Pakistan's New Political Crisis

The assissination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has pushed Pakistan into further political turmoil. And the violence that ensued after here death only points to how volatile the situaion has become in this nuclear armed country. The assisination has also left the Bush administration in a bind as it had been trying to push through the democratic process with Benazir Bhutto being the de-factor US backed candidate. Her assisination presents the administration wih very limited options to try and salvage its efforts to put Pakistan on a democratic process. The current situation also calls into question the safety of the nuclear arsenal which Pakistan possesses.

Ethanol hurting the environment

Another reason why ethanol is not the clean fuel it is made out to be. According to the AP report, increased corn plantation the Midwest are increasing the Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico. Nitrogen rich fertilizers used in the corn growth are polluting the Mississippi river and aiding the growth of this dead zone. To read more about this check out Gulf of Mexico-Dead Zone.
Also see my previous posting Ethanol-Is it the fuel it is made out to be to learn more about Ethanol.

Where is my money going?

There is a old saying "the only two inevitable things in this world are death and taxes". I have been thinking about the later for a while. Whenever I work the government takes about 20% to 25% of my income as taxes. That means, I am working three months of every year for free. But this is not the end. Whenever I spend on something, whether is in the supermarket on groceries or electronics, I am taxed on that as well. The government is getting a portion of my money whether I earn the money or spend it. Doesn't that sound unfair to you. It sure as hell sounds unfair to me.
I am ok with paying these taxes as long as the money is spent wisely and not wasted on pet projects and some government subsidy for parties that do not deserve it. But thats hardly the case. Examples of wasteful spending and pet projects abound. It seems like the term "Return on Investment" does not exist in the governments lexicon when it comes to spending. If this was the case with private industry, then every industry would be bankrupt within a couple of years. The reason why ROI does not exist in the governments lexicon is best described by Milton Friedman in Four Ways to Spend Money . What do you think?

Spending Tax-Payers Money Wisely

Amit Varma in his weekly column Thinking it Through for the newspaper Mint brings up a very important point about "How should the tax-payers money be spent?". When we pay our taxes, whether it is through our work or when we buy something, we are contributing to the government coffers in the hope that, our contribution is going to be used wisely for the benefit of us as well as the community that we live in. Roads that we drive on, parks that we go to are all paid for by the taxpayers money. Some of this spending is necessary and some of it is not. Examples of unnecessary spending of taxpayers money abound, including the The Bridge to No-Where , the 6373 pet projects that were attached to the highway transportation bill that was passed in August 2005 by the US Congress (About 10% of the highway transportation bill spending of $286 billion was earmarked for these pet projects. ), or the billions spent on the war in Iraq.
I wonder if these senators or congressmen would have spent even 1% of their hard earned money on projects that were important to others and not themselves. I would have to say the answer will be a resounding no.

Read Amit Varma's blog at India Uncut

Should Governments and Universities attract students irrespective of their nationality

Economist magazine has a new debate on "Should governments and universities attract students irrespective of their nationalities or residence". This debate could not have come at a more opportune time. With increased globalization, the world economy is very much on the doorsteps of a knowledge based economy. Human intellectual capital is in high demand. With this is prespective, it makes total sense for governments and universities across the world to attract the best and the brightest to work or study in their countries or universities respectively.
International students being the best and brightest in their field of study contribute to the intellectual capital of the country that they are being educated. They also contribute to increasing the diversity and culture of that particular country and the communities that they live in. Also the students have a profound impact on the economy of the countries they study in as they tend to work in that country for atleast a couple of years. Once they go back to their home countries, they will apply the knowledge and work experience gained to improve the standards of living in their home countries. In short they act as good ambassadors for the country of study.
Critics would argue that there are grave social, economic and security concerns in letting international students into a particular country. But the fact is when the benefits are weighed against the drawback, the benefits far outweigh the risks.

You can read more about the debate and post your points of view at Economist Debate

Ethanol - Is it the clean fuel its made out to be?

