More in Short Posts
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(One) Hand vs. (Other) Hand
On the one hand, I don’t find reports of Smt. Kiran Bedi inflating invoice of her air fare particularly upsetting. Sure, this may not look good on her, but as far as corruption goes it is least of our worries, in fact, we can only wish for the day when...
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Let Us Legalize Paid News
Have you gone insane? I am expecting this very question from my readers. No, I am not. Am I also proposing to legalize bribe, prostitution or theft? No, not yet. The focus of this short post is to simply propose and justify that every body is a winner in legalization...
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Rules of Indian Sicu-Liber Farm
Rules of Indian Sicu-Liber Farm: You say Jai Shri Ram, you are Ram Sene! Rule #1: When Swamy’s house was vandalized: it is good to have happened to him, how he dared to write that article in DNA! Rule#2: Freedom of Speech/Expression is only for the Folks whom media likes!...
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On the ubiquity of sanctimoniousness
Every aspect of our so called national political commentary and discourse seems to be steeped in a nauseating tradition of needless, unprovoked sanctimony. Consider the assault on Prashant Bhushan by those belonging to the Bhagat Singh Kranti Sena. While the assault was unlawful and deserved the prescribed punishment –...
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NREGA: Quo Vadis?
This is an extract from a text book. The NCERT text book of Twelfth Standard on “Political Science”: Government Campaign reaches the village “In a way the advertisement stuck or written on walls gave an accurate introduction to the villager’s problems and how to solve them. For example, the problem...
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A Critique of Red Toryism
Philip Blond postulated a provocative intellectual strand of British Conservatism called “Red Toryism” that attacked ideological orthodoxy of those advocating welfare state and the market state. Suprisingly this strand has remarkable similarity with Gurumurthy type thinking which rejects both state and market absolutism. Philip Blond has been mentioned as a major influence...
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Boss, You Surely Know Better.
The recent observations by Shri Narayana Murthy, founder and ex-CEO of Infosys Corporation has presented a welcome opportunity to force a debate on the issue on the issue of quality of Engineering education in our centres of excellence and also the quality of innovation in the Indian Engineering space. The...
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Announcement: New members, new team, new CRI !!!
We're happy to inform you that effective today Manohar Seetharam and Dosabandit assume responsibilities as Community Editors. The CRI iniative has suffered some attrition in the form of two of our core team members being away on academic paroles. Furthermore all of us feel that the only way to grow...
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Political Choice and Economic Consequences!
The title for the blog post is inspired by the book “Choice and Consequences” by a Nobel Prize winning Economist Thomas C Schelling. The idea flows out of a discussion I had with a few friends on twitter. Though I must say while typing the heading, a thought struck me....
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Examining the Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence Bill
“India is my country. All Indians are my brothers and sisters. I love my country and I am proud of its rich and varied heritage. I shall always strive to be worthy of it. I shall give my parents, teachers and all elders respect and treat everyone with courtesy. To...
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Quickpoll: What ails mining?
We have just been told that Firstpost – IBN Live investigation have uncovered yet another set of 'illegal' mining operations, this time in the rich state of Odisha. We get told that most of the private mining operations are illegal. But we are rarely informed of the possibility that illegal...
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A Little Reminiscencing: Economics in everyday life
Economics in everyday life is seen in a narrow spectrum. The Left versus the Right. The left includes a broad spectrum from the Socialists to the Communists. Each Country has added its own Nomenclature to the Left – Maoists, Naxalites, Khmer Rouge (literal meaning – Red Cambodians). The Nazis were...
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Open thread: Help chronicle events subverting constitution
Some pretty questionable political entities have been talking of the parliament and constitution lately. Barring a few exceptions almost all such talk is shrouded in rhetoric and completely bereft of facts. And it seems that those better at rhetoric succeed in creating a favourable impression about themselves and their party....
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Can Modi really change the Secularist paradigm?
Modi yesterday completed his three day fast with a stirring speech that offered a preview of his vision and priorities. It is an indicator of the extent to which the man ensures his feet are firmly on the ground that he has promised a district level reach out programme in...