Richard Florida on Immigrants and the Wealth of Nations:
"Americans like think of their country as the world’s great melting pot. But this new immigration index and our analysis suggest that that’s no longer an assumption that can be taken for granted.
While America’s pundits and politicians obsess over the alleged social costs of illegal immigration, they should be worried that we may not always be the premier destination for legal immigrants, who bring the skills, energy and ambition that provide so much of the punch for the twin engines of innovation and entrepreneurship. As Scott Page wrote in The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies, “When we meet people who think differently than we do, who speak different languages, who have different experiences, training, and values, we should see opportunity and possibility. We should recognize that a talented ‘I’ and a talented ‘they’ can become an even more talented ‘we.’”
Nations that welcome the best and most diverse talent win, while those that close their borders to it fall further and further behind. The ability not just to attract immigrants but to integrate and effectively harness their skills is a key axis of global economic success, now and even more so in the future."
C.P. Chandrasekhar on Development Banks: Their role and importance for development. Abstract:
"The role of development banks in the development trajectories of late industrialising, developing countries cannot be overemphasised. However, with financial liberalisation of the neoliberal variety transforming financial structures, some countries are doing away with specialised development banking institutions on the grounds that equity and bond markets would do the job. This is bound to lead to a shortfall in finance for long-term investments, especially for medium and small enterprises."
two posts on Jonathan Levin: John Bates Clark Winner 2011: "How could we take what we’ve learned from the mathematical theory of auctions, or mathematical theories of information economics, and actually do it. How could you find interesting markets in the world and apply those ideas, and when would they apply?"
Two reviews of 'The Information' by James Gleick. I found the book informative and largely enjoyable but clutteres and spluttering towards the end. There is also an interesting 'review' by Freeman Dyson How We Know and a detailed one in NewYork Times James Gleick’s History of Information.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
The critical period for vision
may not be so critical:
Formerly Blind Children Shed Light on a Centuries-Old Puzzle
An earlier report on Pawan Sinha's work and Project Prakash:
SfN Presidential Lecture | Significant behavioral and neural plasticity after the onset of sight in the congenitally blind
Formerly Blind Children Shed Light on a Centuries-Old Puzzle
An earlier report on Pawan Sinha's work and Project Prakash:
SfN Presidential Lecture | Significant behavioral and neural plasticity after the onset of sight in the congenitally blind
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Sunday, April 17, 2011
From an old speech of Balraj Sahni
'Today We Need A Messiah' :
"A rough and ready type of Hindustani is used by the working masses all over India. They make practical use of it by discarding all academic and grammatical flourishes. In this type of Hindustani, "Larka bhi jata hei" and "Larki bhi jata hei". There is an atmosphere of rare freedom in this patois and even the intellectuals indulge in it when they want to relax. And actually this is in the best tradition of Hindustani. This is how it was born, made progress, and acquired currency all over India. In the old days it was contemptuously called Urdu—or the language of the camps or bazaars.
Today in this bazaari Hindustani the word 'university' becomes univrasti—a much better word than vishwa vidyalaya, 'lantern' becomes laltain, the 'chasis' of a car becomes chesi, 'spanner' becomes pana, i.e. anything and everything is possible. The string with which the soldier cleans his rifle is called 'pullthrough' in English. In Roman Hindustani it becomes fultroo—a beautiful word. 'Barn-door' is the term the Hollywood lights man uses for a particular type of two blade cover. The Bombay film worker has changed it to bandar, an excellent transformation. This Hindustani has untold and unlimited possibilities. It can absorb the international scientific and technological vocabulary with the greatest of ease. It can take words from every source and enrich itself. One has no need to run only to the Sanskrit dictionary."
"A rough and ready type of Hindustani is used by the working masses all over India. They make practical use of it by discarding all academic and grammatical flourishes. In this type of Hindustani, "Larka bhi jata hei" and "Larki bhi jata hei". There is an atmosphere of rare freedom in this patois and even the intellectuals indulge in it when they want to relax. And actually this is in the best tradition of Hindustani. This is how it was born, made progress, and acquired currency all over India. In the old days it was contemptuously called Urdu—or the language of the camps or bazaars.
