Great Indian dream; Super power 2020 - Igniting India's Mind - ABJ ABDUL KALAM

Great Indian dream; Super power 2020; By A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM

Dec 28, 2003. The Week CoverStory: ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL;

Igniting India's mind

The nation can use its core competence in IT, natural resources and human resources to become a knowledge superpower by 2020

The 21st century belongs to the knowledge age, where acquisition, possession and application of knowledge are the most important resources. To India, knowledge is not new. Ancient India was an advanced knowledge society with a continual process of intellectual renaissance through inspiring contributions by saints of many faiths, philosophers, poets, scientists, astronomers and mathematicians. There existed great universities like Takshasila and Nalanda where students not only from India but also from far-off countries came to study diverse subjects. Many scholars have said that India culturally conquered and dominated China for 20 centuries without sending a single soldier across the border.

This article is good, inspiring...

Year 2004 - A year of google & Open Source

2004: The year of Google and Open Source ... machan says who?

Longon, (OBSERVER NEWS SERVICE): 2004 was the year of Google and open source. It was also the year when the Apple iPod inherited the mantle of the Sony Walkman as the icon of a generation, IBM exited the PC business, Sun Microsystems entered its death throes, WiFi became a mainstream consumer product and demand for broadband in the UK exceeded all expectations.

It was the year when spam got out of control everywhere, the internet failed to change the course of the US presidential election, high street retailers felt the heat of online competition and when digital radio took off in the UK. And it was the year when the UK conceded that its ambitious targets for e-government were, well, unachievable.

Google Everywhere

Everywhere one looked, there was Google, the most extraordinary company of its generation. It floated on the stock market, but did so in its own sweet way, cutting out the cosy Wall Street racketeering that had characterised internet IPOs in the last boom. And despite spiteful predictions by investment bankers, the stock is doing just fine. But the flotation was the least interesting thing Google did last year. What we began to realise in 2004 is that Google is only incidentally about search. What its techies had been doing for years was creating the most powerful computing engine ever seen - that huge 100,000-machine Linux cluster in California. In 2004 we began to understand why. Of course the cluster could do searches better than anyone else. But it transpired that it can also do social networking (Orkut), email (Gmail), price comparison (Froogle), images (Google image search), hard-drive searching (Google Desktop Search), academic literature (Google Scholar), blogging (Blogger) and full-text indexing of major academic libraries - and who knows what else?

We’ve been watching the growth spurt of a giant. Google still has the sparkiness, elan and in-your-face cheekiness of its high-IQ founders. But it’s set to become a very rich and powerful company that aspires to structure all the world’s information. And as it grows and extends its tentacles into every niche of online life, it will get to know an awful lot about most of us. Under different management, and with more pressure from Wall Street, Google could turn into a nightmarish menace on a par with Microsoft.

Speaking of which, 2004 was the year when that noted monopolist ran into an institutional obstacle it could neither intimidate nor buy. The European Commission ruled that Microsoft’s bundling of its media-playing software with Windows was impermissible and ordered it to produce a version of Windows with the media player unbundled and pay a whopping fine.

Microsoft lodged an appeal and embarked on a legal road that will take years to traverse. It also applied to the EU’s Court of First Instance to have the commission’s ruling set aside pending the outcome of the appeal. The idea was that it could continue with its usual monopolistic practices while spinning out the legal battle to infinity. But the ploy has backfired: last week the court said ‘no’, so European customers will soon be seeing a version of Windows XP without the Microsoft Media Player. Who says there’s no such thing as Santa Claus?

Open Source, Open Sesame

This was also the year when open source software finally broke through on to the desktop. And the strange thing is that this didn’t happen via Linux or the free OpenOffice suite, but via the one piece of software that most people use every day: the web browser. Firefox is an elegant program that runs rings round Internet Explorer. The most important thing about it, though, are that it runs beautifully under Windows, is simple to download and free. As a result, Internet Explorer has begun to lose market share for the first time in years, and at an increasing rate: 5 per cent in the last two months.

The most depressing trend of 2004 was the apparently unstoppable rise of spam and malicious software. We’ve now had a year of anti-spam legislation in force on both sides of the Atlantic and it seems to have had little effect. The impact on individual users has been reduced by increasingly effective spam-blocking software, but that only stops the garbage reaching your inbox; it is still out there, clogging the arteries of the net. And it’s difficult to see how it will be stopped any time soon.

