May 2012: Links of the Month

* Hill, David (2012): 8,200+ Strong, Researchers Band Together To Force Science Journals To Open Access, URL - http://singularityhub.com/2012/03/18/8200-strong-researchers-band-together-to-force-science-journals-to-open-access/

* Etymology: Tikhana = Feudal holding of a Thakur!
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1525/aa.1959.61.1.02a00390/pdf


* Mehta, Bhanu Pratap (2012): THE SIN OF LITTLENESS, IE 29May12 - URL - http://www.indianexpress.com/news/sin-of-littleness/954929/
- Contagion of small-mindedness...mismatch between responsibility and the character of those being called to exercise it.
- Behind every economic problem lies a political one...behind most political problems there is a psychological one, a set of inchoate sentiments that undrlie action: insecurities that warp judgement, fears that lead to inhibition, pettiness that leads to destruction.


* Subramanian, Samanth (2012): The Outlier - The inscrutable politics of Subramanian Swamy, Caravan 1May12 - URL - http://www.caravanmagazine.in/Story.aspx?Storyid=1389&StoryStyle=FullStory

* Mehta, Bhanu Pratap (2012): COMIC STRIPPED, IE 16May12 - URL - http://www.indianexpress.com/news/comic-stripped/949754/0
- ...Reflects the ultimate triumph of sullenness over humour, cowardice over liberty, conformism over individuality.
- Part of the problem is that we become defenders of free intellectual inquiry only when someone else’s sentiments are outraged.
- There are several reasons:
(1) most community identities in our politics are constituted by a narrative of victimhood
(2) the things that unite groups are icons, not thought. Thought is dangerous, because it can potentially create disagreements...For icons to live thought has to die; for Gods to be worshipped their presence has to be abstract.
(3) we have a public culture that produces two different kinds of insecurities - The first is political insecurity...The second insecurity is that our intellectual cultures don’t have a shared basis for conversation. Like politicians, our authority has also been established by group think rather than shared protocols of professional excellence.


* Varshney, Ashutosh (2012): ARE THE STATES TOO STRONG? IE, 24May12 p10 - URL  - http://www.indianexpress.com/news/are-the-states-too-strong/953004/
- At the time of the French Revolution less than 50% of Frenchmen spoke French
- SL&Y - 'If states have strong teritorially based diversity, they need to internalise the state-nation, not the nation-state concept
- The simultaneous persuit of recognising diversity and building unity is not an easy task

* Raghavan, Srividhya (2012): Imprisoning the consumer behind a digital firewall, The Hindu, 23 May 12 -
- Digital Rights Management


* Sollo Chaudhury: The Indian who drove around the world in 80 days. Then, when the British Army beat his record by 40 days, he went to regain his GBWR title by driving around the world in 39 days!
-  http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-toi/A-race-against-time/articleshow/1844674506.cms
- http://www.telegraphindia.com/1030813/asp/nation/story_2259074.asp
- http://www.daijiworld.com/news/printer.asp?nid=24525


* Kerala Budget 2012: Nearly Bankrupt But High Education Spends - Deccan Chronicle (12Jan12) -
-  total overseas remittance was approximately Rs 50,000 crore in 2011.
Unemployment rates in rural Kerala were as high as 15.8% in 2004-05 even though it eased to 9% in 2009-10. The corresponding figures for urban areas were 19.9% and 8.3% respectively.


* Tiwari, Shivanand (2012): WHAT IS YOUR CASTE?, IE 7May12 p10
- Bangau Laxman and K.Balakrishnan are being prosecuted because they are Dalits (article by Bihari Brahmin!)

* Nair, Karthika (2012): Poems -- Uttaraa- Life Sentences, The Caravan 5May12 - http://www.caravanmagazine.in/Story/1393/Uttaraa--I.-Life-Sentences.html

* PIB - Trends in Unemployment - http://www.pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=82928
> Urban highest - Tripura 17%, Nagaland 9%, Kerala
> rural highest - Chandigadh 24%, Nagaland 10%

* Desai, Megnad (2012): Respectfully Yours, IE 6May12, Indian Express Eye, 6 May12 - http://www.indianexpress.com/news/respectfully-yours/945865/
- The British newspapers watch their MPs like hawks. It was they who discovered the scandal of MPs’ expenses and pursued the matter relentlessly till four MPs had to go to jail....They are mocked at, lampooned, reviled and treated like cases fit for the lunatic asylum. 


* Khan (2012): Symphony for Kabul, Indian Express, Sunday Eye - http://www.indianexpress.com/news/a-symphony-for-kabul/945874/


TED VIDEOS

- TED - Brenda Braithwaite: Gaming for Understanding

- TED - Joe Smith: How to Use a Paper Towel 

- TED - Larry Smith: Why you will fail your career

'All Architecture is Political'

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At a time when the rest of the English-language media is busy  flinging mud at Mayavati's "Dr. Ambedkar Memorial Park" in Noida, here is a refreshing, contrarian view from Jerry Rao:

Rao, Jerry (Indian Express, 2011): The Elites Don't Get it
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/elites-dont-get-it/861197/0

Exerpt:

Media pundits and self-appointed experts forget a central theme in human affairs: all architecture is political. Tirumala Nayak’s palace in Madurai, the Red Fort in Delhi, Herbert Baker’s Parliament in New Delhi are all political statements meant to overawe subjects or impress them in other ways. By the way, this is also true of Trajan’s Column in Rome, the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, the Washington Monument in DC and St Paul’s Cathedral in London. With the rise of nationalism and the excessive interest in “identity politics” that has characterised the last two centuries, architecture has been used consciously or otherwise, by elites, to create, enhance and sustain pride in group identities.

Somehow, you realize the magnitude of what she is trying to achieve only when you take a look at the bigger picture. A good way to get this is through Christophe Jaffrelot's book, Dr Ambedkar and Untouchability - Analysing and Fighting Caste.