education or specialization??

The top three science institutes in India have urged the education minister that sepcialized science courses be scrapped and replaced with palin vanilla BSc courses.The reason for this,as per these institutes,is that going ahead with very narrow specializations right from one’s first year in college is detrimental to one’s learning,as he/she lacks the basic grounding that can be used to arrive at an informed decision regarding further specialization.They also opine that after having a three year grounding in basic sciences,one can,if he/she wishes,take up a very specialized course as the fourth added year of his/her BSc degree.


Firstly,this is a welcome move,because we Indians need to start taking the learning part of education more seriously than the “earning” one.In India,any degree with the word “IT” will sell.This is because regardless of course content,our first worry is “naukri lagega ki nahin?”.Infact,there is a diploma course in computers,that goes like”MS-CIT”,tailor made to make listeners believe that it is an “MSc” in “IT”.And it sells like cakes!!


And many more upcoming fields also induce the same magnetic effect.Any course with biotechnology in it would sell hot.Ditto with forensic sciences.That in turn has led to the mushrooming of hundreds of “specialized” science courses.


Now who typically is the target customer for these courses?Usually,it is the guy who could not get into engineering or medicine.Speaking of engineering,the same farce of “specialization” applies here too.Even before entering college,one needs to take up a seat that denotes a college AND a specialization.The result?Everyone wants to take up Computer Science as it seemingly carries the best promise of good employment opportunities.Eventually,people from all branches are seen in IT companies,who anyways train fresh recruits in line with their actual requirements.The question that remains is that isn’t a brilliant automobile engineer taken away from the country’s talent pool when a student perfectly fit for mechanical engineering takes up Computer Science for job opportunities that even mechanical engineering could have offered?


Any field of work can give a person employment,job satisfaction and a purposeful existence.What is required is good old dedication,not fancy specializations.It would be really nice if this message is propagated to the students and the government acts on this proposal along with exploring such options in other areas such as engineering.

Nandan Nilekani's new role:an oppurtunity unfolds for India

So Nanadan Nilekani has stepped down as board member of Infosys.The reason:He landed a role as the head of the Unique Identification Authority,the agency at the helm of providing biometric identification to the more than billion citizens of our country.He will be holding a rank equivalent to that of a cabinet minister in this new assignment of his.

Firstly,let's try and figure out just about how huge this operation is.The first obvious hurdle is India's huge population.But since nothing much can be done in that regard now,let's move on to technical specifications of such systems that can be challenging:

Universality:This means that every person to be issued an ID should have the features that the biometric test is based on.Or we can say that we cannot have an ID based on physical feautures that are not universal.So if having five fingures in a hand is taken as a criteria,Hrithik Roshan would overqualify.

Uniqueness – This means that the biometric should reliably and conclusively separate individuals from one another.So we need a combination of two-three inputs that makes the chance of false idetification zero.The problem in India is that if there's a one in a miilion chance of my identity being shared by someone,I've got more than 1200 people who could pose a threat to me.I sure don't want to be in jail for a murder that someone else commited through my identification.The reverse is a good option though!!

Permanence – It measures how well a biometric ID resists aging. There are only two types of people who never age:

1)Dev Anand(will never be old)

2)A.K Hangal(was never young)

The rest of us change with age and hence the biometric system should take care of that cataract filled iris or those wrinkled fingerprints.When I am 60,I wouldn't like to be identified as Sharad Saxena,who incidentally resembles me:



Collectability -This denotes ease of acquisition of the biometric information for measurement. Now that would really set Nandan Nilekani thinking.India comprises of more than 6 lakh villages.Hence setting up bio metric measurement camps would be no mean task.

If implemented properly,this would be a great developement for India.It could mean the absolute elimination of middlemen,with correctly identified people directly getting the benifit of the government's social spending.It could also mean that filling up of forms,voting etc could be accompanied with a biometric swipe,making the process faster and more authentic.

