Abstract of Inclusive Growth in Andhra Pradesh: Challenges in Agriculture, Poverty, Social Sector and
Regional Disparities by S. Mahendra Dev:
This paper deals with inclusive growth in Andhra Pradesh. Growth may be higher in the last two decades but inclusive growth or equitable development has been missing. It is like running a train with engine only without connecting bogies and people to the engine. According to us, important elements of inclusive growth are: agricultural growth, employment generation and poverty reduction, social sector (health and education) and reduction in regional and other disparities. In this paper, we concentrate on these four elements of inclusive growth.
There seems to be some 'turn around' in the gross state domestic product (GSDP) of A.P. in the last five years. The average annual growth rate was 6.9% during 2002-07 and 7.8% during 2003-07. However, there are problems in the four elements of inclusive growth. Growth of agriculture particularly crop sector is very low. Employment growth in the post-reform period (1993-94 to 2004-05) is the lowest in the country. The recent data shows that literacy levels are also low as compared to many other states. The National Family Health survey (NFHS III) indicate that A.P.'s rank for infant mortality is 11 out of 17 states in the year 2005-06.
Growth rates in district domestic product (DDP) and per capita DDP shows that 7 districts of Telangana (Ranga Reddy, Nizamabad, Khammam, Hyderabad, Mahbubnagar, Warangal and Medak) and 2 districts of North Coastal (Visakhapatnam and Srikakulam) recorded higher growth rates than that of state average. On the other hand, all the districts in South Coastal and Rayalaseema and three districts of Telangana and one district of North Coastal showed lower growth than that of state average. However, one has to see the quality of growth in Telangana and Rayalaseema districts.
We have examined whether A.P. can achieve Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It is
depressing to note that Andhra Pradesh will not meet MDGs in 10 out of 14 indicators. Thus, except in poverty, enrolment of boys and girls and drinking water, A.P. may not achieve millennium development goals in crucial indicators of education, health and sanitation at current rates of progress. The progress in MDGs for some regions and socially deprived sections like SCs and STs has been slower than the state average.
This paper suggests several policies for improving inclusive growth in A.P. Economic
growth may be improving but A.P. is lagging behind in agriculture, employment, human
development and in reducing regional disparities. There is a need to operationalize a plan for achieving inclusive growth during the 11th Five Year Plan period and beyond in Andhra Pradesh. The action plan should cover the priority areas like agriculture, employment and social sectors. It should have a plan for removing economic and social deprivation across all regions. Also it should have a plan for socially disadvantaged sections.
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
The Gaddes of Avanigadda
seem to have spread around the world. I recd. a letter saying that one Ramaprasad Gadde is entitled to about 700 dollars and if does not collect it soon, he will loose it. I do not know who he is. Today I also recd. a family tree of the Gaddes of Avanigadda ( earlier Avaneejapuram, later Avaneepuram) and I do not know most of them. Apparently, there was an attempt in 1914 by Gadde Kotaiah Naidu who migrated to Madras area and made it. He was supposed to have donated about one and half acres for Madras Central Station and built a railway station Anupampattu near his village Pudikuppam. Another Gadde Rangaiah Naidu also migrated to Madras and became the mayor (municilal councillor ?) of Madras. I remember seeing a street in Madras named after him. According to the family tree prepared by Kotaiah Naidu in 1914, the Gaddes of Avanigadda came 394 years before that from 'Gaddevaarigudem' near Nellur. One Potaraju Mukkanna (daskatdar of Avanigadda, I do not know what daskatdar means)visited Kotappakonda nearby for Sivaratri festivals, met some Gaddes, felt that they were good farmers and invited them to come and cultivate temple lands in avanigadda. That is how, approximately, 500 years ago two families of Gaddes (of dhanyala gotram) came to Avanigadda. The early marriage alliances were with Paruchuri, Kota, Yarlagadda and Thumati families. Apart from some who made money and some local bigwigs, There do not seem to be any illustrious Gaddes. The nearest is Avula Sambasiva Rao, A.P High Court Chief Justice and a rationalist writer who is claimed as a nephew of the Gaddes. Now they seem to have spread to all the continents (though I have not heard of any in Africa).
From what I remember most of our families were middle class struggling to send children to college and many of them could not. Many of the current ones seem relatively affluent who can afford foreign vacations, eat in relatively expensive restaurants etc. Compared to them, many from the poorer castes in the same area are still struggling to make a living. Caste connections are probably useful in this acquisition of prosperity and I hope that some of them will try to spread the prosperity to others.
From what I remember most of our families were middle class struggling to send children to college and many of them could not. Many of the current ones seem relatively affluent who can afford foreign vacations, eat in relatively expensive restaurants etc. Compared to them, many from the poorer castes in the same area are still struggling to make a living. Caste connections are probably useful in this acquisition of prosperity and I hope that some of them will try to spread the prosperity to others.
Monday, March 01, 2010
Ethnic affinity ?
Ethnic affinity :
Steve Hsu quotes Robert Reich:
"The essence of ethnic affinity:
“We have never met before, but I instantly know him. One look, one phrase, and I know where he grew up, how he grew up, where he got his drive and his sense of humor. He is New York. He is Jewish. He looks like my uncle Louis, his voice is my uncle Sam. I feel we’ve been together at countless weddings, bar mitzvahs, and funerals. I know his genetic structure. I’m certain that within the last five hundred years—perhaps even more recently—we shared the same ancestor.”
--- Robert Reich, Clinton administration Secretary of Labor, on his first face-to-face meeting with Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan."
May be there is something in it. Yesterday, I had a similar experience in Footscray, one of the suburbs which was much in news about the recent problems of Indian students in Melbourne. We stopped in a small Indian restaurant 'vanakkam India' which specialises in Hyderabad Biryani and dosa(i). There were about twenty young people in the restaurant and I immediately knew that a few in one corner were were from Guntur-Krishna area. As I overheard the conversation, it became more clear though I did not enquire since the young people seemed to be really enjoying their weekend meal. I find similar things when I visit other places. It seems so easy to build some sort of rapport and even 'business' contacts and alliances. May be one should not read too much into these things. Anyway, the good news is : the food is ok, not expensive and there are forty types of dosa from paper dosa to schezwenchilly masaladosa. The restaurant is located at 198, Nicholoson Street, Footscray (phone number: 9687 2233).
Steve Hsu quotes Robert Reich:
"The essence of ethnic affinity:
“We have never met before, but I instantly know him. One look, one phrase, and I know where he grew up, how he grew up, where he got his drive and his sense of humor. He is New York. He is Jewish. He looks like my uncle Louis, his voice is my uncle Sam. I feel we’ve been together at countless weddings, bar mitzvahs, and funerals. I know his genetic structure. I’m certain that within the last five hundred years—perhaps even more recently—we shared the same ancestor.”
--- Robert Reich, Clinton administration Secretary of Labor, on his first face-to-face meeting with Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan."
May be there is something in it. Yesterday, I had a similar experience in Footscray, one of the suburbs which was much in news about the recent problems of Indian students in Melbourne. We stopped in a small Indian restaurant 'vanakkam India' which specialises in Hyderabad Biryani and dosa(i). There were about twenty young people in the restaurant and I immediately knew that a few in one corner were were from Guntur-Krishna area. As I overheard the conversation, it became more clear though I did not enquire since the young people seemed to be really enjoying their weekend meal. I find similar things when I visit other places. It seems so easy to build some sort of rapport and even 'business' contacts and alliances. May be one should not read too much into these things. Anyway, the good news is : the food is ok, not expensive and there are forty types of dosa from paper dosa to schezwenchilly masaladosa. The restaurant is located at 198, Nicholoson Street, Footscray (phone number: 9687 2233).
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Lapata on authenticity in Indian English fiction
From Flyover Country:
"To my mind, the so-called “authenticity debate” is a red-herring. Authenticity is a slippery quality that seems better suited to descriptions of food (“that restaurant serves a truly authentic Paella”) or artisanal crafts (“her wall-hangings are made with authentic Native American wools and dyes”) than for characterization and dialogue in fiction-writing. What seems to me to be at stake, beyond the upper class guilt of his accusers that Chandra cites, or the exile’s distanced perspective that troubles Kumar, is the art and craft of creating a realist narrative. Kumar seems to move just shy of this conclusion when he continues:
"Unlike Chandra, I don’t think there is freedom at hand from the entire question of authenticity, largely because there is no escape from the yearning for the real. The painfully real, the brilliantly, euphorically real, the emphatically real. Either in our lives, or in our writing."
Realism is not reportage, and even in a novel such as Home Products, which is told from the narrative perspective of a reporter, the inclusion of Binod’s journalistic assignments, his reactions to them, his interviews with subjects of his stories is a form of realistic (meaning in the realist mode) writing. In Kumar’s critique of Adiga’s stereotyped portrayals of Biharis in The White Tiger, he is not saying that these portrayals are ‘inauthentic,’ he is saying that in their obvious cartoonishness, they are unsuccessful (and in their de-humanizing stereotyping, also offensive) in the art of realism.
Writing realism set in India is a special challenge, and the arguments about authenticity as well as ongoing discussions about whether or not an author has ‘captured’ (as a snapshot) a particular slice of life successfully seem more to do with the endless obstacles in using one language spoken by a relative few to create the illusion of even just one small corner of a society that is deeply multi-layered in terms of language, culture and class. Like a bas-relief sculptor, an author must make us feel that we are seeing multiple dimensions while using what amounts to a possibly limiting single layer of language. Even if words from Indian languages are thrown in, there are limits to how much this can be done before the narration gets bogged down under the weight of too many words from other languages.
I don’t wish to end on a note that implies that one kind of story-telling, or one kind of aesthetic, is objectively better than another. Reading literature is not running a science experiment and ultimately we will read whatever books subjectively please us. On the other hand, a novel like Home Products is not only an excellent read, but it also avoids reifying the dehumanizing and possibly dangerous stereotypes about an under-privileged area, while simultaneously opening up for readers all around the world the complexities of the every day lives of people living in the flyover country that is Bihar. If you like that sort of thing."
"To my mind, the so-called “authenticity debate” is a red-herring. Authenticity is a slippery quality that seems better suited to descriptions of food (“that restaurant serves a truly authentic Paella”) or artisanal crafts (“her wall-hangings are made with authentic Native American wools and dyes”) than for characterization and dialogue in fiction-writing. What seems to me to be at stake, beyond the upper class guilt of his accusers that Chandra cites, or the exile’s distanced perspective that troubles Kumar, is the art and craft of creating a realist narrative. Kumar seems to move just shy of this conclusion when he continues:
"Unlike Chandra, I don’t think there is freedom at hand from the entire question of authenticity, largely because there is no escape from the yearning for the real. The painfully real, the brilliantly, euphorically real, the emphatically real. Either in our lives, or in our writing."
Realism is not reportage, and even in a novel such as Home Products, which is told from the narrative perspective of a reporter, the inclusion of Binod’s journalistic assignments, his reactions to them, his interviews with subjects of his stories is a form of realistic (meaning in the realist mode) writing. In Kumar’s critique of Adiga’s stereotyped portrayals of Biharis in The White Tiger, he is not saying that these portrayals are ‘inauthentic,’ he is saying that in their obvious cartoonishness, they are unsuccessful (and in their de-humanizing stereotyping, also offensive) in the art of realism.
Writing realism set in India is a special challenge, and the arguments about authenticity as well as ongoing discussions about whether or not an author has ‘captured’ (as a snapshot) a particular slice of life successfully seem more to do with the endless obstacles in using one language spoken by a relative few to create the illusion of even just one small corner of a society that is deeply multi-layered in terms of language, culture and class. Like a bas-relief sculptor, an author must make us feel that we are seeing multiple dimensions while using what amounts to a possibly limiting single layer of language. Even if words from Indian languages are thrown in, there are limits to how much this can be done before the narration gets bogged down under the weight of too many words from other languages.
I don’t wish to end on a note that implies that one kind of story-telling, or one kind of aesthetic, is objectively better than another. Reading literature is not running a science experiment and ultimately we will read whatever books subjectively please us. On the other hand, a novel like Home Products is not only an excellent read, but it also avoids reifying the dehumanizing and possibly dangerous stereotypes about an under-privileged area, while simultaneously opening up for readers all around the world the complexities of the every day lives of people living in the flyover country that is Bihar. If you like that sort of thing."
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Another urban legend?
Variants of this appear in several places including newspapers Discover hockey's answer to Pele:
"The people of Vienna paid tribute to Chand by erecting a statue of him. The statue has four hands and four sticks to signify his awesome ball."
But I have not seen a single photo of the supposed statue of Dhyan Chand.
"The people of Vienna paid tribute to Chand by erecting a statue of him. The statue has four hands and four sticks to signify his awesome ball."
But I have not seen a single photo of the supposed statue of Dhyan Chand.
Subbaramaiah Minakshisundaram
is considered one of the best Indian mathematicians of the last century. His ancestors migrated from Andhra to Kerala, he grew up in Kerala and Madras and worked in Andhra university through most of his working career. Through one of his granddaughters, I came to know of this website started by his family members:
Dr. S. Minakshisundaram
There are several articles about his work by and his life by scientists and his family members. There are also interesting photographs and copies of some correspondence about his stay in Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. Like many who studied in Madras in the late thirties and later, there seems to be some influence of Fr. C. Racine . His contemporary Komaravolu Chandrasekharan might have played a role in his visit to Princeton. I remember reading somewhere that G.Kallianpur visited Guntur and stayed for a month or so to learn about summability from Minakshi.
Dr. S. Minakshisundaram
There are several articles about his work by and his life by scientists and his family members. There are also interesting photographs and copies of some correspondence about his stay in Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. Like many who studied in Madras in the late thirties and later, there seems to be some influence of Fr. C. Racine . His contemporary Komaravolu Chandrasekharan might have played a role in his visit to Princeton. I remember reading somewhere that G.Kallianpur visited Guntur and stayed for a month or so to learn about summability from Minakshi.
Veeven
Veeven started in వీవెనుడి టెక్కునిక్కులు a new series of posts మీ రోజువారి సమాచార/విషయ వినిమయంలో తెలుగు శాతం ఎంత?,
రోజువారీ సమాచార వినియోగంలో తెలుగు — నా ఆకాంక్షలు with the aims:
"రెండు రోజుల క్రితం నేను మొదలుపెట్టిన తెలుగు సమాచార వినియోగంపై అభిప్రాయ సేకరణలో అడిగిన ప్రశ్నలు ఇవీ:
మీ సమాచారం వినియోగంలో తెలుగు శాతం పెరగాలనుకుంటున్నారా? లేదా, మీ తెలుగు వినియోగ ధోరణితో (నెమ్మదిగా అయినా పెరుగుతుందనే అనుకుంటున్నాను) మీరు సంతృప్తిగా ఉన్నారా?
ఇంకా మీరు తెలుగులో ఏయే సమాచారం/విషయాల్ని (ప్రత్యేకించి జాలంలో) చూడాలనుకుంటున్నారు? మరో రకంగా, మీకు తెలుగులో దొరకని సమాచారం ఏముంది?
వాటికి సంబంధించి నా జవాబులూ ఆకాంక్షలు ఇవీ:
నేను బ్లాగులోకంలో అడుగుపెట్టినప్పటికీ ఇప్పటికీ జాలంలో తెలుగు సమాచారం చాలా పెరిగింది. పెరుగుదల రేటు కూడా గణణీయంగానే ఉంది. ఏదైనా విషయం గురించి తెలుసుకోవాల్సివచ్చినప్పుడు, నేను ముందుగా తెలుగులో గూగిలిస్తున్నాను. మొన్నామధ్య హెపటైటిస్ బీ గురించి తెసుకుందామని సందేహిస్తూనే (అనగా, నేరుగా ఇంగ్లీషు వికీపీడియాకి వెళ్ళకుండా) తెలుగులో వెతికాను. నాక్కావలసిన సమాచారం తెవికీలో దొరికింది. కానీ ఇంకా చాలా విషయాల్లో తెలుగులో సమాచారం అందుబాటులో ఉండాలనుకుంటున్నాను. వివిధ రంగాల వారీగా చూద్దాం:...."
