The Indian Politics Thread

Anyone remember Lalu prasad yadav when he was railway minister? Why did ivy league students came to him for case study? :S
One wrong does not make another right. Stop that argument.

too much being read into a degree.

imagine people coming up to dhirubai ambani and criticizing him of not being worthy of being chairman of reliance because he does not have a degree.
:confused:

or with bill gates because he did not have a microsoft certified degree :p(back then when he started windows)
Ambani wasn't running country. He had his own business. You cannot compare that to running a govt. And regarding Billy G, that's a bullshit logic. He was not just any drop out, he was Harvard drop out.

where did i mention a sibal? :confused:
nobody questioned how ajay maken deserved to be a sports minister? he won you any medals?
nobody questioned how sonia gandhi deserved to be a chairman of the national advisory council(NAC)? any credentials to be able to advise the countries think tank?
nobody questioned how a 72 year old KPS gill was given the youth affairs ministry?
about being worthy , how can anybody know what went into formation of the ministers
other than the person responsible?
people have given him a decisive mandate to run the government for 5 years.
let his/her tenure decide, whether he/she was worthy of the post.
Not you, someone else. But in this post, you did mention other names. Dont bring up other names. Fck them. That was happened in fast (and moreover you guys saying as if we all were happy with Sonia or Sibal).

Just tell me what makes her a deserving candidate to make decisions for entire country. If it was state level, then it would have been not big of a problem. Her being not educated is just one of the problem. She does not have any prior experience, haven't proven her ability in anyway. She hasn't done anything worthwhile.

I feel that Modi must have seen something in her which we are missing. May be she is street smart and need not be book smart.
Some one gave the example of Lalu.
I can also give the example of Jay Lalitha who is 10th Standard Drop Out. (I think unofficially even Sonia Gandhi is 5th pass).
Yes one thing is certain, Smriti has no political base in the sense , that she has lost twice.
We will have to wait and see. Like i said May be she is street smart and not book smart and perhaps that is the need.
If a person doesnt have the required qualification, then it doesnt mean that person doesnt have intelligence or wisdom.
If someone is not from a Computer Science background, that doesnt mean he cannot code :p
JL was 12th drop out and a math prodigy. However you post does not mention how Smriti Irani is qualified. I will say again, her not being qualified is just one of the problem. But she has no prior experience also.

If someone is not from a Computer Science background, that doesnt mean he cannot code :p
Okay, tell me who would you hire for your Computer Science start up:
1. Person A: CSE graduate from IIT. But has no coding experience.
2. Person B: CSE grad from our usual engineering shops college. But has no coding experience.
3. Person C: 10the drop out from college. But has no coding experience.

also , i dont think the staff working under her too does not have a degree.
they might have better degrees, and can suggest her ideas.
all that will be upto her is her wisdom/intellect/judgement in approvals for those ideas.
Yeah, having 100 new IITs and enforcing vedic shit education on everyone shows her wisdom. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...e-review-of-DUs-FYUP/articleshow/35699640.cms
 
Ambani wasn't running country.
ask AK49
He had his own business. You cannot compare that to running a govt. And regarding Billy G, that's a bullshit logic. He was not just any drop out, he was Harvard drop out.
what difference does that make?


Not you, someone else. But in this post, you did mention other names. Dont bring up other names. Fck them. That was happened in fast (and moreover you guys saying as if we all were happy with Sonia or Sibal).

This would invariably happen , because it wasnt an issue back then , but surprisingly it is now.

Just tell me what makes her a deserving candidate to make decisions for entire country. If it was state level, then it would have been not big of a problem. Her being not educated is just one of the problem. She does not have any prior experience, haven't proven her ability in anyway. She hasn't done anything worthwhile.

like doing dharnas?


JL was 12th drop out and a math prodigy. However you post does not mention how Smriti Irani is qualified. I will say again, her not being qualified is just one of the problem. But she has no prior experience also.
no job-->no experience-->no job. its a cyclic function.


Okay, tell me who would you hire for your Computer Science start up:
1. Person A: CSE graduate from IIT. But has no coding experience.
2. Person B: CSE grad from our usual engineering shops college. But has no coding experience.
3. Person C: 10the drop out from college. But has no coding experience.

what if he knows coding, does coding as a hobby, his acquaintances know he can code well and one of those acquaintances offered him a responsibility to see if he can code well.


