I wish to use this occasion to speak for a few minutes on some thoughts for us as an enlightened community. We have the education and resources that the average Indian may not have even in 2030. So, it is natural that we should aspire to act in a way that shows our sense of responsibility and culture. This day calls for such thinking.
We are so lucky – with a stadium and a big swimming pool nearby, not counting the small one close to Mantri Garden. We have Lal Bagh. We also have the Madhavan Park with a set of great trees that can be the envy of anyone living in the concrete jungles of Navi Mumbai or Noida. Can we do something as a community to preserve these treasures? For instance, can we prevent our end of the Madhavan Park from looking like a dump? Yes, we can. We can also prevent the gardeners from burning dried up leaves and dead branches and, thereby, reduce pollution. We can protect the great rain tree that stands in the little triangle on our way out to the Madhavan Park circle. We can do some shramdan to make that triangle look a little better.
On a more general note, we can get corporators and the local MLA to visit the building once in a while and meet us a community. We can give them one of those fine breakfasts that the Committee organizes for our own meetings. We need the elected representatives of the city to ensure that this area will not be allowed to run down.
Lastly there is one more point I wish to make. As an enlightened community, we can lead the city in reducing dirty and dangerous work for our fellow men. You would have seen three men on the garbage truck every morning, meticulously separating the garbage into multiple piles – plastic bags, glass items, metal items, kitchen waste and so on. Once in a while there will be broken glass and medical waste mixed up with all these. Can’t we separate our garbage into recyclables and biodegradable waste? We are all proud of the way this building collects recyclable paper and donates it to FAME. We were happy to see when garbage bags with different colors were distributed to enable separation of waste. It was a good attempt. If it did not work, we need not give up the effort; we can find a way that works. Let us separate recyclable material from our garbage. Let us show we care.
Thank you for listening.
Ramani
Monday, January 25, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Finding reliable information about government announcements and policies
This is largely a copy of a post in my other blog - Science and Technology Projects for Student Research. I re-post it here because it has relevance beyond science and technology. It is a matter of public interest – how do people find out reliable information about government announcements and policies.
The history of search engines has been a most exciting one. The development of effective search techniques will ultimately get ranked with the invention of printed books. These two, along with the development of the Internet, have made it possible for knowledge of human society to be made widely available among its members, but don’t get carried away! We have got a long way to go. The search problem shares something with the halting problem, at least in practical terms. If you spend time on searching for something, a good fraction of the time you come away with the information you wanted, but you never come away saying that the information you searched for is not there! You go away frustrated, feeling that searching is often a never-ending business. At least in terms of a human lifetime!
I had this feeling last week, searching for the information a friend abroad had asked me. He plans to visit India, SriLanka and Nepal on an Indian multiple entry visa. Someone has told him that if you enter India with that kind of visa and go to any other country, say Nepal, you need to stay out of India for at least 60 days before you re-enter India. I helped get a definitive answer to this by searching the Web for relevant information. It seems that the Government had announced this rule in Dec ’09 and later relaxed it in some way. I redoubled my effort to get a definitive answer to my friend. Can I get a reliable source’s final answer to this question? I searched the Web in different ways and then asked a renowned travel agency and sent email to an agency to which the Indian consulate outsources part of its visa application processing. The more I searched the more confused I got with contradictory information.
Why do I write this? I would like you to try and find the answer. You may be lucky in finding an answer that appears to be conclusive and reliable. Or you may not. Suppose you do find an answer that appears to be conclusive and reliable. How sure are you going to be about that answer?
Do try this experiment. You may not have a friend with this problem. But you may get good ideas on what more needs to be done to help people searching for information, particularly when they do not have the benefit of a professional in the field who knows where to look for information and what to trust.
Srinivasan Ramani
The history of search engines has been a most exciting one. The development of effective search techniques will ultimately get ranked with the invention of printed books. These two, along with the development of the Internet, have made it possible for knowledge of human society to be made widely available among its members, but don’t get carried away! We have got a long way to go. The search problem shares something with the halting problem, at least in practical terms. If you spend time on searching for something, a good fraction of the time you come away with the information you wanted, but you never come away saying that the information you searched for is not there! You go away frustrated, feeling that searching is often a never-ending business. At least in terms of a human lifetime!
