Election Time In The US

Next week is election time here in the US, and unless you turn on the TV, you barely notice that important elections are round the corner. There is no noise on the streets, no public open meetings, and absolutely no involvement of college students in the entire process. Elections in India are so much more fun.

The fun part aside, to me there are several surprising elements about the electoral process here. Election day is not a public holiday! I believe election day must be a holiday, so that it is convenient for everybody to go out and vote. The elections are conducted by the local county. There is no central authority like the Election Commission we have in India. I think our system of having a constitutionally mandated central election authority conduct all elections is much more efficient and better. An independent organization that specializes in conducting elections ensures that there is very little or no bias in the process and also that local government resources are not strained.

It is possible that the above reasons explain the abysymally low turnout at the polls here compared to the very high turnouts (typically >60%) we have in India. I get the feeling that the so called 'world's greatest democracy' does very little to motivate its citizens to vote. This may be one area where our system is far superior.

Update:
Here is a AP/Yahoo News story on Why do so few people vote in the US?. As far as I know, the article just doesn't seems to get it! Also read this interesting article...Prof Greg Mankiw explains why some people shouldn't vote

Congratulations to Muhammad Yunus

Congratulations to Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank for winning the 2006 Nobel Peace prize. One of the better deserved recipient of the peace prize in the recent past. With all the attention he and his bank will now get, I hope the concept of micro-credit becomes much more well known and finds a lot more takers. Especially in India, where it has the potential of revolutionizing the rural areas.

On another note, there was an interview in The Hindu with the chairman of the Peace Prize committee, in which he deliberates on Gandhi not receiving the prize although he was nominated several times. My view is that, Gandhi was far above these prizes and awards that it is much better he was not awarded the Peace Prize or the Bharat Ratna. There are a few extraordinarily great men who happen to this planet once in a while and for them there can be no prizes.

Sightings On The Road

I drove to Bozeman, MT on the I-90; here are some signs I saw along the way...

Testicle Festival- Come Have a Ball!

I was told it was about a food festival, where the 'delicacy' is bull's testicles! Who ever got the idea of eating something like that...

Spinal Adjustment for just $ 27

I saw that sign when driving through the Nez-Perce native American reservation. I thought it was best to stay away from it.

Jesus is lord of this Valley

I am not sure how it's like across other parts of this country, but along this drive someone made sure that we just cannot get Jesus out of our heads!

North Korea's Nuclear Test

The claim by North Korea that it tested a nuclear device is a most dramatic development. I say claim because there still seems to be disagreement and inconsistencies about the test. First, many have concluded that the device was around 0.5 Kilotons, which is too small for a nuclear device. India's was ~ 500 KT. So, it is not yet clear if the test failed or if it was an elaborately staged ruse. Even if it was a failed nuclear test, it is still a dangerous development because it implies they are getting close.

Some years back, the US president called Iraq, Iran and North Korea "the axis of evil". While the US was quick to attack Iraq with the most dubious claim of possesing or trying to posses "weapons of mass destruction", the other two alleged members have quitely gone ahead with their nuclear programs! So much so that the test by north Korea is like it showing the middle finger to the US.

The US is currently embroiled in the conflict in Iraq, which it cannot get out of any time soon; it seems to have little leverage with Iran and cannot do anything about Iran's defiance and now they have to deal with North Korea's nuclear test. Challenging times for US foreign policy.

PBS Documentary on The Return Of The Taliban

PBS broadcast a program titled "The Return of the Taliban" on its Frontline series which air at 9 pm on tuesdays. The program was informative, somewhat gruesome, very interesting and above all such a damning indiction of Pakistan's role in sustaining the terror apparatus.

You can watch the full program online. Seen in the context of the Mumbai's Police's revelation, that the ISI planned the entire operation that resulted in the bombing of the sub-urban trains in Mumbai, the PBS documentary is very insightful.

It Is The Problem!

Musharaff has certainly had a very eventful 18 days of travel to Havana, various places in the US and London. The best time he seems to have had is at the NAM summit in Havana. After that he has either been on the offensive or defensive.

Whatever we have against him, I think we have got to admit that the guy is a genius in his line and a true survivor. He plays India, the US and the radical Islamic parties in Pakistan simultaneouly. He also has the savvy of a marketing executive, which was in full display when he was promoting the book he wrote.

Just one statement from him as soon as he landed in the US, that he was threatened about his country being bombed back to the stone age if he did not co-operate, was enough for the entire media to take notice. The timing of such a statement was perfect. I can only speculate that in his anaysis, he must have determined that with Bush at his lowest popularity ratings ever, he could not only get away with such a statement but also profit from it by portraying himself and his country as the victim!

In one of his interviews, what he said of A.Q. Khan might as well be a very good description of his own country. His country is not a part of the problem, it is the problem.

Women in Science

Recently there were reports (e.g. here) in the news about bias against women in science in the US. That was somewhat surprising to me; I thought the social conditions here were so much better that something like that would be unheard of. May be that partly explains why there is just one women professor in my department. I assume the situation for women in India, not only in science, but in all other careers is surely worse.

Many suggest that women may lack the ability to undertake careers such as science. I believe that may not be the case; afterall, we are all human and there is no reason to think that the genders are differently endowed. Also, we simply lack any evidence to support the argument about the lack of ability in women. Women have never been evaluated in the same social conditions as men.

Social realities for women are drastically different for women in India compared to men. As far as I know the most important reason for this is child birth and rearing. Women usually become mothers in the beginning stages of their career and it is not hard to imagine how incredibly difficult the simultaneous tasks of both managing their careers and their homes must be. Even more so when their careers are demanding like the sciences and engineering.

For rural women and women from the poorer classes in India, the challenges are much more complex. Much more complex for me to even begin to understand what the issues are.

The Agrarian Crisis

For the past three to four years, much of the economic news in India has been very positive. Each quarter seems to be better than the previous one in terms of growth, there surely is a lot of visible growth in the cities and the foreign media is all agog about the India growth story.

I believe all this economic growth is driven by growth in the major urban areas such as Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai etc. Take a drive out of any of these cities and the rural scene is almost the same as a decade ago or may be worse.

A few publications such as the Hindu (through its rural affairs editor, P.Sainath), the Frontline and some regional news papers have been highlighting the plight of the farmers in several regions in south India. Farmers in Vidharbha, Telangana, Wayanad and central Tamil Nadu are committing suicide because they are unable to repay their crushing debts. I think we should, at the least, stay informed about the situation and what is being done if any about it.

This fortnight's Frontline has a cover page story about this agrarian crisis. There is a different point of view expressed at the Indian Economy Blog. Do read the articles at those links.

The Next Industrial Giant Is...India?

So says the headline in yesterday's New York Times. An excerpt,

For decades, India had followed a route to economic development strikingly different from that of countries like Japan, South Korea or China. While its Asian rivals placed their bets on manufacturing and exports, India focused on its domestic economy and grew more slowly with an emphasis on services.

But all that is starting to change.

Read the full article; very interesting. India was and is still said to base it's economic growth on IT and other services. This article tells us that is begining to change. A very welcome development as far as my understanding goes. I believe manufacturing is important not only because of it export potential but also for strengthening the domestic economy.

Best Sentence of The Day

Best sentence I read today...

"Losing a lover is better than loving a loser".

But here is a better one...

"You talk to god, you are religious. God talk's to you, you are psychotic." (from www.randi.org)