AN IDEA THAT HAS SPARKED A SILENT REVOLUTION: THE STUDENT POLICE CADET SCHEME, WHICH HAS CONVERTED SCHOOLCHILDREN INTO CHANGEMAKERS, POLICE PERSONNEL INTO ENABLERS AND SCHOOLS INTO INNOVATION HUBS. Students carried a voting machine to a remote community in Attappady, encouraging the indigenous community there to vote for the first time. Yet other schoolchildren set up and implemented a waste-management system that changed the village community’s attitude to plastic use and waste segregation. Student cadets set up an aqua-farming project that sparked innovation in their community. An idea could change lives: teaming up schoolchildren with police personnel, both partners in change, each one impacting and sensitising the other. This is the idea behind the decade-old Student Police Cadet, or SPC, scheme in Kerala. Today, over 12,000 schools across India have implemented the programme, of which 1,000 are in Kerala. SPC anticipated the need to move beyond the usual measure of success in schools—high marks, sporting achievements, debating competitions—and towards becoming innovation hubs. Young people would need to be engaged with the challenges of a fast-changing world, becoming changemakers and agents of empathy. When P. Vijayan took over as the police commissioner of Kochi, he was actively engaged in community participation programmes for the police force he commanded. It was in the course of this that he struck upon the idea of bringing schools and the police force together. Over the years, SPC has transformed the attitudes of the police men and women who have been part of it, just as it has the lives of students.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Once in a great while, a book comes along that changes our view of the world. This magnificent novel from the Nobel laureate and author of Never Let Me Go is “an intriguing take on how artificial intelligence might play a role in our futures ... a poignant meditation on love and loneliness” (The Associated Press). • A GOOD MORNING AMERICA Book Club Pick! Here is the story of Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, who, from her place in the store, watches carefully the behavior of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass on the street outside. She remains hopeful that a customer will soon choose her. Klara and the Sun is a thrilling book that offers a look at our changing world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator, and one that explores the fundamental question: what does it mean to love?

This book brings into focus the innovative methods of learning in many Indian schools. It sheds light on schools that make the learning process fun for the teacher as well as the taught, in contrast to the whirl of examination-oriented learning in mainstream schools. The researched data on alternative schools in the country offer the reader an array of institutions all over the country, where efforts are being made to move away from traditional and mainstream learning. It includes exclusive articles by leading practitioners in the field, who offer an insight into the ground reality when a certain philosophy is applied to a school, and also experiential accounts of how such alternative practices mould the learner, teacher and impact the parent as well. The book also consists of a directory of alternative schools in India, including many schools that are tucked away in remote corners of the country. Interestingly, the common thread binding these ‘alternative schools’ is concern for the welfare of the child by teachers who see their work as much more than a job.

Key question: What do we have to do to make India a prosperous country by 2047, when we will celebrate 100 years of political independence? That's only 25 years away. In this fast-changing world, it is unrealistic to have a concrete 25-year plan. Instead, the book lays out the key issues that must be resolved in the next 10-15 years (Phase 1). This will lay the foundations of prosperity. After that, India can move quickly in the remaining years (Phase 2) on its path to prosperity, taking advantage of opportunities as they arise. These fundamental issues are complex, and their workable solutions have yet to be agreed upon. For example, in India, the average marginal and small farmers are poor. What will their children and grandchildren do? They can never become well-off on the small piece of land the family has. Plus, they go to lousy schools, and tend to be undernourished. So, their skill levels are low. Will they still be poor in 2047? If yes, how will India be prosperous? Hence, the book does not provide detailed solutions - just broadly defined options, where possible. The idea is to set off national discussions about the key issues. The book has no mathematics or jargon; it has plenty of charts. It is written at the reading level of Standard 9-10 students.

Discourses of a Hindu religious leader of the Navnath sampradaya.

The winners of the Nobel Prize show how economics, when done right, can help us solve the thorniest social and political problems of our day. Figuring out how to deal with today's critical economic problems is perhaps the great challenge of our time. Much greater than space travel or perhaps even the next revolutionary medical breakthrough, what is at stake is the whole idea of the good life as we have known it. Immigration and inequality, globalization and technological disruption, slowing growth and accelerating climate change--these are sources of great anxiety across the world, from New Delhi and Dakar to Paris and Washington, DC. The resources to address these challenges are there--what we lack are ideas that will help us jump the wall of disagreement and distrust that divides us. If we succeed, history will remember our era with gratitude; if we fail, the potential losses are incalculable. In this revolutionary book, renowned MIT economists Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo take on this challenge, building on cutting-edge research in economics explained with lucidity and grace. Original, provocative, and urgent, Good Economics for Hard Times makes a persuasive case for an intelligent interventionism and a society built on compassion and respect. It is an extraordinary achievement, one that shines a light to help us appreciate and understand our precariously balanced world.

The Internet has become humanity’s invisible central nervous system, connecting us at the speed of thought. More people today have access to mobile phones than have access to clean drinking water. Yet the most important technology is still the one within us: our brain, body, and consciousness. A fast-paced career in the high-tech industry combined with a deep yoga and meditation practice has allowed Gopi Kallayil—Google’s Chief Evangelist for Brand Marketing and one of the leading voices encouraging yoga and mindfulness in the workplace today – to integrate his inner and outer technologies to a remarkable degree. Wisdom from his yoga mat and meditation cushion guides his professional career, and his work life provides the perfect classroom to deepen his wisdom practice. The Internet to the Inner-Net guides the rest of us to do the same. In some three dozen wide-ranging, sometimes provocative essays, Gopi shares his experiments in conscious living and offers insight, inspiration, and rituals – including yoga, mindful eating, and even napping – to help us access our own inner worlds. If you’re looking for grounded practical wisdom that might simultaneously help you become more creative, adaptable, enthusiastic, effective, or resilient, you’ll find it in this user’s manual for the technology within – along with colorful insight into the successful Google culture. In five sections, from "Log In" (which offers mindful ways of connecting and engaging) to "Clear Out Your In-Box" (shedding what doesn’t serve you to make space for what does) to "Thank You for Subscribing" (a reminder to live with gratitude), Gopi lays out practices and perspectives that you can use starting right now to live with more purpose, fulfillment, and joy.

The big stories -- The skills of the new machines : technology races ahead -- Moore's law and the second half of the chessboard -- The digitization of just about everything -- Innovation : declining or recombining? -- Artificial and human intelligence in the second machine age -- Computing bounty -- Beyond GDP -- The spread -- The biggest winners : stars and superstars -- Implications of the bounty and the spread -- Learning to race with machines : recommendations for individuals -- Policy recommendations -- Long-term recommendations -- Technology and the future (which is very different from "technology is the future").

"Poster included on reverse side of jacket!"--Jacket.