Wherever you go today in the US, when the talk about energy arises, the talk somehow leads to ethanol and how it is such a clean fuel and a renewable energy source?, how it will reduce US dependence on Middle Eastern oil? how it will help reduce global warming? etc etc... To be honest, I also believed it till I saw this video. I never thought about how ethanol is produced, the costs associated with producing it, or where is the corn needed to produce ethanol going to come from.... See the video below to see the so called side effects of ethanol. The speaker is Jerry Taylor of The Cato Institute

Convincing Argument for Global Action on Climate Change

This is the most convincing argument yet,that I have seen, on the need for global action on climate change.

Tackling the Sub-Prime Mortgage Crisis

The Bush administration this week announced a plan for tackling the growing mess in the financial industry and the US housing market in particular. The foreclosure relief plan claims to bring relief to about 1.2 million troubled home owners by putting a freeze on their interest rate for five years.
On the surface this seems like a good idea and the right thing to do. But this plan comes with a lot of caveats attached. The plan applies only to loans taken out between 2005 and July 31, 2007, and are scheduled for rate boosts between January 1, 2008 and July 31, 2010. Also the home owners must be current on their payments. But the most important caveat is that participation from the lenders is voluntary and not mandatory. Also according to analysis by The Center for Responsible Lending, a group that promotes homeownership and works to curb predatory lending, estimates that only 145,000 households will qualify for the rate freeze. In addition there is the issue of investors. Since these mortgages were repackaged and sold to investors, getting the investors to accept a lower return on their investment would be a challenge.
These are some of the issues and concerns that this plan raises. As we move forward, other issues will crop up and will need to addressed. Though the plan could have been stronger, it is definitely a start at providing relief to some if not all the affected people. And that is a good thing.

Ten Ways to Cut CO2 Emissions

National Geographic has 10 easy ways to cut CO2 emissions. If they are followed by each of us, we can cut CO2 emissions by as much as 22tons per annum. Read more about them at Cut CO2 Emissions

Twelve Days of Christmas

This is just too funny...

A Clean Energy Revolution

Global Warming is one of the most urgent issue facing the entire world. The UN appointed Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change in its recently released report concluded that "most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations via the greenhouse effect. Therefore efforts on a global scale much being immediately to reverse the increase of these greenhouse gases."
Though governments across the world are slowly coming on board to the science behind global warming, there is a Clean Energy Revolution that is being powered by private industries and educational institutions.
This past week Google launched its new strategic initiative RE "Less Then" C which stands for Renewable Energy Cheaper then Coal. The focus on this initiative will initially be to develop electricity from advanced solar thermal power, wind power technologies, enhanced geothermal systems and other potential breakthrough technologies. The goal of this initiative according to Google is to develop one gigawatt of renewable energy capacity that is cheaper then coal.(One gigawatt can power the city of the size of San Francisco).
Then there is this initiative called as Vehicle Design Summit, which is a global collaboration between the esteemed educational institutions on six of the seven continents. The goal of this project is to bring to market a super efficient hybrid plug-in vehicle which averages about 200 MPG with minimal life cycle costs and widely accepted in developing and developed countries. The vehicle is called VDS Vision 200 and the groups plans to unvile it by August of 2008. Each of the universities involved is responsible for developing a part/parts of this visionary vehicle.
Though these are some of the examples of the Clean Energy Revolution that is beginning to take shape, more needs to be done on a global scale to reverse the trend of global warming before it is too late. Each of us can contribute to this cause by being more energy efficent in our daily lives. Whether it is switching to energy efficient light bulbs or driving less, every bit matters.

To read more about Google's RE "Less Then" C initiative check out the link Google Goes Green
To read more about the Vehicle Design Summit project check out the link VDS

World AIDS Day

Dec 1st every year is celebrated as World AIDS Day. In anticipation of this day the UNAIDS (The Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS) released its latest report on the number of cases of AIDS across the world last week. According to this report the number of AIDS cases decreased from 39.5 million to 33.2 million. On the surface this may sound like the world is making progress against the most dreaded disease of our times. But this decrease in cases is just due to the perceived better accounting of victims in India and Africa, the two major battle-fronts in the fight against AIDS.
This drop in numbers is already generating debate about whether the UNAIDS inflated the numbers in the first place to raise funds for the fight against the disease. It may also lure the world into a false sense of complacency and decrease the momentum against the fight for a cure. This should not happen.
The 33 million people infected are not the only victims of this deadly disease. If the families of the victims are taken into considerations, as AIDS does take a very heavy toll on the family, the real number of victims would be more then 100 million. In addition fighting the disease is not about just finding a cure for the HIV virus. It also involves erasing the social stigma associated with the disease. Unless investments are made in better education of the disease, and improving the lives of the poor, this disease will remain a disease of the shadow, very hard to fight and even harder to control.