Yeah, having 100 new IITs and enforcing vedic shit education on everyone shows her wisdom. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...e-review-of-DUs-FYUP/articleshow/35699640.cms

yeah. anything vedic has to be shit right?
 
One wrong does not make another right. Stop that argument.

JL was 12th drop out and a math prodigy. However you post does not mention how Smriti Irani is qualified. I will say again, her not being qualified is just one of the problem. But she has no prior experience also.


Okay, tell me who would you hire for your Computer Science start up:
1. Person A: CSE graduate from IIT. But has no coding experience.
2. Person B: CSE grad from our usual engineering shops college. But has no coding experience.
3. Person C: 10the drop out from college. But has no coding experience.
Some where i read it was 10th Drop out.
Anywa she has done only matriculation, that means 10 Class Passed. She got scholarship but chose to become actor, a little similar to smriti i guess. :p
http://www.elections.in/political-leaders/jayalalithaa-jayaram.html
http://www.crazypundit.com/politics/top-10-indian-politicians-with-poor-educational-background/

About hiring the guy for my Start up, it depends on how I think. If I am wanting to play it safe then I would Take person A. Thats the normal stereotype.
But then there are other cases as well.
Take for instance Google. they have a good intake of Employees with no College Education. They look at problem solving skills and learning on the fly and things like that. I had read one article about this long time back.
http://www.wnd.com/2014/02/google-calls-these-talents-worthless/

Like I said, we can all sit and coment and criticize, but the PM NaMo might have thought something before doing this. Also like I said, Smriti wont be alone, there would be a lot of Intelligent people for her help.
For now I can say we need to wait and watch. If the Person is not performing, we have all the right to comment. I have seen her articulating things very well on TV, so i would not strike her off for now.
 
Half the politicians are convicted criminals.
No, they have cases pending, they are under trials. No convictions. Recall Lalu, he got convicted. How long did it take, PIL filed by the present law minister against Lalu in the mid nineties. Conviction came through last year, almost fifteen years later. Result is Lalu is barred from contesting for ten years.

And its not half. It's like a third.

This is how democracy works.
Innocent until proven guilty. The talk is they should not contest if they have cases against them.

Well, politics is a no holds barred fight, if you want to stop a candidate from contesting slap him with any frivolous charge and you can neutralise them. Easy isn't it. This is why things are not going to change.

Why are people still voting for them then?
To vote for them they need to be given a ticket. Why do they get a ticket ? because they are self funding, well heeled and known ie capable of winning.

People vote for them because they believe they will be better than the incumbent.
 
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Yeah, having 100 new IITs and enforcing vedic shit education on everyone shows her wisdom. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...e-review-of-DUs-FYUP/articleshow/35699640.cms
I came across a book on vedic maths years after passed out of college and wished i had that book when i was in school. It had so many shortcuts and tricks in it that would have meant half the time to complete assignments or exams :)

You did not mention the other points in that article. About having more IIT's, what is the problem ?
 
Vedic maths LOL...

Here is the story behind it: http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/art-culture/the-fraud-of-vedic-maths

Excerpt:
In 1965, a book titled Vedic Mathematics was published in English. Since then, the subject has become an industry that shows no sign of diminishing. In its latest manifestation, parents who know no better are shelling out serious money in the hope that their children will become scientific geniuses. They really shouldn’t bother. The subject amounts to nothing more than a few cheap parlour tricks, and there is nothing Vedic about it. But the story of how it came to be makes for a fantastical tale.

More about the thought process that goes behind associating science and maths with mythological interpretations: http://nirmukta.com/2012/02/16/deconstructing-the-inanity-of-brahman-and-the-vedantic-worldview/

@avi is right in calling shit as shit. I appreciate Vedas from a historic and literary point of view, just like I do most of mythological and religious texts, even though I might not agree with them as a "life guide". But when people try to integrate that with modern education and claim it to be of equal value, or even near to it, I can only laugh at them (and at myself from a few years back because I too believed it to be true then).

I suggest reading some of Christopher Hitchens' books to understand the subtlety behind promoting such archaic works. It's a regressive step.

Historically, India has contributed greatly to the field of mathematics, without involving Vedas and other mythologies. Why not teach kids about that? Why falsify India's real history to push a nationalistic agenda? Regressive minds.

 
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Could have called it it blkrbot maths but my question still stands. Why didn't they teach me this in school.

