August 2012: Interesting Links

* Mehta, Bhanu Pratap (2012): THE QUICKSAND OF CASTE, Indian Express, 28Aug12, URL - http://www.indianexpress.com/news/the-quicksand-of-caste/994050/0
- Reservation was no longer about justice; it was about political claims masquerading as claims about justice.
- The anxiety over slivers of representation has made it difficult to produce a larger politics of accountability.
- Division creates a politics of fear that our political class uses to disguise its own failures.
- (looking for) creative ways of getting us out of this Procrustean bed, where both freedom and justice are now hostage to a politics of identity and suspicion.

* China Today: Calligraphy Then and Now, URL - http://www.chinatoday.com.cn/ctenglish/se/txt/2012-08/14/content_475928.htm


* O'Brien, Derek (2012): THE O'BRIENS OF INDIA AND PAKISTAN, Blogpost - http://quizderek.blogspot.in/2012/08/the-obriens-of-india-and-pakistan_13.html


CAG

* Iyer, Ramaswamy R (2012): SETTING HOUNDS ON THE WATCHDOG, The Hindu, 30Aug12, URL - http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article3836708.ece?homepage=true

* Mehta, Bhanu Pratap (2012): GREAT CLEANSING ACT, Indian Express, 20Aug12, URL - http://www.indianexpress.com/news/great-cleansing-act/990402/0

* Mukhopadhyay, Amitabh (2012): CAG HAS A POINT ON COAL, Mail Today, 30Mar12, URL - www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&sqi=2&ved=0CDgQFjAD&url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2123004/AMITABH-MUKHOPADHYAY-CAG-point-coal.html&ei=eoBAUJyHGI7krAe4vID4CQ&usg=AFQjCNE0lQnJOx90DR6I39zWAn4zLQh9XA&sig2=CaaMPKDymhId9mxF24nEKQ
RAMASWAMY R. IYER

* Schuman/Kiyuku, Michael (2012); BLIND FAITH, Time, Aug12, URL - http://olympics.time.com/2012/08/23/blind-faith/
- Story of Kenyan paraolympic, Henry Wanyoike


* Arackaparambil, Rosemary, Manoj Kumar (2012): NEW LAND LAW IS BALANCING ACT FOR INDIA, IHT, 29Aug12, URL - http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/08/28/india-land-idINL4E8JS1CW20120828
- 118-year-old legislation

* Kazmin, Amin (2012): INDIA WRESTLES WITH COMPETING LAND NEEDS, Financial Times, 27Aug12

TOP ECONOMIST PONDERS INDIA’S TRUST DEFICIT, url - http://www.omglobe.com/2012/08/22/top-economist-ponders-indias-trust-deficit/
- He refers to an account 100 years ago by a frustrated European engineer in Japan named Kattendyke who wrote about supplies not arriving on time, workers showing up once and never returning, and a pervasive lack of punctuality

Blog: http://www.ulaar.com - Art of Returning to India and Staying Put

Rao, BV (2012): WHY THE FALL OF XEROX ZACHARIA IS UNTHINKABLE IN INDIAN MEDIA, First Post, 25 Aug 2012, URL - http://www.firstpost.com/india/why-the-fall-of-xerox-zakaria-is-unthinkable-in-indian-media-430088.html/2

Chandan, Pav-Bhaji and the Government, The Sleepwalker's Diary (Blog), URL -  http://sleepwalkertales.blogspot.in/2012/08/chandan-pav-bhaji-and-government.html

Happy Birthday Colors - http://www.nicopon.com/

Pilling, David (2012): JAPAN, CHINA AND THE LEGACY OF THEIR 'HISTORY PROBLEM'; Financial Times, London, 23AUG12, URL - http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/497f8d14-ec43-11e1-a91c-00144feab49a.html#axzz24SppZecT
- In 1885, an anonymous newspaper editorial  - supposedly by Yukichi Fukuzawa of the Y10,000 fame - titled "Leaving Asia"...and its impact

Allison, Graham (2012): THUCYDIDE'S TRAP HAS BEEN SPRUNG IN THE PACIFIC, Financial Times, 22Aug12, URL - http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/5d695b5a-ead3-11e1-984b-00144feab49a.html#axzz24SppZecT
- "It was the rise of Athens and the fear that this inspired in Sparta that made war inevitable" - Thucydides
- A historian's metaphor reminds us of the dangers two parties face when a rising power rivals a ruling power... Athens 5BC; Germany 19 CE, and now China 21 CE
- In a generation,  nation whose gross GDP was smaller that Spain's has become the se ond largest economy inthe world.

Twitter - @MajorlyProfound - acidic Pakistani blocked?