Human Bone Trade

Human skeletons models are an integral part of any medical schools teaching process. But it is the way these models are obtained is worrisome and raises serious ethical and moral questions. NPR had a story on how most of the human skeletal models used by medical schools across the world are stolen from graves in Kolkata, India. The problem is so serious that many of the cemeteries have been emptied of their dead bodies.
Most of these human skeletal remains are exported to the US and other western countries. Though the export of bones is banned in India by law, it still flourishes because it is legal in the US (the major buyer) and Europe to import human bones for educational purposes.
This raises serious ethical questions and calls in question whether the schools in the US and Europe check for the source and the validity of the remains obtained. While an informed consent is required by individuals when they undergo any medical procedure, the same is not required for obtaining the remains for study. Unless this changes the illegal trade in bones will continue.
Read more about the Bone Trade India's Bone Trade

Your Vocabulary Means Meals for Somebody

I came across this site called Free Rice through one of my friends blogs. The site tests your vocabulary and for very word you get correct on the website they donate 10 grains of rice to the United Nations. I already tested my vocabulary and could answer about 100 words correctly. The amazing part is that they started this project on Oct 7th and they claim to have already donated close to four billion grains of rice. I do not know how much it works out to be, but even if it is one bag of rice, it will definitely feed some hungry soul. Please do check this out.

The Global Economic Power Shift

America is no more the largest economic powerhouse. This title now belongs to the European Union. And Brussels is using this new found economic power to drive new regulation and force stricter environmental standards. In his new book titled "Exposed" Mark Schapiro from the Center for Investigative Reporting writes about how the European Union is setting the high ground for anything new on consumer product safety and environmental policy.
Everything from cosmetics and toys which are used on a daily basis to electronic waste whose impact on the environment is slow and steady have new set of regulations from the EU. And the funny part is some of the chemicals in cosmetics, toys electronics and other items that are banned in the European Union are still present in products in the US. Consider for example a chemical called as phthalates. The United States remains one of the few countries in the world which permits imports of toys made with polyvinyl chloride additives called phthalates. Phthalates help make the toys soft and malleable so that they can be sucked by kids. But scientific evidence suggests that phthalates impede testosterone production and sexual development in infant boys. Kids toys are not the only products which have phthalates. They are present from anything from shower curtains to cars. But infants are the most vulnerable of the lot to the harmful effects of phthalates. The EU has banned phthalates eight years ago.
In his book, Mark Schapiro argues that there is a fundamental difference between the EU and the US on how they look at regulation. In the US, concern to public safety from a product is not enough to have it taken out of the market. There needs to be irrefutable scientific proof of the harmful effects of the product on humans. This kind of proof is hard to come by most of the times. The Us also considers the current benefit to consumers from the product as well as the cost for the industry to make the change happen. The EU in contrast adopts a more precautionary approach. The EU does not wait for 100% scientific proof on harmful effects of chemicals and other substances. For them to wait for 100% proof is to wait and watch as the damage is being done irreversibly.
Mark Schapiro aslo points out that in the EU most of the healthcare is paid for by the government unlike the US. If you think about it, if the EU does not act on these issues, it will be paying from its pockets for the healthcare costs associated with all these chemicals for its consumers 20-30 years down the line. In the US there is less of an incentive to act on these issues from a healthcare point of view as most of the cost is borne by the consumers themselves. And this is not going to change.
But one can argue that changing regulations often can impede growth and hurt the economy and drive away companies to less regulated countries. Mark Schapiro argues that this is where the EU's economic muscle kicks in. Because EU is the largest economic power, companies cannot ignore them. They have less of an incentive to move out as they are losing on the sales. This forces the companies to innovate and develop new products which are compliant with the standards. These regulations remove the perverse incentive of not doing anything and maintaining the status quo. They spur innovation, create new jobs, are good for the economy, the consumers and the environment. In short every-body is a winner.