More about the thought process that goes behind associating science and maths with mythological interpretations: http://nirmukta.com/2012/02/16/deconstructing-the-inanity-of-brahman-and-the-vedantic-worldview/
The subject amounts to nothing more than a few cheap parlour tricks, and there is nothing Vedic about it.
But the tricks work and are ingenious.

All the sutras largely do is make the burden of addition and multiplication faster (though never nearly as fast as the cheapest pocket calculator), and even that, they do at a cost.
Ones i saw helped a lot with partial fractions, that means you breeze through calc & trig in half the time.Not the simple numbers in that article. Guess the author did not make it that far with the book in this article. Just looked at the first chapter and slammed it.

My advice would be to anyone who wants to get into engineering to start reading that book by 9th std. ALL OF IT and then USE that knowledge in assignments. Maths is doing, no two ways about it.

Look, call it what you want but being able to do numbers in your head is a useful skill. Its something lots of people have trouble with.

@avi is right in calling shit as shit. I appreciate Vedas from a historic and literary point of view, just like I do most of mythological and religious texts, even though I might not agree with them as a "life guide". But when people try to integrate that with modern education and claim it to be of equal value, or even near to it, I can only laugh at them (and at myself from a few years back because I too believed it to be true then).
The intent seems to be to connect people with their past.

@aviI suggest reading some of Christopher Hitchens' books to understand the subtlety behind promoting such archaic works. It's a regressive step.

Historically, India has contributed greatly to the field of mathematics, without involving Vedas and other mythologies. Why not teach kids about that? Why falsify India's real history to push a nationalistic agenda? Regressive minds.
Education has to be as liberal as possible. Not one way of doing things in exclusivity to others. Otherwise its just brainwashing. There has to be an eclectic way to problem solving, must have many tool sin your tool box not just one.

So are we talking about adding to the list or replacing it with one thing and throwing out the rest ?
 
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Could have called it it blkrbot maths but my question still stands. Why didn't they teach me this in school.
Mostly, it's called speed math all across the world. Even westerners and Chinese know these tricks from a long time ago. Most of the tricks you talk about are assimilated here under wiki's Mental Calculation page. There is math involved even behind these tricks.

Some of these tricks such as estimation, remembering factors when multiplying large numbers, squaring whole numbers, multiplying and dividing by powers of 10, approximating square roots ARE taught along with the usual math in schools.

Teaching all of these tricks to kids is not advisable though, since there are just so many of them.

Kids aren't taught many mathematical concepts as it is, and investing all that precious time in teaching tricks is not a good idea. Once you've learnt the basics, sure, go ahead and devour all the tricks. But until then, just some of the basic tricks will suffice.

But the tricks work and are ingenious.
Yes, they do (read the math behind them). That was never the question. But associating it with Vedas, when these tricks are clearly not, and then pushing Vedic education, which has nothing to do with mathematics, don't you find it suspect?

You brought in Vedic maths to defend Vedic education, but I just showed you that there's nothing Vedic about it. The real agenda when someone quotes "Vedic education" is something else.

Ones i saw helped a lot with partial fractions, that means you breeze through calc & trig in half the time.Not the simple numbers in that article.
Yes, I remember some of the tricks used in solving such problems too. While solving partial fractions, there are some common steps involved to solve them. You just memorize those steps, rinse and repeat. During one or two of the steps involved you can use one of the tricks to reduce the calculation time. Useful during examinations.

Guess the author did not make it that far with the book in this article. Just looked at the first chapter and slammed it.
No, the author knows exactly what he's talking about and has done his research well.

There's even a scientific paper that talks in detail about it: http://www.tifr.res.in/~vahia/dani-vmsm.pdf

Just go through some of the interpretations of Vedas used to associate with the mathematical concepts. You'll laugh at them.

My advice would be to anyone who wants to get into engineering to start reading that book by 9th std. ALL OF IT and then USE that knowledge in assignments. Maths is doing, no two ways about it.
Good educational advice from an exam perspective.

Look, call it what you want but being able to do numbers in your head is a useful skill. Its something lots of people have trouble with.
Yes, it's always helpful.

Education has to be as liberal as possible. Not one way of doing things in exclusivity to others. Otherwise its just brainwashing. There has to be an eclectic way to problem solving, must have many tool sin your tool box not just one.

