did

QUIZ: What Did 'Teacher Quality' Look Like in 1966?

Are you smarter than a teacher in 1966? Take this real test, taken from the "Equality of Educational Opportunity" report, to find out how you fare.




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How to Vet the Presidential Candidates on Education

There are five key values to consider when separating campaign rhetoric from how a candidate would actually govern, writes Robert Feirsen.




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Fetal and Maternal Candidate Single Nucleotide Polymorphism Associations With Cerebral Palsy: A Case-Control Study

Candidate genes involved in thrombophilia, inflammation, and preterm birth have previously been associated with cerebral palsy. Most studies to date have included small cohorts, did not allow for multiple testing, and require replication.

This study of children with cerebral palsy and their mothers did not confirm previously reported candidate gene associations. Prothrombin gene mutation was associated with hemiplegia in children born at term to mothers with a reported infection during pregnancy. (Read the full article)




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Trends in Candida Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infections Among NICUs, 1999-2009

Emphasis on preventing central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) in US health care facilities and prophylactic antifungal medication use in neonates may impact incidence of Candida spp. CLABSIs. However, data on trends in incidence of neonatal Candida spp. CLABSIs are lacking.

Data from a large sample of US NICUs was analyzed to assess trends in incidence over time. This analysis provides a description of the epidemiology of Candida spp. CLABSIs in a national health care-associated infections surveillance system. (Read the full article)




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Changes in the Incidence of Candidiasis in Neonatal Intensive Care Units

The incidence of invasive candidiasis in hospitalized infants is related to postnatal exposures, but large-scale studies relating the incidence of invasive candidiasis to changes in exposures over time are not available.

This study describes the association between the incidence of invasive candidiasis and changes in use of antifungal prophylaxis, empirical antifungal therapy, and broad-spectrum antibacterial antibiotics over time. (Read the full article)




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Derivation of Candidate Clinical Decision Rules to Identify Infants at Risk for Central Apnea

Central apnea sometimes complicates bronchiolitis. Because apnea tends to occur early in the course of bronchiolitis, there is a danger that infants may be discharged from the emergency department only to subsequently develop apnea at home.

This study prospectively derived clinical decision rules to help emergency physicians admit infants at risk for apnea while discharging those not at risk. (Read the full article)




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They Had a Bold Idea for a New School and $10M in Funding. So Why Did It Fail?

Powderhouse Studios was supposed to open this fall after winning a $10 million startup grant from XQ Institute. But after nearly seven years of planning, school committee members unanimously rejected the high school in March.




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The Als3 cell wall adhesin plays a critical role in human Serum amyloid A1 (SAA1)-induced cell death and aggregation in Candida albicans [Mechanisms of Resistance]

Antimicrobial peptides and proteins play critical roles in the host defense against invading pathogens. We recently discovered that recombinantly expressed human and mouse serum amyloid A1 (rhSAA1 and rmSAA1) proteins have potent antifungal activities against the major human fungal pathogen Candida albicans. At high concentrations, rhSAA1 disrupts C. albicans membrane integrity and induces rapid fungal cell death. In the current study, we find that rhSAA1 promotes cell aggregation and targets the C. albicans cell wall adhesin Als3. Inactivation of ALS3 in C. albicans leads to a striking decrease in cell aggregation and cell death upon rhSAA1 treatment, suggesting that Als3 plays a critical role in SAA1 sensing. We further demonstrate that deletion of the transcriptional regulators controlling the expression of ALS3, such as AHR1, BCR1, and EFG1 in C. albicans results in similar effects to that of the als3/als3 mutant upon rhSAA1 treatment. Global gene expression profiling indicates that rhSAA1 has a discernible impact on the expression of cell wall- and metabolism-related genes, suggesting that rhSAA1 treatment could lead to a nutrient starvation effect on C. albicans cells.




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Towards harmonization of voriconazole CLSI and EUCAST breakpoints for Candida albicans using a validated in vitro pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic model [Susceptibility]

Background. CLSI and EUCAST susceptibility breakpoints for voriconazole and C. albicans differ by one dilution (≤0.125 and ≤0.06 mg/l, respectively) whereas the epidemiological cutoff values (ECOFF/ECV) with both methodologies are the same (0.03 mg/L). We therefore determined the pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) breakpoints of voriconazole against C. albicans for both methodologies with an in vitro PK/PD model, which was validated using existing animal PK/PD data.

