| Sajha.com Archives | |
| Username | Post |
| Paschim | Posted
on 10-Mar-04 07:37 AM
Test. |
| Deep | Posted
on 10-Mar-04 07:46 AM
Paschim's coded message * Test* says: T = Teliphone gara na hau E = Ekanta ma Ek hudai baat maram S = Sajhaka T = Taruni haru ho! |
| Paschim | Posted
on 10-Mar-04 07:47 AM
I tried to post the following on the thread created by Ashu, "Congrats to Paschim", but couldn't post it there. Hence this thread: I have not posted on this forum for the past seven months, except once when I acknowledged condolences over my mother's unexpected demise in August. Priorities in my life took a U-turn after that tragedy, I have since October moved to Nepal to support my family, and with a hectic work and travel schedule, I have hardly visited Sajha since. But Brook just called me to ask if I would come to a gathering, and alerted me to a "congratulatory thread" here. Out of curiosity, I came and saw this. I would have ignored it with a smile, if I did not owe it to my well-wishers to set the record straight against the charges leveled by the gentleman KL (who I am quite sure I know, but I choose not to hint who he is now). In fact I support his right to seek clarification on things publicly attributed to me. So here goes: Three reporters of Himal -- Kiran Nepal, Peshal Pokhrel, and photographer Kiran Panday came to meet me in my house two weeks ago. I had never known or met any one of them before. Kiran-ji said he had heard me give a talk at a public forum in January, and had wanted to interview me since. I hesitated at first, but agreed after his gentle persuasion over a few telephone calls. Kiran-ji and I talked for over 90 minutes, most of which was about my work on trade and WTO issues in Asia, Chinese advances and reversals under the Song, Yuan and the Ming (circa 10-14th century), and my academic experiences to date. I did not know what he was going to print, and I have not spoken/met him since. While there are things I might have said differently if I had the chance to look at what was to appear, I understand and respect Himal's difficulty in reducing an untaped conversation of around 90 minutes to around 9 lines. Overall, I feel that Kiran-ji has tried his best to be as accurate as possible to his notes. And I thank him for it. |
| Paschim | Posted
on 10-Mar-04 07:48 AM
I found 4 issues questioning me: 1) Research Output: I am now the Interim Head of the Asia Trade Initiative, a US$ 1.5 million UN program to research the links between around 10 WTO issues (AoA, TRIPS, GATS, full-implementation of the ATC, Investment, Accession, etc) and development concerns, spanning 18 countries of Asia, over 3 years. For the past two years, my boss Murray Gibbs and myself as Research Officer, together with 2 junior colleagues, have led and coordinated a large team of experts to produce cross-country papers on around 10 trade themes covering clusters of, on average, 5 nations. These outputs are not PhD theses, but policy papers simultaneously researched over a sequenced period of 3-4 months with the primary aim of influencing debate prior to the (collapsed) 5th WTO Ministerial in Cancun. This has been a fantastic team effort led by Murray Gibbs, myself, and Pedro Ortega. I am currently co-leading the production of the Asia Trade and Human Development Report that will use most of these 50 outputs as background material. This will be launched end-Dec. I am simply baffled by the wild plagiarism charge. This is such an easy, yet dangerous label to throw at people one dislikes. If I was shown evidence, I would be glad to refute/clarify, for I have never knowingly claimed any knowledge as mine that is not. 2) My degree: I graduated with a B.Sc. (Econ) in Economics from the LSE. One of my main subjects in my final year was Development Economics, taught by Lord Desai of St. Clement Danes, who was also my tutor, and whose signed reference saying that I stood first in his class (of over 100 students) is with me on paper. The two-year program at KSG I enrolled in is called MPA (Int. Dev.), created by economist Jeffrey Sachs to produce development practitioners, not scholars, but through training comparable to PhD courses. The curriculum, according to the link below is "built on three pillars: (i) Ph.D.