Reliance’s Rural Business Hubs

A news item from yesterday reports:

“As part of the organised retail initiative, Reliance Retail will be creating several rural business hubs. At one level, these will be centres for aggregation of farm produce. At another level, they will engage with supply of quality farm inputs and provision of products and services to rural consumers,” Mr Ambani said.

That report also notes that Ambani is proposing to build semiconductor plants for solar energy. Good ideas, Mr Mukesh Ambani.

He’s consistent. See the post “A quicker faster way to help rural India” from July 2006. So far, I like what Ambani is interested in: building cities, creating rural hubs, investing in solar energy. More power to Reliance.

(Thanks to Gautam Patil for the link.)

The First Amendment

Mera America Mahan

Every time I see the painted slogan “Mera Bharat Mahan” on the rear bumpers of trucks, it gives me a jolt. The jolt is a mixture of incredulity, pride, cynicism and hope. Pride in my motherland forces a desperate hope that it is true while my innate cynicism dismisses the idea that India is great as incredible.

For many years I have wondered whether there was something that could make India great. Was there a single thing — a policy, a principle, an action, an accident, anything — that could guide India’s path to whatever greatness is potential in it? What if I compared India to other nations, both successful and failed — will I be able to discern that one single thing? I think I am slowly coming around to the viewpoint that there is such a thing that could be the candidate instrument I have been looking for. I think the US has it and India does not.
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Some thoughts on the Price of Oil — Part 1

One of the main questions occupying the public mind appears to be related to the price of oil. Since economics informs that, and related questions, I think it would be appropriate to reason economically (so to speak) about the matter. Will the unprecedented high price of oil become a permanent feature of the world or is it just a passing phenomenon, a bubble that is bound to burst? What’s the appropriate price of oil? Is the high price of oil a good thing, and if so, for whom?

As this is just a blog post and not a deep analysis meant for a peer-reviewed journal, I will be informal. That CYA disclaimer out of the way, let’s begin at the beginning.
Continue reading “Some thoughts on the Price of Oil — Part 1”

Iraq now, Iran next, Saudi Arabia for later

“It’s the oil, stupid.”

In an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal of 10th June, Edward J. Markey asks rhetorically “Why Is Bush Helping Saudi Arabia Build Nukes?” He points out that if at all the Saudis need more energy — even after sitting atop the world’s largest oil reserves — then the US should be helping them out by selling them solar technology. Solar technology makes sense in a country three times the size of Texas, and where the desert sands see around 300 days of sunshine every year. He says, “For a country with so much oil, gas and solar potential, importing expensive and dangerous nuclear power makes no economic sense.”
Continue reading “Iraq now, Iran next, Saudi Arabia for later”

Ranking Universities on Web Visibility

Webometric.info analyzes about 15,000 universities world wide and ranks 5,000 of them on their “web performance” which is a weighted combination of

Their objective:

We intend to motivate both institutions and scholars to have a web presence that reflect accurately their activities. If the web performance of an institution is below the expected position according to their academic excellence, university authorities should reconsider their web policy, promoting substantial increases of the volume and quality of their electronic publications.

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Sonia Sarkar on Reservations for Christians

“St Stephen’s to have 50% Christian quota” says Sonia Sarkar. (How unfortunate is it to have a name like that and to have to report on an issue of reservations for Christians?)

I don’t know but I hope and pray (to use an expression) that St Stephen’s is not supported by any public funds.

Anyhow, here’s a nice illustration of innumeracy to add a bit of humor to an otherwise pathetic story:

The management wants 50 per cent reservation for Christians, another 30 per cent for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates. So that would leave 30 per cent for general category students.

PS: For the benefit of those who did not get the “Sonia Sarkar” joke, “sarkar” means “government” in many Indian languages.

Open Thread — Say what you will

Time for you to speak up and state your opinions on whatever suits your fancy. If you wish to use the “lurker” login (password “lurking”), please do leave an identifier in the comment.

[Cartoon by Clay Bennett.]

On Failure and Imagination

Without having read a single word of the Harry Potter novels, I guessed that JK Rowling must be an extraordinary person. The possessor of an imagination so remarkable that it captures the hearts of hundreds of millions cannot but be extraordinarily talented.

But I am wary of objects of popular fascination — whether they be religions, politicians, movie stars, cult leaders, popular movements, fads and fashion. I have never been one to judge anyone good merely because millions of people hold him or her in high regard. I am extremely suspicious of the “wisdom of the crowds.” Indeed, whenever I come across a highly regarded public figure, my default assumption is that all cannot be quite right with the person. I admit that I am a cynic.

So while I guessed that Rowling was extraordinarily talented, I did not have an opinion on whether she was good. I am delighted to conclude that she is a good person. The evidence? Her Harvard University commencement address. Here, for the record, are some excerpts: Continue reading “On Failure and Imagination”

Laptops and Learning

Let me begin with an “I told you so.” For a few years I have been obsessed with the use of technology in education because it is my considered position that the smart use of technology provides the best hope of solving the problem of educating the hundreds of millions in India.

But a bit of thinking brought me to the (apparently contradictory) conclusion that laptops in the school learning environment is detrimental to learning. I love the idea of using technology in schools but totally distrust the idea of one-on-one laptop use in schools. In 2006 I wrote, “It is predictable that in the near future, good schools around the world will prohibit school students the use of laptops while in class, just as students are not allowed cell phones.”
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