NewsAhead

Leave the Kids Alone!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Bibin) — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 12:01:00 +0000

Its been some time that i have been moved by a Hindi Movie. But "Taare Zameen Par" exactly did the same. It tells the story of Ishaan Awasthi, a nine-year-old boy who suffers from undetected dyslexia The film potrays beautifully Ishaan's frustration of his disability to do things which a normal kid would have done and his lone struggle against the world (people around him). This movie is the directorial debut of Aamir Khan and he does justice to the story in true Aamir style.

Coming to the film - the direction has been exceptional. We have seen many Hindi movies (and many Indian Movies) where child artists looks quite horrible, Not in this movie. This is indeed a child's movie, Aamir Khan (who is one hindi superstar) come toward the interval. Actually he is just having a supporting role in this movie, so do all the grown ups. The hero of the story Ishaan Awasthi ( quite wonderfully potrayed by Darsheel Safary) is a easy go kid, who reminds all of us (atleast myself) of our childhood. Tisca Chopra and Vipin Sharma as Ishaan's parents were good. All the child artists in the film played their part perfectly. Ishaan has a reading problem and he cannot understand words. The first half of the film details the failure of the people surrounding Ishaan ( his parents and teachers) to understand his problem. Ishaan is made to look like an idiot by the system around him and he fights the system by some reactions which others term as by a spoiled naughty kid. Ishaan is shifted to a boarding school (obviously against his will as a punitive measure) where he meets a part time art teacher (Ram Shankar Nikumbh played by Aamir) who notices the child's problem. Nikumbh himself was a dyslexia person and could identify himself with Ishaan Awasthi. The rest of the film is how Ishaan with the help of Nikumbh overcomes his difficulty and suceed in life.

The film also describes the Indian middle class hangover with academic achievements. Ishaan's older brother Yohaan is quite opposite to himself. He is the type of child who cares of each lost marks and has been breeded to fight the great middle class struggle for existence. In contrast Ishaan lives in his dreams, he is fond of his paintings and has a mind which take notice of the simplest things he see.

The film came at a time when the rush for getting into IIM's and IIT's is at the worst. I work in a service industry and had my formal training in Hyderabad. There the above mentioned rush is at the worst. Children gets up at three in the morning and reaches their tution centres by four in the morning and from there they will go to their schools or colleges, they will be back in home by late 10pm or maybe further late. The next day the same schedule continues. In my childhood this rush for success I thought was at the worst, but seeing today's children I realised how fortunate was myself. Me and my parents never knew about IIT's and IIM's till I joined college for 11th and 12th, and it should be one instance were lack of awareness comes as blessing. Maybe in the future children in India will know their teachers and books more than their parents. Indian Government has passed a law which makes not taking care of your parents a punishable offence. Is the children to be blamed here, they hardly get to know their parents and bond with them, they are mostly attending tutions and classes. Without that emotional bond, a parent-child relationship is just another relationship.

There is a very destructive trend in India, children are trained and breeded to suceed in things the parents have failed. They are made to fight their parent's battle not their own. In the film the art teacher shows his frustration by saying "If they are looking for breeding horses for race ahead, then get a breed horse not a child". I have seen many instances where parents try to fulfil their dreams (which they could not achieve) through their kids. We train their mind for this and call this as discipline, we never let their mind fly free so that they fulfil your dreams. In the course of these, we create a generation with no dreams of their won.

Every parent wants their children to be Albert Enstein, but anybody wants them to be themselves? Albert Einstein once said "The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing." But in todays world we term the children's curiosity as stupidity and discourage them from expressing it. In National geopgraphic Channel a new show has started "My Brilliant Brain", if somebody can destroy whatever hope the future children have, Nat Geo just did that. One episode was about Albert Einstein, the Genius - that was good. Another was about a kid who can play Beethoven and Mozart at a age of eight. He has been trained from a very young age and "My Brilliant Brain" gives scientific justification in training kids at an young age. The kids mother complains that he gets frustrated in the company of other children beacuase they can't understand music, Mozart etc. Excuse Me!!!! Whose mistake is that. She has breeded her child like a grown up and now she expect other kids to behave like him? I never heard stories of Einsten, Edison, Newton, Hawking studying 10th standard science at age of 6 or 7. Their brains could have easily coped with that, indeed they could have exelled in that. What this program will instill in parents is another rush to train their children as young as possible, this feature could and will do more damage than good.

Angela Schwindt once said "While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about." Are we listening.

NB: "There are two ways to live your life - one is as though nothing is a miracle, the other is as though everything is a miracle." - Albert Einstein.
"You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within himself." - Galileo.

Weapons Of Mass Destruction

noreply@blogger.com (Bibin) — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 06:50:00 +0000

At 11:10 am on Tuesday, April 20 1999, Eric David Harris (18) and Dylan Bennet Klebold (17) arrived at their school – Columbine High School. Harris parked in the junior student parking lot and Klebold in the senior student parking lot at spaces not assigned to them. From then they went in a shooting spree across the campus – terrorizing and killing 15 and injuring another 24 before committing suicide. The amount of weapons and ammunition these two teens carried would have put Arnold’s Terminator to shame. They had Intratec TEC-DC9, Hi-Point 995 Carbine, Savage 67H pump-action shotgun, Stevens 311D double barreled sawed-off shotgun and bombs made with carbon dioxide canisters, galvanized pipe, and metal propane bottles. Their initial plan was to detonate bombs in cafeteria and shoot at those kids who would be fleeing once the bombs went off. Their initial plans were changed once the bombs didn’t go off. Then they ran shooting all those who came infront of them. A detailed description of the massacre could be found here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbine_High_School_massacre.

What prompted these kids to such a violent act was debated heavily in media all over the world. The massacre also provoked debate regarding gun control laws, the availability of firearms in the United States, and gun violence involving youths. Much discussion also centered on the nature of high school cliques, subcultures and bullying, as well as the role of violent movies and video games in American society. The shooting also resulted in an increased emphasis on school security, and a moral panic aimed at Goth culture, social pariahs, the gun culture, the use of pharmaceutical anti-depressants by teenagers, violent films and music, teenage internet use, and violent video games.

But what really worrying is the amount and type of weapons and ammunition these kids got hold of. As Harris and Klebold were both underage at the time, Robyn Anderson, an 18-year-old Columbine student and old friend of Dylan Klebold's, made a straw purchase of two shotguns and Hi-Point 995 Carbine for Harris and Klebold. Two men named Mark Manes and Philip Duran were found to have supplied a TEC-DC9 semi-automatic handgun to the two boys. It has been estimated that had any of the bombs placed in the cafeteria actually detonated properly, the blast could have caused extensive structural damage to the school and resulted in up to 250 casualties. It is also worrying the delay that the law enforcement authorities took, if some of them were a little brave to put their life in the line of fire, the death toll would not have been this big.

