Used to be that might was determined by the size of your muscles and how many men you could command to do your bidding. Time was when you had to club someone over the head to get them to submit… Read More ›
DesiPundit
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.
India needs a New Set of Rules, not Rulers
“we should invite britishers again to manage our country step by step. first Bihar & UP last kerala. like they developed Hong kong.” That’s a direct quote of a comment from a reader, Jitendra, on a rediff.com article, “India’s ‘real’… Read More ›
Eliminating the Infidels
Indian Express reports that “Pak ‘sharia’ chief wants Islamic law for entire world.”
A Digression on Corruption in Six Acts
ACT 1: A Course on Development This summer for teaching an undergraduate course on economic development (Econ171) at Berkeley, I naturally considered the major factors that affect — and effect — economic growth and development of an economy. The major… Read More ›
A Simple Story About Real Contentment
I came across this story on a mailing list. Let me retell the story first and then the source of the story.
Of Trucks and Roads and Corruption
Let me tell you a story. It’s a vignette of what I consider to be important although it may appear to be rather trivial. Perhaps its apparent triviality is what should astonish us. But allow me to first recount a… Read More ›
The View from the End of the World
India, like all other countries of the world, is embedded in the larger context of the world. Naturally therefore India’s fortunes and the prospects for its development are circumscribed by the world’s prospects. Religion — especially the monotheistic ones —… Read More ›
Internet and Higher Education
A BusinessWeek article of 14th September, “Next: An Internet Revolution in Higher Education,” makes the case that the way higher education is done will be changed by the internet revolution. This is not the most earthshaking bit of news you… Read More ›
Learning to eat gruel
The title of this post is borrowed from an article by Arun Shourie in today’s Indian Express, “Conduct above all.” In it Shourie recounts a story told about an ancestor of mine, a fellow called Diogenes. Also known as Diogenes… Read More ›
