Tag: Amartya Sen

Not by GDP alone

What prevents change is the three ‘I‘s ~ Ignorance, Ideology and Inertia. Our focus should not be just on GDP itself, but on achieving a growth process that is as inclusive as possible. Amartya Sen has consistently struck with his stand that ‘growth rate is a very daft ~ and a deeply alienated way of judging economic progress’.

May 3, 2019

2019: Turbulence ahead

Whoever emerges on top in 2019, whether it is Narendra Modi or Rahul Gandhi or someone else from a khichdi (motley) combine, it is clear that governance will be under severe constraints. These difficulties can be handled only by a dynamic figure of high intellectual calibre and deep understanding of economic and social forces. But there is no such person in sight. By and large, the Indian political class comprises mediocre personalities even at the high levels.

December 26, 2018

Tryst with Democracy~I

This attitude of the voters to stay away from voting, either under threat or because of their reluctance, drives one to the conclusion that in the first case the authorities, responsible for ensuring peaceful polling, have failed in their duty. In the second case, the citizens are not sufficiently educated to realise the importance of their voting right which is embodied in the Constitution. Therefore, to empower the people, not mere literacy, but universal quality education is an urgent need.

December 6, 2018

Revamping an economy

Amartya Sen has recently observed that despite the fact that India boasts the fastest-growing economy in the world, the country has taken a “quantum jump in the wrong direction” since 2014 ~ the year the BJP-led NDA government assumed power. And because of this movement in reverse, India’s economy is now the second worst in …

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July 21, 2018

Uncertain Glory

Figures can on occasion be a route to self-deception. And for all the pleasure that the Government of India occasionally derives from articulating statistics on growth and development, it remained for Amartya Sen to expose the bitter irony that India has effected by taking what he calls a “quantum jump in the wrong direction”. This …

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July 13, 2018

Customised Secularism

Although borrowed from its original Western concept, the Indian notion/ practice of secularism has entailed such a unique connotation as to resemble what one could call a metamorphosis of its classical ideas. In the historical West, the rise of the ‘secular’ has had much to do with the withering away of the pre-existing religious sway, …

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April 15, 2018

Amartya Sen’s documentary gets ‘Gujarat’ beeped out, set to release in March

Amartya Sen, an Indian economist and Nobel laureate, will soon have a documentary based on his life. The Suman Ghosh directorial documentary is slated to release here on 9 March after the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) suggested to beep out the word ‘Gujarat’ from it. Earlier, the CBFC, Kolkata sparked a controversy in the documentary, …

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February 25, 2018

Pahlaj Nihalani on exact cuts in Amartya Sen documentary

While there has been an intellectual uproar over the cuts ordered by the Central Board Of Film Certification (CBFC) in Suman Ghoshs documentary "The Argumentative Indian", the CBFC chairperson speaking on the cuts argues that the mere deletion or beeping of six words is no reason to feel creatively smothered when those words indicate a …

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July 18, 2017

Bengali film gets certificate after deleting the word ‘Radha’

After raising objection to words like ‘cow’, ‘Hindutva’ in a documentary on nobel laureate Amartya Sen, the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has asked the directors of a Bengali feature film to mute the word ‘Radha’ in a song sequence in the entertainer. The film ‘Dekh Kemon Lage’ was finally given U/A certification after …

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July 18, 2017

President receives first copy of book ‘Future of Indian Universities’

President Pranab Mukherjee was handed over the first copy of the book Future of Indian Universities: Comparative and International Perspectives compiled by Professor (Dr.) C. Raj Kumar, Vice Chancellor of Jindal Global University on Monday. The book, published by Oxford University Press was presented to the President by Nobel Laureate Professor Amartya Sen at Rashtrapati …

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July 18, 2017

Inside a visionary’s mind

It was indeed a privilege and lofty experience altogether to get a glimpse into the workings of prodigal minds. An Argumentative Indian, a documentary on Nobel Laureate and economist Amartya Sen, directed by Suman Ghosh was one such experience. Its screening at Nandan, Kolkata, was organised by NGO Prabha Khaitan Foundation. Present at the gracious …

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July 15, 2017

BJP supports CBFC move to red flag Amartya Sen documentary

Supporting CBFC's decision to red flag director Suman Ghosh's documentary on Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, West Bengal BJP President Dilip Ghosh on Wednesday said the board had the power to pass a movie or stall it based on its evaluation. "The board has the right to decide which film to censor and which to pass. …

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July 12, 2017

Mute ‘cow’, 3 more words in documentary on Amartya: CBFC to director

The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has verbally communicated to a filmmaker to mute four words including 'cow' in his documentary on Amartya Sen, the director said. The four words CBFC's regional office here wanted to be muted are 'Gujarat', 'Cow', 'Hindutva view of India' and 'Hindu India', Suman Ghosh, director of the documentary …

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July 12, 2017

Documentary on Amartya Sen

Nobel laureate Amartya Sen is the subject of a documentary film 'An Argumentative Indian' made by economist and filmmaker Suman Ghosh, for whom he is an “economist with a heart”. Sen has authored a book with the same name. The film has been made over 15 years from 2002 and is structured as a free-flowing …

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July 11, 2017

Reason to worry over Basirhat violence: Amartya Sen

Nobel laureate Amartya Sen on Monday said there is a "reason to worry" over the communal violence that has engulfed pockets in Basirhat sub-division of West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district. "Why is it happening? Is it because someone is inciting it? There is reason to worry over this," Sen told a television channel here …

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July 10, 2017

Chidambaram debunks Modi govt’s growth figures

Lashing out at the Narendra Modi government at the centre, Congress leader and former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Friday said the country has the "most anti-intellectual" government in the world. "We have the most anti-intellectual government in the world ~ which even thinks Dr Amartya Sen, a professor of Harvard University, is undeserving of …

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March 3, 2017

Government should not execute autocratic power on universities: Amartya Sen

Nobel laureate and renowned economist Amartya Sen said on Tuesday that if the government wants to set up world-class universities it should not try to "execute autocratic power on the universities as freedom and autonomy of institutions is vital for the country". The 83-year-old economist said any threat to the autonomy of the universities is …

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February 21, 2017