Having missed the industrial revolution, we have tried hard to catch up with the new-age industries, mainly Information Technology and Biotechnology. While the growth of IT in India is universally known, it is noteworthy that Indian pharmaceutical industry (a major part of biotech) ranks third in the world in terms of volume and fourteenth in terms of value. Well, lesser known is the fact, that until recently, there existed a river in Hyderabad where a single dip could make you immune to most diseases – and a second dip could have killed you. Continue reading
Monthly Archives: February 2013
Water for life
Posted in Nature, Technology
Nuclear democracy
The most secretive institution in India is the Atomic Energy Commission. May it be the nuclear mishaps of Kaiga, the multiple shutting of Kakrapar, the leakages of Rawatbhata, the safety concerns of Tarapur, or the voices being raised by thousands in Kudankulam, the AEC is rarely held accountable. While India’s atomic energy programme is an economic failure and an environmental disaster, its very functioning, undermines the democratic ideals of a country like India. Continue reading
Justice of speech
“I may disagree with what you say but I will defend to death your right to say it.” I often hear friends and readers say that Voltaire said it. In-fact, teachers of history, political science and believers of democracy absolutely love Voltaire for writing this in one of the 20,000 letters or 2,000 books and pamphlets he wrote. But if you ask them which book, they’d probably not know. While Voltaire remains one of the greatest advocate of freedom of religion and expression, it’s time we realize that Voltaire did not really write this quote. Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy
Towards electoral reforms
In order to reform our electoral democracy, and open it up for honest citizens, we must start looking for an alternative electoral framework in which vision, policies, hard work and ideology matter over the marginal votes. Do read my latest article in the-NRI
History, 24 frames per second
History is an interesting subject for cinema. It has stories to tell, and more importantly lessons to teach. While Chinese resort to their martial art and wartime dramas, Japanese make jidaigekis, Russians are known for their working class films, and Americans with very little history to tell, still fall back to their cowboy westerns and political dramas, it is rather unfortunate, that India despite of its thousands of years of rich history, vastly fails to replicate it in cinema. Continue reading
सौरभ राय | Sourav Roy 