While it is well known that the British came to India under the pretext of trade, beyond a brief period of 15 years (1757-1773), the British government assumed full control over the system. To maintain their rule, British needed to control the masses, zamindars and the local kings – and for this they needed the army to be strong. So on one hand they developed infrastructure like the railways (for speedy movement of troops), on the other hand they imposed a military set-up on the major cities in India. And thus emerged cities like Dehradun, Jabalpur, Bangalore, Poona etc - as military cantonments rather than centers of trade. These cities were also built as typical British towns – a town center, a clock tower and a Sadar bazaar being some commonalities you would find in all these towns. These towns grew further through the early years of independence thanks to the militarily charged atmosphere (due to the Cold War, Indo-Pak, Indo-China wars etc) thus maintaining the status of military a

I have been travelling in the past week – from Mumbai, to Baroda to Delhi, to Dehradoon and Mussourie and back. It has been a great experience, but even more it has been a thought provoking travel through the metros, small and smaller cities and via towns as well. It is wonderful to explore India because there is so much hidden beneath the quotidian activities in Indian cities - most Indian cities, however small or big have centuries old history behind them. They have grown, destroyed and rebuilt so many times and yet some element of past is still visible in them even today. While travelling to and through these cities some thoughts emerged in my mind about the way these cities have come into the current state – I am detailing them below. Long before the British or the Mughals marched into India, the region had developed mature political and administrative systems. More so, irrespective of whether there was one national ruler (ex. Ashoka or Akbar) or the rule was shared by regional sat

In response to my previous post my friend Payal (who had forwarded me the video) - sent me an email. Her email is almost a blog post in itself - so I thought it would be a good idea to post it here. Here you go ... [ previous post ... there is many a slip between the cup and the lip.] I understand all those pitfalls... all I am saying by that link is that the image of India is getting better in the outside world. I am happy about it ... but I wish there was more substance to it ... Its not just what meets the eyes (infra) that needs to be developed, there are softer concerns too like security and resilience of justice system not to mention corruption and the lack of trust in offices and general life. ऐसा नही है कि US में 2 hours 'stuck in traffic' नही होता, but India में it is more often than not... you know when NRIs come back to India, they always see the "progress" in India.. big malls erected, flyovers etc and think "Hey! India is really shining"

A friends of mine who is in the US, sent me this YouTube link: While this India rising story is fast becoming a cliche, the video nevertheless makes things look quite amazing. And so many Indians abroad seem to be getting more and more sold on the India story. I however believe there's more to it than meets the eye!! :-) The troubles of working (or operating business) in India are quite irking - for example I was stuck for 2 hours today in Ghatkopar - fortunately the habit of having a book in my bag helped me - but imagine the amount of morning productive time I wasted! The stock market which went up and was hailed to stay put even as the US melted under sub-prime, has finally crashed today [ last reported it fell 1300 odd points]. The real estate prices which have been rising in speculation are already falling in smaller cities and while they have stayed put in metros - the whole urban dream seems to be crumbling because of the inability of the governments to be able to suppleme

NYTimes reports about protests in Italy's Siena Progress cannot be measured only in terms of raising gross domestic product, said Luciano Fiordoni, an economist who spoke at a recent anti-airport rally in Siena. “You have to factor in quality of life,” he said. “We don’t object to growth, but our main intent is to remain human.” Exactly what I was trying to say when I blogged about the political party of the future . Its high time we too in India stopped measuring our progress by GDP and per capita figures (which are simply effects and not causes) and looked at how much the quality of human life has improved. What's good about a rising GDP if our roads are heading towards permanent traffic jams and our lives becoming more and more stressful?

"Benazir Bhutto Shot Dead" - as I looked at this headline on 27th December, I was shocked - though not as much as I was when I read "Rajiv Gandhi assassinated" way back in 1991 (I was just 10 years old then). The reduction is shock was not just because I had grown up and that Benazir was not a politician from my own country - but also because after Lal mazjid , terrorism has become more and more mainstream in Pakistan. However, there are some aspects of the assassination which are different from Rajiv Gandhi's assassination which make it much more worrisome than the former. 1. Ubiquity of Terror Agents - and failure of Administration The Pakistani Administration (namely the Army) claims that "[Benazir] herself contributed to the incident by standing [and] that none of the other occupants in the bullet/bomb proof car died." Which effectively means that the assassin was just waiting for Benazir to step out of her bullet proof vehicle. It seems quite unli

A comment on Atanu Dey's blog . “Educate the elite alone so that the unwashed masses will be more easily controlled.” British built a educated class (bureaucrats) to do slave work for them. That worked very well for them. All they needed were dumb slaves who know how to read, write and regurgitate. And they did a terrific job of marketing. The slaves feel good about themselves and brag about it too, like so: “I work for the Indian Civil Services”. Why do we keep blaming the British for the state of our education? The concept of keeping education limited to few coveted 'castes' was preached and practised by Indians long before the British set their foot on this soil. And indeed, the reason why we have not been able to uproot the "flawed macaulian educational system" is because we DO NOT WANT TO. So many among our population still believe in casteist ideas!!

