from Integral Options Cafe Language Shapes Our Reality . The last one is about the recent paper The Language of Implicit Preferences by Ogunnaike, O., Dunham, Y., & Banaji, M. This paper is reported in several places. From Anthropologist in the Attic :
"Linguist Benjamin Lee Whorf first posited in the 1930s that language is so powerful that it can determine thought. Mainstream psychology has taken the more skeptical view that while language may affect thought processes, it doesn't influence thought itself. This new study suggests that Whorf's idea, when not caricatured, may generate interesting hypotheses that researchers can continue to test.
"These results challenge our views of attitudes as stable," Banaji says. "There still remain big questions about just how fixed or flexible they are, and language may provide a window through which we will learn about their nature.""
Incidentally, M. Banaji did her early education in Secunderabad, india.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Shiva Tandava Stotra
Through a message in oldtelugusongs discussion group, I came to know of this interesting Shiva Tandava Stotra. Lyrics and meaning in English are given in a link to the Wikipedia article.
Lyrics in Telugu here, recital by S.P. Balasubramaniam.
Lyrics in Telugu here, recital by S.P. Balasubramaniam.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Rabibdra Sangeet tune in a Hindi film
'RAHI MATWALE,TU CHHED EK BAR'sung mostly by Talat and mostly by Suraiya, the tune based on 'O re Grihabashi' by Tagore.
P.S. So much space in the Indian Railways in the old days!
P.S. Various pieces put together
P.S. So much space in the Indian Railways in the old days!
P.S. Various pieces put together
Churumuri on Jairam Ramesh
From CHURUMURI POLL: Should SUVs be banned?:
"It’s no exaggeration to conclude that Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh has become the pencil in the hands of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi for the “course correction” from the unidimensional, growth-at-all-costs approach that the Manmohan Singh government had embarked upon in the first year of UPA-II."
Earlier Churumuri post on Jairam 18 things you might like to know about Jairam.
See Abi's post A slap in the face of India's science academies for his response to 'Inter Academy Report on GM Crops'( mentioned in an earier post post on this blog).
For comments on the revised report see Rahul Siddharthan's post An apology of a justification. Excerpt:
"Some senior scientists have been circulating a letter calling for the Academy Presidents to be dismissed. First I thought that was an over-reaction. Then I thought they may have a point. Now I think they did not go far enough. The academies should be dismantled. They have no understanding of scientific ethics. That makes them an active danger to Indian science."
"It’s no exaggeration to conclude that Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh has become the pencil in the hands of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi for the “course correction” from the unidimensional, growth-at-all-costs approach that the Manmohan Singh government had embarked upon in the first year of UPA-II."
Earlier Churumuri post on Jairam 18 things you might like to know about Jairam.
See Abi's post A slap in the face of India's science academies for his response to 'Inter Academy Report on GM Crops'( mentioned in an earier post post on this blog).
For comments on the revised report see Rahul Siddharthan's post An apology of a justification. Excerpt:
"Some senior scientists have been circulating a letter calling for the Academy Presidents to be dismissed. First I thought that was an over-reaction. Then I thought they may have a point. Now I think they did not go far enough. The academies should be dismantled. They have no understanding of scientific ethics. That makes them an active danger to Indian science."
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Some encouraging reports about India
Vivek Wadhwa in The Berkeley Blog Entrepreneurship tech boom erupts in India :
"The Indian technology industry got its start running call centers and doing low-level IT work for western firms. Then, in the 2000s, it started taking on higher-level IT tasks, offering management consulting services, and performing sophisticated R&D. Now there is another transition happening, one far more significant: a transition to development of innovative technology products. Instead of providing IT services as the big outsourcing companies do, a new breed of start-ups is developing high-value products based on intellectual property. The Indian industry group NASSCOM estimates that in 2008, the country’s software product revenues totaled $1.64 billion. It forecasts that this will grow to $11 billion per year by 2015.
I was surprised at the changes that are powering the new transition: its tech workers are leaving high-paying jobs in IT services, and kids out of school are ignoring social taboos against failure and defying marriage customs to become entrepreneurs. A few Americans are also joining the fray, starting their ventures in India rather than in Silicon Valley.....
At the NASSCOM event, I met dozens of tech-service industry workers who had become entrepreneurs. A surprisingly high proportion weren’t developing products for their former customers, but were instead looking inward to solve India’s problems."
and Why some young US workers now seek fortunes in India from Christian Science Monitor.
"The Indian technology industry got its start running call centers and doing low-level IT work for western firms. Then, in the 2000s, it started taking on higher-level IT tasks, offering management consulting services, and performing sophisticated R&D. Now there is another transition happening, one far more significant: a transition to development of innovative technology products. Instead of providing IT services as the big outsourcing companies do, a new breed of start-ups is developing high-value products based on intellectual property. The Indian industry group NASSCOM estimates that in 2008, the country’s software product revenues totaled $1.64 billion. It forecasts that this will grow to $11 billion per year by 2015.
I was surprised at the changes that are powering the new transition: its tech workers are leaving high-paying jobs in IT services, and kids out of school are ignoring social taboos against failure and defying marriage customs to become entrepreneurs. A few Americans are also joining the fray, starting their ventures in India rather than in Silicon Valley.....
At the NASSCOM event, I met dozens of tech-service industry workers who had become entrepreneurs. A surprisingly high proportion weren’t developing products for their former customers, but were instead looking inward to solve India’s problems."
and Why some young US workers now seek fortunes in India from Christian Science Monitor.
Robert Sapolsky discusses brain’s literal-metaphorical confusions
A passage from This Is Your Brain on Metaphors
"What are we to make of the brain processing literal and metaphorical versions of a concept in the same brain region? Or that our neural circuitry doesn’t cleanly differentiate between the real and the symbolic? What are the consequences of the fact that evolution is a tinkerer and not an inventor, and has duct-taped metaphors and symbols to whichever pre-existing brain areas provided the closest fit?"
(via 'The Loom')
"What are we to make of the brain processing literal and metaphorical versions of a concept in the same brain region? Or that our neural circuitry doesn’t cleanly differentiate between the real and the symbolic? What are the consequences of the fact that evolution is a tinkerer and not an inventor, and has duct-taped metaphors and symbols to whichever pre-existing brain areas provided the closest fit?"
(via 'The Loom')
Converting information to energy
From Demonic device converts information to energy:
"A paradox put into practice
To create a real-life version of the demon experiment, Sano and his colleagues placed an elongated nanoscale polystyrene bead, which could rotate either clockwise or anticlockwise, into a bath of buffer solution. The team applied a varying voltage around the bead, making it progressively harder for the bead to rotate a full 360 degrees in the anticlockwise direction. This effectively created a "spiral staircase" that was harder to "climb up" in the anticlockwise direction than to "fall down" in the clockwise direction, says Sano.
“This is a beautiful experimental demonstration that information has a thermodynamic content.”
When left alone, the bead was randomly jostled by the surrounding molecules, sometimes being given enough of a push to turn anticlockwise against the voltage — or jump up the stairs — but more often turning clockwise — or going "downstairs". But then the team introduced their version of Maxwell's demon.
They watched the motion of the bead, and when it randomly turned anticlockwise they quickly adjusted the voltage — the equivalent of Maxwell's demon slamming the door shut on a gas molecule — making it tougher for the bead to turn back clockwise. The bead is thus encouraged to keep climbing "upstairs", without any energy being directly imparted to the bead, says Sano.
The experiment does not actually violate the second law of thermodynamics, because in the system as a whole, energy must be consumed by the equipment — and the experimenters — to monitor the bead and switch the voltage as needed. But it does show that information can be used as a medium to transfer energy, says Sano. The bead is driven as a mini-rotor, with a information-to-energy conversion efficiency of 28%."
Preprint Information heat engine: converting information to energy by feedback control and the abstract in Nature Physics Experimental demonstration of information-to-energy conversion and validation of the generalized Jarzynski equality.
P.S. See Using Information to Extract Energy:
"It’s a great result, worth making a fuss about. But some commentators spun it as “converting information into energy.” That’s not quite right — it’s more like “using information to extract energy from a heat bath.”"
"A paradox put into practice
To create a real-life version of the demon experiment, Sano and his colleagues placed an elongated nanoscale polystyrene bead, which could rotate either clockwise or anticlockwise, into a bath of buffer solution. The team applied a varying voltage around the bead, making it progressively harder for the bead to rotate a full 360 degrees in the anticlockwise direction. This effectively created a "spiral staircase" that was harder to "climb up" in the anticlockwise direction than to "fall down" in the clockwise direction, says Sano.
“This is a beautiful experimental demonstration that information has a thermodynamic content.”
When left alone, the bead was randomly jostled by the surrounding molecules, sometimes being given enough of a push to turn anticlockwise against the voltage — or jump up the stairs — but more often turning clockwise — or going "downstairs". But then the team introduced their version of Maxwell's demon.
They watched the motion of the bead, and when it randomly turned anticlockwise they quickly adjusted the voltage — the equivalent of Maxwell's demon slamming the door shut on a gas molecule — making it tougher for the bead to turn back clockwise. The bead is thus encouraged to keep climbing "upstairs", without any energy being directly imparted to the bead, says Sano.
The experiment does not actually violate the second law of thermodynamics, because in the system as a whole, energy must be consumed by the equipment — and the experimenters — to monitor the bead and switch the voltage as needed. But it does show that information can be used as a medium to transfer energy, says Sano. The bead is driven as a mini-rotor, with a information-to-energy conversion efficiency of 28%."
Preprint Information heat engine: converting information to energy by feedback control and the abstract in Nature Physics Experimental demonstration of information-to-energy conversion and validation of the generalized Jarzynski equality.
P.S. See Using Information to Extract Energy:
"It’s a great result, worth making a fuss about. But some commentators spun it as “converting information into energy.” That’s not quite right — it’s more like “using information to extract energy from a heat bath.”"
Monday, November 15, 2010
An experimental study of conditional cooperation
Björn Vollan and Elinor Ostrom comment in Cooperation and the Commons on a recent paper Conditional Cooperation and Costly Monitoring Explain Success in Forest Commons Management by Devesh Rustagi, Stefanie Engel and Michael Kosfeld (both articles need subscrption).
Abstract of the paper:
"Recent evidence suggests that prosocial behaviors like conditional cooperation and costly norm enforcement can stabilize large-scale cooperation for commons management. However, field evidence on the extent to which variation in these behaviors among actual commons users accounts for natural commons outcomes is altogether missing. Here, we combine experimental measures of conditional cooperation and survey measures on costly monitoring among 49 forest user groups in Ethiopia with measures of natural forest commons outcomes to show that (i) groups vary in conditional cooperator share, (ii) groups with larger conditional cooperator share are more successful in forest commons management, and (iii) costly monitoring is a key instrument with which conditional cooperators enforce cooperation. Our findings are consistent with models of gene-culture coevolution on human cooperation and provide external validity to laboratory experiments on social dilemmas."
From the comments by Björn Vollan and Elinor Ostrom:
"By establishing this link between the levels of cooperation observed in field labs with local forest conditions, Rustagi et al. have increased the confidence that scholars can have in the external validity of results from previous experiments carried out all over the world, with student and nonstudent subjects. In addition, by adding to findings showing diverse levels of cooperation in social dilemmas, rather than no cooperation, they support the growing acceptance of a behavioral theory of human action (14): Individuals facing dilemmas, who learn from experience and adopt a norm of conditional cooperation, achieve levels of cooperation that increase over time—if a sufficient number of conditional cooperators are present. If a group is composed of a substantial number of free riders, however, cooperation levels fall over time.
One way of interpreting Rustagi et al.'s findings is that learning and norm-adopting individuals are attracted to certain situations, and then are affected by the behavior of other actors facing the same situation (see the figure). Initially, this leads to some degree of cooperation (e.g., acceptance of rules of the forest group, monitoring other users, and helping to maintain their forest). If enough individuals initially cooperate, they slowly obtain benefits from the forest, and levels of cooperation grow. Alternatively, initial cooperation rates can be low, and then can continue to decline over time.
Rustagi et al. identify a number of well-known variables that can influence cooperation, including the size of the forest group, its leadership, and the heterogeneity of the group. Other, broader, variables include village elevation and market access, with villages closer to markets for wood products more likely to invest in cooperative management. Other field studies have found that prior experience in cooperative management increases the likelihood of groups successfully managing a resource."
Abstract of the paper:
"Recent evidence suggests that prosocial behaviors like conditional cooperation and costly norm enforcement can stabilize large-scale cooperation for commons management. However, field evidence on the extent to which variation in these behaviors among actual commons users accounts for natural commons outcomes is altogether missing. Here, we combine experimental measures of conditional cooperation and survey measures on costly monitoring among 49 forest user groups in Ethiopia with measures of natural forest commons outcomes to show that (i) groups vary in conditional cooperator share, (ii) groups with larger conditional cooperator share are more successful in forest commons management, and (iii) costly monitoring is a key instrument with which conditional cooperators enforce cooperation. Our findings are consistent with models of gene-culture coevolution on human cooperation and provide external validity to laboratory experiments on social dilemmas."
From the comments by Björn Vollan and Elinor Ostrom:
"By establishing this link between the levels of cooperation observed in field labs with local forest conditions, Rustagi et al. have increased the confidence that scholars can have in the external validity of results from previous experiments carried out all over the world, with student and nonstudent subjects. In addition, by adding to findings showing diverse levels of cooperation in social dilemmas, rather than no cooperation, they support the growing acceptance of a behavioral theory of human action (14): Individuals facing dilemmas, who learn from experience and adopt a norm of conditional cooperation, achieve levels of cooperation that increase over time—if a sufficient number of conditional cooperators are present. If a group is composed of a substantial number of free riders, however, cooperation levels fall over time.
One way of interpreting Rustagi et al.'s findings is that learning and norm-adopting individuals are attracted to certain situations, and then are affected by the behavior of other actors facing the same situation (see the figure). Initially, this leads to some degree of cooperation (e.g., acceptance of rules of the forest group, monitoring other users, and helping to maintain their forest). If enough individuals initially cooperate, they slowly obtain benefits from the forest, and levels of cooperation grow. Alternatively, initial cooperation rates can be low, and then can continue to decline over time.
Rustagi et al. identify a number of well-known variables that can influence cooperation, including the size of the forest group, its leadership, and the heterogeneity of the group. Other, broader, variables include village elevation and market access, with villages closer to markets for wood products more likely to invest in cooperative management. Other field studies have found that prior experience in cooperative management increases the likelihood of groups successfully managing a resource."
Thursday, November 11, 2010
From the 1941 census
Recently I was reading "The Telangana Movement 1944-51" by Barry Pavier. On page 69, he quotes from Census of India 1941, Hyderabad, Vol.2, 672-674. The numbers given (rounding off, in millions)Hindus 10, Untouchables 3, Muslims 2, Tribals .7
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Links 10th November
From The Guardian "For art critic Tom Lubbock, language has been his life and his livelihood. But in 2008, he developed a lethal brain tumour and was told he would slowly lose control over speech and writing. This is his account of what happens when words slip away" Tom Lubbock: a memoir of living with a brain tumour via MindHacks post A poetry of muddlings and loss
This kind of philosophy is ok with me “Philosophy does not contribute to our knowledge of the world we live in after the manner of any of the natural sciences. You can ask any scientist to show you the achievements of science over the past millennium, and they have much to show: libraries full of well-established facts and well-confirmed theories. If you ask a philosopher to produce a handbook of well-established and unchallengeable philosophical truths, there’s nothing to show. I think that is because philosophy is not a quest for knowledge about the world, but rather a quest for understanding the conceptual scheme in terms of which we conceive of the knowledge we achieve about the world. One of the rewards of doing philosophy is a clearer understanding of the way we think about ourselves and about the world we live in, not fresh facts about reality.”from Hacker’s challenge . And there is more on neuroscientists, consciousness studies “The whole endeavour of the consciousness studies community is absurd – they are in pursuit of a chimera. They misunderstand the nature of consciousness. The conception of consciousness which they have is incoherent. The questions they are asking don’t make sense. They have to go back to the drawing board and start all over again.”
“I doubt whether this absurd misunderstanding is stoppable. It’s too entrenched now. But I think it is a kind of intellectual fraud. I’m not accusing paid-up members of the so-called consciousness studies community of bad faith – I’m sure they are just deluded – but the result of their confusion is that we’re bringing up a whole generation of people to think in a thoroughly muddled way, to have hopes and expectations which are totally absurd, and to concentrate on things which are just incoherent. It’s literally a total waste of time. But if anyone thinks that I am completely mistaken, I’d like them to explain to me why. If they cannot show that my arguments are wrong, they should admit the errors of their ways and withdraw from the field! That’s the challenge.”
Jonah Leher's interview of Antonio Damasio Self Comes To Mind (via 3quarksdaily). A quote “The whole endeavour of the consciousness studies community is absurd – they are in pursuit of a chimera. They misunderstand the nature of consciousness. The conception of consciousness which they have is incoherent. The questions they are asking don’t make sense. They have to go back to the drawing board and start all over again.” But there is more.