Today in this bazaari Hindustani the word 'university' becomes univrasti—a much better word than vishwa vidyalaya, 'lantern' becomes laltain, the 'chasis' of a car becomes chesi, 'spanner' becomes pana, i.e. anything and everything is possible. The string with which the soldier cleans his rifle is called 'pullthrough' in English. In Roman Hindustani it becomes fultroo—a beautiful word. 'Barn-door' is the term the Hollywood lights man uses for a particular type of two blade cover. The Bombay film worker has changed it to bandar, an excellent transformation. This Hindustani has untold and unlimited possibilities. It can absorb the international scientific and technological vocabulary with the greatest of ease. It can take words from every source and enrich itself. One has no need to run only to the Sanskrit dictionary."
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Peddana's famous stanza
seems to be borrowed from Kannada. From తెలుగు - కన్నడములలో ఆదాన ప్రదానాలు
by జానుమద్ది హనుమచ్ఛాస్ర్తీ:
"అల్లసాని పెద్దనకు దాదాపు మూడు వందల సంవత్సరాల క్రితం వుండిన మల్లికార్జున కవి
‘నిరుపహతి స్థలంబు మృదుకరాసన, మెళ్లుణి సింపు దంబులం
సరసిద పుస్తక వ్రతతి లేఖక వాచక సంహ్రం, నిరం
తర గృహ నిశ్చిత స్థితి, విచారక సంగతి, సత్కళత్ర సా
దరతయునొళ్ళ సత్కవియు మీనుప దాగె కావ్యనార్థియుం’
పెద్దనార్యుల:
‘నిరుపహతి స్థలంబు రమణీప్రి ధూతిక తెచ్చి యిచ్చు క
ప్పురవిడె మాత్మ కింపయిన భోజన మాయల మంచ మెప్పు త
తప్పరయు రసజ్ఞ లూహ తెలియంగల లేఖక పాఠకోత్తముల్
దొరికిన గాక యూరక గృతుల్ రచియింపుమటన్న శక్యమే!’’
ఈ పద్యం కన్నడ పద్యానువాదంగా కనిపిస్తుంది."
by జానుమద్ది హనుమచ్ఛాస్ర్తీ:
"అల్లసాని పెద్దనకు దాదాపు మూడు వందల సంవత్సరాల క్రితం వుండిన మల్లికార్జున కవి
‘నిరుపహతి స్థలంబు మృదుకరాసన, మెళ్లుణి సింపు దంబులం
సరసిద పుస్తక వ్రతతి లేఖక వాచక సంహ్రం, నిరం
తర గృహ నిశ్చిత స్థితి, విచారక సంగతి, సత్కళత్ర సా
దరతయునొళ్ళ సత్కవియు మీనుప దాగె కావ్యనార్థియుం’
పెద్దనార్యుల:
‘నిరుపహతి స్థలంబు రమణీప్రి ధూతిక తెచ్చి యిచ్చు క
ప్పురవిడె మాత్మ కింపయిన భోజన మాయల మంచ మెప్పు త
తప్పరయు రసజ్ఞ లూహ తెలియంగల లేఖక పాఠకోత్తముల్
దొరికిన గాక యూరక గృతుల్ రచియింపుమటన్న శక్యమే!’’
ఈ పద్యం కన్నడ పద్యానువాదంగా కనిపిస్తుంది."
ఆంధ్రుల కథ by MVR Sastry
ఆంధ్రుల కథ. Interesting story of struggles for an Andhra state from 1911 onwards upto the current problems. Flavour:
"రాజకీయ కల్లలకు ప్రాంతాల ఎల్లలు లేవు. ఒక తెలంగాణ, ఒక రాయలసీమ అనే ఏమిటి... మొత్తం తెలుగుదేశమే తరతరాలుగా తీరని అన్యాయాలకు లోనైంది. నమ్మకూడని వారిని నమ్మి ఘోరంగా మోసపోయింది. నీతులమారి నేతల సుభాషితాలకు భ్రమసి, గోమాయువులమీద అమాయకంగా ఆశలు పెంచుకుని అడుగడుగునా అడియాసల పాలైంది. తడవకో రకంగా దగాపడింది. కడచిన నూరేళ్ల ఆంధ్రావని చరిత్ర అబద్ధాల పుట్ట. కపటాల కట్ట. నమ్మకద్రోహాల చిట్టా. ఏ ప్రాంతపు ప్రారబ్ధానికి ఆ ప్రాంతపు నాయక ప్రబుద్ధులే మొదటి ముద్దాయిలు. మనవాళ్లనుకున్నవారే మొదటినుంచీ మనకు పగవాళ్లు."
