Ebullient

REASON AND RATIONALITY

2011-11-09T20:10:00.000+05:30

Some Quick Notes

• Reason – Ability by virtue of which we capture and develop concepts.
• Thinking ---- requires --> Concept ---- due--> Reason.
• Rationality – Defining feature of humans: “You cannot think non-rationally, any more then you can see non-visually.
• The reasons which we give about an event or a statement are based on the ‘Experiences’ which we gain and the ‘Observations’ which we make.
• Our Observations furnishes our Experiences which in turn increases the Information which we posses and this Information is the basis of our reason.
• The reasons which we give might not be correct because:
 There is a possibility of perceptual illusion.
 What we have been observing over the years, gives us no guarantee that this will definitely happen in future also.
 The reason is guaranteed until there is no exception and there always lies a possibility that this perception might break with future observations/technology.
 There always lies a possibility that scrutinizing and critical rationality may negate the reason.
 Hence, ‘The Ground of Sacrosanctity is its Inviability’.
• There are certain statements (like Mathematical Statements), which do not require any experience to justify their validity; they are self-justified and provide guarantee for themselves.

• IRRATIONALITY or THE LAPSE OF RATIONALITY: As the coin has two faces, similarly Rationality comes coupled with Irrationality. Irrationality by itself requires a lot of reason for its validation and hence it is something which occurs in the house of reason.

• Only when a person is equipped with rationality, he can be irrational. And it is this irrationality which when performed sensibly makes way for path breaking discoveries and inventions, which in turn sets new Standards and provides us with reasons for further rational statements.

SHOULD INDIA FOCUS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF HARDWARE AND ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY?

2011-11-09T19:57:00.000+05:30

(A Study By - Apoorv Purwar, Shaiwal Mallick and Archit Garg)

“Whether to develop the hardware industry in India in order to be at par with other countries who are already way ahead in this game or to let the situation be the way it is?” is a big question being asked today. But at the same time, how can we forget the middle situation we are in as what all humans are aiming today is sustainable development in harmony with nature, and a transformation of this level would require a whole lot of industrial revolution as India will have to step into more and more manufacturing, which would be an added burden on the already deteriorating situation of Earth. But at the same time if we ignore this issue then we would be closing all doors for further developments in this field and would always remain dependent on external sources for these things.

Will the developments in software engineering in India help the development of electronics hardware industry in India?

Software and Electronics hardware industry are complimentary to each other and the requirements for development of each are also poles apart. Software industry in India fared well because of many factors like very low capital, cheap talent, support from the government etc. Also a very important factor is trust. The image of honesty which India has developed over the years has helped the Indian Software companies to bag projects from foreign customers.

On the other hand semiconductor industries require a different setup in the beginning. There is a vast competition from MNCs and the conditions for development of this industry are very unfavourable. Seen as a multiplicative process the probability of success at different levels are very low. India should first try to get fabricating contracts from America and Asian semiconductor industries. This will give some idea about these industries and will help in development of indigenous ICs. And as the famous saying goes that there is no point in reinventing the wheel, hence doing a fresh research in this field would not be feasible as it might take years for us to reach the levels of our competitors.

How did the new kids like China and Korea emerge in the global arena of hardware?

Success of countries like China and Korea lies in the decline of semiconductor industry in America. China and Korea utilized this situation and the huge market of Asia has brought them into a position which will soon give them an edge over America in this field. They have the capability to build cheap ICs of competing quality which is putting other competitors on the back foot.

“Rich become richer and powerful become more powerful”, how is this justified in the current global situation?

This is not so true in the current scenario .USA has been dominating the semiconductor industry since its beginning in the mid-20th century .But now after the recession Asian countries like China, Korea and Japan are in a much better condition in this market. Rests of the countries are catching up in designing capabilities and US is still not ready for a potential brain drain. Asian countries have now advantage over America as they have a large number of domestic consumers and also a good foreign market. American manufactures are losing both their investors and their market. This is the time when Asian nations including India can really expand in this industry.
Since India does not have a good R&D in this field it should first try to get fabrication orders and import technology in this field. India should try to get the existing technology and improvise on it. India has a large domestic market and a cheaper labour force.

ICT FOR CONSOLIDATION OF INDIAN DEMOCRACY

2011-11-09T19:27:00.001+05:30

The main impact of ICTs on democratic life concerns its ability to strengthen the public sphere by expanding the information resources, channels of electronic communication, and the networking capacity for many organized interest groups, social movements, NGOs, transnational policy networks and political parties. Information and Communication Technology can be used for the Consolidation of Democracy and the comfort of ‘ALL-MANKIND’, only if, it could develop means and systems which gives an individual/group ‘IDENTIFICATION’ and increases their ‘INVOLVEMENT’ in the very functioning of the Democracy.