Veeven is the originator of lekhini and initiated several e-efforts in Telugu, many of them of aggregator nature which allow diversity of opinion and efforts. In my opinion Veeven is doing much more for increasing the effective uses of Telugu than many arbiters of taste and government officials. Have a look. Some of the efforts in which Veeven participates are mentioned on the right in the above blog.
రోజువారీ సమాచార వినియోగంలో తెలుగు — నా ఆకాంక్షలు with the aims:
"రెండు రోజుల క్రితం నేను మొదలుపెట్టిన తెలుగు సమాచార వినియోగంపై అభిప్రాయ సేకరణలో అడిగిన ప్రశ్నలు ఇవీ:
మీ సమాచారం వినియోగంలో తెలుగు శాతం పెరగాలనుకుంటున్నారా? లేదా, మీ తెలుగు వినియోగ ధోరణితో (నెమ్మదిగా అయినా పెరుగుతుందనే అనుకుంటున్నాను) మీరు సంతృప్తిగా ఉన్నారా?
ఇంకా మీరు తెలుగులో ఏయే సమాచారం/విషయాల్ని (ప్రత్యేకించి జాలంలో) చూడాలనుకుంటున్నారు? మరో రకంగా, మీకు తెలుగులో దొరకని సమాచారం ఏముంది?
వాటికి సంబంధించి నా జవాబులూ ఆకాంక్షలు ఇవీ:
నేను బ్లాగులోకంలో అడుగుపెట్టినప్పటికీ ఇప్పటికీ జాలంలో తెలుగు సమాచారం చాలా పెరిగింది. పెరుగుదల రేటు కూడా గణణీయంగానే ఉంది. ఏదైనా విషయం గురించి తెలుసుకోవాల్సివచ్చినప్పుడు, నేను ముందుగా తెలుగులో గూగిలిస్తున్నాను. మొన్నామధ్య హెపటైటిస్ బీ గురించి తెసుకుందామని సందేహిస్తూనే (అనగా, నేరుగా ఇంగ్లీషు వికీపీడియాకి వెళ్ళకుండా) తెలుగులో వెతికాను. నాక్కావలసిన సమాచారం తెవికీలో దొరికింది. కానీ ఇంకా చాలా విషయాల్లో తెలుగులో సమాచారం అందుబాటులో ఉండాలనుకుంటున్నాను. వివిధ రంగాల వారీగా చూద్దాం:...."
Veeven is the originator of lekhini and initiated several e-efforts in Telugu, many of them of aggregator nature which allow diversity of opinion and efforts. In my opinion Veeven is doing much more for increasing the effective uses of Telugu than many arbiters of taste and government officials. Have a look. Some of the efforts in which Veeven participates are mentioned on the right in the above blog.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Links...
Martin Wolf is Very Gloomy, and With Good Reason
from Naked Capitalism. Excerpt:
"The implicit conclusion of what Wolf and Johnson write is that we going forward need dirigiste economies and national and regional scale of types and magnitude that we have not seen before (or at least not in a very long time). In addition, the dirigisme would have to be closely co-ordinated globally."
Laura Freschi in Paying for school on $2 a day reminds us of James Tooley's work which has been discussed by several people before, for example, in India Together:School choice looms for poor students . Some seem to be using Tooley's book to push for privatization of primary education but there seem to be various choices and or a mixture of choices. From the comment by Chris Prottas in Aid Watch:
"I agree with the general enthusiasm for independent schools accountable to parents. I do have two points to be made based on the experience of private/non-profit schools in India. First, local market research (series of qualitative interviews) has shown that the “market” for education is not highly functional. Many parents equate quality with price, and will send their child to the most expensive school they can. Otherwise, they might judge a school’s quality by the amount of English the child speaks at home. While parents do realize that public schools are inferior to private schools, parents do not have good tools for sorting between different private school options. Presumably, the market would be more robust and cost-competitive if there were cost-neutral school performance (or student improvement) metrics accessible for the parents: it would certainly be better than now.
Second, while private education has the potential to greatly help many in India, I disagree with Mr Tooley that it is a solution for India’s poorest. 70% of India’s population has a per capita daily income of $ 1/ day or less. For many of these families, even school fees above 30-50 Rs a month are too much.
In order to reach these students, either NGOs or the government needs to provide schooling free of charge (either directly or through vouchers).
Private schools are truly important. However, poor countries should not be seen as markets for private-school advocates to exploit, but rather as societies with variable abilities to pay that may or may not be able to pay for an education. Private school have a place, but the emphasis should be on increasing school choice, school autonomy, and information on performance while ensuring access."
There seem to new projects being studied by James Tooley himself in colloboration with Sugata Mitra (of 'Hole in the Wall' fame) and others:
Competition, Innovation and Change in Education Markets for the Poor in Developing Countries. A preliminary article of a different nature on distance learning in post primary education here.
from Naked Capitalism. Excerpt:
"The implicit conclusion of what Wolf and Johnson write is that we going forward need dirigiste economies and national and regional scale of types and magnitude that we have not seen before (or at least not in a very long time). In addition, the dirigisme would have to be closely co-ordinated globally."
Laura Freschi in Paying for school on $2 a day reminds us of James Tooley's work which has been discussed by several people before, for example, in India Together:School choice looms for poor students . Some seem to be using Tooley's book to push for privatization of primary education but there seem to be various choices and or a mixture of choices. From the comment by Chris Prottas in Aid Watch:
"I agree with the general enthusiasm for independent schools accountable to parents. I do have two points to be made based on the experience of private/non-profit schools in India. First, local market research (series of qualitative interviews) has shown that the “market” for education is not highly functional. Many parents equate quality with price, and will send their child to the most expensive school they can. Otherwise, they might judge a school’s quality by the amount of English the child speaks at home. While parents do realize that public schools are inferior to private schools, parents do not have good tools for sorting between different private school options. Presumably, the market would be more robust and cost-competitive if there were cost-neutral school performance (or student improvement) metrics accessible for the parents: it would certainly be better than now.
Second, while private education has the potential to greatly help many in India, I disagree with Mr Tooley that it is a solution for India’s poorest. 70% of India’s population has a per capita daily income of $ 1/ day or less. For many of these families, even school fees above 30-50 Rs a month are too much.
In order to reach these students, either NGOs or the government needs to provide schooling free of charge (either directly or through vouchers).
Private schools are truly important. However, poor countries should not be seen as markets for private-school advocates to exploit, but rather as societies with variable abilities to pay that may or may not be able to pay for an education. Private school have a place, but the emphasis should be on increasing school choice, school autonomy, and information on performance while ensuring access."
There seem to new projects being studied by James Tooley himself in colloboration with Sugata Mitra (of 'Hole in the Wall' fame) and others:
Competition, Innovation and Change in Education Markets for the Poor in Developing Countries. A preliminary article of a different nature on distance learning in post primary education here.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Getting the hang of the game after 20 years
From 'The Australian'Sachin Tendulkar first to score one-day international double ton
"Is it possible that after 20 years in international cricket, Tendulkar, the darling of Mumbai and scorer of more than 30,000 runs for India, is just getting the hang of the game? Since entering his third decade at the top in November, Tendulkar has a batting average of more than 90 from 13 international matches."
More reactions here
"Is it possible that after 20 years in international cricket, Tendulkar, the darling of Mumbai and scorer of more than 30,000 runs for India, is just getting the hang of the game? Since entering his third decade at the top in November, Tendulkar has a batting average of more than 90 from 13 international matches."
More reactions here
Monday, February 22, 2010
Fact and fiction
Lapata says in Particularities of Partition II "But fiction does not fill the gaps in the historical record, good historiography does."
Chandra Latha says in ఇనుప గజ్జెల తల్లి 3 "Let us now examine the realistic nature of these discourses.
We understand that in fiction , it is not possible to narrate the reality as in formal or scientific language The language used in the narrative is not transparent that can carry a single meaning , as compare to that of scientific discourse. In the other words, language used in reality fiction is not neutral but polyphonic. This plurality helps both writer and the reader for whom language is more than ‘just a medium of thought’ .
Story is art of fiction .Art of narration.
Can the reality fiction over come the hyperbole of the creativity? Can transparent language make fiction into reality ? Can we agree that the narrative , with usage of plural, complex and aesthetic language or simply ,literary language ,be classified as reality fiction ?
This has been discussed in detail by literary critics.
” It does not mean the all writing is absolutely transparent, but rather that the narration , the dominant discourse , is able to establish itself as a truth .The narration does not appear to be the voice of an author ,its source appears to be a true reality which speaks.”" And much more.
Whatever Historiography is, as a layman, I would like to get some feel in a limited amount of time for what happened as a guide to what might happen, and perhaps as a guide to action. Possibly academic studies, with their emphasis on clear meanings, categorization, reduction etc loose some of the power that language shows in fiction. The story Mahesh by Sarat Chandra Chatterjee, conveys so much about the practices of caste, religion,about drought and the existing extractive systems during certain period in parts of India which seems to be to be difficult to covey in any academic study of similar length. Of course then the problem is to recognize such fiction. It is possible that these days very few read this story of Sarat.
Chandra Latha says in ఇనుప గజ్జెల తల్లి 3 "Let us now examine the realistic nature of these discourses.
We understand that in fiction , it is not possible to narrate the reality as in formal or scientific language The language used in the narrative is not transparent that can carry a single meaning , as compare to that of scientific discourse. In the other words, language used in reality fiction is not neutral but polyphonic. This plurality helps both writer and the reader for whom language is more than ‘just a medium of thought’ .
Story is art of fiction .Art of narration.
Can the reality fiction over come the hyperbole of the creativity? Can transparent language make fiction into reality ? Can we agree that the narrative , with usage of plural, complex and aesthetic language or simply ,literary language ,be classified as reality fiction ?
This has been discussed in detail by literary critics.
” It does not mean the all writing is absolutely transparent, but rather that the narration , the dominant discourse , is able to establish itself as a truth .The narration does not appear to be the voice of an author ,its source appears to be a true reality which speaks.”" And much more.
Whatever Historiography is, as a layman, I would like to get some feel in a limited amount of time for what happened as a guide to what might happen, and perhaps as a guide to action. Possibly academic studies, with their emphasis on clear meanings, categorization, reduction etc loose some of the power that language shows in fiction. The story Mahesh by Sarat Chandra Chatterjee, conveys so much about the practices of caste, religion,about drought and the existing extractive systems during certain period in parts of India which seems to be to be difficult to covey in any academic study of similar length. Of course then the problem is to recognize such fiction. It is possible that these days very few read this story of Sarat.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Book Recommendations from 'The Bayesian Heresy '
The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses
Natural Experiments of History edited by Jarred Diamond and James Robinson. Both have links to free chapters.
There is also a link David Warsh's comments on the book with special emphasis on What Can Be Done for Haiti?
Natural Experiments of History edited by Jarred Diamond and James Robinson. Both have links to free chapters.
There is also a link David Warsh's comments on the book with special emphasis on What Can Be Done for Haiti?
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Two stories
Translation of Mahesh by Sarat Chandra Chatterjee
Toba Tek Singh
by Sadat Hasan Manto (via Particularities of Partition Literature I by Lapata)
P.S. From Particularities of Partition II by Lapata:
"Manto’s Siya Hashiye and Yashpal’s Jhutha Sac may in some ways capture the experience of pain or cope with the tragedy of the Partition, but it is also important to look at the imperatives of the individual narratives and those of their authorial and literary contexts. Much of the current movement toward scholarship on the Partition and writing about Partition literature is driven by the very real urgency of the political and social climate of communalism today in South Asia. Many authors write of the shocking repetition of patterns of violence which have spurred on their work: Godra, the Babri Masjid, the 1974 anti-Sikh violence, all of these inform our understanding of the legacy of Partition today. But as we seek to inform, remember and educate about the Partition, we should also try not to lose the specificity of individual voices. Partition literature does not bear witness to the events of 1947 in the same way as eyewitness accounts, journalism and oral histories. While “Toba Tek Singh” and other works of fiction may be an excellent way to open up discussion in the classroom, they are not shortcuts to grasping the trauma of displacement and violence during the Partition.
Major historical events lend themselves to fictional narratives precisely because massive population displacements caused by war or other disasters open up spaces in which to experiment with rearranging social hierarchies and imagining unexpected combinations of characters. Such events also bring out the extremes of human behavior, both the valorous and the base. The American Civil War, the Holocaust and the French Revolution, just to name a few, have all inspired a rich and various literature as well. This is not to impugn the motivations or the importance of the growing body of literature set during the Partition, or to imply that the works of Yashpal, for example, should be seen in the same category as some potboiler Civil War romance. But fiction does not fill the gaps in the historical record, good historiography does."
Toba Tek Singh
by Sadat Hasan Manto (via Particularities of Partition Literature I by Lapata)
P.S. From Particularities of Partition II by Lapata:
"Manto’s Siya Hashiye and Yashpal’s Jhutha Sac may in some ways capture the experience of pain or cope with the tragedy of the Partition, but it is also important to look at the imperatives of the individual narratives and those of their authorial and literary contexts. Much of the current movement toward scholarship on the Partition and writing about Partition literature is driven by the very real urgency of the political and social climate of communalism today in South Asia. Many authors write of the shocking repetition of patterns of violence which have spurred on their work: Godra, the Babri Masjid, the 1974 anti-Sikh violence, all of these inform our understanding of the legacy of Partition today. But as we seek to inform, remember and educate about the Partition, we should also try not to lose the specificity of individual voices. Partition literature does not bear witness to the events of 1947 in the same way as eyewitness accounts, journalism and oral histories. While “Toba Tek Singh” and other works of fiction may be an excellent way to open up discussion in the classroom, they are not shortcuts to grasping the trauma of displacement and violence during the Partition.
Major historical events lend themselves to fictional narratives precisely because massive population displacements caused by war or other disasters open up spaces in which to experiment with rearranging social hierarchies and imagining unexpected combinations of characters. Such events also bring out the extremes of human behavior, both the valorous and the base. The American Civil War, the Holocaust and the French Revolution, just to name a few, have all inspired a rich and various literature as well. This is not to impugn the motivations or the importance of the growing body of literature set during the Partition, or to imply that the works of Yashpal, for example, should be seen in the same category as some potboiler Civil War romance. But fiction does not fill the gaps in the historical record, good historiography does."
On smell
From The sweet smell of morality
How scent can shape our thinking (via 3quarksdaily):
"The idea that a smell can affect something as complex as ethical behavior seems surprising, not least because smell has long been seen as a “lower” sense, playing on our emotions and instincts while our reason and judgment operate on another plane. But research increasingly shows that smell doesn’t just affect how we feel: It affects how we think, in ways that are just beginning to be understood."
I remember that some of the books published by MIR in the 50's had some strong unpleasant smell and so I never read the collected works of Marx and Engels. Perhaps one can experiment with children's books to make study more appetizing.
How scent can shape our thinking (via 3quarksdaily):
"The idea that a smell can affect something as complex as ethical behavior seems surprising, not least because smell has long been seen as a “lower” sense, playing on our emotions and instincts while our reason and judgment operate on another plane. But research increasingly shows that smell doesn’t just affect how we feel: It affects how we think, in ways that are just beginning to be understood."
I remember that some of the books published by MIR in the 50's had some strong unpleasant smell and so I never read the collected works of Marx and Engels. Perhaps one can experiment with children's books to make study more appetizing.
Friday, February 19, 2010
David Brin on climate change
From The Real Struggle Behind Climate Change - A War on Expertise:
"-- all the major recommended actions to deal with Global Climate Change are things we should be doing, anyway."
P.S. David Brin has also comments on the decline of civilizations and mentions Toynbee's view:
"...Arnold Toynbee, who I believe got it right. After studying dozens of past cycles, he declared that civilizations thrive when they invest faith and hope in their creative minorities. When they see the future as a destination and willingly adapt new ways to reach it.
Toynbee -- after surveying many tales of rise and fall -- concluded that cultures start to fail when those creative minorities become distrusted, or are starved of capital, or left out in the cold. Or when they are shunned by those in power."
"-- all the major recommended actions to deal with Global Climate Change are things we should be doing, anyway."
P.S. David Brin has also comments on the decline of civilizations and mentions Toynbee's view:
"...Arnold Toynbee, who I believe got it right. After studying dozens of past cycles, he declared that civilizations thrive when they invest faith and hope in their creative minorities. When they see the future as a destination and willingly adapt new ways to reach it.