And Special Edition of Science Times via 'The Loom'. It has an article A Direct Hit of Drugs to Treat Brain Cancer on glioblastoma, the brain tumor that affects Tom Lubbock.
This kind of philosophy is ok with me “Philosophy does not contribute to our knowledge of the world we live in after the manner of any of the natural sciences. You can ask any scientist to show you the achievements of science over the past millennium, and they have much to show: libraries full of well-established facts and well-confirmed theories. If you ask a philosopher to produce a handbook of well-established and unchallengeable philosophical truths, there’s nothing to show. I think that is because philosophy is not a quest for knowledge about the world, but rather a quest for understanding the conceptual scheme in terms of which we conceive of the knowledge we achieve about the world. One of the rewards of doing philosophy is a clearer understanding of the way we think about ourselves and about the world we live in, not fresh facts about reality.”from Hacker’s challenge . And there is more on neuroscientists, consciousness studies “The whole endeavour of the consciousness studies community is absurd – they are in pursuit of a chimera. They misunderstand the nature of consciousness. The conception of consciousness which they have is incoherent. The questions they are asking don’t make sense. They have to go back to the drawing board and start all over again.”
“I doubt whether this absurd misunderstanding is stoppable. It’s too entrenched now. But I think it is a kind of intellectual fraud. I’m not accusing paid-up members of the so-called consciousness studies community of bad faith – I’m sure they are just deluded – but the result of their confusion is that we’re bringing up a whole generation of people to think in a thoroughly muddled way, to have hopes and expectations which are totally absurd, and to concentrate on things which are just incoherent. It’s literally a total waste of time. But if anyone thinks that I am completely mistaken, I’d like them to explain to me why. If they cannot show that my arguments are wrong, they should admit the errors of their ways and withdraw from the field! That’s the challenge.”
Jonah Leher's interview of Antonio Damasio Self Comes To Mind (via 3quarksdaily). A quote “The whole endeavour of the consciousness studies community is absurd – they are in pursuit of a chimera. They misunderstand the nature of consciousness. The conception of consciousness which they have is incoherent. The questions they are asking don’t make sense. They have to go back to the drawing board and start all over again.” But there is more.
And Special Edition of Science Times via 'The Loom'. It has an article A Direct Hit of Drugs to Treat Brain Cancer on glioblastoma, the brain tumor that affects Tom Lubbock.
Tuesday, November 09, 2010
Bombay Plan
According to Wikipedia Bombay plan :
"The Bombay Plan is the name commonly given to a World War II-era set of proposals for the development of the post-independence economy of India. The plan, published in 1944/1945 by seven leading Indian industrialists, proposed state intervention in the economic development of the nation after independence from the United Kingdom (which occurred in 1947).
Titled A Brief Memorandum Outlining a Plan of Economic Development for India, the signatories of the Plan were[1] Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata, Ghanshyam Das Birla, Ardeshir Dalal, Sri Ram, Kasturbhai Lalbhai, Ardeshir Darabshaw Shroff and John Mathai. The Plan went through two editions: the first was published in January 1944. This first edition became "Part I" of the second edition, published in 2 volumes in 1945 under the editorship of Purushottamdas Thakurdas.
Although Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, did not officially accept the plan, "the Nehruvian era witnessed [what was effectively] the implementation of the Bombay Plan; a substantially interventionist state and an economy with a sizeable public sector."[2] Its perceived influence has given it iconic status, and "it is no exaggeration to say that the Bombay Plan has come to occupy something of a mythic position in Indian historiography. There is scarcely a study of postwar Indian economic history that does not point to it as an indicator of the developmental and nationalistic aspiration of the domestic capitalist class."[3].....
Although the Bombay Plan did not itself propose a socialist agenda, "virtually all" commentators acknowledge "that there is a direct line of continuity from the Bombay Plan of 1944-1945 to the First Five-Year Plan in 1950."[3] An alternative line of reasoning is that the Bombay Plan was a reaction to the widespread social discontent of the 1940s (resulting from unprecedented industrial growth during wartime), and a product of the fear that the movement against colonial rule would become a movement against private property.[5]"
It is available online here
and is discussed in books like Ramachandra Guha's "India after Gandhi" and V. Krishna Anath's "India since independence".
"The Bombay Plan is the name commonly given to a World War II-era set of proposals for the development of the post-independence economy of India. The plan, published in 1944/1945 by seven leading Indian industrialists, proposed state intervention in the economic development of the nation after independence from the United Kingdom (which occurred in 1947).
Titled A Brief Memorandum Outlining a Plan of Economic Development for India, the signatories of the Plan were[1] Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata, Ghanshyam Das Birla, Ardeshir Dalal, Sri Ram, Kasturbhai Lalbhai, Ardeshir Darabshaw Shroff and John Mathai. The Plan went through two editions: the first was published in January 1944. This first edition became "Part I" of the second edition, published in 2 volumes in 1945 under the editorship of Purushottamdas Thakurdas.
Although Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, did not officially accept the plan, "the Nehruvian era witnessed [what was effectively] the implementation of the Bombay Plan; a substantially interventionist state and an economy with a sizeable public sector."[2] Its perceived influence has given it iconic status, and "it is no exaggeration to say that the Bombay Plan has come to occupy something of a mythic position in Indian historiography. There is scarcely a study of postwar Indian economic history that does not point to it as an indicator of the developmental and nationalistic aspiration of the domestic capitalist class."[3].....
Although the Bombay Plan did not itself propose a socialist agenda, "virtually all" commentators acknowledge "that there is a direct line of continuity from the Bombay Plan of 1944-1945 to the First Five-Year Plan in 1950."[3] An alternative line of reasoning is that the Bombay Plan was a reaction to the widespread social discontent of the 1940s (resulting from unprecedented industrial growth during wartime), and a product of the fear that the movement against colonial rule would become a movement against private property.[5]"
It is available online here
and is discussed in books like Ramachandra Guha's "India after Gandhi" and V. Krishna Anath's "India since independence".
Sunday, November 07, 2010
Vaccine-derived polio
From Polio in India: Many steps up… and a long one back :
"There are two types of polio vaccine: injectable or IPV, which uses a killed virus, and oral or OPV, which uses a weakened live virus. (For those into mid-20th century history, IPV is the Jonas Salk vaccine — announced to enormous fanfare in 1955 — and OPV is the Albert Sabin vaccine.) Industrialized countries overwhelmingly use IPV. But developing countries, and the global eradication campaign, use OPV, for several reasons. It’s cheaper to produce and especially to deliver, since it is administered in a couple of drops of liquid — which means no syringes to buy or dispose of, and no need for trained health-care personnel to give it. But it also confers protection not only on the kids who receive it, but on other kids nearby — because the weakened virus replicates in the gut, is shed in feces, and therefore can indirectly inoculate any child who accidentally swallows fecal particles from the vaccinated one.
But if the vaccine virus sheds its attenuating mutations and reverts to the infectious strength of the wild-type viruses, it can spread through that same route. It then poses a risk to anyone who is not currently vaccinated. As poorer countries become polio-free, they often drop vaccination as an unnecessary expense, leaving any children born after the end of vaccination vulnerable to a VDPV infection.
If you do the rough math in your head, you might be thinking, Well, this hypothetical country is polio-free already, so where’s the full-strength VDPV coming from? The answer lies in a further complexity of the vaccine virus: In certain people with certain immune deficiencies, it not only reverts, it replicates — and is shed — for a very long time, months to years. The immune deficiency transforms the vaccinated child into a polio version of Typhoid Mary, and into a severe risk of unpredictable duration.
VDPV is an unintended consequence of success: It only becomes a risk when a country gets so close to being polio-free that there is little or no wild virus to compete with the vaccine-derived one. But repeated outbreaks of VDPV have already brought polio roaring back to places that thought they were done with the disease. VDPV brought polio back to the Americas, via an outbreak in Hispaniola and the Dominican Republic, in 2000. It was also imported into the United States in 2005 via a woman who had chosen not to be vaccinated and who picked up the vaccine-derived virus from the recently vaccinated child of a Costa Rican host family.
Most famously in public heath circles, VDPV caused a huge, ongoing outbreak in Nigeria, starting in 2006, that has racked up almost 300 cases so far — straining the fragile acceptance of polio vaccine that had only just been restored after a number of imams in the north of Nigeria persuaded their congregations in 2003 to turn away from the vaccination campaigns. (For the worldwide accounting of VDPV outbreaks, see this World Health Organization table.)
VDPV will remain a risk as long as OPV is used, because it’s OPV itself that creates the risk. The only way to put an end to that risk, forever, is to conclude the polio campaign by deploying IPV in all the countries that have been using OPV. That will force the eradication campaign to take on at least some of the expense that it had hoped to reduce by using OPV instead. And that’s the true significance of the Indian girl’s case last week: the “ticking time bomb” is not just the threat of additional polio, but the threat of a huge additional bill for a campaign that is constantly on the verge of donor fatigue."
(via Not Exactly Rocket Science )
See also Vaccine-related polio a ticking time bomb in S India from Deccan Herald.
"There are two types of polio vaccine: injectable or IPV, which uses a killed virus, and oral or OPV, which uses a weakened live virus. (For those into mid-20th century history, IPV is the Jonas Salk vaccine — announced to enormous fanfare in 1955 — and OPV is the Albert Sabin vaccine.) Industrialized countries overwhelmingly use IPV. But developing countries, and the global eradication campaign, use OPV, for several reasons. It’s cheaper to produce and especially to deliver, since it is administered in a couple of drops of liquid — which means no syringes to buy or dispose of, and no need for trained health-care personnel to give it. But it also confers protection not only on the kids who receive it, but on other kids nearby — because the weakened virus replicates in the gut, is shed in feces, and therefore can indirectly inoculate any child who accidentally swallows fecal particles from the vaccinated one.
But if the vaccine virus sheds its attenuating mutations and reverts to the infectious strength of the wild-type viruses, it can spread through that same route. It then poses a risk to anyone who is not currently vaccinated. As poorer countries become polio-free, they often drop vaccination as an unnecessary expense, leaving any children born after the end of vaccination vulnerable to a VDPV infection.
If you do the rough math in your head, you might be thinking, Well, this hypothetical country is polio-free already, so where’s the full-strength VDPV coming from? The answer lies in a further complexity of the vaccine virus: In certain people with certain immune deficiencies, it not only reverts, it replicates — and is shed — for a very long time, months to years. The immune deficiency transforms the vaccinated child into a polio version of Typhoid Mary, and into a severe risk of unpredictable duration.
VDPV is an unintended consequence of success: It only becomes a risk when a country gets so close to being polio-free that there is little or no wild virus to compete with the vaccine-derived one. But repeated outbreaks of VDPV have already brought polio roaring back to places that thought they were done with the disease. VDPV brought polio back to the Americas, via an outbreak in Hispaniola and the Dominican Republic, in 2000. It was also imported into the United States in 2005 via a woman who had chosen not to be vaccinated and who picked up the vaccine-derived virus from the recently vaccinated child of a Costa Rican host family.
Most famously in public heath circles, VDPV caused a huge, ongoing outbreak in Nigeria, starting in 2006, that has racked up almost 300 cases so far — straining the fragile acceptance of polio vaccine that had only just been restored after a number of imams in the north of Nigeria persuaded their congregations in 2003 to turn away from the vaccination campaigns. (For the worldwide accounting of VDPV outbreaks, see this World Health Organization table.)
VDPV will remain a risk as long as OPV is used, because it’s OPV itself that creates the risk. The only way to put an end to that risk, forever, is to conclude the polio campaign by deploying IPV in all the countries that have been using OPV. That will force the eradication campaign to take on at least some of the expense that it had hoped to reduce by using OPV instead. And that’s the true significance of the Indian girl’s case last week: the “ticking time bomb” is not just the threat of additional polio, but the threat of a huge additional bill for a campaign that is constantly on the verge of donor fatigue."
(via Not Exactly Rocket Science )
See also Vaccine-related polio a ticking time bomb in S India from Deccan Herald.
A Vallabhai Patel quote
advising backward caste tenants "Government wants to divide you and shahukar, but for you your shahukar is everything. You should laugh at and consider him a fool if somebody says that you should change your shahukar. It is like asking a patibrata (i.e. a dutiful wife) to change her husband. How can you leave a shahukar who has helped you in your difficulties"
from page 35 of Sunil Sen's "Peasant Movements in India: Mid nineteenth to Twentith centuries", 1982 reviewed by Shahid Amin in EPW, January 1964 and available
here
from page 35 of Sunil Sen's "Peasant Movements in India: Mid nineteenth to Twentith centuries", 1982 reviewed by Shahid Amin in EPW, January 1964 and available
here
Friday, November 05, 2010
Improving numerical competence
From Electric brain stimulation improves maths performance:
"The research looked at influencing newly-learned (rather than existing) mathematical abilities: volunteers were asked to learn new symbols, demonstrate that they had learned them, and then apply this knowledge to solving puzzles involving these symbols. Electrical stimulation was applied at the point when they were learning the symbols. The new research shows that right to left stimulation of the parietal lobe enhances the ability of volunteers to retain and apply this new knowledge to problems for at least six months. Previous work by the team showed that a similar induced impairment effect was short-lived."
Link to the abstract and the paper Modulating Neuronal Activity Produces Specific and Long-Lasting Changes in Numerical Competence.
"The research looked at influencing newly-learned (rather than existing) mathematical abilities: volunteers were asked to learn new symbols, demonstrate that they had learned them, and then apply this knowledge to solving puzzles involving these symbols. Electrical stimulation was applied at the point when they were learning the symbols. The new research shows that right to left stimulation of the parietal lobe enhances the ability of volunteers to retain and apply this new knowledge to problems for at least six months. Previous work by the team showed that a similar induced impairment effect was short-lived."
Link to the abstract and the paper Modulating Neuronal Activity Produces Specific and Long-Lasting Changes in Numerical Competence.
Thursday, November 04, 2010
Ramachandra Guha on K. Balagopal
Searching for Balgopal articles on agrarian problems, I came across this The honest leftist .
Many of Balagopal's articles (some with misprints, and parts missing) are available here .
Many of Balagopal's articles (some with misprints, and parts missing) are available here .
Tuesday, November 02, 2010
Rahul Siddharthan on Arundhati Roy
From the comments section of Sedition and the Roy:
"Ms Roy generally makes the point in the worst possible way, but generally the point is lurking there somewhere."
More on sedition by Ashis Nandy in The Great Indian Love Affair With Censorship
"Ms Roy generally makes the point in the worst possible way, but generally the point is lurking there somewhere."
More on sedition by Ashis Nandy in The Great Indian Love Affair With Censorship
A new strategy to fight some viruses
From The Guardian article Immune discovery opens up new line of attack against viruses:
"In a series of experiments, James's group found that in many cases, antibodies do very little to stop viruses from infecting cells. Instead, the antibodies cling to the viruses when they invade cells and use the cells' own biological machinery to kill the virus.
James showed that once inside an infected cell, antibodies attract a protein called TRIM21. This in turn signals to the cell's equivalent of a waste disposal machine, a large cluster of proteins called a proteasome. When the proteasome arrives, it latches on to TRIM21 and goes to work, dismantling the virus piece by piece. The process happens quickly, and often before the virus has a chance to cause harm.
The discovery, which is reported in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could pave the way for a new generation of antiviral drugs that fight infections by supercharging the body's own defences.
Future treatments based on James's work are only expected to work against a class of viruses that do not shed their protein coats when they invade healthy cells. Those that do would leave the attached antibodies outside the cells, and so not trigger the cell's own immune attack.
James's team has already begun investigating how to turn the finding into new drugs. Tests on cells in the laboratory show that administering TRIM21 boosts resistance to infection, presumably by bolstering the natural immune attack."
"In a series of experiments, James's group found that in many cases, antibodies do very little to stop viruses from infecting cells. Instead, the antibodies cling to the viruses when they invade cells and use the cells' own biological machinery to kill the virus.
James showed that once inside an infected cell, antibodies attract a protein called TRIM21. This in turn signals to the cell's equivalent of a waste disposal machine, a large cluster of proteins called a proteasome. When the proteasome arrives, it latches on to TRIM21 and goes to work, dismantling the virus piece by piece. The process happens quickly, and often before the virus has a chance to cause harm.
The discovery, which is reported in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could pave the way for a new generation of antiviral drugs that fight infections by supercharging the body's own defences.
Future treatments based on James's work are only expected to work against a class of viruses that do not shed their protein coats when they invade healthy cells. Those that do would leave the attached antibodies outside the cells, and so not trigger the cell's own immune attack.
James's team has already begun investigating how to turn the finding into new drugs. Tests on cells in the laboratory show that administering TRIM21 boosts resistance to infection, presumably by bolstering the natural immune attack."
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Controlling a computer through electrodes implanted in the brain
From Discover News Mind Over Machine:
"Using nothing but thoughts, people can coax a brain cell that likes Marilyn Monroe to overpower one that likes Josh Brolin -- a battle of cell dominance that eventually causes an image of Monroe to appear brighter than one of Brolin on a computer screen."