If we examine carefully, this incident and similar incidents which preceded and succeeded this one (till Virginia Tech Massacre) – one thing is very clear that the easy accessibility to arms is one reason these massacre took place. The list of school shooting all over the world is following:

United States

* University of Texas at Austin massacre - Austin, Texas, United States; August 1, 1966

* Orangeburg Massacre - Orangeburg, South Carolina, United States; February 8, 1968

* Kent State shootings - Kent, Ohio, United States; May 4, 1970

* Jackson State killings - Jackson, Mississippi, United States; May 14-15, 1970

* California State University, Fullerton Library Massacre - Fullerton, California, United States; July 12, 1976

* Brenda Ann Spencer, Cleveland Elementary School - January 29, 1979

* Parkway South Junior High School shooting - Saint Louis, Missouri, United States; January 20, 1983

* Stockton massacre - Stockton, California, United States; January 17, 1989

* University of Iowa shooting - Iowa City, Iowa, United States; November 1, 1991

* Simon's Rock College of Bard shooting - Great Barrington, Massachusetts, United States; December 14, 1992

* O. Henry Middle School shooting - Austin, Texas, United States; February 5, 1995.

* Richland High School shooting - Lynnville, Tennessee, United States; November 15, 1995.

* Frontier Junior High shooting - Moses Lake, Washington, United States; February 2, 1996

* Pearl High School shooting, Pearl, Mississippi, United States; October 1, 1997

* Heath High School shooting, West Paducah, Kentucky, United States; December 1, 1997

* Jonesboro massacre - Jonesboro, Arkansas, United States; March 24, 1998

* Thurston High School shooting - Springfield, Oregon, United States; May 21, 1998

* Columbine High School massacre - Littleton, Colorado, United States; April 20, 1999

* Heritage High School shooting - Conyers, Georgia, United States; May 20, 1999

* Santana High School - Santee, California, United States; March 5, 2001

* Appalachian School of Law shooting - Grundy, Virginia, United States; January 16, 2002

* Rocori High School shootings - Cold Spring, Minnesota, United States; September 24, 2003

* Red Lake High School massacre - Red Lake, Minnesota, United States; March 21, 2005

* Campbell County High School - Jacksboro, Tennessee: November 8, 2005

* Platte Canyon High School shooting - Bailey, Colorado, United States; September 27, 2006

* Amish school shooting - Nickel Mines, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States; October 2, 2006

* Weston High School shooting, Cazenovia, Wisconsin September 29, 2006

* Henry Foss High School - Tacoma, Washington, United States January 3, 2007

* Virginia Tech massacre - Blacksburg, Virginia, United States; April 16, 2007

Canada

* Brampton Centennial Secondary School, Ontario, Canada - May, 1975

* École Polytechnique Massacre - Montreal, Quebec, Canada; December 6, 1989

* Concordia University massacre - Montreal, Quebec, Canada; August 24, 1992

* W. R. Myers High School shooting - Taber, Alberta, Canada; April 28, 1999

* Dawson College shooting - Montreal, Quebec, Canada; September 13, 2006

* C.W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute shooting - Toronto, Ontario, Canada; May 23, 2007

Israel

* Ma'alot massacre - Ma'alot, Israel; May 15, 1974

* Avivim school bus attacks - Avivim, Israel; May 8, 1970

Other countries

* Dunblane massacre - Dunblane, Scotland, United Kingdom; March 13, 1996

* Sanaa massacre - Sanaa, Yemen; March 30, 1997

* Erfurt massacre - Erfurt, Germany; April 26, 2002

* Monash University shooting - Melbourne, Australia; October 21, 2002

* Beirut Arab University shooting - Beirut, Lebanon; January 25, 2007

In most of these incidents, the perpetrator would have committed the crime with a weapon of his parents or close relatives. In most of the case the reaction is more of an impulsive manner than a planned manner (except in cases like Columbine Massacre, Port Arthur Massacre, Virginia tech etc). Unfortunately the life being lost in the planned massacre is very huge. It may be a rage over something for some time which acts as a catalyst here. The easy access to weapons increases the aggression many fold. I still remember some thing my late grandfather told me. He always advised us not to carry any king of weapons with us, however small it might be. His theory was that when you get into a scuffle with someone, there is a high chance that you might use those. Its not that you planned or thought about doing, but it just happens. One thing which is common is the ordeal through which the victims and their families that go through. This doesn’t change. Please visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Arthur_massacre_%28Australia%29 to read about the Port Arthur Massacre. This will give a picture of the pains the victims have to go through. My belief is that the easy availability of the weapons and the loneliness or bullying they have to face both is reason for these massacres. The idea of strict Gun control measure is the one way out of the problem. I don’t understand the logic on which people have to arm themselves. How can it be justified when the police force in most European and North American agencies are very efficient? Like some lyrics said “How can you hold a Gun and call you innocent?” How can you still cry for the victim when you are not doing anything to prevent it? In most places the reaction to these incidents are the same – “Everyone cried for better gun control and ban for some time” and after that everything subdued. Like the saying “People have a very short memory” these all incidents have slowly faded from our memory and will be awaken again when it’s going to repeat again. Then also every one of us will debate and then we will forget. We will not react unless tragedy strike us in the form of beloved ones, then it might be too late. Can’t we give our children a future where they are safe at least to go to school.

Until and unless we get up and do some thing, we can look for the next red rose to be placed in the memory of the next victim of another massacre, with a small prayer –“God, Don’t put me on the victim list”. A-bomb in Japan killed more than 200,000, but small arms kills more than 500,000 a year. When can we get rid of them? Stopping my article with a call for universal Gun banning (at least ban it from civilians) and in memories of hundreds of victims of school and campus massacre, especially in the memories of these two beautiful kids – Madeline Mikac and Alannah Mikac.Look at their innocent faces.

http://www.amf.org.au/

Sanjay Dutt and Us

noreply@blogger.com (Bibin) — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 06:04:00 +0000

As expected the sentencing of Sanjay Dutt has evoked a wide variety of response from all over India across all the community. There is a wave of sympathy for the actors fate, which is been contributed by the success of his movies(like Munnabhai). There is a huge section of media and celebrities who are drumming up that he has been given a raw deal by the Judge. There is accusation from one particular section that he (the Judge)is trying to enter the history books (Now thats a revelation - If by convicting a celebrity a person can make his mark in history, then damn that history).
Against this backdrop I would like to congratulate the Judge(Special Judge P.D. Kode) for a job well done. During delivering the verdict he never tried to hide the fact that he was a fan of Dutt and given enough encouragement to the convict. He never allowed his personal admiration for the convict come in between his duty and he has done a wonderful Job.
The celebrity circle and the useless Indian media is drumming up public emotions against the verdict and are successful to an extent. The reactions by the celebrities are quite extra ordinary. They all agree that he has committed a crime, but needed a more light punishment. The court has found him guilty of Indian Arms Act section 3 and 7.

Section 3 deals with possessing a firearm(he had a 9mm pistol without licence) without a license.

Section 7 deals with Prohibition of acquisition or possession, or of manufacture or sale of prohibited arms or prohibited ammunition(he had a AK-56 rifle which is prohibitted).

Under these sections Dutt was entitled to a jail term of 5-10 years, of which he got six years(the prosecution as usual asked for ten years). Now looking at the verdict we can see that the sentence in itself was a fair one. The convicts version that he obtained an AK-56 rifle for self protection itself is completely flawed. First of all AK-56 is classified as an Assault Rifle like its brother in arm AK-47. (Now that will explain why the prison term prescribed is between 5-10 years). At the time of arrest he was the son of an MP Sunil Dutt(I am a big admirer of him), and if a son of MP needs AK-56 for protection then we all better be dead. The justification given by his friends and media that he is a nice person to the core may not stand any judicial review. First of all, being a nice person does not give you protection from the crimes you commit. Secondly this nice person had many link ups with most of the members from Underworld.

