മാധ്യമങ്ങളുടെ വിവിധ വ്യാഖ്യാനങ്ങള്‍

ഇക്കഴിഞ്ഞ കുറച്ചു ദിവസങ്ങളായി നമ്മള്‍ കണ്ടുകൊണ്ടിരിക്കുന്ന വാര്‍ത്തകളില്‍ നിറഞ്ഞു നിന്ന ചിലത് ഇവയാണ്:

൧. കേരളത്തിലെ സര്‍കാര്‍ സ്കൂളുകളില്‍ ചേരുന്നവരുടെ എണ്ണം കുറയുന്നു. ഈ കുറവ് ഈ വര്‍ഷം 1.15 ലക്ഷം ആണ്.

൨. കേരളത്തില്‍ പനി ആശങ്കാജനകമായ രീതിയില്‍ പടരുന്നു. ലക്ഷക്കണക്കിന് ആളുകള്‍ പനി ബാധിച്ചു ആശുപത്രികളില്‍ പ്രവേശിപ്പിക്കപ്പെടുന്നു.

രണ്ടും ശരിയായ വാര്‍ത്തകള്‍ തന്നെയാണ്. പക്ഷേ, ഇവയ്ക്ക് നല്‍കുന്ന പ്രാധാന്യം ചില വ്യാഖ്യാനങ്ങള്‍ക്ക് വഴിവെയ്ക്കുന്നു. ഈ വാര്‍ത്തകളില്‍നിന്നും ഏതൊരു സാധാരണക്കാരനും മനസ്സിലാക്കുന്ന കാര്യങ്ങള്‍ ഇങ്ങനെയായിരിക്കാം:

൧. സര്‍ക്കാര്‍ സ്കൂളുകളില്‍ ജനങ്ങള്‍ക്ക്‌ വിശ്വാസം നഷ്ടപ്പെടുന്നു.

൨. ഈ വര്‍ഷത്തെ പനി മറ്റു വര്‍ഷങ്ങളെ അപേക്ഷിച്ചു ആശങ്കാജനകമായ അളവിലേക്ക് ഉയര്‍ന്നിരിക്കുന്നു.

ചില പത്രങ്ങള്‍ ഈ വ്യാഖ്യാനങ്ങള്‍ അങ്ങനെ തന്നെ കൊടുത്തിട്ടുണ്ട്‌. മറ്റുള്ളവ, ഇങ്ങനെയുള്ള വ്യാഖ്യാനങ്ങളിലേക്ക് നയിക്കുന്ന തരത്തില്‍ വിവരങ്ങള്‍ നല്‍കി, അതെ കര്‍ത്തവ്യം തന്നെ നിര്‍വഹിക്കുന്നു.

അപ്പോള്‍ എന്താണ് പ്രശ്നം?

കേരളത്തിന്റെ സാമൂഹിക ഘടന വിശകലനം ചെയ്യുന്ന ഒരു റിപ്പോര്‍ട്ട്‌ പറയുന്നത് കേരളത്തില്‍ കുട്ടികളുടെ എണ്ണം കുറഞ്ഞു വരുന്നു എന്നാണത്രേ. കൃത്യമായ കണക്കുകള്‍ എനിക്കറിയില്ല, പക്ഷേ, ഒരു ഉദാഹരണം നമുക്ക് നോക്കാം. കഴിഞ്ഞ വര്‍ഷം അഞ്ചു മുതല്‍ ആറു വരെ പ്രായമുള്ളവരുടെ എണ്ണത്തിനെ അപേക്ഷിച്ചു ഈ വര്‍ഷം അന്‍പതിനായിരം കുറവാണ് എന്ന് വെക്കുക. അങ്ങനെയെങ്കില്‍, യഥാര്‍ത്ഥത്തില്‍ സര്‍ക്കാര്‍ സ്കൂളുകളില്‍ ചേരുന്ന കുട്ടികളുടെ എണ്ണത്തില്‍ കുറവ് വന്നത് 65k ആണെന്ന് മനസ്സിലാക്കാം. (1.15 lacs - 50k = 65k). ഇനി ആ സംഖ്യ 1.15 lacs തന്നെയാണ് എന്നിരിക്കട്ടെ. അങ്ങനെയെങ്കില്‍ കുട്ടികളുടെ എണ്ണത്തില്‍ വന്ന കുറവില്‍ ആശ്ച്ചര്യജനകമായിട്ടു ഒന്നും തന്നെയില്ല. അതുകൊണ്ട് തന്നെ ഈ അവസരത്തില്‍ "സര്‍ക്കാര്‍ സ്കൂളുകളില്‍ ജനങ്ങള്‍ക്ക്‌ വിശ്വാസം നഷ്ടപ്പെടുന്നു" എന്നത് തെറ്റായ വ്യാഖ്യാനമാണ്.

ഈ വ്യാഖ്യാനം തെറ്റിദ്ധാരണ ജനിപ്പിക്കുന്നുണ്ട് എങ്കിലും വലിയ വിപത്ത്‌ സൃഷ്ടിക്കുന്നില്ല. മറ്റൊരു ഉദാഹരണം എടുക്കാം. സെന്‍സസ്‌ കണക്ക് പ്രകാരം "മുസ്ലിം ജനസംഖ്യ വര്‍ധനവ്‌ ഹിന്ദു ജനസംഖ്യ വര്‍ധനവിനെ അപേക്ഷിച്ചു കൂടുതല്‍ ആണ്". ഇതിനെ ആധാരമാക്കി സംഘ പരിവാര്‍ സംഘടനകള്‍ നടത്തുന്ന പ്രചാരണത്തില്‍ ഒന്ന് ഇങ്ങനെ ആകുന്നു "മുസ്ലിം ജനങ്ങള്‍ പെരുകുന്നു; ഹിന്ദുക്കള്‍ കരുതിയിരിക്കുക". പൊതുവില്‍ നമുക്കറിയാം, ഇന്ത്യയിലെ ശരാശരി മുസ്ലിം പൌരന്‍ ഹിന്ദു പൌരനെ അപേക്ഷിച്ചു മോശമായ സാഹചര്യത്തിലാണ് ജീവിക്കുന്നത്; കുറഞ്ഞ ജീവിതനിലവാരമാണ് പുലര്‍ത്തുന്നത്. കുറഞ്ഞ ജീവിത നിലവാരം ഉള്ളവര്‍ക്കിടയില്‍ ജനസംഖ്യ വര്‍ധനവ്‌ കൂടിയിരിക്കും എന്നതും ഒരു സാമൂഹിക യാഥാര്‍ത്ഥ്യം ആണ്. ഇന്ത്യയിലെ ഹിന്ദുക്കള്‍ക്കിടയില്‍ നിന്നും മുസ്ലിങ്ങള്‍ക്ക് സമാനമായ ജീവിത നിലവാരത്തിലുള്ള ആളുകളെ മാത്രം കണക്കിലെടുത്താല്‍ അവരുടെ ജനസംഖ്യ വര്‍ധനവും മുസ്ലിം ജനസംഖ്യ വര്‍ധനവും സമാനമാണത്രേ. ഈ സാമൂഹിക അവസ്ഥ കണക്കിലെടുത്തില്ലെങ്കില്‍ പ്രതീക്ഷിക്കുന്നതിനേക്കാള്‍ വലിയ നിരക്കില്‍ മുസ്ലിം ജനസംഖ്യ ഉയരുന്നു എന്നാ കുപ്രചരണം ചിലര്‍ (ഈ ഉദാഹരണത്തില്‍, സംഘ പരിവാര്‍ സംഘടനകള്‍) നടത്തി വര്‍ഗീയ പ്രശ്നങ്ങള്‍ സൃഷ്ടിച്ചേക്കാം.

ഇതെല്ലാം വിരല്‍ചൂണ്ടുന്നത് ഒരു കാര്യത്തിലേക്കാണ്: കണക്കുകള്‍ നിരത്തുമ്പോള്‍ അത്യന്തം ശ്രദ്ധ പുലര്‍ത്തേണ്ട്താണ്. കണക്കുകളില്‍ നിന്ന് നിഗമനങ്ങളിലേക്ക് എത്തുമ്പോള്‍ പരിശോധിക്കുന്ന ഘടകം ഒഴികെയുള്ളവയെ മാറ്റിനിര്‍ത്താന്‍ ശ്രദ്ധിക്കണം. (ഉദാ: ജനസംഖ്യ വര്‍ധനവ് പരിശോധിക്കുമ്പോള്‍ ജീവിതനിലവാരം എന്നാ ഘടകം മാറ്റിനിര്‍ത്തണം; നേരത്തെ കണ്ടതുപോലെ). അങ്ങനെ "വെടിപ്പാക്കപ്പെട്ട" നിഗമനങ്ങള്‍ വേണം ജനങ്ങളിലേക്കെത്തിക്കാന്‍.

എന്തുകൊണ്ട് നിഗമനങ്ങള്‍ "വെടിപ്പാക്കപ്പെടുന്നില്ല"?

മാധ്യമങ്ങള്‍ എന്തുകൊണ്ട് നിഗമനങ്ങളുടെ വെടിപ്പാക്കലില്‍ വേണ്ടത്ര ശ്രദ്ധ പതിപ്പിക്കുന്നില്ല എന്ന് നമുക്ക് പരിശോധിക്കാം. പ്രധാന കാരണങ്ങള്‍ ചുവടെ നിരത്തുന്നു.

൧. മാധ്യമങ്ങള്‍ക്ക് ഈ വെടിപ്പകല്‍ ചെയ്യാന്‍ പ്രേരകമായ കാരണങ്ങള്‍ ഇല്ല: ഉദാഹരണത്തിന്, യഥാര്‍ത്ഥത്തില്‍ വിദ്യാര്‍ത്ഥികളുടെ കുറവ് 50k ആണെന്നിരിക്കട്ടെ. പക്ഷേ, സെന്‍സേഷണലിസം എന്നാ മാനദണ്ഡം ഉപയോഗിച്ചാല്‍, 1.15 lacs റിപ്പോര്‍ട്ട്‌ ചെയ്യാന്‍ ആയിരിക്കും താല്പര്യം. മറിച്ചാണ് സെന്‍സേഷണല്‍ എങ്കിലും, അവര്‍ ഒരുപക്ഷെ, 1.15 lacs തന്നെ റിപ്പോര്‍ട്ട്‌ ചെയ്തേക്കാം; എന്തുകൊണ്ടെന്നാല്‍, ഈ വെടിപ്പാക്കല്‍ പ്രക്രിയ ജനങ്ങളെ പറഞ്ഞു മനസ്സിലാക്കാന്‍ ബുദ്ധിമുട്ടാനെന്നത് തന്നെ.

൨. യഥാര്‍ത്ഥ വെടിപ്പാക്കല്‍ അത്ര എളുപ്പമല്ല: ആ ജനസംഖ്യ പ്രശ്നം തന്നെയെടുക്കാം; ഒരാള്‍ മുസ്ലിംകളുടെ ജീവിത സാഹചര്യം കണക്കിലെടുക്കണം എന്ന് പറയുന്നു എങ്കില്‍, മറ്റൊരാള്‍ അവരുടെ വിദ്യാഭ്യാസ നിലവാരം കണക്കിലെടുക്കണം എന്ന് വാദിച്ചേക്കാം. മൂന്നാമതൊരാള്‍ മുസ്ലിം വനിതകളുടെ പൊതു പിന്നോക്കാവസ്ഥ കണക്കിലെടുക്കണം എന്ന് വാദിച്ചു എന്നിരിക്കും. ഇതിലെല്ലാം ശരിയുണ്ട് താനും; അതുകൊണ്ട് തന്നെ ഇതില്‍ ഏതൊക്കെ കണക്കിലെടുക്കണം, ഇതൊക്കെ കൂടാതെ വേറെ എന്തെങ്കിലും കണക്കിലെടുക്കെണ്ടാതുണ്ടോ എന്നൊക്കെ തീരുമാനിക്കാന്‍ ബുദ്ധിമുട്ടാണ്.

൩. മാധ്യമങ്ങളുടെ സ്ഥാപിത താല്പര്യങ്ങള്‍: ഒരു സംഘ പരിവാര്‍ സംഘടനയുടെ പത്രത്തിന് മുസ്ലിം ജനസംഖ്യ വര്‍ധനവ്‌ കൂട്ടിക്കാണിക്കാന്‍ താല്പര്യമുണ്ടാകും. പത്രങ്ങളുടെ രാഷ്ട്രീയ താല്പര്യമനുസരിച്ചും പലതും മാറാം.