I had this feeling last week, searching for the information a friend abroad had asked me. He plans to visit India, SriLanka and Nepal on an Indian multiple entry visa. Someone has told him that if you enter India with that kind of visa and go to any other country, say Nepal, you need to stay out of India for at least 60 days before you re-enter India. I helped get a definitive answer to this by searching the Web for relevant information. It seems that the Government had announced this rule in Dec ’09 and later relaxed it in some way. I redoubled my effort to get a definitive answer to my friend. Can I get a reliable source’s final answer to this question? I searched the Web in different ways and then asked a renowned travel agency and sent email to an agency to which the Indian consulate outsources part of its visa application processing. The more I searched the more confused I got with contradictory information.
Why do I write this? I would like you to try and find the answer. You may be lucky in finding an answer that appears to be conclusive and reliable. Or you may not. Suppose you do find an answer that appears to be conclusive and reliable. How sure are you going to be about that answer?
Do try this experiment. You may not have a friend with this problem. But you may get good ideas on what more needs to be done to help people searching for information, particularly when they do not have the benefit of a professional in the field who knows where to look for information and what to trust.
Srinivasan Ramani
Thursday, December 3, 2009
India Deserves better Auto Rcikshaws
Auto rickshaws are the most popular form of public transport in India after buses. They have not changed much in design over decades. A significant number use two-stroke engines, giving low mileage and causing pollution. Most do not have a reverse gear and hence execute crazy maneuvers on the streets endangering people around. They are surely not deigned for safety. They are very noisy, causing noise pollution. On top of all this, they are not inexpensive. Ask the driver of any new auto you get into, and he will tell you what he paid for it.
A country that has sent a rocket to the moon can certainly design a better auto to take millions to work. Please permit me to offer a suggestion:
a) The Government of India should announce a scheme to attract the best talents in India to design a better auto, and promote public-private partnership in R & D.
b) This can be in the form of a design competition to be completed within 18 months, thereby not restricting the competition to established firms.
c) The prizes would in the form of orders for autos to be used within Government. Some Govt vehicles are used for delivering and collecting files, going to make small payments, etc. Autos can replace these. This will also reduce the practice of officers’ children getting dropped at school by Government vehicles, etc. An order for 5,000 autos for the best design chosen, followed by prizes of Rs 2 crores and Rs 1 crore for the II and III place would make it worthwhile for a number of companies to participate.
d) Announced selection criteria should include specified marks under: efficiency, cost, reduced pollution and safety. There should also be marks for radical new designs such as electric autos and hybrid autos. A panel of judges with impeccable reputation should make the selection.
e) The process should be completed by Jan 26, ’11, and the selected manufacturer should be invited to send two-dozen of the newly made autos to participate in the Republic Day parade.
There are two major reasons for India to push this forward:
a) This will be a contribution to slowing down global warming.
b) India has the world’s largest market for autos. We ought to capture
the worldwide market.
Srinivasan Ramani
Dec 3, ‘09
A country that has sent a rocket to the moon can certainly design a better auto to take millions to work. Please permit me to offer a suggestion:
a) The Government of India should announce a scheme to attract the best talents in India to design a better auto, and promote public-private partnership in R & D.
b) This can be in the form of a design competition to be completed within 18 months, thereby not restricting the competition to established firms.
c) The prizes would in the form of orders for autos to be used within Government. Some Govt vehicles are used for delivering and collecting files, going to make small payments, etc. Autos can replace these. This will also reduce the practice of officers’ children getting dropped at school by Government vehicles, etc. An order for 5,000 autos for the best design chosen, followed by prizes of Rs 2 crores and Rs 1 crore for the II and III place would make it worthwhile for a number of companies to participate.
d) Announced selection criteria should include specified marks under: efficiency, cost, reduced pollution and safety. There should also be marks for radical new designs such as electric autos and hybrid autos. A panel of judges with impeccable reputation should make the selection.
e) The process should be completed by Jan 26, ’11, and the selected manufacturer should be invited to send two-dozen of the newly made autos to participate in the Republic Day parade.