Even more worrying is the increasing vulnerability of the net to co-ordinated malware attacks. As more and more naive users get broadband access and hook up their unprotected PCs to the net, the probability of a massive, pre-planned and co-ordinated attack increases. And those who pooh-pooh the threat are like the folks who argued that a tsunami-warning system was not needed in the Indian ocean because the probability of a catastrophe there was very low. So if you want to have a happy and prosperous new year, keep your firewall on.

America, Israel, India Caused Tsunami, Conspiracy Theory Says

WEIERED NEWS - I DON'T BELIEVE - Kuttyjapan Webmaster

America, Israel, India Caused Tsunami, Conspiracy Theory Says
By Julie Stahl
CNSNews.com Jerusalem Bureau Chief
January 07, 2005

Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - The earthquake that caused tidal waves to slam into the coast of Southeast Asia, killing at least 145,000 people, could have been the result of joint American, Israeli and Indian underwater weapons testing, an Egyptian weekly and other Arab media charged.

The earthquake struck along a known fault line deep beneath the surface of the Indian Ocean on December 26, generating 30-foot swells of water that engulfed resort areas and entire villages along the coasts of Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and India.

But in the Middle East, where some prominent figures still accuse the Israeli secret service of perpetrating the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the U.S., conspiracy theories about the tsunami disaster are taking root.

The Egyptian nationalist weekly Al-Usbu' accused the U.S., Israel and India of carrying out nuclear testing that may have cased the tsunami. Those nations were testing "how to liquidate humanity," the newspaper said.

"Was [the earthquake] caused by American, Israeli, and Indian nuclear testing on 'the day of horror?' Why did the 'Ring of Fire' explode?" Mahmoud Bakri asked in his "investigative" piece published in the weekly on January 1.

"According to researchers' estimates, there are two possible [explanations] for what happened. The first is a natural, divine move, because the region is in the 'Ring of Fire,' a region subject to this destructive type of earthquakes," Bakri wrote according to a translation of the article provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute on Friday.

"The second possibility is that it was some kind of human intervention that destabilized the tectonic plates, an intervention that is caused only in nuclear experiments and explosions," he said.

The India Daily voiced similar sentiments in its December 29 posting but blamed the earthquake on the testing of an eco-weapon by its own government.

Al-Jazeera.com reports that many point the "finger of blame," not at Mother nature, but at "government cover-ups, top secret military testing in the waters of the Indian Ocean and even aliens attempting to correct Earth's 'wobbly' rotation."

India may have anti-HIV microbicide in three years

India may have anti-HIV microbicide in three years:

[Health India]: Ahmedabad, Jan 7 : Researchers say a cotton-based microbicide that would protect a woman from contracting HIV during sex could enter the market in three years' time.

Tests on the drug, being developed by researchers at Contraceptive Research and Development Programme (CONRAD) at Virginia, US, would be conducted in India and four other countries, Henry L. Gabelnick, director of CONRAD, said at the Indian Science Congress here.

The drug has entered the Phase III research stage.

The microbicide, made of cellulose sulphate, resembles a "clear, fairly viscous gel". The gel, when applied in the vagina of the woman, helps prevent the entry of HIV, he said.

Made of cotton that is treated chemically to convert it into a high molecular weight polymer, the microbicide exercises a strong attraction on the HIV coating and prevents it from entering.

"We believe the microbicide would be especially of use in India because the main problem in the country is that women do not have the power to say no.

"Most of the current AIDS prevention methods are male controlled," Gabelnick, who has been researching the contraceptive for over fifteen years, told IANS.

In India, 85 percent of AIDS cases are sexually transmitted, and according to recent studies on HIV/AIDS prevalence in India, 22 percent HIV positive cases were found to be women with single partners.

Studies by the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) has shown that only 51.2 percent men and 39.8 percent women used condoms during sex with non-regular partners, and the disease was found becoming increasingly 'feminised' with one in every four patients being a woman.

As a result, efforts to control AIDS are focusing more on women. The specially designed condoms for women introduced some years ago were not too successful after being declared "uncomfortable".

Currently around 24 microbicides are being developed around the world, Gabelnick said.

