the speaking tree - The Slippery Slope Of Subjective Judgment

Anand Vardhan Kanoria





When we meet people, how do we decide whether we want to associate with them in the future? What kind of relationship do we want to have with them? How do we decide whether we like or dislike their character? The answer comes naturally .A first impression based on our instinct.Dogs are known to be masters of this art, but we are not. How then do we base the most important decisions in our life on a tentative process? It is possible that our instinct is accurate. But instinct leads to an assumption of certain personality traits in the other. Premature judgments blend into biases, which reinforce our initial appraisal.
Premature judgment is therefore an error. Through this logical analysis of the mind's processes, one could conclude that instinct is irrational.What we need to develop is a dependable intuition, which unlike instinct is based on knowledge, experience and logic. The solution probably lies in the development of an objective, personalised scale for the measurement of character. Personalised in the preceding sentence unfortunately reduces the scale's applicability to oneself only; but with `objective' being the encouragement, i shall continue.
The three broad windows into character are actions, words and, most signif icantly, thoughts. Our actions reflect our personality. We often tailor our behaviour to the exigencies of situations. We also try to fashion images and impressions of and for ourselves.This results in an inaccurate perception. Handshakes and `walks' are examples of frequently customised actions.They are, consequently, useless as mirrors of personality.Clothes, hand movements, pos tures and eye direction could be candid indicators. What we make of our observations depends on what we are looking for ­ strength of eye contact, attire or posture. Moving on to the second criterion, here i find myself in a quandary: A judgment on words depends on the topic selected and how it is introduced. To solve the problem, i never introduce the topic. How we introduce the topic and our personal likes and dislikes reflect on our perception of ourselves. The selection of a dreary topic like the weather spells indistinctiveness and lack of imagination.The highest scoring topic is one related to the reason for the conversation itself.
I realise the reader's anxiety to move on to thought, the third category, since the word comes with so much meaning attached. To gauge thought is an art. It is the essence of this judgment scale of character. There are certain prerequisites for an accurate interpretation of thought.
We must learn, first, to `feel' our thoughts rather than `think' them.Thinking our thoughts might make us construct them consciously. Feeling gives our thoughts a naturalness and spontaneity. In essence, we must let our mind flood with thoughts from without; not construct them within.
Second, we must learn to empathise.Understanding and compassion stand for objective judgment. A feeling encompasses all the emotions generated at that time.Words can mislead but it seems that feelings never quite fail. That is why identifying a feeling is essential. I am not declaring thoughts to be objective. Thoughts are subjective but can be interpreted objectively, and this is possible through the mastery of these two directives.
While applying this technique, i find myself with a residual hope. To meet the perfect person is and shall always remain due. The person i hope to meet is someone who is not `mentally immune' to a stranger's feeling ­ his pain, agony and loss. It is easy for us to care only for people we are close to ­ our loved and known ones.Our heart has yet to look beyond.
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Vedanta - Money Leads to Illusion

SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR





Money gives one a sense of freedom and ownership. We believe that with money , we can own anything or put a price tag on anybody's services.Ownership of something means total control of its existence. When we buy a piece of land, we feel that we own it, although the land continues to exist even after the owner is no more. How can we own something that outlives us?
Money also gives the idea that we are powerful and independent, blinding us to the fact that we live in a world of interdependence.... If we look at why most people with money are arrogant, we will find it is because of the feeling of independence that money brings. The awareness of dependence, on the other hand, makes one humble.
The basic hu man quality of humility is taken away by a false feeling of independence.
Can money really reflect the worth of a person?... As possession of money creates the illusion of independence, money is often referred to as maya.... On the other hand, some people blame money for all the ills in society. There are others who even consider it an evil. Just as possessing money brings arrogance, rejecting it too makes one arrogant.
Some people who renounce money take pride in their poverty to draw attention and sympathy . However, ancient sages honoured money , or maya, as a part of the divine and transcended the grip of its illusion. They knew that when we reject or hate something, we can never transcend it.