അടുത്ത വര്‍ഷം കാനേഷുമാരി കണക്കുകള്‍ വരുന്നു; അതനുസരിച്ച് നമ്മള്‍ എത്രെയെത്ര വ്യാഖ്യാനങ്ങള്‍ കാണാനിരിക്കുന്നു. (പ്രത്യേകിച്ചും, ജാതി ഉള്‍പ്പടെയുള്ള സെന്‍സസ്‌ ആണെങ്കില്‍).

ഈ അവസരത്തില്‍ ഒരു സുഹൃത്ത്‌ പറഞ്ഞതിങ്ങനെ, "ഓരോരുത്തരും അവരവര്‍ക്കിഷ്ടപ്പെട്ട വ്യാഖ്യാനങ്ങള്‍ നിരത്തും; നമുക്കൊന്നും ചെയ്യാന്‍ സാധിക്കില്ല". വ്യാഖ്യാനങ്ങള്‍ പാടെ വിശ്വസിക്കുന്നതിനുമുമ്പ് ഒന്ന് ചിന്തിച്ചു നോക്കുക എന്നത് മാത്രമേ നമുക്ക് ചെയ്യാന്‍ സാധിക്കു.

ഇതിലെ പല വിവരങ്ങള്‍ക്കും കടപ്പാട്: റുബിന്‍ ഡി ക്രുസ്, മുരളീ തുമ്മറുകുടി, എഫ് ഇ സി ഇന്റര്‍നെറ്റ്‌ ചര്‍ച്ചാവേദി

യന്ത്രവല്‍ക്കരണവും തൊഴില്‍ നഷ്ടവും

അടുത്തിടെയായി ഒട്ടനവധി സന്ദര്‍ഭങ്ങളില്‍ ഒട്ടനവധി രൂപങ്ങളില്‍ ഈ ചോദ്യം ഞാന്‍ കേള്‍ക്കുകയുണ്ടായി. ചില വകഭേദങ്ങള്‍ ചുവടെ ചേര്‍ക്കുന്നു:

൧. ഓഫീസിലെ ഒരു സഹപ്രവര്‍ത്തകന്‍: "ഞാന്‍ ഒരു വാഷിംഗ്‌ മെഷീന്‍ വാങ്ങിക്കാന്‍ ഉദ്ദേശിക്കുന്നു. പക്ഷേ, ഒരു പ്രശ്നം എന്നെ അലട്ടുന്നു. മെഷീന്‍ വാങ്ങുന്നതോടെ വീട്ടില്‍ വരുന്ന ജോലിക്കാരിയുടെ ജോലി കുറയും; അതിനനുസരിച്ച് അവരുടെ ശമ്പളം കുറക്കേണ്ടി വരും. അത് അവര്‍ക്ക് ബുദ്ധിമുട്ടുണ്ടാക്കും."

൨. ഓഫീസില്‍ ഒപ്പം ജോലി ചെയ്യുന്ന മറ്റൊരാള്‍: "ഓരോ വര്‍ഷവും നമ്മള്‍ കൂടുതല്‍ കൂടുതല്‍ യന്ത്രവല്‍ക്കരണത്തിനായി പ്രവര്‍ത്തിക്കുന്നു (കമ്പ്യൂട്ടര്‍ സയന്‍സ് ഗവേഷകര്‍ എന്ന നിലക്ക്). യന്ത്രവല്കരണം മനുഷ്യന്റെ ജീവിതത്തിനെ നല്ല രീതിയില്‍ ബാധിക്കുന്നു എന്ന് തോന്നുന്നില്ല. പക്ഷേ, കമ്പനികള്‍ക്ക് യന്ത്രവല്‍ക്കരണം ലാഭകരം ആണ്. അതുകൊണ്ട്, അത് തുടരുന്നു. ഇതിനു ഒരു അവസാനമുണ്ടോ? ഇങ്ങനെ പോയാല്‍ എങ്ങനെയാണ് ഇതവസാനിക്കുക".

മനുഷ്യന്‍ ചെയ്യുന്ന തൊഴിലുകള്‍ കൂടുതലായി യന്ത്രങ്ങള്‍ ഏറ്റെടുക്കുമ്പോള്‍ എന്ത് സംഭവിക്കും, എന്നതാണ് ഇതിന്റെ ഇതിവൃത്തം. മനുഷ്യര്‍ക്ക്‌ തൊഴില്‍ നഷ്ടപ്പെടുമ്പോള്‍ അതുമൂലം തൊഴില്‍ രംഗത്ത് പ്രതിസന്ധി ഉണ്ടാകുമോ? അതോ അതിനനനുസരിച്ചു കൂടുതല്‍ പുതിയ തൊഴിലുകള്‍ ഉണ്ടാകുന്നുണ്ടോ?

ഞാന്‍ ഉള്‍പ്പെടുന്ന എഫ് ഇ സി എന്ന ഇന്റര്‍നെറ്റ്‌ ചര്‍ച്ചാവേദിയില്‍ ഞങ്ങള്‍ പല കാര്യങ്ങളും ചര്‍ച്ച ചെയ്യാറുണ്ട്. അതില്‍ ഇതിനെക്കുറിച്ചും വിശദമായ ചര്‍ച്ചകള്‍ ഉണ്ടായി. അതില്‍ ഉന്നയിക്കപ്പെട്ട ചില വീക്ഷണങ്ങള്‍ വളരെ ഉപയോഗപ്രദമായി തോന്നി. ആ അഭിപ്രായങ്ങള്‍ ഉള്‍പ്പടെയുള്ളവ ഇതിലൂടെ പങ്കുവെക്കാനാണ് ഞാന്‍ ഇതെഴുതുന്നത്. ആദ്യമായി ഈ വിഷയത്തില്‍ ഗൌരവതരമായ ഒരു ചര്‍ച്ച ഞാന്‍ കാണുന്നത് എഫ് ഇ സി യിലാണ് - അതുകൊണ്ട് തന്നെ ഈ പോസ്റ്റ്‌ എഴുതാന്‍ പ്രേരിപ്പിച്ചതില്‍ പ്രധാനമായും എഫ് ഇ സി അങ്ങങ്ങള്‍ക്ക് തന്നെയാണ് ഞാന്‍ നന്ദി പറയേണ്ടത്.

ആദ്യമായി ഇംഗ്ലീഷ് ചരിത്രത്തില്‍ നിന്ന് ഒരു കഥ: ലുടടിറ്റ്

പത്തൊന്‍പതാം നൂറ്റാണ്ടിന്റെ ആദ്യകാലം. ഇന്ഗ്ലെണ്ടില്‍ തകൃതിയായി വ്യവസായവല്‍ക്കരണം നടക്കുന്ന കാലം. കൈത്തറി മേഖലയിലും വന്നു യന്ത്രങ്ങള്‍. കൈത്തറി മേഖലയില്‍ വന്ന യന്ത്രങ്ങള്‍ മനുഷ്യര്‍ ചെയ്തിരുന്ന പല ജോലികളും ഏറ്റെടുക്കാന്‍ പോന്നവയായിരുന്നു. ആ മേഖലയില്‍ ധാരാളം തൊഴിലുകള്‍ നഷ്ടപ്പെട്ടു. കൈത്തറിയുമായി ബന്ധപ്പെട്ട തൊഴിലുകള്‍ മാത്രം അറിയാവുന്ന പലരും തെരുവുകളിലേക്ക് തള്ളപ്പെട്ടു. യന്ത്രവല്‍കൃത കൈത്തറി മില്ലുകല്‍ക്കെതിരെ അക്രമാസക്തമായ സമരങ്ങള്‍ നടത്തിയവരാണ് ലുടടിറ്റുകള്‍ എന്ന പേരില്‍ അറിയപ്പെടുന്നത്. അതിനെക്കുറിച്ചുള്ള കൂടുതല്‍ വിവരങ്ങള്‍ വിക്കിപീഡിയയില്‍ ലഭിക്കും. ഈ ഒരു പ്രശ്നത്തില്‍ രണ്ടു വിധം അഭിപ്രായങ്ങള്‍ ഒണ്ടാവാം.

൧. യന്ത്രവല്‍ക്കരണം മനുഷ്യരാശിക്ക് പൊതുവേ നല്ലതായതുകൊണ്ട് ലുടടിറ്റുകള്‍ പിന്തിരിപ്പന്മാരാണ്.

൨. തൊഴില്‍നഷ്ടം മുന്കൂട്ടിക്കാനാന്‍ സാധിക്കാത്തതുകൊണ്ട് തൊഴില്നഷ്ടപ്പെട്ടവന്റെ വേദനയാണ് അവരുടെ പ്രവൃത്തികളില്‍ നിഴലിക്കുന്നത്.

മിക്കവാറും ആളുകള്‍ ആദ്യത്തെ നിലപാടെടുത്താല്‍ ഒട്ടും അത്ഭുതപ്പെടെണ്ട. കാരണം മൊത്തത്തില്‍ നോക്കുമ്പോള്‍ അതാണ്‌ ശരിയെന്നു തോന്നും. വ്യവസായവല്‍ക്കരണം പൊതുവേ മനുഷ്യരാശിക്ക് നല്ലതാണ് എന്നാണു നമ്മള്‍ കാലാകാലങ്ങളായി മനസ്സിലാക്കി പോന്നിട്ടുള്ളത്. പക്ഷേ, ഈ പ്രക്ഷോഭകാരികളുടെ ഭാഗത്ത്‌ നിന്നൊന്നു ചിന്തിച്ചുനോക്കിയാല്‍ അനേകം ചോദ്യങ്ങള്‍ ഉയരും.

൧. അവര്‍ക്ക് തങ്ങള്‍ ചെയ്യുന്ന ജോലി ക്രമേണ യന്ത്രവല്‍ക്കരിക്കപ്പെടുമെന്നു മനസ്സിലാക്കാന്‍ സാധിക്കുമായിരുന്നോ?

൨. അങ്ങനെ എളുപ്പം യന്ത്രവല്‍ക്കരിക്കാന്‍ സാധിക്കുന്ന തൊഴിലുകളില്‍ ഏര്‍പ്പെടുന്നവരെ നേരത്തെ കണ്ടെത്തി മുന്നറിയിപ്പ് നല്‍കാന്‍ സാധിക്കുമായിരുന്നോ?

എങ്ങനെയൊക്കെ ചിന്തിച്ചാലും ചില കാര്യങ്ങള്‍ വ്യക്തമാണ്. കൈത്തറിമേഖലയില്‍ മാത്രം അവര്‍ പ്രാവീണ്യം നേടിയത് അവരുടെ കുറ്റമല്ല - അന്നെത്തെ വ്യവസ്ഥിതിയില്‍ അതാവശ്യമായിരുന്നു. കൈത്തറി മേഖലയില്‍ യന്ത്രവല്‍ക്കരണം വരുന്നുണ്ടോ എന്ന് മനസ്സിലാക്കിയിരിക്കാന്‍ അവര്‍ ശാസ്ത്രഞ്ജര്‍ അല്ല; സാങ്കേതിക വിദഗ്ധരും അല്ല. ആകെയുള്ള ഒരു തൊഴില്നഷ്ടപ്പെടുമ്പോള്‍ ഇല്ലാതാകുന്നത് അവരുടെ ജീവന മാര്‍ഗമാണ്; ഭക്ഷണത്തിനുള്ള ആകെയുള്ള ഒരു വഴി പെട്ടെന്ന് കൊട്ടിയടക്കപ്പെടുമ്പോള്‍ ആളുകള്‍ സമചിത്തതയോടെ പ്രതികരിക്കണം എന്നില്ല.

ഇംഗ്ലീഷ് ചരിത്രത്തിലെ ഈ പ്രശ്നങ്ങള്‍ക്ക് നമ്മുടെ തന്നെ നാട്ടില്‍ നടന്നിട്ടുള്ള ട്രാക്ടര്‍ വിരുദ്ധ, കമ്പ്യൂട്ടര്‍ വിരുദ്ധ സമരവുമായി ഒരു ചെറിയ ബന്ധം ഉണ്ടെന്നു പറഞ്ഞാല്‍ ഒട്ടും അതിശയോക്തിയില്ല.

ഇപ്പോള്‍ ഈ വിഷയത്തിന്റെ പ്രസക്തി.

