Knowledge is of no real value if all it can tell us what happened yesterday. It is necessary to tell what will happen tomorrow -not only necessary, but fun. All you have to do is just stick your neck out.
The Meaning of it All
Richard Feynman
Imagination and Science
It is surprising that people do not believe there is imagination in science. It is a very interesting kind of imagination, unlike that of an artist. The great difficulty is in trying to imagine something that you have never seen, that is consistent with what has already been seen, and that is different from what has been thought of; furthermore, it must be definite and not a vague proposition. That is indeed difficult.
The Meaning of it All
Richard Feynman
The Meaning of it All
Richard Feynman
Survival
If I get a chance, Would I give any sort of ready-made equality to everyone?
Yes. I would like to make everyone free of survival as the reason to do anything. Anything but survival will do. Survival seems like such a cheap reason to do anything.
Do you remember the beggar on the signal who asks you for a rupee or a gajarewali mulagi who pleads you to buy one even when you dont want to or a chaiwala on the bus stand who wakes up at 4 in the morning or come closer- your son terribly studying because he needs good grades to survive in this 'bad' world or still closer- you doing extrawork in the office just to please your boss when you really would have been enjoying a hot coffee at your home.
What is common in these cases is they are all doing something that is forced on them- no choice you see. And the reason is a percieved danger to your survival. How realistic it is I have no idea. But it is a percieved danger.
Chillax kid. You might say. No need to make it so harsh. Thats Life! You might want to say just in case even you start seeing survival is a cheap reason. Makes you somehow uncomfortable, does it?
I deny accepting life like this. Are we living in THE fear? (Whatever happened to good ol' "Fuck fear, drink beer" btw.) The question is- can you refuse to live like this? Can the boy at the signal refuse to live like this?
Thats why I want to help you. (It is sounding cheaper than survival. Sometime later, I ll tell you whats in it for me) I want a world where everyone can chose how he wants to survive. You will have to take the trouble to find another reason to do things then. (Its not so easy at it sounds)
To start with- how about because you like something?
Yes. I would like to make everyone free of survival as the reason to do anything. Anything but survival will do. Survival seems like such a cheap reason to do anything.
Do you remember the beggar on the signal who asks you for a rupee or a gajarewali mulagi who pleads you to buy one even when you dont want to or a chaiwala on the bus stand who wakes up at 4 in the morning or come closer- your son terribly studying because he needs good grades to survive in this 'bad' world or still closer- you doing extrawork in the office just to please your boss when you really would have been enjoying a hot coffee at your home.
What is common in these cases is they are all doing something that is forced on them- no choice you see. And the reason is a percieved danger to your survival. How realistic it is I have no idea. But it is a percieved danger.
Chillax kid. You might say. No need to make it so harsh. Thats Life! You might want to say just in case even you start seeing survival is a cheap reason. Makes you somehow uncomfortable, does it?
I deny accepting life like this. Are we living in THE fear? (Whatever happened to good ol' "Fuck fear, drink beer" btw.) The question is- can you refuse to live like this? Can the boy at the signal refuse to live like this?
Thats why I want to help you. (It is sounding cheaper than survival. Sometime later, I ll tell you whats in it for me) I want a world where everyone can chose how he wants to survive. You will have to take the trouble to find another reason to do things then. (Its not so easy at it sounds)
To start with- how about because you like something?
learn, relearn and unlearn
The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn
Beauty
Beauty! Sounds like a deep philosophical idea, right? Specially, when you are looking at a clear dark sky, countless stars, a crescent moon and the Venus; just before the God of the east will command them to dissolve in his brightness. Divinely beautiful! I am captivated.
I come back and set to capture this beauty in words on my blog. And I stumble. I just cannot describe how beautiful it was. I cannot because I do not know why is it so beautiful? Or even, what do I mean by it is beautiful? I cannot define what I mean by beauty. Perhaps, I am too much influenced by the image that has been shaped by years of my nurture- that sky, those stars, the moon, the Venus. It has to be beauty.
And then I remember what I had talked with someone long back. Is beauty something that gives me visual pleasure? Just a physiological response! (Kill me, O! charming Venus!) Does it really matter? Does it somehow make it less beautiful? To understand that it might be a physiological response. Plain and pure pleasure!