Rajasthan becomes No. 1 state in solar energy in India

Rajasthan has become number one state in the country in terms of total installed capacity of solar energy.

It was revealed in recently released data by the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.  Rajasthan with total 1,167 megawatt (MW) installed capacity has surpassed Gujarat (1000 MW) which was previous number one state in the country.

Top five states in India are (in terms of installed capacity)

• Rajasthan: 1147 MW.
• Gujarat: 1000 MW.
• Madhya Pradesh:58 MW.
• Maharashtra: 7 MW.
• Andhra Pradesh:4 MW.

In 2014, Rajasthan government had released its Solar Policy which aimed at installing 25000 MW of solar power in state. In this policy state government had introduced numerous investor-friendly measures to tap full potential of solar power.

One of the key measure introduced was to installed solar plants was through State, Private Enterprises or Public-Private partnership (PPP). In this regard state government had inked agreements number of private companies to develop solar parks with a cumulative capacity of 26,000 MW.

It should be noted that Rajasthan has all natural advantage for solar parks such as abundant barren land and high solar radiation (insolation) in the country.

un 25 2015 : The Times of India (Delhi)

On per capita terms, India far behind top 3 emitters

Vishwa Mohan

New Delhi:





WRI Data May Help Delhi In Climate Talks

As the global community gears up for the crucial Paris climate summit, the World Resources Institute (WRI) -a global research organization -has come out with its latest analyses of the country-wise emissions of climate-damaging greenhouse gases. It shows India, despite being the fourth largest carbon emitter, continues to be far behind the other three top big emitters in terms of per capita emission.Though the data, released by the WRI, cannot be used as an excuse by India for not acting against its emission, such figures will certainly give the country an upper hand while negotiating for a global climate deal. India invariably uses the `per capita' yardstick while insisting on more comprehensive actions from rich nations. However, developing countries like China, Mexico and Brazil too are way ahead of India in terms of their per capita contribution to the overall emissions. And, this is the reason why a section within the Indian government has time and again argued not to compare the country's action with that of the Chinese goal.
The WRI analysis is based on data from its Climate Analysis Indicators Tool (CAIT) that has recently released its emission figures for the year 2012. It also came out with details as how the various economic sectors have contributed to the overall emission. “Per capita emissions are still distributed unequally“, it said, pointing out that the per person emissions still vary among the top 10 emitters, with the United States' per capita emissions eight times that of India.
According to the figures, the largest emitters contribute a majority of global emissions as the top 10 emitters contribute over 72% of global greenhouse gas emissions (excluding land use change and forestry). On the other hand, the lowest 100 emitters contribute less than 3%.
“While universal climate action is necessary, significant mitigation actions are needed by the largest emitters, taking into account that they have different capacities to do so,“ said the WRI in its document.
It shows the energy sector is the dominant source of greenhouse gas emissions. It contributes more than 75% of global emissions. “ A rapid transformation of the energy sector by 2050, as the G7 (top rich countries) suggested in their announcement, is necessary to avoid the worst impacts of climate change,“ it said.
The analysis also shows that emission sources vary by country . While the energy sector dominates, industrial emissions in China contribute more than 3% of global emissions and new data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) indicate that agriculture contributes a notable share of Brazil's and Australia's emissions.
“Mitigation policy options that countries should therefore align with their national circumstances“, the WRI suggested while sharing and analyzing those figures. Six of the top 10 emitters are developing countries. China contributes approximately 25% of global emissions, making it the top emitter.

Why are some of us left-handed?

Why are some of us left-handed while others use the right hand for most activities? This question is yet to be answered in a convincing way. Estimates are that anywhere between 9-20% of us humans are lefties. Since this is a minority, lefties face a variety of inconveniences in daily life, be it in opening doors by turning knobs or opening locks, using can openers, or in many others minor but necessary matters and tasks. And more often than not, children who are naturally left-handed are weaned away from it and encouraged (read ‘forced’) to use their right hand. This occasionally leads to awkwardness, and hence derision by the righties- majority. Recall the words like gaucherie (clumsiness, derived from the French gauche for left) and sinister, as opposed to dexterous (from the Latin dextermeaning right and sinister forleft).