Video by Moran Cerf Thought projection by neurons in the human brain
A shorter video in the excellent summary by Carl Zimmer Harnessing Your Marilyn Monroe Neurons and an earlier article by Carl Zimmer Can a Single Neuron Tell Halle Berry From Grandma Esther?
"Using nothing but thoughts, people can coax a brain cell that likes Marilyn Monroe to overpower one that likes Josh Brolin -- a battle of cell dominance that eventually causes an image of Monroe to appear brighter than one of Brolin on a computer screen."
Video by Moran Cerf Thought projection by neurons in the human brain
A shorter video in the excellent summary by Carl Zimmer Harnessing Your Marilyn Monroe Neurons and an earlier article by Carl Zimmer Can a Single Neuron Tell Halle Berry From Grandma Esther?
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Two Lata-Geeta Dutt Duets
LATA-GEETA DUTT DUET from Toofan Aur Diya (1956).flv
Lata ji & Geeta Dutt in Parbat
It is difficult to distinguish the voices.
Lata ji & Geeta Dutt in Parbat
It is difficult to distinguish the voices.
Mumbai Concensus by 2040?
Fro a speech of Larry Sumners via India vs China: Which is the best role model for the developing world?:
"And perhaps – perhaps – in 2040, the discussion will be less about the Washington Consensus or the Beijing Consensus, than about the Mumbai Consensus – a third way not based on ideas of laissez-faire capitalism that have proven obsolete or ideas of authoritarian capitalism that ultimately will prove not to be enduringly successful. Instead, a Mumbai Consensus based on the idea of a democratic developmental state, driven not by a mercantilist emphasis on exports, but a people-centered emphasis on growing levels of consumptions and a widening middle class."
'Not sure' says Chrystia Freeland in The Mumbai consensus:
"Summers thinks the real model to watch is India’s, the world’s largest democracy. Partly because of its political system, India’s economic rise has been powered as much by the voracity of its domestic consumers as it has by the country’s push into foreign markets. That’s a sharp contrast with China, where the focus has been on working for the rest of the world, while the Chinese people, who are poorer on average than those of Albania or Jamaica, nonetheless save more than half of their GDP.
What makes the idea of the Mumbai consensus, and of people-centric economic growth, so powerful is that the smartest and most politically potent critique of global capitalism right now is that it isn’t delivering for the middle class.
We are living in an age of unprecedented economic prosperity: since the 1970s the world economy has been growing at a faster pace than at any other time in human history, and billions of people have been lifted out of poverty as a result. Yet a perversity of this global boom is that it has benefited the super-elite most of all.
That is apparent most starkly in America, where 23.5 per cent of total income in 2007 went to the top 1 per cent, but it is also the case in countries with a more generous social safety net, like Canada and the UK. It is happening as well in communist China, where the gap between the rich and poor is as great as it is in the U.S., and in other emerging market powerhouses, including Russia, and, yes, India. (Income inequality has been falling in the fourth BRIC, Brazil, but that may partly be because it has historically been so high. Today it remains far greater than in the U.S.)
This unequal return on globalization is a pretty good key to understanding domestic political battles in most countries around the world. That’s true in authoritarian China, where, according to the state-run China Daily, the key concern of the Communist Party as it debated its twelfth five-year plan this week was “the widening wealth gap”. That is also true in the United States, where the rage of the Tea Party, with its proudly anti-elite heroines, is largely animated by anger that the American middle class is losing out.
Income inequality is high in India, too – Raghuram Rajan, the Indian born and educated University of Chicago economist pointed out in a 2008 speech in Mumbai that India was second only to Russia in its number of billionaires per trillion dollars of GDP. But Summers is right to assert that India’s rise out of developing world poverty has been “people-centric”: both an engine and a consequence of India’s ascent has been a surge in consumption that extends deep into the income distribution.....Summers, who has been worrying aloud about the hard-hit US middle class since well before the credit bubble burst, is painfully familiar with this problem. Identifying the Mumbai Consensus is a first step towards a solution, but alone it won’t be enough."
As a commentor says, it is perhaps people-led rather than people-centric, and I guess it may be due to the inefficiency of the state.
"And perhaps – perhaps – in 2040, the discussion will be less about the Washington Consensus or the Beijing Consensus, than about the Mumbai Consensus – a third way not based on ideas of laissez-faire capitalism that have proven obsolete or ideas of authoritarian capitalism that ultimately will prove not to be enduringly successful. Instead, a Mumbai Consensus based on the idea of a democratic developmental state, driven not by a mercantilist emphasis on exports, but a people-centered emphasis on growing levels of consumptions and a widening middle class."
'Not sure' says Chrystia Freeland in The Mumbai consensus:
"Summers thinks the real model to watch is India’s, the world’s largest democracy. Partly because of its political system, India’s economic rise has been powered as much by the voracity of its domestic consumers as it has by the country’s push into foreign markets. That’s a sharp contrast with China, where the focus has been on working for the rest of the world, while the Chinese people, who are poorer on average than those of Albania or Jamaica, nonetheless save more than half of their GDP.
What makes the idea of the Mumbai consensus, and of people-centric economic growth, so powerful is that the smartest and most politically potent critique of global capitalism right now is that it isn’t delivering for the middle class.
We are living in an age of unprecedented economic prosperity: since the 1970s the world economy has been growing at a faster pace than at any other time in human history, and billions of people have been lifted out of poverty as a result. Yet a perversity of this global boom is that it has benefited the super-elite most of all.
That is apparent most starkly in America, where 23.5 per cent of total income in 2007 went to the top 1 per cent, but it is also the case in countries with a more generous social safety net, like Canada and the UK. It is happening as well in communist China, where the gap between the rich and poor is as great as it is in the U.S., and in other emerging market powerhouses, including Russia, and, yes, India. (Income inequality has been falling in the fourth BRIC, Brazil, but that may partly be because it has historically been so high. Today it remains far greater than in the U.S.)
This unequal return on globalization is a pretty good key to understanding domestic political battles in most countries around the world. That’s true in authoritarian China, where, according to the state-run China Daily, the key concern of the Communist Party as it debated its twelfth five-year plan this week was “the widening wealth gap”. That is also true in the United States, where the rage of the Tea Party, with its proudly anti-elite heroines, is largely animated by anger that the American middle class is losing out.
Income inequality is high in India, too – Raghuram Rajan, the Indian born and educated University of Chicago economist pointed out in a 2008 speech in Mumbai that India was second only to Russia in its number of billionaires per trillion dollars of GDP. But Summers is right to assert that India’s rise out of developing world poverty has been “people-centric”: both an engine and a consequence of India’s ascent has been a surge in consumption that extends deep into the income distribution.....Summers, who has been worrying aloud about the hard-hit US middle class since well before the credit bubble burst, is painfully familiar with this problem. Identifying the Mumbai Consensus is a first step towards a solution, but alone it won’t be enough."
As a commentor says, it is perhaps people-led rather than people-centric, and I guess it may be due to the inefficiency of the state.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Links October 29
Two posts on Tinnitus (ringing in the ears). Carl Zimmer in Discover The Brain "Ringing in the Ears" Actually Goes Much Deeper Than That discusses the recent progress. There is discussion in The Loom My new brain column: Tinnitus, from ears to consciousness. It seems that different cases have very different treatments. In Vital Signs An Unwelcome Ringing Christopher Linstrom discusses a case which he cured by surgery.
From Distress, culture and gene expression:
"An interesting paper forthcoming in PNAS showing how cultures may favour different expressions of the same gene: "Culture, distress, and oxytocin receptor polymorphism (OXTR) interact to influence emotional support seeking" by Heejung S. Kim, David K. Sherman, Joni Y. Sasaki, Jun Xu,Thai Q. Chu, Chorong Ryu, Eunkook M. Suh, Kelsey Graham, and Shelley E. Taylor."
Sex Makes You Smarter- Can 'Virtual Sex' Do The Same?
A Brief History Of The English Language
From Distress, culture and gene expression:
"An interesting paper forthcoming in PNAS showing how cultures may favour different expressions of the same gene: "Culture, distress, and oxytocin receptor polymorphism (OXTR) interact to influence emotional support seeking" by Heejung S. Kim, David K. Sherman, Joni Y. Sasaki, Jun Xu,Thai Q. Chu, Chorong Ryu, Eunkook M. Suh, Kelsey Graham, and Shelley E. Taylor."
Sex Makes You Smarter- Can 'Virtual Sex' Do The Same?
A Brief History Of The English Language
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
I heard of Ayn Rand
but read nothing by her and very little about her. Apparently she has made it to the Telugu world of cartoons: Auto jaani-Ayn Rand. It seems to have won a prize
Any one can give you knowledge..;:
"My post - Auto jaani-Ayn Rand -- in my blog was appreciated by the American professors. They even mailed me, saying "you are incredibly talented". They procured my caricature of Ayn Rand for thier maganize's article, Ayn Rand Influence on College Curriculum, for $200 as a one time copy right!"
From the blog One More Thought, it appears that the artist is keen about prizes even from goons. But who cares; he seems to be a wonderful cartoonist. Probably 'silly like us but his talent will survive it all'. Vibrant Telugu world!
Any one can give you knowledge..;:
"My post - Auto jaani-Ayn Rand -- in my blog was appreciated by the American professors. They even mailed me, saying "you are incredibly talented". They procured my caricature of Ayn Rand for thier maganize's article, Ayn Rand Influence on College Curriculum, for $200 as a one time copy right!"
From the blog One More Thought, it appears that the artist is keen about prizes even from goons. But who cares; he seems to be a wonderful cartoonist. Probably 'silly like us but his talent will survive it all'. Vibrant Telugu world!
An article about N.Rahmatulla and his views on Telugu
From the blog నా లోకం-అధికారభాషగా తెలుగు -ఓ ఉన్నతాధికారి గారి అనుభవాలు. Excerpt:
"ప్రజలకు అవకాశం ఇస్తే వాళ్లు మాట్లాడే భాషలోనే శక్తివంతంగా, జ్ఞానయుక్తంగా దరఖాస్తులు పెట్ట గలుగుతున్నారు , విన్నవిస్తున్నారు, పోరాడుతున్నారు, ప్రశ్నిస్తున్నారు. ఆంగ్లం వారికి అరగటంలేదు. తెలుగు చక్కగా జీర్ణమౌతున్న అమృతాహారం. మాటలవరకైతే ఎంతో బాగుంటుంది కానీ అప్పు తెచ్చుకున్న సంస్కృతాక్షరాలు, వరుసవావి లేకుండా తయారుచేసిన లిపి మన పిల్లలకు అరక్కపోవడమేగాక మళ్లీ దాని జోలికి వెళ్లటానికి బెదిరిపోయే పరిస్థితి వచ్చింది. 18 అక్షరాలతో తమిళ లిపి తమిళులకు వరమయ్యింది. 56 అక్షరాలు, వత్తులు, గుణింతాలు మనకున్నా, అవి శాస్త్రీయంగానూ, క్రమపద్ధతిలోనూ, పిల్లల మనస్సులపై సుళువుగా ముద్రవేసేవిగానూ లేనందువల్ల తెలుగు లిపి మనకు మనమే ''తెచ్చిపెట్టుకున్న చేటు''గా మారింది. ఇది భాష తప్పు కాదు. దాన్ని చెడగొట్టిన మన పెద్దల తప్పు".అని వారు స్వానుభవంతో చెప్పే మాటలను కొట్టి పారేయగలమా!
"కర్త కర్మ క్రియలతో సంబంధం లేకుండా అసలు వాక్యం అర్థమయితే చాలునని ఇంగ్లీషు వాళ్ళు తమ భాష వాడకానికి సడలింపులిచ్చారు. మరి మనవాళ్ళో? అసలీ కర్త, కర్మ, క్రియ అనే పదాలు పల్లెటూరి తెలుగువాళ్ళు పలుకుతారా? పలకరు. చేసినవాడు, చేసినపని, చేయించుకున్నవాడు... అంటారు. అలా అంటే సంస్కృత పండితులు ఊరుకోరు. శతాబ్దాల తరబడి వీళ్ళు చేసిన పెత్తనం వల్లనే మన తెలుగు వికృతం అయ్యింది. మన కూడిక సంకలనం అయ్యింది. మన తీసివేత వ్యవకలనం అయ్యింది. మన సాగు సేద్యం అయ్యింది. మన నెత్తురు రక్తంగా మారింది. మన బువ్వ అన్నం అయ్యింది. మన జనం పలికే తెలుగుపదాలు, సంస్కృత పదాలుగా మార్చి, మన పూర్వీకుల నాలుకలు సంయుక్తాక్షరాలు పలికేలా సాగగొట్టిన ఘనత ఈ సంస్కృత పండితులదే. వీళ్ళవల్లనే తెలుగుకు పురాతన భాష హోదా దక్కకుండా పోయింది. నన్నయ్యకు ముందు తెలుగు కవులెవరూ లేరనే పిడివాదం మనకు మనమే తగిలించుకున్న గుదిబండ." అంటూ అంత సాధికారికంగా వారు వాదిస్తుంటే కాదనే దమ్ము ఎవరికుంటుంది?
"ఇక ఇప్పుడు తెలుగు వాడకంలోంచి సంస్కృతం, ఇంగ్లీషు, ఉర్దూ పదాలను తీసివేయలేము. అవి మన భాషలో అంతర్భాగాలైపోయాయి. అక్కరలేని ఆపరేషన్ ఎవరు చేయించుకుంటారు? చేసినా గాయాలవడం తప్ప మరే మేలూ కలుగదు. అందువలన మన భాష సంకరమైనా బలమైన హైబ్రీడ్ భాషలాగా తయారైనందుకు సంతోషపడుతూ, ఈ సంకర తెలుగు భాషలోనే ఆఫీసుల్లో ఫైళ్ళు నడిపితే అదే పదివేలుగా భావించాలి. ఛాందసవాదులు వాళ్ళు చెయ్యరు, ఇంకొకళ్ళను చేయనివ్వరు. ఒకవేళ ఈ పనిని వాళ్ళకప్పజెబితే ఎవరికీ అర్థంగాకుండా పాడుచేస్తారు. ప్రజలు ఇంతకంటే ఇంగ్లీషే నయమని వాపోయేలా చేస్తారు. మన శాసన సభలో ఎమ్మెల్యేలు ఈ మూడు భాషల పదాలు కలగలిపి మనోరంజకంగా మాట్లాడుతున్నారు. అదే నేటి తెలుగు, వాడుక తెలుగు, వారు అడిగింది అడిగినట్లు తెలుగు లిపితో సాగదనుకుంటే ఆంగ్లలిపినే వాడుకోండి. మన మాట ముఖ్యం. వాళ్ళు ప్రజాప్రతినిధులు. వాళ్ళు మాట్లాడుతున్నది మన ప్రజల భాష. ఆ భాషలో, యాసలో జీవోలు రావాలి. అప్పుడే తెలుగు అధికార భాషగా విరాజిల్లుతుంది".
One of Rahamtulla's blogs here. The quote is from his post ఇలా చేస్తే బాగుంటుంది.
"ప్రజలకు అవకాశం ఇస్తే వాళ్లు మాట్లాడే భాషలోనే శక్తివంతంగా, జ్ఞానయుక్తంగా దరఖాస్తులు పెట్ట గలుగుతున్నారు , విన్నవిస్తున్నారు, పోరాడుతున్నారు, ప్రశ్నిస్తున్నారు. ఆంగ్లం వారికి అరగటంలేదు. తెలుగు చక్కగా జీర్ణమౌతున్న అమృతాహారం. మాటలవరకైతే ఎంతో బాగుంటుంది కానీ అప్పు తెచ్చుకున్న సంస్కృతాక్షరాలు, వరుసవావి లేకుండా తయారుచేసిన లిపి మన పిల్లలకు అరక్కపోవడమేగాక మళ్లీ దాని జోలికి వెళ్లటానికి బెదిరిపోయే పరిస్థితి వచ్చింది. 18 అక్షరాలతో తమిళ లిపి తమిళులకు వరమయ్యింది. 56 అక్షరాలు, వత్తులు, గుణింతాలు మనకున్నా, అవి శాస్త్రీయంగానూ, క్రమపద్ధతిలోనూ, పిల్లల మనస్సులపై సుళువుగా ముద్రవేసేవిగానూ లేనందువల్ల తెలుగు లిపి మనకు మనమే ''తెచ్చిపెట్టుకున్న చేటు''గా మారింది. ఇది భాష తప్పు కాదు. దాన్ని చెడగొట్టిన మన పెద్దల తప్పు".అని వారు స్వానుభవంతో చెప్పే మాటలను కొట్టి పారేయగలమా!