But one question that remains unanswered is that of no conflict of interest between Nandan Nilekani's two roles,one at Infosys which he has left to keep the record straight,him still being very much a Infosciyan at heart;and the other as the head of this committee that will give business to all the IT majors in the country.Despite Nilekani's unblemished image,the chances of favoritism cannot be ruled out.I guess time is the best judge for that.

Of climate change and IIM-A

Some professions thrive on confusion. Some create it.Environmental science clearly falls into the second category.

Whether or not global warming is for real is not a question that till date carries a unanimous answer. Though the majority of environmentalists now stand by the affirmative,there’s still a group that denies the existence of this threat to our future.

Even further,the question becomes more complicated where there is a tradeoff between avoiding global warming and saving the ozone layer:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Earth/Ozone-saviour-making-world-warmer/articleshow/4685651.cms

For a layman,the two objectives always looked complimentary.If this study is to be believed,we have a choice in life:To die under sea water that consumes our cities or to die of skin cancer.

Now we always knew that our dear old AC’s cooling us off did have some connection with polar bears feeling uneasy.I mean think about it.If you were to share a room with this fellow,would your happiness and his not be mutually exclusive??:

But never was it known to have as huge an impact as the above mentioned article states.Infact,I always believed that the single largest factor behind rise in global temperatures was Jessica Beil:












However,the predictions of the research by The Netherlands Environmental Assesment Agency seem grim.Particularly,if we look at this line:” by 2050 the demand for HFCs was likely to have increased by 800% compared with today’s figures”,the situation does seem one that calls for concern and concrete action.

On a different note,you can also look at the following article at the “other articles in this category” link:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Earth/Global-Warming/IIM-A-campus-to-become-more-environment-friendly/articleshow/4672388.cms

Now I have all the respect for IIM-A.However,don’t you see this story as an odd inclusion here??:
Other stories in this section
New York sign counts global greenhouse gases
Current Carbon dioxide levels highest in past 2.1m years
Climate change threatens to knock crop yields
IIM-A campus to become more environment friendly
Climate catastrophe getting closer: Scientists

Why is the Indian media so obsessed with IIM-A that it tries to fit it in just about any context??I’ll not be surprised if I see stories such as these somewhere down the line:
"IIM-A gets environment friendly commodes"
"Genetic mutation done by preparing for CAT:an IIM-A study"
"Stefen Hawkings says he always wanted to study in IIM-A"
"Government imposes additional 3% educational cess for IIM-A"
"Mansoons show their first sign in IIM-A"

I mean come on guys!!Get out of this straitjacketed thinking!!As good as many of our institutions are,the world is a much larger canvass in the end.

Signing off with a good deal of hope that either scientists find out a better alternative for HFCs, or god gives us all a lot of heat sustaining ability.

Negative inflation is injurious to the brain

Some things just leave one with the “DUHHH???” feeling.One of them is the recent movement of inflation in the negative zone:http://profit.ndtv.com/2009/06/18115750/Negative-inflation-in-India-f.html


The “DUHHH???” feeling arises out of one’s complete inability to judge whether the thing stated is actually good or bad. Let’s take this negative inflation thing.Does it mean that I’ll be getting a cheaper lunch at office from now on??Does it mean that I’ll be able to get a new Reebok pair for lesser?? Would it mean melting of polar ice??Would it mean that Lalu will join team India for the next T-20 World Cup??






















Alas…we’ll have to ask the economists .Economists,in my view,are people with three to seventy six degrees who look like this:













I also feel that macroeconomics is the art of taking a simple economic phenomenon,making it more and more "macro" till a point where you see nothing but small dots where your focus area used to be.Surely,you are dumbfounded by now,and are at the complete mercy of the interpretation presented by the economist,who by the way,makes truckloads of money in the process of giving random guesses or common stuff that you knew anyways.


Let’s take this small piece itself:“Negative inflation was expected by the market and policy makers. It reflects lower commodity prices on a year-on-year basis”.Holy crap!!I am enlightened.Since Inflation means rising of prices,then negative Inflation would mean their lowering!!Never thought of that one!!Amazing wisdom shared here!!.I wonder whether negative Deflation means the same as positive Inflation then. I wonder whether I can multiply or divide it too!!