IDENTIFICATION AND INVOLVEMENT

A democracy functions at its best only when it is able to involve the people in its functioning. And this involvement comes when the citizens have an identification of their own, which gives them the right and power to express themselves and make themselves heard. The concept of UID (Unique Identification Number) can be seen as a breakthrough step in this regard. But, here comes the crucial role of ICT, which now has a responsibility of developing means by which the true potential of this concept could be extracted. The fact that every individual would have his/her identification would not only help the government to pin point the people and groups who need the immediate attention and help, but will also help in keeping a check of, whether the targeted people have been actually benefitted by the help/policies or not. The development and effective implementation of the following concepts and systems by ICT can bring about a giant leap in the Consolidation of Indian Democracy:

Public access to exact details about a Representative and Political Party:

A central database constituting of the background, past works, police/criminal records, associations and agendas of each and every political party and its candidates should be maintained by a neutral panel, which should be under the strict control of The Supreme Court. A free access to this database should be available to each and every individual of the country by installing public screens (Computers) in every government office, schools, colleges etc. This step would help the people to be more informed while choosing their representatives which in turn would help in the formation of a better Government.

E – Government :

The concept of E-Governance would revolutionize the way we look at traditional concepts of political legitimacy, representation and ministerial accountability. This concept would not only provide obvious access to information about various topics, but will also touch upon crucial interfaces via the direct participation of voters, thereby contributing to significant changes in electoral systems digital advocacy and lobbying, and online consultation.

Strengthening of Press :

The Press in India has gradually evolved as the fourth and the most concrete pillar of democracy and there lays a need that ICTs which are the fundamental requirement for the sustenance of press should strengthen the ways by which information is conveyed to the general public. The focus of the ICT should not only be on increasing its reach even to segregated places, but it should also focus on developing ways of authenticating the news so that the exact and true facts reach the masses.

There is an immediate need for the ICT to effectively develop and implement the concept of ‘E-DEMOCRACY’, where ICT would be used to facilitate the ability of all sections of society to participate in the governance of the state and bring about transparency, accountability and participation, which in turn would help in the consolidation of Democracy and hence The Welfare of ALL –MANKIND.

FLASHBACK-2010

2010-12-22T16:41:00.000+05:30

“2010” a year which I don’t think I would ever forget.

It can be regarded as the most happening and exciting year of my life yet.

Starting from the months of January and February, these were the days filled with tension and stress of the approaching Board Exams which were to be followed by the series of entrance exams for engineering which were supposed to decide the fate of my upcoming life.

But before I face these series of challenges there was something for me in store which was going to be a great moral booster for me. I was awarded the “Face of the Year 2009-10” award by my school (St. Joseph’s Sr. Sec. School-where I had spent 14 illuminating years of my life), an award given for all round performance by a student.

The following days flew of like a wind and I was standing in front of KV-2, which was the centre for my exam, heading to appear for my first physics paper, though I had faced boards before too and came out with flying colours in them by topping my school in class-X(my previous post talks about that experience of mine), but this added to the pressure of performing well this time too. Gradually the play of board exams curtained down and this was an unofficial end to my school life (Unofficial because the result was yet to be declared).

In the following days the preparation of competitive exams overpowered me and all my days till mid May were spent preparing for the battle and rushing from Kanpur to Lucknow and moving from one school to another in order to combat them. Though the days were hectic but I thoroughly enjoyed the time as it gave me a chance to spend a lot of time with my dad as he accompanied me in all my exams and for which I am really thankful to him.

Finally the long series of all type of exams was over and my long awaited wish to sit free at my place and enjoy movies and chat with friends’ day in and day out without the burden of exams or the guilt to study was fulfilled.

By the time it was June, and bells were ringing, constantly reminding me that it was time for results, and so did they arrived but the most delirious one was that of boards. I scored a palatable 93.6% (though I was expecting 95%, but had to content with this...L), but the best part was that I topped again in my school which meant that I would receive a certificate for merit which would be my 12^th in a row(Class 1- Class 12), a great achievement for me.

The following days witnessed the results of my entrance exams, and then followed the hunt for the college which would be the best for me. After a lot of brain storming and piercing eyes through each comment on colleges on various websites and deeply listening to every piece of advice about them from almost all possible people and sources I decided to join LNMIIT, Jaipur (This was after attending counselling of SRM(Chennai), JIIT(Noida), and dropping out of AIEEE’s counselling in the very first round and rejecting the admission offers of PDPU, VIT etc.) which was owned by the steel king Mr. Lakshmi Niwas Mittal himself. And I specially thank Harshit Bhaiya(harshitpurwar.blogspot.com) for guiding me through this time and helping me take this decisions.