"కర్త కర్మ క్రియలతో సంబంధం లేకుండా అసలు వాక్యం అర్థమయితే చాలునని ఇంగ్లీషు వాళ్ళు తమ భాష వాడకానికి సడలింపులిచ్చారు. మరి మనవాళ్ళో? అసలీ కర్త, కర్మ, క్రియ అనే పదాలు పల్లెటూరి తెలుగువాళ్ళు పలుకుతారా? పలకరు. చేసినవాడు, చేసినపని, చేయించుకున్నవాడు... అంటారు. అలా అంటే సంస్కృత పండితులు ఊరుకోరు. శతాబ్దాల తరబడి వీళ్ళు చేసిన పెత్తనం వల్లనే మన తెలుగు వికృతం అయ్యింది. మన కూడిక సంకలనం అయ్యింది. మన తీసివేత వ్యవకలనం అయ్యింది. మన సాగు సేద్యం అయ్యింది. మన నెత్తురు రక్తంగా మారింది. మన బువ్వ అన్నం అయ్యింది. మన జనం పలికే తెలుగుపదాలు, సంస్కృత పదాలుగా మార్చి, మన పూర్వీకుల నాలుకలు సంయుక్తాక్షరాలు పలికేలా సాగగొట్టిన ఘనత ఈ సంస్కృత పండితులదే. వీళ్ళవల్లనే తెలుగుకు పురాతన భాష హోదా దక్కకుండా పోయింది. నన్నయ్యకు ముందు తెలుగు కవులెవరూ లేరనే పిడివాదం మనకు మనమే తగిలించుకున్న గుదిబండ." అంటూ అంత సాధికారికంగా వారు వాదిస్తుంటే కాదనే దమ్ము ఎవరికుంటుంది?
"ఇక ఇప్పుడు తెలుగు వాడకంలోంచి సంస్కృతం, ఇంగ్లీషు, ఉర్దూ పదాలను తీసివేయలేము. అవి మన భాషలో అంతర్భాగాలైపోయాయి. అక్కరలేని ఆపరేషన్ ఎవరు చేయించుకుంటారు? చేసినా గాయాలవడం తప్ప మరే మేలూ కలుగదు. అందువలన మన భాష సంకరమైనా బలమైన హైబ్రీడ్ భాషలాగా తయారైనందుకు సంతోషపడుతూ, ఈ సంకర తెలుగు భాషలోనే ఆఫీసుల్లో ఫైళ్ళు నడిపితే అదే పదివేలుగా భావించాలి. ఛాందసవాదులు వాళ్ళు చెయ్యరు, ఇంకొకళ్ళను చేయనివ్వరు. ఒకవేళ ఈ పనిని వాళ్ళకప్పజెబితే ఎవరికీ అర్థంగాకుండా పాడుచేస్తారు. ప్రజలు ఇంతకంటే ఇంగ్లీషే నయమని వాపోయేలా చేస్తారు. మన శాసన సభలో ఎమ్మెల్యేలు ఈ మూడు భాషల పదాలు కలగలిపి మనోరంజకంగా మాట్లాడుతున్నారు. అదే నేటి తెలుగు, వాడుక తెలుగు, వారు అడిగింది అడిగినట్లు తెలుగు లిపితో సాగదనుకుంటే ఆంగ్లలిపినే వాడుకోండి. మన మాట ముఖ్యం. వాళ్ళు ప్రజాప్రతినిధులు. వాళ్ళు మాట్లాడుతున్నది మన ప్రజల భాష. ఆ భాషలో, యాసలో జీవోలు రావాలి. అప్పుడే తెలుగు అధికార భాషగా విరాజిల్లుతుంది".
One of Rahamtulla's blogs here. The quote is from his post ఇలా చేస్తే బాగుంటుంది.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Olbert or Gilbert?
Daniel Gilbert says in Magic by Numbers "The sound a number makes can influence our decisions about it" and gives some evidence. The article is discussed in
Phonetic Marketing where the the author's name is given as Daniel Olbert. One of the comments links to this interesting article Sound Symbolism by John Ohala.
P.S. I am posting it here since a couple of comments in Language Log did not go through and I liked immensely Daniel Gilbert's book "Stumbling on Happiness"
P.P.S. It is changed now.
Phonetic Marketing where the the author's name is given as Daniel Olbert. One of the comments links to this interesting article Sound Symbolism by John Ohala.
P.S. I am posting it here since a couple of comments in Language Log did not go through and I liked immensely Daniel Gilbert's book "Stumbling on Happiness"
P.P.S. It is changed now.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Out-of-school-time (OST) science experiences
From American Scientist article The 95 Percent Solution School is not where most Americans learn most of their science:
"The “school-first” paradigm is so pervasive that few scientists, educators or policy makers question it. This despite two important facts: Average Americans spend less than 5 percent of their life in classrooms, and an ever-growing body of evidence demonstrates that most science is learned outside of school.
We contend that a major educational advantage enjoyed by the U.S. relative to the rest of the world is its vibrant free-choice science learning landscape—a landscape filled with a vast array of digital resources, educational television and radio, science museums, zoos, aquariums, national parks, community activities such as 4-H and scouting and many other scientifically enriching enterprises. The sheer quantity and importance of this science learning landscape lies in plain sight but mostly out of mind. We believe that nonschool resources—used by learners across their lifetimes from childhood onward—actually account for the vast majority of Americans’ science learning."
"The “school-first” paradigm is so pervasive that few scientists, educators or policy makers question it. This despite two important facts: Average Americans spend less than 5 percent of their life in classrooms, and an ever-growing body of evidence demonstrates that most science is learned outside of school.
We contend that a major educational advantage enjoyed by the U.S. relative to the rest of the world is its vibrant free-choice science learning landscape—a landscape filled with a vast array of digital resources, educational television and radio, science museums, zoos, aquariums, national parks, community activities such as 4-H and scouting and many other scientifically enriching enterprises. The sheer quantity and importance of this science learning landscape lies in plain sight but mostly out of mind. We believe that nonschool resources—used by learners across their lifetimes from childhood onward—actually account for the vast majority of Americans’ science learning."
Carl Zimmer's 'Brain Cuttings'
is the first book that I read on kindle My new book–ebook, that is: Brain Cuttings. Fourteen of these appeared in Discover among
these (Search Results) and many of them discussed in his blog
The Loom. The individual pieces discuss some aspect of a feature of the mind like fear, face recognition, 'zoning out' etc. The pieces come with links which enhance the essays and the discussion in The Loom adds to their value. Putting them out without these extra features seems to diminish them. Moreover in a book, one expects a comprehensive view of the topic with hints for further study. However these articles are only about some feature or features of the topics considered and are not comprehensive reviews of the topics. Though still readable, the book somehow is not appealing. I would rather go back to the original articles or their discussion in the blog.
these (Search Results) and many of them discussed in his blog
The Loom. The individual pieces discuss some aspect of a feature of the mind like fear, face recognition, 'zoning out' etc. The pieces come with links which enhance the essays and the discussion in The Loom adds to their value. Putting them out without these extra features seems to diminish them. Moreover in a book, one expects a comprehensive view of the topic with hints for further study. However these articles are only about some feature or features of the topics considered and are not comprehensive reviews of the topics. Though still readable, the book somehow is not appealing. I would rather go back to the original articles or their discussion in the blog.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Devesh Kapur on Indian diaspora
The book Diaspora, Development, and Democracy: The Domestic Impact of International Migration from India by Devesh Kapur, director of CASI is currently available online. Laura Freschi at Aid Watch comments in the post When the brain drain is healthy for democracy :
"The endurance of Indian democracy is one of the great Indian puzzles. How has a population so large, so ethnically and linguistically fragmented, and so economically unequal managed to sustain a participatory democracy since 1947? What forces have kept the country politically stable, enabling the rapid economic growth of the past two decades?
One intriguing answer comes from political scientist Devesh Kapur, who studies the political effects of skilled migration (the so-called brain drain) on migrants’ home countries (we’ve blogged before about the positive economic effects of the brain drain). In a new book presented yesterday at the Center for Global Development, Kapur finds:
"[T]he positive selection of Indian migrants through education has strengthened India’s democracy by creating a political space for previously excluded social groups. Because older Indian elites have an exit option, they are less likely to resist the loss of political power at home."
......
At the same time, though, Kapur says that members of the upper class that chose exit have still retained their voice: their continuing influence in Indian politics perpetuates social inequalities."
Laura Freschi a;so comments about a similar study from Mexico.
Devesh Kapur is one of the authors of the recent study "Rethinking Inequality: Dalits in Uttar Pradesh in the Market Reform Era" . The others are Chandra Bhan Prasad, Lant Pritchett, and D. Shyam Babu. Summary by Soutik Biswas ( I came across this via Rajib Khan's delicious feed in his blog) in Is the free market improving lives of India's Dalits?. Excerpts (almost fully quoted):
"A group of economists and Dalit scholars led by Devesh Kapur at Pennsylvania University's Centre for the Advanced Study of India, believes so. India's 160 million Dalits are some of its most wretched citizens, because of an unforgiving and harsh caste hierarchy that condemns them to the bottom of the heap.
The study quizzed all Dalit households - more than 19,000 - in two clusters of villages in Azamgarh and Bulandshahar, two poor, backward districts in Uttar Pradesh state. Dalits were asked about their material and social conditions now and in 1990 when economic reforms were kicking off in India. The answers, says the study, provide proof of "substantial changes in a wide variety of social practices affecting Dalit well-being."
If you feel that 19,000 Dalit households in Uttar Pradesh are not a good enough sample for studying their conditions, think again. To put things into perspective, 32 million of India's estimated 160 million Dalits live in Uttar Pradesh alone.
But the very fact changes have happened to the lives of the Dalits in Uttar Pradesh is enough to excite sceptics. Let's look at some of the more striking findings:
1. Ownership of bicycles, fans, TV sets and mobile phones have increased by typically a third to half of the Dalit households surveyed.
2. A substantial improvement in housing: 64.4% and 94.6% of Dalits in the households surveyed in two districts now live in "pukka" (concrete) houses compared to 18% and 38.4% respectively in 1990.
3. Some interesting changes in grooming and dress - again, an assertion of social aspirations. Take, for example, toothpaste. Under 3% of Dalits used toothpaste in the surveyed households in 1990. In 2007, more than half of them in Azamgarh and over 80% in Bulandshahar used toothpaste. Up to 80% of Dalits in one cluster of villages use shampoo today, an 82% jump compared with 1990.
4. Key changes in eating habits. Consumption of pulses has gone up. More than 80% of the children in households surveyed in both districts are not being served the previous night's leftovers. More than 70% of the households use packaged salt. Up to 87% of the households in Azamgarh and more than half the households in Bulandshahar buy tomatoes.
Whether calorie intake has gone up substantially remains unclear. But respondents say that their food situation is "much better."
5. "Massive" changes in social practices within the community. Today almost all the households rent a car or jeep to take the groom's marriage party to the bride's village and bring the bride back to the groom's village, up from as low as 2.5% in Bulandshahar in 1990. More than 90% of them offer tea to visiting relatives.
6. The relationship between the Dalits and other castes is undergoing subtle, but important changes. These days more than 80% of Dalits are not seated separately at non-Dalit weddings of grooms in the village, compared with a little over 20% in 1990. In Azamgarh households nearly 90% of Dalit babies are now attended equally by government and non-Dalit midwives.
The traditional practice that only Dalits would lift dead animals of non-Dalits is dying out. In Azamgarh fewer than 1% of Dalits lift dead animals, compared with 19% in 1990, while in Bulandshahar only 5.3% do. More than 60% of Dalit children in the surveyed households go to school, as do well over half of the girl children.
7. Migration is driving a lot of changes in economic wellbeing. By 2007 fourth-fifths of Dalit households in the two village clusters had at least one family member who was a migrant worker, a professional or was in business. Half of the households in one village cluster, and 78% of households in the other had members who worked locally or had a small business. "Migration," says the study, "has been a powerful engine of Dalit empowerment."
Whether the market is reducing inequality remains a highly contentious point. My hunch is that political empowerment must have played a powerful role in many of the changes: the rise of Dalit politics coincided with the liberalisation of the economy. But the last word comes from the group of scholars behind the study: "No one would argue Dalits have achieved anything like equality, but it is certainly the case that many practices that reflected subordination and routine humiliation of Dalits have declined considerably." That, by itself, is a considerable triumph for India's wretched of the earth."
"The endurance of Indian democracy is one of the great Indian puzzles. How has a population so large, so ethnically and linguistically fragmented, and so economically unequal managed to sustain a participatory democracy since 1947? What forces have kept the country politically stable, enabling the rapid economic growth of the past two decades?
One intriguing answer comes from political scientist Devesh Kapur, who studies the political effects of skilled migration (the so-called brain drain) on migrants’ home countries (we’ve blogged before about the positive economic effects of the brain drain). In a new book presented yesterday at the Center for Global Development, Kapur finds:
"[T]he positive selection of Indian migrants through education has strengthened India’s democracy by creating a political space for previously excluded social groups. Because older Indian elites have an exit option, they are less likely to resist the loss of political power at home."
......
At the same time, though, Kapur says that members of the upper class that chose exit have still retained their voice: their continuing influence in Indian politics perpetuates social inequalities."
Laura Freschi a;so comments about a similar study from Mexico.
Devesh Kapur is one of the authors of the recent study "Rethinking Inequality: Dalits in Uttar Pradesh in the Market Reform Era" . The others are Chandra Bhan Prasad, Lant Pritchett, and D. Shyam Babu. Summary by Soutik Biswas ( I came across this via Rajib Khan's delicious feed in his blog) in Is the free market improving lives of India's Dalits?. Excerpts (almost fully quoted):
"A group of economists and Dalit scholars led by Devesh Kapur at Pennsylvania University's Centre for the Advanced Study of India, believes so. India's 160 million Dalits are some of its most wretched citizens, because of an unforgiving and harsh caste hierarchy that condemns them to the bottom of the heap.
The study quizzed all Dalit households - more than 19,000 - in two clusters of villages in Azamgarh and Bulandshahar, two poor, backward districts in Uttar Pradesh state. Dalits were asked about their material and social conditions now and in 1990 when economic reforms were kicking off in India. The answers, says the study, provide proof of "substantial changes in a wide variety of social practices affecting Dalit well-being."
If you feel that 19,000 Dalit households in Uttar Pradesh are not a good enough sample for studying their conditions, think again. To put things into perspective, 32 million of India's estimated 160 million Dalits live in Uttar Pradesh alone.
But the very fact changes have happened to the lives of the Dalits in Uttar Pradesh is enough to excite sceptics. Let's look at some of the more striking findings:
1. Ownership of bicycles, fans, TV sets and mobile phones have increased by typically a third to half of the Dalit households surveyed.
2. A substantial improvement in housing: 64.4% and 94.6% of Dalits in the households surveyed in two districts now live in "pukka" (concrete) houses compared to 18% and 38.4% respectively in 1990.
3. Some interesting changes in grooming and dress - again, an assertion of social aspirations. Take, for example, toothpaste. Under 3% of Dalits used toothpaste in the surveyed households in 1990. In 2007, more than half of them in Azamgarh and over 80% in Bulandshahar used toothpaste. Up to 80% of Dalits in one cluster of villages use shampoo today, an 82% jump compared with 1990.
4. Key changes in eating habits. Consumption of pulses has gone up. More than 80% of the children in households surveyed in both districts are not being served the previous night's leftovers. More than 70% of the households use packaged salt. Up to 87% of the households in Azamgarh and more than half the households in Bulandshahar buy tomatoes.
Whether calorie intake has gone up substantially remains unclear. But respondents say that their food situation is "much better."
5. "Massive" changes in social practices within the community. Today almost all the households rent a car or jeep to take the groom's marriage party to the bride's village and bring the bride back to the groom's village, up from as low as 2.5% in Bulandshahar in 1990. More than 90% of them offer tea to visiting relatives.
6. The relationship between the Dalits and other castes is undergoing subtle, but important changes. These days more than 80% of Dalits are not seated separately at non-Dalit weddings of grooms in the village, compared with a little over 20% in 1990. In Azamgarh households nearly 90% of Dalit babies are now attended equally by government and non-Dalit midwives.
The traditional practice that only Dalits would lift dead animals of non-Dalits is dying out. In Azamgarh fewer than 1% of Dalits lift dead animals, compared with 19% in 1990, while in Bulandshahar only 5.3% do. More than 60% of Dalit children in the surveyed households go to school, as do well over half of the girl children.
7. Migration is driving a lot of changes in economic wellbeing. By 2007 fourth-fifths of Dalit households in the two village clusters had at least one family member who was a migrant worker, a professional or was in business. Half of the households in one village cluster, and 78% of households in the other had members who worked locally or had a small business. "Migration," says the study, "has been a powerful engine of Dalit empowerment."
Whether the market is reducing inequality remains a highly contentious point. My hunch is that political empowerment must have played a powerful role in many of the changes: the rise of Dalit politics coincided with the liberalisation of the economy. But the last word comes from the group of scholars behind the study: "No one would argue Dalits have achieved anything like equality, but it is certainly the case that many practices that reflected subordination and routine humiliation of Dalits have declined considerably." That, by itself, is a considerable triumph for India's wretched of the earth."
