How does one measure poverty

Interesting that it took so long to finally junk calorie intake as the poverty estimation tool. Even if one take mere food as an indicator I wonder if the calorie intake took into account nutritional needs like proportion of protein/carbs/minerals/vitamins etc.
I think putting things like Education, access to health-care in ambit of calculating poverty is a step in right direction. After all these define your quality of life and also define in a rudimentary way the opportunities available to better the quality of life. Lack of opportunity is what will keep the poor poor and as such is as much a handicap as lack of food/shelter etc.
Its kind of sobering to think by that yardstick India is still miserably poor. I suggest we also put in place a mechanism to evaluation the effectiveness of poverty removal programs. Accordingly government agencies (and private/NGOs) can also be rated as 'good to reduce poverty, not so good etc'. Organizations that serve to reduce total poverty can be given additional incentives. Otherwise I wonder if any real poverty alleviation will happen in near future.

Bollywood as the new Quettawood

I usually enjoy our neighbour's newspapers. Some to keep track of what is happening next door, sometimes for entertainment - that comes from wild 'facts' quoted by writers who lament why no one else quotes those 'facts', and sometimes well because there are good writers.
Read this piece in Dawn a newspaper and a writer that I usually enjoy. But then suddenly you come across a comment like "It seems that rightwing Jews, who often guide the Indian media’s worldview..." and I was left scratching my head. I've come across all sorts of religions in my personal circle but somehow never a Jew! A quick check on wikepedia and I found there are around 15000 Jews in India a land of a billion. Must be a remarkable set of people to "guide" Indian media's worldview with so few a number. Maybe the author meant US media which maybe is guided by Jews and in turn guides Indian media. A very long shot but still worth trying.
Anyways so that is a problem. Even seasoned journalists which credential to be taken seriously do make such wild statements in the guise of 'facts'. No wonder the common man on streets in Pakistan (and I am sure plenty in India have similar narrow worldview) believes in all sorts of fantasies.
Reading another column in the news gave me an idea. There is no reason why India should not support Baloch fight for justice in a moral support sort of way. Maybe India can allow Baloch movies to be made in India (easy visas, maybe some technical support) which highlight legitimate Baloch struggles. It will be a soft power projection, being totally non-violent can be easily shared with the world and allow Balochis a creative outlet that otherwise might hunt for other expressions. Frankly any more guns in neighborhood is simply too many guns.

Still happens in India

Just where is NHRC when you need it?

Metro in Soviet Union

And you thought that train stations were boring? Check this out.

Simple but Effective

The idea of Ugandan Memory books covered on BBC news.

Begining of the Begining?

Jinnah continues to haunt an Indian political party. First it was Advani of BJP who hailed Jinnah as a secular leader (which he was - staunchly secular till maybe his demand for Pakistan which came in much later in his long political career). Now it is Jaswant Singh of the same party who reasons in a book why Jinnah was secular.
Both these are important points for us to understand. For Pakistan to understand its own genesis and more importantly for me (since I am an Indian) Indians to understand the dynamics of politics and ideologies that shaped our own freedom struggle in the 20th century.
Were Hindu-Muslim relations always hostile to each other? If so why did the Hindu soldiers from Meerut and Avadh rebelling against East India company raj in 1857 march to Delhi to fight in the name of the Muslim Mughal King Bahadur Shah Jafar? It certainly wasn't because he was a powerful king? It was because there was a certain sense of Indian identity and the last Mughal king represented a dynasty that had ruled much of India in the past and hence had a certain identity.
A lot of Muslim leaders were within the mainstream of congress and worked totally within the overall congress ideology. Even some areas of now Pakistan (NWFP) actually voted for India.
Was the idea of a unite single post British India sacrificed at the alter of 2 egos? Some say Jinnah wanted to be PM, Nehru wanted to be PM so we ended with 2 countries. Will the partition have been avoided if Jinnah's health conditions were not hidden? How did 1 (or 2 men) managed to create 2 countries despite the wishes of Mahatma (surely the most popular Indian during the 20th century among Indian masses)? Jinnah must have articulated a certain wish that found resonance with many who while loved Mahatma and many other leaders who stood for a unified country still found Jinnah's arguments compelling. For that to happen there must have been another political undercurrent that was against Jinnah's argument and not Muslims.
Unfortunately any such debate or articulation of thoughts is suppressed at the alter of our own demons. Gujrat prefers to ban Jaswant's book on grounds of insult of a respected leader instead of instituting a debate that would allow Indians to evaluate the argument dispassionately.
I am sanguine though that a beginning is made. That 2 big leaders of a mainstream political party have thought about it and articulated it is a good sign. BJP's expulsion of Jaswant for the act of writing a book in his personal capacity will hopefully make more Indians keen to read this book and start thinking about it. Let the debate begin.

