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If you can have such good roads in the Infosyscampus, why are the roads outside campus soterrible?

A skeptical question often asked to Padam Bhushanrecipient Nandan Nilekani, co founder, Infosys, gotthe author thinking regarding India as a nation, oneof the emerging superpower yet filled with its uniquechallenges and its contradictions.

A meeting with Dr. Vijay Kelkar one of leading Indianeconomist, his insistence on presenting his ideas tothe government made Nandan to ponder perhapshis own experiences could also shape up in aworthwhile read which might help the reader inunderstanding what form the Indian economy is takingand also help us in charting a way forward for thecountry.

Since the early 1990s India has witnessed great social,political and cultural change. As the worlds largestdemocracy, its most diverse and one of its fastestgrowing economies it has become an importantdestination to watch out for on the world map. Whatbetter when one of the finest and dynamic minds inthe country examines the central ideas that haveshaped modern India. Through the book one realizesthat Mr. Nilkeni is a clear-minded person with a grasp

on the socio-economic issues concerningcontemporary India.

According to the author there are two Indias. Onethat exists in outsiders mind based on the economicfigures and growth rate of the nation, India filled withunique promises, with its young English speakingwork-force, growing IT capability and demographicframework. Yet there is another India the Real Indiain the minds of its citizens filled with difficulties,social and financial inequalities which leaves themwith pessimism regarding little we have achieved sofar and the resistance of the political parties toimplement policies to diminish these inequalities asit provides a lucrative base for votes.

The language and presentation of the book arestraight and do not indulge in the gimmickry ofimpressing the reader with management jargons orcomplex phrases. It seems as if we are having a face-to-face conversation with the author.

Nandan Nilekani has been a key player in Indiasgrowth story. In the book he examines the ideas andattitudes that have evolved with the times and

Imagining India: Ideas for the New CenturyImagining India: Ideas for the New CenturyImagining India: Ideas for the New CenturyImagining India: Ideas for the New CenturyImagining India: Ideas for the New Century

Nandan Nilekani

contributed to our progress, and also those that keepus shackled to old, unproductive and fundamentallyundemocratic ways. He asks the key questions of thefuture like; how will India as a global power avoidthe mistakes of earlier developmental models? Willfurther access to the open market continue tostimulate such extraordinary growth? And how willthis growth affect and be shaped by the countrysyoung people?

The book is full of innovative and realistic ideas totackle socio-economic problems, for example theauthor suggests the use of smart cards for linking ofour disparate vertical databases can move us awayfrom the inefficient subsidies towards a system of thedirect benefits.

But at sometime the reader may feel that the book islittle dry and encyclopedic because historicalcontextualization and co-opus quotations of expertsis included in every section.

Mr. Nilkeni has divided the entire book into fourparts for the convenience of the reader but thedivision has been done in a very innovative andinteresting manner. The book has been divided onthe basis of where we as Indians stand on a variety ofideas. Part I: India Re-imagined comprises of eightchapters. It discusses issues where our attitudes have

changed radically over the years, like Indias hugepopulation once a drag for the economic growth hasbecome Human Capital an asset for the nation.

Part II: All Abroad comprises of six chapters. Itexamines those issues that are still in the ether, theyare now widely accepted, but have yet to see resultson the ground. Like complete literacy and apathy ofstate run schools.

Part III: Fighting Words comprises of five chapters.It deals with our biggest arguments. These are theissues where partisanship has peaked, and wherethe lack of any consensus has stonewalled progresson urgent policies. Like labor and framing of uniformlabor laws.

The last part of the book Part IV: Closer than theyAppear comprises of seven chapters. It delves intoour forgotten nooks of policy, taking up those ideasthat have been largely missing from our publicdiscourse, even though they are critical to our future.Like setting up of a sustainable, realistic social securitysystem indigenous to Indian needs instead of adoptingit from others.