You can read more about the book Exposed at Center for Investigative Reporting
To read more about the battle in California over phthalates see the link Toxic Toys

Shane Warne's Amazing Spin Bowling

These are three clips of some of the best spin bowling in the world. Also you can see the bowl of the century when Shane Warne bowled Mike Gatting

Nandigram Dispute

The March 14th massacre of 14 innocent civilians by the police and CPI(M) carders in the village of Nandigram in West Bengal brought to focus the irresponsible application of the eminent domain laws for the purpose of economic development. It all started when the West Bengal government decided that Salim Group from Indonesia would start a chemical hub under the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) policy at Nandigram.
Eminent domain is a way for the government to take private property for public use. For example, if the government wants to construct a new highway and the proposed highways passes through your land, then the government can take away your land for a compensation determined by the government. On top of it all it does not need your consent to buy the land.
The villages in Nandigram sensing that the government would use the eminent domain laws to take over their land decided to take matters into their own hands. They formed a group called Bhumi Ucched Protirodh Commitee's (BUPC) and destroyed all roads and bridges leading upto Nandigram. On March 14th 2007, the state government asked the administration in that area to break this resistance. In the ensuing fight that ensured about 14 innocent civilians were killed. After widespread condemenation of the state government's actions the plan to develop the SEZ in Nandhigram was dropped. But what happened after this is even more horrifying.
The government instead of trying to gain control of Nandigram through the official machinery, infilitrated the village with CPI(M) workers who burned houses, raped and killed women and children. This violation of human rights went on for close to 11 months until Nandigram was recaptured by the CPI(M) workers without any offical machinery (i.e. police or military). During these 11 months of horror, the state government expliniation for not intervening was that if the police or military went in the violance would escalate.
The center also did not act because of political compulsions as the Left parties are a important allies in the UPA government. If the center had acted they feared an immediate withdrawal of support by the left brining down the government.
Passing the blame between the different political parties is not going to help the victams of this horrific human rights violation. Alternate ways of ensuring the establishment of SEZ'z and buying and selling on land need to be ensured. Currently the Indian government does not allow selling of agricultural land for non agricultural purposes. The step in the right direction would be to abolish this restriction and have the free markets set the price for the lands. This would allow the companies in the SEZ's to negoitiate prices for the land. Also India has to think about moving away from a agricultural to a more service oriented and manufacturing economy. Numerous suiceds by framers in the Vidharb region and other parts of the country highlight the fact that things are not moving in the right direction as far as agriculture is considered. The government has to rethink its policies in the agricultural sector as well as the broader economy. Until we see these things addressed, the day will not be far when we will see another Nandigram happen.

That Which is Seen and That Which is Not Seen

I read this very interesting article by Frederic Bastiat That Which is Seen and That Which is Not Seen . For those you who have not heard about Frederic Bastiat, he was a French economist, legislator and writer who championed free markets, limited government and privatization in his writings.
In the above mentioned article, Frederic Bastiat talks about a shopkeeper whose son breaks a window glass. People who are gathered offer the shopkeeper consolation by saying the glassmaker also has to make a living. If the glass was not broken, how would the glassmaker make a living. This is what Bastiat describes as "Things that are readily seen or visible to everybody". But on the other hand everybody ignores the fact that if the glass had not broken, the money that the shopkeeper paid to get it fixed would have been spent on something else i.e. buying something for himself. This is what Bastiat calls as "things that are not seen". Though both of these outcomes involve free flow of money and benefit society in one way or the other, but the consequences of both these actions are different. In the first instance, the shopkeeper spent money to replace the broken window and at the end of it has the window fixed. So the money is spent on something he already had. But in the second instance, the shopkeeper has the window and he spends the same money on buying something else. He makes better use of his money.
These concepts are so relevant even in todays world. Take for example of Hurricane Katrina and the talk about how the re-building New-Orleans would stimulate the growth of the economy and create thousands of new jobs. But people seem to forget that if the Hurricane had not hit New Orleans, the same money would have been used to better the existing infrastructure, improve schools etc. The Seen Not Seen analogy also holds true on wasteful government spending. The bad economist would see the government spending as good for the society, but a good economist would see the goverment spending as wasteful use of the taxpayers money. You can read more Frederic Bastiat writings at Frederic Bastiat Writings

Polio Eradication - A Worthy Goal to Pursue?