In August 2004, CONRAD met up with the Indian Council of Medical Research to discuss the drug that has been funded by the United States Agency for International Development and the Gates Foundation.

In November 2004, a World Health Organisation conference in New Delhi discussed all regulatory issues in India, Southeast Asia and China.

The drug would now be tested at the YRG Care hospital in Chennai, and a second centre, "probably in Mumbai", would soon be selected, Gabelnick said.

The other countries include Uganda, South Africa, Benin and Burkina Faso.

"But we have to be careful that the microbicide does not destroy the useful cells and body tissues. Follow ups have to be done to examine the acceptance level and also to check for long term side effects," Gabelnick said.

5 reasons why NRIs must invest in India

5 reasons why NRIs must invest in India

It is time Non-Resident Indians and foreign investors took note of India. Not just because a much publicized report has predicted that the Indian economy will become one of the world's largest by year 2050 -- which is anyway too far out to invest for.

But because there are real changes happening here; changes which will have a significant impact on India's prospects in the next decade. The opportunity is here and it is beckoning you.

It was in July 1991 that Dr Manmohan Singh, the then finance minister of India, presented his first Union Budget. India was in a crisis then and drastic measures were needed to tide over the emergency. The two-stage devaluation of the rupee marked a turning point in the Indian history. Talk of import substitution was replaced by export promotion. What transpired over the last 13 years or so is for all to see.

It is widely thought that India's external sector performance will continue to be good. To believe this, one needs to look at the outsourcing revolution that is taking place across the globe, in not only the services but also the manufacturing and research sectors. On the investment side, liberal rules and better and well-regulated markets are drawing in capital to fund India's growth.

The numbers pretty much tell the story. But one needs to keep in mind that during this period the world witnessed several crises involving Mexico (1995), South-East Asia (1997), Russia (1998) and then, of course, the global economic slowdown that followed the stock market meltdown in early 2000. These crises spread to other countries too. But the impact on India was more muted than one would have expected.

As the Reserve Bank of India often highlights, this is so because of the 'resilience' of Indian economy. This resilience is clearly illustrated in the overall economic growth posted by India over the last many years (last 10 year average of 6.1 percent p.a) and the benign inflationary environment

But then this is history. And investing today requires a good understanding on what can be expected going forward. This is where one can take a break from numbers and list out five big reasons you should invest in India.

1. You can't ignore the resilience

It has been close to 20 years since the reforms process started, with the main push coming with the twin devaluations in 1991. During this period numerous developments have taken place that have contributed to the resilience of the Indian economy.

Key amongst these are the opening up of the Indian economy to foreign investment, strengthening of the domestic financial system, liberalization of imports, rationalization of interest and exchange rates, a more conducive environment for investing in industry, and of course, the people-intensive services sector.

This resilience is clearly reflected in the fact that average economic growth rates have moved up (peaking at 8.2 percent in the financial year ending March 2004) and India has emerged as one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Even the change in the government has not stymied growth completely (in fact, there is an improvement in overall growth rates).

Going forward the benefits of these measures will become more pronounced as focus shifts to implementation. Coupled with the expected shift in the demographics which should see a larger share of the Indian population falling in the 'working class' age bracket, the Indian economy can be expected to perform better over the next decade.

2. Renewed focus on agriculture, infrastructure

In recent years there has been a renewed focus on two key but long ignored segments of the Indian economy – agriculture (about 22 percent of the economy) and infrastructure. The focus on agriculture and related activities, which supports approximately 65 percent of the Indian population, should provide a new thrust area for economic growth.

Although the results will take time to show, when they do, the impact will be huge. An increase in output, productivity and value-add will lead to higher income levels for India's large rural population. This will aid investment and consumption activity leading to higher overall economic growth in the long term.

Belatedly the government has taken note of the poor state of infrastructure. Highway development, power sector reforms and substantial investment in building a pan-India telecom/internet network are just three of the several new initiatives underway which will help improve the quality of infrastructure.

An overall improvement in infrastructure will add to the competitiveness of the economy. Of course, in the interim, as these projects are implemented, the economy will get a boost as investment demand will surge (for example to build roads you need among other inputs people, machinery, steel and cement).