തൊണ്ണൂറുകളിലെ കമ്പ്യൂട്ടര്‍ സാങ്കേതികവിദ്യയുടെ മുന്നേറ്റം നിമിത്തം തൊഴിലുകള്‍ ധാരാളമായി വികസ്വര രാജ്യങ്ങളിലേക്ക് വരുന്നു; കമ്പ്യൂട്ടര്‍ സാങ്കേതികവിദ്യയുമായി ബന്ധപ്പെട്ട തൊഴിലുകളുടെ കാര്യമാണ് ഇത്. ഈ വക തൊഴിലുകളില്‍ പലതും അടുത്ത കുറച്ചു വര്‍ഷങ്ങളിലായി യന്ത്രവല്‍ക്കരിക്കപ്പെടാന്‍ സാധ്യതയുള്ളവയാണ്. ഉത്തമ ഉദാഹരണം കാള്‍ സെന്റര് പോലെയുള്ള ജോലിസ്ഥലങ്ങളിലെ ജോലികള്‍.

വികസ്വര രാജ്യങ്ങളില്‍ പൊതുവേ ജനസംഖ്യ വര്‍ധിച്ചുവരുന്നു; അതിനനുസരിച്ച് തൊഴിലുകള്‍ വര്‍ധിക്കുന്നുണ്ടോ എന്നറിയില്ല. വര്‍ധിക്കുന്നില്ലാത്തതിനാലാവണം തൊഴിലില്ലായ്മ പെരുകുന്നു. വര്‍ധിക്കുന്ന തൊഴിലില്ലായ്മ എന്നാ പശ്ചാത്തലത്തില്‍ തൊഴില്‍ നഷ്ടം കൂടുതല്‍ പ്രശ്നകരമാണ് എന്ന് മനസ്സിലാക്കാന്‍ എളുപ്പമാണ്.

എന്താണ് ഒരു പരിഹാരം; അതോ പരിഹാരം ഉണ്ടോ?

തൊഴില്‍ നഷ്ടത്തിന് കാരണം പലതുമാകാം. സാങ്കേതികവിദ്യയിലെ മുന്നേറ്റം മൂലമുണ്ടാകുന്ന തൊഴില്‍ നഷ്ടങ്ങളുടെ കാര്യമാണ് ഈ ലേഖനത്തിന്റെ വിഷയം. (ഉദാ: ഫിലിപ്പീന്‍സ്‌ പോലെയുള്ള രാജ്യങ്ങളിലേക്ക് നഷ്ടപ്പെടുന്ന തൊഴിലുകള്‍, മുതലയാവ തൊഴില്‍ നഷ്ടങ്ങള്‍ അല്ല; തൊഴിലിന്റെ ഒരു പറിച്ചുനടീല്‍ മാത്രമാണ് - അതുകൊണ്ട് അത് നമ്മള്‍ ഇവിടെ കണക്കിലെടുക്കുന്നില്ല).

ഒരുദാഹരണം ഈ അവസരത്തില്‍ ഉചിതമായിരിക്കും എന്ന് തോന്നുന്നു; കാള്‍ സെന്റെരിലേക്ക് നമ്മള്‍ ഒരു പ്രശ്നപരിഹാരത്തിനായി വിളിക്കുമ്പോള്‍ ആദ്യം ഒരാള്‍ പ്രശ്നമെന്തെന്നു ചോദിച്ചു മനസ്സിലാക്കും - അതിനു ശേഷം ആ പ്രശ്നം കൈകാര്യം ചെയ്യാന്‍ കെല്‍പ്പുള്ളവര്‍ക്ക് അത് കൈമാറും. പ്രശ്നം ചോദിച്ചു മനസ്സിലാക്കി വിദഗ്ധനു കൈമാറുന്ന ജോലി ഇന്ന് യന്ത്രങ്ങള്‍ ഏറ്റെടുക്കാന്‍ തുടങ്ങിയിരിക്കുന്നു. ഇന്ന് പലപ്പെഴും കാള്‍ സെന്റര് കാളുകള്‍ ആദ്യം കൈകാര്യം ചെയ്യുന്നത് യന്ത്രങ്ങള്‍ ആണ് - അവ നിങ്ങളോട് നിങ്ങളുടെ പ്രശ്നത്തിന്റെ സ്വഭാവം ചോദിച്ചു മനസ്സിലാക്കുന്നു (ഉദാ: ബില്ലുമായി ബന്ധപ്പെട്ട പ്രശ്നമാണെങ്കില്‍ ഒന്ന് അമര്‍ത്താന്‍ നിര്‍ദേശിക്കുന്നു, അതല്ല സേവനവുമായി ബന്ധപ്പെട്ട പ്രശ്നം ആണെങ്കില്‍ രേണ്ട് അമര്‍ത്താന്‍ നിര്‍ദേശിക്കുന്നു), എന്നിട്ട് അതനനുസരിച്ചു അവ തന്നെ വിദഗ്ധര്‍ക്ക് ആ കാള്‍ തിരിച്ചു വിടുന്നു. ഈ സാങ്കേതികവിദ്യ വരുന്നതിലൂടെ നഷ്ടപ്പെടുന്നത് "പ്രശ്നം ചോദിച്ചു മനസ്സിലാക്കി കാള്‍ തിരിച്ചു വിടുക" എന്ന തൊഴില്‍ ആണ്. ഇത് ഒരു ഉദാഹരണം മാത്രം; സാങ്കേതിക മുന്നേറ്റങ്ങള്‍ പൊതുവേ യന്ത്രവല്‍ക്കരണത്തില്‍ ഊന്നിയുള്ളതാകയാല്‍ ഇതുപോലെയുള്ള നിരവധി സന്ദര്‍ഭങ്ങള്‍ നിങ്ങള്‍ക്കും പരിചിതമായിരിക്കും.

കമ്പനികള്‍ക്ക് ഈ വക സാങ്കേതികവിദ്യകള്‍ ഒഴിവാക്കാന്‍ സാധിക്കയില്ല (അവ ഒഴിവാക്കപ്പെടെണ്ടവ അല്ല താനും). എന്തുകൊണ്ടെന്നാല്‍ അവര്‍ക്ക് ഈ സാങ്കേതിക വിദ്യ ഉപയോഗിക്കുന്നതിലൂടെ തങ്ങളുടെ ലാഭം മെച്ചപ്പെടുത്തുവാന്‍ സാധിക്കുന്നു (കുറച്ചു പേര്‍ക്ക് ശമ്പളം കൊടുക്കുന്നത് കുറയുന്നതിലൂടെ). ഒരു സമൂഹം എന്നാ നിലയില്‍ നമുക്ക് തൊഴില്‍ നഷ്ടങ്ങള്‍ പക്ഷെ പ്രശ്നകരമാണ്. ഇതിനുള്ള പരിഹാരമാണ് നമ്മള്‍ തേടുന്നത്.

തൊഴില്‍ നഷ്ടപ്പെടുന്ന തൊഴിലാളികളെ വെറുതെ ശമ്പളം കൊടുത്തു വിരമിക്കാനുള്ള പ്രായം ആകുന്നതു വരെ നിലനിര്‍ത്തുക എന്നത് ഒരു പരിഹാരമല്ല; കാരണം അവരുടെ വിരമിക്കല്‍ ആകുമ്പോള്‍ ആ ഒഴിവുകള്‍ നികത്തുകയില്ല എന്നതുകൊണ്ട് തന്നെ, തൊഴില്‍ നഷ്ടം നീട്ടിക്കൊണ്ടുപോകാന്‍ മാത്രമേ ഈ നടപടി ഉപകരിക്കുന്നുള്ളൂ.അതിനേക്കാള്‍ ഉപരി, തൊഴില്‍ ഇല്ലാതെ ശമ്പളം നല്‍കുന്നത് ഉത്‌പാദനക്ഷമത വര്‍ധിപ്പിക്കില്ല എന്നത് വളരെ എളുപ്പം മനസ്സിലാക്കാവുന്നതാണ്. നോക്കുകൂലി പോലെയുള്ള പ്രസ്ഥാനങ്ങളുമായി ഈ നടപടിക്കുള്ള ബന്ധം മനസ്സിലാക്കാന്‍ അധികം മുഷിയേണ്ടി വരില്ല.

പെട്ടെന്നുണ്ടാകുന്ന തൊഴില്നഷ്ടങ്ങള്‍ സമൂഹത്തിനു ഹാനികരമാണ്; കാരണം അവ കുടുംബങ്ങളുടെ ഉപജീവനമാര്‍ഗം തകര്‍ക്കുന്നു. അതൊഴിവാക്കണം എന്നത് വ്യക്തമാണ്; അതേസമയം യന്ത്രവല്‍ക്കരണം ഒഴിവാക്കാനും സാധിക്കില്ല. ഈ സാഹചര്യത്തെ നേരിടാന്‍ പലരും വഴി കേട്ട നിര്‍ദേശങ്ങളില്‍ ചിലത് (എഫ്. ഇ. സി യിലൂടെയും അല്ലാതെയും) എനിക്ക് നല്ലതായി തോന്നി. അവയില്‍ ചിലത് ചുവടെ ചേര്‍ക്കുന്നു.

൧. സര്‍ക്കാരുകള്‍ തൊഴില്‍ നഷ്ടങ്ങള്‍ മുന്‍കൂട്ടി കാണാന്‍ ശ്രമിക്കുക. ഉദാഹരണത്തിന്, ഐ വി ആര്‍ (ഓടോമാട്ടിക് വോയിസ്‌ റെസ്പോണ്‍സ്) മുതലായ സാങ്കേതിക വിദ്യ ലോകത്ത് വ്യാപകമാകുമ്പോള്‍ ചില തൊഴിലുകള്‍ നഷ്ടപ്പെടും എന്ന് മനസ്സിലാക്കാന്‍ എളുപ്പമാണ്. സാങ്കേതിക മുന്നേറ്റങ്ങള്‍ മുന്‍കൂട്ടി കാണാനും, അതിലൂടെ നഷ്ടപ്പെടുന്ന തൊഴിലിന്റെ എണ്ണം തിട്ടപ്പെടുത്താനും, ആ തൊഴിലുകളില്‍ ഏര്‍പ്പെട്ടിരിക്കുന്നവരെ പുനരധിവസിപ്പിക്കാന്‍ പറ്റുന്ന മേഖലകള്‍ എന്തൊക്കെ എന്ന് മനസ്സിലാക്കാനും സാങ്കേതിക വിദഗ്ധരുടെയും സാമ്പത്തിക വിദഗ്ധരുടെയും ഒരു പാനല്‍ ഏര്‍പ്പെടുത്തുക. അവരുടെ നിര്‍ദേശങ്ങള്‍ പരസ്യമാക്കുകയും പൊതുചര്‍ച്ചക്ക് വിധേയമാക്കുകയും വേണം.

൨. സാങ്കേതിക മുന്നേറ്റങ്ങള്‍ സൃഷ്ടിക്കുന്ന സാമൂഹിക ബാധ്യതയുടെ വില സാങ്കേതിക വിദ്യ കൊണ്ടുവരുന്നവര്‍ തന്നെ നല്‍കുക. ആ കാള്‍ സെന്ററിന്റെ കാര്യം തന്നെയെടുക്കാം; തൊഴില്‍ നഷ്ടപ്പെടുന്ന തൊഴിലാളിക്ക് മറ്റു അനുബന്ധ തൊഴിലുകളിലേക്ക് മാറാന്‍ എളുപ്പം സാധിക്കയില്ല. അതിനു പ്രത്യേകം പരിശീലനം ആവശ്യമാണ്‌. മാത്രമല്ല, ആ പരിശീലനത്തിനു ശേഷം തൊഴില്‍ ലഭിക്കാന്‍ സമയം എടുത്തെന്നും വരാം. അതുകൂടാതെ തൊഴില്‍ നഷ്ടപ്പെടുന്നതിലൂടെയുണ്ടാകുന്ന മാനസിക വിഷമം വേറെ ഒരു വശത്ത്. ഇതെല്ലാം കൂടി ചേര്‍ത്ത് ഒരു വില നിശ്ചയിക്കാം; ആ വില ആ നൂതന സാങ്കേതികവിദ്യയുടെ ചിലവില്‍ തന്നെ ഉള്‍പ്പെടുത്തണം. ആ വില ഈ സാങ്കേതിക വിദ്യ കൊണ്ട് വരുന്ന കമ്പനി നഷ്ടപരിഹാരമായി നല്‍കണം. പക്ഷേ, ഈ നിര്‍ദേശം പ്രായോഗികം ആണോ എന്നത് ചിന്തനീയമാണ്. കാരണം സ്വകാര്യ കമ്പനികള്‍ ഇങ്ങനെ ഒരു നഷ്ടപരിഹാരം നല്‍കാന്‍ തയ്യാറാവുകയില്ല; ഇങ്ങനെ ഒരു നഷ്ടപരിഹാരം നല്‍കേണ്ടത് കമ്പനികളുടെ ബാധ്യതയാണ് എന്ന് നമ്മള്‍ നിയമത്തിലൂടെ നിര്‍ബന്ധമാക്കാന്‍ ശ്രമിച്ചാല്‍ കമ്പനികള്‍ അയല്‍സംസ്ഥാനങ്ങളിലേക്ക് പോയെന്നും വരാം. പക്ഷേ, ഇങ്ങനെയുള്ള നഷ്ടപരിഹാരം നല്‍കാന്‍ പൊതുമേഖല സ്ഥാപനങ്ങളെ നിര്‍ബന്ധിക്കാന്‍ ബുദ്ധിമുട്ടുണ്ടാകില്ല.