I was reading this book today called "Better" by Dr Atul Gawande. The book discusses three core competencies to succeed in the field of medicine i.e. Diligence, Doing Right and Ingenuity. When explaining the importance of diligence in medicine or for any filed for that matter the author explains how the goal to eradicate polio in India is a prime example of human diligence.
During the research for his book, the author got a chance to see this diligence in action. There had been a case of polio in small South Indian town of Bellary in Karnataka State. Leading the operation of stopping the further spread of the disease, what the author calls a mop-up, was a WHO pediatrician Pankaj Bhatnagar. During the course of their travel to different villages to oversee the vaccination of all the kids for polio, one very difficult question always came up "Why this huge polio campaign when all the villagers need are clean drinking water, better nutrition for the kids, better sanitation facilities, etc? Is the money spent on the huge polio drive worth it when there were just 66 polio cases in the entire year of 2005? In addition the campaign to eradicate polio has cost about three billion dollars worldwide or about $600 per reported case of polio? Not to mention the thousands of man-hours working on vaccinating every child.
There are no easy answers to these questions. For one thing we would not be where we are i.e. only 66 polio cases in the year 2005 if not for the efforts that were put in by the scores of people and the money spent to eradicate this dreadful disease. Also we have to take into account the the close to 5 million cases of paralytic cases of polio that were averted due to these drives. Add to this the argument that Pankaj Bhatnagar makes "If you are starving, being paralyzed is certainly not going to help" and it brings into view what a worthy goal it is to pursue the total eradication of polio.
At times the goal of total eradication may seem grand, flawed and overly ambitious ,especially when we have already made so much progress in containing the disease. But it is this spirit of perfection that drives the human kind to great achievements. And without this spirit we would not be where we are today. And this spirit is best summed up by Dr Bhatnagar when to the author's question of "What you will do when Polio is eradicated?" he replies "Well there is always Measles". Thus just to keep alve this human spirit of perfection, the goal of total eradication is worthy of pursuing no matter the costs.

Fixing Primary Education in India

Much of the billion plus population lives in the villages and small towns. The only schools accessible to the children in these places are the government run primary and secondary schools. Some of these schools are in such dilapidated state that its a miracle that any education if any happens at all.
A 2005 study of government schools by Pratham, an NGO, found that 35% of schoolkids surveyed between the ages of seven and 14 failed a reading test involving a simple paragraph, and 41% of them could not subtract or divide. A 2006 study found that half the children who enroll in the first standard drop out before reaching the eighth. A 1999 government report stated that just 53% of the accredited public schools in rural North India were engaged in teaching during surprise visits on school days.
The state and central government together send about Rs 3000 per student through the public education system. So it is not a question funds but how the funds are spent. If you read Milton Friedman's book "Free to Choose" he mentions the four ways that you can spend money. One of the four ways is to spend somebody elses money on somebody else. When this happens, there seems to be a lack of accountability as well as false sense of ownership. This is analogous to the government spending the tax payers money on public schools without having the right policies and processes for accountability on how this money is spent.
In order to make better use of the government funds and to ensure that funds are spent on prudently and wisely, one of the solution would be develop a educational voucher system as proposed by Milton Friedman. Parents would be given the vouchers and can use to at any school of their choice. The schools can then redeem the vouchers. This will help create competition between schools and make them more efficient, improve their standards and help minimize waste.
In order to ensure that the quality of education is maintained at these schools,the government must develop policies and standards against which these schools are compared. The government must also take a carrot and stick approach by rewarding schools that are performing better and putting improvement actions for schools that are below par to help them raise their standards.
Unless the government starts putting policies and process in place to ensure accountability on how the money is spent, the miserable state of primary and secondary schools will continue. India cannot afford the status quo in this era of globalization.