Reporting from Ground Zero: Swine Flu in India

I came to Pune from Mumbai morning 8 and the bus normally full of passengers had quite a few seats. It might be the time of day, 8 am bus on a Tuesday morning might not work for the usual office goers who want to be at it by 10 but a suspicious lack of coughing sneezing in the bus is its own story. The expressway was practically deserted save the container trucks and an occasional car or a bus, so travel seems to be a bit impacted.
Pune has been homogenized. There are only 4 kind of people - without masks, green mask, yellow mask and white masks. Its interesting that 'swine' flew masks mostly resemble a snout! There was lesser than usual traffic on road, again might be the non peak hour. But I suspect its also because schools, theaters etc are closed. Overall the smoke situation is more than I'd prefer but marginally less than usual.
Passed the Aundh Chest hospital (1 of the initial 2 hospitals tasked to test for swine flu) on the way and the crowd there looked less than usual. But then again I only could see the entry side of the place so it seems the testing panic is now abated a bit.
I wonder about the masks though. Will they lead to a false sense of complacency since i understand swine flu masks need to have finer holes for breathing than normal surgical masks and I saw mostly the green ones and many people wearing handkerchiefs. The housing society also apparently distributed 2 masks/house. Given that masks need to be disposable and are effective only a few hours I am not sure if they are going to really help but if it leads to peace of mind so be it.
So as we see nothing really to panic about. People are a bit wary but life is going on.
What I find disconcerting is our tendency to react and not pro-act! The government initial asked private sector to stay out of it (conflicting statements there). The ministry said they'll co-opt private sector when they'll need to. They also said capability upgrade to test for the flu will take months and they are working on it. Given that WHO had upgraded it to Pandemic level months ago, that the ministry did not do any thing is bad. And the fact that they were waiting for the flu to hit hard within India when they planned to upgrade capacity speaks volumes about their critical thinking. A report in a newspaper yesterday mentioned it takes 6 hours for a batch of 40 samples to be tested. And there are so few government labs. What if like UK (much less population) which had 5000+ cases in the last week being reported India too is required to test hundreds of thousands of sample a week and has to wait for a month for new labs to come online?
I hope the government tasks one of the many professional health agencies under it to henceforth monitor global disease trends and accordingly act in time.

Increase Your Privacy

Ever wonder why is it that in-spite of blocking cookies and disabling javascript, many sites still manage to give ads that seem to reflect your browsing history?

Well there is more to history than browser cookies (and browsing history saved in browser is often more valuable to a data mining site than mere cookies so clear it often). One leading culprit is 'flash cookies' or Local Shared Objects used by Flash. These are outside browser visibility and hence are never cleaned by browser thus occupying disk space and providing a tracking risk.

To avoid LSOs on Windows try these 2 steps

1. go to control panel -> java
Open General -> Temporary Internet Files -> Settings and disable "keep temporary files on my computer"

2. If you use firefox you can also install Better Privacy addon

True Cost of a war

Most of us who live a war only from a distance don't really realize what it means to live under the shadows of guns. No wonder some of most war hating people I have met have been armed forces (Indian) guys.