(Thanks to Kodavatiganti Rohiniprasad)
"రాజకీయ కల్లలకు ప్రాంతాల ఎల్లలు లేవు. ఒక తెలంగాణ, ఒక రాయలసీమ అనే ఏమిటి... మొత్తం తెలుగుదేశమే తరతరాలుగా తీరని అన్యాయాలకు లోనైంది. నమ్మకూడని వారిని నమ్మి ఘోరంగా మోసపోయింది. నీతులమారి నేతల సుభాషితాలకు భ్రమసి, గోమాయువులమీద అమాయకంగా ఆశలు పెంచుకుని అడుగడుగునా అడియాసల పాలైంది. తడవకో రకంగా దగాపడింది. కడచిన నూరేళ్ల ఆంధ్రావని చరిత్ర అబద్ధాల పుట్ట. కపటాల కట్ట. నమ్మకద్రోహాల చిట్టా. ఏ ప్రాంతపు ప్రారబ్ధానికి ఆ ప్రాంతపు నాయక ప్రబుద్ధులే మొదటి ముద్దాయిలు. మనవాళ్లనుకున్నవారే మొదటినుంచీ మనకు పగవాళ్లు."
(Thanks to Kodavatiganti Rohiniprasad)
Monday, April 11, 2011
Some popular music from Pakistan
See Jhoom (Ali Zafar) – Music Review
Though I always enjoyed music, it is mostly confined to film songs in Telugu and hindi ( a language which I do not understand but am planning to learn) and popular music that I randomly come across. Carnatic music has been a no-go area even though I sometimes I heard my mother practicing; I remember her rendering of film songs better particularly those from Rattan. Recently I read a couple of books on South Indian Classical music By Amanda Weidman and Lakshmi Subramaniam
Singing the Classical, Voicing the Modern:The Postcolonial Politics of Music in South India and
From the Tanjore Court to the Madras Music Academy: A Social History of Music in South India.
There is a fascinating overview of some of these books in From Threatened by Modernity to Reinvented by Modernity: The History of the History of Indian Classical Music 1980 – 2006 by Garrett Fileld. Excerpts:
"This paper has shown how Weidman and Subramanian’s conclusions differed from those of Neuman and Higgins. While Neuman and Higgins argued Indian classical music was threatened by modernity the latter argued that it was created in modernity and argued that the Brahman middle class undertook the project to modernize, spiritualize, standardize and disseminate their brand of Indian classical music because music was emblematic of the very nation for which they sought independence.
......
It is clear that the works of Anderson and Chatterjee have significantly influenced the shift in historicism of Indian classical music in the modern period. Yet, as mentioned above, confining an investigation into this paradigm shift to only texts reduces change to the words of scholars. It ignores the historical context in which they wrote. Thus, I propose scholars write histories of modern scholarly patronage. Studying the ideological climate at American Universities where Neuman and Higgins studied and worked, compared with Weidman and Subramanian’s milieu, would be a first step."
But I am nowhere near understanding why I do not like Carnatic music ( I did like a couple of pieces by Mangalampalli balamuralikrishna).
Though I always enjoyed music, it is mostly confined to film songs in Telugu and hindi ( a language which I do not understand but am planning to learn) and popular music that I randomly come across. Carnatic music has been a no-go area even though I sometimes I heard my mother practicing; I remember her rendering of film songs better particularly those from Rattan. Recently I read a couple of books on South Indian Classical music By Amanda Weidman and Lakshmi Subramaniam
Singing the Classical, Voicing the Modern:The Postcolonial Politics of Music in South India and
From the Tanjore Court to the Madras Music Academy: A Social History of Music in South India.
There is a fascinating overview of some of these books in From Threatened by Modernity to Reinvented by Modernity: The History of the History of Indian Classical Music 1980 – 2006 by Garrett Fileld. Excerpts:
"This paper has shown how Weidman and Subramanian’s conclusions differed from those of Neuman and Higgins. While Neuman and Higgins argued Indian classical music was threatened by modernity the latter argued that it was created in modernity and argued that the Brahman middle class undertook the project to modernize, spiritualize, standardize and disseminate their brand of Indian classical music because music was emblematic of the very nation for which they sought independence.
......