Toynbee -- after surveying many tales of rise and fall -- concluded that cultures start to fail when those creative minorities become distrusted, or are starved of capital, or left out in the cold. Or when they are shunned by those in power."
Thursday, February 18, 2010
తెలుగు మీద చిన్న చిన్న ఆలోచనలు
నా సంగతి. నాకు భాషలను గురించి పెద్దగా తెలియదు; నలుగురితితో మాట్లాడుకోటానికి, నాకు అవసరమయినవి రాసులోటానికీ, ఏరాయి ఐతే ఏమి అన్నట్లుగా ఉంటూ ఉండేవాడిని. చేసేది లెక్కలు కాబట్టి ఆంగ్లమే ఎక్కువ అలవాటయ్యింది. కాని చిన్నప్పుడు తెలుగు మీడియంలో చదువుకున్నాము. వయస్సు ఎక్కువైన తరువాత ఉన్నట్లుండి చిన్నప్పుడు విన్న తెలుగు పాటలు గుర్తుకు రావటం మొదలు పెత్తయి. ఇవి ఎక్కువగా తెలుగుపదాలు ఉన్న పాటలు (ఆరుద్ర, మల్లాది సినిమా పాటలు, వేమన, కొన్ని చిన్న పిల్లల పాటలు, జానపద గేయాలు..). ఛిన్నఫ్ఫుడు బట్టీపట్టిన పద్యాలు కూడా కొన్ని గుర్తుకుకు వచ్చినయ్యి; మను చరిత్రలో 'అటజని కాంచె భూమీసురుడు..'. కాని తరువాత అంతా సంస్క్రుతంలో ఉంది. అర్థం కాదు. కొన్ని అన్నమాచార్యులు పదాలు, శ్రీనాధుడి చాటు పద్యాలు తేలికగా ఉన్నయ్యి కాని మిగతా క్లాసిక్స్ చాలా వరకు సంస్క్రుత మయం. అర్థం కావు. శ్రీశ్రీ కూడా కొన్ని పద్యాల్లో శబ్దాలు వింటానికి బాగుంటయ్యి కాని అర్థం కావు. విశ్వనాథ చెప్పవసరం లేదు (చెలియలికట్ట లాంటివి తప్పిస్తే). ఈమధ్య ఒక మాదిగ పాతల పుస్తకం చదివితే మళ్ళి బాగానే అర్థమయింది.ఎక్కడో ప్రజలు మట్లాడే భాషకూ పేరున్న రచయతలు రాసే భాషకు తేడాలు వచ్చినట్లున్నాయ్యి.
నా సంగతి వదిలేయండి. కొంతమంది తాము మాములుగా వాడే పదాలకి తెలుగు మాటలు ఏమిటా అని 'తెలుగుపదం' అనే సైటులో ప్రయత్నిస్తున్నారు. వీళ్లు బాగా చదువుకున్నవాళ్ళు తెలుగుకి సంబధించని ఉద్యోగాలలో ఉన్నవాళ్ళు. మరి ఎందుకో తెలుగుమీద ప్రేమ ఉన్నామని చెప్పేవాళ్ళు చాలామంది అలాంటి సైట్లు జోలికి రారు. ఈతెలియని వాళ్ళతో చర్చలు చేస్తే కాలం పాడు ఔతందనేమో ?
ఈచదువుకున్న ఎలైట్ల మాట వదిలేసి, మాములు రైతులు కూలీల విషయం ఆలోచించండి. ప్రొద్దుటినుంచీ బ్యాంకులు, ఆఫీసులు, కోర్టులు, అప్ప్లికేషనులు, ఫోనులు అన్నిట్లో కొద్దో గొప్పో ఆంగ్లం కావాలిసి వస్తుంది. ప్రభుత్వం ఏమి చేయపొతూందో తెలిసుకోవాలంటే పేపర్లు చూడాలి. ఇందులో చాలా పదాలు ఆంగ్లంలో ఉంటాయి. బూదరాజు రాధా క్రిష్నలాంటి వారు కష్టపడి కొంతవరకు పదాలు సేకరించారు. కాని అంత త్రుప్తికరంగాలేవు. తరువాత కొన్ని బ్లాగులొలోనే (తెలుగుపదం, తెలుగుథీసిస్, తాడేపల్లి వగైరా) ప్రయత్నాలు కనపడుతున్నవి. ఇంతకీ చెప్పొచిందేంటటే ప్రజలు రోజూ మాట్లడే, అవసరమైన భాషకూ, రచయితల భాషకూ విచ్చేదనము ఉంది. కొంతవరకూ బ్లాగులు వంతెనలాగ ఉపయోపడుతున్నవి. పండితులేమి చేస్తున్నారో నాకు తెలియదు.
పూర్వకాలంలో పరిస్తితులు ఎలా ఉండేవో? నన్నయకు పుర్వం లీలగా కుర్క్యాల శాసనాలవల్ల తెలుస్తున్నవి. తరువాత రాయలనాటి వైభవం, నాయకులనాటి సంగతులు విన్నాము. రాజుల ఆదరణ లేక భాష వ్రుద్ధి కాలేంటారు. కాని ప్రజలు ఏదొ ఒక రకం తెలుగు మాట్లాడూనే ఉన్నారు. అది చాలాబాగుందని విదేశీయులు నిఘంటువులు వగైరా రాయటం మొదలెట్టారు. ఉర్దూ, ఆంగ్లం లాంటి భాషలనుంచి చాల మాటలు తెలుగులోకి వచ్చాయి. నేననుకోటం అందరకూ ఇతర భాషలు పూర్తిగా నేర్చుకొవటం కష్టం. కాని కొంచెం కొంచెం మారుతూ తెలుగు నిలుస్తూనే ఉంది. గోరాటి వెంకన్న లాంటివారు వస్తూనే ఉంటారు. తెలుగు ఎలాగోలా కొనసాగుతూనే ఉంటుంది.
నా సంగతి వదిలేయండి. కొంతమంది తాము మాములుగా వాడే పదాలకి తెలుగు మాటలు ఏమిటా అని 'తెలుగుపదం' అనే సైటులో ప్రయత్నిస్తున్నారు. వీళ్లు బాగా చదువుకున్నవాళ్ళు తెలుగుకి సంబధించని ఉద్యోగాలలో ఉన్నవాళ్ళు. మరి ఎందుకో తెలుగుమీద ప్రేమ ఉన్నామని చెప్పేవాళ్ళు చాలామంది అలాంటి సైట్లు జోలికి రారు. ఈతెలియని వాళ్ళతో చర్చలు చేస్తే కాలం పాడు ఔతందనేమో ?
ఈచదువుకున్న ఎలైట్ల మాట వదిలేసి, మాములు రైతులు కూలీల విషయం ఆలోచించండి. ప్రొద్దుటినుంచీ బ్యాంకులు, ఆఫీసులు, కోర్టులు, అప్ప్లికేషనులు, ఫోనులు అన్నిట్లో కొద్దో గొప్పో ఆంగ్లం కావాలిసి వస్తుంది. ప్రభుత్వం ఏమి చేయపొతూందో తెలిసుకోవాలంటే పేపర్లు చూడాలి. ఇందులో చాలా పదాలు ఆంగ్లంలో ఉంటాయి. బూదరాజు రాధా క్రిష్నలాంటి వారు కష్టపడి కొంతవరకు పదాలు సేకరించారు. కాని అంత త్రుప్తికరంగాలేవు. తరువాత కొన్ని బ్లాగులొలోనే (తెలుగుపదం, తెలుగుథీసిస్, తాడేపల్లి వగైరా) ప్రయత్నాలు కనపడుతున్నవి. ఇంతకీ చెప్పొచిందేంటటే ప్రజలు రోజూ మాట్లడే, అవసరమైన భాషకూ, రచయితల భాషకూ విచ్చేదనము ఉంది. కొంతవరకూ బ్లాగులు వంతెనలాగ ఉపయోపడుతున్నవి. పండితులేమి చేస్తున్నారో నాకు తెలియదు.
పూర్వకాలంలో పరిస్తితులు ఎలా ఉండేవో? నన్నయకు పుర్వం లీలగా కుర్క్యాల శాసనాలవల్ల తెలుస్తున్నవి. తరువాత రాయలనాటి వైభవం, నాయకులనాటి సంగతులు విన్నాము. రాజుల ఆదరణ లేక భాష వ్రుద్ధి కాలేంటారు. కాని ప్రజలు ఏదొ ఒక రకం తెలుగు మాట్లాడూనే ఉన్నారు. అది చాలాబాగుందని విదేశీయులు నిఘంటువులు వగైరా రాయటం మొదలెట్టారు. ఉర్దూ, ఆంగ్లం లాంటి భాషలనుంచి చాల మాటలు తెలుగులోకి వచ్చాయి. నేననుకోటం అందరకూ ఇతర భాషలు పూర్తిగా నేర్చుకొవటం కష్టం. కాని కొంచెం కొంచెం మారుతూ తెలుగు నిలుస్తూనే ఉంది. గోరాటి వెంకన్న లాంటివారు వస్తూనే ఉంటారు. తెలుగు ఎలాగోలా కొనసాగుతూనే ఉంటుంది.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Interesting papers on colonial legacies
The first "History, Institutions and Economic Performance: The Legacy of Colonial Land Tenure Systems in India" by A. Banerjee and L. Iyer available from
Abhijit Banerjee's Home Page.
Summary from a review paper The Importance of History
for Economic Development by Nathan Nunn (section 2.2):
"Like Dell (2008), Banerjee & Iyer (2005) also analyze the long-term effects of colonial institutions, but they examine differences in revenue collection institutions across districts within colonial India. The authors compared districts where revenue was historically collected directly by British officials against districts where revenue was collected by native landlords. They found that, after independence, districts with nonlandlord systems have higher levels of health, education, and agricultural technology investments relative to those levels in landlord systems.
....
Although the analysis of Banerjee & Iyer(2005)and Dell(2008)provide evidence of the long-term impacts of initial colonial institutions, the studies do differ from that by Acemoglu et al. (2001) because the transmission mechanism is not the persistence of these initially implemented institutions. In Dell (2008), the hypothesized mechanism is the concentration of wealth and power and the resulting provision of public goods. Similarly, in the analysis by Banerjee & Iyer the transmission mechanism is not through the persistence of these initially implemented institutions, because the differences in colonial land revenue collection systems no longer exist."
The other work mentioned is "The Persistent Effects of Peru's Mining Mita" by Melissa Dell which is also available online ( but the later discussion towards the end of section 2.3 by Nunn of Dell's work does not seem to be correct)http://econ-www.mit.edu/files/3144 or http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/news/forums/index/cageseminars/dell.pdf
Abhijit Banerjee's Home Page.
Summary from a review paper The Importance of History
for Economic Development by Nathan Nunn (section 2.2):
"Like Dell (2008), Banerjee & Iyer (2005) also analyze the long-term effects of colonial institutions, but they examine differences in revenue collection institutions across districts within colonial India. The authors compared districts where revenue was historically collected directly by British officials against districts where revenue was collected by native landlords. They found that, after independence, districts with nonlandlord systems have higher levels of health, education, and agricultural technology investments relative to those levels in landlord systems.
....
Although the analysis of Banerjee & Iyer(2005)and Dell(2008)provide evidence of the long-term impacts of initial colonial institutions, the studies do differ from that by Acemoglu et al. (2001) because the transmission mechanism is not the persistence of these initially implemented institutions. In Dell (2008), the hypothesized mechanism is the concentration of wealth and power and the resulting provision of public goods. Similarly, in the analysis by Banerjee & Iyer the transmission mechanism is not through the persistence of these initially implemented institutions, because the differences in colonial land revenue collection systems no longer exist."
The other work mentioned is "The Persistent Effects of Peru's Mining Mita" by Melissa Dell which is also available online ( but the later discussion towards the end of section 2.3 by Nunn of Dell's work does not seem to be correct)http://econ-www.mit.edu/files/3144 or http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/news/forums/index/cageseminars/dell.pdf
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Kuffir discusses data
in these learned purveyors of bazaar gossip. From a comment in the post:
"Given that amongst the signatories there are knowledgeable social scientists, doubt if they have cooked up the figures."
We have from a recent post Problems with data "In a highly influential study, Acs found that the average high impact firm was about 20 years old and came in all sizes, small, medium, and large. Schramm, on the other hand, using a Census Bureau study, found that firms less than five years old created almost all of the jobs independent of size. They both cannot be right."
See also Can You Trust Census Data? By JUSTIN WOLFERS
After the recent economic crisis, we have respected economists, some of them Nobel prize winners, still arguing about causes and remedies. I feel that all should be quesioned and analyzed. One of the good things emerging out of the current debate in A.P. is the discussion about data and its connection with the ground realities. I hope that these discussions will continue.
"Given that amongst the signatories there are knowledgeable social scientists, doubt if they have cooked up the figures."
We have from a recent post Problems with data "In a highly influential study, Acs found that the average high impact firm was about 20 years old and came in all sizes, small, medium, and large. Schramm, on the other hand, using a Census Bureau study, found that firms less than five years old created almost all of the jobs independent of size. They both cannot be right."
See also Can You Trust Census Data? By JUSTIN WOLFERS
After the recent economic crisis, we have respected economists, some of them Nobel prize winners, still arguing about causes and remedies. I feel that all should be quesioned and analyzed. One of the good things emerging out of the current debate in A.P. is the discussion about data and its connection with the ground realities. I hope that these discussions will continue.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Some posts on BT brinjal
A Brinjal Brouhaha By Sujata in 'An Accidental Blogger'. Several detailed posts in Telugu are in Chandra Latha's Telugu blog మడత పేజీ . Two of the posts have many details in English:
మీరు ఏమి చేయ గలరు? has excerpts of a letter from from S.Panini of Emory University School of Medicine,Atlanta, Georgia. He also discusses BTcorn.
The second వారేమన్నారంటే has excerpts of a letter from Dr.Sitaramayya Ari, Professor of Chemistry,Oakland University. He also discusses BT soyabeen.
మీరు ఏమి చేయ గలరు? has excerpts of a letter from from S.Panini of Emory University School of Medicine,Atlanta, Georgia. He also discusses BTcorn.
The second వారేమన్నారంటే has excerpts of a letter from Dr.Sitaramayya Ari, Professor of Chemistry,Oakland University. He also discusses BT soyabeen.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
Madhukar Shukla on three maps of India
and Chidambaram's offer of Suspending all memorandums of understanding with mining companies in a bid to persuade Maiosts to lay down their weapons Mao-ists vs. MoU-ists .
25 mm rain in a couple of hours and this can happen
City streets flooded, commuter delays as storms sweep through city . Our trains also fail if the temoerature goes to mid thirties or above. I remember a day with 22 inches of rain, most of it in the night, in Bombay.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Indian students, racism and a debate spiralling out of control
Says Paul Austin in The Age Opinion Column:
"John Brumby has lost control of the violence-against-Indians debate. That's scary for a premier who likes to be in control. Scarier still that it's happening in an election year.
Brumby wants to play down the idea that the recent spate of bashings and stabbings of Indians is evidence that racism is on the rise in Victoria.
He adopts this position for three main reasons. First, and fundamentally, he thinks the idea is wrong and repugnant.
But there are also financial and political considerations.
The multibillion-dollar international student industry is a big earner for Victoria - a state not blessed with mineral resources like Queensland and Western Australia - and, naturally, Brumby wants to protect it.
And the political interest of any premier is best served if their community has a self-image as a safe, welcoming, tolerant place.
The problem for Brumby is that a growing list of people are refusing to adopt his sotto voce approach. The danger for the Premier is that as more people speak out about the problem of racism in Victoria, and accuse the government of an inadequate response, he will be seen as unrealistic and isolated."
Meanwhile Police keep lid on stats for Indians :
"POLICE Chief Commissioner Simon Overland has admitted there are ''limitations'' in the statistics he and Premier John Brumby have been relying on to inform the public about Indians as victims of crime - and he won't release them.
He said information about a victim's race was based on a subjective assessment of their appearance - and Indians were included in the broad category of ''south Asian appearance''. Such a category could also include those from countries other than India such as Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
Mr Overland is refusing to release the statistics on the grounds that they are ''subjective and open to interpretation''."