Harris, Shane (2012): GIVING IN TO THE SURVEILLANCE STATE, IHT, 24 Aug12
- NSA, Pentagon and Total Information Analysis (TIA)

Moldova, Gyorgy (2012): BALLPOINT, New Europe
- Hungarian inventor, Lazsto Biro (1899-1985) and the story of the ballpoint pen


Coleman, John (2012): FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO LEAD, READ; 15Aug12 HBR, URL - http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/08/for_those_who_want_to_lead_rea.html

Sanyal, Kaushiki (2012): SPEAKING WITHOUT FEAR, Indian Express, 24Aug12, URL - http://www.indianexpress.com/news/speaking-without-fear/992256/0

Indian Government appointed committee gives recommendations to increase medal tally in 2016 Olympics (UnReal Times, 21Aug12) - URL - http://www.theunrealtimes.com/2012/08/21/indian-government-appointed-committee-gives-recommendations-to-increase-medal-tally-in-2016-olympics/

Innovation (Economist Quotes) - http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2012/08/z-business-quotations-1?fsrc=gn_ep

Cartoon - The Hindu - Support Prices - http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/cartoon/article3800092.ece

Theodore Darlymple (2012): INDIA'S CONTRIBUTION TO THE OLYMPICS - INDIFFERENCE, WSJ, url - http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443324404577595091687114760.html

Sengupta, Shombit (2012): McJEANS INDIA? Indian Express, 12Aug12
- Denim fabric was crafted in Nimes, France, in the 17th century; originally called Serge de Nimes. The contemporary term jeans comes from Genes, the French word for Genoa (Italy) sailors who wore denim workpants.


An Open Letter to Arnab Goswami - http://www.manushi.in/articles.php?articleId=1616


Why the U.S. Fracking Industry Worries About the Weather in India (Time, Jul 2012) - http://world.time.com/2012/07/17/why-the-u-s-fracking-industry-worries-about-the-weather-in-india/#ixzz23jNkAlf5

Dance of the Starlings
Murmuration (a group of starlings) - http://vimeo. com/31158841
starlings being attacked by a peregrine falcon - http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=b8eZJnbDHIg
explanation - http://beheco. oxfordjournals. org/content/ 21/6/1349. full

http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-18563_162-1409061.html


* TED -- Shashi Tharoor: Why nations should pursue "soft" power --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiTrl0W1QrM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

* TED - Margaret Heffernan: Dare to Disagree
URL - http://www.ted.com/talks/margaret_heffernan_dare_to_disagree.html?utm_source=newsletter_weekly_2012-08-10&utm_campaign=newsletter_weekly&utm_medium=email


* Sabastien, PT (2012): OLD DIET, NEW RECIPE, Business Today, 5Aug12, URL - http://businesstoday.intoday.in/story/cash-transfer-programme-lieu-of-subsidised-foodgrain/1/186383.html

* Nike Advt - Find Your Greatness - "...greatness is no more unique to us than breathing...we're all capable it it...all of us. URL - http://www.businessinsider.com/america-is-falling-in-love-with-the-chubby-kid-in-this-awesome-new-nike-ad-2012-8

* Khera, Reetika (2012): PUTTING KERALA TO WORK, The Hindu, 1Aug12, URL - http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article3708704.ece?homepage=true

Asian Voices in the Colonial Tide

A few days ago, when I requested the librarian at CPR for a copy of Pankaj Mishra's recently released book, "From the Ruins of Empire", I didn't really expect it bring back memories of Prof. Liang Pan's remarkable course at the University of Tsukuba.

Mishra's book goes well beyond the scope of Prof. Pan's sessions which were mostly centered on the dynamics of Meiji Restoration and the consequent transformation of Japan. It explores how the contemporaries of the Meji aristocrats in 19th century Turkey, Egypt, India, China and the Philippines responded to the challenges coming from Western missionaries, traders, soldiers and diplomats.

It follows the life and times of some remarkable individuals: Jamal al-Din Afghani, Liang Qichao, Fukuzawa Yukichi (of the Yen 10,000 note fame) and Rabindranath Tagore. As the drama unfolds, many others make a cameo appearance but play roles that anything but marginal, and these include Qichao's mentor, Kang Youwei; A traditionalist philosopher, Tan Sitong who famously discarded a chance to escape by saying that China would never renew itself until men were prepared to die for it.

Also rather revealing is the role of Japanese intellectuals who sharpened the contradiction between the nation's 'imperative to expand and dominate...and the pan-Asianist desire to express solidarity with other Asian countries.

One of them, Okuwa Shumei, 'Japan's leading scholar of Indian and Islamic cultures' was said to have converted to pan-Asianism after reading a book India's dire state under the British....which book was this?

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LINKS

* Mishra, Pankaj (2012): FROM THE RUINS OF EMPIRE, Allan Lane  Penguin, London, 2012