It is clear that the works of Anderson and Chatterjee have significantly influenced the shift in historicism of Indian classical music in the modern period. Yet, as mentioned above, confining an investigation into this paradigm shift to only texts reduces change to the words of scholars. It ignores the historical context in which they wrote. Thus, I propose scholars write histories of modern scholarly patronage. Studying the ideological climate at American Universities where Neuman and Higgins studied and worked, compared with Weidman and Subramanian’s milieu, would be a first step."
But I am nowhere near understanding why I do not like Carnatic music ( I did like a couple of pieces by Mangalampalli balamuralikrishna).
Lamia Karim on the fall of Muhammad Yunus
From Lamia Karim: The fall of Muhammad Yunus and its consequences for the women of Grameen Bank:
"With more than 9 million borrowers, the resource-rich Grameen Bank is a formidable vote bank. If its charismatic leader goes into politics, he can take away votes from Hasina’s ruling party, although he cannot undermine the party. Moreover, government bureaucrats, such as the director of the Bangladesh Bank, find Yunus as a law unto himself because of his international stature. Bureaucrats feel that Grameen Bank (and other NGOs) receive donor funds that should go to the government. Finally, there are ongoing turf battles among the largest microfinance NGOs in the country. The removal of Yunus and the weakening of Grameen Bank would give these competitor NGOs an advantage to recruit “credit-worthy” members, and to create more power and resources for themselves. It is this toxic brew of power and envy that has embroiled Nobel laureate Yunus in a legal dispute with the current government.
In the western fetishization of this iconic individual, the real issue is that the ever-deepening debt crisis for poor women is forgotten. And that is the saddest part of the story."
"With more than 9 million borrowers, the resource-rich Grameen Bank is a formidable vote bank. If its charismatic leader goes into politics, he can take away votes from Hasina’s ruling party, although he cannot undermine the party. Moreover, government bureaucrats, such as the director of the Bangladesh Bank, find Yunus as a law unto himself because of his international stature. Bureaucrats feel that Grameen Bank (and other NGOs) receive donor funds that should go to the government. Finally, there are ongoing turf battles among the largest microfinance NGOs in the country. The removal of Yunus and the weakening of Grameen Bank would give these competitor NGOs an advantage to recruit “credit-worthy” members, and to create more power and resources for themselves. It is this toxic brew of power and envy that has embroiled Nobel laureate Yunus in a legal dispute with the current government.
In the western fetishization of this iconic individual, the real issue is that the ever-deepening debt crisis for poor women is forgotten. And that is the saddest part of the story."
Tanurabh Khaitan on the Jan Lokpal Bill
On the 'movement' against corruption :
"Our politicians, and indeed most people with requisite influence, manage to avoid convictions not just for corruption but for all other crimes, including murder. Nor are the politicians the only people who are corrupt - what about the corporate houses only recently exposed in the Radia tapes? Structural reform of the criminal justice system does not translate into sexy slogan, but then India Against Corruption's Jan Lokpal Bill will do nothing to address the problem of corruption, and create others we can do without."
"Our politicians, and indeed most people with requisite influence, manage to avoid convictions not just for corruption but for all other crimes, including murder. Nor are the politicians the only people who are corrupt - what about the corporate houses only recently exposed in the Radia tapes? Structural reform of the criminal justice system does not translate into sexy slogan, but then India Against Corruption's Jan Lokpal Bill will do nothing to address the problem of corruption, and create others we can do without."
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Rajiv Sethi on Albert Hirschman
On his 96th birthday The Self-Subversion of Albert Hirschman
.
On his 95th birthday The Astonishing Voice of Albert Hirschman .
.
On his 95th birthday The Astonishing Voice of Albert Hirschman .
Thursday, April 07, 2011
From Telugu blogs
Some rare articles from blogs organized by Innaiah Narisetti and others కవిరాజు హేతువాదం -సూతపురాణం-AGK masterly analysis. See also the Narla blog V.R. Narla. Some of these are possibly parts of the struggles between rationalists and tradilaists long ago. There are also possibly some caste connotations. But there is no doubt that V.R. Narla and AGK were outstanding influences in their era and these documents are valuable resources. Innaiah published a political hisory book Political History of Andhra Pradesh - Narisetti Innaiah, which I found strange. There are lot of refrences and lists at the end but very few references in the body of the book. Without refrences to contemporary books or newspapers, it is difficult to know which are fact and which are stories modified by memories. There was a reference to Ongole Zilla Parishad in the thirties and when I enquired whether there was a such so early, the author asserted in the affirmative without giving any verifiable sources. Still, the lists and references at the end will be useful, I think. Innaiah is known for his support of various progressive causes The Other Attack on Taslima Nasrin at Hyderabad .
