Knowledge To The Rescue

Folks today's  post is about affirmative action (Reservation) in India and worldwide as well and some facts and my thoughts around it. This post examines the effects this policy has had on the Indian population in particular and globally in general. We will try to address this issue with data and algorithms and not passion as there is a great deal of distortion of this issue and there is a lot of baggage that many people bring to the table when this issue is discussed. I believe looking at data is the best way to make an informed decision and solve this important Social Engineering problem.

Background

At the stroke of the midnight hour as India awoke to light and freedom certain communities were considered backward and a young India decided to do something for her children. Dr. Ambedkar, a visionary leader of this community introduced the policy of reservation in Education to ameliorate these children of India. Being a visionary he naturally saw what the long term effects of this policy would be and warned that if this welfare policy was continued for more than 10 years the people would behave like parasites, Also he was strictly for reservation in education alone, not jobs promotions and such. These were introduced subsequently by weak and undeserving leaders who wanted to somehow keep winning elections by enticing the greed in the masses in exchange for votes.

Affirmative Action, The Broken Greedy Algorithm

Many still argue that Affirmative Action is a good thing. And even if it comes at the cost of the Forward Classes(Castes) it is worth it as it ensures Social Justice. I am not going to counter this argument with emotion but with facts and Algorithms. This is a classic case of a Greedy Algorithm that breaks down in the long term. A greedy algorithm assumes that what is right locally (reservation) would hold true globally(Social Justice) and that this algorithm of doling out engineering/medical seats would indeed uplift the masses long term. This does not happen for simple reasons rooted in Human Psychology. 

Imagine that you are a young couple if I told you: "Don't worry about your kids, they will have Food Security and a Right to a great Education, all of them I guarantee will become Doctors if they so wish". 

Q. How many children would you want to have?

A. As many as possible.

Now Imagine if I told you, " Your kids will need to be extremely bright to even get a decent education, you may need to pay your entire life savings as donation to get a seat in a Medical College and even after getting educated your kids may not get jobs. 

Q. How many children would you want to have?

A. 1 at most.

What is happening is a Silent genocide of the classes. The babies are not being born at all and the population of the classes is on the decline. Whereas the exact opposite is happening to  the masses. However resources (wealth) being limited, the inheritance algorithm is creating poorer and poorer masses and richer and richer Classes! The fact that there are fewer classes and that they are rich is leading the greedy leaders to use this as an excuse to increase the quota, which unfortunately is having the exact opposite effect.

I hope they see the light soon!

Psychology: Top and Bottom

The laws of nature say that if somebody is on the top somebody else will be at the bottom. This is true of society as well. The probability of one being on the top of the whole world is 1/6 billion and the denominator keeps rising, so we are all below someone or something. We need to learn some basic human psychology here. The people who consider themselves at the bottom, well that is all of us at varying levels, need to cultivate Humility in my opinion. Humility evokes Sympathy from those on top and makes them want to help us. However if we cultivate Arrogance, it evokes more arrogance and Aggression from the person in power, and we all know where that leads.

Fight or Flight

The classes are faced with great adversity at present in India and Adversity evokes the classic response. Fight or Flight (Immigration). How do we fight this system if we are an embattled minority in a large Democracy?

Flight is an easy solution, you can immigrate to a new country and thrive there.

However some of us remain here and decide to fight the system. Personally, I use knowledge to fight as I believe the Pen is Mightier than the Sword. And so I wrote this post. I hope to have provoked some thought!

Regards
Milind Thombre

(Comments Welcome)

A comparative study between the Indian IT industry and Bollywood

Folks, we have been influenced by movies since time immemorial and Bollywood is the chief culprit. This shows up in our day to day lives and we often subconsciously mimic Bollywood without knowing it. This is a study of similarities and differences between these two faking industries. I am sure there are parallels in other industries as well! Several Software Professionals have a holier than thou attitude towards Bollywood, so this is an attempt to make them see the light of day... 

Similarities:

1. There are "Roles" to be played
2. There are "Actors" and "Actresses"
3. There are heroes (developers) and Villains (Project Managers)
4. Both industries pretend to make finished "Products" 
5. There is a lot of rinse and repeat till you get the perfect "Shot" (Re-takes Vs Iterations/rebuilds etc)
6. The "Actresses" career is more or less over once she gets married! (ditto in the s/w industry)
7. Both Pretend to do Philanthropy ( CSR and doling out stuff)
8. There are Award Ceremonies!
9. The awards are Fixed!
10. There are lots of "Extras" everywhere.
11. In several cases you can sleep your way to the top
12. There are lay-offs once the project is complete
13. There is a lot of Copy and Paste! 
14. There are plenty of Scandals (Sexual and Financial)

Differences:

1. Bollywood makes some good finished products whereas the IT industry is still mostly about services!
2. Bollywood is Honest about layoffs.
3. Bollywood pays its Actors well
4. The Hero is treated with some semblance of respect in Bollywood
5. The press is crazy about Bollywood.