Update (Feb.13th)
The politics of violence by Sushi Das
Brumby, Baillieu clash over state's crime level
From Victoria in a state of denial
"Professor Marginson, who has studied similar targeting of foreign students in other countries, said Victoria had been far slower to recognise the race issue than was New Zealand when it faced attacks on Chinese students and the US with students of Middle Eastern origin.
Mr Overland said recently that the police had been aware of the unusually high level of attacks on Indians for the past two years. However, it was only when the issue received widespread coverage in the middle of last year that the Brumby government and the police launched a series of visible initiatives to try to stop the attacks. Since then, measures have been steadily introduced, ranging from sentencing laws for hate crimes, a 24-hour student care service and a targeting of hot spots. Yet Mr Brumby has not given Mr Overland what he needs most to combat the problem: a surge in police numbers to enable officers to be stationed permanently at night at train stations, on trains and in the streets of poorer suburbs where the attacks are taking place. Mr Brumby last year announced he would lift police numbers by 120 officers, barely enough to combat the general rise in violent crime across Melbourne, much less crimes specifically directed against Indian students.
"The chief commissioner is clearly not getting the resources to manage the situation," Mr Gupta said. "I think this will come back to haunt the government at the next election.""
"John Brumby has lost control of the violence-against-Indians debate. That's scary for a premier who likes to be in control. Scarier still that it's happening in an election year.
Brumby wants to play down the idea that the recent spate of bashings and stabbings of Indians is evidence that racism is on the rise in Victoria.
He adopts this position for three main reasons. First, and fundamentally, he thinks the idea is wrong and repugnant.
But there are also financial and political considerations.
The multibillion-dollar international student industry is a big earner for Victoria - a state not blessed with mineral resources like Queensland and Western Australia - and, naturally, Brumby wants to protect it.
And the political interest of any premier is best served if their community has a self-image as a safe, welcoming, tolerant place.
The problem for Brumby is that a growing list of people are refusing to adopt his sotto voce approach. The danger for the Premier is that as more people speak out about the problem of racism in Victoria, and accuse the government of an inadequate response, he will be seen as unrealistic and isolated."
Meanwhile Police keep lid on stats for Indians :
"POLICE Chief Commissioner Simon Overland has admitted there are ''limitations'' in the statistics he and Premier John Brumby have been relying on to inform the public about Indians as victims of crime - and he won't release them.
He said information about a victim's race was based on a subjective assessment of their appearance - and Indians were included in the broad category of ''south Asian appearance''. Such a category could also include those from countries other than India such as Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
Mr Overland is refusing to release the statistics on the grounds that they are ''subjective and open to interpretation''."
Update (Feb.13th)
The politics of violence by Sushi Das
Brumby, Baillieu clash over state's crime level
From Victoria in a state of denial
"Professor Marginson, who has studied similar targeting of foreign students in other countries, said Victoria had been far slower to recognise the race issue than was New Zealand when it faced attacks on Chinese students and the US with students of Middle Eastern origin.
Mr Overland said recently that the police had been aware of the unusually high level of attacks on Indians for the past two years. However, it was only when the issue received widespread coverage in the middle of last year that the Brumby government and the police launched a series of visible initiatives to try to stop the attacks. Since then, measures have been steadily introduced, ranging from sentencing laws for hate crimes, a 24-hour student care service and a targeting of hot spots. Yet Mr Brumby has not given Mr Overland what he needs most to combat the problem: a surge in police numbers to enable officers to be stationed permanently at night at train stations, on trains and in the streets of poorer suburbs where the attacks are taking place. Mr Brumby last year announced he would lift police numbers by 120 officers, barely enough to combat the general rise in violent crime across Melbourne, much less crimes specifically directed against Indian students.
"The chief commissioner is clearly not getting the resources to manage the situation," Mr Gupta said. "I think this will come back to haunt the government at the next election.""
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Abdul Qadir's Australian sojourn
Abbamania from Cricinfo. ( Missed it until it is linked in Chapati Mystery). Excerpt:
""Great," Larkin thought, "I'm off the mark and I've seen his wrong'un. I'll be right from here."
Qadir's second ball was faster; wicketkeeper Micky Butera rocked back instinctively on his heels. It was also wider. "Very close to the edge of the pitch," says Larkin. It was too wide to make mayhem, so wide that the umpire cleared his throat and gave a preliminary twitch of his arms. Larkin flung his own arms high, his bat even higher - "to allow the ball to travel through harmlessly".
Instead the ball dipped - swooped, more like - as if by remote control. It landed, veered headlong in the wrong direction, then hit middle stump, like Shane Warne dumbfounding Mike Gatting all over again. In reverse.
"Abdul spun this wrong'un one and a half feet," gasps Butera. "Sounds ridiculous when you say it."
"I would play that ball the same way a hundred times out of a hundred," believes Larkin.
"There was an element of luck in the Warne ball," Cook points out. "Whereas Abdul's was absolutely contrived."
The only person not surprised was the contriver himself. Deep down, Qadir knew that by rights he should have been in Peshawar that Saturday, playing for his country not a suburb. His Carlton team-mates knew that he knew it. He did not need to say so; though sometimes he said it anyway. There was and remained only one wonder of Pakistani spin."
P.S. A couple of friends liked the above piece by Christian Ryan:
One of them writes that Sunil Gavaskar got his only test wicket by imitatating Abdul Qadir:
"It was during a Bangalore Test in 84 coming to a pointless and boring draw; Gavaskar was given the ball 15 minutes before the end and he bowled the first ball with a 40 yard runup and it was a wide. For the second ball he mimicked the peculiar dancing gait of Abdul Qadir coming in to bowl and probably in his efforts to
not burst out laughing Zaheer missed an innocuous and straight ball and was bowled."
Another writes "Christian Ryan seems to be in the finest tradition of writers on cricket and the story of Abdul Qadir is splendid."
My response to the second:
"There seem to be some Australian writers who come up with pieces like that. There are usually not prolific, usually going about some business or other, then come up with such pieces and do not really seem to care about building a career as writers. I read a book "Roads to Xanadu" about China by John Merson who apparently teaches history in some college. Lot of the time he takes part in some local environmental activities and probably a family man. The book is not publicized, it is not available any more. He might have written one or two more books but instead of career pursues life I guess. I remember another writer Matt Price who writes about politics and suddenly come up with pieces like that about cricket and does not even bother to make books out of them."
I learnt that Matt Price passed away in 2007 and there is a published book of some of his writings.
""Great," Larkin thought, "I'm off the mark and I've seen his wrong'un. I'll be right from here."
Qadir's second ball was faster; wicketkeeper Micky Butera rocked back instinctively on his heels. It was also wider. "Very close to the edge of the pitch," says Larkin. It was too wide to make mayhem, so wide that the umpire cleared his throat and gave a preliminary twitch of his arms. Larkin flung his own arms high, his bat even higher - "to allow the ball to travel through harmlessly".
Instead the ball dipped - swooped, more like - as if by remote control. It landed, veered headlong in the wrong direction, then hit middle stump, like Shane Warne dumbfounding Mike Gatting all over again. In reverse.
"Abdul spun this wrong'un one and a half feet," gasps Butera. "Sounds ridiculous when you say it."
"I would play that ball the same way a hundred times out of a hundred," believes Larkin.
"There was an element of luck in the Warne ball," Cook points out. "Whereas Abdul's was absolutely contrived."
The only person not surprised was the contriver himself. Deep down, Qadir knew that by rights he should have been in Peshawar that Saturday, playing for his country not a suburb. His Carlton team-mates knew that he knew it. He did not need to say so; though sometimes he said it anyway. There was and remained only one wonder of Pakistani spin."
P.S. A couple of friends liked the above piece by Christian Ryan:
One of them writes that Sunil Gavaskar got his only test wicket by imitatating Abdul Qadir:
"It was during a Bangalore Test in 84 coming to a pointless and boring draw; Gavaskar was given the ball 15 minutes before the end and he bowled the first ball with a 40 yard runup and it was a wide. For the second ball he mimicked the peculiar dancing gait of Abdul Qadir coming in to bowl and probably in his efforts to
not burst out laughing Zaheer missed an innocuous and straight ball and was bowled."
Another writes "Christian Ryan seems to be in the finest tradition of writers on cricket and the story of Abdul Qadir is splendid."
My response to the second:
"There seem to be some Australian writers who come up with pieces like that. There are usually not prolific, usually going about some business or other, then come up with such pieces and do not really seem to care about building a career as writers. I read a book "Roads to Xanadu" about China by John Merson who apparently teaches history in some college. Lot of the time he takes part in some local environmental activities and probably a family man. The book is not publicized, it is not available any more. He might have written one or two more books but instead of career pursues life I guess. I remember another writer Matt Price who writes about politics and suddenly come up with pieces like that about cricket and does not even bother to make books out of them."
I learnt that Matt Price passed away in 2007 and there is a published book of some of his writings.
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Dirac too
seems to be a victim of his intellectual prejudices. From the review Silent Quantum Genius By Freeman Dyson
"The doctrine of mathematical beauty is itself beautiful, and there is no doubt that Dirac believed it to be true. But it does not agree well with the historical facts. During the wonder years when he was making his great discoveries, his thinking was more concerned with practical details and less with abstract beauty. And during the long second half of Dirac's life, when he was preaching the doctrine of mathematical beauty, it did not lead him to important new discoveries.
During Dirac's middle years, the grand edifice of modern particle physics was growing up around him, with discoveries of new particles and new symmetries bursting out in rapid succession. Nature was screaming at him to pay attention to her revelations. But his love for abstract beauty told him to stay aloof. He ignored the new discoveries of particles and symmetries, because he judged them to be too complicated, not beautiful enough to be true. Instead of listening to Nature, he was telling Nature how to behave. As a result, the second half of his life was comparatively sterile."
"The doctrine of mathematical beauty is itself beautiful, and there is no doubt that Dirac believed it to be true. But it does not agree well with the historical facts. During the wonder years when he was making his great discoveries, his thinking was more concerned with practical details and less with abstract beauty. And during the long second half of Dirac's life, when he was preaching the doctrine of mathematical beauty, it did not lead him to important new discoveries.
During Dirac's middle years, the grand edifice of modern particle physics was growing up around him, with discoveries of new particles and new symmetries bursting out in rapid succession. Nature was screaming at him to pay attention to her revelations. But his love for abstract beauty told him to stay aloof. He ignored the new discoveries of particles and symmetries, because he judged them to be too complicated, not beautiful enough to be true. Instead of listening to Nature, he was telling Nature how to behave. As a result, the second half of his life was comparatively sterile."
Sunday, February 07, 2010
Ellen Langer on aging
BBC article Can the power of thought stop you ageing? . A review of her book Counterclockwise
Let's Live Forever!, with a link to the first chapter. Her website and blog.
Let's Live Forever!, with a link to the first chapter. Her website and blog.
Saturday, February 06, 2010
Regional disturbances and internet
In a 2001 article Regional Disturbances, Richard asks:
"Americans get anorexia. Nigerians get 'brain fag.' Malaysians suffer from 'hyperstartle syndrome.' How culturally specific is mental illness?"
He goes on to discuss a Malay malady latah among other maladies and says:
"There is one thing that remains constant for all latah sufferers. Upon becoming afflicted, latahs become permanently sensitive to startling. It is a lifetime condition. Scholars have only encountered a few latahs who have overcome their symptoms. Even if latah is spread primarily by culture, then, it is a potent virus.
Indeed, the power of culture to propagate mental illness has become a subject of increasing fascination in the West. In recent years, scholars have seen mysterious maladies proliferate in a way that echoes the spread of latah. Multiple-personality disorder, for example, flourished among white, middle-class American women in the 1980's. And more recently, American and European psychologists have begun tracking apotemnophilia -- a new, disturbing condition in which sufferers desire to amputate one of their own limbs. The Internet, medical anthropologists say, is helping spread the condition globally. As with latah, there is no cure. "
I came across latah in an post by Justin Smith who has been promisiing to write about Indian Philosophy(?). There are beginnings in one post What Is 'Non-Western' Philosophy?
"Americans get anorexia. Nigerians get 'brain fag.' Malaysians suffer from 'hyperstartle syndrome.' How culturally specific is mental illness?"
He goes on to discuss a Malay malady latah among other maladies and says:
"There is one thing that remains constant for all latah sufferers. Upon becoming afflicted, latahs become permanently sensitive to startling. It is a lifetime condition. Scholars have only encountered a few latahs who have overcome their symptoms. Even if latah is spread primarily by culture, then, it is a potent virus.
Indeed, the power of culture to propagate mental illness has become a subject of increasing fascination in the West. In recent years, scholars have seen mysterious maladies proliferate in a way that echoes the spread of latah. Multiple-personality disorder, for example, flourished among white, middle-class American women in the 1980's. And more recently, American and European psychologists have begun tracking apotemnophilia -- a new, disturbing condition in which sufferers desire to amputate one of their own limbs. The Internet, medical anthropologists say, is helping spread the condition globally. As with latah, there is no cure. "
I came across latah in an post by Justin Smith who has been promisiing to write about Indian Philosophy(?). There are beginnings in one post What Is 'Non-Western' Philosophy?
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Sam Bowles
Corey Pein on Sam Bowles. Excerpt:
"Among other projects, Community Action lobbies the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission on behalf of low-income residents, opposing rate increases by the Public Services Company of New Mexico. “Constantly,” Porter says, “it’s our voice against the suits.”
Her on-the-ground experience supports a message Bowles has pushed all these years in academia.
“Inequality,” she says, “really holds us back.”
Bowles offers a key reason why this is so. “Inequality breeds conflict, and conflict breeds wasted resources,” he says.
In short, in a very unequal society, the people at the top have to spend a lot of time and energy keeping the lower classes obedient and productive.
Inequality leads to an excess of what Bowles calls “guard labor.” In a 2007 paper on the subject, he and co-author Arjun Jayadev, an assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts, make an astonishing claim: Roughly 1 in 4 Americans is employed to keep fellow citizens in line and protect private wealth from would-be Robin Hoods."
Link via Profile of Sam Bowlesin MR which has more links and comments. There is also discussion in Crooked Timber.
SFI webpage of Sam Bowles
Webpage of his longtime collaborator Herbert Gintis
"Among other projects, Community Action lobbies the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission on behalf of low-income residents, opposing rate increases by the Public Services Company of New Mexico. “Constantly,” Porter says, “it’s our voice against the suits.”
Her on-the-ground experience supports a message Bowles has pushed all these years in academia.
“Inequality,” she says, “really holds us back.”
Bowles offers a key reason why this is so. “Inequality breeds conflict, and conflict breeds wasted resources,” he says.
In short, in a very unequal society, the people at the top have to spend a lot of time and energy keeping the lower classes obedient and productive.
Inequality leads to an excess of what Bowles calls “guard labor.” In a 2007 paper on the subject, he and co-author Arjun Jayadev, an assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts, make an astonishing claim: Roughly 1 in 4 Americans is employed to keep fellow citizens in line and protect private wealth from would-be Robin Hoods."
Link via Profile of Sam Bowlesin MR which has more links and comments. There is also discussion in Crooked Timber.
SFI webpage of Sam Bowles
Webpage of his longtime collaborator Herbert Gintis
Problems with data
Browsing through the links in Economist's View, I find these two articles.
From Entrepreneurship and the Economy:
"So what does entrepreneurship have to do with the recession? If we take what we know today, entrepreneurs and innovation play a vital role in the economy. But can they help us in the great recession? In other words, what policy should we be pursuing to move the unemployment rate below 10 percent and back into the neighborhood of 5 percent? We know that new firms are important. They create most of the net jobs. However, only a small percent, perhaps 4 percent, create almost all of the jobs in any given four-year period. And this seems to hold up in different times, different countries, and different industries.
So how do we forge a policy? Two stories are told out there. First we know that age and size are important variables. And we know that age appears to be more important than size. In other words, we should target firms based on age not size. The two stories out there are one by Zoltan Acs and the other by Carl Shramm. In a highly influential study, Acs found that the average high impact firm was about 20 years old and came in all sizes, small, medium, and large. Schramm, on the other hand, using a Census Bureau study, found that firms less than five years old created almost all of the jobs independent of size. They both cannot be right."