3. Benefits of foreign direct investment

Undeniably, foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows have stagnated in recent years (though interest in India is unarguably increasing). But its significance cannot be lost (we only need to look at China to understand this). Not only does FDI augment domestic capital and help increase productive capacity of the economy, it also brings in with it world class technology, processes and products/services, and jobs.

The benefits of these lessons are likely to be more pronounced in India, which is way behind developed countries. This should help the economy leapfrog in some sense, boosting productivity and competitiveness. Higher productivity could again trigger a virtuous circle of higher incomes, higher consumption activity and even higher investment.

4. The global outsourcing boom

Whenever one talks about outsourcing, Indian business process outsourcing companies come to mind. More often than not, the understanding is that the BPO is a call centre. Rightly so, given that this is where it all started. But there is much more to this outsourcing boom than is commonly understood. Fortunately, India stands to benefit from it in a great measure.

Some examples of the kind of 'outsourcing' work that could find its way to India: research and development for various products and services (including pharmaceuticals), manufacturing of auto parts (forgings, et cetera) and complete IT departments and networks. As confidence in India's abilities grows, more value-added work would come through.

Competitiveness in this sector would be sustained by declining/stagnating infrastructure costs (a case in point is the declining telecom rates which are a key cost for BPOs) and ample supply of skilled manpower.

As outsourced services tend to be people intensive (in 2002 it was estimated that 4 million jobs in the sector and support services will be created by 2008), significant benefits could be reaped by India over the next decade. Higher employment and better incomes would once again contribute significantly to overall economic growth.

5. Well-regulated and deep capital markets

The Indian stock and debt markets (including banks and mutual funds) are well regulated by the Securities and Exchange Board of India and the RBI. Not that there are no irregularities that are committed (we are still trying to book all the culprits of the scams that rocked the country in 1992 and 2000). But the overall regulatory environment has improved dramatically in recent years.

Redressal measures are well laid out and this makes it easier to protect one's interest. In terms of infrastructure the Indian institutional framework is improving rapidly, backed by a strong financial system. By some measures Indian markets compare with the best globally!

In terms of choice, the Indian markets are right up there. Be it stocks, mutual funds, deposits or life insurance. The market is deep and liquidity is no major concern for individual investors.

India today offers a great investment opportunity. To make the most of it, investors need to take adequate precautions while committing funds to India. One way you can minimize the risk of fraud or bad advice is by selecting a credible financial advisor.

Finally, a note of caution. There will be ups and downs. Things may even not turn out the way one expects them to. But then if you have done your home work well, you stand a better chance of meeting your goals

India shows its sphere of influence to the world- The Times of India

WASHINGTON: India's geo-strategic ambition and importance may have been recognized in one epiphanic instant that occurred in front of a map spread out before three American presidents at the Indian Embassy in Washington on Monday.

India's ambassador Ronen Sen was explaining to George Bush, Bush Sr and Bill Clinton how the tsunami raced towards India when there was a pause and a raised eyebrow. The Indian island territory of Andaman and Nicobar was closer to Indonesia than India?

Indeed, Sen explained, the southern most tip of Nicobar Island called Indira Point was almost 1000 miles from the Indian coast and a mere 60 nautical miles from the epicenter of the earthquake just off the Indonesian coast.

In that pivotal instant, New Delhi may have driven home its strategic range, reach and ambition that for most part has escaped major powers and leaders of the world, including a geographically accomplished president like Bill Clinton.

As major powers of the world summon their financial and military might to help the victims, New Delhi has put its own imprint on the region in the wake of the tragedy.

While some may find talk of geo-strategy repugnant in the face of the disaster, western analysts are following every move by the US and Asian powers in the region. Several commentaries have spoken of which country is outmaneuvering the other.

For instance, it has been noted that Japan, with a $ 500 million aid package, has outshone both the United States ($ 350 million), and China, which committed only $ 63 million despite its higher military stakes in the region. India has always been sniffy about Chinese presence in the area.

India's aid of $ 23 million rushed to Sri Lanka within hours of the disaster has also been noticed, along with the deployment of what is now being seen as the most potent navy in the Indian Ocean. New Delhi has dispatched three survey ships converted to hospitals-at-sea – one to Nicobar, one to Sri Lanka, and one to Bandar Aceh in Indonesia.

