The Biggest Puzzle

Are there no depths that the Congress party led UPA government will not plumb to protect the criminally corrupt? When exactly will the Indian public wake up to the realization that the pervasive corruption that hollows out the Indian state is the sole achievement of the Congress party over its decades of misrule — practically all of India’s existence as an independent country in modern times? If even the unspeakable misgovernance by Mr Manmohan Singh does not enrage the Indians, what on earth will it take — a thousand thermonuclear devices?
Continue reading “The Biggest Puzzle”

Whistling in the Dark about the Future

Gurcharan Das writes in the Times of India (10th May) that “The Future Belongs to India.” That’s his argument which I suppose he made in a debate in London on the proposition that “the future belongs to India, not China.” I understand perfectly the need for such an argument because I too feel a lot of distress when I compare what China has achieved relative to India and have to seek comfort in a lot of twisted rationalization to excuse India’s disastrous journey.
Continue reading “Whistling in the Dark about the Future”

What’s Choking India

Today’s Wall Street Journal has a report, “Megacities Threaten to Choke India,” has a catchy but misleading title. Megacities are not threatening to choke India. The megacities are choking already. What is choking India is basically primal human frailties revealed by circumstances that come about through individual rationality but end up in collective irrationality.
Continue reading “What’s Choking India”

“Tuitions” Cost

Tuitions cost, and how! Rediff reports that industry body Assocham has found that “middle-class spends a third of their income on kids’ tuitions.” (Hat tip: Reuben.)

This is one of the most potent signals of a broken educational system. Continue reading ““Tuitions” Cost”

Designing Systems

The Mumbai domestic airport terminals are quite presentable. I like the way that the infrastructure has been done. Yesterday I was there to catch a flight to Hyderabad. I am in Hyderabad today as part of a working group which is looking into how the urbanization of India has to be managed. As Reuben said (quoting someone), urbanization is “the second green revolution”. More about that later.
Continue reading “Designing Systems”

Plastic Bags and Incentives

People respond to incentives. That’s probably the most powerful lesson a study of economics provides. It appears to be trivially true but it is quite surprising how often that is neglected by policy makers, analysts, and indeed by the average guy on the street.

Fortunately, every so often you do come across happy examples of properly designed incentive mechanisms that elicit the desired (and expected) behavior from the public without the need for authoritarian meddling. An item in businessGreen.com reports that a combination of charges and loyalty points have reduced the use of plastic carry bags at some retailers by as much as 85 percent. (Hat tip: Kashyap Patel)
Continue reading “Plastic Bags and Incentives”

The Advantage of Not Having to Shave

The primary advantage of not having to shave your mug is that you don’t have to face yourself in the mirror every day. Unless of course if one is totally shameless or is already barefaced (as in a barefaced liar.) I am just saying.
Continue reading “The Advantage of Not Having to Shave”

This Blog is Banned in Iran

You know that you have arrived when you find that your writing has been banned in some place. Nihar, when he was traveling in Iran, found that some blog posts of mine are banned there. He sent me a screen capture which you will find below the fold. Now at least I hope you are impressed. Or will you be impressed only after the Indian government bans this blog?

PS: I don’t think it will be long before the government of India bans this blog. There are too many things here which are embarrassing for the Indian government. Recall that the government of India banned Salman Rushdie even before the mullahs in Iran got their act together. The Indian government is holier than the mullahs of fundamentalist Islam. After all, how else can India be a “secular” state if it cannot pander to Islamic fundamentalism, eh?
Continue reading “This Blog is Banned in Iran”

Google and Time Travel

minustime

Google has to be the most technologically advanced company on earth, if not the whole universe. They have the capacity to bring you emails before they are sent.

Here’s the screen capture of an email that Google delivered to me about 2 minutes before it was sent. I had to wait for 2 minutes and then the counter said “0 minutes ago” — for the world to catch up with gmail.

I tell you, wonders will never cease as long as Google is around.

Geoffrey West on the Fate of Our Cities

In a short article in SEED magazine, theoretical physicist and president of the Santa Fe Institute, Geoffrey West explains “why the future of humanity and the long-term sustainability of the planet are inextricably linked to the fate of our cities.”

A few excerpts below the fold. Continue reading “Geoffrey West on the Fate of Our Cities”