04/07/2020
Day 102
Falling behind is easy. Allow a minor slip and it can keep getting worse as the days pile up. Even though these thoughts are written down on the end of the same day, the posts have fallen behind schedule by more than a week. I hope to fix it soon.
We did not cycle today. This gave me the opportunity to get going with pending diary entries. As of today, India has lost 18655 lives to Covid-19. I read about Bangalore running out of hospital beds. Situation in the cities looks grim.
Meanwhile, I read about the pandemic times throwing up many possibilities for people. Nathan Tankus has been writing explainers on economics and he is no expert. Yet, his essays are being read widely. We have been here before – that diplomas (and degrees) do not matter. With Tankus writing on economics the conversation has once again moved towards how much do college degrees matter. I think it will begin to matter in regular times and when we roll back to normalcy after the pandemic is past us, older ways and ideas will return too. In these times, there is plenty of attention span and free time that people have for reading and exploration. In establishments, gatekeeping continues to be strong. Degrees and credentials will continue to matter.
On a different note, read a piece by Deepak Malghan who’s at the IIM Bangalore, drawing paralles between the black lives matter movement and case based discrimination in Indian academia. I am not sure if I agree entirely with that equivalence. But the problems identified with look spot on
We walked the Sevagram trail in the evening. On the walk the discussion was about farming and subsidies extended to farmers by the central and state governments. I do not have a Kisan Credit Card yet. I have not registered for the annual grant that the government of India has begun making to the farmers. It feels appropriate to not take that benefit and let it free up for farmers in need. Public policies for farmers don’t always seem to be well designed in India.They are often populist. Billions of rupees are wasted in this country in backing up political and populists ideas through policies. This must change.
Contested Realities 