Professor Amartya Sen’s keynote address at NASSCOM leadership forum

Some admirations come from near, others from very far. My respect and reverence for the IT industry in general and the extraordinarily dynamic and triumphant Indian IT industry in particular have come, by necessity, from some distance, since I am a dabbler in things far away from IT services and software. When the invitation came to attend this year’s NASSCOM meeting and the leadership forum, I thought that this either indicated some mixing up of my identity (”wake up, wake up,” I wanted to say, “I teach non-IT subjects at a university!”), or alternatively, it reflected generous interest of NASSCOM leaders to reach out (or as my students say, “hang out”) beyond their principality.

Of the two possibilities, identity confusion is the more exciting. My late friend Isaiah Berlin, the philosopher, recounted to me his exciting experiences when he was invited to a musical gathering under the mistaken impression that he was Irving Berlin, the musical composer, rather than Isaiah Berlin, the political philosopher. Apparently, the assembled gathering was somewhat disappointed by Isaiah Berlin’s inability to respond to repeated requests to provide some insights into the melodies from Annie Get Your Gun or Call Me Madam. And, of course, Sen is a more common name than Berlin , offering more opportunity of identity confounding. Indeed, I was once asked in a gathering of very energetic and very globally minded Ugandan students - this happened at the Makerere College in Kampala - whether I, Amartya Sen, was any relation of Sun Yat Sen. I had to tell my interlocutor, “No, but we are trying hard.”

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At a time when many pharmaceutical companies are in the news for pulling out all the stops for extending the exclusivity of their patented drugs and focussing on developing drugs for diseases prevalent in developed countries, Sanofi-aventis, a Paris-based drug company, has truly lived up to its slogan, `Because health matters.’ The anti-malarial fixed-dose combination drug, developed specially for Africa by the company and the non-profit Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDI), will be made available at cost. Malaria is a plague in sub-Saharan Africa, killing more than a million people every year. It is the single largest killer of children under five years. With the miracle drug chloroquine becoming less effective in fighting this disease — on account of malaria parasite developing resistance to it — there has been great compulsion to develop more effective combination drugs based on the Chinese medicinal plant artemisinin. While a combination drug by itself reduces the chances of the parasite developing resistance, making it available as a fixed-dose combination further lowers that possibility and will go a long way in fighting the malaria scourge.

If the involvement of a pharmaceutical company in producing a drug for a neglected disease is by itself laudable, Sanofi-aventis’s decision not to patent the drug meant for the poor sends out a salutary social responsibility message. It is that pharmaceutical companies can serve the cause of public health, in particular the interests of the poorest of the poor, while seeking profits. At a time when substantial numbers of people, especially senior citizens, in the United States are finding the prices of new patented drugs beyond their means, the plight of millions of poor people in developing countries can be imagined. Sanofi-aventis’s decision not to patent the new anti-malarial drug will encourage generic manufacturers to produce it at even cheaper rates. Indian companies can take a lead in this respect. A further reduction in cost will be a boon to the needy who will now pay 50 cents and $1 a day for a three-day paediatric and adult regimen respectively. A partnership between a pharmaceutical company and a non-profit organisation augurs well for the development of drugs for serious but neglected diseases. Making drugs affordable has been one of the main agendas of Medecins sans Frontieres, which along with five other international medical bodies runs DNDI. This is an inspiring example of what can be achieved in the public health field when a drug company joins hands altruistically with a public-funded initiative.
THE HINDU
Friday, Mar 09, 2007
http://www.hindu.com/2007/03/09/stories/2007030902711000.htm

Patrick Geddes was a remarkable urban environmentalist who is relevant even today.

“INDIA lives in her villages,” said Mahatma Gandhi. This is an injunction that the environmental movement in India has taken very seriously indeed. Thus scholars and activists have argued about such matters as the commercial bias in forest policy, the disappearance of species, the drying up of village tanks, and the displacement of adivasis by large dams.