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Arvind Gupta honoured
From C.R. Rao receives India Science Prize :
"Arvind Gupta of the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune, received the TWAS regional centre award for Central and South Asia for popularising science.
Gupta was honoured for efforts in the last 30 years to popularise science and technology among students and general public."
Arvind Gupta's Books and Toys site and his Home Page
"Arvind Gupta of the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune, received the TWAS regional centre award for Central and South Asia for popularising science.
Gupta was honoured for efforts in the last 30 years to popularise science and technology among students and general public."
Arvind Gupta's Books and Toys site and his Home Page
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Dirges about higher education
Withering Academia?
Finishing schools for gilded youth?
The above links via Chris Dillow's interesting post Fallible preferences & universities.
See also Thoughts Occasioned (in Part) by the Closure of the French Department at SUNY-Albany.
Some of the worries are that education seems to be driven by customer coice and economic benefits. David Labarees's papers suggest that this process, at leat in the USA, has taken place over a long time: see How Dewey lost: The victory of David Snedden and social efficiency in the reform of American education and Citizens and Consumers: Changing Visions of Virtue and Opportunity in U.S. Education, 1841-2002. Perhaps owing to the success of American education, this influence is being felt elsewhere too. For the evolution of American University system and its 'success' see Larabee's Understanding the rise of American higher education: How complexity breeds autonomy .
P.S. See also Putting a Price on Professors (via Nanopolitan_
Finishing schools for gilded youth?
The above links via Chris Dillow's interesting post Fallible preferences & universities.
See also Thoughts Occasioned (in Part) by the Closure of the French Department at SUNY-Albany.
Some of the worries are that education seems to be driven by customer coice and economic benefits. David Labarees's papers suggest that this process, at leat in the USA, has taken place over a long time: see How Dewey lost: The victory of David Snedden and social efficiency in the reform of American education and Citizens and Consumers: Changing Visions of Virtue and Opportunity in U.S. Education, 1841-2002. Perhaps owing to the success of American education, this influence is being felt elsewhere too. For the evolution of American University system and its 'success' see Larabee's Understanding the rise of American higher education: How complexity breeds autonomy .
P.S. See also Putting a Price on Professors (via Nanopolitan_
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Links, October 19
From A “one dollar, one vote” explanation of the welfare state
"According to the one dollar, one vote theory of the welfare state, the faster growth of the rich's income in the US allowed the rich to increaseits political influence and tilt policy closer to its most preferred redistribution which involves a smaller welfare state. As a result, the growth of redistribution in the US lagged Europe’s."
quoted in Elitism in the Senate.
In USA Which undergraduate institutions produce science PhDs?. Top ten are private institutions and half of them liberal arts colleges (via Rajib Khan)
From a review of a paper on sex by Rajib Khan Sex with thee and the last woman:
"A new paper in Nature tackles sex through experimental evolution. In may ways the answer it offers to the question of sex is old-fashioned and straightforward. Higher rates of sex evolve in spatially heterogeneous environments......
What does this mean in the long-term? Well, it may be that sex, and males, are adaptations to an unpredictable and wild world whose caprice we can not account for. As humanity, or perhaps more generally sentient beings, begin to control nature and buffer themselves artificially from the volatile fluctuations, will we need sex and males? At the end of history when conditions are stable, and all that is before us is the terminus of heat death, perhaps what awaits us are a series of mindless and boring clonal lineages, perfectly adapted to turning nutrients into flesh, generation to generation."
P.S. Many more links in 'A Blog Around the Clock" Quick Links….a lot of them…all good.
"According to the one dollar, one vote theory of the welfare state, the faster growth of the rich's income in the US allowed the rich to increaseits political influence and tilt policy closer to its most preferred redistribution which involves a smaller welfare state. As a result, the growth of redistribution in the US lagged Europe’s."
quoted in Elitism in the Senate.
In USA Which undergraduate institutions produce science PhDs?. Top ten are private institutions and half of them liberal arts colleges (via Rajib Khan)
From a review of a paper on sex by Rajib Khan Sex with thee and the last woman:
"A new paper in Nature tackles sex through experimental evolution. In may ways the answer it offers to the question of sex is old-fashioned and straightforward. Higher rates of sex evolve in spatially heterogeneous environments......
What does this mean in the long-term? Well, it may be that sex, and males, are adaptations to an unpredictable and wild world whose caprice we can not account for. As humanity, or perhaps more generally sentient beings, begin to control nature and buffer themselves artificially from the volatile fluctuations, will we need sex and males? At the end of history when conditions are stable, and all that is before us is the terminus of heat death, perhaps what awaits us are a series of mindless and boring clonal lineages, perfectly adapted to turning nutrients into flesh, generation to generation."
P.S. Many more links in 'A Blog Around the Clock" Quick Links….a lot of them…all good.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Mandelbrot's Wolf Prize essay
A maverick's apprenticeship via Mandelbrot and Akaike: from taxonomy to smooth runways (pioneering work in fractals and self-similarity).
Descriptions of some of his work in The (Mis)behavior of Markets: A Fractal View of Risk, Ruin, and Reward , Benoit Mandelbrot and Practical Fractal .
His Yale Website
P.S. Justin Fox on
Why didn’t people in finance pay attention to Benoit Mandelbrot?:
Descriptions of some of his work in The (Mis)behavior of Markets: A Fractal View of Risk, Ruin, and Reward , Benoit Mandelbrot and Practical Fractal .
His Yale Website
P.S. Justin Fox on
Why didn’t people in finance pay attention to Benoit Mandelbrot?:
Saturday, October 16, 2010
The Inependent interviews Bezwada Wilson
of Safai Karmachari Andolan (SKA)The 'untouchable' Indians with an unenviable job
Telugu Etymological Dictionary
From wapedia wiki:నిఘంటువు :
తెలుగు వ్యుత్పత్తి కోశం
లకంసాని చక్రధరరావు ,ఆంధ్రా యూనివర్సిటీ ప్రొఫెసర్ సంపాదకత్వంలో "తెలుగు వ్యుత్పత్తి కోశం " పేరుతో తెలుగు నుండి తెలుగు నిఘంటువు 1,08,330 పదాలతో 8 సంపుటాలుగా వెలువడినది.
1. అ-ఔ (1978) 412 పేజీలు, పొట్టి శ్రీరాములు కిఅంకితం.ఎమ్.ఆర్.అప్పారావు తొలిపలుకులు.12219 పదాలు.
2. క-ఘ(1981) 455 పేజీలు, కట్టమంచి రామలింగారెడ్డి కి అంకితం. ఆవుల సాంబశివరావు ముందుమాట.19670 పదాలు
3. చ-ణ (1981) 277 పేజీలు, ........... కిఅంకితం, ఆవుల సాంబశివరావు ముందుమాట.11000 పదాలు
4. త-న (1985) 440పేజీలు, వాసిరెడ్డి శ్రీకృష్ణ కి అంకితం. కోనేరు రామకృష్ణారావు మున్నుడి.16000 పదాలు.
5. ప-భ (1987) 498 పేజీలు, లంకపల్లి బుల్లయ్య కి అంకితం. కోనేరు రామకృష్ణారావు మున్నుడి.19000 పదాలు.
6. మ (1987) 268 పేజీలు, ఎమ్.ఆర్.అప్పారావు కి అంకితం కోనేరు రామకృష్ణారావు ముందుమాట.9754 పదాలు
7. య-వ (1989) 272 పేజీలు, ఆవుల సాంబశివరావు కి అంకితం కనిశెట్టి వెంకటరమణ తొలిపలుకు.10132 పదాలు
8. శ-హ (1995) 315 పేజీలు, కోనేరు రామకృష్ణారావు కి అంకితం మద్ది గోపాలకృష్ణారెడ్డి ప్రవచనం. 6651పదాలు. 3904(అ-హ) అనుబంధం.
From a discussion here, it appears that a couple of volumes have been digitized at some stage. Perhaps with a little nudge, Andhra University will make the rest available too.
This article describes various other dictionaries in Telugu.
P.S. I was informed of this dictionary by my friend P.P.C. Joshi in whose office I saw a copy of it.
Several more dictionaries at 'teluguthesis' Telugu thesis > గ్రంథాలయం - తెలుగు గ్రంథాలు > నిఘంటువులు
తెలుగు వ్యుత్పత్తి కోశం
లకంసాని చక్రధరరావు ,ఆంధ్రా యూనివర్సిటీ ప్రొఫెసర్ సంపాదకత్వంలో "తెలుగు వ్యుత్పత్తి కోశం " పేరుతో తెలుగు నుండి తెలుగు నిఘంటువు 1,08,330 పదాలతో 8 సంపుటాలుగా వెలువడినది.
1. అ-ఔ (1978) 412 పేజీలు, పొట్టి శ్రీరాములు కిఅంకితం.ఎమ్.ఆర్.అప్పారావు తొలిపలుకులు.12219 పదాలు.
2. క-ఘ(1981) 455 పేజీలు, కట్టమంచి రామలింగారెడ్డి కి అంకితం. ఆవుల సాంబశివరావు ముందుమాట.19670 పదాలు
3. చ-ణ (1981) 277 పేజీలు, ........... కిఅంకితం, ఆవుల సాంబశివరావు ముందుమాట.11000 పదాలు
4. త-న (1985) 440పేజీలు, వాసిరెడ్డి శ్రీకృష్ణ కి అంకితం. కోనేరు రామకృష్ణారావు మున్నుడి.16000 పదాలు.
5. ప-భ (1987) 498 పేజీలు, లంకపల్లి బుల్లయ్య కి అంకితం. కోనేరు రామకృష్ణారావు మున్నుడి.19000 పదాలు.
6. మ (1987) 268 పేజీలు, ఎమ్.ఆర్.అప్పారావు కి అంకితం కోనేరు రామకృష్ణారావు ముందుమాట.9754 పదాలు
7. య-వ (1989) 272 పేజీలు, ఆవుల సాంబశివరావు కి అంకితం కనిశెట్టి వెంకటరమణ తొలిపలుకు.10132 పదాలు
8. శ-హ (1995) 315 పేజీలు, కోనేరు రామకృష్ణారావు కి అంకితం మద్ది గోపాలకృష్ణారెడ్డి ప్రవచనం. 6651పదాలు. 3904(అ-హ) అనుబంధం.
From a discussion here, it appears that a couple of volumes have been digitized at some stage. Perhaps with a little nudge, Andhra University will make the rest available too.
This article describes various other dictionaries in Telugu.
P.S. I was informed of this dictionary by my friend P.P.C. Joshi in whose office I saw a copy of it.
Several more dictionaries at 'teluguthesis' Telugu thesis > గ్రంథాలయం - తెలుగు గ్రంథాలు > నిఘంటువులు
Friday, October 15, 2010
Telugu-Telugu dictionary for children
'Balala Shabda Ratnakaram' (1991) by Tumati Donappa ( seems useful to older people like me )available here:
http://www.archive.org/details/balalashabdaratn018385mbp
http://www.archive.org/details/balalashabdaratn018385mbp
Communication Awards from the National Academies (USA)
"The recipients of the 2010 Communication Awards were announced today by the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. Part of the Keck Futures Initiative, these prestigious awards recognize excellence in reporting and communicating science, engineering, and medicine to the general public. With support from the W.M. Keck Foundation, these $20,000 prizes have been awarded since 2003. This year's winners will be honored during a ceremony on Oct. 22 at the Keck Center in Washington, D.C." from the
'THE AGE OF WONDER' WINS BEST BOOK AWARD FROM THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES; NEW YORK TIMES, WNET, 'NOT EXACTLY ROCKET SCIENCE' BLOG ALSO TAKE TOP PRIZES.
Ed Yong gives a list of blog posts that he submitted here.
P.S. I still seem to enjoy and remember Carl Zimmer's articles more than those of others.
'THE AGE OF WONDER' WINS BEST BOOK AWARD FROM THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES; NEW YORK TIMES, WNET, 'NOT EXACTLY ROCKET SCIENCE' BLOG ALSO TAKE TOP PRIZES.
Ed Yong gives a list of blog posts that he submitted here.
P.S. I still seem to enjoy and remember Carl Zimmer's articles more than those of others.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
The Age article on Otto Peltzer, 'father figure of Indian athelitics'
A legacy that keeps running :
"Peltzer's own athletic feats, his persecution for homosexuality under Nazi rule, wartime incarceration in an Austrian labour camp, and ultimately his journey to India and the influence he exerted while living in virtual poverty, are a scriptwriter's dream. Chariots Of Fire played out on green fields and posh school cloisters; Otto's odyssey powers on through dusty streets and concentration camps, never breaking stride."
"Peltzer's own athletic feats, his persecution for homosexuality under Nazi rule, wartime incarceration in an Austrian labour camp, and ultimately his journey to India and the influence he exerted while living in virtual poverty, are a scriptwriter's dream. Chariots Of Fire played out on green fields and posh school cloisters; Otto's odyssey powers on through dusty streets and concentration camps, never breaking stride."
A Tamil film song by K. Jamuna Rani
Kalai Vayasu from the film Deivapiravi
Telugu version,here from the film 'Anumanam'. Also available at chimatamusic.com
Telugu version,here from the film 'Anumanam'. Also available at chimatamusic.com
On the recent Nobel in economics
From Nobel 2010:
"It is said that when the Nobel Prize in economics was first established, prizes were given for using economics to teach people things they didn’t already know, e.g., that economic growth might increase inequality, that depressions are caused by central banks, that macroeconomic stabilization policy doesn’t work, etc. Now, prizes are given to economists who teach other economists things that regular people already know — politicians are self-interested, you shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket, institutions matter, different people know different things, etc. "
Various links in aprevious post
Research Findings That Don’t Surprise Me.
More from Chandan Sapkota 2010 Nobel prize in economics for unemployment! and EconoSpeak Search Theory Gets a “Nobel” :
"It is said that when the Nobel Prize in economics was first established, prizes were given for using economics to teach people things they didn’t already know, e.g., that economic growth might increase inequality, that depressions are caused by central banks, that macroeconomic stabilization policy doesn’t work, etc. Now, prizes are given to economists who teach other economists things that regular people already know — politicians are self-interested, you shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket, institutions matter, different people know different things, etc. "
Various links in aprevious post
Research Findings That Don’t Surprise Me.
More from Chandan Sapkota 2010 Nobel prize in economics for unemployment! and EconoSpeak Search Theory Gets a “Nobel” :
Monday, October 11, 2010
Walter Neumann's 65th birthday fest
"Faces of Geometry: 3-Manifolds, Groups and Singularities -- A Conference in Honor of Walter Neumann", which will be held at Columbia University in New York, Monday June 6th - Friday June 10th, 2011.
I had the privilege of collaborating with Walter. Ramachandra Guha in his article on Dharma Kumar The last liberal has a passing reference to K.L. Krishna:
"This was Professor K. L. Krishna, a quiet, self-effacing yet celebrated teacher of econometrics at the Delhi School of Economics, a man who in character and intellect and institutional commitment exemplifies the best kind of University scholar." These words seem appropriate for Walter Neumann too.
I had the privilege of collaborating with Walter. Ramachandra Guha in his article on Dharma Kumar The last liberal has a passing reference to K.L. Krishna:
"This was Professor K. L. Krishna, a quiet, self-effacing yet celebrated teacher of econometrics at the Delhi School of Economics, a man who in character and intellect and institutional commitment exemplifies the best kind of University scholar." These words seem appropriate for Walter Neumann too.
Friday, October 08, 2010
A request for books from WHAT
From “Vignana Vikasam” A WHAT Library for rural areas : ఒక ప్రకటన:
Currently we are in the process of purchasing books for the Library and looking for your support for the below.
What we need from you:
1. Please take a look at the attached list of books. Please let us know if you have any of these books and ready to donate them to “Vignana Vikasam”.
2. Let us know if you can suggest a book shop (any where in AP) which can provide us discount
3. Suggest us if you wish to add any other books to the list.
When will this project be live?
On Nov 14th 2010, WHAT’s first Library will be set up in Rampuram Village, Tekkali, Srikakulam District, AP.
More details of this project will be published soon.
Any questions/Suggestions are open.
Thanks,
Team WHAT (wehelpandteach@gmail.com)
www.wehelpandteach.org
P.S. For 'the attached list of books' go to the original post to download the list.
Currently we are in the process of purchasing books for the Library and looking for your support for the below.
What we need from you:
1. Please take a look at the attached list of books. Please let us know if you have any of these books and ready to donate them to “Vignana Vikasam”.
2. Let us know if you can suggest a book shop (any where in AP) which can provide us discount
3. Suggest us if you wish to add any other books to the list.
When will this project be live?
On Nov 14th 2010, WHAT’s first Library will be set up in Rampuram Village, Tekkali, Srikakulam District, AP.
More details of this project will be published soon.
Any questions/Suggestions are open.
Thanks,
Team WHAT (wehelpandteach@gmail.com)
www.wehelpandteach.org
P.S. For 'the attached list of books' go to the original post to download the list.
