US became a superpower and Argentina a basket case owes nothing to intricacies of geography, culture or religion. Countries become rich or poor because of the choices their rulers make. But what is so new about that? Why some countries thrive and others fail is a big question in economics. Beattie hops from country to country and across history for answers. In one chapter he visits
On India Meteorological Department using statistical models instead of dynamical ones for forecasting Tell me which dynamical model has given correct forecasts for India? The forecasts for Indian monsoons given by the US, UK and Europe in April this year (using dynamical models) threw up different predictions. None of them could predict monsoons would be so low. But the India Meteorological
back in the 20th century, when nation-building was not a foul term and public-private partnership was not a keyword, children grew up with the ideal of becoming doctors and engineers. Medicine was a noble profession. With changing times, commerce has become more reliable as an instrument of healthcare than nobility; medical insurance sounds more reasonable than the Hippocratic oath. But the
There has been an animated debate in the past three years over the supply of food in the ICDS (Integrated Child Development Services) programme. Supplementary nutrition has been provided to all children under the age of six since the inception of the programme more than three decades ago. This was done with the recognition that the nutrition gap (between what children should be
The ICDS programme launched in the 1970s was based on the results of extensive surveys which identified rampant child under-nutrition in India. Using the weight-for-age and height-for-age criteria, only 10 per cent children under five could be classified normal. And 15-20 per cent were underweight even when they were short. The situation has not improved in the past 35 years despite
A bill to create a green tribunal was tabled in the Lok Sabha on July 31. Will it ease the burden of courts like the government claims? Lawyers and activists Sumana Narayanan spoke to believe the bill in its present form will centralize legal recourse to environmental matters Sanjay Parikh, Advocate, Delhi The bill talks of the tribunal dealing with
Schooling the national imagination by Shalini Advani, Oxford University Press, Rs 575 How do textbooks define social roles and influence the way people look at themselves and others? Discussing the national education policy, Advani tracks the trajectory of state-produced school textbooks Amulya Reddy, Citizen Scientist by S Ravi Rajan, Orient Blackswan, Rs 795 Amulya K N Reddy was a
Civil society and the media are unfairly blaming a government nutrition programme I have been a political journalist for over three decades. Only recently have I become familiar with the nitty gritty of development reporting. The manner in which malnutrition is covered by a section of the media has come as an eye opener. It appears those who report on the subject generally confine