I have been travelling by train a lot lately and as most people will agree that railways have improved quite a lot in the past few days. The cleanliness has improved, and trains run more timely than earlier. Railway stations are also improving - better facilities are in place (Kiosks, Cyber Cafes, vending machines etc.) and the staff is more 'friendly'. At the same time, the price of railway travel has gone up - even though nominally. In addition to increase in fares, new overheads are been added. For example, now if you book a ticket for a different destination than the location from where you are booking your ticket - you have to pay a surcharge. (Internet booking always had a surcharge). The question is - is the price rise justified in wake of the fact that Railways are the primary mode of transport for the weaker economic sections of the society as well? I think yes. Take the case of railways introducing better toilets - each toilet will cost Rs 60K ($1500) - this appo

When Manmohan Singh took over from Atalji as the Prime Minister of the country, there was widespread euphoria of speedier economic reforms and speedy economic growth. After all Singh was the very pioneer of the liberalization. However, the political naiveté and rubber stamp status of the PM has only been re-confirmed in the past few months. While the nuclear deal and the Left holding the Govt. ransom is the recent most manifestation of the PM’s weakness, this government has been an underperformer from the beginning of its tenure. Arjun Singh pursuing his own casteist agenda through reservations, the repeat of Mandal days at AIIMS (where the meritorious students had to face water cannons), the back track on privatisation of Navratna PSU’s, the slowing down of Golden Quadrangle Project, and inaction towards the teething lack of infrastructure – the UPA’s track record is filled with inaction and ineptitude. There are a few streaks of positive one of them being year's budget which laid

If you are a regular reader of newspaper editorials – you would have noticed columnists who write on matters of Indian politics, policy research, mythology, pop-culture etc. Of late, so many scholars of ‘Indian studies’ have come from foreign (mainly US) universities. Is this because there are no Indian institutes where ‘India’ is being researched? Not quite – we have the JNU, the BHU, the AMU, and numerous departments of social studies in all universities from Ashok University (Gwalior) to Delhi University. Then why this dearth of scholars in Indian matters, who practice their profession in India? Not being from the academic circles – I can only make an informed guess based upon limited knowledge that I have of the culture in academic institutes (which I studied in) and internet research (the links are strewn in the text below). Due to heavy politicization of student community following the Janta Party movement of the 1970s-80s[ 1 ][ 2 ], the academia in our universities too have got

Today's Hindustan Times Op-ed has an article by Sujata Anandan around Vidarbha farmer suicides etc. It throws light on how misuse of credit by people compounds the situation created by poor rains and lack of proper irrigation. I quote: My sister spotted a vegetable vendor at the local market who had been defaulting in payment for months. When she swooped on her, the lady brazenly told my sister she had taken the loan not to buy a stall, as stated in her application, but to marry off her daughter. " Mera kaam ho gaya. Muzhe ab zaroorat nahin . (My purpose has been served. I do not need you now)," she said. Most of the money borrowed by farmers goes not into seeds or crop but into paying off their debts to moneylenders, the dowries of daughters or gambling dues... Moneylenders were big business in Andhra Pradesh's villages, too, but then the state government came up with a scheme to settle with those bloodsuckers and banned their return to the villages. Suicide rates

I wonder if its politicians or psephologists whom we should blame for perpetrating more casteism in the society. I read the following in an article on inclusive development in Hindustan Times last month - About 88 per cent of India’s SC/STs belong to this group of poor and vulnerable. Similarly, about 85 per cent of all Muslims other than the SC/STs and 80 per cent of all OBCs except Muslims are poor and vulnerable, living below per capita consumption of Rs 20 per day. Only 1 per cent of SC/STs, 2.4 per cent of OBCs other than Muslims, 2.2 per cent of Muslims other than SC/STs belong to the high income rich group, of having a per capita consumption above Rs 93 per day. Further, 86 per cent of all illiterate and 79 per cent of all those who received education below primary level belong to this group. This shows congruence of all those people in India who are poor, deprived and discriminated. The last line is a clever piece of interpretation. Is it "people who are poor and deprived

IEB has put up two posts [ 1 ] [ 2 ] on increasing divide between the rural and the urban. My own interpretation of it is of the divide between informed and uninformed - either way, there is no denying to the fact that there exists a gap which is further widening with the influx of technology and development. Many a times we debate as to how to reduce the gap, the whole system of communism is based on reducing the inequalities in the society. However, time and again it has been proved that inequalities are bound to occur; a fallout of Darwinism - they can only be reduced but cannot be eliminated. In fact, as the failure of communist system has shown - any attempt to eliminate inequalities leads to lack of motivation in individuals to compete and succeed - thus leading to stagnation of the society at large. Yet, if socialism exists -what does it mean? I interpret socialism as a just system where every human being is guaranteed basic rights and comforts. A socialist society will have in