Methods. Four clinical wild-type and non-wild-type C. albicans isolates (voriconazole MICs 0.008-0.125 mg/l) were tested in an in vitro PK/PD model. For validation purposes, mouse PK were simulated and in vitro PD were compared with in vivo outcome. Human PK were simulated and the exposure-effect relationship fAUC0-24/MIC was described for EUCAST and CLSI24/48h methods. PK/PD breakpoints were determined using the fAUC0-24/MIC associated with half-maximal activity (EI50) and Monte Carlo simulation analysis.

Results. The in vitro 24h-PD EI50 of voriconazole against C. albicans were 2.5-5 (1.5-17) fAUC/MIC. However, the 72h-PD were higher, 133 (51-347) fAUC/MIC for EUCAST and 94 (35-252) fAUC/MIC for CLSI. The mean (95% confidence interval) probability of target attainment (PTA) was 100(95-100)%, 97(72-100)%, 83(35-99)%, and 49(8-91)% and 100(97-100)%, 99(85-100)%, 91(52-100)% and 68(17-96)% for EUCAST and CLSI MICs 0.03, 0.06, 0.125, and 0.25 mg/L, respectively. Significantly, >95% PTAs were found for EUCAST/CLSI MICs ≤0.03 mg/ll. For MICs 0.06-0.125 mg/l trough levels 1-4 mg/ll would be required.

Conclusion. A PK/PD breakpoint of C. albicans voriconazole at the ECOFF/ECV of 0.03 mg/L was determined for both EUCAST/CLSI methods, indicating the need for breakpoint harmonization for the reference methodologies.




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Development of probiotic formulations for oral candidiasis prevention: Gellan gum as a carrier to deliver Lactobacillus paracasei 28.4 [Experimental Therapeutics]

Probiotics might provide an alternative approach for the control of oral candidiasis. However, studies on the antifungal activity of probiotics in the oral cavity are based on the consumption of yogurt or other dietary products, and there is a necessary to use appropriate biomaterials and specific strains to obtain probiotic formulations targeting local oral administration. In this study, we impregnated gellan gum, a natural biopolymer used as a food-additive, with a probiotic and investigated its antifungal activity against Candida albicans. Lactobacillus paracasei 28.4, a strain recently isolated from the oral cavity of a caries-free individual, was incorporated in several concentrations of gellan gum (0.6% to 1%). All tested concentrations could incorporate L. paracasei cells while maintaining bacterial viability. Probiotic/gellan formulations were stable for 7 days when stored at room temperature or 4°C. Long-term storage of bacteria-impregnated gellan gum was achieved when L. paracasei 28.4 was lyophilized. The probiotic/gellan formulations provided a release of L. paracasei cells over 24 hours that was sufficient to inhibit the growth of C. albicans with effects dependent on the cell concentrations incorporated into gellan gum. The probiotic/gellan formulations also had inhibitory activity against Candida spp. biofilms by reducing the number of Candida spp. cells (p < 0.0001), decreasing the total biomass (p = 0.0003), and impairing hyphae formation (p = 0.0002), compared to the control group which received no treatment. Interestingly, probiotic formulation of 1% w/v gellan gum provided an oral colonization of L. paracasei in mice with approximately 6 log of CFU/mL after 10 days. This formulation inhibited the C. albicans growth (p < 0.0001), prevented the development of candidiasis lesions (p = 0.0013), and suppressed inflammation (p = 0.0006) when compared to the mice not treated in the microscopic analysis of the tongue dorsum. These results indicate that gellan gum is a promising biomaterial and can be used as a carrier system to promote oral colonization for probiotics that prevent oral candidiasis.




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Identification of antiviral drug candidates against SARS-CoV-2 from FDA-approved drugs [Antiviral Agents]

Drug repositioning is the only feasible option to address the COVID-19 global challenge immediately. We screened a panel of 48 FDA-approved drugs against SARS-CoV-2 which were pre-selected by an assay of SARS-CoV and identified 24 potential antiviral drug candidates against SARS-CoV-2 infection. Some drug candidates showed very low micromolar IC50s and in particular, two FDA-approved drugs - niclosamide and ciclesonide – were notable in some respects.