An eminently readable review on why some people are left-handed has appeared six years ago, written by Llaurens, Raymond and Faurie (Phil. Trans. Royal Soc. B, 2009, 364, 881-894, freely downloadable, highly recommended). They analyze several factors that appear involved. Anthropology shows that this asymmetry is an age-old feature. Neanderthals (35000 years ago) and even earlier homo (a million years ago) were predominantly ‘righties’ and some lefties. We thus have a historical (even prehistoric) legacy, or what evolutionary biologists call as selection pressure with a preponderance of right-handers.

It varies based on geography and social factors. Analysis of writing habits in people across 17 countries in Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia revealed lefties to be anywhere between 2.5 to 12.8%. And in most populations, the proportion of left-handers among women was lower than in men. Is this because of genetics (x-chromosome which women bear) or discrimination is not clear.

Genetic factors might offer a possibility, and has been studied. Left-handedness seems to run in families. My wife Shakti is a leftie, so was her mother, so are some of her nephews. Our daughter, Katyayani, displayed some left-handedness in her infancy (but is now a rightie) while her daughter Kimaya is a left-hander. Several readers will surely cite similar family-runs of left handedness. Whether this is a genetic or learning level phenomenon is unclear. One way of looking at this a little sharper has been to study twins (particularly identical twins). One such study suggests that the tendency for hand preference was more in identical twins that in non-identical. While more studies are warranted, this result suggests a possibility of heritability, thus allowing the role of natural selection.

As of now, however there is no “handedness gene” that has been discovered, although the Oxford psychiatrist Tim Crow has suggested that mutations in the gene PCDH11X might be responsible for the evolution of handedness, brain asymmetry, language, and might even have led to the events that created us humans. And Dr Francks, also of Oxford, has suggested the role of the gene LRRTM1 in chromosome 2 might be involved. But there may not be one, but many even if somebody shows that a region or a block in a chromosome (such as X), the claim would be challenged since family/society/cultural biases will influence hand usage.

That we may have an evolutionary history for handedness is getting increasingly implicated. That the great apes too show handedness-preference and asymmetry is well known. A recent surprising study showed that Australian kangaroos are left handed (see The Hindu, 20-06-15, and Giljov et al., Current Biology, 25, 1-7, 2015)! This study suggests that such preference may be common in bipedal animals, while tetrapods (four-legged animals) do not display any such preference. Four years ago, Brown and Magat reported that not just bipedal mammals, but even parrots show individual preference of one limb over the other to explore the environment or manipulate objects (Biol. Lett. 2011, 7, 496-498). This interesting result follows similar studies on chicken and pigeons.

Dr. Lesley Rogers, who studied chickens, suggests a connection between the regions of the brain (the hemispheres) and handedness. Her study and the more recent parrot study suggest a connection between the eye and handedness. If a parrot, for example focused on food (say a fruit) with its right eye, then it apparently would tend to use its right foot to grasp and move the food around. And one which focuses using the left eye will use its left. This theory thus connects the hemisphere (right or left) of the brain with the handedness of the animal, that is: whichever hemisphere dominates should determine the handedness. To put it blandly: “right eye leads to and right handedness, and left eye to left”. This theory too needs further validation before it can be accepted.

I believe we have a good opportunity to test this ‘eye-handedness’ connection in our eye institutions. One way of doing so is to study newborn children who are born with both eyes blind, specifically due to cataract. We want newborns, because they have not been weaned away from their inherent, natural, handedness, and cataract because their vision can be successfully restored after surgery soon enough. If we were to mount a multi-centre project to study each of these infants for their handedness before and after vision restoration, we might have an answer to the eye-handedness connection theory. We propose discussing this with other eye centres (and neonatal clinics) and take on this project.

Economic and Political Weekly: Table of Contents

Antithesis of Democracy

Vol - L No. 25, June 20, 2015 

• Editorials

A trigger-happy government will only deepen the political mess in the North East.