Now from the reaction from celebrities circle, they want us to have two IPC one for common people and one for the high class celebrities. Maybe this is the way forward and we will be heading very soon to create two kind of citizenship

Some Photographs that changed the World

noreply@blogger.com (Bibin) — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 05:58:00 +0000

Anne Frank 1941

Six million Jews died in the Holocaust. For many throughout the world, one teenage girl gave them a story and a face. She was Anne Frank, the adolescent who, according to her diary, retained her hope and humanity as she hid with her family in an Amsterdam attic. In 1944 the Nazis, acting on a tip, arrested the Franks; Anne and her sister died of typhus at Bergen-Belsen only a month before the camp was liberated. The world came to know her through her words and through this ordinary portrait of a girl of 14. She stares with big eyes, wearing an enigmatic expression, gazing at a future that the viewer knows will never come.

Biafra 1969

When the Igbos of eastern Nigeria declared themselves independent in 1967, Nigeria blockaded their fledgling country-Biafra. In three years of war, more than one million people died, mainly of hunger. In famine, children who lack protein often get the disease kwashiorkor, which causes their muscles to waste away and their bellies to protrude. War photographer Don McCullin drew attention to the tragedy. "I was devastated by the sight of 900 children living in one camp in utter squalor at the point of death," he said. "I lost all interest in photographing soldiers in action." The world community intervened to help Biafra, and learned key lessons about dealing with massive hunger exacerbated by war-a problem that still defies simple solutions.

Birmingham 1963

For years, Birmingham, Ala., was considered “the South’s toughest city,” home to a large black population and a dominant class of whites that met in frequent, open hostility. Birmingham in 1963 had become the cause célèbre of the black civil rights movement as nonviolent demonstrators led by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. repeatedly faced jail, dogs and high-velocity hoses in their tireless quest to topple segregation. This picture of people being pummeled by a liquid battering ram rallied support for the plight of the blacks.

Tatyana Nikolayevna Savicheva

Tatyana Nikolayevna Savicheva , commonly referred to as Tanya Savicheva (Таня Савичева) (January 25, 1930 - July 1, 1944) was a Russian child diarist who died during the Siege of Leningrad during World War II. Born on January 25, 1930, she was the youngest child in the family of baker Nikolay Rodionovich Savichev and seamstress Mariya Ignatievna Savicheva. Her father died when Tanya was only six, leaving Mariya Savicheva with five children — three girls, Tanya, Jenya and Nina and two boys, Mikhail and Leka.

The family planned to spend the summer of 1941 in the countryside but the invasion of the Soviet Union by Germany on June 22 ruined their plans. All of them, except Mikhail, who had already left, decided to stay in Leningrad. Each of them worked to support the army: Mariya Ignatievna sewed the uniforms, Leka worked as a planer at the Admiralty Plant, Jenya worked at the munitions factory, Nina worked at the construction of city defences, and Uncle Vasya and uncle Lesha served in the anti-aircraft defence. Even Tanya, then only eleven years old, was digging the trenches and putting out firebombs.

One day Nina went to work and never came back; she was sent to Lake Ladoga and then urgently evacuated. The family was unaware of this and thought her dead.

After a few days in memory of Nina, Mariya Ignatievna gave to Tanya a small notebook that belonged to her sister and that would later become Tanya's diary. Tanya had a real diary once, a thick notebook where she recorded everything important in her life. She burned it when nothing was left to heat the stove in winter, but she spared her sister's notebook.

The first record in it appeared on December 28. Each day Jenya got up when it was still dark outside. She walked seven kilometers to the plant, where she worked for two shifts every day making mine cases. After the work she would donate her blood. Her weak body could not endure. She died at the plant where she worked. Then grandmother Evdokiya Grigorievna died. Then Tanya's brother Leka. Then, one after another, uncle Vasya and uncle Lesha died. Her mother was the last. That time Tanya probably browsed through the pages and added her final remark.

In August 1942 140 children were rescued from Leningrad and brought to Krasny Bor village. All of them survived, except Tanya. Anastasiya Karpova, a teacher in the Krasny Bor orphanage, wrote to Tanya's brother Mikhail, who was lucky to be outside of Leningrad in 1941: "Tanya is now alive, but she doesn't look healthy. A doctor, who visited her recently, says she is very ill. She needs rest, special care, nutrition, better climate and, most of all, tender motherly care". On May 1944 Tanya was sent to Shatkovsky hospital, where she died only a month later, on July 1, 1944.

During the Nuremberg trials, one of the documents presented by the Allied prosecutors was the small notebook that once belonged to Tanya.

Nina Savicheva and Mikhail Savichev returned to Leningrad after the war. The diary of Tanya Savicheva is now displayed at the Museum of Leningrad History and a copy is displayed at the Piskarevsky Memorial Cemetery.

Breaker Boys1910

What Charles Dickens did with words for the underage toilers of London, Lewis Hine did with photographs for the youthful laborers in the United States. In 1908 the National Child Labor Committee was already campaigning to put the nation’s two million young workers back in school when the group hired Hine. The Wisconsin native traveled to half the states, capturing images of children working in mines, mills and on the streets. Here he has photographed “breaker boys,” whose job was to separate coal from slate, in South Pittston, Pa. Once again, pictures swayed the public in a way cold statistics had not, and the country enacted laws banning child labor.

Execution of a Viet Cong Guerrilla 1968

With North Vietnam’s Tet Offensive beginning, Nguyen Ngoc Loan, South Vietnam’s national police chief, was doing all he could to keep Viet Cong guerrillas from Saigon. As Loan executed a prisoner who was said to be a Viet Cong captain, AP photographer Eddie Adams opened the shutter. Adams won a Pulitzer Prize for a picture that, as much as any, turned public opinion against the war.

Kent State 1970

When President Richard Nixon said he was sending troops to

Cambodia

, the nation’s colleges erupted in protest. At Kent State some threw rocks. The Ohio National Guard, called in to quell the turmoil, suddenly turned and fired, killing four; two were simply walking to class. This photo captured a pivotal moment: American soldiers had just killed American kids. Student photographer John Filo won the Pulitzer; the event was also memorialized in a Neil Young song and a TV movie. The girl, Mary Ann Vecchio, turned out not to be a Kent State student, but a 14-year-old runaway. She was sent back to her family in Florida.

Hazel Bryant - Another Landmark Image

It was the fourth school year since segregation had been outlawed by the Supreme Court. Things were not going well, and some southerners accused the national press of distorting matters. This picture, however, gave irrefutable testimony, as Elizabeth Eckford strides through a gantlet of white students, including Hazel Bryant (mouth open the widest), on her way to Little Rock’s Central High.

Lynching 1930

A mob of 10,000 whites took sledgehammers to the county jailhouse doors to get at these two young blacks accused of raping a white girl; the girl’s uncle saved the life of a third by proclaiming the man’s innocence. Although this was Marion, Ind., most of the nearly 5,000 lynchings documented between Reconstruction and the late 1960s were perpetrated in the South. (Hangings, beatings and mutilations were called the sentence of “Judge Lynch.”) Some lynching photos were made into postcards designed to boost white supremacy, but the tortured bodies and grotesquely happy crowds ended up revolting as many as they scared. Today the images remind us that we have not come as far from barbarity as we’d like to think.