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Chapetorisation

Part I: Chapter 1: Ideas that have arrived. This chaptertalks about the authors generation and its take onIndia transforming in front of it from a colonial empireto a liberalized economy. The author considers hisgeneration as the bridging generation the one thatexists between the India of the old and the India ofthe new, and which straddles the divide and the ideasthat separate the two countries.

Chapter 2: India, by its People: Paul Ehlrichs authorof the book The Population Bomb summarized Indiain one sentence People eating, people washing,

people sleeping, people clinging to buses .people,people, people. But in the last two decades nationsfacing the problem of saturated markets, increaseddependent population and negative birth rate havestarted viewing India as a source of workers andconsumers not just for India, but also for the globaleconomy.

Chapter 3: From Rejection to Open Arms: The authoris sometimes surprised at the change in theperception of people regarding entrepreneurs as thedevious capitalists and favorite target of populistpolitical rhetoric as reformers who after a long,painful period in shackles has been allowed to comeout in the sun.

Chapter 4: The Phoenix Tongue: This chapterillustrates the importance of English in todays India.In spite of having approximately 1500 languages inIndia- it is one language popularly known as IndiasAuntie Tongue that seems ubiquitous. It has emergedas more of a language of international business and apowerful tool for opening geographical boundaries.

Chapter 5: From Man-eaters to Enablers: From anera where opening a school in a village was cheaperthan buying a computer for it India has come a longway in the field of technology. With electronificationemerging as one of the important factors in unitingcommunities under single national system.

Chapter 6: Home and the World: This chapterexpletively talks about the open door policy of ancientIndia and how it was exploited by foreigners withmost of the merchants becoming the rulers, leadingto skepticism and resentment in Indian psyche againstforeign trade and how a reluctant India in 90s hasnow emerged as a confined trader and acquirer inglobal market.

Chapter 7: The Deepening of our Democracy: Thischapter explains in depth the various phases Indiandemocracy had to go through from being a feudal,chaotic system during British Reign to anindependent, liberal India of today.

Chapter8: A Restless Country: The author feels thatpopular angst with bad policy and impatient votershave helped trigger fundamental changes in oureconomy but much needs to be done as the patienceis weaning down among people.

Part II: Chapter 1: Ideas in Progress: As the titlesuggests this chapter accounts about the decreasing

apathy among Indians regarding basics like crumblingprimary education, ad hoc urbanization, inadequateinfrastructure. Reflected in the voting pattern ofpeople and frequent use of RTI by people.

Chapter 2: S is for Schools: the cautious reaction ofpeople and NGOs involved in primary reaction inIndia, the country with the largest population ofEnglish speaking people to highest number ofdropouts of children. The inadequacy of education isnot as stark as in pictures of students walking miles togo to school to air-conditioned schools.

Chapter 3: Our Changing Faces: This chapter dealswith the shift of peoples and governments focus fromrural India to cities enjoying the limelight butsuffocated by over- migration, cracking infrastructure,centers apathy and states skewer ness.

Chapter 4: The Long Roads. Home: frequent powercuts, water shortages, bad roads, depilated schools,poor medical services are the realities of vibrant India.Mr. Nilekani feels the infrastructural developmenthas not been able to keep up with economicdevelopment. In comparison of other economies likeChina we have a long way to go ahead.

Chapter 5: Erasing Lines: The author feels that unitedIndia as we all know is a land deeply fragmented withdivision within divisions sometimes geographicalsometimes deepened by states for revenues. But with

liberalized, unified economy emerging as anunthought-of answer to these differences India isslowly emerging as one.

Chapter 6: Moving Deadlines: Accustomed to delaysIndian Biggest disadvantage is its lopsided executionof its policies but the states have to brush up theirgovernance or others will grab the opportunities fromthem.

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Part III: Chapter 1: Ideas in Batt le: According to theauthor issues like higher education and privateplayers, division of nation on caste reservation andpalliation regarding bad policies are never openlydiscussed and remedied. But there is an urgency toclarify our stand as a nation on it.