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• 0 Comments

The Noodle Muddle

Vol - L No. 25, June 20, 2015 

• Editorials

The essential discussion should be about the poisons in our food chain.

• Read more
• 0 Comments

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Commentary India's War against Itself A View from Manipur Pradip Phanjoubam Delhi's chest-thumping journalists are becoming mere stenographers of power, forgetting to ask questions and interrogate offi cial narratives. A journalist from Manipur recounts the events leading up to and around the 9 June 2015 "... Read more	Commentary Army's Transborder Raid in Myanmar Interrogating the Claims Subir Bhaumik Some reasonably astounding claims have been made about the commando raid carried out by the Indian Army on rebel camps in Myanmar. A long-time observer of the region and military operations there separates the chaff to prise out the possible... Read more
Commentary Economics of Solid Waste in India M Balasubramanian This article provides an overview of the economics of solid waste, and related issues. Public attention to solid waste and recycling has increased in India. In response, economists have developed models to help policymakers choose an efficient... Read more	Commentary Engaging Rawls and Dhasal Imagining Justice Rahul Sonpimple, Prachi Patil Theory and poetry speak to us in ways different from each other. It is in this sense that John Rawls and Namdeo Dhasal have to be understood when they speak about the idea of justice. This article engages with the theoretical schemes of Rawls... Read more
Commentary Bollywood, Within and Without Reading Tanu Weds Manu Returns Dhiraj Kumar Nite With two endearing female protagonists who defy attributes of modern bourgeois femininity and at the same time do not fit in with notions of transformative womanhood, Tanu Weds Manu Returns is a refreshing social drama. It explores social... Read more	Book Reviews Unending Hard Times Whose Is the Toil and Whose Is the Wealth? Bernard D'Mello The Endless Crisis: How Monopoly-Finance Capital Produces Stagnation and Upheaval from the USA to China by John Bellamy Foster and Robert W McChesney,New York: Monthly Review Press; published in India by Cornerstone... Read more
Book Reviews The Price of Renewable Energy V Ranganathan State of Renewable Energy in India: A Citizen's Reportby Chandra Bhushan, Nayanjyoti Goswami, Aruna Kumarankandath, Kanchan Kumar Agrawal and Joel Kumar, New Delhi: Centre for Science and Environment, 2014; pp 198, Rs... Read more	Insight The Real Story behind Juvenile Crime Data K P Asha Mukundan This article looks at the data, reported in the Crime in India- Statistics Report, Chapter 10, on juveniles in confl ict with the law and analyses and interprets it against the "disclaimer" and "limitations" published in the... Read more
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Special Articles Institutional Framework of MFIs and Economic Benefit to Clients in Mumbai Slums Samapti Guha, Chandralekha Ghosh The microfinance movement has experienced economic transition over more than four decades across the world. In the 1990s several microfinance institutions were forced to change their institutional structures to face competition from for-profit... Read more	Notes Redressing Teachers' Grievances A Study of Eight States Aparna Ravi, Sangeeta Goyal, Sangeeta Dey The process of redressing grievances of public sector employees has received little systematic attention, despite the large volume of such litigation. This article attempts to address this gap through an analysis of the role courts play in... Read more
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Two-speed regionalism

Agreement between Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal marks a new sub-regional framework.

Last week’s signing of a motor vehicle agreement by the transport ministers of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal marks a big breakthrough in the evolution of South Asian regionalism. Once the necessary steps are taken to implement the agreement over the next six months, cross-border movement of goods and people will get a lot easier in the eastern subcontinent. The agreement marks the birth of a new framework, “Beebin” if you like, among the four South Asian countries. It should also help at least a big part of the subcontinent to challenge the widespread perception that South Asia is the “least integrated region” in the world.

Some have labelled the BBIN as a “Saarc minus one” mechanism aimed at “isolating” Pakistan. The Saarc charter, of course, does not prohibit sub-regional cooperation among three or more members of the organisation. But what is driving the BBIN process is quite clearly Pakistan’s foot-dragging in the Saarc. This was quite evident at the last Saarc summit in Kathmandu in November 2014.