Galloping Horse 1878

Was there a moment midstride when horses had all hooves off the ground? Leland Stanford, the railroad baron and future university founder, bet there was—or at least that’s the story. It was 1872 when Stanford hired noted landscape photographer Eadweard Muybridge to figure it out. It took years, but Muybridge delivered: He rigged a racetrack with a dozen strings that triggered 12 cameras. Muybridge not only proved Stanford right but also set off the revolution in motion photography that would become movies. Biographer Rebecca Solnit summed up his life: “He is the man who split the second, as dramatic and far-reaching an action as the splitting of the atom.”

Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire 1911

The Triangle Shirtwaist Company always kept its doors locked to ensure that the young immigrant women stayed stooped over their machines and didn’t steal anything. When a fire broke out on Saturday, March 25, 1911, on the eighth floor of the New York City factory, the locks sealed the workers’ fate. In just 30 minutes, 146 were killed. Witnesses thought the owners were tossing their best fabric out the windows to save it, then realized workers were jumping, sometimes after sharing a kiss (the scene can be viewed now as an eerie precursor to the World Trade Center events of September, 11, 2001, only a mile and a half south). The Triangle disaster spurred a national crusade for workplace safety.

Tiananmen Square 1989

A hunger strike by 3,000 students in Beijing had grown to a protest of more than a million as the injustices of a nation cried for reform. For seven weeks the people and the People’s Republic, in the person of soldiers dispatched by a riven Communist Party, warily eyed each other as the world waited. When this young man simply would not move, standing with his meager bags before a line of tanks, a hero was born. A second hero emerged as the tank driver refused to crush the man, and instead drove his killing machine around him. Soon this dream would end, and blood would fill Tiananmen. But this picture had shown a billion Chinese that there is hope

Omayra Sánchez

Omayra Sánchez was a 13-year old victim of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano which erupted on November 13, 1985 in Armero, Colombia, causing massive lahars which killed nearly 25,000. She was trapped for 3 days in water, concrete, and other debris before she died. Her image was taken by photojournalist, Frank Fournier, shortly before she died. The image caused controversy due to the photographer's work and the Colombian government's inaction in working to prevent the Armero tragedy despite the forewarning that had been available, when it was published worldwide after the young girl's death.

Sudan 1994

" PULITZER PRIZE " winning photo taken in 1994 during the Sudan famine.

The picture depicts a famine stricken child crawling towards an United Nations food camp, located a kilometer away.
The vulture is waiting for the child to die so that it can eat it. This picture shocked the whole world. No one knows what happened to the child, including the photographer Kevin Carter who left the place as soon as the photograph was taken.
Three months later he committed suicide due to depression.

Vietnam War

Kim Phuc was the subject of a Pulitzer-Prize winning photograph during the Vietnam War taken in 1972, when she was a child, running naked down a road, screaming in pain from the napalm that was burning through her skin. The photograph has come to epitomize the tragedy of the Vietnam War. Ironically, this incident did not involve any American participation, and their impact in Vietnam was minimal. In the United States, however, the impact of this scene was tremendous, and uniformly negative. Practically everyone old enough to have viewed the news during those years remembers this scene and others like them, with a combination of revulsion and disgust.

US Marines 2004

The night before the burial of her husband's body, Katherine Cathey refused to leave the casket, asking to sleep next to his body for the last time. The Marines made a bed for her, tucking in the sheets below the flag. Before she fell asleep, she opened her laptop computer and played songs that reminded her of "Cat," and one of the Marines asked if she wanted them to continue standing watch as she slept. "I think it would be kind of nice if you kept doing it," she said. "I think that's what he would have wanted."

Rwanda 1998

Rwandan Hutu refugees with as many possesions as they can carry trudge along a highway near Benaco Junction in Tanzania. They had tried to flee further away from Rwanda, into Tanzania, but had been turned back by Tanzanian soldiers. Several of the refugees said they would walk all the way through Kenya or Malawi just so they could return to Rwanda.

Celebrating The Life Of Oskar Shindler

noreply@blogger.com (Bibin) — Fri, 04 May 2007 10:00:00 +0000

Celebrate The Life Of Oskar Shindler

Let me take the opportunity to wish this real human being a “Very belated happy Birthday”.

Oskar Schindler was born on 28 April 1908 in Zwittau, then part of Moravia, Austria-Hungary (Zwittau is now known as Svitavy in the modern Czech Re public). Like many in his times, Schindler was an opportunistic businessman – one who sought to profit from the German Invasion of Poland. Oskar Schindler arrives in Krakow as an unsuccessful businessman and was there to get benefited from the cheap Jew labor to do his business. Like many of us our entire knowledge of Oskar Schindler comes from the movie “Schindler’s List” and the book “Schindler’s Ark” by Thomas Keneally.

The life of Schindler has so much relevance in today’s multi polar world. He was no Gandhi or Mandela, nor did him resembled Christ or Buddha. Rather, he was a deeply flawed man. He was a Nazi and a war profiteer. A compulsive womaniser, he was frequently disloyal to his wife. After the war, he even abandoned her in Argentina to return to Germany. An incurable spendthrift,he lost millions in his pursuit of the good life. When he died, he was penniless... Yet, at a time when far more moral men and women had been caught up in Hitler's xenophobia or reduced to being mere spectators to what was happening by their own fear, this man answered the call of conscience. At the time, he had no crystal ball to tell him that his actions would make him the subject of an award-winning book and a celebrated movie. Nor could he gaze into the future and see that the grateful Jews he saved, Schindler's Jews as they came to be called, would be key to his financial survival after the war. In fact, the only reward he could have fathomed for his actions at the time was death by a Nazi firing squad in the event of discovery. Furthermore, in doing what he did, he spent his entire fortune in providing for the Jews he saved, while bribing Nazi officials to look the other way. His act was entirely selfless, which is what makes it heroic.

When asked about this He said “The persecution of Jews in the General Government in Polish territory gradually worsened in its cruelty. In 1939 and 1940 they were forced to wear the Star of David and were herded together and confined in ghettos. In 1941 and 1942 this unadulterated sadism was fully revealed. And then a thinking man, who had overcome his inner cowardice, simply had to help. There was no other choice.” Oskar Schindler, 1964 interview.

This overcoming of the inner cowardice might sound very simple, but this is the point at where we all fail. Schindler did what he did, because he looked upon Jews as people, rather than through the prism of popular stereotypes. To that end, his friendship with two Jewish boys, who lived next door to him when he was growing up, was crucial. He could always hearken back to it, as well as to other associations with Jews, to retain his humanity towards the community, while disavowing Nazi propaganda that frequently depicted them as rats eating up the German nation. The most astonishing revelation of Schindler’s kindness comes from these words by Abraham Zuckerman - He recalls Oskar Schindler this way: "There were SS guards but he would say ‘Good morning’ to you. He was a chain smoker and he’d throw the cigarette on the floor after only two puffs, because he knew the workers would pick it up after him. To me he was an angel. Because of him I was treated like a human being. And because of him I survived.”