Is this feeling any different than seeing the vehicle lights reflecting from poles on the road, steam from the hot cup of tea, the sunlight slowly pouring in or just thinking of this question- Why is it all so beautiful?
SEZ policy: excerpts
SEZs- leading to the growth of labour intensive manufacturing industry: Out of the 404 formal approvals given till date, 137 approvals are for sector specific and multi product SEZs for manufacture of Textiles & Apparels, Leather Footwear, Automobile components, Engineering etc.. which would involve labour intensive manufacturing. The employment projected in the 172 SEZs notified so far is over 2142,089 additional jobs. SEZs are thus going to lead to creation of employment for large number of unemployed rural youth. Nokia and Flextronics electronics hardware SEZs in Sriperumbudur are already providing employment to 7932 and 2069 persons, majority of which are women. Hyderabad Gems SEZ for Jewellery manufacturing in Hyderabad has already employed 1200 girls majority of whom are from landless families, after providing training to them. They have a projected direct employment for about 30,000 persons. Apache SEZ being set up in Andhra Pradesh will employ 20, 000 persons to manufacture 10,00,000 pairs of shoes every month. Current employment in Apache SEZ is 3549 persons. Brandix Apparels, a Sri Lankan FDI project would provide employment to 60,000 workers over a period of 3 years. Even in the services sector, 12.5 million sq meters space is expected in the IT/ITES SEZs which as per the NASSCOM standards translates into 12.5 lakh jobs. It is, therefore, expected that establishment of SEZs would lead to fast growth of labour intensive manufacturing and services in the country.
Heroes
"Heroes know that things must happen when it is time for them to happen. A quest may not simply be abandoned; unicorns may go unrescued for a long time, but not forever; a happy ending cannot come in the middle of the story"
Exams!!
Saurabh Mahajan, reporting live from Semester Exams, Institute of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology- an institute whose mandate is creating Biotechnologist for the 21st century India.
One more semester of bullshit exams, tensed bullshit faces, bullshit teachers, bullshit questions, bullshit answers, bullshit happiness because you could answer every bullshit question the Teacher tried to scare you with.
We have a plant taxonomy exam. “THE VIVA”!! What are the economically important alga? The Gymnosperms? The Angiosperms? What is heterospory? Identify the same bullshit specimen they showed you during the laboratory course. Nothing on what recent article you have read, nothing about a new company you found which produces antibodies from moss cells, nothing even about the forest you have visited, the plants you saw... Who cares? They just want to do their duties and feel happy that they are creating Biotechnologists for the new century India. उपकारच वाटतात साल्यांना.
चिडचिड होते. कितीही ठरवलं की, यासगळ्याकडे लक्ष नाही द्यायचं. Look at the positive side. Whatever little they are trying to do. पण नाही सहन होत कधी-कधी… Why? Why cant they be humans trying to excel for their own sake? If not, then for the sake of their children, their society, their nation…Bullshit!!
One more semester of bullshit exams, tensed bullshit faces, bullshit teachers, bullshit questions, bullshit answers, bullshit happiness because you could answer every bullshit question the Teacher tried to scare you with.
We have a plant taxonomy exam. “THE VIVA”!! What are the economically important alga? The Gymnosperms? The Angiosperms? What is heterospory? Identify the same bullshit specimen they showed you during the laboratory course. Nothing on what recent article you have read, nothing about a new company you found which produces antibodies from moss cells, nothing even about the forest you have visited, the plants you saw... Who cares? They just want to do their duties and feel happy that they are creating Biotechnologists for the new century India. उपकारच वाटतात साल्यांना.
चिडचिड होते. कितीही ठरवलं की, यासगळ्याकडे लक्ष नाही द्यायचं. Look at the positive side. Whatever little they are trying to do. पण नाही सहन होत कधी-कधी… Why? Why cant they be humans trying to excel for their own sake? If not, then for the sake of their children, their society, their nation…Bullshit!!
Education System
Now I am trying to identify how close we are to such an education system.
I am reading the National Policy on Education (1986, revised in 1992). According to the NPE the essence and role of education (among others) is to-
1. Create individuals with scientific temper and an independent mind and spirit.
2. Create manpower for all levels of economy and Research and Development.
“Education is an investment for the present and future. This cardinal principle is the key to the National Policy on Education”
2 points are very notable-
1. Absence of focus on creating able individuals to achieve the above goals. There is no discussion on what qualities must such an individual have and how education can help achieve them. The education policy seems to focus on the social and developmental goals that education has to meet in general.
