Interesting readings

An improved version of my blog post Law and order: How to go from outrage to action has appeared in the latest Pragati: From outrage to action.

From the Delhi police: Why women deserve to be raped by Lakshmi Chaudhry, on Firstpost.

In continuation of Faulty tradeoffs in security on this blog, see Bruce Schneier's review of Against security by Harvey Molotch.

Congress governing somewhat better without Pranab Mukherjee by Javed Sayed in the Economic Times.

Ila Patnaik on the deeper significance of FDI in non-tradeable areas such as the retail trade. And, another piece by her on the importance of unilateral liberalisation by India towards Indo-Pak trade.

Ila Patnaik on Misinvoicing as a mechanism for capital account activity. And, another piece by her worries about the barriers against a next wave of investment by stressed firms grounded in a stressed financial system.

Cut up the RBI by Deepak Shenoy in Pragati.

A major story in India's economic growth in coming years is going to be the evolution from family-dominated companies to dispersed-shareholding professionally-managed companies. Writing in the Business Standard, Bhupesh Bhandari tells us about the principal-agent problems that we have to overcome in this process.

Wanted -- some policy paralysis in banks by Dipankar Choudhury in Mint.

The two most important stories of the coming years are going to be the breakdown of the existing regime in China and in Saudi Arabia. Hugh Eakin has a great piece in the New York Review of Books which helps us think about Saudi Arabia. Alan Riley in the New York Times gives us one key piece of how the next decade will unfold.

This is politically incorrect but worth pondering: Steven Dutch argues that the most toxic value system in the world is made up of: (a) extreme importance of personal status and sensitivity to insult; (b) acceptance of personal revenge including retaliatory killing; (c) obsessive male dominance; (d) paranoia over female sexual infidelity; (e) primacy of family rights over individual rights. I fear we get a lot of these traits in India.

When you swallow a grenade by Carl Zimmer, a great article about antibiotics.

Nick Wingfield in the New York Times reviews the outcome after Microsoft launched Windows 8 and a tablet computer named `Surface'. And, Goldman Sachs: Windows' true market share is just 20% by Neil McAllister in the Register. His source is Janet I. Tu in the Seattle Times.

David Pogue has a great collection of the Brightest Ideas of 2012, in the New York Times.