These are all important issues, deserving careful attention and concerted action. Still, it is striking how the environmental problems of the cities have received scant attention in comparison. For, India lives in her cities and towns, too, in cities and towns plagued by hazardous work conditions, insanitary living conditions, high rates of air and water pollution, and the like.

In addressing these problems today, we can seek inspiration in the work of a remarkable urban environmentalist of the past.

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An interview with K Rajagopal, an architect and President, Indian Institute of Architects

Can you give some background on when architecture developed into a curriculum, a definite course of study?

Architecture can be defined as the science of building. It is both an art and a science and combines art and technology to create monuments. Architecture is a profession, which has been practised from times immemorial. Architecture, as a profession, has thrived in India for centuries and all the magnificent monuments are testimonials.

As a curriculum in colleges, it started sometime during the British rule, with the establishment of JJ School of Arts in Mumbai, which offered a diploma in architecture. Many years later, the School of Planning and Architecture in Delhi was started, and by 1957, there were around seven to eight colleges in the country. Other colleges like REC Trichy, started offering architecture as a course of study in the 1960s. Gradually, many of the self-financed, private colleges began offering the subject. Right now, there are around 100 schools in India, with Maharashtra topping the list with 30 schools. Karnataka comes second with more than 18 schools. Premier institutions in the country are IIT Kharagpur, School of Planning and Architecture in Delhi, JJ School of Architecture in Mumbai, JN Technological University of Hyderabad, Anna University, Chennai and REC Trichy.

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Raghu Rai
Sunday, May 11 1997

© Raghu Rai

“What I saw was to change my life. It was an unprecedented scene of chaos. What startled me most was the silence of death. Thousands of people had already died, thousands more than died in the 11 September attack on the World Trade Centre. I vowed then and there to continue my work, to do all I could to show the world what happens to people when corporations are not held liable for their operations, when they are allowed to cut costs and safety standards when they operate abroad.”

The present state of creative photography in the country is very confused and leaves a lot to be desired.

Inevitably, India becomes the recipient of outdated technologies, fashions, and ideas from the West. This gets reflected in photography too. Photographers are expected to entertain through their work. But we are not visual entertainers.

Of course, there are enough of us who love to dabble in the medium and produce pretty pictures. Unfortunately, it is often this kind of photographer who gets picked up and lionised by editors and commentators, who make it a point to back the sensational rather than the solid.

If you say Shakespeare or Milton or Tagore is not entertaining enough, I would, quite rightly, dismiss you out of hand. The same principle applies to photographers. After all, ours is an art that is sensitive to nuance. We want to go beyond the mere physicality of our subject and delve in its inner truths. It is only in this way can the inner aura of people and objects be captured and communicated to others.

This requires a vision that goes beyond the superficial in both the people who photograph and the people who see.

Today is truly the age of fast food. We have fast food editors, fast food designers, fast food layout artists, fast food photographers. For them packaging is everything, the very essence of things.

Earlier those who influenced public opinion, whether they were editors or film makers or painters, tried to go about their work with a certain responsibility and a commitment to what they believed in.

Today, none of this is necessary. Everything works on market surveys. It is what sells that counts. Nothing else. And this,I believe, spells the death of true creativity.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd

Learning Commons launches ‘Copyright, copyleft and everything in between’

Copyright, copyleft and everything in between’ is a multimedia curriculum on copyright alternatives in South Africa. It covers the social and economic impact of technology from an African perspective, focusing specifically on the origins of copyright and the impact of open source software and open content on African development.

http://www.learningcommons.co.za/

“The future is about identity. Once we figure out our identity, we can build a nation. We need to know who we are. While a mainstream film does not address this need, only mainstream film can create a conducive environment for another Satyajit Ray. Cinema is not just entertainment it is art as well. While films generates employment to feed the stomachs of many people, we should also look at films as being able to feed the mind.”

Cambodian director Rithy Panh stresses the importance of the documentary as a platform for discussion and discovery.

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