(Schindler's factory at Krakow in 2006)

In total Oskar Schindler saved almost 1,100 Jews. All of them been proudly addressed as Schindler’s Jews till date. This act of humanity would never have been realized without Itzhak Stern, his accountant. Always a ledger of survival for the affected Jewish people. Itzhak Stern died in Israel in 1969. In the films “Schindler’s List” there is a particular scene where Itzhak realizes that Schindler actually was paying for all these Jews whom he was freeing, I don’t know what was the feeling that was portrayed by Ben Kingsley. But I believe it was the most well made scenes in the film. There was this particular incident when 300 women, all Schindler Jews, were deported in cattle cars to certain death in Auschwitz, among them Marianne, now Manci Rosner. Oskar Schindler got them released - the only shipment out of Auschwitz. When the women returned, Schindler met them in the courtyard. Surrounded by SS guards he gave them an unforgettable guarantee: “Now you are finally with me, you are safe now. Don’t be afraid of anything.” Manci Rosner says:” I am so thankful to Oskar Schindler. We never would have survived it.” Schindler could have left them to their fate (but then he won’t be Mr.Schindler isn’t it) he took it as a mission to save as much as possible and to look upon everyone he knows as a human being.

Sometimes seeing all the unjust, cruelty and hatred in the world, I tend to lose my belief in humanity. But then you meet people like Oskar Schindler that belief just holds on. We celebrate the Birthday of all the great people in this world, but when will we celebrate Oskar Schindler’s? His life has to be celebrated as he looked as mortal as us and as immortal as a Christ or a Gandhi or a Buddha.

I am giving some references about Schindler’s Jews below in the end I have given a link to entire Schindler’s List.

(Schindler's factory at Brněnec in 2004)

Kuba and Helen Beck, No. 18 and No. 611 on Schindler's List - both were torn from their families as teenagers and sent to the Plazow concentration camp. In 1944, Helen was among 300 women routed to Auschwitz. She miraculously was rescued by Schindler. Only after the war, as she searched for her family, did she learn that she had lost six of her nine siblings, along with her parents.

Rena Ferber - today Rena Finder - was only 10 years old when the Nazis invaded Poland. She later wrote: "I would not be alive today if it wasn`t for Oscar Schindler, my Mother survived and so did my grandfather. It's a tragedy that Oscar Schindler died young before the world could aknowledge his heroism. His country men considered him a traitor, to us he was our God, our Father, our protector."

Bronia Gunz was saved by Oscar Schindler. She remembers how Schindler told the prisoners to dig graves to deceive the Nazis. But he assured them he could save them and then he disappeared for days. "We were digging the graves and thinking: This is the end" Gunz says. Then Schindler returned. "One day this beautiful, gorgeous man shows up with a piece of paper, and he says: Saved, no digging anymore. He was for us like God ... "

Amon Goeth`s maid Helena Hirsch was saved by Oscar Schindler from a life of terror and humiliation and the certain death in the Auschwitz death camp - he outwitted the commandant of Plazow Goeth and "won" her in a card game. Today she lives in Israel.

Leib Lejzon - today Leon Leyson - says he was 'just a skinny kid' during World War II. But Oscar Schindler developed a fondness for him, nicknaming him "Little Leyson" and showing him many kindnesses: extra soup and bread; and when his vision began to blur from the factory work, he was excused from the night shift. The most important act was putting him on the final list. His two eldest brothers did not survive the war, but he, his parents and brother and sister were saved by Oscar Schindler.

Wiktor Lezerkiewicz - now Victor Lewis - was put on Schindler`s List on page 2, No. 108. He considers it a miracle - he was electrician in Oscar Schindler`s factory, though he knew absolutely nothing about the trade ... He emigrated to USA in 1949.

Edith Wertheim, then Etka Liebgold, recalls how 300 Schindler women were interned at Auschwitz:"One night they took us to the gas chamber. We were waiting the whole night - in the morning we found out: Schindler is here!" He had come to rescue them , bribing the Nazis to retrieve the women on his list and bring them back. Years later Oscar Schindler attended her wedding .

Stella Muller, today Stella Müller-Madej, owes her life to Schindler's list. She was 14 but registered as being 2 years older and as a metal worker - all so she could survive as essential for the war industry. Both she and her parents would not have survived World War II without it. Aided by notes, diaries and a vivid memory, she managed to capture her recollections of the wartime period in a book: Through the Eyes of a Child, which has been published in eight countries. The book deserves a place next to Anne Frank's Diary.

Puntierer - Murray Pantirer - lost both his parents, two sisters and four brothers during the Holocaust. After the war he built up a great fortune as a magnate in USA. He honoured Schindler in his own special way. Every time a new town district was planned and built, at least one street was named after Schindler ... In New Jersey alone there are 21 Schindler Streets, and even a Schindler Plaza.

(Oskar Schindler's grave)

Schindler’s List : http://auschwitz.dk/Schindlerslist.htm

The departing dialogue of Oskar Schindler in the movie Schindler’s List

(Liam Neeson portraying Schindler)

Oscar Schindler: I could've got more ... I could've got more, if I'd just ... I could've got more ...
Itzhak Stern: Oscar, there are eleven hundred people who are alive because of you. Look at them.
Schindler: If I'd made more money ... I threw away so much money, you have no idea. If I'd just ...
Stern: There will be generations because of what you did.
Schindler: I didn't do enough.
Stern: You did so much.

Schindler: This car. Goeth would've bought this car. Why did I keep the car? Ten people, right there. Ten people, ten more people ... This pin, two people. This is gold. Two more people. He would've given me two for it. At least one. He would've given me one. One more. One more person. A person, Stern. For this. I could've gotten one more person and I didn't. I didn`t ....."

Justice For Manjunath and Future of India

noreply@blogger.com (Bibin) — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 05:07:00 +0000

In a landmark judgment, the Lakhimpur Kheri Sessions Court on Monday awarded death sentence to Pawan Kumar, alias Monu Mittal, in the Manjunath Shanmugham murder case. The seven others have been sentenced to life imprisonment for conspiracy to murder. On Friday, District and Sessions Judge S M A Abidi had pronounced the eight accused as guilty under different sections of the IPC. Manjunath was working as a sales officer with the Indian Oil Corporation when he was shot dead in November 19, 2005. The Indian oil corporation's sales manager had challenged Mittal about the fuel adulteration at his pump and was about to fine him. That was when Mittal and his colleagues shot Manjunath and then hid his body."Justice has been delivered. This is what we had hoped for," said I B Singh, Lawyer, Manjunath Shanmugam Trust.

Manjunath was murdered on 19 of November, 2005 for sticking to his principles. His shock death send cripples across the country. The entire IIML alumni stood up to fight for him. If it was not for the dedication of these Gentlemen, Manjunath's case would have been another example for the inability of our justice department. Today morning one of his friend and the main person behind the Manjunath Shanmugam Trust, Mr. Akhil Krishna was online in radio City. I was surprised to hear that they made it sure either one of them will be present in the court on every hearing. Lakhimpur Kheri , is about 135 km from Lucknow and to make sure that one of them were present in the court does take some inspiration. When Mr. Krishna was asked about what inspired him and his friend to take up such a fight - the obvious answer came "The Man Called Macha - Manjunath Shanmugam". When I heard about it for the first time, my initial reaction was " Ok, they did for their friend, even i would have done it". But thinking, saying and dreaming is one thing and doing it is different. If it was not for them and their efforts, Manjunath's death would have remained one of this country's most shameful events.