There are two major reasons for India to push this forward:
a) This will be a contribution to slowing down global warming.
b) India has the world’s largest market for autos. We ought to capture
the worldwide market.
Srinivasan Ramani
Dec 3, ‘09
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Prof V Rajaraman felicitated on Oct 31, '09
I have pleasure in reporting the honor bestowed on the father of computer education in India, Prof V Rajaraman, by the Supercomputer Education and Research Center at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) on Oct 31, ‘09.
His contributions as a pioneer in Indian education and research in the computer area, starting with his work on the faculty at IIT Kanpur, followed by his work at the IISc are very well known. We should also remember that he was a member of the Electronic Commission, that he was given the Padma Bhushan award by the Govt of India and that it was the Rajaraman Committee on Manpower that proposed the Master of Computer Applications programmes. He played a key role in the creation of what began as the All India Computer Users Group (AICUG), which was soon renamed as the Computer Society of India.
There was a Symposium in the morning, with technical talks by Prof Siva Ram Murthy of IIT Madras, Dr T S Mohan of Infosys, Prof Jayant Haritsa of IISc, Shri N Suthambara, IISc, Dr Atanu Mohanty, IISc, and Ms Sivagama Sundari, IISc. Prof P Balaram, Director, IISc presided over the function.
In the evening there was a felicitation event followed by a memorable Veena Recital by Vidwan D Balakrishna and dinner.
On behalf of all those who have studied under Prof Rajaraman or worked with him, I offer him our best wishes for the future.
I would like to express a personal opinion here on the Master of Computer Applications programme. The highest form of honor we can give a pioneer is to analyze and benefit fully from his ideas. Creation of the MCA programmes recognized a fundamental fact – that activities and knowledge related to the computer field go far beyond engineering. While MCA graduates in tens of thousands have contributed to the nation’s might in the software and services area, the educational world and the industry have to do a lot more to strengthen MCA programs. We should work for the day when the nation’s best graduates in sciences and humanities do an MCA, and some of best managers come out of that stream. The nation cannot ignore its liberal education.
Srinivasan Ramani,
Past President, CSI
His contributions as a pioneer in Indian education and research in the computer area, starting with his work on the faculty at IIT Kanpur, followed by his work at the IISc are very well known. We should also remember that he was a member of the Electronic Commission, that he was given the Padma Bhushan award by the Govt of India and that it was the Rajaraman Committee on Manpower that proposed the Master of Computer Applications programmes. He played a key role in the creation of what began as the All India Computer Users Group (AICUG), which was soon renamed as the Computer Society of India.
There was a Symposium in the morning, with technical talks by Prof Siva Ram Murthy of IIT Madras, Dr T S Mohan of Infosys, Prof Jayant Haritsa of IISc, Shri N Suthambara, IISc, Dr Atanu Mohanty, IISc, and Ms Sivagama Sundari, IISc. Prof P Balaram, Director, IISc presided over the function.
In the evening there was a felicitation event followed by a memorable Veena Recital by Vidwan D Balakrishna and dinner.
On behalf of all those who have studied under Prof Rajaraman or worked with him, I offer him our best wishes for the future.
I would like to express a personal opinion here on the Master of Computer Applications programme. The highest form of honor we can give a pioneer is to analyze and benefit fully from his ideas. Creation of the MCA programmes recognized a fundamental fact – that activities and knowledge related to the computer field go far beyond engineering. While MCA graduates in tens of thousands have contributed to the nation’s might in the software and services area, the educational world and the industry have to do a lot more to strengthen MCA programs. We should work for the day when the nation’s best graduates in sciences and humanities do an MCA, and some of best managers come out of that stream. The nation cannot ignore its liberal education.