So are we talking about adding to the list or replacing it with one thing and throwing out the rest ?
I'll just leave the ending paragraphs from the scientific paper I quoted above:
It is not the contention here that the contents of the book are not of any value. Indeed, some of the observations could be used in teaching in schools. They are entertaining and could to some extent enable children to enjoy mathematics. It would, however , be more appropriate to use them as aids in teaching the related concepts, rather than like a series of tricks of magic. Ultimately, it is the understanding that is more important than the transient excitement, By and large, however , such pedagogical application has limited scope and needs to be made with adequate caution, without being carried away by motivated propaganda.

It is shocking to see the extent to which vested interests and persons driven by misguided notions are able to exploit the urge for cultural self-assertion felt by the Indian psyche. One would hardly have imagined that a book which is transparently not from any ancient source or of any great mathematical significance would one day be passed off as a storehouse of some ancient mathematical treasure.

It is high time saner elements joined hands to educate people on the truth of this so-called Vedic mathematics and prevent the use of public money and energy on its propagation, beyond the limited extent that may be deserved, lest the intellectual and educational life in the country should get vitiated further and result in wrong attitudes to both history and mathematics, especially in the coming generation.
 
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But associating it with Vedas, when these tricks are clearly not, and then pushing Vedic education, which has nothing to do with mathematics, don't you find it suspect?

You brought in Vedic maths to defend Vedic education, but I just showed you that there's nothing Vedic about it. The real agenda when someone quotes "Vedic education" is something else.

It is shocking to see the extent to which vested interests and persons driven by misguided notions are able to exploit the urge for cultural self-assertion felt by the Indian psyche. One would hardly have imagined that a book which is transparently not from any ancient source or of any great mathematical significance would one day be passed off as a storehouse of some ancient mathematical treasure.

It is high time saner elements joined hands to educate people on the truth of this so-called Vedic mathematics and prevent the use of public money and energy on its propagation, beyond the limited extent that may be deserved, lest the intellectual and educational life in the country should get vitiated further and result in wrong attitudes to both history and mathematics, especially in the coming generation.
How easy will it be to challenge if there is an agenda here ?

Presumably this is a national curriculum that will be taught in public schools. Private schools will opt out and pick and choose.

However in govt schools, to what extent can studies with a religious bias be carried out ?

Is vedic anything even feasible to do from a constitutional basis. Meaning if govt is supposed to be secular as defined in the constitution and by and large it is then how can they introduce anything that has a religious slant into the public curriculum ?
 
How easy will it be to challenge if there is an agenda here ?
As easy as challenging any work undertaken by the government.

Presumably this is a national curriculum that will be taught in public schools. Private schools will opt out and pick and choose.
It's their choice anyway.

However in govt schools, to what extent can studies with a religious bias be carried out ?
A lot. Already done in Karnataka by the former BJP-led government. In the Class IX science textbook they had a part which read "test tube babies in ancient India." Drona from Mahabharata was said to be the first test tube baby :D, and that too in a science textbook.

Many more examples from other subjects here: http://m.thehindu.com/features/educ...s-in-textbooks/article5101680.ece/?secid=2780

Is vedic anything even feasible to do from a constitutional basis. Meaning if govt is supposed to be secular as defined in the constitution and by and large it is then how can they introduce anything that has a religious slant into the public curriculum ?
How? They've already done it, and will continue doing it. When the whole system is rigged to be abused howsoever the ones in power want to, then they definitely will.

Basically, Vedic education is nothing but the Indian version of creationism being taught alongside evolution in schools.
 
As easy as challenging any work undertaken by the government.

It's their choice anyway.

A lot. Already done in Karnataka by the former BJP-led government. In the Class IX science textbook they had a part which read "test tube babies in ancient India." Drona from Mahabharata was said to be the first test tube baby :D, and that too in a science textbook.

Many more examples from other subjects here: http://m.thehindu.com/features/educ...s-in-textbooks/article5101680.ece/?secid=2780

How? They've already done it, and will continue doing it. When the whole system is rigged to be abused howsoever the ones in power want to, then they definitely will.

Basically, Vedic education is nothing but the Indian version of creationism being taught alongside evolution in schools.
I think they are actually manipulating the Vedas and teaching. WTH Drona was testube baby. There are lot of other things to teach, like for example the reality of caste system or something of moral value, rather than manipulating vedas and making a joke of it.
Anyone interested in learning more about Vedas can visit Agniveer.com.
 
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