Sunday 16 August 2009

Some hope..it's raining. The rains have now moved over to august in the past couple of years. June /July is getting to be dry. I hope the rains keep coming year after year even if they have changed their timetable...we should change ours in response.
Shouldn't agri scientists be giving advice on when to sow now that the rains are following a different timetable?

Monday 10 August 2009

Amartya Sen on the Bengal famine " I knew of no one in my school or among my friends and relations whose family had experienced the slightest problem during the entire famine; it was not a famine that afflicted even the lower middle classes - only people much further down the economic ladder, such as landless rural labourers." http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/1998/sen-autobio.html

The decision makers do not suffer the effects of famine and food shortage, so they do not respond adequately. Only now that the spectre of food shortage is looming large, people are talking about using fertile land for SEZs and other such issues.

Sunday 9 August 2009

I used to talk to myself (not aloud though) if there was anything worrying me. Now I post on this blog but not really about my worries. Now I shall.

My worry is what if it doesnt rain this year..next year would be unlivable ..and if it doesnt rain next year too, I dont think we can survive...no water, no electricity, perhaps exorbitant food...it is coming so much sooner than most of us thought possible.

Tuesday 4 August 2009

quite hopeless

The bottle neck in the education system is the teacher. No amount of curriculum modernisation is going to help if finally a fantastic curriculum is being taught by a teacher who does not understand the subject matter.
Many teachers in school are poorly educated themselves, they are not very knowledgable. They do not have the skills required to research for information nor do they have the means to do so. ...though I must say, after my stint in the village, I am impressed by the way BSNL has brought broadband to villages.
The teachers were taught by the existing mug-up-and-write method, so how are they going to teach any different? and how can we expect them to understand the curriculum and teach with some insight into the subject they teach?
I do not see any hope.

Ceiling fan

 I read somewhere that as a solution for student suicides, IISc has decided to remove fans from hostel rooms. No fan, no suicide. This shoul...