Atanu Dey on India’s Development

I did not bother to vote in the US Presidential elections this time even though I did receive my absentee ballot. I am registered in California which is guaranteed to not go to Bush. My anti-Bush vote would not matter, therefore. And I am not sufficiently interested in the local issues to cast a vote […]

[Read more →]

The city formerly known in English as Calcutta (now known in all languages as “Kolkata” which is its Bengali name) is an unfortunate city. Its misfortune derives from two major sources primarily. Two of the world’s most destructive ideologies — Islam and communism — have brought a city full of promise to its knees […]

[Read more →]

Anant in a recent comment on this blog concluded with the seemingly wise statement “to revenge is pleasure, to forgive divine.” I say seemingly wise because it does not withstand any level of scrutiny. Forgiving an enemy may or may not be a very wise principle if you are dealing with an individual. Being magnanimous […]

[Read more →]

Economic development is a complex matter which touches every aspect of a society, public as well as private, domestic as well as foreign. One cannot seek to understand (and subsequently act to change) the existing order by narrowly focusing on a just a few aspects of development. It is in that spirit […]

[Read more →]

Today’s edition of The Free Press Journal carries on its front page an interesting item, “Carry out attacks in India or perish: ISI to Dawood”.
Dawood Ibrahim has the distinction of being labeled by the US as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT)”. The ISI is the Pakistani intelligence […]

[Read more →]

Over fourty-three years ago in January 1961, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower in his farewell address warned of the dangers of the “military-industrial complex”. In view of the upcoming US presidential elections and the global conflict that the US is engaged in, I think it is appropriate to carefully consider what he had to […]

[Read more →]

A report by Josey Joseph in the Oct 14th Times of India warmed the cockles of my heart. The story is about the supply of military equipment from the US to Pakistan. Quote:
… On the pipeline are more than $1.5 billion worth of military supplies over five years. Plus, numerous futuristic deals.

[Read more →]

Ever wondered why exactly India is an astoundingly poor overpopulated illiterate starving nation of a billion people? I do. It need not be one specific reason of course. It could be a combination of several factors. For instance, it could be due to divine decree: the gods said that India should be pathetically poor. Can’t […]

[Read more →]

To me, one of the hazards of delayed flights is that I tend to read whatever I find lying around. A few days ago I found myself reading a discarded newspaper at an airport. I should not have but morbid curiosity won. A news item proudly reported that the president of India recommended that […]

[Read more →]

For the past few weeks, I have been exploring what I call a modest proposal for making India 100% literate (parts 1, 2, 3, and 4). Here I will explore some aspects of my proposal.

I had proposed that for every person who is certified to have attained a certain level of literacy and numeracy (essentially, […]

[Read more →]

Diogenes of Sinope lived in a tub in the marketplace. Since it was a long time ago, around the 4th century BCE (before the common era), the details are few. I feel a certain intellectual kinship to Diogenes because I too am a cynic. He must have been a remarkable man, going by the stories […]

[Read more →]

Given half a chance, people cheat. Basic human nature. There is little gain in believing otherwise. Taking undue advantage of something to get ahead is part of the basic human DNA. (I admit to being an unabashed hardcore dyed in the wool cynic. Among my all-time heroes is Diogenes. More about him here.) So one […]

[Read more →]

This is a continuation of my modest proposal for making India 100 percent literate within three years, Part 1, and Part 2.
I am a firm believer in the use of technology for development, including information and communications technologies (ICT). There is an urgent need for economic growth and development and unless we use the best […]

[Read more →]

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.
Oh, alright. I was getting tired of posting only development related stuff. So I thought that I would intersperse stuff that I write with stuff that I like written by others. Here is a perspective piece written by a Canadian and published by a Canadian newspaper. (I […]

[Read more →]

Today I continue exploring my modest proposal for making India 100% literate. One may exclaim “How can a proposal which seeks to spend $60 billion be considered modest!?” It is a modest proposal considered in relation to the task at hand. We have around 400 million (give or take a hundred million) illiterate humans living […]

[Read more →]

Reading some of the more outlandish claims about how India is an IT superpower is a surreal experience. The chest-thumping, right from the highest offices in India to the lowliest journalistic office, is a sight to behold and marvel at. Don’t know why they have to do it. Perhaps they are plain ignorant or perhaps […]

[Read more →]