The challenge is in placing homes for the homeless as an integral part of the smart city narrative which is extremely popular here. The framing can be, and I am thinking aloud here: how can cities be smart, if the economically marginalised are sans a roof over their heads?

The Digital is The smokescreen for a post modern panopticon. Data used to monitor the pulse of every sort. Where are the provisions of data security?

Today evening embodies the Lutyens seminar circuit, with the book launch of an Indian American Policy Wonk Milan Vaishnav’s book launch ‘When Crime Pays’ about crime and money in Indian Politics. Prof Yogendra Yadav was wonderful with his academic depth and ground level insights. I sat beside the Chief Economic Advisor and quipped about the economic survey. 
Prof YY spoke about the various manifestations of the CPM; one in Kerala, one with Civil Society and one in Delhi, the discursive party of anti globalisation. An in depth discussion regarding electoral financing in India, with the introduction of electoral bonds, as a point in the finance bill. The phenomenon of the Bahubali, as a solution provider in the Hindi belt. As student of development and modernity, the evening was a wine and vegetarian wonton infused discussion of electoral politics on the ground where most of the audience spoke about Boston as Barakhamba Road rather than Bareilly. This being mediated by an American think tank, in the French Cultural Centre in India’s power corridors. Rich Irony indeed.

I disagree with Prof Funk, with whom I had exchanged mails way back in 2010. Academic research focuses on the fundamentals, the market is not the audience for such outputs. The output is the basis for applied research as rightly articulated in the article. Academia is a place to experiment, take long shots and so called neoliberal Market efficiencies do not apply. The problem is one of information access rather than relevance of academic science. The market lens is not the best KPI. VC led innovation is takes science closer to the audience, does not necessarily take science to the next level. A negative result in a lab is a legitimate output.

The original article here: 

http://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/prof-no-one-is-using-your-ideas?&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social-media&utm_campaign=addtoany

Non profits are essentially organisations such as any other, the only difference is that they work on the lifecycle of an idea, this idea is intertwined with social justice. The enterprise is the machine, moral aspect is the idea.

If anything cannot be quantified is called ‘strategic’ , and anything which cannot be scaled is ’boutique’. We are prisoners of our own logic. Start up founders and founders, think through the words being deployed in our everyday communication, as not every one will be consuming jargon sans any thought.

Modiji takes back the Demonetisation narrative in the well of the house. ‘Corruption breeds in the Cash Economy’ says the Prime Minister, and adds that this step was taken at a time when, post Diwali the economic health was its peak. The anchor of the narrative is anti corruption, and cash is the enemy. The argument is tried to be won by attacking historic graft. Demonetisation is framed as affirmative action to tackle graft, which the Congress lacked and thus the juxtaposition of intent versus action. At last the intent is the weapon in this narrative war.

Shekhar Gupta on NDTV: ‘The Punjabi compares development in his village to the life in Canada as every home has a member overseas, rather than other parts in India’ Punjab truly has post material politics as the folks at the Centre for Policy Research have coined.

Text is imagination, and gains a fresh life each time it is liberated on the digital. Rather it is manifested in the landscapes of the digital. Archives are interpreted, where are the landscapes of the digital past interpreted? Is the cache, the archive?

Piyush Goyal ji couching reduced employment figures in the economic survey in the fourth industrial revolution and the gig economy on NDTV. As creative as it can get.