scientists, I had asked people to guess one famous Indian scientist’s name. In the comments so far, Praveen guessed Raja Ramanna. Nothing funny about that candidate. Sorry but no cigar. Sameer correctly guessed APJ Kalam but hedged his answer by adding Vikram Sarabhai. The latter would not have been so outlandish an example of famous scientists. Uday said it was very sad. Don’t know if he meant the choice of APJ Kalam or the books in general. Navin guessed APJ Kalam.
Sychophancy runs deep and broad in Indian society. Part of the feudal system. Even so called “educators” in the public sector are past-masters in brown-nosing. Indeed, when the Continue reading “Famous Scientist: “Dr.” APJ Kalam”
Science and Famous Scientists
As part of my interest in high school education, I have been checking out prescribed textbooks in Indian schools. Take for instance the Science and Technology textbook for the 10th grade. The book that I am examining is published by the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT).
Continue reading “Science and Famous Scientists”
Disaster Fatigue
First there was the Andaman-Sumatra earthquake which resulted in the Boxing Day tsunami in the Indian Ocean. South Asia suffered massively last December and now another earthquake in the Himalayas has led to the loss of tens of thousands of lives. As if the man-made disasters were not enough, natural distasters have added to the woes.
Lives in over-crowded poor parts of the world are really cheap. The death of thirty thousand lives lost will probably be associated with a total damage of one billion US dollars at most. Hurrican Katrina and the ensuing flooding of New Orleans cost about a thousand lives but the cost is a whopping $200 billion. (On Oct 2nd, I spoke with Prof James Reese where we compared the Katrina with the Tsunami — the podcast is available here.)
My word to god would be enough already. Disaster fatigue is setting in.
Postcard from Nagpur
Back in the old home town Nagpur. A nice laid-back sort of a city. Sometimes I feel that Nagpur had–and still does have–a lot of potential. Situated very close to the geographical center of India, it could have been a better capital for the country than New Delhi. As a trans-shipment hub, Nagpur will be perfect. A huge big international airport would not be a bad idea either. The idea would be to make Nagpur the hub and connect Nagpur to all the others cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, etc.
Had a bit of an adventure in Mumbai yesterday. Continue reading “Postcard from Nagpur”
The Government as the Big Daddy
I am surprised that the simple point I attempted to make in the post called Drinking and Democracy about adult universal franchise being inconsistent with treating adults like irresponsible children provoked so much controversy. Call me dense but I am at a loss figuring out what exactly the objections are. Continue reading “The Government as the Big Daddy”
The Age of Superfluous Information
“There is no more dangerous mistake than the mistake of supposing that we cannot have too much of a good thing.” Thus spake George Bernard Shaw. Excess is as damaging as shortage in most things that are considered good. More is better but only up to a point of satiation. Beyond the satiation point, the marginal utility of a good is negative, as an economist may put it. Particular instances of that generalization are not hard to find.
Food, for instance, is a good that in excessive quantities is a bad as the success of the dieting industry so starkly demonstrates. Yet tens of millions poor people around the world dying of malnutrition and starvation every year is the horrible demonstration of the problem at the other extreme.
The same holds for information. Continue reading “The Age of Superfluous Information”
Drinking and Democracy
Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday on Oct 2nd is observed as a public holiday in India. You could celebrate the day by raising a glass or two. Or you could just remember that Gandhi was not in favor of alcohol and voluntarily decide to abstain from alcohol. But if you want to have a drink all the same, you would be out of luck unless you have some sitting at home or in the comfort of a five-star hotel room. All liquor shops are closed and restaurants will not serve you alcohol. Continue reading “Drinking and Democracy”
Honor Killing in Denmark
The Dark Ages come to Denmark in broad daylight, as a Pakistani man murders his sister in a public street …
Calmly and methodically, big brother stoops over his little sister while shooting one projectile after the other into her. Her spouse, affected by several shots to the abdomen, can only look on helplessly, while his wife is executed by her own family.
The Future of Energy
“Fossil fuel is dead,” declared CJ.
CJ likes to make those kinds of superficially profound statements. We were meeting after a long time. I was in Delhi for a conference and caught up with CJ at the Taj Mansingh Hotel coffee shop. We were discussing the spike in the gas prices.
“Dead or not, seventy dollars a barrel for crude was bad news for India considering that India imports about half of its energy needs. Will slow down the economy a bit, won’t it?” I said.
Continue reading “The Future of Energy”
Atanu Dey : Life is a Random Draw 