Bringing Moocs to solve India's higher education problem

One of the big problem in India right now is to provide quality higher education to every one. One of the good step in that direction is the NPTEL program and they have done a good job of providing certification for their online courses. However this year just in Delhi there will be over 150,000 kids who will have a rough time getting admission in university as there are not enough number of seats. What government can do is to open a mooc university which will help not only in reskilling but can also provide everybody the opportunity to gain a certification and degree. Considering the success of Georgia Universities tie up with udacity to provide a legitimate degree and now Coursera jumping into that its high time we do this in India.  Edx is also providing the global freshman curriculum through Arizona State University. American Universities will be very reluctant to provide degree as the end product as education is a big business and this is where India can come in and fill the gap. Several factors work in our favor. We have a pressing need to educate large number of people and we can do it cheaply as we are doing with NPTEL certification.

    Take for instant the MITs free OCW program. Its been 10 years and still they haven't been able to provide all the video lectures for their courses and they are way behind India's NPTEL in terms of sharing their resources inspite of the massive funding they enjoy!

     Coursera when started initially had big and lofty goal of making the content available for free but inspite of thier best intention have now been struggling to provide the upper level courses.
     India will have to take a lead by providing the way to certification. The model could be where you can take exam and get the degree. The exams should be very hard and test your mastery and should be affordable. The goal is that anyone who has passed those exams has demonstrated the mastery of the subject.

Angry Indian Goddesses

I think this is one of the best movie to have come highlight the plight of women in India. It covers many areas that women in Indian find themselves at the receiving end and anyone who has lived there can readily identify with that. It's truly a wonderful one directed by Pan Nalin. Finally a movie that should be watched by every Indian. I hope Kejriwal sees it and tweets about it and more people get to see this really touching movie and I do hope that it inspires new generation of directors to take up such issues and bring positive change in the society. Kudos Pan Nalin, cast and everyone involved for the amazing work.

Delhi Government gives paid holiday for its employees and students to learn Vipassana

This would put Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia the practicing duo into the league of Ashoka. Vipassana is now going to be taught in schools and the teachers can get a paid leave to learn this technique. This is perhaps the biggest social engineering step that AAP has taken and its good step in the right direction. This is a step none of the opposition can publicly oppose especially Kiran Bedi who brought this to Tihar Jail and got lot of publicity. Going by her tweets its very clear that she doesn't practice or even understand Vipassana but will be tongue tied to speak against it. The biggest political beneficiary will be AAP and biggest loosers will be current political parties. which is great for the country. Another great step by AAP. 

Paid Media in India

The only reason I am saving this link is to get back to it after the elections are over. The intent here is to show that how CNN-IBN is getting money from BJP and Congress to show that AAP is not doing well. http://ibnlive.in.com/videos/455669/face-the-people-is-aap-still-mainly-delhi-phenomenon.html
Its unprecedented that these news anchors are twisting the facts to bring corrupt BJP and Congress. Shame on them.

The Speech that made me Arvind Kejriwal's fan

I love this speech and it was that speech which made me his fan. It's better to make 5 less flyover but to educate our children and tomorrow they will make 2000 more flyover. Hats off Arvindji !!

How can AAP party dramatically increase its reach ?

There are three things they need to do.
1. Pass the lokpal bill.
2. Give details about their education and economic policies.
3. Express clearly their foreign policy.

Arvind Kejriwal's interview with Rajdeep Sardesai has already gone viral. Over a million people have watched it through facebook, different postings on youtube. The way he has answered the questions left Rajdeep Sardesai in total awe and so is Barkha Dutt. So much so the media think tanks have begun to shun away taking his interview as more people are now identifying with him. Here are the link in case you want to have few laughs at the expense of these interviewers

The more AAP stays in public the more BJP has to loose

One big problem for BJP is the more AAP stays in power the more they have to loose. Its no denying that most AAP candidates are well spoken and intelligent compared to their own candidates plus they are here to implement the agenda. The more they appear on Television the more popular they become popular and more the BJP candidates appear the more they hurt their image and chances of Narendra Modi.