The response to his death and the fight for justice from all over the country, reminds us of the fact that we all crave for heroes like him. It was the unanimous solidarity by his Friends, Media and the People of this country, which made sure that his sacrifice will not be gone unnoticed. His friends set up a Trust in his memory - "The Manjunath Shanmugam Trust". They are planning to fight for justice for all the citizen of this country who are fighting against corruption or similar causes. They have set up a "Right To Information Act Helpline" for assistance for general public about the RTI act. The helpline number is 9250400100. They have also instated "The Manjunath Shanmugam Integrity Award" and the first recipient was Prof. R.P Singh, Vice-Chancellor, Lucknow University, for his courageous work in implementing Lyngdoh Committee recommendations and cleaning up Lucknow University, taking on the might of the entire state assembly.

The most aspiring fact of this trial is that the entire process was completed in 9 months time, which might be a Indian justice department record on its own. But there is some fallout if we look carefully into the matter. The entire trial was done properly because of the media and public pressure on this case. If you look at the two landmark judgments in recent time - "The Jessica Lal Murder Case" and "The Manjunath Shanmugam Case", both these case were pursued by the public and the media - more importantly the electronic media intervention made it a success. But is this a good trend. The electronic media tends to serve a very selected class of audience, because of that almost all the issues that are raised are concerned with that class of people. This has the fallout of that the "The Justice will only be served to the Privileged" or the poor of this country will not benefit from the new age activism that is sweeping the country. Now come the million dollar question "What is the solution for this problem?", the answer again is obvious - "The system needs to change", but how? In my humble opinion, we have to make the Law and Justice department accountable for what they are doing. Accountability will bring great change in the way official of these two departments work. Think about this if there is a provision to prosecute a Police officer for neglecting his duty (thereby helping the culprit) the corruption in these two departments will come down. For example - In the Jessica Lal murder trial, in the recent judgment the court observe its surprise that the lower court actually acquitted the culprit even though there was ample evidence to prosecute him. If the Judge was accountable for the Judgments he make, this would have never happen. Now the biggest question "How will we bring this accountability to these departments?" The answer is I have no idea, in this I am as clueless as those who are reading this article. Here is where we can have a discussion about. You are free to suggest your ideas in the comment box.

Always remember treating a disease is expensive, but preventing the disease is Wisdom. Let Manjunath's soul give us the will to fight to make this country a better place to live. Signing of with this song.....

Someday we gonna rise up on that wind you know
Someday we gonna dance with those lions
Someday we gonna break free from these chains and keep on
flyin

Polar Bear and Climate Change

noreply@blogger.com (Bibin) — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 04:45:00 +0000

Many organization and many individuals have been in the forefront of many battles won and lost in the history. But not in our so called illustrious history an animal has been in the forefront of a struggle. A struggle in which it is unknowingly dragged into, A struggle that will define its existence. The photo provided below taken by Dan Crosbie have sent cripples all over the world.

The picture looks like a Mother and cub resting in the top of a ice sculpture done by waves have sent cripples all over the world. Let me remind you that Polar Bear are extremely decent swimmers. But yet they may be in sight of being endangered. What makes them so attractive is the their cute and innocent face, which make them so lovable compared to their bear brothers.
Anything that is cute and innocent we humans have more affection to it. The traditional threats to the polar bear - hunting, toxic waste, offshore drilling - have been overshadowed by a new one: the ice around them is melting, and we are to blame.At the end of December, the US Secretary of the Interior revealed the US Fish and Wildlife Service was considering adding the polar bear to its list of threatened species.This is a more significant addition to the at-risk list than a rare gazelle or panther: it is an admission, after years of denial, of the existence of global warming. Every country in this world is coming to a point where they have to admit the existence of Global Warming and take necessary steps to reverse it. Otherwise may be in the far future we will have ourselves being listed in the endangered species. Some days before I was watching the construction of the famous Ice Hotel in the National Geographic Channel. Usually the construction of the Hotel will begin in beginning of November and end by end of December. Not the last time, it started after a delay of 3 weeks - because the outside climate was too warm for the construction of Hotel. The construction of Ice Hotel should not have any significance in common man's life but the shifting of the winter by 3 weeks surely going to have significant effect.
The impact of the melting ice on polar bear become more severe in coming years. Earlier melting of spring ice and the later formation of autumn ice has an immediate impact on their ability to feed. In some areas there is evidence that sea ice breaks up three weeks earlier than it did 30 years ago.More young cubs are found dead each year; adults have lost weight, from an average of 650lb in 1980 to 507lb in 2004; there have been instances of cannibalism; and in western Hudson Bay the polar bear population decreased from 1,200 in the mid-Nineties to less than 1,000 in 2004. There are thought to be between 20,000 and 25,000 polar bears in the world, and all but one member of the PBSG(Polar Bear Specialist Group) believe global warming poses a critical threat to their long-term survival. The exception, quoted by contrarian writers, is Dr Mitchell Taylor from the Government of Nunavut, who remains sceptical about the climate modelling projections and their impact. 'I'm not sure I understand his logic,' Stirling says. 'However, at the last meeting of the IUCN PBSG in Seattle in June 2005 the group [including Dr Taylor] unanimously agreed to classify the polar bear as vulnerable.'
If we don't add quickly these cute and innocent looking creature will become a thing of past. These big creatures who was adopted by Coca Cola to spearhead their Cola campaign will become a very distant memory.The Cola Bear reinforced the notion that Coke was best served ice-cold, and it was a drink that spread the love: the bears, who made deep and reassuring guttural noises and never had seal blood on their fur, were represented in family groups playing with penguins and admiring the Aurora Borealis. There was no cuter or more deceptively cuddly anthropomorphism on the tundra - the little ones even wore red scarves - and merchandise followed; keyrings, soft toys, pencil toppers, now quite big on eBay. The only downside for the polar bears was they didn't own their image rights.

Written using Guardian Article as a reference.
Link :
Living on thin ice

Budget 2007 - My Stupid View

noreply@blogger.com (Bibin) — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 04:41:00 +0000

How good was the Budget-2007 presented yesterday by Mr. P Chidambaram, this was the question that was running all over the place yesterday. The final verdict came down to a great Thumbs Down to the Finance Minister. The main reason for these thumbs down from the middle class is the fact that there was no tax exemption method added. The media is more concerned with the lack of Reforms and the slight increase in Taxation on the BPO and IT industry.