When Viral is the glue/packages off shelf flew

Sometimes a crank/or a tacky genius if you will
goes bonkers and hammers out of till
a review/a poem or the usual chill pill
that becomes a cry- usually happy, sometimes chill
sells a million - not that it makes sense but still.

lolz!

Search for Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal, totally hilarious

I'm a very visual person, I just can't see

"I'm a very visual person, I just can't see."

It happens outside Indyah

There is a little bit of Pune in Essex.
BTW I agree with the retired police officer - the solution to a menace is a lot bigger menace especially to cyclists and bikers.

Lost for Generations!

I came across this piece in Outlook reviewing a book on Shri Aurobindo and I realized that I have no real context to judge the book or the review for authenticity!
It is quite a shame that whole generations of Indians have grown up without knowing anything about India. Except for some kings of ancient India and smattering of Medieval India - mostly limited to Mughal empire and few notables like Shivaji and Tipu Sultan, no real discussion happens about modern India and its leaders - save Gandhi, Nehru and Bose.
What is lost is the knowledge of life and times of an galaxy of illustrious individuals who have done keen work in social spheres, philosophy, music and literature. What was the social condition of India before Raja Ram Mohan Roy and how did he effect that change? What about Swami Dayanand Saraswati? C Rajgopalachari?
So I land up in this embarrassing situation where a Frenchman writes about one of the modern greats of India and I in spite of my (above average I think) reading have no way to judge!

Hollowed Generation

It is somewhat of a wonder why India fails to win in international sports. Lot of factors are blamed from a lack of sporting culture, to politicians holding all sports bodies memberships to lack of sporting facilities to parental attitudes.
These are all valid reasons but are they all? I think it also has a lot to do with our nutritional status. Reports all over indicate that Indian kids as a majority are malnourished. And it is not just the poor classes but even middle and rich class. Its not that all kids are hungry, just that they don't eat right.
Coomi Kapoor in Indian Express makes a valid argument. Most of us simply do not know what makes a good meal. Our breakfast are typically fried parathas which while very filling are hardly what one should eat for breakfast. In place of breakfast being the most important meal it is usually dinner which ideally should be the least important meal.
This leads to a situation where 70% of kids don't get proper nutrition! So that means out of maybe 100 million kids and youth there might be in India, its only 30 million who are eating well. So in sports we are a nation of maybe only 30 million population which no sporting culture. No wonder.

Atlanta: We have a Problem

I never thought that shortage of over priced sugar syrup can be such a national emergency!

Finally the reason!

So this might explain why India's population is so high and still growing!

There are Brave (Wo)Men Too

My impression of Pakistani civil society is mostly of a society in denial and worst actually sympathetic to militants. Witness Imran Khan and so many other politicians who one would have expected to be liberals who actually support Jihadists overtly. That does not take away the fact that there are voices of dissent who see this as in fact a fight between obscurantism and liberal ethos, between warped notions of morality and a right to freedom for each, between good and evil.
Given the state of Pakistan I think most of the people who are actively espousing looking inwards are probably much more brave that most of us outsiders realize. Compare say the Indian media with Pakistan media. While by and large our media is free, often critical of government, I have not really seen too many biggies actually take on government when we invariably always end up blaming Pakistan. How many of our media groups actually champion the cause of human rights?
On the other hand I find Dawn almost always balanced. look here and here. The News is again fairly well balanced. And given the state of Pakistani society which has probably genuine sympathy to Jihadi groups, a super powerful security establishment that the rest of the world justifiably believe to be Jihadist and terrorists itself, and an executive that is at best ineffectual, on an average complicit with terrorists, it takes a lot of courage to point the accusatory finger inwards.
I wish we too have more media houses becoming as brave. In terms of individuals we all have heard of Asma Jehangirs of Pakistan and many activists within India so there we can still take hope that individuals in India still bravely battle the system, but in terms of mainstream coverage I think our media, especially TV is hopelessly out of tune with reality. Except from page3 kind of reporting there is very little actual news coverage. The the coverage often reeks of agenda.
Times Now - channel I earlier liked because well they did try and cover news now reminds me of Fox news of US. While yes a whole host of India and world's problems emanate from Pakistan, can we actually have a more nuanced discussion rather than simply calling them liars and duplicitous over and over again? CNN-IBN the other channel that I watch for news is somewhat fairer but again I do not see the kind of reporting that say Geo TV (that broke the story of Kasab's family being in Pakistan and first shots of his being Pakistani) does in Pakistan. Other Indian new channels are a travesty of news where breaking news might be a detailed coverage of what Rakhi Sawant wore to a party!
So long as there are these brave souls in Pakistan who risk life to show reality to Pakistani society there is still hope. Now to wish the same for India.

