Wednesday, August 25, 2010

'No' to Vedanta

From It is ‘no’ to Vedanta’s mine project in Orissa:
"Among the new information is the State government’s failure to implement the Forest Rights Act, which protects the community rights of forest-dwellers, especially tribals.

Instead, the Saxena Committee found that district administration officials deliberately submitted documents faking the consent of gram sabhas."

Earlier post on Forest Rights Act Implementation of the Forest Rights Act 2006

Sunday, August 08, 2010

Nozick on why many academics resent capitalism

From Why do acamedics oppose capitalism?:
"What factor produced feelings of superior value on the part of intellectuals? I want to focus on one institution in particular: schools. As book knowledge became increasingly important, schooling--the education together in classes of young people in reading and book knowledge--spread. Schools became the major institution outside of the family to shape the attitudes of young people, and almost all those who later became intellectuals went through schools. There they were successful. They were judged against others and deemed superior. They were praised and rewarded, the teacher's favorites. How could they fail to see themselves as superior? Daily, they experienced differences in facility with ideas, in quick-wittedness. The schools told them, and showed them, they were better.

The wider market society, however, taught a different lesson. There the greatest rewards did not go to the verbally brightest. There the intellectual skills were not most highly valued. Schooled in the lesson that they were most valuable, the most deserving of reward, the most entitled to reward, how could the intellectuals, by and large, fail to resent the capitalist society which deprived them of the just deserts to which their superiority "entitled" them?"

Saturday, August 07, 2010

Visiting India again

for six weeks from tomorrow. This time I hope to meet some people involved in developmental work in Hyderabad, Chennai and Delhi and learn about the trends.

Friday, August 06, 2010

Kishore Kumar: A Tribute

Kishore Kumar: A Tribute in Outlook with lots of links and a list of his own favourite songs (at one stage).

Wednesday, August 04, 2010

'The Hindus' by Wendy Doniger

Read the first two hundred pages. It is enjoyable so far. Apparently controversial. Here are some discussions from Chapati Mystery:
An Alternative History
A Response by Wendy Doniger
with interesting comments by Conrad Barwa and Qalandar and lots of links.

Chaduvari on googling in Telugu

See తెలుగులో వెతకటం అంత వీజీ కాదు గురూ! and also the comments.