After this decision of mine it was time to pack the bags, and bid adieu to my city Kanpur where I had lived since the day I was born, to my dear friends here & my loving school and head to a new home.

My first step in my new home and new life:

It was the 24^th July 2010, with my entire luggage, nervous mind and shaking legs, I with my family arrived at the campus of the LNMIIT (which was preceded by a lot of struggle to find it as it was situated in the outskirts of Jaipur) .

It was beautifully architecture place with all the greenery around and resting on the foothills of aravalli ranges. A type of place I had always dreamt of being in. As I proceeded for registration, there were all new faces popping up at each turn, some of those were going to be my seniors in the coming days (The Vivacity shirts of the college distinguished them from the rest). The first one I got acquainted to was Divyanshu Pandey sir whom I later found was the president of the college, he in his black shirt and blue jeans was found running everywhere helping the newcomers in the college. Later in the registration process a boy called Saksham Sharma sat next to me, his words initially appeared to be quite influencing but all misunderstandings were cleared in the upcoming days. He was the first of my batch mates with whom I shared a word and who later turned out to be a great friend to mine and our friendship now is good 6 months old. The registration was over and I got the address of my room which was “D-008 BH-2”, with my roommate being Anurag Sethi a 6”3 tall boy from Delhi later to be called “Sethi Sahab”. After our parents had arranged our rooms it was time for us to say Good Bye to them. I went out to leave my parents. It was the first time in 17 years that I was being separated from my parents and the grief of being separated was well visible in the eyes of my mother.

Now I was into a huge family of LNMIIT, making some real good friends who were going to be the part of every joy and sorrow of ours in the coming time and not forgetting to mention Auj Shukla, Shaival Raj and Shaiwal Mallick (Better called Shaival brothers) were amongst them in addition to Saksham and Anurag.

Hostel life is quite different from the one which we live back at our places. It is fun, freedom and additional responsibilities, with no one to judge the correct for you. You stand out alone there facing all your problems and figuring out the right and wrong for yourself. And this is something which helps a person explore oneself.

The time here in hostel passes at such a high pace that even I have failed to figure when I ended with the initial semester of mine. The past few months in the college have been such a fun that it is almost impossible to describe, though I will try doing it sometime later. It has been an amazing experience being in college and such experiences have really made the year 2010 a memorable one for me. Leaving this post here with a hope to have an exhilarated “2011”.....

thrill of result in the laps of himalyas....

2010-12-21T14:46:00.003+05:30

It was the 20th of May 2008... On this very day I with my parents left for a holiday in Uttarakhand, with a combine feeling of excitement & suspense… excitement for the trip & suspense of my class 10th board results… on the very next day I landed on the sacred land of Hardwar… and then we carried on our journey 2 kedarnath, badrinath, gangotri & yamnotri… finally after 9 days of thrill and excitement in the laps of the Himalayas I was in mussorrie… it was 28th evening after a tiring day I remembered that the next day my result would be declared,,, I went nervous and was staggering ,,my hands were shaking, and I was panicking… somehow I managed 2 sleep that night, with the dreams of my result being out… my mind was focused on this very topic and this made me 2 get up at 4:30 in the morning. It was first time in my life that I got up at 4:30 that 2 without an alarm. The result was 2 b declared at 8:00am and between this time period I woke up at least 10-12 times 2 see the clock. Finally it was 8:00 clock and my nervousness was at its peak bcoz the network in my cell wasn’t regular…I wasn’t able 2 connect 2 the net…&&& then it was a complete panic… my parents were consoling me but there was no effect on me… After a few minutes my cell caught some network & at that very moment I received a call from a strange number…The call poured a big “CONGRATS” into my ears there came a voice that “U SECURED 93%”… & the call was disconnected…I was stunned wondering that whether the person was speaking the truth or not I called him back but there was the same reply of NO NETWORK I tried again & again & again & finally succeeded it was my dear friend KRISHNA. In midst of hello’s from both sides I noted down my marks… which were as 100, 96, 95, 90, 83…and then there were showers of calls with thousands of greetings,,,,,
I was feeling to be on the top of the world in the queen of mountains…
Jumping and dancing in joy I continued my journey with a wish 2 fly 2 Kanpur & meet everyone…
Finally I reached home on 1st … with a lot of unforgettable memories… I was glad 2 see the most wonderful day of my life……..