Salvatore Babones is an American sociologist, and an associate professor at the University of Sydney. He is an author of several books, numerous academic articles, and a contributor to Foreign Affairs, Al Jazeera English, Quadrant, The Australian and Truthout.

Topics:
00:00 Sneak Peak
00:58 Introduction
02:06 Salvatore's favourite Indian meal
03:24 Salvatore's perspective from the outside
10:20 The purpose of international rankings
13:38 Can rankings be influenced by governments?
15:09 Are ranking organizations aware of misrepresentations?
19:49 Do personal biases of rating agencies impact the rankings?
23:43 Interpreting the rankings
26:00 What can the Indian Govt. do to influence rankings
28:32 How are Indian intellectuals unique
32:46 Bridging the gap between the intellectuals and the masses
37:20 Reforming the social sciences
41:55 Self study v/s Universities
44:00 Studying indigenous systems of social science
49:45 How to be independent and open minded

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213 - Why does India rank low on Democracy? | Salvatore Babones (Associate Prof, University of Sydney)