This puts in effect the core question about Budget – Any budget which does not decrease my Tax Burden is a bad budget? The majority answer seems to be a rousing YES to this question. I have some conversation (maybe you can call it as debates) with my friends about this. In my opinion any Budget which does not drastically increase my Tax Burden is a “Good Average Budget”. My friends and majority of the public in India seems to disagree strongly with this. One of the points raised against paying the taxes is the lack of facility provided by the Government for the ordinary Man. Another point which is more constantly raised is the corruption in the system, because of which the end user (the poor of this country) does not get benefited by the all measures that are announced in Budget. Yesterday I was watching a program in CNBC-TV18; there also the earlier mentioned two points came into discussion. I have to say I was very much satisfied by the answer given by the FICCI chairman in the second concern’s context. The bottom line is that we cannot stop spending because our delivery system is corrupt to the core; moreover it’s not the Finance Minister’s job to tackle corruption especially in Budget. There is no doubt that the corruption in this country is reaching alarming proportion, is the Government the only person to be blamed? No absolutely not. Every one of us has to be blamed for this. Why we always take the option of bribing officials to get our things done. Why can’t we follow the more honest path? Everyone points to Japan and West to shows how things have to be done. The major difference between people in those countries to us is the attitude of the people. Indian media has an addiction to the word Reforms and yesterday they especially CNBC were more concerned with that. Even one of their reporters raised this question to the Finance Minister. His answer was more from a Man who was rightly irritated. The point he raised where “Why the main stream Media not consider anything done in Agriculture and Public Health department as a part of Reforms? Why only the things that are concerned with the Corporate World qualify under the word Reforms?” These questions were absolutely right but were addressed at the wrong media. Today’s Media belongs to the corporate world and they report the events from their own perspective, not from an ideal perspective. Major concerns were raised about the FM’s inability to include public Health and Education in the so called Reform platter. Public Health department provide the cheapest means of health care for a wide variety of people in this country. Most of those hospitals are having minimum facility or no facility and the Budget should have tackled that. Bring private participation to Health may solve the facility problem but then those hospitals will become mostly unaffordable to the large lower class public.

One major concern before the budget was presented was the rate of inflation. In the budget the tax on diesel was decreased to tackle this. But believe me this is not going to make any change. Inflation is driven by the disparity of the goods available to the goods consumed. Inflation does not go up overnight and it does not come down overnight. Like cancer the only way out of Inflation going up, is detecting it earlier. This government is a total failure in identifying the factors which drives the inflation and tackling it. So unless we increase our agricultural products drastically inflation may go up (the only short term method is import essential goods). Last budget FM talked about another Green Revolution in agriculture. But no concrete steps were taken for that.

The corporate houses of the country will have to pay more taxes by the inclusion of ESOPs in FBT and MAT. One of my friends raised a fear that this will cause the corporate houses to shift the operation from India to China. If the corporate houses behave like that then serious doubt has to be raised about their commitment to country’s growth ahead. Corporate Houses in this country are enjoying serious tax exemption and its time for them to contribute a little further for development of country. Creating jobs are the by product of their growth as we have that many resources (technically qualified persons). I don’t think Corporate Houses in this country will migrate for this silly reason, but in 5-10 years time we can see heavy migration to China. This will not be because of tax exemption but because of the vast local Chinese hardware industry. In 5-10 years time the Global service industry will be catering more to the needs of the Local Chinese industry.

All in all, this budget was not a breakthrough budget, but it was not that bad either. Many of you people will not agree with what I have written above. You may be thinking why this stupid is wasting so much precious blog space. Then in a democracy, even idiots like me have a voice.

SomeOne's Watching Me

noreply@blogger.com (Bibin) — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 10:07:00 +0000

Internet - the only revolution of this modern world has pioneered many innovation s and ideas. It has brought out the hidden talent of many out in this world. many innovative ideas were unrevealed through the medium of this. Many barriers it has crossed, many yet to be crossed. Its being used by everyone from babies to elderly, from terrorist to soldiers from every one in every part of this world. Like some one said "Internet is Cause and Cure of Today's Problems". I have found these video in YouTube. Its done by some one called as ichannel. Believe me this concept is great. Just put yourself in the place of the hero of story, you can find the fun in the whole thing....

I am putting the first two episodes here, rest you can find in Youtube

Chemicals used in bombs in Iraq

noreply@blogger.com (Bibin) — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 08:50:00 +0000

At least five people were killed and 140 wounded when a lorry laden with chlorine exploded in Baghdad on Tuesday [AFP].The use of chlorine combined with vehicle bombs may represent a new tactic used by bombers against Iraqi civilians, officials there have said.

A lorry bomb, which blew up on Wednesday in Baghdad, was the third in the past month to use chlorine, a gas that burns the skin and can be fatal if inhaled directly, officials said.Wednesday's bomb killed at least two people and wounded 32 others.Many of the injured coughed and wheezed as they were taken to hospitals, officials told reporters, symptoms which indicated the use of chemicals.

Iraqi and US officials said the use of chlorine seemed intended to raise the level of fear and havoc in Iraq, at a time when the United States and Iraq are implementing a new security plan for Baghdad.Lt Col Christopher Garver, A US military spokesman, said: "The tactic illustrates the fluid nature of insurgent planning, and the tendency to repeat attacks that draw the most attention and inflict the most suffering".The US has admitted using White Phosphorus weapons in the Iraqi town of Falluja in 2004 - although it said the weapons were not used against civilians.

Acid burns

On Tuesday, a bomb destroyed a lorry carrying chlorine north of Baghdad, killing at least five people and spewing out fumes that left nearly 140 others, including almost 100 women and children sick, Iraqi police said.American officials say at least one other attack using chlorine took place in January; 16 people died when a truck carrying a chlorine tank was blown up in Ramadi.
Although used widely in water purification and sewage treatment, chlorine is dangerous because it reacts with water to creat hydrochloric acid, which then burns tissue.Chlorine itself is a green-coloured gas which was used in chemical weapons during World War One; it burns the skin and can be fatal after only a few breaths if inhaled in high concentration.

Russia may target Poland, Czech Republic - Resumption of Cold War

noreply@blogger.com (Bibin) — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 05:15:00 +0000

It does not comes as a surprise the comments made by Russian Strategic Missile Forces Commander Col. Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov. The comments came in response to the American Plans to deploy U.S Missiles in Poland and Checz republic. This looks like a resumption of Cold War antics by the two countries. The comments of Russian Strategic Missile Forces Commander Col. Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov is given below:

MOSCOW: Russia may target its missiles against Poland and the Czech republic if the U.S. sets up its missile defense shield planned in the two East European countries.
"If the Polish and Czech governments approve the decision [to deploy U.S. anti-missiles] our strategic missile forces will be able to target those missile sites," said Russian Strategic Missile Forces Commander Col. Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov said.
The commander told a press conference on Monday that Russia could quickly resume production of medium range missiles if Moscow decided to walk out of a Soviet-era treaty with the U.S. banning their deployment.
Russian General Staff Chief Col. Gen. Yuri Balyevsky said at the weekend that Moscow would pull out of the treaty is the U.S. went ahead with the deployment of missile defences in Europe.
"Asymmetric response"

The Russian missile forces chief also said Russia would build "missiles with an alterable hypersonic movement vector" in the near future as part of an "asymmetric response" to the stationing of U.S. anti-missile systems in Europe.
He said Russia was engaged in talks with the U.S. to prevent the construction of an American missile shield close to Russian borders.
The Polish and Czech Prime Ministers have supported the deployment of U.S. missiles, while German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier urged caution and consultations with Russia.
Russia has rejected U.S. assurances that the missiles were needed to protect Europe from Iranian and North Korean missiles, and said their deployment would threaten Russian security.