In a different context, from Can You Trust Census Data?By JUSTIN WOLFERS:
"The whole research community is waiting for the Census Bureau to do something about these problems."
Once, when I pointed out some data Kuffirsaid somethinglike "But the ground realities are different". Wise man!
From Entrepreneurship and the Economy:
"So what does entrepreneurship have to do with the recession? If we take what we know today, entrepreneurs and innovation play a vital role in the economy. But can they help us in the great recession? In other words, what policy should we be pursuing to move the unemployment rate below 10 percent and back into the neighborhood of 5 percent? We know that new firms are important. They create most of the net jobs. However, only a small percent, perhaps 4 percent, create almost all of the jobs in any given four-year period. And this seems to hold up in different times, different countries, and different industries.
So how do we forge a policy? Two stories are told out there. First we know that age and size are important variables. And we know that age appears to be more important than size. In other words, we should target firms based on age not size. The two stories out there are one by Zoltan Acs and the other by Carl Shramm. In a highly influential study, Acs found that the average high impact firm was about 20 years old and came in all sizes, small, medium, and large. Schramm, on the other hand, using a Census Bureau study, found that firms less than five years old created almost all of the jobs independent of size. They both cannot be right."
In a different context, from Can You Trust Census Data?By JUSTIN WOLFERS:
"The whole research community is waiting for the Census Bureau to do something about these problems."
Once, when I pointed out some data Kuffirsaid somethinglike "But the ground realities are different". Wise man!
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Some of Michael Artin's teaching experiences
from Recountings: Conversations with MIT Mathematicians edited by Joel Segel:
"I taught calculus in small classes for years, starting when I was a graduate student in Harvard. But the first time I tried to lecture one of the freshman calculus classes, it didn't work very well. I was too formal, probably. You're in front of 250 people or so. It's a short of show game, and I had a hard time. The last time I did it, it was fine, but I'd learned a lot. Before trying it again, I attended Arthur Mattuck's lectures for an entire semester, and I leaned a lot from him.
Another thing that really helped me was being videotaped. The first time I was videotaped it wasn't in the calculus, though I've been taped teaching those courses. It was an upper-class course. I looked at it, and I saw that I was doing something terrible. I avoided looking at the class. Even when I turned around, my gaze was down. It just stared at you in the face when you watched me. I decided that the reason was that looking at the class would break my concentration on what I was saying, I'm pretty sure that's what it was. But it was extremely difficult to stop doing it. I probably still do it, but not as much. One of my brothers-in-law suggested just programming looking at the class into my preparation. It was a good idea....
There was another problem that also I can't do anything about. When Arthur sees my tapes, he is very critical, because I sometimes skip steps. The reason I can't do anything about it is because it's really a brain function-my brain has skipped the step. But that's one reason that I prepare very carefully. I've written down everything out exactly the way it's going to go on the board, for instance, so my board has gotten pretty good. I still have this skipping steps, but it's probably not as bad as not turning around often enough to look at the class. I get reasonably good ratings, so these aren't terrible. It's just that you want to be perfect".
Interestingly, his father Emil Artin is a Feynman like figure in mathematics. Here is the Wikipedia article on Emil Artin .
The book has also an interview with Arthur Mattuck and his experiences with Emil Artin's teaching and guidance.
I won't to say anything about my teaching except that one of the first students remarked that I was whispering endearments to the blackboard and I do not think that it improved much.
I briefly met Michael Artin 1966 when he was visiting Bombay for conference and I was a graduate student. It was partly because Emil Artin's 'Galois Theory' was one of the first non-prescribed math. books that I read and probably never got out of that thrall of beautiful theories without examples. Then I saw Michael again in a conference in Japan around 1973 and was very surprised that he remembered me and introduced me to his mother as the Swarup from India.
"I taught calculus in small classes for years, starting when I was a graduate student in Harvard. But the first time I tried to lecture one of the freshman calculus classes, it didn't work very well. I was too formal, probably. You're in front of 250 people or so. It's a short of show game, and I had a hard time. The last time I did it, it was fine, but I'd learned a lot. Before trying it again, I attended Arthur Mattuck's lectures for an entire semester, and I leaned a lot from him.
Another thing that really helped me was being videotaped. The first time I was videotaped it wasn't in the calculus, though I've been taped teaching those courses. It was an upper-class course. I looked at it, and I saw that I was doing something terrible. I avoided looking at the class. Even when I turned around, my gaze was down. It just stared at you in the face when you watched me. I decided that the reason was that looking at the class would break my concentration on what I was saying, I'm pretty sure that's what it was. But it was extremely difficult to stop doing it. I probably still do it, but not as much. One of my brothers-in-law suggested just programming looking at the class into my preparation. It was a good idea....
There was another problem that also I can't do anything about. When Arthur sees my tapes, he is very critical, because I sometimes skip steps. The reason I can't do anything about it is because it's really a brain function-my brain has skipped the step. But that's one reason that I prepare very carefully. I've written down everything out exactly the way it's going to go on the board, for instance, so my board has gotten pretty good. I still have this skipping steps, but it's probably not as bad as not turning around often enough to look at the class. I get reasonably good ratings, so these aren't terrible. It's just that you want to be perfect".
Interestingly, his father Emil Artin is a Feynman like figure in mathematics. Here is the Wikipedia article on Emil Artin .
The book has also an interview with Arthur Mattuck and his experiences with Emil Artin's teaching and guidance.
I won't to say anything about my teaching except that one of the first students remarked that I was whispering endearments to the blackboard and I do not think that it improved much.
I briefly met Michael Artin 1966 when he was visiting Bombay for conference and I was a graduate student. It was partly because Emil Artin's 'Galois Theory' was one of the first non-prescribed math. books that I read and probably never got out of that thrall of beautiful theories without examples. Then I saw Michael again in a conference in Japan around 1973 and was very surprised that he remembered me and introduced me to his mother as the Swarup from India.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Two write-ups on Salinger
I liked this AN APPRECIATION
J.D. Salinger: a gift of words and silenceIn his greatest works, a clash between self-expression and self-effacement.
A more literary appreciation The Pre-Postmodernist .
(both via 3quarksdaily)
J.D. Salinger: a gift of words and silenceIn his greatest works, a clash between self-expression and self-effacement.
A more literary appreciation The Pre-Postmodernist .
(both via 3quarksdaily)
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Lyla on Leila
in this post.
Long ago I wrote to Lyla that my granddaughter Leila, after seeing the crescent moon said "The moon is broken". Recently she told her mother that she was angry with her. When the mother said that she should not be angry without any reason, the response was "Mom! I can get angry with you whenever I like". Lyla's resonse to the two comments is this:
బుల్లి మేధావీ
జాబిల్లి విరిగిందటా :-)
ఎందుకటా! ఎందుకటా?
అల్లరి ఆరిందావీ
అమ్మతోటె పోట్లాటా
మాటకు తిరుగు మాటా
ఎందుకటా! ఎందుకటా?
గులాబీ పూదావీ
ఆవేశం వేడియటా
ఆగ్రహం కూడదటా
అవునా? ఆనందబాంధవీ
Long ago I wrote to Lyla that my granddaughter Leila, after seeing the crescent moon said "The moon is broken". Recently she told her mother that she was angry with her. When the mother said that she should not be angry without any reason, the response was "Mom! I can get angry with you whenever I like". Lyla's resonse to the two comments is this:
బుల్లి మేధావీ
జాబిల్లి విరిగిందటా :-)
ఎందుకటా! ఎందుకటా?
అల్లరి ఆరిందావీ
అమ్మతోటె పోట్లాటా
మాటకు తిరుగు మాటా
ఎందుకటా! ఎందుకటా?
గులాబీ పూదావీ
ఆవేశం వేడియటా
ఆగ్రహం కూడదటా
అవునా? ఆనందబాంధవీ
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Gummadi no more
Veteran Telugu actor Gummadi Venkateswara Rao passed away on January 26, 2010.
Here is a long Interview With Gummadi Venkateswara Raoin nine parts from 2007.
Here is a long Interview With Gummadi Venkateswara Raoin nine parts from 2007.
Concentration of power
Jeff Strabone in Post-Shame:
"It seems to me that over the past decade, in the United States, the state and a narrow circle of powerful interests—banks, energy companies, and private health insurers in particular—have simply given up trying to persuade the rest of us that their interests were our interests. Could we be moving in the twenty-first century to a state that practices domination without hegemony? Or, to put it in plain English, will the state shamelessly turn itself completely over to serving the interests of a powerful few without bothering to pretend that it's not? And if it does, how should we respond?"
Arnold King in Why the U.S. is Ungovernable:
"The theory is that there is a discrepancy between trends in knowledge and power. Power in the United States is remarkably concentrated. We are creating increasingly specialized knowledge, which means that the information needed to make good decisions is located outside of Washington, D.C. And yet we have a central government attempting to do for 300 million people what governments in places like Singapore, Hong Kong, Denmark, and Switzerland do for many fewer people.
.....
These days, most of the people who complain that the U.S. is ungovernable are looking for solutions that would allow progressive technocrats to be even more powerful. I believe that the solution is to decentralize government, so that the U.S. becomes a federation of hundreds of Swiss-style cantons, each of which can be governed differently, but reasonably effectively."
"It seems to me that over the past decade, in the United States, the state and a narrow circle of powerful interests—banks, energy companies, and private health insurers in particular—have simply given up trying to persuade the rest of us that their interests were our interests. Could we be moving in the twenty-first century to a state that practices domination without hegemony? Or, to put it in plain English, will the state shamelessly turn itself completely over to serving the interests of a powerful few without bothering to pretend that it's not? And if it does, how should we respond?"
Arnold King in Why the U.S. is Ungovernable:
"The theory is that there is a discrepancy between trends in knowledge and power. Power in the United States is remarkably concentrated. We are creating increasingly specialized knowledge, which means that the information needed to make good decisions is located outside of Washington, D.C. And yet we have a central government attempting to do for 300 million people what governments in places like Singapore, Hong Kong, Denmark, and Switzerland do for many fewer people.
.....
These days, most of the people who complain that the U.S. is ungovernable are looking for solutions that would allow progressive technocrats to be even more powerful. I believe that the solution is to decentralize government, so that the U.S. becomes a federation of hundreds of Swiss-style cantons, each of which can be governed differently, but reasonably effectively."
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Inguva Mallikarjuna Sharma's blog
Kuffir links to this comprehensive artice My 2004 article on the Telangana issue
By Inguva Mallikarjuna Sharma. Updated versions started on December 18
I. Mallikarjuna Sharma's article: FOR A UNITED ANDHRA-TELANGANA-SEEMA (Part-1) in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 15 December 2009 issue .
The comments in the post SEPARATION IS NO SOLUTION by I. Mallikarjuna Sharma has an interesting discussion on data and statistics. In Kuffir's post Ved has links to a study on India's most backward districts:
India’s most backward districts: List of 1997 Sarma Committee.
P.S. Anant Maringanti in EPW Telangana: Righting Historical Wrongs or Getting the Future Right?
By Inguva Mallikarjuna Sharma. Updated versions started on December 18
I. Mallikarjuna Sharma's article: FOR A UNITED ANDHRA-TELANGANA-SEEMA (Part-1) in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 15 December 2009 issue .
The comments in the post SEPARATION IS NO SOLUTION by I. Mallikarjuna Sharma has an interesting discussion on data and statistics. In Kuffir's post Ved has links to a study on India's most backward districts:
India’s most backward districts: List of 1997 Sarma Committee.
P.S. Anant Maringanti in EPW Telangana: Righting Historical Wrongs or Getting the Future Right?
Friday, January 22, 2010
More than just crossed senses in synaesthesia
From MindHacks post Beyond crossed senses in synaesthesia:
"If colour-speech synaesthesia works only through crossed-senses then the McGurk effect should make no difference to the colours because the exact same sound is played each time, but if this form of synaesthesia is triggered by meaning, the colours should differ because the McGurk effect changes which words are perceived and understood, despite the identical sound.
This is exactly what the researchers found, providing additional evidence that synaesthesia is not just a sensory confusion, it is based in how the brain understands meaning."
P.S. Another intersting post in MindHacks Hard as Nails. Excerpt:
"A builder aged 29 came to the accident and emergency department having jumped down on to a 15 cm nail. As the smallest movement of the nail was painful he was sedated with fentanyl and midazolam. The nail was then pulled out from below. When his boot was removed a miraculous cure appeared to have taken place. Despite entering proximal to the steel toecap the nail had penetrated between the toes: the foot was entirely uninjured.
.....
This isn't really the nocebo effect, where 'side-effects' appear after having taken nothing but a placebo, but more similar to what doctors might describe in its persistent form as somatisation disorder where physical symptoms appear that aren't explained by tissue damage.
However, both are similar in that real pain arises from beliefs, expectations and perceptions. We now know that all pain has a significant mental component and, consequently, psychological therapy is an effective treatment for chronic pain."
"If colour-speech synaesthesia works only through crossed-senses then the McGurk effect should make no difference to the colours because the exact same sound is played each time, but if this form of synaesthesia is triggered by meaning, the colours should differ because the McGurk effect changes which words are perceived and understood, despite the identical sound.
This is exactly what the researchers found, providing additional evidence that synaesthesia is not just a sensory confusion, it is based in how the brain understands meaning."
P.S. Another intersting post in MindHacks Hard as Nails. Excerpt:
"A builder aged 29 came to the accident and emergency department having jumped down on to a 15 cm nail. As the smallest movement of the nail was painful he was sedated with fentanyl and midazolam. The nail was then pulled out from below. When his boot was removed a miraculous cure appeared to have taken place. Despite entering proximal to the steel toecap the nail had penetrated between the toes: the foot was entirely uninjured.
.....
This isn't really the nocebo effect, where 'side-effects' appear after having taken nothing but a placebo, but more similar to what doctors might describe in its persistent form as somatisation disorder where physical symptoms appear that aren't explained by tissue damage.
However, both are similar in that real pain arises from beliefs, expectations and perceptions. We now know that all pain has a significant mental component and, consequently, psychological therapy is an effective treatment for chronic pain."
Thursday, January 21, 2010
A nation which helped Simon Bolivar
Monday, January 18, 2010
Two links, January 17, 2010
Daniel Little on some experimental findings in Civic engagement and formative institutions:
"These are surprising findings. The TFA (Teach For Ameria)population as a whole shows a higher level of civic engagement than the general population. But within the TFA population, the graduates lag. "
Felix Salmon in The limits of Mirofinane:
"Richard Rosenberg has a good new paper — short, clear, summarized here — saying that the jury is very much still out on whether or not microfinance helps improve the incomes of the poor. But even if it doesn’t help the poor out of poverty, it still does a great deal of good in terms of giving them tools to deal with poverty."
"These are surprising findings. The TFA (Teach For Ameria)population as a whole shows a higher level of civic engagement than the general population. But within the TFA population, the graduates lag. "
Felix Salmon in The limits of Mirofinane:
"Richard Rosenberg has a good new paper — short, clear, summarized here — saying that the jury is very much still out on whether or not microfinance helps improve the incomes of the poor. But even if it doesn’t help the poor out of poverty, it still does a great deal of good in terms of giving them tools to deal with poverty."
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Discussion on decentralization
Kuffir has several posts on Telangana and in the posts and some of the post comments, there are useful discussions on decentralization. As far as I can see from the posts, the thrust is to enpower people and some of the ideas are similar to those of Jayaprakash Narayan of Loksatta and the idea of subsidiarity. See in particular the discussion and comments in the posts it's the economy, stupid and dr.ambedkar on the reorganization of states
Friday, January 15, 2010
Sushi Das on Indian students in Australia
From It's simple: India doesn't want to see its citizens harmed by Sushi Das:
"... first, that Australia has a crime problem in the suburbs that it must attend to, and second, that India is within its rights to speak out when its citizens face danger."
There is also a discussion in Death Ends Fun during which Michiel Bass's thesis on Indian students in Australia covering the period 2005-2009 came up:Imagined Mobility. He has also two articles:Cash Cows from 2005 and Voices from Down Under written in June 2009. I have not yet read the thesis; the students he met seem to be mostly those who had English medium in schools. The thesis was completed in October 2009 and there is a postscript on the more recent outbreaks of violence. He seems to think there has been rapid change in the situation since 2005. I understand that there is an Australian blog with suburb wise statistics on the violence but I have not located it yet.