2. And if education is seen as an investment, what are the criteria to judge the returns and does the education policy ensure the returns.
The specific aims of higher education have been identified as-
1. Dissemination of specialised knowledge and skills.
2. Producing teachers for the system.
I can identify 3 components (in hierarchy) for achieving these goals-
1. A proper organization of higher education institutes and coordination amongst
them.
2. Infrastructural facilities in these institutes.
3. Efficiency of the grass root teaching and learning process.
Obviously, problems persist in all the 3 components and absence of any one component can lead to severe impediment of the output.
Being a student the teaching and learning process is the closest to me. I will try to identify the problems with this component.
I am reading the National Policy on Education (1986, revised in 1992). According to the NPE the essence and role of education (among others) is to-
1. Create individuals with scientific temper and an independent mind and spirit.
2. Create manpower for all levels of economy and Research and Development.
“Education is an investment for the present and future. This cardinal principle is the key to the National Policy on Education”
2 points are very notable-
1. Absence of focus on creating able individuals to achieve the above goals. There is no discussion on what qualities must such an individual have and how education can help achieve them. The education policy seems to focus on the social and developmental goals that education has to meet in general.
2. And if education is seen as an investment, what are the criteria to judge the returns and does the education policy ensure the returns.
The specific aims of higher education have been identified as-
1. Dissemination of specialised knowledge and skills.
2. Producing teachers for the system.
I can identify 3 components (in hierarchy) for achieving these goals-
1. A proper organization of higher education institutes and coordination amongst
them.
2. Infrastructural facilities in these institutes.
3. Efficiency of the grass root teaching and learning process.
Obviously, problems persist in all the 3 components and absence of any one component can lead to severe impediment of the output.
Being a student the teaching and learning process is the closest to me. I will try to identify the problems with this component.
Changing the system
’जाग्रुती यात्रे’ बद्दल वाचत होतो.
“You could be one of the 450 people selected to join the yatra which kicks off on 1st May 2008. We are seeking participants between the age of 18-25 to apply, especially those who have an interest in learning how to scale up grass roots social and business initiatives. If your application is succesful, you will have the opportunity to meet and learn from the real heroes and change makers of India and pick up on invaluable, life changing experience.”
As a part of their application they have asked us to fill up a questionnaire.
One of the questions was- “What is the single biggest challenge that India faces in the next decade? What will be your contribution towards addressing the challenge you mentioned above?”
I think that the biggest challenge before us as a country is to increase the efficiency in grass root processes in every sector including education, governance, bureaucracy, industry and commerce. For achieving optimal efficiency in any process apart from the suitable infrastructure it is necessary that the human resource involved is competent and willing to achieve the optimal efficiency. This will happen only when every individual realises his full potential and expresses it for achieving efficiency. So, the challenge is to create a society which will produce such individuals.
There are many factors that should form the part of such a society. The foremost being an education system conducive to our aim. (So the reforms have to inevitably begin with the educational system) What are the elements of such an educational system?
“You could be one of the 450 people selected to join the yatra which kicks off on 1st May 2008. We are seeking participants between the age of 18-25 to apply, especially those who have an interest in learning how to scale up grass roots social and business initiatives. If your application is succesful, you will have the opportunity to meet and learn from the real heroes and change makers of India and pick up on invaluable, life changing experience.”
As a part of their application they have asked us to fill up a questionnaire.
One of the questions was- “What is the single biggest challenge that India faces in the next decade? What will be your contribution towards addressing the challenge you mentioned above?”
I think that the biggest challenge before us as a country is to increase the efficiency in grass root processes in every sector including education, governance, bureaucracy, industry and commerce. For achieving optimal efficiency in any process apart from the suitable infrastructure it is necessary that the human resource involved is competent and willing to achieve the optimal efficiency. This will happen only when every individual realises his full potential and expresses it for achieving efficiency. So, the challenge is to create a society which will produce such individuals.
There are many factors that should form the part of such a society. The foremost being an education system conducive to our aim. (So the reforms have to inevitably begin with the educational system) What are the elements of such an educational system?
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