൩. തൊഴില്‍ നഷ്ട ഫണ്ട്‌. ഇന്ന് പലര്‍ക്കും തൊഴില്‍ നഷ്ടം എന്ന ഭീതിയുണ്ട്; കുറഞ്ഞ വേതനം മാത്രമാണ് ഉള്ളതെങ്കിലും തൊഴില്‍ സുരക്ഷക്ക് വേണ്ടി സര്‍ക്കാര്‍ മേഖലയിലെ താഴ്ന്ന ജോലികള്‍ക്ക് അപേക്ഷിക്കുന്നവരുടെ എണ്ണം പെരുകുന്നു. ഈ പോതുഭീതിയെ നമുക്ക് ഇന്‍ഷുറന്‍സ് മേഖലയുടെ അതെ തത്വതിലൂടെ നേരിടാന്‍ ശ്രമിക്കാം. ഒരാളുടെ തൊഴിലിനനുസരിച്ച് (അതിലെ യന്ത്രവല്‍ക്കരനത്തിനുള്ള സാധ്യത അനുസരിച്ച്) നമുക്ക് ഒരു "പ്രീമിയം" തുക നിശ്ചയിക്കാം; തൊഴില്‍ നഷ്ടപ്പെടുകയാണെങ്കില്‍ പുനരധിവാസത്തിനുള്ള തുക ആ ഫണ്ടില്‍നിന്നു നല്‍കണം. ഇത് യഥാര്‍ത്ഥത്തില്‍ തൊഴില്‍ ഇന്‍ഷുറന്‍സ് തന്നെയാണ്; പക്ഷേ, യന്ത്രവല്‍ക്കരണം മാത്രം നമ്മള്‍ നേരിടാന്‍ ഉദ്ദേശിക്കുന്നത് കൊണ്ട് തൊഴില്‍ നഷ്ടം യന്ത്രവല്‍ക്കരണം കാരണം ആണെന്ന് കാണിക്കാന്‍ രേഖകള്‍ വല്ലതും നിര്‍ബന്ധമാക്കേണ്ടി വരും എന്ന് മാത്രം.

൪. നികുതിയിളവുകള്‍ പരിമിതപ്പെടുത്തല്‍. ഒരു കമ്പനി ഒരു സാങ്കേതികവിദ്യ പുതുതായി ഉപയോഗിച്ച് തുടങ്ങുന്നതിലൂടെ നൂറു പേര്‍ക്ക് തൊഴില്‍ നഷ്ടപ്പെടുന്നു എന്നിരിക്കട്ടെ. ആ കമ്പനിക്ക്‌ ഒരു പുതിയ മേഖലയിലേക്ക് പ്രവര്‍ത്തനം വ്യാപിപ്പിച്ചു ആ നൂറു പേര്‍ക്ക് അവിടെ തൊഴില്‍ നല്‍കാന്‍ സാധിക്കും. അതാണ്‌ സര്‍ക്കാരിനെ സംബന്ധിച്ചിടത്തോളം ഏറ്റവും ഉചിതവും; കാരണം തൊഴില്‍ നഷ്ടം അതേ തൊഴില്‍ ദാതാവിന്റെ മറ്റൊരു തൊഴില്‍ സൃഷ്ടിയിലൂടെ പരിഹരിക്കപ്പെട്ടിരിക്കുന്നു (യാതൊരു സാമൂഹിക പ്രശ്നവുമില്ലാതെ). നമ്മള്‍ പല കമ്പനികള്‍ക്കും പല നികുതിയിളവുകള്‍ നല്‍കുന്നു; നഷ്ടപ്പെടുന്ന തോഴിലുകള്‍ക്ക് പകരം തൊഴില്‍ സൃഷ്ടിക്കാത്ത കമ്പനികള്‍ക്ക് ഈ നികുതിയിളവുകള്‍ നല്‍കുന്നത് കുറയ്ക്കാവുന്നതാണ്. തീര്‍ച്ചയായും അത്തരം നടപടികള്‍ നമ്മുടെ സംസ്ഥാനത് വരുന്ന കമ്പനികളുടെ എണ്ണം കുറച്ചേക്കാം (അതും നമ്മള്‍ തീര്‍ച്ചയായും കണക്കിലെടുക്കേണ്ടതുണ്ട്).

ഇവ കൂടാതെ താങ്കള്‍ക്ക് എന്തെങ്കിലും വേറെ നിര്‍ദേശങ്ങള്‍ ഉണ്ടെങ്കില്‍ എഴുതുക; കമെന്റിലൂടെയായാലും മതി. അതും ഇവിടെ ചേര്‍ക്കാന്‍ ഞാന്‍ തീര്‍ച്ചയായും ശ്രദ്ധിക്കുന്നതായിരിക്കും. മേല്‍പ്പറഞ്ഞ നിര്‍ദേശങ്ങള്‍ക്ക് ഉള്ള പരിമിതികള്‍ ചൂണ്ടിക്കാണിക്കുന്നതും ഉപകാരപ്രദമായിരിക്കും.

Thalappavu & Passenger - Refreshing Films from Debutant Directors

I am not all that pessimistic when it comes to Malayalam cinema. I used to keep bragging about my language's film industry to non-keralites whenever I get a chance to. Many believe that malayalam cinema is all about Shakeela. Of course, it was, for a couple of years at least, and I would rather forget those years. Despite being a big fan of films like "naalu pennungal", "akale" etc, the best movies to brag about, to outsiders, are quality mainstream movies. 2004 had kaazhcha, perumazhakaalam and kathaavasheshan.. and then, there was arabikkatha and classmates.. this post is to write about two movies which were real surprise packages from debutant directors.. Madhupal and Renjith Shankar, I feel, made their way into Malayalam cinema in much the same way as Blessy did in 2004 with Kaazhcha. 

I like it really well when it provides something that the common malayali can relate to.. Kaazhcha did that - the naayakan, mammukka plays the role of a common man in kuttanad - and so did Thalappavu and Passenger.. 

Thalappavu

Thalappavu is a story set in the 1970s and talks about a constable who had to do something that he regrets a lot. Many would think of it to be similar to the story of constable Ramachandran Nair and naxal Varghese - we all know that story too well, and I need not narrate it here. Lal plays the role of the constable who never lived peacefully between the 1970s and the present. The director marvellously switches scenes between the present and 1970s; and does that graciously. Prithviraj, who died in the 1970s re-appears frequently in the mind of Lal; and that is shown on screen with impeccable eloquence. The films moves on keeping the audience glued to the screen until the very end when the sentence, "oru viplvakaariyude swaram orikkalum marikkunnilla" appears on the screen in the backdrop of an old-fashioned lamp built out of a chiratta (coconut shell). 

I saw this in little Shenoy's - a bit weird that this films was alredy in little Shenoy's, the smallest hall in Ernakulam in it's second week. It was heartening to see everybody enjoying the film and that nobody left the hall until the applause that lasted for at least a minute, subsided. 

Passenger

Madhupal is a familiar face in Malayalam cinema and also I have read some of his malayalam writings - hence, I wasnt overly surprised that Thalappavu was a wonderful movie. But, this one was a real surprise. I went on the first day (or rather, the second day - the first day was a Harthal day) to Padma, and found long queues. I managed to get a ticket and then, the movie started thanking Dileep Fans association etc. That somehow led me to believe that it would just be another of those Dileep starrers. But, that was not to be. 

Sreenivasan's roles in films always turn out to be entertaining, and something that the common Malayali can relate to. The wonderful roles in chinthavishta were as entertaining to me as the humorous role in yes, your honour. And truly, he did impress so much in this film too. The story revolves around the advocate Dileep and his journalist wife Mamta. Sreenivasan and Dileep meet in a train journey and what follows are several unprecedented events from which an edge-of-the-seat thriller very graciously falls out. The movie is running well; I hear. So, you better watch how it is. This definitely marks the arrival of another promising director in Malayalam cinema, and am sure he would not disappoint us in his future ventures. 

Socially Relevant S&T Projects for College Students of Kerala

I have been thinking of writing about this item for a long time now. This is regarding an initiative that I had played an active role in initiating, along with many KSSP friends. The idea of compiling a list of socially relevant projects stemmed from the idea that Dr. Achuthsankar raised in an article in shaasthragathy regarding how technology could help the society. The broad idea was to leverage the enthusiasm and plantiful availability of time among the science and technology students in the state, to develop technologies which could potentially make a difference to the state of affairs in Kerala (for good, obviously). Further, the idea was to focus on problems that only we would be able to address; i.e., problems that are special to Kerala and not to other parts. I should say we were successful in coming up with a bunch of such problems, and we used a wiki for the compilation. The wiki is open to all, and anybody can post ideas to the same. The live wiki is available at http://srprojects.wetpaint.com . Please feel free to update the same.

At some point of time, we thought that we would take a snapshot of the wiki and make a distributable version of it. Such a version is available here. This is a PDF that we are thinking of distributing to various colleges in Kerala; engineering colleges to start with. I had written up an article on the same with Dr. Achuthsankar and I would rather choose to paste it here instead of re-writing all the stuff again. Hope that you would find the compilation to be of some use. Signing off now.

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Socially Relevant Student Projects in Emerging Technologies for Kerala

Introducing a KSSP Initiative for encouraging Student Projects with Societal Benefits

Deepak P & Achuthsankar S Nair

“Engineers use creativity, technology, and scientific knowledge to solve practical problems.” –Wikipedia

Kerala has traditionally been in the forefront of research in India, with the large number of research centers such as RRL, TBGRI, RGCB, CESS, KFRI, KAU, CDS, VSSC, CTCRI, CIFT, NIO etc, some of which were setup during the Achutha Menon era. The tremendous amount of socially relevant innovation in centers in Kerala led to very interesting developments such as developing hybrid verities of crops, high-yielding cattle and so on. But surprisingly, we have not been able to catch up with the progress happening in the other states regarding developing technologies in the modern fields of science and technology such as Information Technologies, Computer Science etc. This is not to belittle the efforts which are on at centers such as C-DIT, CDAC Tvm, IIITMK, OSSICS etc, but the progress has been much slower as compared to the other neighboring states. The recent advancements in Information and Communication technologies have revolutionized the whole world of late, and the flood of opportunities that have been enabled by them can be harnessed to provide more value for our local society to make them world-class in whatever they are doing. The engineering academia in Kerala has not yet ramped up to grab the opportunities to make a difference to Kerala and her people; which is gravely unfortunate. Undergraduate engineering projects are being seen as opportunities to learn the “hot” technologies and build “cool” web-apps rather than contributing a reusable component or technology. This shift of focus has led to a situation wherein innovation at the student-level has become close to non-existent at engineering colleges in Kerala, especially in emerging technology areas such as Computer Science and Information Technology. To address this problem, Kerala Shaasthra Saahithya Parishad has been working on popularizing Socially Relevant Projects among undergraduate engineering students (and is to be broadened to beyond engineering students), and this article is to briefly make explicit the plethora of areas where innovation in computer science and information technology can make a difference to Kerala and her people. The following couple of paragraphs summarize certain ideas compiled as part of the initiative.

Language Computing in Malayalam

The Web is practically shielded from people who know only Malayalam. Although there are websites in various languages including Malayalam, the larger chunk of the web is still inaccessible to the above mentioned class of people. Automatic translation of web pages from English to Malayalam is one way of opening up the web to those said class of people. Further, computing in their own language would be much more preferable to a large chunk of people who are currently constrained to use English. There have been numerous efforts on enabling computing in Malayalam, notable among them being the Kaveri suite and the efforts at C-DIT and CDAC. But, there are areas where student projects could make a difference including
Automatic Machine Translation from English to Malayalam and vice versa
Text-To-Speech system for Malayalam
Voice Recognition System for Malayalam
Optical Character Recognition Software for Malayalam text
Some of the notable efforts to this end include those by C-DIT and OSSICS such as
WebDarshini – Malayalam Web Browser
Aksharavidya – Malayalam Editor
It may be noted that Kerala lags much behind its neighboring states in the development of such technologies. IIIT Hyderabad, Anna University, IIT Bombay, IBM Research etc have been contributing to the development of language technologies in various regional languages and in Hindi by making various frameworks and holding conferences for fostering research in the said area.

