Commenting Policy Change

Commenting on this blog requires a registration on this site. It is a simple half a minute process, and one gets to choose one’s handle and one’s password. But it was being abused by spammers and I decided to disallow users to register themselves. That means, if one wishes to comment, one has to write to me (atanudey at gmail) and I register you with your chosen username/handle and you can reset the password. Just to make it easier, I also decided that I would have a generic handle, “lurker”, and hoped that when people use that login, they would include at the end of the comment a real name or a persistent handle.

Some have used the “lurker” login and thoughtfully identified themselves. But most are not doing so and this is leading to confusion that I would rather avoid. So I am reluctantly removing the lurker login.

If you wish to comment, please email me and I will send you a login ASAP. Sorry for the trouble.

Failing Government Schools in AP

Government schools in rural AP are losing strength because students are deserting them for private schools, according to this news item. (Hat tip: Ramesh Jagannathan)

People who have the ability to move, vote with their feet. So if they are moving away from free government schools to private schools where they have to pay, it speaks rather loudly to the fact that the government schools are not performing. The tragedy is that these failing government schools continue to be a drain on the public funds.

Hindi Version of this Blog

Who woulda thunk that! This blog is now being mirrored in Hindi. It’s author is Alok Kumar and is called “Bharat ka Vikas — Atanu Dey“.

My Hindi is nothing to write home about. But even I can tell that Alok’s translations of the posts are excellent. I realize that my writing style is not the simplest as I favor the convoluted sentence too frequently. Yet Alok gets the ideas across. Thank you very much, Alok Kumar. Your work is much appreciated.

I asked him why he is taking the trouble. He said that he was doing his bit to add to the Hindi content on the web. The more Hindi content on the web –> more Hindi readers on the web –> more Hindi content on the web –> . . . and so on.

So dear readers, please spread the word about Alok’s translation of this blog.