-level training in economics and quantitative methods; (ii) multidisciplinary approach through coursework on governance, leadership, law, and politics; and (iii) professional orientation through case workshops, a summer internship, and other integrative work." Please refer to: http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/programs/mpaid/curriculum.htm Around 80% of my graduate coursework over the 2 years at Harvard and MIT was directly on economics, development theory, and policy. My program was not called 'MA in Development Economics'; it was called an MPA in International Development, taught then by some of the best-known mainstream economists in the world (Rodrik, Sachs, Frankel, Velasco, Haussman, Dornbusch, et al). I am proud to call myself their student, and to introduce myself as a development economist, with secondary interests in trade law, politics, literature, and history. |
| Paschim | Posted
on 10-Mar-04 07:50 AM
3) Rural Strategy: I worked with World Bank Economist J. Perumalpillai-Essex to write that organization's Rural Development Strategy 2001 for Nepal, designed as an input to its executive board's lending policies in that sector. I have never claimed I was the sole author of that. Ken Ohashi, Nepal's current country director was also in DC then, and although uninvolved, I suspect he might have heard about that work. Jeeva (and possibly Ken) might be able to say how useful that document was in the end. It was done under a separate consultancy assignment. My internship was done elsewhere. This work is not something I normally mention, but I guess I mentioned it in passing, and Kiran-ji found it appropriate to cite, although if I had a say on final lines, I'd probably have said this is not important. 4) My teaching at Harvard: Sure, like hundreds of graduate students, I was Teaching Assistant for two graduate courses: Macroeconomic Policy, and Poverty in Developing Countries. But this is not what I was referring to when Himal said "oonle padhaye". In the spring of 2001, I taught a full-fledged semester-long course of my own at the Harvard Economics Department for a group of sophomores. I devised an original syllabus titled "Topics in Economic Development." It was a full-credit course taught by me only, twice a week at Harvard Yard's Robinson 206. I was not a Professor, I was still a student then, but this teaching was one of the best experiences of mine in the US, because I got to teach, interact with, and know some of the smartest young people I have ever met, which included an exceptionally motivated son of a prominent Democratic Senator from New Mexico, Senator Jeff Bingaman. I am hoping John will one day follow his dad into the US Senate, and eventually the American presidency. My dream when I am 60 is to say this: the President of the United States is my student, and I gave him an *-minus for his term paper on Chile! Thanks Brook for alerting me to this and allowing me to clarify. As always, I remain thankful to friends who have always shown confidence in me. I do not expect to return to this thread, and as I am off to Manila tomorrow, I won't be able to join the Ktm Sajha gathering. But, best wishes to Najar, Ashu, Brook and other participants; be merry! |
| garibjanata | Posted
on 10-Mar-04 11:01 AM
I have come to the conclusion that this forum belongs to a cotorie of conceited, vain-glorious, so-called elite league people who like to perennially brag about their so-called 'achievements' (I would like to call it as 'personal- acheivements') by congratulating each other. |
| bhanja | Posted
on 10-Mar-04 11:20 AM
What are traits of a high flyer?? |
| garibjanata | Posted
on 10-Mar-04 03:11 PM
I thought American universities had stringent policies when it comes to the privacy of students: that is you cannot disclose a student's private information without that person's consent. Did that senator's son gave Paschim consent to post his name and grade on a public domain? |
| M.P. | Posted
on 10-Mar-04 03:25 PM
Paschim dai, So nice of you to clarify here, especially the "oonle padhaye pani" part had been interpreted here differently before. Not trying to give advice to you here, but further you rise, greater will be the number of people watching you closely--both for your weaknesses and good actions. If I were in your shoes--a dream that is!--I would not even bother to response here; good that you did. Most of the allegations put on you--at least from my understanding--seem to emerge from jealousy (sp?) rather than a will to get credible information from the media. It's unfortunate that this happens even in Sajha, which supposedly embraces a nice circle of intellectuals. Garib, Before you completely misinterpret my words and add me to the "cotorie of conceited, vain-glorious, so-called elite league people who like to perennially brag about their so-called 'achievements'... by congratulating each other", let me tell you that I would be saying the same thing to any other Sajhaity--irrespective of whether I knew him/her or not. |