Technologies for Kerala and her People

Kerala is unique in many aspects, due to various reasons such as high density of population, high emigration, large forest area, a long coastline etc. All these present unique challenges in the emerging engineering disciplines. Some ideas include things such as the following
CocoPistol: Tender coconut stalls often have no idea of the tenderness of the coconuts until they cut open and until the buyer tastes, some times we get totally un-sweet water, sometimes the tenderness is not there, it is almost mature coconut. Maybe even when they pluck, they are not very clever at identifying the lot which is just ready (or is it that they cheat once in a while). Coco Pistol would be a small hand-held pistol which could be held on the husk and shot, wherein radar like operation in it will find out the ripeness in months and display it as a digit somewhere on the pistol. This could be used before plucking the coconuts, or be provided by the sellers to the customers to choose the nut they want.
Understanding and Predicting “Chakara”: Chakara, the unique phenomenon of fishes coming close to the coastline in Kerala has not been well-studied. Currently ocean researchers depend on costly buoys to monitor ocean parameters. Satellite data is available for certain extent, however not suitable for micro level analysis. Often the costly instruments and metal parts are stolen from buoys placed in the ocean. Another way of data collection is through cruises, whose costs are very high and require human presence in the ocean. The unique challenge would be to utilize a neural network or related mechanisms to take these incomplete data and use it to predict Chakara. NIO is associated with efforts in this regard.
Telephone to VoiceMail Services for contacting the Pravaasi: With the increasing number of pravaasy malayalis in various parts of the world, esp. the Gulf, the need for cost-effective frequent communication arises. The disparities such as much better internet accessibility among the pravaasis and special conditions such as very high density of telephone connections in Kerala and the high number of calls from Kerala to certain areas such as the Gulf pose some interesting challenges in this regard. The idea is to enable one-way communication from Kerala to places like the Gulf from the telephone lines in Kerala to the Internet Access Centers in such areas (thru the recipient's mail boxes).
Wireless Connectivity in an Undulated Terrain: Wireless connections currently work by using hot-spots, which are hubs enabling people within a certain distance of the hotspot to login to the internet. These have been shown not to work well in an undulated terrain such as what Kerala has, and thus, an effective solution for this problem would immensely benefit Kerala and its society.

Future Directions

These and many other ideas have been detailed at the page for the KSSP initiative at http://srprojects.wetpaint.com . The page contains details about the various projects listed therein too. The reader is welcome to go through it and contribute further ideas. The intent is to bring out a book on “An Invitation to Socially Relevant S&T Projects” as the next step of fuelling the Socially Relevant Projects initiative. We exhort you to contribute further project ideas in this regard, implement some of these as your own projects or point out efforts in similar directions so as to make this effort a truly collaborative effort in utilizing and exploiting the emerging technology areas to deliver value to Kerala and her people. The bottom-line is “efforts on addressing such Kerala specific issues can be initiated from nowhere apart from the Kerala academia itself”.

Acknowledgements: All KSSP members and friends who contributed to and encouraged the Socially Relevant Projects initiative.
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Plastic Ban and Waste Management

The recent Plastic Ban (on carry bags less than 30 microns) by the Government of Kerala has evoked a mized response from the general public and traders. During my recent visit to Ekm, I thought that the ban was effective. When I went to a medical shop and bought some stuff including a packet of chips, the guy packed evrything in a paper bag and tied it with thread before giving it to me. But, more than a month later, there are reports say that all is not well. The report says several things, and stresses on lack of instruments to measure whether the bag is below 30 microns; and seems to suggest that some inspectors use the unavailability of instruments to ask for bribe. But, on the whole, the ban in Kerala seems to be much more effective than the one in Maharashtra in 2005 although efforts to beat the ban with an extra micron is not totally ineffective. A year after the Maharashtra ban, the media largely suggested that the ban was ineffective and that it even had negative consequences. Although there is a HC stay on the ban on plastic bags between 30 and 50 microns, the government is exploring methods to expand the ban to the 50 micron limit. This suggests that the ban is here to stay. A detailed report on the status of plastic waste management in India is available at the Central Pollution Control Board's Website.



To effectively get the ban to the masses and to ensure that the ban achieves the desired results, the government has to answer the following simple questions:

1. Why only plastic carry bags? Why not other plastic items?



2. What is the logic behind banning bags below a specific micron limit?



3. Is there no effective way of recycling plastic waste? Cant we explore better recycling rather than banning plastic bags as they are very useful to the common man?

I am not sure whether the government has answered these questions effectively, and whether the media has played its part in getting the answers to the masses. I talked to some people while at Alappuzha, and none of them seem to understand the answer to the second question. And the third question, many people have taken for granted that plastic waste cannot be recycled effectively. I devote this post to aggregate various kinds of answers for the above questions.

(1). Other plastic items are as difficult to manage because of the not-easy-degradability. Such items include plastic tins and boxes too. Wikipedia says, "Plastics are durable and degrade very slowly. In some cases, burning plastic can release toxic fumes. Also, the manufacturing of plastics often creates large quantities of chemical pollutants." But, carrybags are considered to be a major problem because they rarely get reused and clog drains (This was the specific reason cited for the Maharashtra ban on plastics).

(2). As the problem with plastic bags is that of less reuse, one natural solution to the problem is to increase reuse. Thus, allowing usage of only thick plastic bags is naturally expected to enhance reuse.

(3). Now, the big question. Don't we have the technology to recycle plastics effectively? Or don't we have the technology to create degradable plastics? Although most people believe that the answer is "no", there are strong clues on the net which say that the answer is "yes". The rest of this post is devoted to summarizing the content on the web and from elsewhere about what alternative measures of plastic manufacturing and plastic waste management.

Novel Methods on Plastic Manufacturing and Plastic Waste Management

A. BioPlastics - Unlike the traditional plastics which are manufactured from petroleum, bioplastics are derived from plant sources such as hemp oil, soy bean oil and corn starch rather than traditional plastics which are derived from petroleum. This is generally regarded as a more sustainable activity, because it relies less on fossil fuel as a carbon source and also introduces less, net-new greenhouse emissions if it biodegrades. The Wikipedia article goes on to say "Because of their biological biodegradability, the use of bioplastics is especially popular in the packaging sector. The use of bioplastics for shopping bags is already very common. After their initial use they can be reused as bags for organic waste and then be composted. Trays and containers for fruit, vegetables, eggs and meat, bottles for soft drinks and dairy products and blister foils for fruit and vegetables are also already widely manufactured from bioplastics". I am not sure why bioplastics are not popular here. I must confess that I dont know whether bioplastics were "tried and tested" in our environment though.

B. Plastic Recycling - Alka Zadgaonkar: Alka Zadgaonkar claims that her's is the "world's first continuous process for all manner of waste plastics". Infact, although this seems like somebody's imagination, they have already implemented the technology. The article goes on to say "Alka and her husband Umesh, are buying in 5 tonnes of plastic waste everyday in Nagpur at prices attractive to rag pickers. They are making money right now, and are about to scale up and buy in 25 tonnes of plastic waste a day. That production too is booked. As Nagpur generates only 35 TPD of plastic waste, they will shortly run out of raw material to grow bigger." It is unfortunate that we, in Kerala, who claim to be very forward looking, are hardly paying attention to such efforts and to study how we can replicate such efforts in our own environment.

C. Plastic Recycling - Dr. RK Raina: An institute in Delhi has been conducting extensive research on plastic waste recycling and converting plastics to solid waste. Dr R K Raina says : ‘What we have done is to explore ways to improve upon the properties of plastic as fuel. We prepared different types of fuels by simply adding wastes like sawdust, waste paper, leaf, and coal dust. All the blended fuels showed marked improvements in ease of burning. This is because wastes help to increase the porosity of plastic that traps oxygen, helping it to burn’. A report says "The end product is a readily saleable fuel brick. The Institute says the process is so simple that villagers can recycle plastics by mixing them with bio wastes at 110 deg. C. and earn sizeable incomes".

D. Plastic Recycling - Jim Garthe: Jim Garthe, a professional engineer at Penn State University, has developed a technology to convert plastics to plastofuel nuggets. The report says: "About 9 years ago, he built a small table-top machine which would compact rudimentarily shred mixed plastic waste and extrude them into well compacted sausages. These are then sliced by a hot knife into 'Plastofuel' nuggets. The nuggets may then be stored forever and transported economically. Sizable markets are emerging for Plastofuel and other plastic derived fuels [PDF]. Cement and steel majors are conducting trials using plastic waste as fuel adjunct, with a view to reduce energy costs. Cement giant LaFarge North America, Pa has begun trial burning waste plastic as a fuel supplement. These trials are being conducted with a close eye on emissions. The company is keeping local people informed and involved ".

E. Plastic Waste for Laying Roads: There have been multiple efforts within India to use plastics for laying roads. I remember having seen a report on Indiavision or Manorama News which reported that the local people were satisfied with plastic roads in the area where it was tried out. The reporter said "Plastic Road ivdem vareyaanu lay cheythittullathu. Plastic Road ivde theerunnu, kundum kuzhiyum ivde muthal thudangunnu". Although I cannot find a link for the article, it seems that the plan reported earlier has materialized. Plastic roads have been tested elsewhere in TamilNadu too. An article which talks about the technology aspect says "One promising solution tp the problem is from Prof. R Vasudevan of Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai. He thought up the idea of shredding plastic waste, mixing it with bitumen and using the polymerised mix in road construction. Chennai Corporation reacted with commendable speed. In Nov, 2002, it laid out a short stretch of road to test the idea. It has now declared itself satisfied with the trial. Chennai generates close to 150 tonnes of plastic waste everyday. If the Corporation buys, as it says it will, the plastic-waste-for-road-laying idea could be a win-win situation: better roads, money for the poor and cleaner environment. " Mr Ahmed Khan has achieved a lot of success using a similar technology.

The usage of plastics for laying roads has been utilized in Kerala too.

F. Street Lighting with Plastic Waste: There is a recent effort within our own state to explore BoT options of using plastic waste to operate street lights on a BoT basis, leaving considerable amount of the decision making process to the local governing bodies. The report says, "Kerala Builders Forum and Plastic Manufacturers Association have offered to set up a common plastic recycling facility in Kochi. ‘We’ll invest. And the revenue can be shared with Kudumbasree women self-help groups, who collect segregated houshold waste,’ says PJ Mathew, president of the association. ". This seems to be a very good step in this direction; lets hope it materializes.

G. Waste to EcoFriendly Products - Zero Waste Kovalam: The project on recycling waste at origin at Kovalam aims at recycling plastic bags and introducing more eco-friendly products. The solution for non-biodegradable includes creating Resource Recovery Parks. Although this project at Kovalam doesnt introduce any new technology, I include it as a separate bullet here as it has been widely cited.

H. Power Generation From Plastic Waste: Although it seems to be a very preliminary effort, the Local Administration Minister Paloli Muhammed Kutty recently hinted at plans on power generation from plastic waste. The report says "The State government is considering generation of electricity from plastic waste with German technical support. Talks are being held with two German companies, Local Administration Minister Paloli Mohammed Kutty said." I am not sure whether there are plans to link this to the efforts by Sajidas on Biotech which won the Green Oscar Award.

I. Plastic To Floor Tiles: There has been a recent news report about converting plastic to floor tiles. This is about a person by name Joy, in Thrissur, who has developed a technology to convert plastic to cheap floor tiles. The article says "Everyday the solid waste innovator from Thrissur collects plastic bags from a garbage dump, shreds them, and through a combination of simple procedures, uses them to make floor tiles. " Another report on the same person appears here. Such tiles cost just 12 Rs. as against Rs. 30 - which is the manufacturing cost for cement tiles.

Although the list above is - by no means - comprehensive, I hope that this list would serve to give a glimpse of plastic waste management efforts.

It may be noted that there are good avenues to display research efforts and results in the direction of plastic waste management. PlastIndia is a conference to be held in 2009 at New Delhi. Further, there was a recent conference focussed on plastic recycling early in 2007 also in India.

Going Green with "Ente Maram"

The World Environment Day is annually "celebrated" on June 5th. Celebrations include essay writing, pledges, poster competetions and the like. None of these end up having long lasting efforts. Its just another ocassion to get some political attention towards the burning environmental issues. But the World Environment Day of 2007 would be memorable to most school children in Kerala - This was because June 5 was chosen for the launch of the "Ente Maram Paddathy", the afforestation initiative by the ruling LDF in Kerala. It involves the planting of 25 lakh saplings by school children, and encouraging them to love the environment. I read somewhere that the LDF was targetting increasing forest cover from 24% to 33% over the next few years; although I am not sure about the exact figures, the government is certainly doing something in this regard.