I hope you had a good Laugh!

Do you know any more Similarities and Differences? Do comment.

Regards

Milind Thombre

May the Force be with you!

Folks there are innumerable examples of how our forces have saved  lives, both Indian and other nationalities, when natural or man made disasters strike. This post is written with the deepest sense of gratitude to our men and women in Uniform. This post also acknowledges the work of several people who volunteer selflessly without the cover of a uniform such as but not limited to the Rashtriya Swayam Sevaks the various Gurudwaras, Ramdev Baba and many more I am sure I don't even know about.

Himalayan Disaster

When a Magnitude 7.9 on the Richter Scale (exponential scale) earthquake struck last weekend, Nepal was devastated. Buildings fell and became masses of suffocating rubble. Over 3200 people were no more, countless others were missing and injured. The survivors had severe stress levels from not knowing where their loved ones were. Aftershocks continued to instil fear in the hearts of the surviving. Mount Everest was also struck with several landslides claiming lives of climbers, and other tourists. Nepal as always been like a brother to India and it truly hurt all Indians that this small Hindu nation should suffer such destruction.

The Indian Army and the Indian Air Force were called to the rescue. Thousands of Indian tourists and anybody else who wanted to be rescued were flown out on massive aircrafts and choppers to safety. The operation was Aptly called "Maitri" or friendship. NDRF (National Disaster Relief Force)  medics and paramedics were put on the ground. Emergency operation theaters were set up in makeshift tents. An Indian Army expedition whose initial mission was to clean up Mt Everest (Safai) survived the quake. Instead of coming back to safety they pressed on looking for survivors. This is nothing short of heroic. The Gorkhas in the Indian Army (of Nepal) were given leave and plane rides to visit family back home.

The acknowledgement will be incomplete without a note about RSS and Ramdev Baba. Both vehemently hated by Indian Media (Presstitutes).

My parents who used to trek the Himalayas often several years ago have had a couple of near death experiences (Amarnath Yatra and Kailash-Manas Yatra). On all such occasions they have had the good fortune of being rescued by the Forces and fed by the Langars  when they were on the verge of collapse.

Even BSNL pitched in with Local call rates to Nepal. (Note that Idea and Vodafone were busy making IIN Ads and IIN jokes respectively at this time)

Hats Off!

When Saudis started their bombing campaign in Yemen. Indian forces were the only ones (Operation "Rahat") who went in to rescue its citizens. The US citizens in Yemen were told to call out to the Indian Forces if they wanted rescuing. Naturally, India's left leaning and pseudo secular media did not cover this. (Indian Muslims being rescued by the Indian Army). Retired Army General V. K. Singh personally walked through the villages in Yemen, unarmed and on foot calling out Indians to rescue them.

Genocide

For all the people in the world, including several Indians I know who portray a negative image of our forces.(esp because of the Kashmir issue) I want to remind you that this is the only Force standing between you and the receiving end of Genocide.

That's all for now folks, have a great day! (Comments welcome)

~ Milind Thombre

A Brilliant Idea

Dad routinely comes up with brilliant ideas from his armchair. (He had a stroke 13 years ago)

While recently talking to him we were discussing how the OPEC cartel has been instrumental in impoverishing the oil consuming nations (India and China) while enriching themselves (Mid-East ,Russia and USA). We spoke at length and here are some gems of wisdom from the master. 

1. Learn to value what you have

2. Learn not to want what other people have

3. Learn to negotiate for what you need and want while giving other people what they need and want.

So what does India really "HAVE"? 

1. Food (Agriculture)

2. Cotton (Clothing raw material)

3. Wealth: Gold (Many thousand tonnes of it stored for over centuries).

4. Prime Real Estate: Warm climate and great natural reserves.

5. Democracy and demographics (great number of brain cells)

And what does India need ?

1. OIL

Dad came up with the following solution:

Form an Organization of Agriculture Producing and Exporting Countries (OAPEC) to negotiate a barter with the OPEC. After all food, clothing and water ARE more essential commodities than OIL. Yet the rest of the world makes you believe otherwise. 

Thanks Dad for your piece of wisdom, Hope those in Power are listening!

Comments Welcome

Dr. Kishor Thombre and Milind Thombre