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Clayton Christensen: Did He Really Disrupt K-12 Education?

The champion of disruptive innovation in business and education passed away this month. One of Christensen's co-authors of "Disrupting Class," Michael B. Horn, assesses the impact his late colleague had on schools.




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Doctoral candidate wants to help blind people, just like himself

JooYoung Seo, a doctoral candidate in the College of Education’s Learning, Design, and Technology program, has secured a highly competitive internship with RStudio that will allow him to help people just like himself — those with severe visual impairments.




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Two Catholic Schools Were Asked to Fire Gay Teachers. Here's What They Did

The Indianapolis archbishop has ordered Catholic high schools in the city to dismiss teachers who are married to someone of the same sex, or sever ties with the archdiocese.




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Did Congress' karsewa led to demolition of Babri Masjid? | Seedha Sawal (04.11.2019)

Madhav Godbole's statement has caused a political stir. He said, "Rajiv Gandhi went to the extent of opening locks of Babri Masjid." This statement is in his book which has talked about Ram Mandir and Babri Masjid dispute in a detailed manner.<br />In today's Seedha Sawal, we raise the




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Delaware to Distribute Potassium Iodide (KI) Tablets

Delaware to Distribute Potassium Iodide (KI) Tablets   (Smyrna) – The Delaware Emergency Management Agency (DEMA) and Delaware Division of Public Health will distribute potassium iodide (KI) tablets to Delaware residents living within a ten mile radius of the Salem/Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Stations. The free tablets will be distributed on Thursday, October 3, 2019, […]



  • Delaware Emergency Management Agency

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Sebi’s enhanced borrowing limits didn’t help MFs

Credit risk funds have been seeing redemptions over the last one year. Between March 2019 and March 2020, most credit risk funds had seen outflows barring ICICI Prudential Credit Risk Funs, IDFC Credit Risk Fund and Mahindra Credit Risk Yojana.




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Top corporate positions in reputed Denmark firms are getting filled by foreign candidates

One out of three reputed firms is having a non-Dane at the steerage as organizations in Denmark are viewing the whole globe as their pool for notable talents. The point when Denmark's biggest organizations require a CEO, they are progressively set outside…




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Indian candidates are now in demand in Denmark Corporate world

Denmark is taking a gander at sourcing talented candidates from India. The nation has set up a 'Work in Denmark' special center right at Danish Embassy in India in order to expedite work provisions as well as applications from the professionals of…




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God of War turns 2 - Here are 20 things you probably didnt know about the game




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Coronavirus: Use free time to hone skills like Newton did during London plague, IIT tells students

With classes and all other activities being suspended till March 31 due to coronavirus, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Gandhinagar has launched 'Project Isaac' to engage students confined to their rooms or homes in productive activities.




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COVID-19 lockdowns didn’t make Earth shake less, but improved quake detection, scientists say

Seismic noise is a relatively persistent vibration of the ground that is usually an unwanted component of signals recorded by seismometers, according to the scientists.




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Why Xiaomi didn’t talk about its software quirks during Mi 10 5G India launch

Why did Xiaomi not talk about one of Mi 10 5G’s biggest highlights at launch, or after? The reason is simple.




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Quebec Conducts Two Draws and Invites 162 Skilled Worker Candidates

Quebec held two draws in October and issued 162 invitations to apply to the aspirants in the Quebec Skilled Worker Program. A Gradual ProgressFirstly, On October 23, it invited 89 persons to meet the labor market requirements. Also, the Candidates…




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British Columbia Invites 348 Candidates in Five Provincial Streams

On November 26th British Columbia held a draw and has extended 348 invitations to Skilled Workers as well as International Graduates in its new Provincial Nominee Program. The draw covered five provincial streams. These Skilled workers of the provincial…




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Ontario Issues 667 Invitations in Skilled Trades to Express Entry Candidates

The immigration authorities in Ontario held their largest draw on December 11th4wsqor 2019, and issued 667 Notifications of Interest to such candidates who had a profile in Express Entry Pool. This was the first draw in the Skilled Trades stream after…