A science article tops the list of the most popular articles in NY Times
Scientists and Soldiers Solve a Bee Mystery:
"Since 2006, 20 to 40 percent of the bee colonies in the United States alone have suffered “colony collapse.” Suspected culprits ranged from pesticides to genetically modified food.
Now, a unique partnership — of military scientists and entomologists — appears to have achieved a major breakthrough: identifying a new suspect, or two.
A fungus tag-teaming with a virus have apparently interacted to cause the problem, according to a paper by Army scientists in Maryland and bee experts in Montana in the online science journal PLoS One. .....
Scientists in the project emphasize that their conclusions are not the final word. The pattern, they say, seems clear, but more research is needed to determine, for example, how further outbreaks might be prevented, and how much environmental factors like heat, cold or drought might play a role.
They said that combination attacks in nature, like the virus and fungus involved in bee deaths, are quite common, and that one answer in protecting bee colonies might be to focus on the fungus — controllable with antifungal agents — especially when the virus is detected.
Still unsolved is what makes the bees fly off into the wild yonder at the point of death. One theory, Dr. Bromenshenk said, is that the viral-fungal combination disrupts memory or navigating skills and the bees simply get lost. Another possibility, he said, is a kind of insect insanity."
The lesson is that it is hard painstaking work still in progress. Before we get too carried away by science matters NY Times has also an article corruption Rampant Fraud Threat to China’s Brisk Ascent. Abi has several more links in Is Scientific Misconduct Rampant in China? and also posts about corrupt academic practices in India and elsewhere Plagiarizing from Wikipedia?
"Since 2006, 20 to 40 percent of the bee colonies in the United States alone have suffered “colony collapse.” Suspected culprits ranged from pesticides to genetically modified food.
Now, a unique partnership — of military scientists and entomologists — appears to have achieved a major breakthrough: identifying a new suspect, or two.
A fungus tag-teaming with a virus have apparently interacted to cause the problem, according to a paper by Army scientists in Maryland and bee experts in Montana in the online science journal PLoS One. .....
Scientists in the project emphasize that their conclusions are not the final word. The pattern, they say, seems clear, but more research is needed to determine, for example, how further outbreaks might be prevented, and how much environmental factors like heat, cold or drought might play a role.
They said that combination attacks in nature, like the virus and fungus involved in bee deaths, are quite common, and that one answer in protecting bee colonies might be to focus on the fungus — controllable with antifungal agents — especially when the virus is detected.
Still unsolved is what makes the bees fly off into the wild yonder at the point of death. One theory, Dr. Bromenshenk said, is that the viral-fungal combination disrupts memory or navigating skills and the bees simply get lost. Another possibility, he said, is a kind of insect insanity."
The lesson is that it is hard painstaking work still in progress. Before we get too carried away by science matters NY Times has also an article corruption Rampant Fraud Threat to China’s Brisk Ascent. Abi has several more links in Is Scientific Misconduct Rampant in China? and also posts about corrupt academic practices in India and elsewhere Plagiarizing from Wikipedia?
Thursday, October 07, 2010
About those exceptional performances of VVS Laxman
Peter Roebuck The genius and the doubter:
"His career has been a compelling tale of greatness remaining locked away in the mind till the call comes and then emerging and laying waste before retreating back into its shell. As far as cricket is concerned Laxman is a warrior by instinct and a man of peace by manner. The conflict has made his career fascinating and frustrating. His genius is peculiar and requires the most particular conditions. His greatness lies in the fact that those conditions are the toughest not the easiest. He is an artist whose strength lies not in his artistry but in his competitive spirit."
But it may be the back spasms which unleash the genius with in. Sidharth Monga in 'These situations get the best out of me' - Laxman:
"During the chat we remind ourselves that those back spasms are not that bad a thing. The first time Laxman suffered those spasms was in March 2001. Over the next week, he played the greatest Test innings of all at one of the greatest places to play Test cricket in. Three improbable wins out of three is not a bad strike rate for those spasms at all.
While there might be a general agreement, statistically proven of course, that back spasms have given Test cricket three unforgettable innings, a thought needs to be spared for the back. And both the physios, Nitin Patel now and Andrew Leipus in 2000-01, are people Laxman doesn't stop thanking. "
"His career has been a compelling tale of greatness remaining locked away in the mind till the call comes and then emerging and laying waste before retreating back into its shell. As far as cricket is concerned Laxman is a warrior by instinct and a man of peace by manner. The conflict has made his career fascinating and frustrating. His genius is peculiar and requires the most particular conditions. His greatness lies in the fact that those conditions are the toughest not the easiest. He is an artist whose strength lies not in his artistry but in his competitive spirit."
But it may be the back spasms which unleash the genius with in. Sidharth Monga in 'These situations get the best out of me' - Laxman:
"During the chat we remind ourselves that those back spasms are not that bad a thing. The first time Laxman suffered those spasms was in March 2001. Over the next week, he played the greatest Test innings of all at one of the greatest places to play Test cricket in. Three improbable wins out of three is not a bad strike rate for those spasms at all.
While there might be a general agreement, statistically proven of course, that back spasms have given Test cricket three unforgettable innings, a thought needs to be spared for the back. And both the physios, Nitin Patel now and Andrew Leipus in 2000-01, are people Laxman doesn't stop thanking. "
The quality of mercy
From Sun Co-Founder Uses Capitalism to Help Poor:
"A recent Bain & Company study estimated that Indians give much less as a percentage of the country’s gross domestic product than Americans. Moreover, individual and corporate donations account for just 10 percent of the charitable giving in India, compared with 75 percent in the United States and 34 percent in Britain. The balance comes from the government and foreign organizations.
Rich Indians “are more into temple building and things like that,” said Samit Ghosh, the chief executive of Ujjivan Financial, a microlender based in Bangalore, “rather than putting their money into real programs, which will have real impact on poverty alleviation.” "
"A recent Bain & Company study estimated that Indians give much less as a percentage of the country’s gross domestic product than Americans. Moreover, individual and corporate donations account for just 10 percent of the charitable giving in India, compared with 75 percent in the United States and 34 percent in Britain. The balance comes from the government and foreign organizations.
Rich Indians “are more into temple building and things like that,” said Samit Ghosh, the chief executive of Ujjivan Financial, a microlender based in Bangalore, “rather than putting their money into real programs, which will have real impact on poverty alleviation.” "
Wednesday, October 06, 2010
New Nobel laureates in physics
Abi links to interesting articles about the new Nobel prize winners in physics Physics Nobel trivia. Among them is the NY Times article Physics Nobel Honors Work on Ultra-Thin Carbon. Excerpts:
"Dr. Geim and Dr. Novoselov first succeeded in creating flakes of graphene by peeling them off piles of graphite — the material that is in a pencil lead — using Scotch tape. .... The work on graphene arose from the pair’s desire to investigate the electrical properties of graphite. To do that, they needed very thin pieces, which they first tried to produce by filing down graphite crystals, with no luck. Then a technician showed them how graphite was cleaned before being observed in a scanning tunneling microscope by peeling layers off with Scotch tape.
The scientists placed a flake of graphite on some tape and then by folding the tape over it again and again, gradually cleaved it thinner and thinner until it was only one atom thick.
The Scotch tape technique is still used, although the Manchester researchers have switched to a different tape. Dr. Geim once described the process as “very nonboffinlike” — using British slang for a research scientist — and an example of how you could do great experiments even if you did not have the resources of Harvard or Cambridge behind you. “You can still do something amazing,” he said. "
P.S. A comment in Nanopolitan links to this 2006 biographical sketch of Geim:
Renaissance scientist with fund of ideas
"Dr. Geim and Dr. Novoselov first succeeded in creating flakes of graphene by peeling them off piles of graphite — the material that is in a pencil lead — using Scotch tape. .... The work on graphene arose from the pair’s desire to investigate the electrical properties of graphite. To do that, they needed very thin pieces, which they first tried to produce by filing down graphite crystals, with no luck. Then a technician showed them how graphite was cleaned before being observed in a scanning tunneling microscope by peeling layers off with Scotch tape.
The scientists placed a flake of graphite on some tape and then by folding the tape over it again and again, gradually cleaved it thinner and thinner until it was only one atom thick.
The Scotch tape technique is still used, although the Manchester researchers have switched to a different tape. Dr. Geim once described the process as “very nonboffinlike” — using British slang for a research scientist — and an example of how you could do great experiments even if you did not have the resources of Harvard or Cambridge behind you. “You can still do something amazing,” he said. "
P.S. A comment in Nanopolitan links to this 2006 biographical sketch of Geim:
Renaissance scientist with fund of ideas
Monday, October 04, 2010
Maye ni Maye
By Shiv Kumar Batalvi and sung by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Maye ni Maye mere geetan de naina wichch
Gandhi on Ambedkar and caste
I have been reading Kancha Ilaiah's " Why I am not a Hindu" at the urging of some Dalit friends. Much of it would not pass muster as an academic paper. Perhaps it has to be understood in the same sense as Ambedkar's remarks posted in గాంధీ పై అంబేద్కర్ ఆలోచనలు... . I recall some of Gandhi's responses to the qustions raised which I left in the comments to the above post:
Gandhi’s opinions on several issues seem to have evolved and changed over time. After his often bitter discussions with Ambedkar, Gandhi seems to have finally changed his opinions on caste. Here are a couple of Gandhi quotes taken from “Castes of Mind” by Nicholas Dirks, Priceton Uni. Press , 2001 (page 234).
” When, years later, Gandhi defended himself against attacks by Ambedkar over his views of caste, he wrote that “Caste has nothing to with religion. It is a custom whose origin I do not know and do not need to know for the satisfaction of my spiritual hunger. But I do know that it is harmful both to spiritual and national growth.” At roughly the same time, he stated that “Caste has to go”"
These statements of Gandhi do not seem to be well known. The references that Dirks gave are: Gandhi, Collected works, vol. 63, p.153, vol. 62, p.121
From http://www.bfg-muenchen.de/goralife.htm (Gora's Life:An Outline):
"At Sevagram Gandhi told Arjun, "You should become like Ambedkar. You should work for the removal of untouchability and caste. Untouchability must go at any cost."
Arjun Rao was the groom chosen by Gora for his daughter Manorama (?).
From http://www.ambedkar.org/research/GandhiAmbedkar.htm
"I think, however, that for Ambedkar to stand up to the uncrowned king and anointed Mahatma of the Indian people required extraordinary courage and will-power. Gandhi thought so too. Speaking at a meeting in Oxford in October 1931, Gandhi said he had "the highest regard for Dr. Ambedkar. He has every right to be bitter. That he does not break our heads is an act of self- restraint on his part." Writing to an English friend two years later, he said he found "nothing unnatural" in Ambedkar's hostility to the Congress and its supporters. "He has not only witnessed the inhuman wrongs done to the social pariahs of Hinduism", reflected this Hindu, "but in spite of all his culture, all the honours that he has received, he has, when he is in India, still to suffer many insults to which untouchables are exposed." In June 1936 Gandhi pointed out once again that Dr. Ambedkar "has had to suffer humiliations and insults which should make any one of us bitter and resentful." "Had I been in his place," he remarked, "I would have been as angry."
Gandhi's latter-day admirers might question Ambedkar's patriotism and probity, but the Mahatma had no such suspicions himself. Addressing a bunch of Karachi students in June 1934, he told them that "the magnitude of (Dr. Ambedkar's) sacrifice is great. He is absorbed in his own work. He leads a simple life. He is capable of earning one to two thousand rupees a month. He is also in a position to settle down in Europe if he so desires. But he does not want to stay there. He is only concerned about the welfare of the Harijians."
To Gandhi, Ambedkar's protest held out a lesson to the upper castes. In March 1936 he said that if Ambedkar and his followers were to embrace another religion, "We deserve such treatment and our task (now) is to wake up to the situation and purify ourselves." Not many heeded the warning, for towards the end of his life Gandhi spoke with some bitterness about the indifference to Harijan work among his fellow Hindus: "The tragedy is that those who should have especially devoted themselves to the work of (caste) reform did not put their hearts into it. What wonder that Harijan brethren feel suspicious, and show opposition and bitterness.""
Gandhi’s opinions on several issues seem to have evolved and changed over time. After his often bitter discussions with Ambedkar, Gandhi seems to have finally changed his opinions on caste. Here are a couple of Gandhi quotes taken from “Castes of Mind” by Nicholas Dirks, Priceton Uni. Press , 2001 (page 234).
” When, years later, Gandhi defended himself against attacks by Ambedkar over his views of caste, he wrote that “Caste has nothing to with religion. It is a custom whose origin I do not know and do not need to know for the satisfaction of my spiritual hunger. But I do know that it is harmful both to spiritual and national growth.” At roughly the same time, he stated that “Caste has to go”"
These statements of Gandhi do not seem to be well known. The references that Dirks gave are: Gandhi, Collected works, vol. 63, p.153, vol. 62, p.121
From http://www.bfg-muenchen.de/goralife.htm (Gora's Life:An Outline):
"At Sevagram Gandhi told Arjun, "You should become like Ambedkar. You should work for the removal of untouchability and caste. Untouchability must go at any cost."
Arjun Rao was the groom chosen by Gora for his daughter Manorama (?).
From http://www.ambedkar.org/research/GandhiAmbedkar.htm
"I think, however, that for Ambedkar to stand up to the uncrowned king and anointed Mahatma of the Indian people required extraordinary courage and will-power. Gandhi thought so too. Speaking at a meeting in Oxford in October 1931, Gandhi said he had "the highest regard for Dr. Ambedkar. He has every right to be bitter. That he does not break our heads is an act of self- restraint on his part." Writing to an English friend two years later, he said he found "nothing unnatural" in Ambedkar's hostility to the Congress and its supporters. "He has not only witnessed the inhuman wrongs done to the social pariahs of Hinduism", reflected this Hindu, "but in spite of all his culture, all the honours that he has received, he has, when he is in India, still to suffer many insults to which untouchables are exposed." In June 1936 Gandhi pointed out once again that Dr. Ambedkar "has had to suffer humiliations and insults which should make any one of us bitter and resentful." "Had I been in his place," he remarked, "I would have been as angry."
Gandhi's latter-day admirers might question Ambedkar's patriotism and probity, but the Mahatma had no such suspicions himself. Addressing a bunch of Karachi students in June 1934, he told them that "the magnitude of (Dr. Ambedkar's) sacrifice is great. He is absorbed in his own work. He leads a simple life. He is capable of earning one to two thousand rupees a month. He is also in a position to settle down in Europe if he so desires. But he does not want to stay there. He is only concerned about the welfare of the Harijians."
To Gandhi, Ambedkar's protest held out a lesson to the upper castes. In March 1936 he said that if Ambedkar and his followers were to embrace another religion, "We deserve such treatment and our task (now) is to wake up to the situation and purify ourselves." Not many heeded the warning, for towards the end of his life Gandhi spoke with some bitterness about the indifference to Harijan work among his fellow Hindus: "The tragedy is that those who should have especially devoted themselves to the work of (caste) reform did not put their hearts into it. What wonder that Harijan brethren feel suspicious, and show opposition and bitterness.""
Saturday, October 02, 2010
Friday, October 01, 2010
Out of this earth
Two reviews of Out of This Earth: East India Adivasis and the Aluminium Cartel by Felix Padel and Samarendra Das. A long one from EPW The Bauxite Mountains of Orissa by Sanjay Kak and a short one from Material World
ALUMINIUM AND MATERIALISM by Danny Miller (via Savage Minds http://savageminds.org/). Excerpt from the second:
"In this particular case I didn’t even mean to buy or read the book. I have a student living in Guyana and studying aluminium who asked me to find her a copy. I started reading it on the tube train back, and that’s when it went thud. It overwhelmed me with its indignation, its insistence upon the contemporary necessity of informed critique about the sometimes extraordinarily savage consequences of material culture.
Specifically this is a book about the implications of Aluminium as a material substance. It documents the ubiquitous presence of the metal, not just in our kitchens but equally in our armaments. We couldn’t fight a sausage these days without it, or cook one. It then documents the convolutions of the aluminium industry, in its terms the Cartel, and its political economy. Real political economy: that explains all those links between the companies and high finance in London and thence why British development aid, so far from being charitable to the impoverished, is largely charitable to the interests of this Cartel. Mostly the book is concerned with painstaking documentation of the impact upon the indigenous tribal peoples of the state of Odish (previously Orissa) in Eastern India. There are hopefully not too many places where our desire for specific materials can be directly linked to murder and death by starvation. But this is one of them. It is also an exemplifying case of unsustainable ecological destruction."
ALUMINIUM AND MATERIALISM by Danny Miller (via Savage Minds http://savageminds.org/). Excerpt from the second:
"In this particular case I didn’t even mean to buy or read the book. I have a student living in Guyana and studying aluminium who asked me to find her a copy. I started reading it on the tube train back, and that’s when it went thud. It overwhelmed me with its indignation, its insistence upon the contemporary necessity of informed critique about the sometimes extraordinarily savage consequences of material culture.