P.S. {January 20)From the Victorian police chief We've known for two years about Indian attacks: Overland :
"We recognised this problem a long time before it hit the public.
"We have known for two years that there has been this issue and we have been working away, at a number of levels around engaging with students, trying to make them understand the risks and how they keep themselves safe."
Mr Overland said police had detailed data on attacks involving Indians and said that while Indians were over represented when it came to robberies, the same could not be said for assaults.
About 50 per cent of assaults on Indians occurred in their workplace, mostly involving taxi drivers and convenience store clerks, he said.
Mr Overland said some of the attacks were racist.
"I have said from day one undoubtedly some of these attacks have a racist motive or there is racist elements to these attacks," he said.
"Regardless of who they are, what they are, what colour they are, what occupation they are, my job is to make the state as safe as I can for everyone."
P.P.S. (January 23rd) Sushi Das has two informative articles in The Age today:
Advice on Indian students ignored
Hard lessons to be learnt
Conservative leader's reaction:
Immigrant support hit by gangs: Abbott
"... first, that Australia has a crime problem in the suburbs that it must attend to, and second, that India is within its rights to speak out when its citizens face danger."
There is also a discussion in Death Ends Fun during which Michiel Bass's thesis on Indian students in Australia covering the period 2005-2009 came up:Imagined Mobility. He has also two articles:Cash Cows from 2005 and Voices from Down Under written in June 2009. I have not yet read the thesis; the students he met seem to be mostly those who had English medium in schools. The thesis was completed in October 2009 and there is a postscript on the more recent outbreaks of violence. He seems to think there has been rapid change in the situation since 2005. I understand that there is an Australian blog with suburb wise statistics on the violence but I have not located it yet.
P.S. {January 20)From the Victorian police chief We've known for two years about Indian attacks: Overland :
"We recognised this problem a long time before it hit the public.
"We have known for two years that there has been this issue and we have been working away, at a number of levels around engaging with students, trying to make them understand the risks and how they keep themselves safe."
Mr Overland said police had detailed data on attacks involving Indians and said that while Indians were over represented when it came to robberies, the same could not be said for assaults.
About 50 per cent of assaults on Indians occurred in their workplace, mostly involving taxi drivers and convenience store clerks, he said.
Mr Overland said some of the attacks were racist.
"I have said from day one undoubtedly some of these attacks have a racist motive or there is racist elements to these attacks," he said.
"Regardless of who they are, what they are, what colour they are, what occupation they are, my job is to make the state as safe as I can for everyone."
P.P.S. (January 23rd) Sushi Das has two informative articles in The Age today:
Advice on Indian students ignored
Hard lessons to be learnt
Conservative leader's reaction:
Immigrant support hit by gangs: Abbott
Monday, January 11, 2010
Perception of distance
In Motivated reality MindHacks links to two papers on how the 'perception of distance to an object was altered by how much someone wanted it' and to this post describing the
Desire influences visual perception describing a recent study. It seems that even if one cannot always get what one wants, it appears nearer than it is.
Desire influences visual perception describing a recent study. It seems that even if one cannot always get what one wants, it appears nearer than it is.
Saturday, January 09, 2010
Marxist views of the recent financial crisis
A survey by Joseph Choonara Marxist accounts of the current crisis. It is one of the several links from comments (72) in John Quiggin's CT post Marxian economics MIA?.
There is also a discussion of the topic in
John Quiggin's blog and Economist's View Can Marxian Economics Explain the Crisis?.
The 2009 March 28 issue of EPW (issue 13) has a few articles on the crisis including The Recent Crisis in Global Capitalism:Towards a Marxian Understanding by Vamsi Vakulabharanam.
P.S. Stanford Encyclopedia article on Karl Marx by Jonathan Wolff, the author of Why Read Marx Today?
P.S. A one paragraph comment in Who are these economists, anyway? by James Galbraith.
There is also a discussion of the topic in
John Quiggin's blog and Economist's View Can Marxian Economics Explain the Crisis?.
The 2009 March 28 issue of EPW (issue 13) has a few articles on the crisis including The Recent Crisis in Global Capitalism:Towards a Marxian Understanding by Vamsi Vakulabharanam.
P.S. Stanford Encyclopedia article on Karl Marx by Jonathan Wolff, the author of Why Read Marx Today?
P.S. A one paragraph comment in Who are these economists, anyway? by James Galbraith.
On neighbourhood diversity
Marginal Revolution links to a study in Hyderabad on mixed housing Evidence from India on neighborhood diversity. The paper says "As India expands public housing for the poor to accommodate rapid urbanization, deliberate mixing of religious groups can be a way of improving attitudes toward the religious minority." Muslims are about 40 percent in Hyderabad and thus not really a minority, but I like the recommendation.
Sunday, January 03, 2010
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Something to think about next year
The Limited Modesty of Subsidiarity by N.W.Barber (viaLaw and Other Things) and Elinor Ostrom's work.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Recovering from Chikungunya
Apparently, recovering from Chikungunya may take a long time for some. A friend from Hyderabad hsays that he recovered quickly after suffering for a couple of months using some unani medicine. It is available from shop called Arammasala kirana grocery (approximate name) near Nampalli station and is close to Arastu Lodge. Apparently one can ask for packets with a list of the ingredients and perhaps check for toxicity.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
In the season of giving
a discussion on giving by Peter Singer and William Easterly on Bloggingheads.tv via Christmas Charity Gift-Giving Video Edition: Peter Singer and I on Bloggingheads.tv. Questions like too much establishment costs of some organizations, keeping track of whether the money is spent for the causes given and the results are discussed and there are links to some reliable efforts (but what is reliable now may not be reliable tomorrow)and links to organizations which evaluate charities.
My own small efforts are through organizations in places I know where I can get feedback through friends and relatives and can visit once in a while. Two such I know which work mostly in Andhra Pradsh are:
http://www.friendsforeducation.org/
http://www.hopeforhumanitymd.org/, the first organized by Benjamin Kaila and friends and the second by Mrs Krishnarao and friends. Mrs. Krishnarao lives in Maryland and wants to start a blog to attract more people to their efforts and inform of the ongoing efforts. If any dody can help please contact her.
My own small efforts are through organizations in places I know where I can get feedback through friends and relatives and can visit once in a while. Two such I know which work mostly in Andhra Pradsh are:
http://www.friendsforeducation.org/
http://www.hopeforhumanitymd.org/, the first organized by Benjamin Kaila and friends and the second by Mrs Krishnarao and friends. Mrs. Krishnarao lives in Maryland and wants to start a blog to attract more people to their efforts and inform of the ongoing efforts. If any dody can help please contact her.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Deeptidhara (దీప్తి ధార) posts on e-telugu
with links to several blogs and photographs of bloggers and other notable internet Telugu personalities like Veeven, Paruchuri Sreenivas, Suresh Kolichala, Akkiraju Bhattiprolu,....:
పుస్తక ప్రదర్శనశాలలో e - తెలుగు
పుస్తకాల వరదలు -రెండవ రోజు
పుస్తక ప్రియుల కోసం పాదయాత్ర (మూడవ రోజు)
పుస్తకాలకై ప్రజావాహిని - నాలుగో రోజు
పుస్తక ప్రదర్శనశాలలో e - తెలుగు
పుస్తకాల వరదలు -రెండవ రోజు
పుస్తక ప్రియుల కోసం పాదయాత్ర (మూడవ రోజు)
పుస్తకాలకై ప్రజావాహిని - నాలుగో రోజు
Friday, December 25, 2009
Lok Satta on A.P. agitation
has several posts on the A.P. agiatation, suggestive of 'subsidiarity', including this Lok Satta pities Chiranjeevi’s ignorance. Excerpt:
"Talking to the media, party spokesmen Mr. Katari Srinivasa Rao, Mr. V.Laxman Balaji, Mrs. K.Geeta Murthy said that what all the Lok Satta had been agitating for is in accordance with the 73rd and 74th amendments to the Constitution which envisaged transfer of powers, responsibilities, resources and personnel to local governments. The Lok Satta stand is in tune with Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of gram swaraj.
The Lok Satta has all along fought for empowerment of panchayats, mandal parishads, zilla parishads, municipalities and municipal corporations so that they would be at the service of citizens who are sovereign in a democracy. Governments existed for people and not the other way round. The era of power vesting in the PM, CM and the DM (prime minister, chief minister and district magistrate) should give way for power in the hands of governments elected at the local level.....
The traditional political parties should realize that the formation of a Telangana State is merely a means and not an end. There will not be any transformation in the lives of people unless they are empowered and corruption eliminated, and quality education, healthcare and livelihood opportunities provided to all without reference to the accident of their birth in a particular caste or religion or region."
See alsoTv9 Special Interview with Jayaprakash Narayana on Present Crisis :
http://ap7am.com/videoscript/videosplay.php?id=3074
"Talking to the media, party spokesmen Mr. Katari Srinivasa Rao, Mr. V.Laxman Balaji, Mrs. K.Geeta Murthy said that what all the Lok Satta had been agitating for is in accordance with the 73rd and 74th amendments to the Constitution which envisaged transfer of powers, responsibilities, resources and personnel to local governments. The Lok Satta stand is in tune with Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of gram swaraj.
The Lok Satta has all along fought for empowerment of panchayats, mandal parishads, zilla parishads, municipalities and municipal corporations so that they would be at the service of citizens who are sovereign in a democracy. Governments existed for people and not the other way round. The era of power vesting in the PM, CM and the DM (prime minister, chief minister and district magistrate) should give way for power in the hands of governments elected at the local level.....
The traditional political parties should realize that the formation of a Telangana State is merely a means and not an end. There will not be any transformation in the lives of people unless they are empowered and corruption eliminated, and quality education, healthcare and livelihood opportunities provided to all without reference to the accident of their birth in a particular caste or religion or region."
See alsoTv9 Special Interview with Jayaprakash Narayana on Present Crisis :
http://ap7am.com/videoscript/videosplay.php?id=3074
Thursday, December 24, 2009
SRI blog
started recently: Global News and Views - System of Rice Intensification (SRI) . The latest post mentions introduction of SRI in Afghanistan.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Obama Ain't It
Who Will Be A Champion Of The Left We Can Believe In? As Bush-lite, Obama Ain't It
By Evert Cilliers
See also Glenn Greenwald's Greg Craig and Obama's worsening civil liberties record
(both via 3queaksdaily)
P.S. See also He’s not perfect but Obama deserves at least a B
By Evert Cilliers
See also Glenn Greenwald's Greg Craig and Obama's worsening civil liberties record
(both via 3queaksdaily)
P.S. See also He’s not perfect but Obama deserves at least a B
Joan Mencher on sustainable agriculture
Interviw in Frontline The right to food .Excerpt:
"There were three processes that destroyed the traditional face of Indian agriculture. First, the Green Revolution; second, the 1991 liberalisation of the Indian economy; and third, the George Bush-Manmohan Singh summit in July 2005 [U.S.-India Knowledge Initiative on Agriculture], which really gave free entry to large American food corporations into India.
But there are people trying to revive ways of traditional forms of agriculture. One of the important things to be aware of is that large corporations are spreading the idea that anyone who tries to oppose all these scientific innovations is anti-science, anti-technology, [and] anti-modern, whereas I would argue that what they are calling modernity is not modernity and, furthermore, they ignore the much more complicated discipline of eco-science completely. Colleges have a big deal of knowledge about what works, but they do not support ecological sciences. Even eco-sciences are often pressured to do absolutely simple research. Eco-scientists are testing only one part of a thing when they do research on it without understanding the larger implications of such work. It’s the synergy between various parts that matters. Research in the ecological sciences needs to be improved."
Arun Shrivastava has been saying similar things: Links to some of his articles.
As John Little quotes in Merton's Sociology Science "Scientists often choose problems for investigation that are vitally linked with major values and interests of the time." May be the recent financial crisis will bring a shift in the paradigms.
"There were three processes that destroyed the traditional face of Indian agriculture. First, the Green Revolution; second, the 1991 liberalisation of the Indian economy; and third, the George Bush-Manmohan Singh summit in July 2005 [U.S.-India Knowledge Initiative on Agriculture], which really gave free entry to large American food corporations into India.
But there are people trying to revive ways of traditional forms of agriculture. One of the important things to be aware of is that large corporations are spreading the idea that anyone who tries to oppose all these scientific innovations is anti-science, anti-technology, [and] anti-modern, whereas I would argue that what they are calling modernity is not modernity and, furthermore, they ignore the much more complicated discipline of eco-science completely. Colleges have a big deal of knowledge about what works, but they do not support ecological sciences. Even eco-sciences are often pressured to do absolutely simple research. Eco-scientists are testing only one part of a thing when they do research on it without understanding the larger implications of such work. It’s the synergy between various parts that matters. Research in the ecological sciences needs to be improved."
Arun Shrivastava has been saying similar things: Links to some of his articles.
As John Little quotes in Merton's Sociology Science "Scientists often choose problems for investigation that are vitally linked with major values and interests of the time." May be the recent financial crisis will bring a shift in the paradigms.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
A tax on short-term debt instead of Tobin tax
suggests Luigi Zingales in A tax on short-term debt would stabilise the system .
Arvind Subramanian blogs an aid and Dutch Disease
Arvind Subramanian in The Effects of Foreign Aid: Dutch Disease:
"Manufacturing exports has been the predominant mode for escape from underdevelopment for many developing countries, especially in Asia. So, what aid does to manufacturing exports can be one key piece of the puzzle in understanding the aggregate effect of aid.
In this paper forthcoming in the Journal of Development Economics, Raghuram Rajan and I show that aid tends to depress the growth of exportable goods. This will not be the last word on the subject because the methodology in this paper, as in much of the aid literature, could be improved.
But the innovation in this paper is not to look at the variation in the data across countries (which is what almost the entire aid literature does) but at the variation within countries across sectors. We categorize goods by how exportable they could be for low-income countries, and find that in countries that receive more aid, more exportable sectors grow substantially more slowly than less exportable ones. The numbers suggest that in countries that receive additional aid of 1 percent of GDP, exportable sectors grow more slowly by 0.5 percent per year (and clothing and footwear sectors that are particularly exportable in low-income countries grow slower by 1 percent per year).
We also provide suggestive evidence that the channel through which this effect is felt is the exchange rate. In other words, aid tends to make a country less competitive (reflected in an overvalued exchange rate) which in turn depresses the prospects of the more exportable sectors. In the jargon, this is the famous “Dutch Disease” effect of aid."
Further discussion by David Roodman of Center for Global Development Does Aid Cause Dutch Disease? and Subramanian's response:
"Whether and how manufacturing exports can be an engine of overall growth is still debated. But the historical experience is strongly suggestive that if export sectors grow slowly or grow slower than other sectors, overall growth is affected. So, our paper could be interpreted not as a lament about the effects of aid on export sectors but as a celebration of its effects on non-export sectors. But, in my view and also in the historical record, between export and non-export sectors as an engine of growth, there is no contest."
"Manufacturing exports has been the predominant mode for escape from underdevelopment for many developing countries, especially in Asia. So, what aid does to manufacturing exports can be one key piece of the puzzle in understanding the aggregate effect of aid.
In this paper forthcoming in the Journal of Development Economics, Raghuram Rajan and I show that aid tends to depress the growth of exportable goods. This will not be the last word on the subject because the methodology in this paper, as in much of the aid literature, could be improved.
But the innovation in this paper is not to look at the variation in the data across countries (which is what almost the entire aid literature does) but at the variation within countries across sectors. We categorize goods by how exportable they could be for low-income countries, and find that in countries that receive more aid, more exportable sectors grow substantially more slowly than less exportable ones. The numbers suggest that in countries that receive additional aid of 1 percent of GDP, exportable sectors grow more slowly by 0.5 percent per year (and clothing and footwear sectors that are particularly exportable in low-income countries grow slower by 1 percent per year).
We also provide suggestive evidence that the channel through which this effect is felt is the exchange rate. In other words, aid tends to make a country less competitive (reflected in an overvalued exchange rate) which in turn depresses the prospects of the more exportable sectors. In the jargon, this is the famous “Dutch Disease” effect of aid."