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Nova Scotia Holds A Labor Priorities Stream Draw and Invites 144 Candidates

Nova Scotia held a draw in the Labor Market Priorities stream on December 20 and invited 144 candidates belonging to the Express Entry having the required work experience related to public relations, advertising, or marketing sectors. The category of…




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Saskatchewan Invites 595 Candidates in the Recent Expression of Interest Draw

Saskatchewan has invited 595 candidates belonging to Express Entry and Occupations In-Demand categories to seek the provincial nomination for permanent residence in Canada.Making a Fine ProgressOn December 20 a draw was held for The Saskatchewan Immigrant…




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Ontario Invites 242 Candidates in Express Entry Draw for French Speakers

On January 9th, Ontario conducted a draw for the first time after May 2019 in the French-Speaking Skilled Worker stream that is linked to Express Entry. The draw in Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program issued 242 Notifications of Interest.The qualifying…




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Saskatchewan Holds A Draw and Issues Invitations to 308 Promising Candidates

The immigration officials of Saskatchewan issued 308 invitations that target 82 NOC codes in the first skilled worker draw for Expression of Interest draw in the present year on January 9th. This draw was held in Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program…




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BC PNP Tech Pilot Holds the First Draw of Year and Invites 70 Candidates

British Columbia invited 70 candidates in the initial BC PNP Tech Pilot draw for the present year on January 14th.  It issued invitations through four streams of the British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program as mentioned below:SI – Skilled Workers…




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Prince Edward Island Holds A Major Draw and Invites 123 Candidates

Prince Edward Island held the first draw for the year on January 16th and has issued 123 invitations to immigration candidates.Forward looking ProgramThe PEI Provincial Nominee Program invited the candidates in the Labor Impact, and Business Impact class…




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135th Express Entry Draw in Held in Canada - Invites 3,400 Candidates

Canadian Immigration authorities are beginning the issuing process at a great pace. In an Express Entry draw conducted on January 22, 2020, they issued 3,400 Invitations to Apply. The CRS score had a decline of two points in comparison to the draw held…




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Alberta Provincial Draw Issues 150 Invitations to Express Entry Candidates

150 invitations were issued to Express Entry candidates to apply and seek the Alberta provincial nomination on January 9. The Candidates having a 350 CRS score received these NOIs.Through the Alberta Express Entry Stream the Alberta Immigrant Nominee…




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British Columbia Holds the Entrepreneur Draw & Invites 25 Candidates

British Columbia conducted an Entrepreneur Immigration draw and issued 25 invitations to candidates belonging to two streams on January 14th.This draw of British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program had 18 invitations in General Entrepreneur stream as…




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Know Your Delhi Candidate: Kapil Mishra

Kapil Mishra is a former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader-turned BJP candidate for the Delhi election. When he was with the AAP, Mr Mishra was elected from Delhi's Karawalnagar seat in the 2014 Delhi...




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Know Your Delhi Candidate: Arvinder Singh Lovely

Arvinder Singh Lovely is a Congress leader who had walked out of his party in 2017 to join the BJP. He returned to the Congress in February 2018. Mr Lovely, who has been the Delhi Education Minister...




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Know Your Delhi Candidate: Satyendar Jain

Satyendar Jain is an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and a minister in Arvind Kejriwal's cabinet. He holds multiple portfolios including the Health Ministry.




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Delhi's Richest Candidate Is AAP's Dharampal Lakra. This Is His Net Worth

Dharampal Lakra of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is the richest candidate in Delhi. He has declared wealth of close to Rs 300 crore.




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Krishna Tirath, Congress Candidate From Delhi's Patel Nagar

Krishna Tirath, a union minister in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, is the Congress's candidate from Patel Nagar. The leader had rejoined the Congress last year after being a BJP...




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Know Your Delhi Candidate: Raghav Chadha

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Raghav Chadha, party's candidate from central Delhi's Rajinder Nagar, is pitted against BJP veteran RP Singh, a 58-year-old advertising professional from the same...




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Did 'The Simpsons' Predict Coronavirus, Murder Hornets? Twitter Thinks So

Some social media users are convinced that an early episode of The Simpsons also came close to predicting the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the invasion of "murder hornets".