Chapter 2: The Sound & the Fury: Despite of populistslogan India lives in its villages little have been donein the area of rural reforms. This chapter talks aboutthe unique requirements of rural India and theshortages of reforms plagued with weak incentives,infrastructural shortages, labor imbalances etc.

Chapter 3: Jostling for Jobs: Creation of jobs a statematter with liberalization has gradually shifted fromthe government to open market. With global marketand found optimism in Indian skilled workforceinternationally, scene has never been so radiant.

Chapter 4: Institutions of Sand: Once pride of thenation now battlegrounds of egos this chapter talksabout the Indian universities and their transformationfrom provider of freedom fighters and think tanksduring freedom struggle to becoming the epicenterof grim and fractious political scrabble plagued withsquabbles, vandalism and ostentatious display ofmuscle and money during elections.

Chapter 5: A Fine Balance: The spurning of realissues by the successive governments has led to hugelosses monetarily and further deepening ofpartisanship but as explained in the chapter Nilekanifeels a balance between governments market andcivil society is required for sustained growth.

Part IV: Chapter 1: Ideas to Anticipate: In spite of 60years of independence the latent urge to appreciatethe colonial era has not fizzled from the Indian psyche.Slowly India is trying to come out from the shacklesof past and gaining its own ground.

Chapter2: ICT in India: when Tom Friedman wasasked about the future of China he said that he doesnot see much possibility for a nation which censors

Google. The author hailing from IT talks about thegenesis of India, its outreach to villages and slums ofIndia, Sam Pitroda and Rajiv Gandhis passion for

computers and the blossoming of India into atechnology hub.

Chapter 3 : Changing Epidemics: this chapter dealswith the glaring difference in Indias impressiveeconomic numbers juxtapose next to diseaseincidence and infant mortality rate. No NationalHealth Policy till 1980, slow penetration of healthcenters in rural areas, expensive medical care,ambiguous medical insurance policies, India withsome of the worlds best doctors is not a place to fallill for poor.

Chapter 4: Our Social Insecurities: Economic

constraint or attitude changes are leading to crumblingof joint families leading to increase in crime anddiscrimination against elderly. With no defined socialsecurity system, the government too focused on youthand child health and security issues the fate of oldseems grim. With majority of population young thegovernment has yet to foresee the increasing elderlypopulation.

Chapter 5: The Forest of Trees: This chapter delvesinto environment, change in climatic conditions, theirimpact on India, politicians attitude regarding it,Chinas and Indias lopsided commitment to climaticdangers and growing requirements of developingIndia and China crossing path with environment.

Chapter6: Power Plays: Despite of India enteringinto the 21stcentury most of its villages has neverseen electricity and most of the cities experience 6to 7 hrs of power cuts. This chapter talks about thesaturating conventional sources of power and needto shift focus on unconventional methods and framingof clear policies regarding generation and distributionof power. Being an entrepreneur Nandan stresses onthe need to decentralize the entire process.

Chapter 7: The Network Effect: In this last chapterthe author summarizes the Indian spirit with theindigenous invention Jugad, the car of rural IndiaCheaper than Nano and solid like Ambassador. Theauthor all through the book emphasis the only thing

that has been able to push ahead India is its peopleand the ability of people at local level to harness itand take charge and innovate is the key to success.

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Biostatistics involves the theory and applicationof statistical science to analyze public healthproblems and to further biomedical research.The science of biostatistics encompasses thedesign of biological experiments, especially inmedicine and agriculture; the collection,summarization, and analysis of data from thoseexperiments; and the interpretation of, andinference from, the results.