Further discussion by David Roodman of Center for Global Development Does Aid Cause Dutch Disease? and Subramanian's response:
"Whether and how manufacturing exports can be an engine of overall growth is still debated. But the historical experience is strongly suggestive that if export sectors grow slowly or grow slower than other sectors, overall growth is affected. So, our paper could be interpreted not as a lament about the effects of aid on export sectors but as a celebration of its effects on non-export sectors. But, in my view and also in the historical record, between export and non-export sectors as an engine of growth, there is no contest."
Friday, December 18, 2009
More on Telangana
Tarunabh Khaitan in Subsidiarity and State Formation links to several interesting articles related to the current discussions on Telangana and says "What is striking in all of these commentaries is that they ignore sub-nationalism as a possible basis for further state-formation. Instead, each of them analyses different aspects of democratic representation and efficiency---the twin pillars that underpin the principle of subsidiarity. The Telengana issue could well trigger the second wave of state formation in India: if this happens, subsidiarity should be a useful guide for the second states reorganisation commission. Of course, subsidiarity will also require far stronger local governments than we have at the moment--will our policy makers travel that far?"
The article about subsidiarity mentioned by Khaitan is behind a firewall. According to the Wikipedia article:
"Subsidiarity is an organizing principle that matters ought to be handled by the smallest, lowest or least centralized competent authority. The Oxford English Dictionary defines subsidiarity as the idea that a central authority should have a subsidiary function, performing only those tasks which cannot be performed effectively at a more immediate or local level. The concept is applicable in the fields of government, political science, cybernetics, management, military (Mission Command) and, metaphorically, in the distribution of software module responsibilities in object-oriented programming (according to the Information expert design guideline). Subsidiarity is, ideally or in principle, one of the features of federalism, where it asserts the rights of the parts over the whole.
The word subsidiarity is derived from the Latin word subsidiarius and has its origins in Catholic social teaching (see Subsidiarity (Catholicism)).[1] The concept or principle is found in several constitutions around the world (see for example the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution which asserts States rights.
It is presently best known as a fundamental principle of European Union law."
From the first of the articles mentioned From 27 to 45? by Bibek Debroi:
" First, India’s present organisation into states (and UTs) isn’t rational, if rationality is interpreted as delivering better governance. The word governance is much abused and different people mean different things when they use it. Governance is a process and it is also about delivering public goods and services (law and order, primary health, school education, roads, drinking and irrigation water, electricity). These are still areas characterised by some degree of market failure. In addition, there are anti-poverty programmes. In all these, trading off economies (of scale and scope) with diseconomies, there is an optimal level of administration at which these can be delivered. While there is a case for centralisation for defence and national security, there is a case for decentralisation for public goods. As a rough rule of the thumb, at least in India’s heartland, optimal governance requires population sizes smaller than 50 million (25 million is more like it) and geographical expanse less than 35,000 sq km.
Second, there is an empirical proposition. Across India’s 28 states and its UTs, work co-authored with Laveesh Bhandari shows smaller states perform better than larger states — on an average. Small states perform better than large states on physical infrastructure, social infrastructure, law and order and anti-poverty programmes. However, this is on an average and isn’t a finding specific to Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand or Uttarakhand. Nor is it the case that administrative restructuring alone solves all governance problems. For instance, the Northeast and Jammu and Kashmir have issues that administrative restructuring alone cannot solve. What of the three newly-formed states? A long enough data time-series doesn’t exist. Subject to that, the answer depends on indicators used. Across indicators, Uttarakhand performs better than UP. The Chhattisgarh-MP comparison is iffy, with Chhattisgarh performing better on some indicators and worse on others. For Bihar-Jharkhand, Bihar generally performs better than Jharkhand. If an argument about optimal administrative level is accepted, the question shouldn’t only be about carved-out states like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand. Governance should also improve in what remains — MP, Bihar, UP. Since one cannot control for other variables, there is a post hoc ergo propter hoc danger. With this caveat, governance (however defined) has improved in MP, Bihar, UP....
In this controversy over Telangana, there is an impression that there is a great deal of controversy. However, if one thinks about it, there should be complete consensus on these seven propositions. Unfortunately, in its preference towards setting up commissions right, left and centre, the UPA didn’t set up the one it should have and the whirlwind is being reaped now.
Perhaps there is a moral there too. Governments are reluctant to delegate decision-making to commissions. Instead, there is a preference for arbitrary exercise of centralised power, exactly the opposite of what the Constitution intended."
Karthik Muralidharan in Too small to fail :
"As states get more involved in large-scale social protection programmes like the NREGA and RSBY, it may be desirable to increase investment in state capacity to deliver services effectively and one way of doing this may be to create new state administrations with more manageable jurisdictions. Smaller states can also experiment more easily with innovations in governance and service delivery, which can be replicated across states if found to be successful."
Pratap Bhanu Mehta in Sizeable matters :
"Two issues in particular need attention. The first is dealing with legitimate concerns over state size. Mayawati’s proposal for further dividing UP merits serious consideration for a number of reasons that have been reiterated on several occasions. But more than creating states, the focus should be on building states. The success of a state depends not on size, but on state capacity. This varies widely across India. But we understand little about the conditions under which different states are likely to acquire the requisite state capacity."
The article about subsidiarity mentioned by Khaitan is behind a firewall. According to the Wikipedia article:
"Subsidiarity is an organizing principle that matters ought to be handled by the smallest, lowest or least centralized competent authority. The Oxford English Dictionary defines subsidiarity as the idea that a central authority should have a subsidiary function, performing only those tasks which cannot be performed effectively at a more immediate or local level. The concept is applicable in the fields of government, political science, cybernetics, management, military (Mission Command) and, metaphorically, in the distribution of software module responsibilities in object-oriented programming (according to the Information expert design guideline). Subsidiarity is, ideally or in principle, one of the features of federalism, where it asserts the rights of the parts over the whole.
The word subsidiarity is derived from the Latin word subsidiarius and has its origins in Catholic social teaching (see Subsidiarity (Catholicism)).[1] The concept or principle is found in several constitutions around the world (see for example the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution which asserts States rights.
It is presently best known as a fundamental principle of European Union law."
From the first of the articles mentioned From 27 to 45? by Bibek Debroi:
" First, India’s present organisation into states (and UTs) isn’t rational, if rationality is interpreted as delivering better governance. The word governance is much abused and different people mean different things when they use it. Governance is a process and it is also about delivering public goods and services (law and order, primary health, school education, roads, drinking and irrigation water, electricity). These are still areas characterised by some degree of market failure. In addition, there are anti-poverty programmes. In all these, trading off economies (of scale and scope) with diseconomies, there is an optimal level of administration at which these can be delivered. While there is a case for centralisation for defence and national security, there is a case for decentralisation for public goods. As a rough rule of the thumb, at least in India’s heartland, optimal governance requires population sizes smaller than 50 million (25 million is more like it) and geographical expanse less than 35,000 sq km.
Second, there is an empirical proposition. Across India’s 28 states and its UTs, work co-authored with Laveesh Bhandari shows smaller states perform better than larger states — on an average. Small states perform better than large states on physical infrastructure, social infrastructure, law and order and anti-poverty programmes. However, this is on an average and isn’t a finding specific to Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand or Uttarakhand. Nor is it the case that administrative restructuring alone solves all governance problems. For instance, the Northeast and Jammu and Kashmir have issues that administrative restructuring alone cannot solve. What of the three newly-formed states? A long enough data time-series doesn’t exist. Subject to that, the answer depends on indicators used. Across indicators, Uttarakhand performs better than UP. The Chhattisgarh-MP comparison is iffy, with Chhattisgarh performing better on some indicators and worse on others. For Bihar-Jharkhand, Bihar generally performs better than Jharkhand. If an argument about optimal administrative level is accepted, the question shouldn’t only be about carved-out states like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand. Governance should also improve in what remains — MP, Bihar, UP. Since one cannot control for other variables, there is a post hoc ergo propter hoc danger. With this caveat, governance (however defined) has improved in MP, Bihar, UP....
In this controversy over Telangana, there is an impression that there is a great deal of controversy. However, if one thinks about it, there should be complete consensus on these seven propositions. Unfortunately, in its preference towards setting up commissions right, left and centre, the UPA didn’t set up the one it should have and the whirlwind is being reaped now.
Perhaps there is a moral there too. Governments are reluctant to delegate decision-making to commissions. Instead, there is a preference for arbitrary exercise of centralised power, exactly the opposite of what the Constitution intended."
Karthik Muralidharan in Too small to fail :
"As states get more involved in large-scale social protection programmes like the NREGA and RSBY, it may be desirable to increase investment in state capacity to deliver services effectively and one way of doing this may be to create new state administrations with more manageable jurisdictions. Smaller states can also experiment more easily with innovations in governance and service delivery, which can be replicated across states if found to be successful."
Pratap Bhanu Mehta in Sizeable matters :
"Two issues in particular need attention. The first is dealing with legitimate concerns over state size. Mayawati’s proposal for further dividing UP merits serious consideration for a number of reasons that have been reiterated on several occasions. But more than creating states, the focus should be on building states. The success of a state depends not on size, but on state capacity. This varies widely across India. But we understand little about the conditions under which different states are likely to acquire the requisite state capacity."
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Some links 16th December, 2009
Jeffry Sachs on climate financing for the poor How to hold the rich to their word. Similar plans for Telangana and other 'underdeveloped' regions?
Felix Salmon reports on recent article As Microfinance Grows in India, So Do Its Rivals . The evidence seems to be mostly from Mahaboobnagar district and it seems that people are borrowing money from traditional lender to repay their micro loans.
Brenda Rosser on Bernanke's Saving's Glut Hypothesis. Contradiction Number One.
All the above links via Economist's View .
3qurksdaily discusses a Boston Globe article on the sacking of Uk's top drug advisor for saying that alcohol is more hazardous than many banned substancesYou can't handle the truth . One of the comments: "Anyone who has spent ANY time in the UK can attest to the extraordinary "enabling" social role that alcohol plays (for many people). I wonder if this was factored into the calculations? When Jim wanders down to his local pub after work to socialize and meet new friends, does this count as a "social benefit"? It had better count."
P.S. see also Gulzar Natarajan's post Are MFIs and moneylenders complements?
.
Felix Salmon reports on recent article As Microfinance Grows in India, So Do Its Rivals . The evidence seems to be mostly from Mahaboobnagar district and it seems that people are borrowing money from traditional lender to repay their micro loans.
Brenda Rosser on Bernanke's Saving's Glut Hypothesis. Contradiction Number One.
All the above links via Economist's View .
3qurksdaily discusses a Boston Globe article on the sacking of Uk's top drug advisor for saying that alcohol is more hazardous than many banned substancesYou can't handle the truth . One of the comments: "Anyone who has spent ANY time in the UK can attest to the extraordinary "enabling" social role that alcohol plays (for many people). I wonder if this was factored into the calculations? When Jim wanders down to his local pub after work to socialize and meet new friends, does this count as a "social benefit"? It had better count."
P.S. see also Gulzar Natarajan's post Are MFIs and moneylenders complements?
.
Human Genetic Diversity in Asia
Report on the recent paper Mapping Human Genetic Diversity in Asia in BBC News Genetic 'map' of Asia's diversity . Excerpts:
"The study found that, as expected, individuals who were from the same region, or who shared a common language also had a great deal in common genetically.
But it also answered a question about the origin of Asia's population. It showed that the continent was likely populated primarily through a single migration event from the south.
Previously, there has been some debate about whether Asia was populated in two waves - one to South East Asia, and a later one to central and north-east Asia, or whether only a single migration occurred."
More detailed discussion and links in Rajib Khan's post Are Chinese subsets of Southeast Asians? .
"The study found that, as expected, individuals who were from the same region, or who shared a common language also had a great deal in common genetically.
But it also answered a question about the origin of Asia's population. It showed that the continent was likely populated primarily through a single migration event from the south.
Previously, there has been some debate about whether Asia was populated in two waves - one to South East Asia, and a later one to central and north-east Asia, or whether only a single migration occurred."
More detailed discussion and links in Rajib Khan's post Are Chinese subsets of Southeast Asians? .
Sunday, December 13, 2009
From the blogs
Brad DeLong in "Anyone Telling You Uncertainty About Climate Change Is a Reason for Inaction Is Either a Fool or a Scoundrel":
"There is one set of circumstances in which uncertainty is a reason for inaction: (a) the measures you would take would be expensive, (b) the measures you would take will be irreversible, and (c) you will get a lot of new information soon to help you judge the situation better.
That set of circumstances does not apply here."
What the wealth of nations is really built upon:
"Relying on game theory analysis, Dasgupta reached two conclusions. The first is that stable societies – that is, where cheats can be found and punished, if only by a refusal to do business with them in future – are a precondition for successful institutions. If every interaction is a one-off, co-operation is impossible, and all those wonderful investments in machinery, education and innovation will simply never happen.
The second conclusion was that co-operation is extremely fragile. Dasgupta’s game theory suggested that even a successful, co-operative society is always at risk of breaking down. “It is easier to destroy institutions than to build them,” he argued, and cited the Watts riots and the decline of many pre-modern civilisations. The credit crisis is, arguably, another example.
If true, this is very disturbing: it suggests that we should perhaps spend less effort thinking about how to develop poor countries, and more effort holding together our own fragile societies.
I was not totally convinced. Perhaps I am complacent, but the past 200 years of economic history contain far more examples of poor countries becoming rich than of rich countries becoming poor.
As Sir Partha patiently explained his algebra to a gaggle of admiring schoolchildren, I was left with more questions than answers about why we trust each other and our institutions, and how such trust is created and destroyed. That, I think, was exactly his aim."
Soutik Biswas in Does India need more states?:
"Also, many say, if you have nine "Hindi-speaking" states, why can't you have two "Telugu speaking ones"?
Others say new states don't serve any purpose. They end up benefiting entrenched local elites and the middle class, and leave the poor in the lurch. They point to Jharkhand which was carved out of southern Bihar in 2000 - nine years on, many of its people have turned to Maoists, and its politicians are embroiled in some of India's worst corruption.
A number of north-eastern states carved out of Assam are accused of becoming fiefs of local elites or kleptocracies. The issues of lack of development and growing corruption are untouched. Creating financially unstable states, critics say, can lead to even more problems.
Others say new states remain works in progress - among them Uttarkhand and Chattisgarh, despite the latter's current woes and a strong Maoist presence. It has taken some four decades for Haryana and Himachal Pradesh to turn into successful states. And India still has relatively few states given the size of its population: with some 300 million people, the US has 50 states; India with its billion-plus people has only 28."
Tarunabh Khaitan in Law and Other Things:
"Indeed, what ought to be the basis of devolving power? Nick Barber's excellent paper 'The Limited Modesty of Subsidiarity' compares subsidiarity and nationalism as two distinct reasons for doing so. Simply put, subsidiarity requires that power should be exercised at the smallest unit that can exercise it efficiently. There is a presumption in favour of smaller units, with the rider of efficiency. An important implication of subsidiarity is that one size need not fit all, that different regions can have different ways of sharing power (even our federal constitution admits and accommodates idiosyncratic circumstances of certain states under the provisions in Part XXI)."
P.S. A Telugu article by muppalla Ranganayakamma is reproduced in this blog http://venuvu.blogspot.com/2009/12/blog-post.html and also in తెలంగాణ పై రంగనాయకమ్మ గారి వ్యాసమ్
"There is one set of circumstances in which uncertainty is a reason for inaction: (a) the measures you would take would be expensive, (b) the measures you would take will be irreversible, and (c) you will get a lot of new information soon to help you judge the situation better.
That set of circumstances does not apply here."
What the wealth of nations is really built upon:
"Relying on game theory analysis, Dasgupta reached two conclusions. The first is that stable societies – that is, where cheats can be found and punished, if only by a refusal to do business with them in future – are a precondition for successful institutions. If every interaction is a one-off, co-operation is impossible, and all those wonderful investments in machinery, education and innovation will simply never happen.