4 Ways to Spend Money

Milton Friedman the Nobel winning economist in his book "Free to Choose" provides an interesting explanation on the 4 different ways that people spend money.
1. The first way is when you spend money on yourself. When you are doing this whether it is buying lunch or buying a gift etc, you want the best possible value for your money. You shop around until you are completed satisfied with what you are getting for your money
2. The second way is when you spend money on someone else. When you are doing this, even though it is your money, you do not care whether the other person is getting the best value out of it. For e.g. when you buy somebody lunch or dinner you do not care whether the food is good or bad.
3. The third way is when you spend somebody elses money. An example of this would be when you are on a business trip, you will want to get the most value out of the money that you are spending even though it is not your money.
4. The forth way is when you spend somebody else money on somebody else. A prime example of this scenario would be the government spending the taxpayers money. Though the governments are supposed to use the taxpayers money wisely and for the benefit of the people, the opposite always is true. Since the money does not come from one's own pocket, there is no sense of ownership and accountability. This would also explain the bad state of affairs in the public education system in the US as well as in India.
You can also see Milton Friedman explain this in the video 4 ways to spend money

Improving Access to Healthcare in India

The major source of healthcare for the majority of the one billion plus population in India are the government run hospitals and clinics. Anybody who has been to these facilities knows that these facilities lack the infrastructure to meet the needs of this population. In addition poverty, illiteracy and lack of awareness of services available inhibit people from accessing the bare minimum benefits that these government run hospitals offer. The government spends crores of rupees to run these facilities even though there is little to no benefit in terms of quality of healthcare.
So what is the solution to address this lack of access to basic healthcare? The government needs to think about opening the government run hospitals to the private industry. Though this may seem like a radical idea at first glance, but if done right it would be a win-win solution for the government as well as the private industry. The government run hospitals have buildings available which need investment to bring them up to standard. The private sector would be able to provide this investments. In return the private sectors would be running the hospitals and collecting a portion of the revenue generated from seeing the patients.
One would argue that most of the patients seen in these hospitals are poor and cannot pay for the services. This is where the health insurance for all who cannot afford healthcare would come in handy. For a small premium or downpayment, most of the services would be covered. The government would cover the rest of the costs which they do anyways right now. Thus by leasing out these facilities, the government saves on the administrative costs associated with running these hospitals.
In addition the government must develop uniform quality standards for delivery of care and hold the private sector accountable for delivering the services according to these standards. In addition investment must be made in education and training of physicians, nurses, pharmacists and other healthcare worker.
Taking these steps would definitely help in providing access to healthcare to the masses.

What is the Purpose of Education?

If you ask five different people this question you will find five very different answers. Why does this diversity of opinion exist on such a seemingly innocuous question and on a topic which is part of every bodies day to day life?
Every individual from the day he is born, embarks on an unending path of assimilating knowledge and educating himself. Whether is it a kid learning the first letter of a language or a Noble Prize winning scientist who has discovered something new to add to the reams of knowledge already existing in this world, everybody is following a unique path of learning something new and adding to the knowledge base of this world. This unique path shapes every individuals thoughts, beliefs and reasoning in its own unique way and adds to the diversity existing in the world.
Thus education to me is a continuous learning experience which adds different dimensions to every individuals personality making them the unique individuals they are. Sources of learning can be varied. It can be from books, experiences from one's own life or life experiences of other people etc. Whatever the source, every book that you read or every experience that you have will help in shaping you and make you better prepared for life's novel experiences. This should be the purpose of education.

Technology Improving Education?

Economist magazine had its first debate on "The continuing introduction of new technologies and new media adds little to the quality of most education". I think that most of the readers were right when they voted against the motion i.e. new technology adds to the quality of most education.
Will Durant aptly pointed out "Education is the Progressive Discovery of your Ignorance". Education is not just something that you learn in the classroom but it is a continuous learning process about different elements of life and sciences during ones lifetime. Technology is definitely providing the tools to aid and enhance this learning experience. The advent of the Internet and digital media, has helped connect the different parts of the globe in ways that was never thought possible just a few decades ago. This connectivity has led to information being readily accessible aiding in the learning process. Also this availability of information and connectivity has provided opportunities for entrepreneurs to come up with new ways to provide knowledge and education. Companies now provide distance education and live teacher student interactions remotely. Students and teachers are remotely connected by a computer and a web-camera. Not only are the students being thought about the subject matter, but this remote interaction helps teachers and students learn about each other cultures and traditions leading to a more diverse experience.
You can read more about pros and cons of the debate at Technology Improving Education?