Although "Ente Maram" is given enough popularity through newspapers, there is no official site maintained by the Government for the Project. Hence, I decided that I would blog about this collecting all information that is available from the web, mainly to ensure that pravasi malayalis do know about this fantastic initiative.

The project is a joint initiative by the Education Department and the Forest Department. One among the main motivations, as the Government puts it, is to have a green coastal belt to protect them against natural hazards such as Tsunamis (I am not sure about whether a green coastal belt would resist the Tsunami, but I heard that some Tsunami fund is being used for the Project). The project involves distribution of 25 lakh saplings of 24 species to selected 5095 schools all over the state to be planted by students in classes 5th-9th standard. Hindu says, "As many as 24.46 lakh saplings are to be planted in a single day, making it one of the most intensive afforestation programmes ever taken up."

The project was inauguarated by Medha Patkar by planting a sapling at a school in the State Capital in the presence of some ministers and Sugathakumari. Reports on the project appear here and here. Sadly, this was the only place in the government domain which speaks about the project.

The eviction drive, especially in Munnar where the encroachments were mostly on the forest area, along with such afforestation initiatives would definitely make some difference. It is encouraging to see that the Government is spending energy and money on such initiatives.

On Lotteries and Kerala

In 2005, when Oommen Chandy was the Chief Minister, there was a huge campaign against Online and Other-State Lotteries. If I recollect the incidents correctly, the Government first tried to ban online lotteries, and then tried to ban all the other-state lotteries. The move wasnt approved by the Supreme Court and thus, there were two options

• Allow uncontrolled operation of lotteries in the state OR
• To ban all lotteries

Quite obviously, the government thought that Option 2 was the way to go. And thus came the ban on lotteries in the state (Ref: Kerala Bans All Lotteries) in early 2005. I thought that it was a positive move (as lotteries promote the habit of speculative investment among the masses and hence has to be discouraged), and that the LDF and other organizations would welcome the decision. But, that was not what happened.

• The expected: Lottery agents, Vendors take out protest rally.
• The UNEXPECTED: Ban on lotteries: Opposition plans stir . Achuthanandan raised three reasons for the stir (1). The Lottery ban leaves thousands of people jobless (2). The Lottery ban causes loss of crores of rupees yearly to the state government (3). The ban shows the inability of the government to limit the other state/online lotteries.
• Joseph said that the Government should not have banned the Kerala State Lottery and should have resorted to other measures to gain the upper hand over other state lotteries. Read report here
• RSP supports Lottery vendor's stir
• Lift Ban on Lotteries: Kodikkunnil : This was an unexpected news as nobody expected the KPCC general secretary to talk such

And there were reports on the Effects of the Lottery Ban

• Lottery Ban Claims one Life in Kerala
• Kerala Lottery Vendor driven to Suicide

Indeed, some consequences of Lottery ban were bad, although expected. For instance, the Kerala State Lottery which had started in 1967 (under the EMS Government) had resulted in thousands of people (mostly handicapped people) earning their daily bread out of it. The concern was genuine, what would those people do? But, I expected that the LDF would have been more constructuve and would have come up with recommendations for alternative sources of employment to the handicapped.

Let me draw your attention once again to one of Achuthanandan's reasons for protesting against the lottery ban. That it causes an annual loss of 100s of crores to the Government. I can hardly think of a person like him talking in those lines. The customers of the Kerala State Lottery are mostly from the lower strata of the society, as those are the people who easily get attracted to these forms of gambling (I have seen long queues of autorickshaw drivers before the online lottery office at Edappally Toll). Let us assume that there are around 50 lakh people who buy lotteries. Thus, the government is in effect getting 200 rs extra from those people by getting them to indulge in gambling. Thus, for me, the lottery ban is a gain of 100 crores to the lottery buyers which include the autorickshaw drivers and the like (which infact, is a wonderful thing to happen).

And at last, the Kerala Lotteries resumed functioning :(

Let me draw your attention to what lotteries are, and what their effects are, on the society. Although the undesirable effects of lotteries are quite evident and obvious, I use three articles to pull information about lotteries from:

• Wikipedia: A lottery is a popular form of gambling which involves the drawing of lots for a prize. Lotteries are most often run by governments or local states and are sometimes described as a regressive tax, since those most likely to buy tickets will typically be the less affluent members of a society. The astronomically high odds against winning have also led to the epithets of a "tax on stupidity", "math tax" or the oxymoron "voluntary tax" (playing the lottery is voluntary; taxes are not). They are intended to suggest that lotteries are governmental revenue-raising mechanisms that will attract only those consumers who fail to see that the game is a very bad deal. Indeed, the desire of lottery operators to guarantee themselves a profit requires that an average lottery ticket be worth substantially less than what it costs to buy. After taking into account the present value of the lottery prize as a single lump sum cash payment, the impact of any taxes that might apply, and the likelihood of having to share the prize with other winners, it is not uncommon to find that a ticket for a typical major lottery is worth less than one third of its purchase price.The fact that lotteries are commonly played leads to some contradictions against standard models of economic rationality. However, the expectations of some players may not be to win the game, but the thrill and indulgence in a fantasy of possibly becoming wealthy become the goal. Even ignoring the thrill factor, there is the theoretical possibility that the purchase of a lottery ticket could represent a gain in expected utility, even though it represents a loss in expected monetary value, thus making the purchase a rational decision. Insurance, for instance, represents negative expected monetary value but is not considered to be a tax on stupidity because it is generally believed to deliver positive expected utility to the individual.
• Lenin on Lotteries: With their honeyed words they deceive the peasant in the same way as people are deceived by a lottery. I shall tell you what a lottery is. Let us suppose I have a cow, worth 50 rubles. I want to sell the cow by means of a lottery, so I offer everyone tickets at a ruble each. Everyone has a chance of getting the cow for one ruble! People are tempted and the rubles pour in. When I have collected a hundred rubles I proceed to draw the lottery: the one whose ticket is drawn gets the cow for a ruble, the others get nothing. Was the cow “cheap” for the people? No, it was very dear, because the total money they paid was double the value of the cow, because two persons (the one who ran the lottery and the one who won the cow) gained without doing any work, and gained at the expense of the ninety-nine who lost their money. Thus, those who say that lotteries are advantageous to the people are simply practising deceit on the people. Those who promise to deliver the peasants from poverty and want by means of co-operatives of every kind (societies for buying cheap and selling profitably), improved farming, banks, and all that sort of thing, are deceiving them in exactly the same way. Just as in a lottery where there is one winner and all the rest are losers, so it is with these things: one middle peasant may manage to get rich, but ninety-nine of his fellow peasants bend their backs all their lives, never escape from want, and even sink more deeply into poverty.
• Truth About Gambling: Lottery is one of the most senseless and speculative "investments" on Earth. It promotes the spending of real money for a highly elusive product (the win). It is deceitful in that the real product delivered reportedly 14 million times to one (14,000,000:1) is FALSE HOPE. It encourages the diversion of capital from reasonable investment vehicles which yield reasonable returns to a senseless investment which reportedly has been mathematically calculated to yield a significant return only once out of every 14 million times. From a local economic point of view, it has a highly negative multiplier effect. It promotes a harmful practice: unwise investing. It uses miseducation to promise education: People are encouraged to participate in this "investment" fraud, and are then told that the money gained from such an "investment" will be used to "educate" them. Lottery siphons money from the community but provides neither a comparable good nor service in return. (An honest tax could better benefit the community and would be more sound in moral, economic and psychological character. A tax called a tax is an honest tax. A tax called a chance is a fraud). It promotes psychological instability by encouraging individuals to commit real, hard-earned assets to mostly unreal, highly improbable trade activities. To grant a fair return to all would kill the lottery. It lives and thrives by consuming the hard-earned resources of losers. Its very life depends on the losses of many. Its best customers must be losers. It robs so many to pay so few. If it is a tax it is an unfair tax because it succeeds only in collecting from the gullible. Its negative impact is doubled: 1. It (by siphoning funds) weakens the regular economy; and 2. It creates a wholly defective side economy. It's one of the worse budgeting lessons a child could ever be taught. It exploits the weak and seeks to weaken the strong. It destroys soundness.

Given all these effects of lotteries, the LDF can be expected to be "lottery-haters". But, what has been happening in Kerala is just the opposite. To cite a few examples,

• EMS Government in 1967 started the Kerala State Lottery, which declares on its web page "Indiayil Aadyam, Ennum Munnil"
• The LDF protested against the Lottery Ban by the UDF in 2005
• The Kerala Sports Super Bumper was launched by the LDF in 2007 to mobilize 200 crores for infrastructural developments at the Grass-root levels of the state

How the Kerala State Lottery is presented to the people is another interesting thing to note:

• Kerala State Lotteries webpage has the following text in it (It talks about development, the prize money, development, poverty and what not.. bah): Have you ever noticed a Lottery agent walking through the road with lottery tickets in his/her hand? Well we may not notice him/her at first. But think, he too plays his part in re-sourcing money for the development of roads, bridges, hospitals, schools and much more. Channelising ones money for the development of the state is the success behind the Department of Lotteries. More than that, it is the sole income-source for many a downtrodden public in the society. Today, with more than 35,000 authorised agents and over 100,000 retail sellers; spanning over 14 districts, it is a major benefactor to the development of the state, self-employment for the poor and the common, and poverty eradication. The lottery department gains importance in this context, with much opportunity in front of it to conquer. Its social commitment towards the poor and needy hasn’t brought down the amount of prize money it disburses. The department gives away lakhs of prizes a week, through its four weekly lotteries and through its six bumper lotteries.
• Description about Kerala Lottery and it's history talks about alleviating poverty through lotteries!!!!
• The Onam Bumper Lottery has its caption as: Aishwaryapoornamaaya Thiruvonathe Varavelkku, Onam Bumper Lotteryil Pankedukku!!!!

Hope we do start realizing soon that Lottery is an evil and that Kerala would become a Lottery-free state sometime soon.

Women and Sabarimala

"Temple reforms" is a hot topic these days, and the people and the government have been trying to get kshethrapraveshanam for the non-hindus. Thinking about discrimination by temples, the first thing that comes to mind would be Sabarimala; the most famous pilgrimage center in Kerala.

As we all know, there is gender discrimination in temples (against women). Sabarimala goes another step (backward) and says that it wont allow women aged between 10 and 50 to visit the shrine. I did a quick web search to try to understand the "logic" behind this issue and did a quick web search. This post is to share the info that I got from the pages that Google pointed me to.

The most interesting one is the countercurrents article by Raji Rajagopalan which can be found here. It has a list of "reasons" as to why Sabarimala disallows women. They are as follows:

1. The eight kilometer trek to the temple along dense woods is arduous for women;
2. Ayyappa is a bachelor God and his bachelorhood will be broken if he sees a woman;
3. The forty-one-day penance for the pilgrimage, where one must live as abstemiously as a saint, cannot be undertaken by women - they are too weak for that;
4. Men cohorts will be enticed to think bad thoughts if women joined them in their trek;
5. Letting women into the temple will disrupt law and order;
6. Women's menstrual blood will attract animals in the wild and jeopardize fellow travelers;
7. Menstruation is a no-no for God.

If the bullets (1) & (2) are to be believed, women above 50 also should not be allowed. There are other temples which allow women, and thus even (5) is invalid. So, we are left with (3), (4), (6) and (7). Yes, and these are reasons that people speak of in the 21st century!!! In the most literate state of the country. But yes, people have questioned these reasons. (I was unaware of the incidents listed in Raji's posting, but I assume that they are true).

• A mother of two ill children wanted to enter the temple; and she was *arrested* before reaching the sanctum and this ban was upheld by the Kerala High Court in 1990 !!!!
• A bunch of women supposedly tried to enter the shrine in December 2002. And the Kerala HC ordered a probe to see how that happened !!!!!!!!

This Indiavarta article says that this is the only temple in India where women between 10 and 50 are not allowed. A blog entry that I found raises an important point. An extract from that blog is as follows:

• Does the state (centre or state) give any funds to Sabarimala temple or the board? Is the government a board member? Is the government providing security at the temple?
  If they are - then it’s the taxpayer’s money that is going to support an institution that discriminates on the basis of sex. Against the constitution, isn’t it? Especially because it’s not a minorities institution. (I could be wrong here - but am venturing into murkier waters.) That, is not acceptable to me. Cut state funding. Make sure it becomes totally un-cool to go to a temple that is discriminatory.

Time for us to reconsider whether things happening around us are right. I hope that the second set of reforms, which, I believe, is due, would address all these issues.