Author of the book, Dr Marcel lo Pagano isprofessor of statistical computing in departmentof biostatistics at Harvard School of Public Healthand Co-Author Dr Kimberlee Gauvreau isassistant professor in department of biostatisticsat Harvard School of Public Health. ProfessorPaganos research in biostatistics continues incompute-intensive methods. Professor Pagano isalso engrossed in surveillance methods involvingscreening, and the associated laboratory tests. Dr.Gauvreaus research focuses on biostatistical issuesarising in the field of pediatric cardiology. Oneparticular area of interest has been exploringinstitutional variability in outcomes followingsurgery for congenital heart disease. Dr. Gauvreaualso works on the development and validation of

methods of adjustment for case mix complexity.

This book Principles of Biostatistics serves as anintroduction to the study of biostatistics, or theuse of numerical techniques to extractinformation from data and facts. Book has beendivided into three parts. The first five chaptersdeal with collections of numbers and ways inwhich to summarize and explain them. The nexttwo chapters focus on probability and serve asan introduction to the tools needed for thesubsequent investigation of uncertainty. It is onlyin the eighth chapter and thereafter thatdistinction between population and sampling is

eminent and the authors further begin toinvestigate the inherent variability introduced bysampling, thus progressing to inference.

Chapter one, is the introductory chapter whichembraces the concept of statistics and itsapplication in various fields. Next chapter, DataPresentation begins with defining various typesof numerical data and discusses various tabular

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and graphical description techniques as methodsof organizing, visually summarizing anddisplaying a set of data. The authors discuss ondeciding which technique is the mostappropriate in a given situation, after determiningwhat kind of data there is.

Chapter three, Numerical Summary Measuresgoes beyond the graphical techniques presentedin chapter two and introduces the techniqueslike measures of central tendency, measures ofdispersion and grouped data that allow us tomake concise, quantitative statements that

characterize the distribution of values as a whole.Chapter four, Rates and Standardization dealsexclusively with measurements that assume onlytwo values. The notion of dividing a group intosmaller subgroups or classes based on acharacteristic such as age or gender is associatedas well. Concept of rates that may be used insteadof raw data has been commenced to makecomparisons among groups more meaningful.Finally, this chapter investigates techniques likestandardization of rates, direct and indirectmethods of standardization and their use thatallow us to make valid comparisons amonggroups that may differ substantially in

composition. Chapter five introduces the lifetable, one of the most important techniquesavailable for study. The chapter initiates byexamining the ways the life table is computedand includes a number of practical applicationsof life table.

In summary, the first five chapters of the textdemonstrate that the extraction of importantinformation from a collection of numbers is notprecluded by the variability among them.Despite this variability the data often exhibitcertain regularity as well. In chapter six,Probability, authors progress with the study ofthe principles of probability. Probability theoryresides within what is known as axiomatic system:authors start with some basic truths and thenbuild up a logical system around them. Theauthors first lay the ground work by describingoperations on events and probability, conditionalprobability and Bayes theorem and itsapplications. One important application ofprobability, diagnostic testing has been covered

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effectively. The concept of relative risk and theodds ratio is explained that is needed to compareprobabilities. Basic principles of probability areexplored in this chapter that can be applied toprovide a means of quantifying uncertainty.

In Chapter seven, authors expand their opinionby examining several theoretical probabilitydistributions, such as the binomial distribution,Poisson distribution and the normal distribution.These mathematical models described in thechapter are useful as a basis for the methodsexplained in the remainder of the text. The early

chapters of this book focus on the variability thatexists in a collection of numbers. Subsequentchapters move on to another form of variability the variability that arises when we draw a sampleof observations from a much larger population.Chapter Eight, Sampling Distribution of the Meanbegins with the central limit theorem and manyof its applications are discussed. This chapterinvestigates the properties of the sample mean oraverage when repeated samples are drawn froma population, thus introducing an importantconcept known as the central limit theorem. Thistheorem provides a foundation for quantifyingthe uncertainty associated with the inferences

being made.