Pakistan's Democracy Woes

The declaration of emergency in Pakistan by General Pervez Musharraf on Nov 3rd marks a new chapter in the same old story that is called Pakistan's Democratic Process. Since his takeover of Pakistan in a bloodless coup in 1999, General Musharraf has presided over the march of Pakistan towards the door steps of radical islamilization. His support of America in its war against terror after 9/11 was seen by many in Pakistan as his tacit support for the global war on Islam being waged by the West. These feeling had been confined to the western provinces of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan till they came to a boil in July of this year. The suppression of the Lal Masjid occupation by the Pakistani army in July put the entire country of Pakistan into a situation akin to a "Civil War". Since then things have gone from bad to worse. Add to this Pakistan's nuclear arsenal and the situation seems like a ticking nuclear bomb which can detonate anytime.
On the flip side if the General were to step down there is currently no-body who can take control of the country and bring it back to the democratic process. Ms Benazir Bhutto and Mr Nawaz Sharif the two previous prime ministers do not enjoy any support in the military. Also Ms Bhutto is seen by many in Pakistan to be close to the US. She also faces questions on her true intentions, one moment standing up to the General and the next moment willing to accommodate his requests. As for the Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, he may be the public face of the fight to restore the democratic process to Pakistan, but can he sustain the momentum and also stand up to the political parties and the military? Only time will have the answers to all these questions.....

Reference for this article
Benazir Bhutto Profile
Pakistan Nuclear Weapons
Martial Law in Pakistan
Pakistan's Pinstripe Revolution

The Falafal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

This just cracked me up when I heard the story on the radio a couple of days ago. A couple of FBI agents in the California office came up with the idea of tracking Iranian terrorists. The idea was to track the sale of Falafal's and combine it with other data to look for clues. Thank god this was shot with a cannon ball. Otherwise the next culinary delight on the list would be the Kebab's..... You can read more at Falafal Chronicles

The Health Care Crisis

America is facing one of the worst healthcare crisis. Costs are raising at greater then 10% a year for the last couple of years. That is almost three times the current inflation rate. Also the cost of health insurance has kept pace with the rise of the healthcare costs. Employers are pushing the burden health insurance onto employees. Add to this the 47 million un-insured, the retiring baby boomers who are going to be using cost strapped Medicare more and more and the scores of under insured. All these are symptoms of a crisis which is getting worse by the day without any signs of a recovery in the near future.
Looking at these issues might spur any country into action to fix these issues. But when the top most leadership of this country says “I mean, people have access to health care in America,”. “After all, you just go to an emergency room.” This is what the President said on July 11th in Cleveland. This just shows a basic lack of understanding of the issues at hand from top down. As for the emergency room(ER), I can tell you as an insider who has worked for the last three years on patient throughput issues in the ER, there is a nationwide over-crowding of ER's on a daily basis, and costs for an ER visits are exorbitant compared to a regular physician visit.
So what is the solution for all of the ill's that ail the healthcare. For one thing it might not be such a bad idea to look at the healthcare delivery and administration in other developed countries and adopt some of the best practices there. Thinking about ways to eliminate waste and unnecessary paper work that plague the hospitals as well as insurance companies would be a step in the right direction. As for addressing the issues of the un-insured, looking to provide some sort of universal coverage for all should be a considered.

Legal Vs Illegal Immigration

As a person who is an Indian citizen in the United States legally for the last six years, the whole debate about providing some sort of amnesty for all the people who are here illegally affects me personally. Irrespective of all the good or bad social and economic consequences that illegal immigration brings with it the message that this so called amnesty sends to the millions of legal immigrants working in the US is "Break the immigration law and you will be rewarded a legal status in the United States, follow the law and wait in queue for years to get the legal status". On the flip side there is very little to no debate on increasing the H1B visa or the number of green cards to increase legal immigration, even though there is documented shortage of technologically skilled workers. Every time the issue of H1B/green card comes up, the US congress decides that there are adequate number of visas available. I guess the Congress was not paying attention to the fact that this last year, all of the 65,000 available H1B visas were allocated the first day they became available. This mismatch of priorities beats me.

