Idle ramblings of a wandering mind...

Some comments on the recent Human Development Report 2005 (HDR 2005)

Human Development Report is a good source of country level data. The latest HDR is out and available at UNDP site. It is a must read for anybody with any interest in global issues. My first reactions to it:

• The extent of devastation on Africa due to AIDS is shocking. Life expectancy in many countries (including relatively affluent ones like South Africa) has fallen below 50 years. Some countries have AIDS prevalence rates as high as 25% - imagine a quarter of the population as terminally ill!! This is frieghtening. Anybody interested in knowing more about the AIDS epidemic in Africa and what can be done to halt it should read Sach's book "End of Poverty".


• In general, the world is becoming a better place to live - most of the people are living better now than anytime before. However, widespread poverty is still a reality - imagine that 80% of India's population of more than a billion people live on less than 2 USD per day. Even accepting that money goes further in India than anywhere else, its still a very difficult and painful life for the unfortunates who were born in that kind of poverty.


• The data has given me a better sense of the other side of India's shining globalization success story. True - India is a software and outsourcing powerhouse - but that glitz is concentrated in a few urban areas. Most of India is still looking out for basic necessities as continuous power, running water, proper sanitation and some semblance of gender empowerment. I feel that everybody is so blinded by the success stories that nobody is taking the proper policy and investment measures to help the poorest of the poor.


• I am quite impressed by India's success (belated for sure) in reducing population growth rates. The growth rate is 1.4% and expected to further go down. Fertility rate is below 3. Contraceptive usage is higher than 50%. Knowing the complexities of Indian social system, I would consider this an achievement. I just hope that fertility rate is brought down to 2 (the replacement level) soon and the country stabilizes its population.


I have more comments - they will follow in a later post.

Labels: Economics

   

My Internet Radio Featuring Ghazals and Old Hindi Movie Songs with Awesome Lyrics

I have just started playing with Icecast audio streaming server and have successfully set up my own Internet radio essentially for broadcasting my favorite songs to all the comps in my home (the fact that I have four of them at home and I keep shuttling between them makes it a necessity :-)

This radio essentially features Ghazals, especially by Jagjit Singh, Mehedi Hasan and Ghulam Ali. I am also playing some old hindi movie songs. One constant in all that I play - awesome lyrics that mean something... not like the crap that goes around in the name of music.

If you share my taste in music and want to listen to what I am listening right now - you can do it in two ways:

• In Winamp (for Windows) or in XMMS (for Linux) - connect to the URL: http://imdeng.com:8010/ices. Winamp/XMMS should connect to the stream automatically and play for you


• Point your browser to the page http://imdeng.com:8010/ices and click on the listen link - it should open your default audio player and connect to the stream
  

Setting up Icecast has been a tremendous learning experience for me. I would put up a "how-to" page for it soon.

I am having to stop the radio because of bandwidth constraints. Will start again as soon as I can find a way.

Labels: Misc