The second conclusion was that co-operation is extremely fragile. Dasgupta’s game theory suggested that even a successful, co-operative society is always at risk of breaking down. “It is easier to destroy institutions than to build them,” he argued, and cited the Watts riots and the decline of many pre-modern civilisations. The credit crisis is, arguably, another example.
If true, this is very disturbing: it suggests that we should perhaps spend less effort thinking about how to develop poor countries, and more effort holding together our own fragile societies.
I was not totally convinced. Perhaps I am complacent, but the past 200 years of economic history contain far more examples of poor countries becoming rich than of rich countries becoming poor.
As Sir Partha patiently explained his algebra to a gaggle of admiring schoolchildren, I was left with more questions than answers about why we trust each other and our institutions, and how such trust is created and destroyed. That, I think, was exactly his aim."
Soutik Biswas in Does India need more states?:
"Also, many say, if you have nine "Hindi-speaking" states, why can't you have two "Telugu speaking ones"?
Others say new states don't serve any purpose. They end up benefiting entrenched local elites and the middle class, and leave the poor in the lurch. They point to Jharkhand which was carved out of southern Bihar in 2000 - nine years on, many of its people have turned to Maoists, and its politicians are embroiled in some of India's worst corruption.
A number of north-eastern states carved out of Assam are accused of becoming fiefs of local elites or kleptocracies. The issues of lack of development and growing corruption are untouched. Creating financially unstable states, critics say, can lead to even more problems.
Others say new states remain works in progress - among them Uttarkhand and Chattisgarh, despite the latter's current woes and a strong Maoist presence. It has taken some four decades for Haryana and Himachal Pradesh to turn into successful states. And India still has relatively few states given the size of its population: with some 300 million people, the US has 50 states; India with its billion-plus people has only 28."
Tarunabh Khaitan in Law and Other Things:
"Indeed, what ought to be the basis of devolving power? Nick Barber's excellent paper 'The Limited Modesty of Subsidiarity' compares subsidiarity and nationalism as two distinct reasons for doing so. Simply put, subsidiarity requires that power should be exercised at the smallest unit that can exercise it efficiently. There is a presumption in favour of smaller units, with the rider of efficiency. An important implication of subsidiarity is that one size need not fit all, that different regions can have different ways of sharing power (even our federal constitution admits and accommodates idiosyncratic circumstances of certain states under the provisions in Part XXI)."
P.S. A Telugu article by muppalla Ranganayakamma is reproduced in this blog http://venuvu.blogspot.com/2009/12/blog-post.html and also in తెలంగాణ పై రంగనాయకమ్మ గారి వ్యాసమ్
Saturday, December 12, 2009
The Indian consul-general in Melbourne
Anita Nayar interviewd. Portarait and interview in The Age The joy of the envoy.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Telangana
Ramachandra Guha says Telangana isn’t scary. From the Wikipedia article on Telangana :
"The States Reorganization Commission (SRC) was not in favour of merging the Telangana region with the then Andhra state. Para 382 of States Reorganization Commission Report (SRC) said "..opinion in Andhra is overwhelmingly in favour of the larger unit, public opinion in Telangana has still to crystallize itself. Important leaders of public opinion in Andhra themselves seem to appreciate that the unification of Telangana with Andhra, though desirable, should be based on a voluntary and willing association of the people and that it is primarily for the people of Telangana to take a decision about their future...". The concerns of Telanganas were manifold . The region had a less developed economy than Andhra, but with a larger revenue base (mostly because it taxed rather than prohibited alcoholic beverages), which Telanganas feared might be diverted for use in Andhra. They also feared that planned dam projects on the Krishna and Godavari rivers would not benefit Telangana proportionately even though Telanganas controlled the headwaters of the rivers. Telanganas feared too that the people of Andhra would have the advantage in jobs, particularly in government and education. Para 386 of States Reorganization Commission Report (SRC) said "After taking all these factors into consideration we have come to the conclusions that it will be in the interests of Andhra as well as Telangana area is to constitute into a separate State, which may be known as the Hyderabad State with provision for its unification with Andhra after the general elections likely to be held in or about 1961 if by a two thirds majority the legislature of the residency Hyderabad State expresses itself in favor of such unification."
The central government decided to ignore the SRC recommendations and established unified Andhra Pradesh on November 1, 1956. However, a "Gentlemen's agreement" provided reassurances to the Telangana people as well to Andhra people in terms of power sharing as well as administrative domicile rules and distribution of expenses of various regions. This agreement is known as Gentlemen's agreement of Andhra Pradesh (1956)."
From Gentlemen's agreement of Andhra Pradesh (1956):
"1. There will be one legislature for the whole of Andhra Pradesh which will be the sole law making body for the entire state and there be one Governor for the State aided and advised by the Council of Ministers responsible to the State Assembly for the entire field of Administration.
2. For the more convenient transaction of the business of Government with regard to some specified matters the Telangana area will be treated as one region.
3. For the Telangana region there will be a Regional Standing Committee of the state assembly consisting of the members of the State Assembly belonging to that region including the Ministers from that region but not including the Chief Minister.
4. Legislation relating to specified matters will be referred to the Regional committee. In respect of specified matters proposals may also be made by the Regional Committee to the State Government for legislation or with regard to the question of general policy not involving any financial commitments other than expenditure of a routine and incidental character.
5. The advice tendered by the Regional Committee will normally be accepted by the Government and the State Legislature. In case of difference of opinion, reference will be made to the Governor whose decision will be binding.
6. The Regional Committee will deal with following matters:
--Development and economic planning within the framework of the general development plans formulated by the State Legislature.
--Local Self Government, that is to say, the Constitutional powers of Municipal Corporations, Improvement Trusts, District Boards and district authorities for the purpose of Local Self Government or Village Administration.
--Public health and sanitation, local hospitals and dispensaries.
--Primary and secondary education.
--Regulation of admission to the educational institutions in the telangana region.
--Prohibition—Sale of agricultural lands.
--Cottage and small scale Industries, and Agriculture, Cooperative Societies, Markets and Fairs. Unless revised by agreement earlier this arrangement will be reviewed after ten years.
7. Domicile Rules : A temporary provision be made to ensure that for a period of five years, Telangana is regarded as a unit as far as recruitment to subordinate services is concerned; posts borne on the cadre of these services may be reserved for being filled up by persons who satisfy the domicile conditions as prescribed under the existing Hyderabad Mulki Rules. ( 12 years of Stay in Telangana area)
8. Distribution of expenditure between Telangana and Andhra Regions--- Allocation of expenditure with the resources of the state is a matter which falls within the purview of the State Government and the State Legislature.. Since , however, it has been agreed to the representatives of Andhra and Telangana that the expenditure of the new state on central and general administration should be borne proportionately by the two regions and the balance of income should be reserved for expenditure on the development of Telangana area, it is open to the state government to act in accordance with the terms of agreement in making budgetary allocations. The Government of India propose to invite the attention of the Chief Minister of Andhra to this particular understanding and to express the hope that it will be implemented.
9. The existing educational facilities including Technical Education in Telangana should be secured to the students of Telangana and further improved---
10. The cabinet will consist of members in proportion of 60:40 percent for Andhra and Telangana respectively, out of 40 % of Telangana ministers, one will be a Muslim from Telangana. If the Chief Minister is from one region the other region should be given Dy Chief Ministership."
It seems that at least some of these conditions have not been met, hence the continuing agatation.
"The States Reorganization Commission (SRC) was not in favour of merging the Telangana region with the then Andhra state. Para 382 of States Reorganization Commission Report (SRC) said "..opinion in Andhra is overwhelmingly in favour of the larger unit, public opinion in Telangana has still to crystallize itself. Important leaders of public opinion in Andhra themselves seem to appreciate that the unification of Telangana with Andhra, though desirable, should be based on a voluntary and willing association of the people and that it is primarily for the people of Telangana to take a decision about their future...". The concerns of Telanganas were manifold . The region had a less developed economy than Andhra, but with a larger revenue base (mostly because it taxed rather than prohibited alcoholic beverages), which Telanganas feared might be diverted for use in Andhra. They also feared that planned dam projects on the Krishna and Godavari rivers would not benefit Telangana proportionately even though Telanganas controlled the headwaters of the rivers. Telanganas feared too that the people of Andhra would have the advantage in jobs, particularly in government and education. Para 386 of States Reorganization Commission Report (SRC) said "After taking all these factors into consideration we have come to the conclusions that it will be in the interests of Andhra as well as Telangana area is to constitute into a separate State, which may be known as the Hyderabad State with provision for its unification with Andhra after the general elections likely to be held in or about 1961 if by a two thirds majority the legislature of the residency Hyderabad State expresses itself in favor of such unification."
The central government decided to ignore the SRC recommendations and established unified Andhra Pradesh on November 1, 1956. However, a "Gentlemen's agreement" provided reassurances to the Telangana people as well to Andhra people in terms of power sharing as well as administrative domicile rules and distribution of expenses of various regions. This agreement is known as Gentlemen's agreement of Andhra Pradesh (1956)."
From Gentlemen's agreement of Andhra Pradesh (1956):
"1. There will be one legislature for the whole of Andhra Pradesh which will be the sole law making body for the entire state and there be one Governor for the State aided and advised by the Council of Ministers responsible to the State Assembly for the entire field of Administration.
2. For the more convenient transaction of the business of Government with regard to some specified matters the Telangana area will be treated as one region.
3. For the Telangana region there will be a Regional Standing Committee of the state assembly consisting of the members of the State Assembly belonging to that region including the Ministers from that region but not including the Chief Minister.
4. Legislation relating to specified matters will be referred to the Regional committee. In respect of specified matters proposals may also be made by the Regional Committee to the State Government for legislation or with regard to the question of general policy not involving any financial commitments other than expenditure of a routine and incidental character.
5. The advice tendered by the Regional Committee will normally be accepted by the Government and the State Legislature. In case of difference of opinion, reference will be made to the Governor whose decision will be binding.
6. The Regional Committee will deal with following matters:
--Development and economic planning within the framework of the general development plans formulated by the State Legislature.
--Local Self Government, that is to say, the Constitutional powers of Municipal Corporations, Improvement Trusts, District Boards and district authorities for the purpose of Local Self Government or Village Administration.
--Public health and sanitation, local hospitals and dispensaries.
--Primary and secondary education.
--Regulation of admission to the educational institutions in the telangana region.
--Prohibition—Sale of agricultural lands.
--Cottage and small scale Industries, and Agriculture, Cooperative Societies, Markets and Fairs. Unless revised by agreement earlier this arrangement will be reviewed after ten years.
7. Domicile Rules : A temporary provision be made to ensure that for a period of five years, Telangana is regarded as a unit as far as recruitment to subordinate services is concerned; posts borne on the cadre of these services may be reserved for being filled up by persons who satisfy the domicile conditions as prescribed under the existing Hyderabad Mulki Rules. ( 12 years of Stay in Telangana area)
8. Distribution of expenditure between Telangana and Andhra Regions--- Allocation of expenditure with the resources of the state is a matter which falls within the purview of the State Government and the State Legislature.. Since , however, it has been agreed to the representatives of Andhra and Telangana that the expenditure of the new state on central and general administration should be borne proportionately by the two regions and the balance of income should be reserved for expenditure on the development of Telangana area, it is open to the state government to act in accordance with the terms of agreement in making budgetary allocations. The Government of India propose to invite the attention of the Chief Minister of Andhra to this particular understanding and to express the hope that it will be implemented.
9. The existing educational facilities including Technical Education in Telangana should be secured to the students of Telangana and further improved---
10. The cabinet will consist of members in proportion of 60:40 percent for Andhra and Telangana respectively, out of 40 % of Telangana ministers, one will be a Muslim from Telangana. If the Chief Minister is from one region the other region should be given Dy Chief Ministership."
It seems that at least some of these conditions have not been met, hence the continuing agatation.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
College education in USA
While the article by David Orr What Is Education For? mentioned in a previous post calls for new paradigms in education, That Old College Lie by Kevin Carey considers the failures of the American education with the existing paradigms about learning and training. Some passages:
"The near-total lack of useful information about teaching and learning has three main effects, all bad for students. First, it creates distortions in the higher-education market that drive up prices. Second, it gives colleges free rein to ignore their teaching obligations in favor of a mad contest for status and self-gratification. Third, it leaves colleges that serve the most disadvantaged students with the fewest resources.
The information deficit turns college into what economists call a "reputational good." If you go to the store and buy a shirt, you can learn pretty much everything you need to know before you buy it: the material, where it was made, how to clean it, and so on. College is different. You’re paying up-front for professors you’ve never met and degree programs you probably haven’t even chosen yet. Instead, you rely on what other people think of the college. Of course, some students simply have to go the college that’s nearest to them or least expensive. But if you have the luxury of choosing, in all likelihood, you choose based on reputation.......
Ten percent of the U.S. News rankings are based on spending per student, with additional points for high faculty salaries and other costly items. If an innovative college found a way to become more efficient and charge less while maintaining academic quality, its U.S. News ranking would actually go down.......
The information deficit also acts as a powerful impediment to reform. Anyone who has ever attended college knows that many college teachers are terrible at their jobs. Universities like to pretend that great scholars make great instructors, but one indifferent, outdated lecture from a tenured professor is enough to conclude otherwise. Because scholarly outcomes are visible, in the form of publications and citations, while teaching outcomes are currently not, colleges privilege the former above the latter. Tenure-track professors are routinely discouraged from spending too much time teaching, lest students distract from the mandate to publish. Legitimate evaluations of professorial teaching skill are practically unknown.
Putting the scholarly and teaching missions in better balance would require a confrontation with traditionally autonomous academic departments. That inevitably creates controversy, and controversy is poisonous in a market that depends so heavily on hazy, decades-old reputations."
Hr goes on to suggest some solutions and lobbies standing in the way of reform. Link via Felix Salmon who discussed the article in America’s broken colleges.
"The near-total lack of useful information about teaching and learning has three main effects, all bad for students. First, it creates distortions in the higher-education market that drive up prices. Second, it gives colleges free rein to ignore their teaching obligations in favor of a mad contest for status and self-gratification. Third, it leaves colleges that serve the most disadvantaged students with the fewest resources.
The information deficit turns college into what economists call a "reputational good." If you go to the store and buy a shirt, you can learn pretty much everything you need to know before you buy it: the material, where it was made, how to clean it, and so on. College is different. You’re paying up-front for professors you’ve never met and degree programs you probably haven’t even chosen yet. Instead, you rely on what other people think of the college. Of course, some students simply have to go the college that’s nearest to them or least expensive. But if you have the luxury of choosing, in all likelihood, you choose based on reputation.......
Ten percent of the U.S. News rankings are based on spending per student, with additional points for high faculty salaries and other costly items. If an innovative college found a way to become more efficient and charge less while maintaining academic quality, its U.S. News ranking would actually go down.......
The information deficit also acts as a powerful impediment to reform. Anyone who has ever attended college knows that many college teachers are terrible at their jobs. Universities like to pretend that great scholars make great instructors, but one indifferent, outdated lecture from a tenured professor is enough to conclude otherwise. Because scholarly outcomes are visible, in the form of publications and citations, while teaching outcomes are currently not, colleges privilege the former above the latter. Tenure-track professors are routinely discouraged from spending too much time teaching, lest students distract from the mandate to publish. Legitimate evaluations of professorial teaching skill are practically unknown.
Putting the scholarly and teaching missions in better balance would require a confrontation with traditionally autonomous academic departments. That inevitably creates controversy, and controversy is poisonous in a market that depends so heavily on hazy, decades-old reputations."
Hr goes on to suggest some solutions and lobbies standing in the way of reform. Link via Felix Salmon who discussed the article in America’s broken colleges.
Paper batteries
Batteries made from nanotubes ... and paper :
"Scientists have made batteries and supercapacitors with little more than ordinary office paper and some carbon and silver nanomaterials. The research, published online December 7 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, brings scientists closer to lightweight printable batteries that may one day be molded into computers, cell phones or solar panels."
See also the first comment. There is also a BBC report on the topic Battery made of paper charges up .
"Scientists have made batteries and supercapacitors with little more than ordinary office paper and some carbon and silver nanomaterials. The research, published online December 7 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, brings scientists closer to lightweight printable batteries that may one day be molded into computers, cell phones or solar panels."
See also the first comment. There is also a BBC report on the topic Battery made of paper charges up .
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