Favorite bits from the archive: Types of Government

India is very widely celebrated as having a democratic government. India’s government can also be accurately described another way. A kakistocracy is defined as government by the most corrupt and the least principled. As India’s case clearly demonstrates, the two are not mutually incompatible.
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Rajeev Motwani has Passed on

I didn’t know who Rajeev Motwani was. It’s only when I heard of his passing from my friend Rajan in the San Francisco bay that I got to know of him. Rajan wrote, “To me, he is important because he was one of the few truly great Indians in the Valley (as opposed to the many Indians in the Valley who think they are great).”

Here’s Google founder Sergey Brin’s tribute to Rajeev Motwani.

Weekend Readings: Renaissance of India

Here are a few links. The first one is on Sri Aurobindo, a giant of a renaissance man. Then a few on education.
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Unwelcome Competition in Education

An addendum to the previous post on “Education and Corruption.” Here’s a story that I recently heard which illustrates the engineering of scarcity in education and the resultant bribes and low quality. No names are mentioned because the people involved are powerful people in the government.
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Education and Corruption

The Indian education sector is in distress. How does one explain the lack of outrage among the population at something which affects them so forcefully? Could it be because they are not aware of how dysfunctional the system is? That must at least partly explain the apathy. Perhaps they know but accept it with the fatalistic resignation of the type that accepts corruption among public officials? Perhaps they mistakenly consider pervasive corruption as normal. But how can they not see that government control of education, the rampant corruption, and the crippled education system are all of a piece?

Here’s a news item which reports that medical post graduate studies involve bribes of up to Rs 2 crores (around $ 400,000.)
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BBC and the Attack of the ASSes

Attack of the Advanced Self-propelled Screwdrivers

BBC News reports that, “In one of the recent attacks in Melbourne, a student was critically injured by a screwdriver.” Wonders of this modern world, don’t you know. Automatic self-willed screwdrivers on a rampage. The student was injured by a screwdriver, and not “A student was attacked by someone with a screwdriver.”
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New Commenting System

Today I installed a new commenting system — IntenseDebate. Therefore now you really don’t have to register to comment; you can just comment as “guest.” Also it allows you to get email updates of followup comments to the post or even the entire blog. But there are some things that need to be ironed out. For instance, I notice that some genuine comments are ending up in the spam queue even though before they would have gotten through. In any case, do give me feedback on this change. Also, if you comment and you see that the comment is not showing up, please drop me a note atanudey at gmail. Cheers!

Update: (1 PM IST)

There were problems with the intensedebate commenting. Some comments were not getting through. So for now we are back to square one and the commenting system will be as before. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Lynching is too good for them

There are some topics that make me see red. In that state, I cannot even think rationally, leave alone write coherently. I am so angry that this is not going to read well for sure. But this has to be said. Those who are ultimately responsible for the violence against the Indian students in Australia should not be lynched. Lynching would be too good for them. I am not talking about the red-necks and skinheads (or whatever their Australian equivalents are) who attack foreign students. I am talking of the Indian politicians and bureaucrats that have brought about the conditions that force Indians to go abroad looking for a decent education to places where they are viciously and mercilessly attacked.
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