Farmer Suicides by Sainath

P.Sainath forcefully points out the need for structural over haul of the agricultural system in India in this article.

Scientific Temper

Explanation of Scientific Temper by AmartyaSen. Scientific temper and the argumentative Indian

Chakde India

Hi !! Just was reading this. If India does not need to tow any body's line. India has to effectively take care of its own interests.

Relinquishing of political interests with the single minded devotion of economic aspirations will make you powerless. Economics will always get tied to Politics.

The problem with India is - India does not believe in its own ability, though others recognise it. India can not do the same mistakes that countries like Japan had done in the past.

India should start taking its role in West asia affairs to effectively take control of its own short term and long term interests. The world is now presenting itself opportunities for countries like china and india - in the state of struggle between eroding economies of West and asserting Russia.

India should go for the tagline "Chakde India" to take care of its own interests. No body takes care of your interests as you do. Nobody gives you power on their own. You have to grab yourselves. If you are passive, you will get all leftovers my dear. :).

yours lovingly,

Ram.

Ganesh Chaturdhi

I am displaying a palavelli decoration at my mama's place. My uncle have indeed make a good job of decorating the lord Ganesha. I wish I have similar patience levels.

You should hold it, Especially when you are hardest hit.

It is been a good amount of time, with out an Update on this blog. This is partly due to lack of internet and the phase of life where you brood about missed chances. These days I retrospect every decision I have taken - and feel incredibly guilty about my choices - both decision and indecisions. May be this is the worst situation I will ever be , I think I should stick to my guns.

I am supposedly stay in hyderabad and concentrate on civil services exam preperation that is going to be held next year. Contrary to expectations, I am trying to blew some life in to my otherwise supposed to be sedate life. Few things are happening to me now a days.

First thing is watching lot of new movies - normally I would not go to movie theators, more so if friends are not there. But things are changing quite rapidly, I have watched about 4 movies - Bujjigadu , Kathanayakudu , Baladur and Salute - all myself.

Only thing, I am good at these days is in reading news paper. I am thorough with Hindu and ET from the past one month. And writing Geography exams at Srinivas sir, but most of them with very little preperation.

One more promise I am trying to fulfill these days is - attending friend's marriage. How ever I get pinched by the fact that I have very few resources at my disposal. After I become financially independent once, I am thinking a lot of times to ask money even from my father. I dont know - may be I want to assert my independence. :) .

Ok. Enough. As always, all of my blogs are full of myself. May be I got to become little more mature to take every thing under my stride. Let us hope , I will become a man sooner.

Google Quote

Everybody is busy, busy, busy. But, where are they going?

Bush - Food prices

How come americans choose such a fool as a president - for twice - not even once. He does not even know what comes first in the list of priorities in life. It always the food first that we need to have rather than the fuel for your car. You are just putting blame on some body else, Even when you have power to change the things. You can not cheat the world for long, Mr. Bush.

If successor presidents make foriegn policy decisions as you did, Then the time will come soon to stop honoring US as the powerful country.

From full of confusion.

Its foolish to try loving your best friends. If it dint happen as expected, You will lose everything in that relationship. Then on you have to be extra careful for the other person, that you are not making their lives miserable. Though you care for other person, you should act as if you dont. This feeling kills you..

All the problems in a relationship start when the other person wants some thing extra from the relationship than you are willing to give in. During the storm of arguments, ppl might loose that relationship. After a while, they start wondering how did they do this to the other person/to themselves.

Any way, It would be great if both of them are happy in the end. After all, why are we living this life, just to make ourselves happy.

One more important observation about life is, You can live even if you are not happy with your life and with what you are doing. Its just the hope that you can be happy in the future that will drive you.

Another interview @ Talha madam 2008

Arun

Manish's Interview @ Parveen Talha madam - 2008 UPSC

Manish

India's successes in S&T - YEAR 2007

• Every year, Department of Science and Technology announces the success stories of the previous year. 2007 achievements are here.
• I am also giving you guys the link for Hydrogen Energey road map for India here.
• Today I am also giving you guys two very good sources of information over net. Will modify the blogs list in the other tab. They are
• Intelli briefs
• Vision Ias
• Vision IAS blog - has 2008 prelims question papers for practice. They have really good quality current event questions.
• Intelli briets - Definitely not for Exam - But gives you the sense of whats happening around the world.