Tuesday, April 05, 2011
On India's World Cup victory
Dhoni acknowledges role of quartet
Vivek Menezes has a cautionary article Get a grip, India!. There are many good points in the article but I see it slightly differently. Many of the Indian players come from middle classes without many political or family connections. Eknath Solkar from Bombay was the son of a groundsman. M.S. Dhoni was ticket collecror in the railways for three years. Apart from giving hope and pride to several middle class and poor people, cricket also seems to some thing of uniting factor in a country with so much diversity like India. Many players came from different parts of the country and belong to different religions. The politics which plagued games like hockey seem to have subsided to a large extent in cricket. Influential players like saurav Ganguly backed players from many parts of the country outside Bengal. May be at the moment cricket's popularity cannot be begrudged. Perhaps similar events are taking place in Pakistan and Sri lanka too. There is also a tendency to define one country against the other which is unfortunate Indians Not As Large-Hearted As Pakistanis: Afridi
P.S. It seems that there are a number of scholarly works on cricket in India. There are some references in Cricket and Indian National consciousness by Emily Crick. In a different direction, there is an interesting paper by Aniruth Krishna and Eric Haglund Why do Some Countries Win More Olympic Medals? Lessons for Social Mobilty and Poverty Reduction in terms of 'effective participating population'.
P.P.S.Dhoni's 91 one of the greatest innings: Michael Atherton
Vivek Menezes has a cautionary article Get a grip, India!. There are many good points in the article but I see it slightly differently. Many of the Indian players come from middle classes without many political or family connections. Eknath Solkar from Bombay was the son of a groundsman. M.S. Dhoni was ticket collecror in the railways for three years. Apart from giving hope and pride to several middle class and poor people, cricket also seems to some thing of uniting factor in a country with so much diversity like India. Many players came from different parts of the country and belong to different religions. The politics which plagued games like hockey seem to have subsided to a large extent in cricket. Influential players like saurav Ganguly backed players from many parts of the country outside Bengal. May be at the moment cricket's popularity cannot be begrudged. Perhaps similar events are taking place in Pakistan and Sri lanka too. There is also a tendency to define one country against the other which is unfortunate Indians Not As Large-Hearted As Pakistanis: Afridi
P.S. It seems that there are a number of scholarly works on cricket in India. There are some references in Cricket and Indian National consciousness by Emily Crick. In a different direction, there is an interesting paper by Aniruth Krishna and Eric Haglund Why do Some Countries Win More Olympic Medals? Lessons for Social Mobilty and Poverty Reduction in terms of 'effective participating population'.
P.P.S.Dhoni's 91 one of the greatest innings: Michael Atherton
Saturday, April 02, 2011
George Monbiot on nuclear power
Why Fukushima made me stop worrying and love nuclear power:
"You will not be surprised to hear that the events in Japan have changed my view of nuclear power. You will be surprised to hear how they have changed it. As a result of the disaster at Fukushima, I am no longer nuclear-neutral. I now support the technology.
A crappy old plant with inadequate safety features was hit by a monster earthquake and a vast tsunami. The electricity supply failed, knocking out the cooling system. The reactors began to explode and melt down. The disaster exposed a familiar legacy of poor design and corner-cutting. Yet, as far as we know, no one has yet received a lethal dose of radiation."
I still think that we have to wait awhile to guage the effects.
"You will not be surprised to hear that the events in Japan have changed my view of nuclear power. You will be surprised to hear how they have changed it. As a result of the disaster at Fukushima, I am no longer nuclear-neutral. I now support the technology.
A crappy old plant with inadequate safety features was hit by a monster earthquake and a vast tsunami. The electricity supply failed, knocking out the cooling system. The reactors began to explode and melt down. The disaster exposed a familiar legacy of poor design and corner-cutting. Yet, as far as we know, no one has yet received a lethal dose of radiation."
I still think that we have to wait awhile to guage the effects.
All those stories
about Condom problem for Indian men may be correct: The Penis Size Worldwide (country) (link via Ed Yong)
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