Terror Attack on SriLankan Cricket Team

Another horror story coming in from Pakistan. While some comments on telly were somber, at least 1 gentleman from establishment was blaming India stating something on the lines of "they are showing us what you can do in Mumbai we can do in here" (more here). I'd say an interesting though inadvertent admission they did something in Mumbai.
Even some comments from Pakistan on this attack from civil society blaming India. When will they get their head out of sand? If India were to attack, they'd have attacked the army or the government. What benefit will India get in harming Sri Lankan cricketers?
Its this state of denial that is Pakistan's biggest stumbling block in fighting terror. Until Pakistanis realize the enemy is within they wont be able to counter it. And they may realize it too late!
One of the telly channels had an interesting idea. They observed that were the Pakistani agencies complicit in the attack? Given that all assailants escaped and they showed visuals of Policemen handling weapons recovered from crime scene without gloves on. It was my own first thought on watching the news early in the day on CNN as it broke. Policeman picking up a pistol with naked hands and feeling it around. And my thought was now the only fingerprints would be of police investigators that they will get.
Its intriguing. What if the telly channel claim was true and the aim was to take the team hostage? i can imagine the grenade going under the bus, over it as 2 coincidences. The Pakistani team not traveling with them another co-incidence. Why so few policemen accompanying the team?
could it be that the aim was to kidnap the team and ask for Kasab's release in exchange? India would have been in a bind jeopardizing its relations with Sri Lanka if they refused and get a lot of bad publicity worldwide. If they acquiesced, a lot of case against Kasab and Pakistan would have been weakened. ISI should surely have loved that outcome!
While I confess its mostly conspiracy theory though not entirely straining credulity, its pretty much in a way what many in Pakistan seem to postulate what it comes to terror attacks in external countries blamed on Pakistani groups.What is really sad is that given the history of Pakistani establishment duplicity(especially the armed forces), this conspiracy theory might not be so far off the mark.

New Game In Town

fool: ameer hone ka brilliant idea aaya hai,
ultimate adventure trips agency
proprietor: UnFortune's fool
Totally risky tour to Pakistan
sympathetic ear: totally flop idea
who will come?
fool: well people hang upside down on free fall trains for kicks
sympathetic ear: yes but then they are responsible for their own deaths
fool: and that when they know that statically its safer than going to shop for dahi at nukkad shop on a scooter.
here there is real danger

sympathetic ear: yahan pe outside agencies se torture and death ke chances zyada hai, woh bhi disrespectfully
fool: haan to hum kaun unki salamati ki responsibility lenge
sympathetic ear: heh heh
fool: tabhi to ultimate adventure

sympathetic ear: what service will you provide"
fool: book tickets, make reservations (not responsible for hotel being closed/demolished in the interim- part of adventure
fool: and maybe even book a cab/truck to go to whereever

sympathetic ear: visa?
fool: File for visa, woh to apna headache thode hi hai, if pak wants tourists they give visa

sympathetic ear: extended tour to afghanistan too
sympathetic ear: if they pay a nominal amount

fool: I heard <> are crazy maybe send them
sympathetic ear: heh heh
fool: i am telling u its the genesis of a genuine new travel genre

So folks if you are looking for the ultimate adventure tour of your life, I have an offer you can't refuse.