The Sub-Prime Meltdown

The sub-prime mortgage crises in the United States has left a trail of destruction in its path. No company from a financial giant like Citi Group to a retail giant like Wal-Mart is immune to its repercussions. But people whose homes are in the process of foreclosure or whose houses have been foreclosed are the worst hit of them all. And with some analysts predicting some two millions more homes going into foreclosure within the next year, we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg.
But who is to blame for this crisis... Is it the home owners who borrowed more then they could afford, the home builders who built homes, the lenders who lent funds to people with poor credit, the wall street (including investment banks, hedge funds, rating agencies etc) which brought the repackaged mortgages and sold them to other willing buyers or the government for not enough oversight of the lending industry.
There is plenty of blame to go around and all of these players contributed to this crisis to a certain degree. But just playing the blame game would not solve this crisis which is threatening to cause a global recession. Necessary actions need to be initiated including working with embattled borrowers to work out plans to save their homes from foreclosures, stricter regulations of the lending industry to see this is not repeated again, regulations of the hedge fund industry, better education of potential home owners on risk management, and better risk management on the part of wall street. No one solution is going to solve this problem. Efforts have to be made from all directions to manage this crisis better before it gets worse.

Why We Worry About the Wrong Things

A very interesting article on why we as individuals worry about the wrong things in life....

Why we worry

What it takes to be great

This is such a great article. It shows how we mere mortals can also achieve greatness just by trying a little bit harder... Check out this link

What it Takes

Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon

I was reading this book called as Tipping point today. The book talks about how a certain chain of events can lead to things/events beginning to tip over a certain point and explode into what is called as an epidemic. The book gives examples of how Hush Puppies (type of shoe) which were on the verge of being obsolete, how a certain chain of events triggered them to being back on the best selling shoes list again.

The book also talks about "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon". The idea behind this is to try and link any actor or actress through movies they have acted in, to actor Kevin Bacon in less then six steps. A scientist in the University of Virginia has figured out a way to link all actors and actress to Kevin Bacon and came up with a average Bacon number of 2.8312 steps. So anybody who has ever acted in television or movies can be liked to Kevin Bacon in less then three steps. Also this scientist was able to develop a database of all actors and actress and rank them based on their connectedness. And the best connected actor is Rod Steiger... I will admit, I had never heard of "Rod Steiger" before now... He has made Oscar-winning movies like "On The Waterfront" and won an Oscar for his role in "In The Heat Of The Night". The book calls such people who can be reached in a few steps as "Connectors". Connectors serve as an intermediary for certain chain of events/things to tip over a certain point and explode into an epidemic. Interestingly connectors are not the only people/things that are responsible for tipping certain events. There are two more elements. More on that later......

The universal truth about politics

One of my friends was asked this question "What do you see as a difference between politics in India and the United States?" in an interview. His answer was that politics in the US has "evolved". At first glance this might sound like he is referring to the couple of hundred years that the US has been a democracy and how the political process has evolved and comparing it to the 60 years of the democratic process in India. But probing on it a bit more may lead to a different conclusion.
If you ask an Indian what would be the first thing that comes to mind when they think about politics, the answer would be myriad i.e. criminals being elected as MP's and MLA's, rampant corruption, people voting to elect people of their particular caste, political parties courting people of particular caste (vote bank politics)etc. These answers point to the degrading state of affairs in the Indian political system. In addition, due to the new era of coalition politics, decisions on important matters are always pushed to the back burner due to lack of consensus among the ruling party members. No wonder government's keep changing every 2-3 years....
What about the United States..... On the outside the US political system looks hunky-dory.... But if you look at the issues that the US is facing, it feels like politics is the same everywhere... Waste and corruption in the Iraq war, nepotism in how contracts were awarded to the different contractors (no bid contracts).... dividing the country on religious grounds, failure of immigrations reforms, failure of health care reforms etc etc the list goes on and on.... the only difference between the system in the US and India is that there is some sense of awareness of the relavent issues in the US. But things dont seem to go anywhere..... O'well irrespective of where you are, welfare of the country and its people always takes a back burner before furthering of one's personal interests....

Best Shot in Golf

This is the best shot in golf ever..... Tiger Woods on the 16th hole at the Masters in the year 2004. He made the most impossible shot. Watch it to believe it. As for me I was in Chicago watching this live on that day.......

Technology to the rescue

New York times has a very good article on how technology can be used to change the lives of the underprevilaged in India. The website is started by Mr. Sean Blagsvedt. The website BabaJob provides a network for the economically backward people to find jobs and explore opportunities.You can read more about this at initiative at
Technology to the Resuce