After prolonged negotiations among all parties, including Pakistan, the Saarc summit was presented with three agreements on cross-border energy cooperation, motor-vehicle movement and railway cooperation. But Pakistan was not ready to sign them, and it was only after great persuasion that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif initialled the agreement on energy cooperation.

It is beyond doubt that the pace of the Saarc caravan has been set by the slowest camel, Pakistan. Islamabad prefers a more sequential approach, under which
economic integration with India follows rather than precedes the resolution of bilateral political issues with New Delhi. Until now, India was not willing to find a way out of this blind alley and was content to let the Saarc drift.

No wonder everyone blamed India and Pakistan for the failure of the Saarc. But over the last couple of years, something has changed. India’s eastern neighbours are no longer willing to let South Asian regionalism remain hostage to Indo-Pak ties. They are ready to negotiate practical sub-regional cooperation with India. And Delhi has been willing to respond positively.

It is no surprise that the initiative for sub-regional cooperation has come from Bangladesh. Surrounded on all sides by India, separated from Nepal and Bhutan by a sliver of Indian territory called the “chicken’s neck” and connected to Southeast Asia through Myanmar, Bangladesh sees the need for trans-frontier connectivity more clearly than most. The idea has also found considerable appeal in Nepal and Bhutan, two landlocked countries that need regional integration to improve their access to the open seas and global markets. The two countries also need credible arrangements for energy trade across borders that will boost their economies. Two well-known public intellectuals in Kathmandu, Kanak Mani Dixit and Sujeev Shakya, have articulated the idea of “East South Asia”, which can pioneer effective sub-regionalism in the subcontinent.

When Bangladesh took the initiative for sub-regional engagement over the last two years, the UPA government responded positively. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been more vigorous in backing sub-regional cooperation through the BBIN. While laying out a positive agenda for the Saarc as a whole in Kathmandu, Modi saw the virtues of marching ahead with whoever is ready for regional integration within the Saarc.

If the BBIN programme succeeds, it could spur similar integration in other sub-regions, like the one formed by peninsular India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Some day, even Pakistan might be ready to restore the historic economic connectivity in the region stretching from the west of the Jumna to the Indus and beyond.

Instead of agonising over the failures of the Saarc, Delhi has recognised that two-speed regionalism is quite common around the world. For example, Britain, Denmark and Sweden are among the members of the European Union that have not adopted the euro as their currency. Many in Britain, of course, want London to exit from the European Union.

In any case, no one can compel Pakistan to love the Saarc and its agenda for economic integration. It is not that Pakistan is against regional cooperation. It has its own preferences in regional partnerships. Islamabad has, in recent years, taken big steps towards economic integration with China. Pakistan has also been an active member of regional institutions like the Economic Cooperation Organisation, whose members include Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan and other Central Asian states. It is, indeed, Pakistan’s sovereign prerogative to choose the pace and direction of its regionalism.

India, too, has often looked beyond the Saarc to benefit from trans-regional cooperation. Along with Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka, India has been promoting a trans-regional forum, called BIMSTEC, with Myanmar and Thailand. BIMSTEC stands for “Bay of Bengal Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation”. Centred on what we might for a moment call “Greater Bengal”, the BBIN region has always been geographically coherent. There is now political support in all four capitals to reconnect the region and build on its natural synergies.

If the four countries are ready to think big about East South Asia, the rest of the world is more than eager to support them. The World Bank has long backed South Asian sub-regionalism. Japan and the Asian Development Bank are ready to invest big time in the sub-region’s energy and transport corridors. China has been pressing for more than a decade to develop trans-border connectivity between eastern India and southwestern China through Bangladesh and Myanmar.

East South Asia’s moment is now upon us. Delhi, for its part, must lend full support to Dhaka’s leadership of the BBIN forum. After all, it was Dhaka that took the political initiative in the late 1970s to found the Saarc. Bangladesh is well placed to get the BBIN framework to advance the regional agenda that the Saarc could not over the last three decades.