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For just a drop of water: Sanskar of sanitation and conservation in Mizoram
Posted on Sat, 28 Jan 2012 11:11:40 |
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The recent 28th shodhyatra in Mizoram has been quiet cathartic for me personally. I had been aware of the need to conserve water and proper practices we should follow in our daily life. But i must confess when i washed hands with soap in the morning, the tap used to remain open while scrubbing soap. It is difficult to do so now. I want to share the experience which has made me feel embarrassed about my own behaviour and has moved me from just a feeling of guilt to an ability to correct myself. |
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should railway fares be increased without looking at other options
Posted on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:14:37 |
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the suggestion that Railways should raise 25 per cent fare to meet the cost of modernisation needs rethinking. People should ask whether the committee considered the role of a) reducing procurement cost, b) did it look at the dynamics of vendor selection in tenders above 1000 crores, to ensure that we allow new cost efective vendors to bid fairly, b) innovations made to reduce unit cost by developing new materials, involving technology youth on platforms like techepdia.in or any other and c) re-look at the locational criteria of various railway infrastructure which is often done to pelase political masters rather than optimise the outcomes. Hopefully, parliament will discuss these ideas before letting railways use easier and intellectually lazy option of just increasing the fare. |
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shoudl panchayats be consulted before passing bills
Posted on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:18:48 |
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anna\'s suggestion about compulsory nod of panchayats on all bills is an interesting one. But it needs some modification. Swiss constitution has a provision that of any issue gets signed by 100,000 voters, then government is obliged ot have a referendum on that. It does not trust the wisdom of representatives on that. May be given our size, if five million people or 30,000 panchayats sign an issue, then the government must have a referendum on that issue before passing a bill or making a major policy change. That will keep representative democracy in check and make it more accountable. |
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Rebuilding institutions of higher learning: expansion, inclusion and excellence
Posted on Sat, 07 Jan 2012 00:58:01 |
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In the recent Indian Science Congress, Prime Minister bemoaned the fact that China had overtaken India on various indicators of performance in higher education. It is ironic that while China is ruled by a single party and India is a democratic country, yet the institutions of higher learning in China have more autonomy at all levels. Leadership is the crux. You put a timid and mediocre leader on the top, you don�t have to do any thing further, decline will follow inevitably. The country does not lack, spine-full leaders in every field, education is no exception. Political class and bureaucracy have to learn to live with such leaders of educational institutions, the country will not remain subservient to borrowed ideas, and points of reference any more. Renaissance is round the corner, culture of conformity ( and colonized minds) just has to give way to that of dissent, diversity and endogenous cultural and social development. |
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Civilizational crosscurrents of learning across the borders
Posted on Sun, 01 Jan 2012 05:00:30 |
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Recent visit to China once again convinced me about the enormous potential that exists for changing the course of global development by synergising Indo-china cooperation for the larger social good. There are so many problems which both the societies are facing which can not be resolved without active cooperation. And at the same time, the centre of the world has been moving eastward for some time. When i wrote about this eastward movement in 2003, China had taken lead in herbal patents ( almost fifty per cent share followed by Russia, EU and the rest; India was of course not there anywhere), it was obvious that cooperation would help. The fact that almost all modern hospitals there have integrated Chinese system of traditional medicine is part of their inclusive health policy. |
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Sattvik: Food for thought, policy and action
Posted on Sun, 18 Dec 2011 11:42:11 |
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What better way of teaching entrepreneurship than by direct encounter with customers. There were four different stalls from J&K providing the consumers a choice of quality, variety and prices. The organic farmers had displayed far more value added products this time compared to the previous Sattvik festival. This is an extremely encouraging sign. It is a pity that policy thrust towards in-situ value addition is extremely weak in the country. |
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