| M.P. | Posted
on 10-Mar-04 03:28 PM
1st para 3rd line: read as "..give you advice here..." 2nd para 1st line: read as "....respond.." Moral: People should sleep, or at least take a nap, in 24 hours. :) |
| gandalf00 | Posted
on 10-Mar-04 03:54 PM
It is indeed sad when explanations and self-defense are thought of as congratulations. I agree with M.P. that I wouldn't bother to respond to words that clearly arise out of low self-esteem and jealousy. garibjanta, 1. Good to see that you are practicing your vocabulary here. While you're at it, here are a few suggestions: 'cotorie' is spelled 'coterie'; 'vainglorious' (a single word) and 'conceited' side by side is redundant. 2. Perhaps you meant "self-congratulation" instead of "congratulating each other". I don't see anyone congratulating Paschim here. 3. Perhaps with your jealousy still fuming, you seem to raise a non-issue in your second post. If you read back what has been written, neither the name of the senator's son, nor his grade has been disclosed. If a "*-minus" is a grade to you, you might have had more experience with that than the rest of us. |
| Prem Charo | Posted
on 10-Mar-04 06:34 PM
Gandalfoo, Why you are so protctive to Paschim and cursing to GARIBJANTA" I don't understand this. You will make Paschim more unpopular this way. Why don't you shut your mouth and let practic people "feedom of Speech" ?? Damn you guys !! |
| batauli | Posted
on 11-Mar-04 02:24 AM
information regarding someone's enrollment status may fall under public domain, IF it is published (print or electronic) for FREE distribution. Eg, college student directories, list of graduating students... and even student lists and assignments posted at some faculty's office for PUBLIC VIEWING falls under public domain... so it is no brain surgery... b |
| Lalupate*Joban | Posted
on 15-Mar-04 09:46 PM
Congratulations, Paschim. Aru bhanyaa testai ho, Asia trade ko interim head chaanhi sounds mighty impressive. And keep up your literary taste too. When is your travelogue coming out, bro? Tyo senator-putra ko grade chaanhi nafuskaaidiya bhaye hune [tyo grade pakkai A- ho; Paschim, ever-fastidious in his postings, would certainly use "an" unless the article was followed by vowel. :) Moreover, Harvard's grade inflation is general knowledge in American academia...it gotta be an A-.] |
| Lalupate*Joban | Posted
on 15-Mar-04 09:47 PM
ongratulations, Paschim. Aru bhanyaa testai ho, Asia trade ko interim head chaanhi sounds mighty impressive. And keep up your literary taste too. When is your travelogue coming out, bro? Tyo senator-putra ko grade chaanhi nafuskaaidiya bhaye hune [tyo grade pakkai A- ho; Paschim, ever-fastidious in his postings, would certainly NOT use "an" unless the article was followed by vowel. :) Moreover, Harvard's grade inflation is general knowledge in American academia...it gotta be an A-.] |
| M.P. | Posted
on 15-Mar-04 10:04 PM
LJ, Interesting that you mentioned grade. No offense to hardworking Harvard-goers from Nepal, but the latest college joke I heard is this: if you see in your transcript something other than an A at Harvard, that's either because the registrar made a typo or because you are a politician. :) --- From Paschim's posting, I see that both Sachs and Rodrik taught Paschim. If it is the same Rodrik I have in mind, this inquisitive mind wonders how hard it must have been for the department to accomodate him! But Paschim has placed all these economists in the same category, "mainstream economist." I am puzzled. |
| Biswo | Posted
on 15-Mar-04 10:28 PM
One other joke about Harvard grades I heard was this. The graduate schools interpret Harvard undergraduate grades as follows: A- Average B-Bad C-Catastrophic --- My agrim apologies to those who are offended. Blame Cornell West the controversy regarding whom triggered all these jokes. Btw, heard he moved to Princeton. Does that mean Princeton's grade will be interpreted like this in the future? |