“Paging Dr Singh, paging Dr Singh. Dr Singh, please pick up the house telephone. Mr M J Akbar has an urgent message to deliver regarding the health of the Mango Man.”
Sorry, Dr Singh is busy driving a taxi.
What the hell is that supposed to mean, “driving a taxi”?
You know, busy doing other things. And besides he is not that type of doctor, the type you call in hospitals.
So what exactly is he doing. I demand to know. I don’t know why he should be driving a taxi.
Perhaps I …

My contribution to the August issue of Pragati. I am reproducing the piece here below the fold, for the record. Regulars to this blog pretty much know my position on what needs to be done on education. Still you may find something of use.

Solar energy, whether you like it or not, will be the future. As I have said before, the age of fossil fuels was a very short interlude in the history of humanity. Nuclear–fission now and perhaps in a few decades fusion–will have a significant share but for the long haul it will be solar.

Markets Work, Incentives Matter
The two broadest generalizations one arrives at from a study of economics are that markets work and that incentives matter. People respond to incentives because that is at the core of what it means to be rational. To the extent that humans are rational, their behavior is predictably in the direction that existing incentives point to. Trade between humans is rational because both parties in any voluntary trade benefit. The abstract mechanism which enables trade is called the market. Markets work in the sense that they maximize …

Afghanis are falling down on the job. Thomas Friedman’s opinion piece in the NY Times explains.