Screwed Up Priorities

While Indian government slices and dices the population (all 1 billion of us) into OBCs, FCs, Muslims OBC, Christian OBC, creamy layers, SCs, and STs:

The Union Cabinet on Thursday night rejected the recommendations of a Parliamentary Standing Committee to exclude creamy layer from the purview of the 27 per cent OBC quota in government-aided institutions of higher learning.

"After considering all aspects, it was decided to stick to the original Bill with the basic framework of 27 per cent reservation for OBCs," Information and Broadcasting Minister P R Dasmunsi told reporters after the meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Bill 2006 would be reintroduced with some minor changes in the current session of Parliament, he said. (TOI)

...other nations and governments have different priorities:

China will this year for the first time spend more on research and development (R&D) than Japan and so become the world’s second highest investor in R&D after the United States, according to OECD projections based on recent trends.

“The rapid rise of China in both money spent and researchers employed is stunning,” said Dirk Pilat, Head of the OECD’s Science and Technology Policy division. “To keep up, OECD countries need to make their research and innovation systems more efficient and find new ways to stimulate innovation in today’s increasingly competitive global economy.”

Based on recent trends trends, China will spend just over USD 136 billion on R&D in 2006, just over Japan’s forecast USD 130 billion. The United States is predicted to remain the world’s leading investor in R&D in 2006, spending just over USD 330 billion. The EU-15, which includes France, Germany and the UK, is predicted to spend just over USD 230 billion. (OECD)

No prize for guessing which country will be a developed global giant and which one will continue to be a third world country mired in poverty and backwardness in 2020.

Cross-posted on INI Signal