Sunday, December 31, 2006

IITs heading down a deep abyss

Quoting studies, Gulhati says admission by nation-wide tests where hundreds of thousands appeared had made the selection process mechanical. "Writing such tests is trainable, and training offers significant advantage. Thus, India's professional colleges including the IITs have shut their doors to a vast pool of talent among the poorer sections of the society (who cannot afford the training) and are missing out on true scholars not interested in rote learning, he says......read on

Saturday, December 30, 2006

Finally Gujarat

So I was reading these articles in Outlook India about different cuisines in India. While reading I some how was missing Gujarat and found it annoying that some of authors never even mentioned Gujarat and its cuisine now thats blasphemy, how can you talk about food and not talk about Gujarat. Finally found an article that was completely dedicated to Gujarat..... so read on

Read on only if you are Big on Indian Food

A Sattvic Nomad Thela, dhaba, chai shack...it's these dots on the map that give you the real Gastronomical Survey of India.......hmmm. I must go to Varanasi some day.....read on

Slow Adds Up- Gurcharan Das

2006, the year gone by, was one of the best in India's economic history. We had two successive quarters of 9 per cent growth, following three unprecedented years of 8, and this came on top of a remarkable 6 per cent average growth in the previous 22 years. (Recall that the West's industrial revolution took place at a rate of 3 per cent GDP growth!) As a result, 1 per cent of the country's poor have crossed the poverty line each year since 1980, and this adds up to almost 200 million people. It is less than China's 300 million, but it is significant. Meanwhile, population growth has also begun to slow. ...read more

Thursday, December 21, 2006

How Rice and Burns cooked the nuke deal

Risky enterprises often hang on a wing and prayer. But remarkably for the mostly choreographed and generally cautious world of high-stakes diplomacy, there was a moment when the US-India nuclear deal was balanced on one knee. Must Read.....

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

When NRIs had rare moments at White House

NRIs in the United States had a rare moment in the political sun when they gathered in the East Room of the White House on Monday as special invitees to witness President Bush sign the nuke bill into law.....read on

Hyde And Seek

A perusal of this debate through the columns of our print and online media shows so little understanding in India of the way US Presidents operate in giving effect to legislation on foreign policy matters passed by the Congress. When they feel the need to implement it, they do. When they feel that the importance of good relations with a country advocates against a strict implementation of a legislation, they are able to find ways of avoiding implementation, while making a pretence of implementing it. ....read on

Saturday, December 02, 2006

Blowing the Whistle on Big Oil

Wish this were to happen in India too... link

Saturday, November 18, 2006

China’s Path to Modernity, Mirrored in a Troubled River

Yellow River in China is Drying up thanks to rapid modernization of China. This could have disastrous consequences for China and ultimately its neighbors. Link

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

India's Right to Information Act

Interesting Article of how RTI is empowering India's Citizens.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6124898.stm

Saturday, October 14, 2006

A Cult of Backyard Rocketeers Keeps the Solid Fuel Burning

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/14/science/14rocket.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Russia: A Dying Population

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-empty8oct08,0,6474678,full.story?coll=la-home-headlines

indianexpress.com

indianexpress.com

indianexpress.com

indianexpress.com: "From December, starting with a person or family graded as the poorest and lowest in the new system, the poor will be directly given the benefits After making an informal presentation to rural development secretaries of the states last month at New Delhi, the Gujarat Rural Development Department is making a formal presentation to Union Minister of Rural Development Raghuvansh Prasad Singh on October 9.

But complaints have started pouring in. An MLA who sent 200 applications of his supporters demanding benefits complained that only three persons he recommended were in the list of BPL or poor families. “He claimed our list is incorrect,’’ says D M Baria, of Dangs DRDA. “But now we don’t have to bend over backwards under political pressure. Whenever a politician calls me to recommend, I just show the list,’’ he says."

Saturday, September 30, 2006

The World Is Not Flat : outlookindia.com

The World Is Not Flat : outlookindia.com: "Pakistan is home to 14 million Pashtoons and draws more than a fifth of its army from among them. It can't afford to become part of a generalised onslaught upon them. It is the failure of the US and NATO to eliminate the Taliban and pacify Afghanistan that has forced Musharraf to back off from the campaign against the Taliban and opt for a policy of containment. Besides, relying on the Pathan code of honour to make the chiefs live up to their part of the bargain is a far safer bet than using guns and bombs against them. It has worked in southern Waziristan. It could work in the north too."

Friday, September 29, 2006

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Where old aeroplanes go to die

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Where old aeroplanes go to die: "So both major manufacturers are clearly concerned about this issue. Each is drawing up a code of good practice and maybe environmental legislators will reward their efforts. And, after all those years of service, surely those jumbos deserve a decent end."

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

IndianExpress.com :: ‘India is too modest about how it can play a global role as the world’s largest democracy’

IndianExpress.com :: ‘India is too modest about how it can play a global role as the world’s largest democracy’

'Amendments to nuke deal no serious challenge'

'Amendments to nuke deal no serious challenge': "Einhorn brushed aside the notion that potential investors in India are going to be scared away by the tough language of the Bill.

'No I don't think so. The investors are hard-headed people. They know the difference between statements and policy and tough restrictions...,' he said.

In an apparent reference to India's agreement with the IAEA and the consensus that is to be obtained at the Nuclear Suppliers Group, Einhorn said there were indeed other elements of the deal that will have to fall in place before the accord fully fructifies."

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Attack on the idea of Indiia

indianexpress.com: "Cross-border terrorism’’ was yesterday’s problem. Today we face the far more serious problem of an attack on the very idea of India. I am willing to put in writing that even if by some miracle a solution was found in Kashmir tomorrow terrorist acts against India would continue. A new grievance would be found.

Liberal, ‘‘secular’’ Indian journalists would help find it just as some tried to link the train bombings in Mumbai to Gujarat. One national newspaper was insensitive enough to print names of dead Gujaratis on its front page to prove this point.

Before Gujarat it was Babri Masjid that was regularly summoned up to explain the Indian Muslim’s sense of grievance and before that there was the neglect of Urdu, Partition, poverty.

In Blair’s words, ‘‘Islamist extremism’s whole strategy is based on a presumed sense of grievance that can motivate people to divide against each other. Our answer has to be a set of values strong enough to unite people with each other.’’ The difference between India’s values and those of Pakistan, Bangladesh could not be better described."

Treading Nether Lands

indianexpress.com

Must Read: Khan Saheb in Kashi

IndianExpress.com :: Khan Saheb in Kashi

Indians head home in 'brain gain'

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Indians head home in 'brain gain'

Who are Bohras?

indianexpress.com

Friday, August 25, 2006

BBC NEWS | Business | Q&A: What makes the Eurofighter fly?

BBC NEWS | Business | Q&A: What makes the Eurofighter fly?: "It also is competing with the French-made Rafale, which is very similar to the Eurofighter and may be on the UK's Royal Navy shopping list. "