Sunday Posts

Some time back, I wrote a post on the future of e-learning. Reading that, a learned reader referred me to read Disrupting Class , a study by Clayton M Christensen and others about how disruptive innovation will change education. The central premise of this book is simple. Citing Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences, the authors point out that we all learn in different ways. They then go on to assert the current factory mode of learning, where one teacher has to teach a number of students together, does not allow the tutors to adjust to an individual student's learning preferences. Therefore, the current system leaves too many children behind - aggravating social problems and creating economic imbalances. However, the authors see the possible solution in technology. The technology can make learning asynchronous, and allow individual students to learn according to their own preference and style. This shift will of course impact the way the current education system ru...

Paul Samuelson, in a weekly syndicated column, has written about the mistakes Harvard economists Joseph Schumpeter and Edward Chamberlin made during the time the stock market crash of 1929 spread its spectre on the wider economy and eventually became known as the Great Depression, a decade-long slump which affected the western societies significantly. Samuelson goes on to argue that a similar mistake is being made by Harvard economists today, and he names Greg Mankiw and Robert Barro , when they oppose President Obama's plans to increase government investment as stimulus, including putting money in bad banks. Dr. Samuelson argues that Keynesian multiplier really works and one can see a multiplier effect of 1.5 projects results close to reality [what I understand of it is that every dollar spent by the government generates demand worth $1.50 in the economy] and therefore, the stimulus package is the only meanigful way to get the economy back on track. He argues that politics sh...

I have finally seen Slumdog Millionaire as I am back to my movie times, long intercontinental flights. As I write this sitting in my favourite writing place, in the lounge at Dubai Airport, in the middle of the night, I must be honest in stating that parts of the movie was too graphic and painful to watch for me, and hence I skipped parts by channel switching between this beautiful movie and almost meaningless Quantum of Solace. But let me talk about Slumdog Millionaire. This is every bit as good as its Academy Awards [and other] honours suggest. Brilliant script and editing, some stellar performances, great music etc have already been mentioned in many other places. Dev Patel and Frieda Pinto surely are outstanding new faces and I am sure we will see more of them in the coming years. Irrfan Khan is very special, and he does a great cameo; so does Anil Kapoor. But I am no movie critic and will not pretend as one. I would rather return to my favourite subject - modern India. The star of...

A poignant picture of a recent job fair in Beijing can be seen in today's newspapers - thousands queuing up and are being held back by policemen. Despite Wen Jiabao sounding as bullish as ever, the job situation in China are turning bad, and this may have enormous implications for China and indeed, for the rest of the world. Recent visiotors to China are talking about poverty in urban areas and very low income most working people usually have. I have also heard stories about migrant workers being sent back home, their benefits unpaid. The stories about the job fair are unusually bleak - visiting scribes wrote about people's desparation in getting something going. It clearly seems that the slowdown has finally reached world's factory. Jobs, as they stand, are people's opium. I am paraphasing Marx consciously, because in our age, a job is a person's identity, basis of faith and existence and social circle. Losing a job is like destroying someone's persona - turnin...

We live to be mediocre. As I write this, I am sitting in Hyderabad Airport looking into the shop-window of the Landmark bookstore, prominently featuring a Brian Tracey book, which promises to tell you ways to achieve everything that you wanted to achieve, faster. That's possibly the self-help section I am looking at, as the other titles promise everything under the sun - money, career success, happiness. If you are looking for great sex, you may have to take the trouble of walking into the shop and peeping into higher shelves and narrow corners, but this is a good book shop and I am sure you will get that in abundance too. Everything today is possible, achievable; it is just the dream that is falling short. I was brought up to be a civil servant. Some sort of a government job, I was told by teachers and others. It will provide you with a lifetime of security. A steady paycheque end of the month. A pretty girl from your caste as wife. Enough time to raise a family, play cricket with...

Pragati, India's National Interest Magazine, published an edited version of this essay in their March 2009 issue. Democracy's Comeback The overwhelming victory of the coalition led by Awami League and its leader Sheikh Hasina , in the elections in Bangladesh, has been celebrated widely in India. It is indeed good news, and the contrast to the year-end 2007, when Pakistan was tottering on the brink after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, could not be more stark. With Sri Lankan government finally winning the war against Tamil Tigers, Pakistan and Nepal settled with democratic governments, and Maldives and Bhutan successfully implementing democratic transition, it seems that democracy and peace are finally making a comeback in the South Asian region. This could only be good news for India. Gone are those days of cold war policy making, when we played zero-sum games with our neighbours. The concept of Sphere of Influence lingers on, but appears dated in ...

In India, Distance Learning is a rage. Though the Indian tertiary education infrastructure has expanded quite a bit in the recent years, it can not still do justice to the huge population, the upwardly mobile middle class and the insatiable demand for degrees in Indian families. So, distance learning steps in, offering an easy and flexible way for the commoner to get an advanced degree. When I say Distance Learning here, I am combining Open and Distance Learning under the same label - because, in India, these two terms are used interchangeably and without a real distinction. There are specific universities, in every state as well as at the national level, set up for Open Learning. But they function like any other university, requiring a level of formal education as the pre -requisite to entry, a mass of paperwork to go through its courses and a number of pen and paper examinations at every level. Distance Learning, by contrast, is only a term variation, offered by brick-and-mortar uni...