For the first time, Nagaland, the North Easter region state has come out with a perspective plan for 2020. Some of the key achievements are: The “social capital” and resilience of the Naga village communities have remained intact and are beginning to help overcome several difficulties. “The village councils, village development boards and the recently…
National Urban Renewal Mission
The Central Government has formulated (or still formulating?) an urban renewal infrastructure plan for 60 selected cities in India. This, the minister concerned, Mr.Gulam Nabi Azad has said. We also believe there can’t be any rural development unless the urban development is properly planned. Whether this grand plan will succeed or when it will really…
Economics and politics : Economic change?
Not possible without a clear political will! It is political will,rather than any economic wisdom that propels economic change. Economics in its grand design must be seen essentially as people’s hopes and aspirations. Economic science or art may be about dry statistics or figures.But economic trnasformation calls for a vision and a drive for mobilising…
Agricultural extension : Make agri/horti dept. officials and scientists spend time in villages!
Time to partly privatise and for private participation. There was this news recently. The Union Minister for Planning M.A.Raja Shekaran, a senior politician from Karnataka had participated at the Bangalore based Agriculture University on a, mouthful topic, called “Extension of methodological issues in impact assessment of agriculture and rural development programmes”. From the way this…
What is education? What is education for?
Confusing the means and ends! Universities in crisis There seems to be utter confusion in education sector. Policy makers seem helpless! Even the initial noises seem to have died! Yes, the statistics and budgets are on paper. On the ground nothing is happening! Once a while it is nice to stand up and have a…
Inequality? Poverty? Or, denial of freedoms?
Education’s unfinished agenda! You can’t have everything in life, can you? Life doesn’t offer you too many choices, does it? Have you ever thought of these questions, do you? Yes, there is too much poverty in the world, in India! There is too much inequality, in the world, in India! There is too much denial…
We, Indians, are shameless people!
Why we worship the bureaucrats, even the most corrupt kinds? Debureaucratising Indian society is the way to a free and open society! Babus may tire, but not retire! Delhi is crowded by retired bureaucrats! PM must help to give room for new faces, new talents! Can a country of India’s size and stature be run…
All the guilty men of India’s Partition!
Shameful Flight, The Last Years of the British Empire in India,pp 231,OUP, 2006, where historic photos mislead us! India’s Partition and why we feel shy to avoid the topic? This book by a serious scholar of India’s modern history, an authoritative writer on Gandhi and Jinnah has now produced a book that would give us,…