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From fractions to millions: Getting more people to challenge corruption using mobile phones
An initiative to use mobile phones to combat corruption in programmes that matter to the poorest people in India.
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The twain shall meet
Posted on January 6, 2011 | No CommentsThere is never a moment of dullness when the opposites meet “I hid the camera, is there anything else that I should hide?” The preparation for Vipul’s visit started with this. Vipul and Dr. K and polar opposites in two ways. Vipul’s cardinal philosophy is: if I see a button, I press it. Inevitably, he has a history of ipods, laptops and other devices crashing with his interventions. The highlight of this trip being the crash of the ticketing machine at the railway station; he could simply not resist playing with while he waited to be picked up. Dr. K... -
Understanding Tamil Nadu’s commitment to public services: An institutional perspective
Posted on December 31, 2010 | No CommentsMy doctoral dissertation on the question of why Tamil Nadu has an impressive commitment to providing basic public services such as roads, water, electricity and education. -
Why even those who oppose Naxalism should support Binayak Sen
Posted on December 31, 2010 | No CommentsBinayak Sen has just received a life-term jail sentence for sedition or waging war against the state. The specific crime, according to the judgement, was that he conveyed three letters written by a Maoist leader to a Calcutta-based trader. This was supported by a broader claim that Binayak Sen and his wife Ilina have known Maoists, and that Binayak even had Maoist literature at his home! Callous evidence The evidence presented for the critical claims of the case have been disputed. He met Narayan Sanyal several times in jail, under the supervision of jailors and was searched before and after... -
Toothpaste, hair oil, and democracy
Posted on December 15, 2010 | No CommentsA recent survey says that Dalits of Uttar Pradesh have started using toothpaste and hair oil more regularly. Will it have an impact on democracy? Economic and Political Weekly recently carried the report of the survey by Devesh Kapur and others (Kapur et al. 2010). The paper argued that there have been important changes in grooming, eating practices and ceremonial consumption patterns of Dalits, and in general a rapid erosion of discriminatory practices that stigmatised the Dalits of Uttar Pradesh. This interesting survey draws attention to perceived discrimination, and how it has changed since the 1990s. The authors draw attention... -
Nothing as entertaining as extremism
Posted on December 13, 2010 | No CommentsIn a world that is deeply worried about extremism I have learned to love it. In fact, there is nothing as entertaining as it is. Whenever I am bored and need a diversion, I find extremism and its close cousins: insanity and craziness, to be extremely reliable means of getting out of my boredom quickly. That’s insane, you must be thinking. Or perhaps not, if have a YouTube view of the world, as I do. All I need to do is to go to YouTube and start typing “extreme” or “insane” or “crazy” and it will give me an assortment... -
Has the Bihari citizen spoken?
Posted on December 11, 2010 | No CommentsThe 2010 Bihar election clearly reflected people’s voice, but sustained engagement by all sections of the society would be required for these voices to shape the government. In a press conference following the massive victory in the election, the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar remembered the massive changes that have happened in the electoral atmosphere of Bihar. As soon as the election got over, we would visit hospitals or families of dead people. It did not look like an election; it looked like war, he recalled. He also characterised erstwhile strategies of political parties during elections as logon ka kayal kam,... -
A nightmare abut towels
Posted on November 9, 2010 | No CommentsLove needs surveillance, and nothing escapes the eyes of Dr. K. She has the uncanny ability of retracing my day with telltale details. Within minutes of returning from work she normally recounts whether I ate, napped, read, did the laundry, etc. Normally her account is accurate. So, when she came home and declared that I did not go swimming as I had promised, I was surprised. “But I did go swimming”, I told her. She looked puzzled and asked me what towel I used and I pointed out the brown towels that we regularly use in the bathroom. “You don’t... -
Travelling with Shiva
Posted on November 5, 2010 | 1 CommentShiva looked comfortable. He was resting his back on a pile of bags and threw his legs on another pile in front of him, his foot going as high as his head on the other direction. With his head resting on his clasped palms behind him, and the face sporting an elaborate smile, he looked like he was resting on a hammock, and not a jeep full of people and things. Our jeep was loaded with stuff, after all, it was carrying the baggage of nine people who had travelled for a seven day trip to Rajasthan. Two hours down... -
Where questions stop
Posted on November 4, 2010 | No CommentsA few days ago I was listening to a biologist who recounted a philosophic conversation. In it the philosopher asked a man who had gone to the market why he was there. “To buy vegetables”, the man answered. “Why do you want vegetables?”, the philosopher continued. “So that I can eat” “Why do you want to eat?” “So that I can be healthy” “Why do you want to be healthy?” “Because I will be unhappy if I am not healthy” “Ah, you are in the market so that you can be happy”, said the philosopher and stopped his round of... -
Creating a Yelp for the government
Posted on October 13, 2010 | No CommentsIn 2004 website called yelp.com was created to help people find local businesses such as small restaurants, salons, etc. The idea of the website was simple. Any user or a business can locate itself on the map and provide basic information about itself. For example, a restaurant could describe itself and provide its menu and other details, and any user could review the organisation. Someone who is looking for a service, e.g. salon in a particular area, can now search easily for all salons by the price, services and reviews. What yelp does is to enable people anyone to find...
