Dear Mr Ratan Tata . . .

Dear Mr.Tata,

I trust that you will take the decision to locate the proposed commercial port in coastal Orissa only after due consideration about, and the serious study of, the Olive Ridley Sea Turtle. Thank you.

Kind regards,
Atanu

[Reference.]

Marcus Brigstocke on Religion

Monotheism is evil. And many of the followers of the monotheistic faiths are “vicious tyrannical thugs.”

Pragati June 2008: The New Jihadis

Don’t you think that the cover is absolutely brilliant? Smashup job, Nitin!

Download your copy here.

CONTENTS:

Google and the Indic Web

Google says it is building the Indic web. Now they support transliteration in 5 languages — Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu. I checked out their automatic English to Hindi translation. I typed “What is your name” and got back “kya aapkay naam” — not terribly impressive.

International Year of Astronomy 2009

Did you know that 2009 is the International Year of Astronomy? It will be 400 years since Galileo Galilei, the starry messenger, demonstrated his telescope to the world (actually, Venetian politicians) in August 1609. To commemorate that event, IAU and UNESCO are going to release a movie.

The vision of the International Year of Astronomy 2009 is to help the citizens of the world rediscover their place in the Universe through the day- and night time sky, and thereby engage a personal sense of wonder and discovery. All humans should realize the impact of astronomy and basic sciences on our daily lives, and understand better how scientific knowledge can contribute to a more equitable and peaceful society.

Go watch the trailer on YouTube. Or better still, download one of the many high resolution versions from here.

Totally thrilling stuff.

Pragati April Issue: Give them their freedom

The April 2008 issue of Pragati is available for download here.

The first two articles are on the loan waiver to farmers.

Beware the Ides of March

Caesar ignored the soothsayer’s warning to “beware the ides of March” and on March 15th in 44 BCE was assassinated. Cassius was among the attackers. Caesar knew that there was something suspicious about Cassius. He had remarked to Antony:

Let me have men about me that are fat;
Sleek-headed men and such as sleep o’ nights:
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;
He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.

Be very wary of people with lean and hungry looks who think too much.

[Here’s Act 1, Scene 2 of The Life and Death of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare.]

POSTSCRIPT: All sorts of bad things happen on the ides of March. In 1876 on the ides of March, test cricket was born with a match between England and Australia.

Pragati March 2008: The Gujarat Model

The latest issue is on the stands. Click on the image to download (pdf) the current issue of Pragati.

To get a preview of what’s in the issue, read the excerpts at the Pragati site.

Prof Asher’s article on the Gujarat model is a must-read. “Its focus on development, empowerment of individuals, and internal security benefits all communities and income groups, and therefore is inclusive in the correct meaning of the term.”

My take on LK Advani’s speech to FICCI recently (posted previously on this blog) is included in the Roundup section of this issue.

Jago (revisited)

In response to the post on Jago Party, Mr Denson Joseph, one of the founder members of the party, took the trouble to post a comment. This is a response to that comment.

I maintain that it is a always a good sign that people are seriously making an attempt at forming political parties. The marketplace, so to speak, has to expand. With some luck, the good ones will take root and flourish. But the creation of a good party is not just a matter of luck. It has to be the result of some deep thinking. Impassioned calls to “WORK TOGETHER & TAKE ACTION BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE” by “the literate noble thinkers, bloggers & critics” is a bit premature if the hard thinking has not been done.

Jago Party

So there’s a new political party in the making — the Jago Party. A very hopeful sign. We need more and more people to enter the political arena. The consequence of good people not engaging in politics, as the wise counsel, is that you get ruled by your inferiors. The more choices one has in terms of political parties, the more likely it will be that a reasonable outcome may obtain.