The reason why India was approached to join the team of core nations was because it is a country with major capabilities. We have the largest navy in the Indian Ocean," Ambassador Sen acknowledged, adding, "There are good reasons why it is called the Indian Ocea...it has always been in the Indian sphere of influence."

To get a measure of India's territorial expanse, Sen said western experts should try superimposing the map of Europe over that of India. It is often overlooked, even by Indians, that the distance from Delhi to Dushanbe in Central Asia is less than to many southern Indian cities, he said, recalling the vision of J.N.Dixit, India's National Security Advisor who died on Sunday.

"Sad as it is, it took the tsunami to realize India's expanse," Sen said. "Even the British who drew our maps first have no idea of this now."

President Bush, who has repeatedly credited New Delhi India with justifiable global power aspirations despite its myriad problems, virtually affirmed its credentials after his visit to the embassy. He even announced his intention to visit India this year.

"I want to thank the Indian government for taking a lead in this issue. One of the first things that we did was to put together a core group of nations, nations that are capable of organizing relief efforts around the region, and the Indian government has been especially strong, as a part of this core group," Bush acknowledged.

More info at India shows its sphere of influence to the world- The Times of India

Was Nagapattinam hit by a tsunami in 900 AD?

CHENNAI: When high tidal waves hit India the last time before Sunday, they were not called "tsunami" waves as they are now known. Ancient scriptures and literature have evidence that waves from the Indian Ocean did hit the Nagapattinam in 900 AD and destroyed a Buddhist monastery.
According to literature available in the library of the Thondaiman kingdom in Pudukottai, Tamil Nadu, it was during the reign of Raja Raja Chozha (read Chola) that waves had washed away the monastery and several temples and killed hundreds of people. There is evidence of this even in Kalki Krishnamurthy’s novel "Ponniyin Selvan — The Pinnacle of Sacrifice".

In the chapter "The Sea Rises", the author explains how the sea had risen so high it seemed to be touching the mass of dark clouds suspended in the sky. The black mountain of water, far from being stationary, was moving steadily forward. The sea inundated warehouses and sheds and began to flow into the streets. Ships and boats seemed suspended in mid-air, precariously poised on the water peaks.

More about such havoc is described in the great epic "Sillapathikaram", written in Tamil 2,000 years ago by Elango Adigal. He recorded how Cauvery Poompatinam, now known as Poompuhar, was destroyed and today we find the ruins excavated by the ASI.

Will you get a higher salary in '05? - May be in India

India has shown the highest average salary increase in the Asia-Pacific region during 2004, beating China, Korea and Japan, according to a survey by global human resources firm Hewitt Associates. And the happy news is that the trend is to continue to 2005. So, you may one of lucky few get a hike in 2005.

Hewitt surveyed more than 1,000 foreign, locally owned, and joint venture companies in Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand.

The study measured actual and projected salary increases, and compensation practices for five specific job categories, namely senior/top management, manager, professional/technical/supervisory, clerical/support, and manual workers.

Visit http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/977238.cms for more information

Massive earthquakes in North East India predicted by angular momentum and aftershock traversal theories

India Daily � Massive earthquakes in North East India predicted by angular momentum and aftershock traversal theories:

"Government of India avoids panic but angular momentum and aftershock traversal theories point towards massive earthquakes in North East India"

According to some in US, the aftershocks are traversing rapidly along the north ridge of the Andaman fault lines and nay affect the Northeast India especially some of the faulty crust of the earth in Assam and Meghalaya.

The Government avoided panic and stated that there is nothing to worry. However, sources tell us that Indian Army, Air Force and other security personnel are talking preemptive precautions to protect themselves and the common people in these areas.

India shows it can manage on its own - The Economic Times

India shows it can manage on its own - The Economic Times

NEW DELHI: Within hours of the tsunami, India geared up for its biggest-ever relief operation, but not just with its own devastated coasts in sight.

As New Delhi launched a relief effort along the eastern coast, 10 warships, backed by helicopters and transport aircraft and loaded with relief supplies, also headed for Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Maldives, three neighbours badly hit in one of the world’s worst natural disasters.

A country campaigning for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, India refused to portray itself as a helpless victim.

“India has been trying to convey the image that it is a regional power, and a credible power in terms of having the ability to step in when required,” said Uday Bhaskar of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses. “Both these objectives are met with the current deployment.”