Towards Temple Reforms, at last

It has been a big issue for ages. Kalamandalam Hyderali wasnt allowed entry to many temples, and Yesudas was never allowed to enter Guruvayoor and many other temples (although Harivarasanam in his voice is played at Sabarimala on a daily basis). I had always believed that temples and their authorities would have to embrace reforms some day or the other. The earlier the better. Every year, in Kerala, this issue keeps coming up. I had blogged on this a year or so back here and that was when the Srilankan delegation entered Guruvayoor and the "purification" exercise was undertaken.

Whether it be due to G. Sudhakaran, or due to Vayalar Ravi, we have started talking about this issue again. And it seems that something concrete would come out of it this time, hopefully. We are definitely inching towards the second temple entry proclamation.

At this juncture, shouldnt we start thinking about the temple reforms at large, rather than just the issue of temple entry to non-hindus. The temples of Kerala do not allow entry to women during "certain" periods, and do not allow women in the age bracket of 10-50 to enter Sabarimala. Even a 4-month old kid's urine is so bad that punyaham has to be performed. All these definitely sound primitive.

G Sudhakaran's words threatening to bring in legislation if the priests do not address the call for reform is definitely the way to go. "Adapt to the changing times voluntarily, or the Govt will see to it that it happens" - a brave move indeed.

My opinion is that the Govt should initiate the second set of reforms, of which the Temple reforms are just a part. Ban on Lotteries and many other things which I will write about later should be part of the second set of reforms.

A Cleaner City: Courtesy "Clean Kerala" Initiative?

I was going to Kochi after around 5 months, and one visible change was about the cleanliness. The city appeared to be a lot cleaner. In these 5 months, Chickun Guniya had come and gone, and the Clean Kerala initiative had resumed (after Chickun Guniya). And Malayala Manorama had started its own campaign on Shuchithva Keralam. Anyways, things appear to have changed a bit at least.

The musical walkway which used to stink earlier is now better. And so are many other places at Ekm. Please do post comments about the impact of the Clean Kerala campaign on Ernakulam, if you know details.

Gathering more Knowledge is nothing but inflating Ego and narrowing one's Vision, says Amritanandamayi !!!!!!

A scientist gathers more knowledge, thereby narrowing his vision and inflating his ego. Well, I am sure that you are thinking as to who would be so stupid to vomit such nonsense; it was none other than the revered Amritanandamayi of Kerala. Atleast thats what the note pasted proudly in front of the "Mata Amritanandamayi Muth" shop at the Nedumbassery Airport Shopping Arcade says.

Yes, now what you want is proof of that. And thats exactly what I have in the picture below (Taken using my fone cam). And for those who dont want to enlarge the image and read it, I paste the stuff below as well .

A person who always thinks intellectually cannot understand the feelings of the heart, the meaning of meditation and love. Love is the force, the power and inspiration behind every word and every action. Love is behind all scientific experimentation and invention - behind work. But that love is limited to a narrow channel. It is directed only to the scientific field in which he works. It doesn't embrace all crations. No work can be performed without concentration. Concentration is nothing but the stillness of mind. Stillness of the mind comes only as a result of love. A Rishi is a real lover because he has dived into his own self, the very core of life and love. A Rishi is a real scientist. He experiments in the inner laboratory of his own being. A scientist keeps on adding more to his existing ego. He gathers more and more knowledge and more and more information which is nothing but the act of inflating the ego. However a Rishi is completely empty. He becomes like a corpse in the river. He lets the river of life carry him anywhere it likes. The scientist is externally full, full of knowledge about the world. The Rishi is internally full, full of experience of oneness with the supreme absolute. The scientist sees many; the Rishi sees one. The scientist is only a part of existence, while the Rishi is the whole of existence. While the scientist burdens himself with facts and figures, the Rishi becomes empty so that all knowledge can pass through him but cannot affect his experience of oneness. While the scientist limits and narrows his vision, the Rishi expands and embraces the whole universe.
AMMA

So, this is what she believes. She believes that being empty is great. And she believes sthat scientists are narrow-minded creatures who are filled with ego and interested in nothing but inflating his/her ego. The message from "Amma" is loud and clear; gather no more knowledge because it inflates your ego and makes you narrow minded, do nothing and have an empty mind.

Malayalam Machine Transation: How Long Should We Wait?

Machine Translation is an active area of research, esp. in the Indian context. Machine translation technologies are those that convert text from one language to another. For instance, Google Translate is one system for Machine Translation.

Its a sad fact that we dont have any ongoing efforts towards building a English-Malayalam Machine Translation system (to the best of my knowledge, and I believe that I have done enough Googling to confrim the assertion). Such a system could play a big role in bridging the gap and to enable the common Keralite to keep abreast of the recent technical advancements by providing him an interface to the Web in his own language.

This post is to implicitly show how much we lag behind as compared to the other states in India regarding MT, and to provide a set of links which would possibly ease the literature survey part (and possibly, other parts too) of an effort to build a machine translation system for malayalam.

Disclaimer: I am no expert in machine translation or even the broader area of language technologies, but am one who would like to see an english to malayalam machine translation system in the near future.

Possible Impacts and Application Areas of an English to Malayalam Machine Translation System

1. An english to malayalam machine translation system embedded in an email client would enable conversion of english mails to malayalam, which could be read out to the user by a text-to-speech system (there are various efforts on building text-to-speech conversion systems in various organizations in Kerala, the most notable one being the efforts at C-DIT, Thiruvananthapuram)
2. A browser plugin would enable automatic conversion of the displayed web page to malayalam. This would open up the english content in the web (which as is obvious is fairly large) to almost all Keralites (as we have a high literacy rate, we could assume that almost evrybody would be able to read Malayalam)

Workshops/Conferences/Associations/Research Centers/Resources on Related Topics (Not comprehensive) - The more useful links are starred

1. **A good overview of the various Indian Machine Translation efforts in India appears as a ppt at http://www.au-kbc.org/dfki/igws/Machine_Translation.ppt (I would say that going thru this one would give a good overview of the state of the art)
2. Language Technologies Research Center, IIIT Hyderabad http://ltrc.iiit.net/showfile.php?filename=research/
3. Modeling and Shallow Parsing of Indian Languages, Workshop in 2006 at IIT Bombay http://www.cfilt.iitb.ac.in/~mspil-06/ A paper on Malayalam handful of papers on Malayalam appeared there. See http://www.cfilt.iitb.ac.in/~mspil-06/id25.htm
4. Natural Language Processing Association, India http://nlpai.iiit.ac.in/
5. **Shakti-MT Kit: A tool for rapidly producing machine translation toolkits in Indian Languages, http://shakti.iiit.net/ (This system has already been used by a Chennai group to build an MT system from English to their Language)
6. R.M.K. Sinha, `A Sanskrit based Word-expert model for machine translation among Indian languages',. http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel5/8421/26537/01182306.pdf
7. Technology Development for Indian Languages - Department of IT, Goverment of India has a page on Indian Language Processing Resources at http://tdil.mit.gov.in/corpora/ach-corpora.htm
8. C-DIT, Thiruvananthapuram has a Computational Linguistics Group who have built a Machine Translation System for the Hindi-Malayalam pair http://www.cdit.org/computionallinguistic.htm
9. Prof. RMK Sinha at IIT Kanpur has been leading the effort at IIT Kanpur. A brief history of IIT Kanpur research on the same appears at http://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/users/langtech/hist.htm This includes details about the early 90s Anglabharathi System for the same
10. Prof. Pushpak Bhattacharya has been leading the efforts at IIT Bombay. His homepage is at http://www.cse.iitb.ac.in/~pb/
11. State and Role of Machine Translation in India - Article http://www.bcs-mt.org.uk/mtreview/11/mtr-11-10.htm
12. Machine Translation set for Quantum Leap in India - Article http://www.cse.iitb.ac.in/~pb/indtrend2.htm
13. Gyannidhi: A parallel corpus for Indian Languages http://www.cdacnoida.in/technicalpapers/PaperNepal.pdf
14. Indian Language Corpora from the Central Institute of Indian Langauges - http://www.ciilcorpora.net/
15. Statistical natural language processing and corpus-based computational linguistics: An annotated list of resources - NLP Group at the Stanford University - http://nlp.stanford.edu/links/statnlp.html
16. STRANS 2001/2 - Symposium on Translation Support Systems - http://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/users/langtech/strans2002/index2002.htm An anaphora resolution system for malayalam is described in one of the papers ("Vasisht"-An anaphora resolution system for Malayalam and Hindi , Sobha L. and B.N.Patnaik, M.G.University Kottayam )
17. ICON - International Conference on Natural Language Processing is a yearly event hosted in India ICON 2007 home is at http://www.iiit.net/icon2007/
18. IJCAI 2007 Workshop on Cross-Lingual Information Access http://www.iiit.ac.in/CLIA2007
19. IJCAI 2007 Workshop on Shallow Parsing in South Asian Languages http://shiva.iiit.ac.in/SPSAL2007/

According to what I understand, there are two possible approaches for Machine Translation

• Rule-Based: It involves using the knowledge about the two languages and coming up with a set of rules for translation. This may involve (shallow) parsing to some extent as well. The quality is limited by the quality of the language knowledge
• Statistical: This is the more recent and popular method of using aligned parallel corpora (i.e., for a A-B pair, it would need to have documents in A and the corresponding documents in B), but may be more extendable to similar language pairs as compared to the Rule-Based Approach. A good resource (including tutorials for download) appear at http://www.statmt.org/

The information posted above is limited to my knowledge of the subject (which is pretty low since I have never worked on language technologies). But, hope that this post provides a good resource which hopefully will aid efforts in the development of Malayalam machine translation systems (atleast in the initial stages).

Some expertise in this area (in the Malayalam context) rests with the Computational Linguistics Group at C-DIT Thiruvananthapuram. Infact, I believe that any effort in this direction has to be co-ordinated with the efforts at organizations like the below to get visibility

1. C-DIT Thiruvananthapuram http://www.cdit.org/
2. OSSICS http://www.ossics.com/

If any of the readers know of any efforts in this direction, kindly feel free to add the links to them in comments to this post.

Burn Plastics !!!

It been a loong time since the last post. Wanted to resume with a good and well-written post, but nothing could stop me from posting the above image. And yes, it is definitely very weird

Franke on Environmental Sress and Democratic Initiatives in Kerala

Well, I dont think anybody would forget the person. Richard W Franke is his name. He is releasing a book on Kerala (to add on to his other books on various aspects of Kerala).

Here are the details
Title: STRIVING FOR SUSTAINABILITY: ENVIRONMENTAL STRESS AND DEMOCRATIC INITIATIVES IN KERALA
Authors: SRIKUMAR CHATTOPADHYAY & RICHARD W. FRANKE
Page: http://www.chss.montclair.edu/anthro/strivingforsustainability.htm

For those who dont know Franke, he has a homepage here and his collection of links on kerala can be found here

Looking forward to the release of the book (just as you).

Kerala - A model of Economic Equality (Web Article)

I happened to see a very interesting article on "Too Much" (A commentary on Excess and Inequality). It talks about all things which we boast, but is a very unbiased commentary. It talks about how Kerala has failed in attracting capital for large projects, but has survived through redistribution.

As weblinks often die pretty soon, I post the entire text of the article at http://www.cipa-apex.org/toomuch/articlenew2006/March6a.html here. Highlighted are portions of the commentary which are significant, according to me.

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An India Americans Seldom See
Economic growth isn't doing much to help average Indians. Economic equality could. So suggests the past quarter century of history in Kerala, India's most equal state.

Indian Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram says the new budget he unveiled last week will help fix all this, by promoting economic growth. “I believe that growth is the best antidote to poverty,"the Harvard-trained Chidambaram proclaimed.
But economic growth, counters Delhi University political scientist Neera Chandhoke, ''does not necessarily lead to social development." What does?

The experience of one state within India suggests an answer. That state, Kerala, has conquered disease and poverty — and illiteracy and discrimination against women and girls — better than any state in India. And the secret to Kerala's success? Equality. Kerala has done more to share income and wealth fairly and widely than any other state within India.

Kerala, by every conventional measure of economic growth, rates as a poor place. Until recently, Keralans averaged less gross domestic product per person than the Indian average. The comforts conventional economic growth delivers — cars, air conditioners, washing machines — grace only a small percentage of Keralan households.

But on the only measure that “ultimately matters” — “the nature of the lives people can or cannot lead,” a formulation introduced by Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen — Keralans have created a society that outperforms much of the rest of the world. People in Kerala lead lives that are long and healthy, in vital, safe, tolerant communities.

