If there’s one unmistakable feature of our society today, it should be the falling birth rates. Unlike the generation of our parents, its quite common today to come across couples who have voluntarily decided to not have kids. Having a first baby in your 30s is common. And anyone having more than two children are … Continue reading Fertility Rates, Gender Equality and the Math of Human Extinction
During the Christmas break, I spent three days visiting Kerala’s most celebrated tourist destination – Munnar. The place lives up to its reputation for natural beauty. Contrary to my expectations, the ‘concrete jungle’ that I was bracing for was largely absent for most of the trip. But the tragedy was to see how rudimentary most … Continue reading Munnar Notes
I was skeptical before I began listening to the Malayalam audiobook of Nalini Jameela’s acclaimed autobiography 'Njan Lymgikathozhilali'. The first part of the book dealing with her childhood and initial foray into sex work was a drag. But towards the end, when she began writing of her activism and the socio-political context of the sex … Continue reading Nalini Jameela’s ‘The Autobiography of a Sex Worker’
One of my friends was recently commissioned to write the catalogue for a contemporary art exhibition. In solidarity, I attended the gallery walk-through on the day of the inauguration. I understood very little of what was on display, and I suspect that most in the room were equally flummoxed by the pieces. But what I … Continue reading The Contemporary Art Market
When Joel Mokyr won the Economics Nobel this year, the chorus of appreciation for his work on Economic History was too loud to be ignored. So I picked up his ‘The Lever of Riches: Technological Creativity and Economic Progress’ which was published three and half decades ago. Mokyr’s core argument is that economic growth is … Continue reading Mokyr’s ‘The Lever of Riches’
In Disaster Management, assessing risks is foundational towards ‘preparing’ for a disaster and ‘mitigating’ the impacts of a disaster. Intuitively, we all understand risk. Shopping during a pandemic is a high-risk activity, depending on one’s age (vulnerability) and the places visited (exposure). Building a resort on the floodplains of the Ganga is ‘risky’. Being born … Continue reading Reflections on Hazard Risk and Vulnerability Assessments
You need money to run a country. And if you’re managed by Communist Russia, it’s just a matter of time before the you go bust. In the 80s, East Germany (or the German Democratic Republic (GDR)) faced this predicament and resorted to all possible ways to manage this crisis. Two fascinating exports were arms and … Continue reading ‘Comrades and Cash’
In ‘Free to Choose,’ Milton Friedman—the poster boy of free markets and the favourite punching back of the left—makes an interesting comparison between India’s 30 years after independence and Japan’s 30 years after the Meiji Revolution. At these respective moments in time, both countries were similar in terms of their rigid feudal/caste structures, limited natural … Continue reading An India-Japan comparison
The SDG Index of India was published last week. If you’re curious about India, the report provides a fascinating peek into the progress that India has made across each goal. The report has an exhaustive breakdown of the various indicators under each goal. Some of the indicators which I didn’t expect to see were: number … Continue reading The SDGs & Best Things First
In the 17th century, coins in England were regularly ‘clipped’ to siphon off the gold and silver. When penalties failed to curb the practice, the Crown decided to accept and demonetize all circulating coins irrespective of their quality. Since the quantity of gold to mint new coins was higher than what was collected from the … Continue reading The Door and Window Tax
