Comments on: A Modest Proposal — Part 2

By: Atanu Dey on India’s Development » A Modest Proposal — Part 3

Atanu Dey on India’s Development » A Modest Proposal — Part 3 — Sat, 14 Jan 2006 10:54:51 +0000

[...] f 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 in [...]

By: Atanu Dey on India’s Development » A Review of Education Related Posts Here

Sat, 14 Jan 2006 09:21:43 +0000

[...] d a modest proposal for making India fully literate within three years. I followed that up part two of the proposal where I wrote:Around 1950, India had about 200 million illit [...]

By: Atanu Dey on India’s Development » A Modest Proposal for Making India 100 Percent Literate within Three Years

Sat, 14 Jan 2006 08:23:52 +0000

[...] t infrastructure project is the one that will build its human capital base. {Continued in Modest Proposal Part 2.}

4 Comments to ‘A Modest Proposal [...]

By: Atanu Dey on India’s Development » A Modest Proposal — Part 5

Atanu Dey on India’s Development » A Modest Proposal — Part 5 — Sat, 14 Jan 2006 08:21:33 +0000

[...] 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 f [...]

By: Niket

Niket — Unknown, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Atanu,
Since I forgot to close my [Devil's Advocate] tag, I will continue here. Good points, though you haven’t addressed the specific question that Ravikiran raised (I know, you will get to it in the next one/two posts).

You have made convincing points here (we hardly needed any convincing on this issue) that delaying this is only going to increase the direct and more so indirect costs on India.

“and we would solve the problem of illiteracy for perpetuity.”
Not unless the literate people are convinced that literacy has in fact changed their lives. Not unless there are incentives for the literates to ensure that their children are too. Not unless they see that their failure to rise from poverty is not due to literacy, but in spite of it. Kerala did not solve the problem of illeteracy for perpetuity. Not unless sustainability is maintained.

“you have to throw sufficient amounts of money and aim it very precisely”
Absolutely. FOCUS is the key word. Rather than a 2% cess, a focused approach is necessary.