suspendedsky

If Cameron reall had read Sharia law he wouldn't be quite so scandalised by the Archbishop's idea. Sharia is already a big part of British Law. (and interesting point of difference, my professor Dr Ali mentioned - related by a British lawyer - between the unwritten constitution of UK and the written, codified and oft-debated Sharia law is the equality of all humanm being, even those that do not adhere to the law in question. One British life equalled 70 lives of others. And archaic remnnt from the 'Elizabethan' era, no doubt, yet that it exists 'unwritten' is fearsome.)

I am trying to find out how much truth there is to this, so hold your horses until then.

I just came to the realisation that we live in disturbing times. Disturbing indeed. These times have been the greatest undoing of Ayn Rand. Laissez-faire capitalism, with a zero-modality blank cheque to people of means. Giving away gold coins to the rich, taxing the poor and leaving them jobless and without maintenance. American values indeed. Among the list of evils we have witnessed, Rand, Greenspan, Dershowitz - all part of the gang.

Meanwhile, here in India, we continue to convince our little growers to kill the bees and birds, grow their rice at fifty times capacity and exhaust the earth, then kill themselves if they're allegedly smart enough to switch to cotton. All the while the seed packers charge interest on nature's free gift, but why won't they? The real evil lies with the pesticide makers who jack up the dependency on tankers of water (obviously, we don't have sprinklers for irrigation becuase someone in UP is stealing the water before daylight. The address traces to the Chief Minister, but that's strange, since she's out on the ground inaugurating a nouveau Taj Mahal with her face carved on it.) So we're back to paying for whatever nature readily provides free, but we're not sure She's up to the task. Supporting the Amazon basin with millions of life forms (some undiscovered) with NO irrigated water whatsoever it can do, but sustaining one Indian acre of wheat is a whole different story. There's an impossibility.

And no, no takers for organic farming here, please move on. Not only is it very uncool-looking to the suited whites who don't know of our existence, but our lovely elitists hate the idea too. We're very careful to burn to ash our carbons, we don't like returning them to earth. It wastes them carbons. Besiides, you have to admit, it's quite an outdoor spectacle, made possible for those not flying from Tier II to Tier II cities on Global Warming Airways, this is their view from the cabin. It's all good since we anyway don't like putting too many dustbins, or the city would never be able to keep ragpickers on the payroll - who can afford unemployment in these times of recession? So we really rather keep the city sane and spectacle-free. After all, our rich deserve the very best. They're always driving around from the stress of hard work, keeping businesses pro-poor - this is the stuff made of welfare states! 

First year sponsored by E.L. Rothschild through the ERANDA Foundation

Program Description

In 2008, the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) created an International Affairs Fellowship (IAF) in India program with the first year sponsored by E.L. Rothschild through the ERANDA Foundation. Modeled after CFR's successful IAF in Japan established over a decade ago, the IAF in India enables several outstanding young leaders to expand their professional horizons and enhance their understanding of India by spending up to a year on policy oriented research or related professional activity in India.

CFR offers a number of these grants to candidates between the ages of 27 and 45 (inclusive) drawn from academia (including think tanks), government institutions (including the executive and legislative branches at the federal, state, and local levels), the business community, the media, and religious and congregational communities. The fellowships will be awarded on the basis of their academic and professional accomplishments and promise, and on the merits of the specific research or action projects that they propose for their stays in India.

The basic term of the fellowship is one year, with a minimum of three months to pursue a program of the fellows' own design consisting of policy oriented research or related professional activity. The fellowship will cover living expenses in India plus international transportation and necessary research expenses.

Recipients of the International Affairs Fellowship in India

Address all inquiries to:

Fellowship Affairs
Council on Foreign Relations
58 East 68th Street
New York, NY 10065
Fax: +1-212-434-9801

For immediate inquiries or questions regarding the Program, please call +1-212-434-9489 or email fellowships@cfr.org.

Fll details and source: http://www.cfr.org/about/fellowships/iaf_india.html

I was feeling less than happy about the national ID scheme (uh...scam it could called, because I fail to see the detail of how it's supposed to reduce gap spending by local bureaucrats, how it would reduce illegal immigration, or how it would ensure a steady ration supply outside of wishy-washy metropolises). Soutik Biswas's blog outlined some details but as I said, less than happy. And this is the brainchild-brought-to-fruition for one of India's brightest minds, Mr Nandan Nilekani. One question right there.

To what end, Mr Nilekani? To what justifiable end?

A rather ludicrous amount of money will be invested after the fair amount $ 26mn currently allotted, we know. I do not believe any of India's chronic problems to be related to ID cards - 2007 saw reports of the swanky new cards being ceremoniously handed over to bewildered villagers, who are yet to open them. They fail to see how are woes are affected at all, so do we.

And yet again, issues get lost in the muddle of new India's money. Why must India's premier entrepreneurs be put to such inglourious ends, do we indeed lack critical issues that could use brains? Chronic food scarcity (we put Sub-Saharan Africa to shame), compending corruption (moving out of India is the only way to get quick work done, according to the Asian bureaucrats survey), an all-encompassing threat to livelihood by government in the weaker areas (the 'Maoists' who have never seen a picture of Mao and are only trying to guard their sack of food) deplorable state of the executive and judiciary branches (a century of backlog cases, as TOI reported, and a police force that shoots innocents with impunity)... Need I go on?