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College softball's best teams that didn't win it all

The 2020 UCLA Bruins might have been on pace for NCAA softball history, but they're not the only powerhouse team not to win a WCWS title.




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Did You “Stress Test” Yet? Essential Step to Ensure a Quality PCIe 4.0 Product

The PCI-SIG finalized the PCIe 4.0 specification with doubling the data to 16GT/s from 8GT/s in PCIe 3.0 in 2017. Products implementing this technology have begun to hit the market in 2019. Earlier this year, AMD announced it X570 chipset would support the PCIe 4.0 interface and Phison also introduced the world’s first PCIe 4.0 SSD.  With the increasing companies are working on PCIe 4.0 related product development, Cadence, as the key and leading PCIe IP solution vendor in the market, has strived for continuous enhancement of its PCIe 4.0 to be the best in the class IP solution. From our initial PCIe 4.0 solution in 4 years ago (revealed in 2015), we have made many advancements and improvements adding features such as Multi-link with any lane assignment, U.2/U.3 connector, and Automotive support. The variety of applications that PCIe4 finds a home in require extensive robustness and reliability testing over and above the compliance tests mandated by the standard body, i.e., PCI-SIG.

PCIe 4.0 TX Eye-Diagram, Loop-back Test (Long-reach) and RX JTOL Margin Test

Cadence IP team has also implemented additional "stress tests" in conjunction to its already comprehensive IP characterization plan, covering electrical, functional, ESD, Latch-up, HTOL, and yield sorting. Take the Receiver Jitter Tolerance Test (JTOL) for instance. JTOL is a key index to test the quality of the receiver of a system. This test use data generator/analyzer to send data to a SerDes receiver which is then looped back through the transmitter back to the instrument. The data received is compared to the data generated and the errors are counted. The data generator introduce jitter into the transmit data pattern to see how well the receiver functions under non-ideal conditions. While PCI-SIG compliance can be obtained on a single lane implementation, real world scenarios require wider implementations under atypical operating conditions. Cadence’s PCIe 4.0 IP was tested against to additional stressed conditions, such as different combination of multi-lanes operations, “temperature drift” conditions, e.g., bring up the chip at room temperature and check the JTOL at high temperature. 

PCIe 4.0 Sub-system Stress Test Setup

Besides complying with electrical parameters and protocol requirements, real world systems have idiosyncrasies of their own. Cadence IP team also built a versatile “System test” setup in house to perform a system level stress test of its PCIe 4.0 sub-system. The Cadence PCIe 4.0 sub-system is connected to a large number of server and desktop motherboards. This set up is tested with 1000s of cycles of repeated stress under varying operating conditions. Stress tests include speed change from 2.5G all the way to 16G and down, link enable/disable, cold boot, warm boot, entering and exiting low power states, and BER test sweeping presets across different channels. Performing this level of stress test verifies that our IP will operate to spec robustly and reliably when presented with the occasional corner cases in the real world.

More Information

For the demonstration of Cadence PCIe4 PHY Receiver Test and Sub-system Stress Test, see the video:

For more information on Cadence's PCIe IP offerings, see our PCI Express page.

For more information on PCIe in general, and on the various PCI standards, see the PCI-SIG website.

Related Posts




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Can Amit Shah do for India what he did for the BJP?

This is the 20th installment of The Rationalist, my column for the Times of India.

Amit Shah’s induction into the union cabinet is such an interesting moment. Even partisans who oppose the BJP, as I do, would admit that Shah is a political genius. Under his leadership, the BJP has become an electoral behemoth in the most complicated political landscape in the world. The big question that now arises is this: can Shah do for India what he did for the BJP?

This raises a perplexing question: in the last five years, as the BJP has flourished, India has languished. And yet, the leadership of both the party and the nation are more or less the same. Then why hasn’t the ability to manage the party translated to governing the country?

I would argue that there are two reasons for this. One, the skills required in those two tasks are different. Two, so are the incentives in play.

Let’s look at the skills first. Managing a party like the BJP is, in some ways, like managing a large multinational company. Shah is a master at top-down planning and micro-management. How he went about winning the 2014 elections, described in detail in Prashant Jha’s book How the BJP Wins, should be a Harvard Business School case study. The book describes how he fixed the BJP’s ground game in Uttar Pradesh, picking teams for 147,000 booths in Uttar Pradesh, monitoring them, and keeping them accountable.