Update Here is a good article demystifying the Indian Presidential Election process and its significance with respect to the current election. Indian politics has been witnessing reversal of two opposite kinds. On one hand is Mayawati, coming from a caste-based politics background, who broke the divide between Dalits and Brahmins and thus grabbed the CM's seat in Uttar Pradesh (a state known for caste based politics) through a pan-caste vote. On the other hand is the Congress party, maligning the election for the most revered post in Indian Democracy by playing the caste card. Clearly, selecting an unknown candidate like Pratibha Patil was not for merit but to: cleave the NDA's fold by fielding a 'Marathi' candidate dent support for Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, due to the Rajasthan ki bahu connection Patil's choice is a political masterstroke, also because it brings back the tradition followed by the Congress party under Indira Gandhi, of appointing a phony at the pr

Update: As a fellow blogger Bhopal-e pointed out, I missed the Bhopal buses (literally too, I haven't yet travelled in them). The Star Buses had been introduced in Bhopal before they were introduced in Mumbai. Also, the multicolored (all Web 2.0 colors used!) buses of Bhopal look much better than the mono-colored BEST star buses in Mumbai. Original Post I am in Bhopal - my hometown .. a lot is changing here and this time around the major changes that struck me were: 1. Radio In the past 3 months, Bhopal grew from being a single Radio channel town (FM Vivid Bharti) to a 4 FM Channel town. BIG FM (92.7), My FM (94.3) and Radio Mirchi (98.3) are already here - thats just one channel less than Mumbai! 104 Fever - where are you??? ;-) 2. Roadside Beauty Before you start getting ideas - I am talking about the beautification of road dividers and footpaths. Run along the road from MP Nagar (Ambedkar/ Board Office चौराहा) to New Market / TT Nagar - the dividers and the footpaths have bee

Having grown up in Bhopal , picnics to nearby forests, dams and other 'natural abodes' were a regular part of my childhood. However, living in a Mumbai leaves me bereft of any contact with nature - the city is urbanized to the farthest of locations. From Karjat to Colaba - it is difficult to find continuous afforestation. Nevertheless, Mumbai is near to the Sahyadri hills which are some of the most wonderful places to trek in the world - come monsoon and several Mumbai-Puneites throng to nearby forts situated in Sahyadris for outings. But last year someone suggested a novel idea - rather than simply trek around the hills, why not engage in a tree plantation activity during monsoon? I present details of this idea here on my blog - those interested can replicate the same this monsoon. The Preparations Start with collecting seeds of fruits that you eat during next few days - Gauva, mango, cheeku, sitafal, tamarind, jamun, lemon, anything you eat! These seeds will be sown during mo

Quite a few techie entrepreneurs & social scientists talk about the fruits of Information Technology helping bridge the gap between the have's and the have not's in emerging markets like India. But the best ever example of IT bridging the gap is this . Cheers to Gautam Soman for publishing this keen observation on his blog and as he himself puts it - "the son, for this fantastic scheme; or the father, for taking up this adventure at such an old age; or the cybe-caffe owner, who doesn't charge a penny for his services..." Socioeconomic Blogs: Emergic , Deesha , ProjectWhy

CNN Money has some enlightening statistics about Siberia's (Russia) Tech Potential: "Every year, Russia graduates as many science and technology specialists as India - 200,000 - although Russia is 80 percent smaller by population." "Russia's software exports total $1.8 billion annually; the country is the third-largest software-outsourcing destination in the world, after China and India." "For 30 years Novosibirsk was one of the smartest cities in the imperium, a collective of academics who put their minds to everything from nuclear physics to theoretical genetics, from the space program to the weapons aimed at the great American evil...... ... Now IT offices are springing up all around Akademgorodok's leafy lanes and industrial back alleys." "None of our programmers in Novosibirsk are programmers by education," Intel's Chase says. "They are physicists, chemists, biologists, mathematicians. They are, first of all, scientists

I am confused! When we were kids - the sentiment used to be high against Brain Drain - young talented students migrating to the US for studies and then work. But today, after the government and 'thinkers' realize the amount of benefits that accrue from the Diaspora - the situation has changed .. we are simply calling it a form of 'Globalization' On the other hand, the country which held the 'Globalization' flag high in the 70s and 80s - the US - is today faced with protests like this . The fight though is not so more on the streets than on the cyber'streets. Yes, anti-immigrant sites in the US are now using Google Bombing in an effort to combat the job-drain problem. Truthfully, I am on neither side of the debate. In my opinion, where you live, how you live, what kind of jobs you do should depend on your own likes and dislikes (aren't there several Indian who are today choosing to stay in India than migrate?) on your talent and its value in the market (

On April 1, 2007 Maharashtra became the third state in India to ban sex education after Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh . Quite appropriately isn’t it; after all wasn’t it the fool’s day?? Why is sex education important – our MLA’s ask – after all didn’t their generation learn everything there was about sex, without any formal education? By that argument, shouldn’t we ban schooling as a whole? After all, in medieval times, didn’t most people learn their about earning a livelihood without proper schooling – by learning the trade from their parents. Indeed, a return to the dreaded varna vyavastha (caste system) would appease our politicians the most! Ranting apart [Since GreatBong is better at it]– here is my argument as to why sex education is important. On April 4, NDTV released this sting operation [Link via: AlooTechie ], demonstrating how the children of today are not only prone to cerebral exposure to carnal matters through the TV and internet, but can also fall prey to physical a