Another Interview @ 2008 - UPSC

Gangadhar

One Interview @ UPSC 2008

abhijeet

One more interview@2008

Sadayappan

Few Interviews @ UPSC - 2008 April

One good thing happening over the net is collaboration between civils aspirants. And lot of aspirants are now using blogs to communicate their feelings to rest of the world. Proudly I am one of them. Way to go buddies. Here are the links for the Interviews.

• sachin - Parveen Talha board
• pkagarwal - KKPaul board
• PiyushSkhla - DP.Agarwal Board
• Abhishek - Chalam's Board
• Abhishek1 - Chalam's Board

Articles over E-Governance Initiatives.

Hi Prashant, The links for the articles for E-Governance Initiatives as you asked. I will write the gist of these initiatives when I get some time. For the time being, here is the list.

• Major e-Governance Projects
• E-GOVERNANCE: 20 Hot eGov Projects in India

Hope this helps,

NKC recommendations - Higher Education

Here is an article commenting about the NKC recommendations - Higher education.

Case for more women in Public life.

A very nice article for supporting the cause of Women entering the public life. I am in search of good articles for the following areas. I would be happy if some body contribute in this endeavor.

• Reservations for women on PR institutions.
• Credit delivery models at Rural level targeting Women.

• Bangladesh - Micro finance model.
• India - Self help groups.
• Case for Women reservation in India

Domestic violence - Women situation in India

Some of the articles in Hindu magazine , today cogently put up the feeling of the victims in the cases of domestic violence. This is a common practice in India , where men or women is from a traditional background. The last article here in this post, is a commentary on the new domestic violence act, 2005.

Under a cloud of Abuse - Some tactics

• Isolate a woman from her friends, family, cultural or faith community, care providers
• Prevent her from being independent
• Act jealous or possessive, accuse a woman of having affairs, coerce her into sexual activity to prove her love
• Criticise a woman constantly
• Threaten, intimidate, harass, or punish a woman
• Use the children to control
• Make all decisions in the family, withhold information and refuse to consult her or about important matters
• Control the money, not allow a woman access to financial resources or conversely not contribute to household expenses.

The violence of silence

• There is one significant difference between mental torture and physical violence. The aggressor in the latter case knows he has done wrong. The situation is just the opposite in the case of mental torture. Because the husband does not raise his hand or leave scars on her body, he does not bear the burden of guilt. Such men have a split personality.
• If she raises the issue the response usually is “What has he done wrong?” Because there is no physical violence, everyone fails to recognise the damage caused by silent negligence or verbal abuse.
• A strategy of silence and non-communication is a form of violence. Rarely is the victim able to identify the problem and so it is all the more difficult for a third party to intervene.

Commentary on Domestic Violence Act , 2005

You can read the full articles by clicking on the links here. And some excerpts are presented here.

@ Answers for IT questions

What is your opinion on STPI extension ? Here is a small article describing pros and cons. I am for STPI extension . Gist of the reasons for and against this move have been mentinoed here.

For

• Level playing field for domestic companies w.r.t other country competition.
• Tax advantagaes in other countries like china , irelond , chekoslavakia etc still continue. Taking out our tax sops will make us at backfoot at attracting investment in this sector.
• IT industry is not yet matured enough and still have a lot of potential for enlargement worldwide. India can claim much bigger pie in that expansion If you could provide help to the domestic IT industry.
• Recent economic recession in US is going to effect the bottom line of US tech companies adversely. This will result in a lot of cost cuttings in US which implies more BPO at a cost advantageous location. Tax sops in Inida will fasten this process. And help us in acquiring this business opportunities.

Against

• Loss of revenue to good amount.
• Comparitively less employment growth rate compared to the tax money outgoing.

Best way forward is to -- Link the tax sops to employment and export generation potential of the company.

what are the contingency plans of Information Technology industry to overcome the USA slowdown ?

• Geographic diversification to other continents - Europe, mid east, china & APAC especially.
• Project costs linked to $ fluctuations while negotiating .
• Forex currency $ - hedges
• One good thing is 29% growth in domestic sector
• Have a fresh look at emerging markets.