Specifically this is a book about the implications of Aluminium as a material substance. It documents the ubiquitous presence of the metal, not just in our kitchens but equally in our armaments. We couldn’t fight a sausage these days without it, or cook one. It then documents the convolutions of the aluminium industry, in its terms the Cartel, and its political economy. Real political economy: that explains all those links between the companies and high finance in London and thence why British development aid, so far from being charitable to the impoverished, is largely charitable to the interests of this Cartel. Mostly the book is concerned with painstaking documentation of the impact upon the indigenous tribal peoples of the state of Odish (previously Orissa) in Eastern India. There are hopefully not too many places where our desire for specific materials can be directly linked to murder and death by starvation. But this is one of them. It is also an exemplifying case of unsustainable ecological destruction."
The Allahabad High Court Ayodhya Verdict
All links from Outlook The Three Way Divide. There are some confusing statements with potential for future controversies:
"Justice Dharam Veer Sharma: The disputed building was constructed by Babar, the year is not certain but it was built against the tenets of Islam. Thus, it cannot have the character of a mosque."
Ayodhya Verdict: Commentaries by Ramachandra Guha and others. From Pratap Bhanu Mehta's article:
"And if issues of faith are reopened, it will polarise society once again.
The acknowledgement that this site be regarded for this purpose as the birthplace of Ram is, if anything, an attempt to de-politicise religion. Our standard distinctions between faith and reason, between myth and history, do injustice to what the court had to grapple here. Whether Ram is an artefact of faith or reason, of myth or history, eternal or contingent, real or non-existent, can be debated. But the court seems to recognise that that discussion cannot simply wish away the forms of self-consciousness that have characterised Indian society. Edmund Burke once said, rightly, that religious wars can be incited by denying religion altogether. The court seems to accommodate its claims, without jeopardising the secular character of the state. This will not satisfy purists. But it is not an implausible way of strengthening secularism."
"Justice Dharam Veer Sharma: The disputed building was constructed by Babar, the year is not certain but it was built against the tenets of Islam. Thus, it cannot have the character of a mosque."
Ayodhya Verdict: Commentaries by Ramachandra Guha and others. From Pratap Bhanu Mehta's article:
"And if issues of faith are reopened, it will polarise society once again.
The acknowledgement that this site be regarded for this purpose as the birthplace of Ram is, if anything, an attempt to de-politicise religion. Our standard distinctions between faith and reason, between myth and history, do injustice to what the court had to grapple here. Whether Ram is an artefact of faith or reason, of myth or history, eternal or contingent, real or non-existent, can be debated. But the court seems to recognise that that discussion cannot simply wish away the forms of self-consciousness that have characterised Indian society. Edmund Burke once said, rightly, that religious wars can be incited by denying religion altogether. The court seems to accommodate its claims, without jeopardising the secular character of the state. This will not satisfy purists. But it is not an implausible way of strengthening secularism."
New Chief CIC
Hush-hush, the Chief CIC is appointed :
"This week, Central Information Commissioner A N Tiwari was appointed as the Chief CIC to replace Wajahat Habibullah. Since Tiwari is due to retire at the end of the year, we must assume that this is a stop-gap arrangement, and we activists are allowed to keep our hopes alive for more transparent selection of the next batch of Information Commissioners and their Chief.
But it is worth noting that the press and public was kept in the dark about the date and time of the meeting of the Prime Minister's selection committee when Tiwari was selected for this post. This can only be described as a slap in the face of civil society, and an act of thumbing one's nose at the Right to Information Act, which the commissioners are supposed to uphold. However, this comes as no surprise, when one considers past actions, including that of the new Chief CIC himself."
The article has also a link to RTI documents reveal malpractices in selection of Information Commissioners A N Tiwari and Satyananda Mishra
"This week, Central Information Commissioner A N Tiwari was appointed as the Chief CIC to replace Wajahat Habibullah. Since Tiwari is due to retire at the end of the year, we must assume that this is a stop-gap arrangement, and we activists are allowed to keep our hopes alive for more transparent selection of the next batch of Information Commissioners and their Chief.
But it is worth noting that the press and public was kept in the dark about the date and time of the meeting of the Prime Minister's selection committee when Tiwari was selected for this post. This can only be described as a slap in the face of civil society, and an act of thumbing one's nose at the Right to Information Act, which the commissioners are supposed to uphold. However, this comes as no surprise, when one considers past actions, including that of the new Chief CIC himself."
The article has also a link to RTI documents reveal malpractices in selection of Information Commissioners A N Tiwari and Satyananda Mishra
Relief for common cold
which we have been following for a long time. From The Claim: Gargling With Salt Water Can Ease Cold Symptoms:
"Nothing but time can cure the common cold, but a simple cup of salt water might ease the misery this winter.
...
Adults who want a more palatable remedy against cough and sore throat can try mixing warm water with lemon and honey. No need to spit it out.
THE BOTTOM LINE Gargling with a saline solution can ease symptoms of a cold."
"Nothing but time can cure the common cold, but a simple cup of salt water might ease the misery this winter.
...
Adults who want a more palatable remedy against cough and sore throat can try mixing warm water with lemon and honey. No need to spit it out.
THE BOTTOM LINE Gargling with a saline solution can ease symptoms of a cold."
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
David Andow on BT Brinjal risk assessments
Abi alerts us to a remarkable happenning A slap in the face of India's science academies:
"Clearly unhappy over the report which he (the Environment Minister, Mr Jairam Ramesh) had sought from the country’s leading academic institutes, the Minister said, “I do not want the six top science academics to tell me Anand Kumar’s view. I already know that.” "
It seems that he did even better. From the preface to Bt Brinjal: The scope and adequacy of the
GEAC environmental risk assessment by DAVID A. ANDOW:
"The Minister instituted a process by which he invited documented responses to the
EC-II. The Minister also contacted the United States National Academy of Sciences (US-NAS) for a scientific evaluation of the EC-II. The research arm of the US-NAS organised and solicited comment from a small group of about 10 noted US scientists, including the author of this report, who are internationally-acknowledged experts on the environmental risks of genetically engineered crop plants. The US-NAS is held in great esteem by its ability to generate balanced, objective scientific comment to complex social controversies, injecting logic and structure to help policy makers better understand the issues and take more reasoned decisions. The author of this report along with other solicited scientists submitted such comments to the Minister, which were duly included among the responses he received to his invitation.
Minister Jairam Ramesh’s initiative is unique, and the global response he received is also unique. The global scientific community responded to his invitation with an outpouring of comment, significant both in number and quality. Together, these provided a searching critique of Mayhco’s Bt brinjal bio-safety dossier and the EC II Report. Such a response is astonishing because it is based purely on altruistic concerns – none of the commenting scientists received compensation for their efforts – but it reflects the importance of the implications of releasing the world’s first major GM food crop, the brinjal and in a centre of diversity and origin of that crop.
On 9 February 2010, Jairam Ramesh declared a moratorium on the commercial approval of Bt brinjal, citing the need for further safety testing.
This Report is the outcome of a series of discussions with several scientists, at the request of Aruna Rodrigues, Lead Petitioner to the Supreme Court, following the moratorium on Bt brinjal called by Minister Jairam Ramesh. The aim of those discussions was to provide a comprehensive appraisal of the bio-safety impacts of Bt brinjal and the regulatory protocols that were used by the GEAC. In a meeting in Delhi during 19-21 February 2010, it was decided that the author with the assistance of Dr. G. K. Veeresh would present an analyses of the EC-II assessment of the environmental effects of Bt brinjal. This is expected to be the first of two appraisals of EC-II to be produced during 2010. The other analysis is expected to
address the human and animal health effects of Bt brinjal, and will be undertaken by other scientists."
I quickly browsed through the paper. It seems to me to a good primer on the problems involved while introducing genetically modified seeds and the research that should be done. The author does not seem to be any particular camp. In another recent paper The Risk of Resistance Evolution in Insects to Transgenic Insecticidal Crops, he says "Resistance risks are real and serious. However they can be managed to preserve the usefulness of transgenetic insecticidal crops in to the future."
See http://www.gmwatch.eu/reports/12511-david-andow-book for brief summary.
P.S. (20th October 2010) Another recent article How competent is Indian science? via Nanopolitan
"Clearly unhappy over the report which he (the Environment Minister, Mr Jairam Ramesh) had sought from the country’s leading academic institutes, the Minister said, “I do not want the six top science academics to tell me Anand Kumar’s view. I already know that.” "
It seems that he did even better. From the preface to Bt Brinjal: The scope and adequacy of the
GEAC environmental risk assessment by DAVID A. ANDOW:
"The Minister instituted a process by which he invited documented responses to the
EC-II. The Minister also contacted the United States National Academy of Sciences (US-NAS) for a scientific evaluation of the EC-II. The research arm of the US-NAS organised and solicited comment from a small group of about 10 noted US scientists, including the author of this report, who are internationally-acknowledged experts on the environmental risks of genetically engineered crop plants. The US-NAS is held in great esteem by its ability to generate balanced, objective scientific comment to complex social controversies, injecting logic and structure to help policy makers better understand the issues and take more reasoned decisions. The author of this report along with other solicited scientists submitted such comments to the Minister, which were duly included among the responses he received to his invitation.
Minister Jairam Ramesh’s initiative is unique, and the global response he received is also unique. The global scientific community responded to his invitation with an outpouring of comment, significant both in number and quality. Together, these provided a searching critique of Mayhco’s Bt brinjal bio-safety dossier and the EC II Report. Such a response is astonishing because it is based purely on altruistic concerns – none of the commenting scientists received compensation for their efforts – but it reflects the importance of the implications of releasing the world’s first major GM food crop, the brinjal and in a centre of diversity and origin of that crop.
On 9 February 2010, Jairam Ramesh declared a moratorium on the commercial approval of Bt brinjal, citing the need for further safety testing.
This Report is the outcome of a series of discussions with several scientists, at the request of Aruna Rodrigues, Lead Petitioner to the Supreme Court, following the moratorium on Bt brinjal called by Minister Jairam Ramesh. The aim of those discussions was to provide a comprehensive appraisal of the bio-safety impacts of Bt brinjal and the regulatory protocols that were used by the GEAC. In a meeting in Delhi during 19-21 February 2010, it was decided that the author with the assistance of Dr. G. K. Veeresh would present an analyses of the EC-II assessment of the environmental effects of Bt brinjal. This is expected to be the first of two appraisals of EC-II to be produced during 2010. The other analysis is expected to
address the human and animal health effects of Bt brinjal, and will be undertaken by other scientists."
I quickly browsed through the paper. It seems to me to a good primer on the problems involved while introducing genetically modified seeds and the research that should be done. The author does not seem to be any particular camp. In another recent paper The Risk of Resistance Evolution in Insects to Transgenic Insecticidal Crops, he says "Resistance risks are real and serious. However they can be managed to preserve the usefulness of transgenetic insecticidal crops in to the future."
See http://www.gmwatch.eu/reports/12511-david-andow-book for brief summary.
P.S. (20th October 2010) Another recent article How competent is Indian science? via Nanopolitan
Monday, September 27, 2010
Catching up on posts missed during the trip-1
in between weeding.
Annie Zaidi writes about some of the prize winnersPeople who give of National Innovation Foundation.
Churchill's Secret War - An Appreciation of Madhusree Mukerjee (Narayan). Just got a present of Kindle and downloaded the book. Can read but cannot underline or write in the margins. Jonah Lehrer worries about The Future Of Reading
Rajib Khan on Simple rules for inclusive fitness
More on grit
and teaching methods from Jonah Lehrer What Are We Measuring In School?. See also the comments.
Annie Zaidi writes about some of the prize winnersPeople who give of National Innovation Foundation.
Churchill's Secret War - An Appreciation of Madhusree Mukerjee (Narayan). Just got a present of Kindle and downloaded the book. Can read but cannot underline or write in the margins. Jonah Lehrer worries about The Future Of Reading
Rajib Khan on Simple rules for inclusive fitness
More on grit
and teaching methods from Jonah Lehrer What Are We Measuring In School?. See also the comments.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Benami Transaction Act in the news again
From Indian Express Govt revamping Benami Transaction Act to keep check on black money:
"Worried over the speedy growth of a parallel economy in the country, with black money amounting to almost one-fourth of India’s GDP, the government is planning to crack down on such illegal transactions, at least those related to property. The finance ministry is revamping the Benami Transaction Act, 1988, to keep a check on such transactions, which are entered into for avoiding taxes and hiding accumulated assets.
Though there exists the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988, prohibiting benami transactions and providing for government acquisition of the property held benami, the rules to make confiscation of property and other provisions effective have not been issued due to several lacunae in the Act.
Sources told The Indian Express that the Central Board of Direct Taxes has started working on the Act, which was though enacted 22 years ago, it has not been implemented as yet because of several loopholes in the Act. For the same reason, the rules for the Act were also not framed and meanwhile, the parallel economy in India swelled to around Rs 15 lakh crore, according to a World Bank study called ‘Shadow Economies All over the World’. “The earlier act was very sketchy and had too many loopholes. It lacked clarity and there were deficiencies too. There was no clarity on recovery and punishment and no body knew who is the competent authority to implement the act, under what circumstances should a property be confiscated, what will happen to agricultural property etc” the sources said."
Here is Introduction to The Benami Transaction (Prohibition) Act, 1988.
From an earlier Press Release of IRI (September, 2009)Forging a Public Movement for Recovery of India’s Stolen Assets (Black Money) from Foreign Countries:You are aware that several reports have appeared in the Press in the last one year or so suggesting that Indian nationals held $1456 billion (about Rs.70 lakh crore) in secret Swiss Bank Accounts....Recently, Swiss Authorities have also reportedly told Government of India that they are not going to give names if India just throws the Telephone Directory at them! It is strange that despite Government being seized of the matter since 2008, it has, so far, not presented specific cases to them. Recovery of India’s public money from foreign countries especially Switzerland can go a long way in setting the country firmly on the road to becoming an economic superpower!" and recommends among other things "viii. Prescribe procedure for confiscation of benami property under Section 8 of the Benami Transaction Prohibition Act (BTPA), 1988."
"
"Worried over the speedy growth of a parallel economy in the country, with black money amounting to almost one-fourth of India’s GDP, the government is planning to crack down on such illegal transactions, at least those related to property. The finance ministry is revamping the Benami Transaction Act, 1988, to keep a check on such transactions, which are entered into for avoiding taxes and hiding accumulated assets.
Though there exists the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988, prohibiting benami transactions and providing for government acquisition of the property held benami, the rules to make confiscation of property and other provisions effective have not been issued due to several lacunae in the Act.
Sources told The Indian Express that the Central Board of Direct Taxes has started working on the Act, which was though enacted 22 years ago, it has not been implemented as yet because of several loopholes in the Act. For the same reason, the rules for the Act were also not framed and meanwhile, the parallel economy in India swelled to around Rs 15 lakh crore, according to a World Bank study called ‘Shadow Economies All over the World’. “The earlier act was very sketchy and had too many loopholes. It lacked clarity and there were deficiencies too. There was no clarity on recovery and punishment and no body knew who is the competent authority to implement the act, under what circumstances should a property be confiscated, what will happen to agricultural property etc” the sources said."
Here is Introduction to The Benami Transaction (Prohibition) Act, 1988.
From an earlier Press Release of IRI (September, 2009)Forging a Public Movement for Recovery of India’s Stolen Assets (Black Money) from Foreign Countries:You are aware that several reports have appeared in the Press in the last one year or so suggesting that Indian nationals held $1456 billion (about Rs.70 lakh crore) in secret Swiss Bank Accounts....Recently, Swiss Authorities have also reportedly told Government of India that they are not going to give names if India just throws the Telephone Directory at them! It is strange that despite Government being seized of the matter since 2008, it has, so far, not presented specific cases to them. Recovery of India’s public money from foreign countries especially Switzerland can go a long way in setting the country firmly on the road to becoming an economic superpower!" and recommends among other things "viii. Prescribe procedure for confiscation of benami property under Section 8 of the Benami Transaction Prohibition Act (BTPA), 1988."
"
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
A must read article on Kashmir
according to Chapati Mystery: Kashmir’s Forever War by Basharat Peer. Excerpts:
"Two decades of insurgency and counter-insurgency have resulted in the creation of a state of affairs that provides incentives to troops and policemen to show ‘kills’. Those involved in counter-insurgency in Kashmir receive fast-track promotions, as well as monetary and other rewards for getting results. In February, the Indian government awarded one of the highest civilian honours, the Padma Shri, to Ghulam Muhammad Mir, a notorious counter-insurgent who worked with the Indian troops in central Kashmir and has several urder and extortion charges still pending against him..........Two highly controversial Indian laws, the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and the Disturbed Areas Act, which have been in operation for twenty years, give the troops stationed in Kashmir the power to shoot any person they suspect of being a threat, and guarantee impunity from prosecution. To bring a soldier before a civilian court, India’s Home Ministry has to remove his immunity and grant the Kashmir government permission to prosecute him. More than 400 such cases are still waiting for that permission.