Srinivasan Ramani,
Past President, CSI
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Doing a Little Teaching during a Holiday
We have returned just this morning from a good holiday in Hampi (http://www.hampi.in/) with a couple of friends - three peaceful days that gave us lots of exercise and good sightseeing. Four of us traveled around in one auto-rickshaw, sometimes using a “big” auto, which is said to take ten people with some compression :=) Memorable was the trip to the Daroji Bear Sanctuary (http://www.karnataka.com/slothbear/), about 25 kilometers away.
We stayed at the Ranjana Guest House, the house of the Doraisamy Dass family offering a few rented rooms. We managed to get two rooms on the first floor, where we could climb a ladder to get to the terrace with a great view of the city. We enjoyed that view almost as much as we enjoyed the good breakfasts :=)
Mr Dass is the publisher of a popular tourist guide booklet on Hampi. His daughter, Kala, teaches forty to fifty young students on the terrace, in the evenings - students ranging from Grade 1 to Grade 10, who attend various schools during the day. The evening classes provide supplementary education.
My wife Usha and I asked Kala if we could spend sometime teaching her students, and were delighted when she agreed. We then spent an hour with ten bright-eyed students, who were in the grades from 6 to 10. They were relaxed and were very attentive and responsive to our questions. Not having learnt the local language Kannada as yet, I could only speak in English. Usha could do better as she knows some Kannada. One student, Rehmoo, was very clear about what he wanted to be when he completed high school – a tourist guide. He wanted to learn some French, German and Spanish. There were girls who wanted to be doctors and software engineers. One boy wanted to be a police officer and another a military officer. Many of them studied in schools that used English as the medium of instruction. However, no one was willing to tell us a story in English. So, we used the time available to engage them in English conversation and to encourage them to be less hesitant to speak in English.
Next morning, we were walking down the street when we heard a cheerful voice greeting us. It was Rehmoo who was selling copies of a tourist guidebook. “What about school?” we asked. He said that he would return home at 9:30 and get ready for school.
Hundreds of tourists come to Hampi every day. Some of them obviously like to do some teaching. This often has led to amusing results – like local boys with a smattering of English speaking in very noticeable foreign accents!
I have always wanted to teach students outside the big cities. This experience showed me how I could combine an interesting holiday with a bit of volunteer work. Usha and I hope to return to Hampi soon, better prepared to do some useful teaching. I should perhaps plan to give them a simple demonstration illustrating a scientific principle, a sky-watching session on the terrace, a session in mathematics and a session in English. A written quiz at the end may not be a bad idea. I must also see if I can buy a portable data projector for use with a laptop computer.
Srinivasan Ramani
December 28, '08
We stayed at the Ranjana Guest House, the house of the Doraisamy Dass family offering a few rented rooms. We managed to get two rooms on the first floor, where we could climb a ladder to get to the terrace with a great view of the city. We enjoyed that view almost as much as we enjoyed the good breakfasts :=)
Mr Dass is the publisher of a popular tourist guide booklet on Hampi. His daughter, Kala, teaches forty to fifty young students on the terrace, in the evenings - students ranging from Grade 1 to Grade 10, who attend various schools during the day. The evening classes provide supplementary education.
My wife Usha and I asked Kala if we could spend sometime teaching her students, and were delighted when she agreed. We then spent an hour with ten bright-eyed students, who were in the grades from 6 to 10. They were relaxed and were very attentive and responsive to our questions. Not having learnt the local language Kannada as yet, I could only speak in English. Usha could do better as she knows some Kannada. One student, Rehmoo, was very clear about what he wanted to be when he completed high school – a tourist guide. He wanted to learn some French, German and Spanish. There were girls who wanted to be doctors and software engineers. One boy wanted to be a police officer and another a military officer. Many of them studied in schools that used English as the medium of instruction. However, no one was willing to tell us a story in English. So, we used the time available to engage them in English conversation and to encourage them to be less hesitant to speak in English.
