blog@Yantrajaal

Presidency college has plans for  a tough, new, two-tier entrance examination to select high quality students for its UG and PG courses. This is funny, considering the fact that IITs -- that had pioneered the concept of an exclusive entrance examination through the JEE -- are hoping to dilute them strongly in the near future. A quick review of the rise and fall of the JEE is very instructive in this context.   image from http://dreamylives.blogspot.in/2010/11/how-to-solve-multiple-choice-questions.html Despite their many failings, the five original IITs have played a stellar role in redefining the educational landscape of the country. While IIT engineers may have played some role in building the nation, their main contribution was to build a mystique around “Indian Brilliance” particularly in the United States, a country that recognised their worth far more than their own nation ever did ! In fact, before the IT industry pushed India into the international limelight, i...

Baitanik -- a cultural organisation that believes that culture can be a source of livelihood in India's rural heartland -- has a bi-weekly event every other Sunday, where Neepabithi Ghosh and her team of Chau Dancers put up an excellent performance today. Here are some pictures of the event. While Neepabithi Ghosh is an established and renowned singer in her own right, what stole the show was the way she blended a different genres of Bangla music -- from Tagore through folk and right up to contemporary tunes -- with the traditional Chau dance of Balarampur and Baghmundi, from the Purulia district. In fact the anthem of the football World Cup, Waka Waka by Shakira, was also blended in very beautifully with this traditional art form of Bengal. Thanks to Baitanik for a wonderful evening and all the best to Neepabithi and her Chau project

  as shot on my Sony Cybershot click to expand to full size

People working in the private corporate sector are familiar with the process of annual appraisal and know that annual increments and bonuses are directly linked to this exercise. There may be some disappointment with the way that these appraisals are conducted but (a) no corporate has found an alternative to the process and (b) despite all its faults, companies have not collapsed and died because of appraisals -- in general they have done well. Net-net this means that the strategy of deciding on annual increments and bonuses on the basis of an appraisal process has stood the test of time and reliability in India. Strangely enough, this concept is totally absent in state and central government departments and institutions. The salary structure for all government employees is determined by the Pay Commission and both pay and annual increments are cast in stone. So there is no direct and transparent way to recognise good performance and reward the same. Neither is there any way to ident...