Many thanks for your comment on the article on corruption and development posted on The South Asian Idea Weblog.

I would like to clarify an objective of the blog. It is designed to engage college students in South Asia in conversations on topics of interest. The premise is that learning would take place in the course of that conversation.

The strategy therefore is not to present the last word on a topic as one would for an academic journal. Rather, we prefer to identify one or two new twists and use that as a thread to guide the ensuing discussion. We feel that this is the best strategy for our target audience which could include a BA student in Sahiwal, for example.

The problem with a blog is that one cannot limit it to the target audience. When more advanced readers come across such a post they do tend to notice its limitations especially when they are not aware of the underlying objective (described at: http://thesouthasianidea.wordpress.com/2007/12/09/hello-world/)

I hope this explains what we are trying to do. I also hope that you would help us by adding your thoughts to the discussions on the blog.