Till now authors investigated the theoreticalproperties of a distribution of sample means, weare ready to take the next step and apply thisknowledge to the process of statistical inference.Chapter nine covers one-sided conferenceintervals and two-sided conference intervalswhich were clarified with the example of thedistribution of serum cholesterol levels for thepopulation of males in the United States whoare hypertensive and who smoke. Chapter ten,Hypothesis Testing envelop its general concepts,two-sided tests of hypotheses, one-sided tests ofhypotheses, sample size estimations and itsfurther applications. These techniques areessential methods for drawing a conclusionabout the population sampled, while at the sametime having some knowledge of likelihood thatthe conclusion is correct.

Chapter eleven, Comparison of Two Meansintroduces a procedure for deciding whether the

differences one observes between sample meansare too large to be attributed to chance alone.The specific form of the analysis depends on thenature of the two sets of observations involved;in particular Authors give the details on whetherthe data come from paired or independentsamples.

In the preceding chapter, authors discussedtechniques for determining whether a differenceexists between the means of two independentpopulations. The extension of the two-sample t-test to three or more samples is known as the

analysis of variance which is covered in Chaptertwelve, Analysis of Variance. Chapter Thirteen,Nonparametric Methods continues with thedevelopment of hypothesis testing concepts, butintroduces techniques that allow the relaxationof some of the assumptions necessary to carryout the tests. In previous and this chapter, authorsapplied the techniques of statistical inference tocontinuous or measured data.

In Chapter fourteen, fifteen and sixteen authorsdevelop inferential methods that can be appliedto enumerated data or counts such as thenumbers of cases of sudden infant death

syndrome among children put to sleep in variouspositions-rather than continuous measurements.Authors discuss measures of the strength ofassociation between two dichotomous randomvariables. Chapter fourteen, Inference onproportions authors used the normalapproximation to the binomial approximationto conduct tests of hypotheses for twoindependent proportions. Next chapterContingency Table includes chi-square test andMcNemars Test and chapter sixteen describesMultiple Contingency tables.

In chapter seventeen, Correlation the authorsbegin to investigate the relationships that can exist

among continuous variables. One statisticaltechnique often employed to measure such anassociation is known as correlation analysis. Theydefine correlation as the quantification of thedegree to which two random variables arerelated, provided that relationship is linear. Thedetails of Pearsons correlation coefficient andSpearmans Rank correlation coefficient are

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discussed. In chapter eighteen, Simple LinearRegression authors describe how simple linearregression can be used to explore the nature ofthe relationship between two continuousrandom variables. A natural extension of simplelinear regression known as multiple regressionanalysis is explored in chapter nineteen, MultipleRegression Analysis. In this chapter explanationon two or more factors are used to predict asingle outcome. Alternative techniques areexplained in chapter twenty, Logistic Regression.Sufficient details of models, function andequation are given in the preceding chaptersmoving with comparisons from single regressionto multiple regressions and then finally coveringlogistic regression.

In chapter twenty one, Survival Analysis Authorsintroduce the inferential methods appropriatefor life tables are introduced. The techniques ofthe life table method, product limit method thatenable us to draw conclusions about themortality of a population based on a sample ofindividuals drawn from the group are then dealtwith. Finally in Chapter twenty two, SamplingTheory the authors monitor an issue that is

fundamental in inference the concept of therepresentative ness of a sample. Several differentmethods for selecting representative samples aredescribed in this chapter of the book.

The book is clear, concise, and helpful for healthscience and statistics learners. This conceptually-based introduction to statistical proceduresprepares readers to conduct and evaluateresearch in the biological and public healthsciences. From beginning to end an with engagingwriting style and accommodating graphics,Pagano and Gauvreau point up that statistics is

more than just math. Its a practical field thathas hundreds of applications and it employs inthe real world. The book includes revised andexpanded discussions on many topics, andadditional figures to help clarify concepts Theauthors rely heavily on the books graphics andthe use of computers to help readers make thecalculations, giving them more time toconcentrate on and learn the concepts. Morethan once a general example of population ofUnited States has been used. The authors focusattention on the problem in the hope ofstimulating interest in promoting solutions.