Shah looked at the market segmentation in UP, and hit upon his now famous “60% formula”. He realised he could not deliver the votes of Muslims, Yadavs and Jatavs, who were 40% of the population. So he focussed on wooing the other 60%, including non-Yadav OBCs and non-Jatav Dalits. He carried out versions of these caste reconfigurations across states, and according to Jha, covered “over 5 lakh kilometres” between 2014 and 2017, consolidating market share in every state in this country. He nurtured “a pool of a thousand new OBC and Dalit leaders”, going well beyond the posturing of other parties.

That so many Dalits and OBCs voted for the BJP in 2019 is astonishing. Shah went past Mandal politics, managing to subsume previously antagonistic castes and sub-castes into a broad Hindutva identity. And as the BJP increased its depth, it expanded its breadth as well. What it has done in West Bengal, wiping out the Left and weakening Mamata Banerjee, is jaw-dropping. With hindsight, it may one day seem inevitable, but only a madman could have conceived it, and only a genius could have executed it.

Good man to be Home Minister then, eh? Not quite. A country is not like a large company or even a political party. It is much too complex to be managed from the top down, and a control freak is bound to flounder. The approach needed is very different.

Some tasks of governance, it is true, are tailor-made for efficient managers. Building infrastructure, taking care of roads and power, building toilets (even without an underlying drainage system) and PR campaigns can all be executed by good managers. But the deeper tasks of making an economy flourish require a different approach. They need a light touch, not a heavy hand.

The 20th century is full of cautionary tales that show that economies cannot be centrally planned from the top down. Examples of that ‘fatal conceit’, to use my hero Friedrich Hayek’s term, include the Soviet Union, Mao’s China, and even the lady Modi most reminds me of, Indira Gandhi.

The task of the state, when it comes to the economy, is to administer a strong rule of law, and to make sure it is applied equally. No special favours to cronies or special interest groups. Just unleash the natural creativity of the people, and don’t try to micro-manage.

Sadly, the BJP’s impulse, like that of most governments of the past, is a statist one. India should have a small state that does a few things well. Instead, we have a large state that does many things badly, and acts as a parasite on its people.

As it happens, the few things that we should do well are all right up Shah’s managerial alley. For example, the rule of law is effectively absent in India today, especially for the poor. As Home Minister, Shah could fix this if he applied the same zeal to governing India as he did to growing the BJP. But will he?

And here we come to the question of incentives. What drives Amit Shah: maximising power, or serving the nation? What is good for the country will often coincide with what is good for the party – but not always. When they diverge, which path will Shah choose? So much rests on that.



© 2007 IndiaUncut.com. All rights reserved.
India Uncut * The IU Blog * Rave Out * Extrowords * Workoutable * Linkastic




did

Can Amit Shah do for India what he did for the BJP?

This is the 20th installment of The Rationalist, my column for the Times of India.

Amit Shah’s induction into the union cabinet is such an interesting moment. Even partisans who oppose the BJP, as I do, would admit that Shah is a political genius. Under his leadership, the BJP has become an electoral behemoth in the most complicated political landscape in the world. The big question that now arises is this: can Shah do for India what he did for the BJP?

This raises a perplexing question: in the last five years, as the BJP has flourished, India has languished. And yet, the leadership of both the party and the nation are more or less the same. Then why hasn’t the ability to manage the party translated to governing the country?

I would argue that there are two reasons for this. One, the skills required in those two tasks are different. Two, so are the incentives in play.

Let’s look at the skills first. Managing a party like the BJP is, in some ways, like managing a large multinational company. Shah is a master at top-down planning and micro-management. How he went about winning the 2014 elections, described in detail in Prashant Jha’s book How the BJP Wins, should be a Harvard Business School case study. The book describes how he fixed the BJP’s ground game in Uttar Pradesh, picking teams for 147,000 booths in Uttar Pradesh, monitoring them, and keeping them accountable.