Again,let’s look at this one:” However, food articles were costlier by 8.7 per cent from the comparable week last year as pulses moved up 17 per cent, cereals 13.5 per cent, and fruit and vegetables 10 per cent. The dip was on account of a fall in fuel prices as international crude oil is now ruling around $70 a barrel against over $140 a barrel during the year-ago period.”Doesn’t this mean that while prices of food items,the roji-roti of people at large is actually increasing in any case,the dropping of petroleum prices is nothing great,considering the over-the-top rise that they took anyways a year ago??.And then again,with oil depleting fast,would we really have crude prices in check in the long run??No.So that means that in a few years,I will have costlier food as well as fuel,with inflation again hitting the roof.So all of a sudden,”sentiment” will dampen and stocks markets will start crashing again.Economists will predict another Big Bang followed by an ice age.Never mind that oil depletion was always known to happen!!


Another great insight:”It is not very positive for the economy, particularly the manufacturing sector ... inflation dipped to below zero level in 1975, the emergency days,".Now when the cause of negative inflation is fall in crude prices,why would that have a great ruboff on manufacturing??Do we mean to say that manufacturing is equivalent to oil refining and nothing more??Even where oil is an input,this should actually be a good sign for such companies.Perhaps not being an economist ,there are subtle pieces of gyan that elude this poor soul!!


Another good observation:“Negative inflation does not reflect deflationary environment. Though WPI is higher from week before, deflation is not a concern right now,” .Now if WPI is higher from the week before,then naturally deflation is not the word that strikes you first in any case.Where is the added information I was looking for??I tried reading this through a magnifying glass,but alas,couldn’t find any encrypted code or stuff that could lead me to more knowledge.


So one of two premises of mine stands confirmed:
1)I am dumb
2)Economists speak Martian
Whom should I ask for the answer??Definitely not an economist!!

The Shiney Ahuja Saga:We are all victims

“ We all know that a man can also be raped by a woman” is what Anupam Ahuja has to say.How do “we all” know that??By watching “Disclosure” or “Aitraz”??By walking around in hot dresses and hoping to be mobbed by women??Maybe Shiney Ahuja knows that,coz in Anupam’s own words,”Shiney is innocent and not capable of this”.The first part will be settled soon,but what exactly does “not CAPABLE" indicate??I guess whatever Anupam is saying about women raping men comes from first hand experience!!

Now Shiney Ahuja’s wife says that his husband is being “framed” .Do you mean that a teenaged girl would,on finding a full grown man alone,think “Got him!!Now I am gonna rape and then frame him”?.And yet again,why would someone try to frame a Shiney Ahuja,who is still a rookie in Bollywood and is yet to make his mark in central roles in movies?Most of all,why is this propaganda required when Shiney himself has confessed??The most obvious intent is image resurrection.The actor had miles to go in Bollywood,and the future sure as hell looked promising.He cannot afford curtains on all that at this point.The law will follow its course,but public opinion can be swayed by making him a "victim of circumstances".And what else do you need in India to become a neta or an abhineta??You gotta have public “opinion” on your side.













So Sallu bhai can run his car over innocent people,or Raj Thakrey can get railway exam aspirants beaten to death,but they will always get positive public “opinion” amongst their target customers.

Finally,the government,NGOs etc are trying to make sure that minors are no longer kept as household aides.Brilliant idea!!So they mean to say that rape with an adult is not a real threat at all!! If a girl can produce a certificate that says that she is 19 years old,should she be left in a house where she might have a rape threat on her??

Just like we have fire alarms in factories,why can’t we have “assault alarms” installed in all flats of buildings,with one small button accompanying each electric board??That could be of use for cases of burglary,domestic violence or even sexual abuse.We can have security guards deployed at every eight floors for very tall buildings.This could be enforced by the BMC in all residential projects.

Would we make sure that happens??No!!We’d rush to watch Shiney’s latest movie at the time he gets out of this predicament.The more we hear of atrocity,the blinder we become of the gravity of such deeds.That's where we all are victims of such incidents.