Next morning, we were walking down the street when we heard a cheerful voice greeting us. It was Rehmoo who was selling copies of a tourist guidebook. “What about school?” we asked. He said that he would return home at 9:30 and get ready for school.
Hundreds of tourists come to Hampi every day. Some of them obviously like to do some teaching. This often has led to amusing results – like local boys with a smattering of English speaking in very noticeable foreign accents!
I have always wanted to teach students outside the big cities. This experience showed me how I could combine an interesting holiday with a bit of volunteer work. Usha and I hope to return to Hampi soon, better prepared to do some useful teaching. I should perhaps plan to give them a simple demonstration illustrating a scientific principle, a sky-watching session on the terrace, a session in mathematics and a session in English. A written quiz at the end may not be a bad idea. I must also see if I can buy a portable data projector for use with a laptop computer.
Srinivasan Ramani
December 28, '08
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Grand Challenge – Advance Personalized Learning
Grand Challenge – Advance Personalized Learning
The National Academy of Engineering in the US has selected fourteen grand challenges to focus on http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/cms/challenges.aspx
One of these is “Advance Personalized Learning" http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/cms/8996/9127.aspx
I posted some comments on the discussion page and I present a copy of my comments below.
1. Improved in education could have as large an impact on societies around the world as abolition of slavery had two centuries ago. It could form the basis of an international initiative, increasing prosperity all over, and reducing human misery.
2. Online learning has so far been a technology without an adequate scientific base. Expanding and strengthening this base will require advanced, multi-disciplinary research.
3. You cannot have systems which help a learner about which you can say "forgive them; they not what they are doing". Representations of knowledge that needs learnt, its links with outside representations (including web pages), representations of a student’s current knowledge, his learning context, links to various learning resources, etc. are all necessary. These will lead to personalized learning on a grand scale. A whole new part of the service sector will emerge, as big as the traditional education sector or the financial services sector, contributing to a worldwide economic boom.
4. There is a hope that significant advances can be made in the near future with a concerted effort.
5. As action points I would suggest
a) creation of a forum and its popularization, for interested researchers to network. Perhaps the National Academy of Engg website http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/cms/8996/9127/9736.aspx?notifyComment=1 where this would be posted could be that website
b) Identification of one or two international conferences and/or workshops (or creation of a new series) for specialists addressing this grand challenge to gather and exchange thoughts.
c) use of technology for sharing all kinds of content, including videos, open access tools and software, etc., relevant to this grand challenge.
d) identifying or creating journals to serve specialists working on this grand challenge.
Srinivasan Ramani
May 3, 2008
The National Academy of Engineering in the US has selected fourteen grand challenges to focus on http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/cms/challenges.aspx
One of these is “Advance Personalized Learning" http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/cms/8996/9127.aspx
I posted some comments on the discussion page and I present a copy of my comments below.
1. Improved in education could have as large an impact on societies around the world as abolition of slavery had two centuries ago. It could form the basis of an international initiative, increasing prosperity all over, and reducing human misery.
2. Online learning has so far been a technology without an adequate scientific base. Expanding and strengthening this base will require advanced, multi-disciplinary research.
3. You cannot have systems which help a learner about which you can say "forgive them; they not what they are doing". Representations of knowledge that needs learnt, its links with outside representations (including web pages), representations of a student’s current knowledge, his learning context, links to various learning resources, etc. are all necessary. These will lead to personalized learning on a grand scale. A whole new part of the service sector will emerge, as big as the traditional education sector or the financial services sector, contributing to a worldwide economic boom.
4. There is a hope that significant advances can be made in the near future with a concerted effort.
5. As action points I would suggest
a) creation of a forum and its popularization, for interested researchers to network. Perhaps the National Academy of Engg website http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/cms/8996/9127/9736.aspx?notifyComment=1 where this would be posted could be that website
b) Identification of one or two international conferences and/or workshops (or creation of a new series) for specialists addressing this grand challenge to gather and exchange thoughts.
c) use of technology for sharing all kinds of content, including videos, open access tools and software, etc., relevant to this grand challenge.
d) identifying or creating journals to serve specialists working on this grand challenge.