Shah looked at the market segmentation in UP, and hit upon his now famous “60% formula”. He realised he could not deliver the votes of Muslims, Yadavs and Jatavs, who were 40% of the population. So he focussed on wooing the other 60%, including non-Yadav OBCs and non-Jatav Dalits. He carried out versions of these caste reconfigurations across states, and according to Jha, covered “over 5 lakh kilometres” between 2014 and 2017, consolidating market share in every state in this country. He nurtured “a pool of a thousand new OBC and Dalit leaders”, going well beyond the posturing of other parties.

That so many Dalits and OBCs voted for the BJP in 2019 is astonishing. Shah went past Mandal politics, managing to subsume previously antagonistic castes and sub-castes into a broad Hindutva identity. And as the BJP increased its depth, it expanded its breadth as well. What it has done in West Bengal, wiping out the Left and weakening Mamata Banerjee, is jaw-dropping. With hindsight, it may one day seem inevitable, but only a madman could have conceived it, and only a genius could have executed it.

Good man to be Home Minister then, eh? Not quite. A country is not like a large company or even a political party. It is much too complex to be managed from the top down, and a control freak is bound to flounder. The approach needed is very different.

Some tasks of governance, it is true, are tailor-made for efficient managers. Building infrastructure, taking care of roads and power, building toilets (even without an underlying drainage system) and PR campaigns can all be executed by good managers. But the deeper tasks of making an economy flourish require a different approach. They need a light touch, not a heavy hand.

The 20th century is full of cautionary tales that show that economies cannot be centrally planned from the top down. Examples of that ‘fatal conceit’, to use my hero Friedrich Hayek’s term, include the Soviet Union, Mao’s China, and even the lady Modi most reminds me of, Indira Gandhi.

The task of the state, when it comes to the economy, is to administer a strong rule of law, and to make sure it is applied equally. No special favours to cronies or special interest groups. Just unleash the natural creativity of the people, and don’t try to micro-manage.

Sadly, the BJP’s impulse, like that of most governments of the past, is a statist one. India should have a small state that does a few things well. Instead, we have a large state that does many things badly, and acts as a parasite on its people.

As it happens, the few things that we should do well are all right up Shah’s managerial alley. For example, the rule of law is effectively absent in India today, especially for the poor. As Home Minister, Shah could fix this if he applied the same zeal to governing India as he did to growing the BJP. But will he?

And here we come to the question of incentives. What drives Amit Shah: maximising power, or serving the nation? What is good for the country will often coincide with what is good for the party – but not always. When they diverge, which path will Shah choose? So much rests on that.

The India Uncut Blog © 2010 Amit Varma. All rights reserved.
Follow me on Twitter.





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Dassault Systèmes Announces Medidata Stockholder Approval for Planned Acquisition

VÉLIZY-VILLACOUBLAY, France and NEW YORK — August 19, 2019 – Dassault Systèmes SE (Dassault Systèmes) (Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY. PA) and Medidata Solutions, Inc. ("Medidata") (NASDAQ: MDSO) announced that Medidata stockholders have approved on August 16, 2019 the proposed acquisition of Medidata by Dassault Systèmes. At a special meeting of Medidata stockholders held on August 16, 2019, 78% of Medidata’s total outstanding common stock voted in favor of the proposed acquisition and...




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Dassault Systèmes announces extension of CFIUS review process for planned acquisition of Medidata

VÉLIZY-VILLACOUBLAY, France and NEW YORK — September 24, 2019 – Dassault Systèmes SE (Dassault Systèmes) (Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY. PA) and Medidata Solutions, Inc. ("Medidata") (NASDAQ: MDSO) announced that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) will initiate an additional 45 calendar day examination for the proposed acquisition of Medidata by Dassault Systèmes. The parties continue to target the fourth quarter of 2019 for the closing of the...




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Dassault Systèmes announces CFIUS clearance for Medidata acquisition

VÉLIZY-VILLACOUBLAY, France and NEW YORK, United States of America — October 24, 2019 – Dassault Systèmes SE ("Dassault Systèmes") (Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY. PA) and Medidata Solutions, Inc. ("Medidata") (NASDAQ: MDSO) announced that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States ("CFIUS") approved the proposed acquisition of Medidata by Dassault Systèmes. Receipt of CFIUS clearance was one of the final conditions to the merger. In accordance with the...