Let us put it this way.
R&D that is divorced from "operational reality" is pretty much useless.
In other words, you have R&D that ranges from pure theory (complex
equations ---> drawing board designs) all the way to experimentation,
with a lot of areas of convergence between the two.
I do have a good amount of public policy background, and I do have an
"operational" background as well. So I feel safe in telling you that
the very same principle applies to public policy as well.
You have a sort of Venn Diagram with a fairly broad intersection here.
I will say that what Hazare is proposing is outright dangerous. I'll
also say that what Arundhati Roy is proposing is carping criticism that
seems vaguely surprised and even offended that the "petit bourgeoisie"
are doing what the "heroic proletariat armed struggle" crowd is supposed
to be doing, and purely on the strength of lungpower and an ability to
go on a diet rather than using chinese supplied assault rifles and
Chairman Mao's "power comes from the barrel of a gun" maxim.
By the way armchair theorist vs operational for the two camps -
Ms.Roy and the Maoists - Someone who hasn't gone hungry for a day and
has multiple million dollars in book royalties in the bank, plus various
people with expertise in guerilla warfare and terror tactics
Anna / Baba Ramdev / Sri Sri Ravi Shankar etc - Someone who does a raj
kapoor / manoj kumar style cleanup of a squalid village full of idle
drunks, can contort his body into knots wearing a brief and violently
saffron colored loincloth, and can preach new age soothing messages
while having to drop a "Pandit" from his name in favor of a "Sri Sri"
because there was another rather more famous Pandit of that name
already doing tours of the states ...
... and at the operational end, a retired senior police officer, a
lawyer, a former law minister etc, who might even do good if they hadn't
hitched all their fortunes to a bunch of demagogues and now have a tiger
by the tail and what they demand getting far closer to absolute power
than any retired senior bureaucrat can handle without burning himself.
suresh
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*From:* Shoba Narayan
*Sent:* Tue, 23 Aug 2011 08:00:36 +0530
*To:* silklist
*CC:*
*Subject:* [silk] I don't. And not with Nitin Pai / Amba Salakar
either.Re: Red-letter day: I agree with Arundhati Roy
> Come on. Again, I have never worked for a company so don't claim to know
> anything. But even I know that R&D people don't "test-fly." Poets don't
> have to be realists and armchair intellectuals, however much you dislike
> them, have as much a place in society, as the do-ers.