The numbers document Kerala’s achievement. Morocco, a nation about equal to Kerala in population, generates about three times more wealth per person than Kerala. But people in Kerala, on average, live ten years longer than Moroccans. Colombia, another similarly sized nation, generates four times Kerala’s wealth. But babies die in Kerala at less than half the rate they die in Colombia.

Kerala and California also carry about the same population. California, of course, overwhelms Kerala economically. California generates seventy-three times more growth per person than Kerala’s. But Kerala, not California, enjoys more social peace. In the 1990s, about two hundred thousand inmates packed California’s jails and prisons. The number of full-time prisoners in Kerala: five thousand.

Within India, Kerala boasts the lowest rates of malaria and cholera and the highest rates of access to doctors, nurses, health clinics, and hospitals. Within the world, Kerala boasts a literacy rate that tops the average of all other low-income nations — by an amazing 40 percent.

And the literate in Kerala, unlike most of the rest of the low-income world, include girls as well as boys. In 1994, 93 percent of high school-age girls in Kerala were enrolled in high school, more than three times the rate in the rest of India and the world’s poor nations.

The people of Kerala owe their good fortune, their outstanding quality of life, partly to the accidents of geography. On the west, Kerala stretches along the Indian Ocean. This long coastline has always left Kerala open to new ideas from abroad, everything from Christianity to communism.

Meanwhile, on the east, mountain ranges have kept Kerala somewhat separate from the rest of the South Asian subcontinent. These mountains, together with the sea, helped create a land where divergent peoples — Hindus, Christians, Muslims, and Jews — have lived side by side, in tolerance, for generations.

In this heady atmosphere, intolerance — and exploitation — would not go unchallenged. In the nineteenth century, Kerala saw massive protests against the indignities of India’s caste system, an outrageously rigid hierarchy that subjected people in the “lower orders” to life-long humiliation.

In the 1930s, inspired by the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, small but significant numbers of Kerala’s wealthy Brahmins, all born at the opposite end of the caste hierarchy, began “renouncing their privileges and giving up their lands.”

About the same time, all across Kerala, grassroot networks of landless tenants were organizing for thorough-going land reform. They would later elect, in 1957, India’s first communist-led state government, and this new government would quickly enact sweeping land reform legislation.

But the legislation would not go into effect. India’s central government promptly dismissed the ministers who would have been responsible for its implementation. Kerala’s peasant associations would not be intimidated. They kept up the pressure, and comprehensive land reform would finally come about, fourteen years later, in 1971. The reform would give about 1.5 million former tenant families title to their first property.

Over the next two decades, under steady pressure from peasant groups and trade unions, elected governments in Kerala, communist and noncommunist alike, would enact still more wealth-redistributing reforms.

Kerala’s minimum wage became India’s highest. Stiff tax rates on the wealthy, meanwhile, helped underwrite the free and low-cost distribution of basic services. Keralans, by the 1990s, were paying no charge for a minimal level of electrical power. In state-supported stores, Keralans could buy everything from rice to batteries at subsidized prices.

All these reforms, notes environmental author Bill McKibben, helped create “a state with some of the most equal wealth distribution on Earth.” (Read this in tune with this)That suited average families in Kerala quite nicely. But outsiders, particularly outsiders with power and wealth, considered Kerala hostile territory.

Industrialists avoided Kerala. They were not about to situate manufacturing plants in a state where wage rates ran three times the Indian average. Kerala, as a result, would not — could not — “grow” in standard economic terms. Without capital to fund ambitious “growth” projects, no giant manufacturing plants would soar above Kerala’s tropical forests.

Joblessness, on the other hand, would rise, to levels that topped the average unemployment rates elsewhere in India. But Kerala did not crumble, as conventional growth economics would have predicted. Kerala, instead, developed. Kerala’s left leaders may “have failed to spur economic growth,” as a 1998 Atlantic Monthly analysis would observe, but “they have been singularly successful at implementing development through redistribution.”

Indeed, between 1973-74 and century's end, only three states in India registered significant decreases in the percentage of their people living in poverty. Kerala led the way, with a poverty rate plunge from 60 percent in the early 1970s to 13 percent by the year 2000. Over those years, poverty rates in Kerala fell over twice as fast as poverty rates in India overall.

So which way for India in the future? India — and the world — might want to study Kerala's recent past.
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Although this article suggests a lot of things, it conveniently ignores discussing about a lot of things
-> That joblessness isnt an economic problem, but more of a social problem (Money flows in from outside)
-> How long can "development through redistribution" last? Is it a model that can stand the test of time?
-> How much was the gulf money involved in the poverty rate plunge from 60% to 13%

Well, the author had no reason to discuss these issues, but then, never had any strong reason to avoid these things too.

But yes, Kerala Economic Equality model has been a success till now and we can still continue to boast. But this presents an entirely different picture. Mebbe, we have reached a point, where we have to seriously think about many issues. One thing that evrybody would perhaps agree would be that, we would like to retain the first place in terms of Economic Equality.

Non-Hindus and Temple Entry

Of late, we had this controversy on Sri Lankan Prime Minister Rajapaksha's visit to the Guruvayoor temple. Mrs. Rajapaksha was (supposedly) a Christian before marriage and hence, the authorities discovered (after 20-odd days were past after the visit) that there was a grevious crime that has been committed. They were thinking of having 20 days of Pooja after a shuddhikalasham (or something of that sort) and so on and so forth. I dont know what actually happened after that.

This sort of a thing asks us to rethink. We have been boasting of being very highly developed socially, and also that we are among the most secular states in India.

For instance, some other things that have happened have a connection to this
1-> Yesudas wasnt allowed to enter Guruvayoor temple, and hence had to sing outside
2-> Kalamandalam Hyderali wasnt allowed into many temples, although a few allowed him inside.

I somehow feel that the rule "non-hindus should not enter temples" is extremely communal and barbaric. The common excuse given is that "non-hindus" may not follow the usual practices such as bathe before going to a temple and so on. But well, if that be the reason, why not put such things explicitly; why a communal tinge to in the niyamam. I know people who are "non-hindus" but believe in offering prayers at any place of worship; and interestingly, they frequent temples too although they know that they are committing an offence. Whatever be the reason, denying entry to Yesudas seems like going back a couple of centuries.

Academia Industry Interaction - On the Search for Viable Models for Engineering Colleges in Kerala

We had this discussion on academia-industry interaction in Kerala going on in a yahoo group of which I am a member and which includes some of the best visionaries involved in academia/administration that Kerala has ever produced. Below is the mail that I posted to that group, and which includes a good (non-comprehensive) summary of industry-academia relationships in more famous T-schools in India

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Let me introduce myself as a graduate (MTech) student in the Department of CS&E, IIT Madras. I have always felt that Computer Science departments have opened up newer ways of industry interaction, which largely benefits the academia rather than the industry. Let me use this mail to list down the ways of industry interaction practised (and those not practised) by CSE @ IITM (and possibly, CSE across IITs) so that people could comment on what kind of interaction could be worked out in academia in Kerala.

Here, many of the labs have projects which are either sponsored by ISRO or that are being done by the ISRO (and such governmental organisations). This, I feel, is the kind of industry interaction which has been practised for years in Indian academia. For instance, I happened to talk to a faculty member from Sri Chithra Institute (Tvpm - http://www.sctimst.ac.in) and he said that industry interaction at his institute if mostly by means of collaborative and funded projects. I may be wrong in generalising, but i feel this to be the conventional mode of industry interaction.

With the coming of private MNC giants into India, CS&E departments have been finding out ways of getting those people involved. Some of the kinds of interactions happening in CSE, IITM (many of them may exist in other departments as well) include

1-> External Registration Programmes - Industry people coming into the department for external registration programmes. These are similar to the part-time BTechs in Kerala, but for the fact that these external registration programmes in here are mainly for research. For instance, a person working with IBM Research can register for an External PhD (with two advisors - one from the institute and another from the organization), spend a couple of semesters at the institute and then do the rest of the research work in his organisation. This happens for PhD and MS programmes.

2-> Industry Visitors - Most of profs in here keep in good touch with their amunini working in various places. So when they come to India, they inevitably mail their old advisor regarding this, and the latter invites them to give a lecture. There have been lectures where people describe their research (redo the presentation of their most recently published research work) or rather just talk about their organization and it's larger vision. This happens very often.

3-> Collaborative Projects - Many profs in here work as consultants for various projects in the industry. For instance, one of our profs works with a team in Intel (and makes frequent visits to their place) whereas another is the main member of the crypto group @ Microsoft Research India. Microsoft Research India infact has a lot of such people, who infact have a designation at the Microsoft Research in addition to their faculty position at their institute. Collaborative projects involve the usual procedure of signing an MoU, but most of them are very exploratory in nature.

4-> Industry Visits - Something reverse to 2 also happens. Like, for instance, while I was dong my internship last year with IBM Research, there were a couple of profs from IIT Bombay who visited IBM Research to deliver lectures. Those things happened because those guys had their students working in IBM Research.

5-> Internships - It goes without saying that internships are an inevitable part of industry-academia relationships. Here we have a 3 month summer vacation, wherein students go in for internships. Academia in Kerala work more of less haphazardly and hence, the dates of the vacations are not very predictable. I badly wanted to do an internship while doing my BTech @ Model Engineering College, but that did not materialize because I couldnt give the industry people a guarantee that I would be available for 2 months at a stretch (the exam timetable was uncertain and is usually prepared by the university in the last minute)

6-> Courses Offered by Industry people - This has not yet materialized in IIT Madras. IITM plans to build something called a research park wherein plug-n-play space would be leased out to companies. As per the draft formulation, companies setting up office in the research park would have to offer courses (read subjects) @ IIT Madras for which they would be given credits and a minimum amount of credits have to be earned if the company wants to retain its office space in the research park. I know that there are guys in IBM Research (New Delhi) who offer courses in IIT Delhi. Further, I heard that Oracle had offered a full semester course in some college in Bangalore. Our academic setting, where there is little flexibility in the curriculum doesnt allow for such a thing to happen. I guess, we should introduce more electives and let colleges propose electives according to the faculty (industry or academia) available at that time

7-> Industry Grants and Awards for Faculty/Student Conference Travel - This is something that is motivated by the strong urge on the part of the industry to maintain a good relationship with the academia. As elsewhere, profs here get an international conference travel support only once in 3 years. But they actually travel much more frequently, partly due to project funding, and partly due to Industry grants. For instance, IBM provides a funding of 2 lakhs every year to the department for conference travel, which can be administered internally by the department. Further, Microsoft has supposedly sent a huge sum for the first time to the institute just like the IBM funding. Further, IBM, Google, and Microsoft provide travel awards to students getting papers accepted in prestegious international conferences.

8-> An Incubation Center - I personally know that IIT Delhi incubation center enabled the formation of very good start-ups in recent years with very good co-operation from the industry. I am not quite sure whether it is due to an incubation center, but have heard that a company called GDA Tech works within the campus of the Rajagiri Engineering College in Kakkanad, Ekm.

9->Marketing style Initiatives from the Industry - Although not very prevlent in IITs, some product companies offer free licenses and to their costly products (which is commonly opposed by the intellectuals by the argument that the aim is to brainwash the students to believe that their products are better). Further, apart from giving free licenses, they also give free training to use the product. Some companies organise workshops (which are actually training programmes) to popularise the technology or product that they use. For instance, we had the wireless communication giant, Qualcomm, organise a CDMA workshop in IIT Madras a couple of months back. Of the various kinds of industry-academia interactions, I feel that this is the only one, which can be argued against meaningfully. But yet, the students get to use industry-standard products and this may be of help to reduce the strength of the allegation that academia seldom works with real problems/systems

I dont know whether all these things listed above already exist in Kerala academia. I strongly feel that we should have
1-> A more or less stable academic calendar which enables students to plan their internships
2-> A flexible curriculum with a lot more elective courses
3-> A good alumini interaction (technical interaction) wherein any alumini would be able to come the department and deliver a lecture if he wants to convey something worthwhile. In my college, (Model Engineering College), industry lectures were so rare that when there was one, everybody rushed in as if to see something new happening. I guess industry lectures should become the order of the day. Profs who have friends in the industry should invite them frequently to make the students aware of the current trends in the industry.
4-> Opportunity to do research as a part of their BTech project. When I wanted to do some research as a part of my BTech project, people were looking at me as if i am doing some outrageous activity (and as if i am very eccentric) 5-> An incubation center per a cluster of colleges.

I would very much like people to comment on which among the above are viable in our academic setting as of now. If so, could **** (with the help of its highly influential people such as *** and ********) do something that could make a difference.

Best Regards
Deepak

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