.....
Young Kashmiris, who are coming of age with war, cable television, mobile phones and the Internet and are exposed to political images from other conflicts, see echoes of the Israeli occupation of Hebron and Gaza in India’s military control of Kashmir. Palestinian stone-throwers become their inspiration."
P.S See also the discussion.
"Two decades of insurgency and counter-insurgency have resulted in the creation of a state of affairs that provides incentives to troops and policemen to show ‘kills’. Those involved in counter-insurgency in Kashmir receive fast-track promotions, as well as monetary and other rewards for getting results. In February, the Indian government awarded one of the highest civilian honours, the Padma Shri, to Ghulam Muhammad Mir, a notorious counter-insurgent who worked with the Indian troops in central Kashmir and has several urder and extortion charges still pending against him..........Two highly controversial Indian laws, the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and the Disturbed Areas Act, which have been in operation for twenty years, give the troops stationed in Kashmir the power to shoot any person they suspect of being a threat, and guarantee impunity from prosecution. To bring a soldier before a civilian court, India’s Home Ministry has to remove his immunity and grant the Kashmir government permission to prosecute him. More than 400 such cases are still waiting for that permission.
.....
Young Kashmiris, who are coming of age with war, cable television, mobile phones and the Internet and are exposed to political images from other conflicts, see echoes of the Israeli occupation of Hebron and Gaza in India’s military control of Kashmir. Palestinian stone-throwers become their inspiration."
P.S See also the discussion.
Some impressions
Recently, I visited Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai. Chennai roads are not too bad but others and the amount of filth around them was depressing. The state of roads in Hyderabad is described by Vinod Ekbote here:"The round manhole covers, rising a minimum of one foot above the surface of the road do resemble tombs. When one spots another manhole, inches away but with the manhole cover at least six inches below the surface of the road then one wonders, just wonders, if the engineers are building them like they should be or like they want them to. It seems to be the prevailing trend in Hyderabad, to do things as one wishes, especially when it comes to driving, so it is no wonder that the engineers too are following the trend." And the repairs generally seem not really repairs but speed breakers. The impression is that there is probably a lot of looting by contractors colluding with government officials. Nothing moves unless somebody is bribed and even getting the requisite clearances after paying the dues apparently needs bribes unless one is well connected. There is a lot of disparity between private properies and public places with filth accumulating in public places. Some gated communities and central institutions seem to maintain facilities and physical standards compared to the best any where in the world, but just outside it often stinks. Now about Commonwealth games we have this news Bridge collapse adds to Commonwealth Games woe:
"Dismal preparations have, for many, underscored the out-of-touch, slow-paced leadership of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Congress government, raising questions how a graft-ridden, inefficient state can hope to compete with China.
The government's pro-poor voter image may suffer from tales of billions of wasted dollars. A perception of India's entrepreneurial prowess threatening Western jobs may slip if roofs leak and journalists wonder where the Wi-Fi is.
"Fingers crossed, India may pull off a miracle," said Boria Majumdar, a sports historian who has written the book 'Sellotape Legacy: Delhi and the Commonwealth Games'.
"But it will have to be a miracle. No doubt about that"."
My impressions are similar to those of Sagarika Ghose in No honest brokers, But Shekhar Singh says that it is an exaggeration. Rahul Banerjee after the despair of "Recovering the Lost Tongue" which ends with his experiences up to 2001 says that there is improvement since 2005 after RTI and various pro-poor legislations. M. Rajshekhar says that there is some encouraging news from Chattisgarh on rural health Chhattisgarh: How workers improved healthcare for 18 million people. I hope that they are correct.
"Dismal preparations have, for many, underscored the out-of-touch, slow-paced leadership of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Congress government, raising questions how a graft-ridden, inefficient state can hope to compete with China.
The government's pro-poor voter image may suffer from tales of billions of wasted dollars. A perception of India's entrepreneurial prowess threatening Western jobs may slip if roofs leak and journalists wonder where the Wi-Fi is.
"Fingers crossed, India may pull off a miracle," said Boria Majumdar, a sports historian who has written the book 'Sellotape Legacy: Delhi and the Commonwealth Games'.
"But it will have to be a miracle. No doubt about that"."
My impressions are similar to those of Sagarika Ghose in No honest brokers, But Shekhar Singh says that it is an exaggeration. Rahul Banerjee after the despair of "Recovering the Lost Tongue" which ends with his experiences up to 2001 says that there is improvement since 2005 after RTI and various pro-poor legislations. M. Rajshekhar says that there is some encouraging news from Chattisgarh on rural health Chhattisgarh: How workers improved healthcare for 18 million people. I hope that they are correct.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Back from India with some books
Among them Annie Zaidi's 'Known Turf' reviewd here. There is no table of contents, the book is uneven but there are some excellent pieces. From the review above:
"To me, most moving chapter in the book was about hunger deaths in Sahariya tribe in Madhya Pradesh. Only for this chapter, the book was worth it. It made the meaning behind words, ‘Reality Bites’ oh so apparent. Abysmal number of tribal children in MP die young due to malnutrition. These tribals were displaced and their suffering is ensured by cruel, heartless mix of inaction and corruption right from ground level.
....
Other two chapters that moved me are ‘Looped with Silk and Silver’ and ‘Prone to Bondage’. The first one is about starving families of weavers and embroiderers of Benaras. Read it to know why you should not mind paying for the authentic but expensive embroidery, how much hard work that is. Second is the piece that breaks the stereotypes about affluence of Punjab. There are lot of landless, bonded labourers. Caste-ism exists, Annie recounts the story of a Dalit Bant Singh who his lost his three limbs because he refused to take his case back against rich landlords who raped his daughter."
Parts of 'Prone to Bondage' (page 109 onwards, the ones about Sahariya tribe from page 53) can be also seen as a continuation of of the discussion of transformations in the society discussed in Butter Chicken in Ludhiana. So it seemed to me because I read the two books together.
Among other books recommended by acquintances during the trip The Persistence of Caste: India's Hidden Apartheid and the Khairlanji Murders. An earlier review of a paper from the 'New Economist' blog Explaining the persistence of India's caste system and Tyler Cowen's comments Was the Indian caste system efficient?.
Then some suggested books about the idea of India. Various books suggest that the idea arose out of contact and confrontations with the west, see for example,
Sunil Khilnani's The Idea of India , V. Krishna Ananth's India Since Independence: Making Sense of Indian Politics.
P.S I have uploaded some of the picures from the trip. I forgot to take the pictures of a few I met like M. Rajshekhar, Rahul Banerjee.
"To me, most moving chapter in the book was about hunger deaths in Sahariya tribe in Madhya Pradesh. Only for this chapter, the book was worth it. It made the meaning behind words, ‘Reality Bites’ oh so apparent. Abysmal number of tribal children in MP die young due to malnutrition. These tribals were displaced and their suffering is ensured by cruel, heartless mix of inaction and corruption right from ground level.
....
Other two chapters that moved me are ‘Looped with Silk and Silver’ and ‘Prone to Bondage’. The first one is about starving families of weavers and embroiderers of Benaras. Read it to know why you should not mind paying for the authentic but expensive embroidery, how much hard work that is. Second is the piece that breaks the stereotypes about affluence of Punjab. There are lot of landless, bonded labourers. Caste-ism exists, Annie recounts the story of a Dalit Bant Singh who his lost his three limbs because he refused to take his case back against rich landlords who raped his daughter."
Parts of 'Prone to Bondage' (page 109 onwards, the ones about Sahariya tribe from page 53) can be also seen as a continuation of of the discussion of transformations in the society discussed in Butter Chicken in Ludhiana. So it seemed to me because I read the two books together.
Among other books recommended by acquintances during the trip The Persistence of Caste: India's Hidden Apartheid and the Khairlanji Murders. An earlier review of a paper from the 'New Economist' blog Explaining the persistence of India's caste system and Tyler Cowen's comments Was the Indian caste system efficient?.
Then some suggested books about the idea of India. Various books suggest that the idea arose out of contact and confrontations with the west, see for example,
Sunil Khilnani's The Idea of India , V. Krishna Ananth's India Since Independence: Making Sense of Indian Politics.
P.S I have uploaded some of the picures from the trip. I forgot to take the pictures of a few I met like M. Rajshekhar, Rahul Banerjee.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
New book by Chandralatha
More details here. Some details:
శ్రీ వీవెన్ గారు తెలుగును తెరకెక్కించడంలోని
మెళుకువలను ,ఉపకరణాలను , బ్లాగు నిర్వహణను
ఇతరేతర e- తెలుగు సమాచారాన్ని అందిస్తారు.
మరికొందరు e - తెలుగు మిత్రులతో పాటు.
మీ సాంకేతిక పరమైన సందేహాలు,సంశయాలను వారు వివరణలు ఇస్తారు.
మరి మీరు వచ్చేటప్పుడు వీలైనన్ని ప్రశ్నలను వెంటపెట్టుకు రండి !
మర్చిపోకుండా!
మీ ప్రశ్నలను ముందుగానే
prabhava.books @ gmail.com కు పంపగలిగితే మరీ మంచిది.
సమయం:
19 సెప్టెంబర్,ఆది వారం
ఉదయం 10:00 గంటల నుంచి
స్థలం:
సుందరయ్య విజ్ఞాన కేంద్రం ,బాగ్ లింగంపల్లి , హైదరాబాద్
ఫోన్ :27667543
P.S. It was not clear until the end but I had to 'inaugurate' the book(photo here) Never participated in such functions before and managed two mumble for two minutes or so and got every thing wrong. Luckily, Avula Manjulatha gave a suitable speech and saved me from too many mistakes. Abburi Chayadevi attendedthe meeting. Since some of the posts in 'madatapegi' were about sustainable agriculture, genetically modified seeds, poverty etc not too many familiar bloggers were in attendance. I hope that there will be more discussion on such topics in blogs. Veeramachamaneni Rangarao who has been experimenting with various new techniques in agriculture and interacting with local farmers near Hyderabad attended the meeting. He recently developed a variation of SRI which doubled the yield according to him.
P.P.S. Some photos in http://www.flickr.com/photos/chavakiran/, currently on pages 2,3 and 4.
శ్రీ వీవెన్ గారు తెలుగును తెరకెక్కించడంలోని
మెళుకువలను ,ఉపకరణాలను , బ్లాగు నిర్వహణను
ఇతరేతర e- తెలుగు సమాచారాన్ని అందిస్తారు.
మరికొందరు e - తెలుగు మిత్రులతో పాటు.
మీ సాంకేతిక పరమైన సందేహాలు,సంశయాలను వారు వివరణలు ఇస్తారు.
మరి మీరు వచ్చేటప్పుడు వీలైనన్ని ప్రశ్నలను వెంటపెట్టుకు రండి !
మర్చిపోకుండా!
మీ ప్రశ్నలను ముందుగానే
prabhava.books @ gmail.com కు పంపగలిగితే మరీ మంచిది.
సమయం:
19 సెప్టెంబర్,ఆది వారం
ఉదయం 10:00 గంటల నుంచి
స్థలం:
సుందరయ్య విజ్ఞాన కేంద్రం ,బాగ్ లింగంపల్లి , హైదరాబాద్
ఫోన్ :27667543
P.S. It was not clear until the end but I had to 'inaugurate' the book(photo here) Never participated in such functions before and managed two mumble for two minutes or so and got every thing wrong. Luckily, Avula Manjulatha gave a suitable speech and saved me from too many mistakes. Abburi Chayadevi attendedthe meeting. Since some of the posts in 'madatapegi' were about sustainable agriculture, genetically modified seeds, poverty etc not too many familiar bloggers were in attendance. I hope that there will be more discussion on such topics in blogs. Veeramachamaneni Rangarao who has been experimenting with various new techniques in agriculture and interacting with local farmers near Hyderabad attended the meeting. He recently developed a variation of SRI which doubled the yield according to him.
P.P.S. Some photos in http://www.flickr.com/photos/chavakiran/, currently on pages 2,3 and 4.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Excellent book బీదబ్రతుకు
by యలమంచిలి వెంకటప్పయ్య (yalamanchili venkatappayya 1898-1997), first published in 1985 and reprinted 2009. In just seventy pages, the author describes his upbringing, social practices in the villages in his younger days, his participation in the freedom struggle and his teaching and writing activities. Navodaya Ramamohanarao has kindly sent me the book and it is proving to be a hit with the friends to whom I lent it.
P.S.Available from, Maitri book House, Jaleel Street, Karl Marx Road, vijayawada-2, Tele: 98486 31604 or from Yalamanchili Maralidhar, Tele: 9440327500 or Navodaya Book House, LANE OPPOSITE TO ARYA SAMAJ bLDG., KACHIGUDA, hYDERABAD
P.S.Available from, Maitri book House, Jaleel Street, Karl Marx Road, vijayawada-2, Tele: 98486 31604 or from Yalamanchili Maralidhar, Tele: 9440327500 or Navodaya Book House, LANE OPPOSITE TO ARYA SAMAJ bLDG., KACHIGUDA, hYDERABAD
Thursday, September 09, 2010
'No honest brokers' says Sagarika Ghose
No honest brokers
Excerpt:
"If connectivity becomes the only ticket for survival, soon India will be converted into a land controlled by a gang of 2,000 super-connected warlords, or oligopolists or individuals who combine in their individual personages immense political and money power and rule their individual empires with no truck with the State or the State's arms like the judiciary or police."
Excerpt:
"If connectivity becomes the only ticket for survival, soon India will be converted into a land controlled by a gang of 2,000 super-connected warlords, or oligopolists or individuals who combine in their individual personages immense political and money power and rule their individual empires with no truck with the State or the State's arms like the judiciary or police."
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
'No' to Vedanta
From It is ‘no’ to Vedanta’s mine project in Orissa:
"Among the new information is the State government’s failure to implement the Forest Rights Act, which protects the community rights of forest-dwellers, especially tribals.
Instead, the Saxena Committee found that district administration officials deliberately submitted documents faking the consent of gram sabhas."
Earlier post on Forest Rights Act Implementation of the Forest Rights Act 2006
"Among the new information is the State government’s failure to implement the Forest Rights Act, which protects the community rights of forest-dwellers, especially tribals.
Instead, the Saxena Committee found that district administration officials deliberately submitted documents faking the consent of gram sabhas."
Earlier post on Forest Rights Act Implementation of the Forest Rights Act 2006
Sunday, August 08, 2010
Nozick on why many academics resent capitalism
From Why do acamedics oppose capitalism?:
"What factor produced feelings of superior value on the part of intellectuals? I want to focus on one institution in particular: schools. As book knowledge became increasingly important, schooling--the education together in classes of young people in reading and book knowledge--spread. Schools became the major institution outside of the family to shape the attitudes of young people, and almost all those who later became intellectuals went through schools. There they were successful. They were judged against others and deemed superior. They were praised and rewarded, the teacher's favorites. How could they fail to see themselves as superior? Daily, they experienced differences in facility with ideas, in quick-wittedness. The schools told them, and showed them, they were better.
The wider market society, however, taught a different lesson. There the greatest rewards did not go to the verbally brightest. There the intellectual skills were not most highly valued. Schooled in the lesson that they were most valuable, the most deserving of reward, the most entitled to reward, how could the intellectuals, by and large, fail to resent the capitalist society which deprived them of the just deserts to which their superiority "entitled" them?"
"What factor produced feelings of superior value on the part of intellectuals? I want to focus on one institution in particular: schools. As book knowledge became increasingly important, schooling--the education together in classes of young people in reading and book knowledge--spread. Schools became the major institution outside of the family to shape the attitudes of young people, and almost all those who later became intellectuals went through schools. There they were successful. They were judged against others and deemed superior. They were praised and rewarded, the teacher's favorites. How could they fail to see themselves as superior? Daily, they experienced differences in facility with ideas, in quick-wittedness. The schools told them, and showed them, they were better.
The wider market society, however, taught a different lesson. There the greatest rewards did not go to the verbally brightest. There the intellectual skills were not most highly valued. Schooled in the lesson that they were most valuable, the most deserving of reward, the most entitled to reward, how could the intellectuals, by and large, fail to resent the capitalist society which deprived them of the just deserts to which their superiority "entitled" them?"
Saturday, August 07, 2010
Visiting India again
for six weeks from tomorrow. This time I hope to meet some people involved in developmental work in Hyderabad, Chennai and Delhi and learn about the trends.
Friday, August 06, 2010
Kishore Kumar: A Tribute
Kishore Kumar: A Tribute in Outlook with lots of links and a list of his own favourite songs (at one stage).
Wednesday, August 04, 2010
'The Hindus' by Wendy Doniger
Read the first two hundred pages. It is enjoyable so far. Apparently controversial. Here are some discussions from Chapati Mystery:
An Alternative History
A Response by Wendy Doniger
with interesting comments by Conrad Barwa and Qalandar and lots of links.
An Alternative History
A Response by Wendy Doniger
with interesting comments by Conrad Barwa and Qalandar and lots of links.
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