Srinivasan Ramani
May 3, 2008
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Education related to Disaster Management
This note is in response to a question by Dave Grey on the Disaster Management Community discussion list (see
http://www.solutionexchange-un.net.in/en/Disaster-Management/introduction.html )
One of the questions posed by Dave Grey was
What are the best methods, tools and technologies available to do so, keeping in mind the rural and remote locations that these children live in? Here is the answer I sent out on that list. This is in no way a complete answer. My intent was only to make a few relevant comments.
Quote from my email
1. Obviously, awareness that disasters can hit any time and its likelihood depends upon a set of variables (like rainfall) is valuable. I have some suggestions in regard to rainfall, particularly in the context of hilly areas in India. Merely educating children in this matter will not do. The country has to create appropriate facilities to disseminate information in a timely manner.
2. Children should be aware of weather news and forecasts coming over the radio, TV, newspapers and the Internet and be encouraged to use this information. Precipitation is a major cause of landfalls. Information of the kind I have mentioned would obviously help anticipate problems, though it would require significant education and training. Such training given to teachers in local schools would help a lot. I give the following two URLs as examples of what information is available. (http://www.weather.nic.in/; http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/INXX0140.html)
3. Why such forecasts are not widely available in Indian languages needs to be examined.
4. A news report in The Hindu newspaper deals with an exciting and simple solution to the problem: Interactive Voice Response systems giving weather forecasts for selected locations in a region, giving a choice of languages. Read here: http://www.hindu.com/2008/02/09/stories/2008020957070300.htm. With hundreds of millions of cell phones in India, this technique is very attractive.
5. Cell phone coverage in hilly areas does get to be very poor. There is a Universal Services Obligation Fund of the Govt of India to subsidize telecom facilities in relatively remote and sparse population areas. Some of these funds should be utilized to provide dependable connectivity to areas where disaster risks are known to be high. Items 3 to 5 need to be taken up by state governments. Paucity of resources is a not a valid excuse any more.
Thanks
Srinivasan Ramani
http://www.solutionexchange-un.net.in/en/Disaster-Management/introduction.html )
One of the questions posed by Dave Grey was
What are the best methods, tools and technologies available to do so, keeping in mind the rural and remote locations that these children live in? Here is the answer I sent out on that list. This is in no way a complete answer. My intent was only to make a few relevant comments.
Quote from my email
1. Obviously, awareness that disasters can hit any time and its likelihood depends upon a set of variables (like rainfall) is valuable. I have some suggestions in regard to rainfall, particularly in the context of hilly areas in India. Merely educating children in this matter will not do. The country has to create appropriate facilities to disseminate information in a timely manner.
2. Children should be aware of weather news and forecasts coming over the radio, TV, newspapers and the Internet and be encouraged to use this information. Precipitation is a major cause of landfalls. Information of the kind I have mentioned would obviously help anticipate problems, though it would require significant education and training. Such training given to teachers in local schools would help a lot. I give the following two URLs as examples of what information is available. (http://www.weather.nic.in/; http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/INXX0140.html)
3. Why such forecasts are not widely available in Indian languages needs to be examined.
4. A news report in The Hindu newspaper deals with an exciting and simple solution to the problem: Interactive Voice Response systems giving weather forecasts for selected locations in a region, giving a choice of languages. Read here: http://www.hindu.com/2008/02/09/stories/2008020957070300.htm. With hundreds of millions of cell phones in India, this technique is very attractive.
5. Cell phone coverage in hilly areas does get to be very poor. There is a Universal Services Obligation Fund of the Govt of India to subsidize telecom facilities in relatively remote and sparse population areas. Some of these funds should be utilized to provide dependable connectivity to areas where disaster risks are known to be high. Items 3 to 5 need to be taken up by state governments. Paucity of resources is a not a valid excuse any more.
Thanks
Srinivasan Ramani
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