Courtesy : Hindu.com
Source : Russia May Target Checz and Poland

The argument made by US does not have much merit as North Korea or Iran don't have missiles that will reach US. So have to admit that the entire exercise is being done to nullify the hold of Russia in the territory. Russia with a very fast developing economy, thanks to a very high oil price(Again they have to thank US for IRAQ war for this) is getting back to something of a cold war stature. The entire crisis is happening from the US's refusal to work with a stronger Russia. Everyone might ask what's there in this for Poland and Checz Republic, the reward might be a bigger pay package from US and a foothold against the Old Europe. During the build up to Iraq war we have seen the differences arising between old Europe and new Europe. Its been very unfortunate that two nations that was devastated by 2nd world war supporting war for the material benefits from US, rather than as a matter of policy. For the US, its a double kill strategy- through which US can give strong signals to Russia and Old Europe(especially with their opposition to the IRAQ war).
But if the warning from Russian commander is somewhat true, then Poland and Checz Republic should understand against a Russian onslaught they have no choice. But this is just a warning not a plan of actions. Its pretty clear US will go ahead with Missile deployment in Poland and Checz Republic. Russians in the future may resume the production of medium range missiles. With Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez going to be there for sometime, Russian's can even think about a deployment of nuclear missiles in Venezuela. We might see a start of Missile crisis of Cuban way all over the world. Amidst all this the world will be a very interesting place to live, provided the world still remains.

I.T. AND INDIA - Amartya Sen

noreply@blogger.com (Bibin) — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 04:38:00 +0000

The following is the Keynote Address at the NASSCOM 2007 India Leadership Forum in Mumbai on 7 February 2007 by Dr. Amartya Sen(Nobel prize winner for economics)

Some admirations come from near, others from very far. My respect and reverence for the IT industry in general and the extraordinarily dynamic and triumphant Indian IT industry in particular have come, by necessity, from some distance, since I am a dabbler in things far away from IT services and software. When the invitation came to attend this year's NASSCOM meeting and the leadership forum, I thought that this either indicated some mixing up of my identity ("wake up, wake up," I wanted to say, "I teach non-IT subjects at a university!"), or alternatively, it reflected generous interest of NASSCOM leaders to reach out (or as my students say, "hang out") beyond their principality.

Of the two possibilities, identity confusion is the more exciting. My late friend Isaiah Berlin, the philosopher, recounted to me his exciting experiences when he was invited to a musical gathering under the mistaken impression that he was Irving Berlin, the musical composer, rather than Isaiah Berlin, the political philosopher. Apparently, the assembled gathering was somewhat disappointed by Isaiah Berlin's inability to respond to repeated requests to provide some insights into the melodies from Annie Get Your Gun or Call Me Madam. And, of course, Sen is a more common name than Berlin , offering more opportunity of identity confounding. Indeed, I was once asked in a gathering of very energetic and very globally minded Ugandan students - this happened at the Makerere College in Kampala - whether I, Amartya Sen, was any relation of Sun Yat Sen. I had to tell my interlocutor, "No, but we are trying hard."

It is, however, the second possibility - not identity confusion - on which I want to speak this afternoon, that is about the possibility of the IT industry to reach out beyond its principality. I want to talk not, of course, about my being here at this NASSCOM meeting, but about the case for the IT industry to bring its influences somewhat beyond what can be seen as its traditional domain.

Of course, the idea of what counts as "traditional" is hard to articulate in the case of a field of enterprise as new as information technology. Indeed, a little over a century ago, in 1885, when the Indian National Congress had its first meeting in Bombay, which was attended by among others Jamsetji Tata (he would establish his new "Swadeshi mills" next year), Jamsetji would have been, I imagine, a little puzzled if he were told that the enterprise he was pioneering would soon include a huge operation in software and IT - indeed the largest in the country (my friend Ramadorai, who heads it, is here). The importance of information has, of course, been acknowledged over many millennia, but the ideas of IT technology and software are quintessential contributions of contemporary modernity - not something with any ageless recognition. Indeed, the entire idea of a National Association of Software and Service Companies (that is, NASSCOM) would have appeared quite mysterious to the pioneering industrial leader of India. As it happens, the domain of IT is still evolving, and I would like to argue for taking an even broader view than has already got established.

My point is not that the IT industry should do something for the country at large, for that it does anyway. It already makes enormous contributions: it generates significant incomes for a great many Indians; it has encouraged attention to technical excellence as a general requirement across the board; it has established exacting standards of economic success in the country; it has encouraged many bright students to go technical rather than merely contemplative; and it has inspired Indian industrialists to face the world economy as a potentially big participant, not a tiny little bit-player. My point, rather, is that it can do even more, indeed in some ways, much more. This is partly because the reach of information is so wide and all-inclusive, but also because the prosperity and commanding stature of the IT leaders and activists give them voice, power and ability to help the direction of Indian economic and social development.

2

Let me begin by asking a question that no one here will, I think, ask (because everyone I meet here seems so polite and well-behaved): why should the Indian IT industry have any sense of obligation to do things - more things - for India, more than what happens automatically from its normal operations (as a by-product of business success, rather than as a deliberated goal to be advanced, among other demands and necessities)? Why assume there is any obligation at all for IT to do anything other than minding its own business?

I think part of the answer lies in reciprocity. The country has made huge contributions, even though they are not often clearly recognised, to help the development and flowering of the IT industry in India, and it is not silly to ask what in return the IT might do for India .

But how has the country helped? Perhaps most immediately, the IT sector has benefitted from the visionary move, originally championed by Jawaharlal Nehru, to develop centres of excellent technical education in India, such as the IITs, to be followed by the Institutes of Management and other initiatives, aimed at enhancing the quality and reach of Indian professional and specialized education. Despite Nehru's moving rhetoric in favour of literacy for all (which was plentifully present even in his celebrated speech on the eve of independence on 14th August 1947 - the speech on India 's "tryst with destiny"), he in fact did shockingly little for literacy. I would suggest that Jawaharlal Nehru did not really think through how to ensure the practical realization of his goal of literacy for all, in which he did believe with sincerity and conviction, but not with any sense of practicality. It was, however, entirely different as far as technical education is concerned - here Nehru's sense of ways and means nicely supplemented his fervent passion. India was not only the first poor country in the world to choose a robustly democratic from of governance, it also was the first country with grinding poverty to give priority to the development of technical skill and the state-of-art education in technology. And from this the IT sector has benefited a lot, since the entire industry is so dependent on the availability, quality and reach of technical education.

However, IT's links with India 's past goes back much further than that. The nature of Indian society and traditions have tended to support the pursuit of specialized excellence in general and the development of IT in particular. There has been a historic respect for distinctive skills, seeing it even as a social contribution in itself. Indeed, even the nasty caste system, which has so afflicted the possibility of social equity in India, has tended greatly to rely on - and exploit - the traditional reverence for specialized skill, which, in its regimented form, has been used to add to the barriers of societal stratification. There is a tradition here that can be taken in many different directions, and it is a matter of much satisfaction that the IT industry's use of the same respect is remarkably positive and potentially open and inclusive. I will come back to that question of inclusiveness later on (it is an important subject on which there is a case for more deliberation and action), but before that let me comment on a few other connections, since they are often missed, between the success of IT in India and some particular features of India's past.

Going well beyond respect for specialized skill, there is also a general attitude of openness in India to influences from far and near - of admiring excellence no matter where it is produced. This is particularly important since the IT success of India did draw initially, as indeed was inevitable, on what was going on with much accomplishment abroad. The experiences of the Silicon valley, in particular, was very important for the yearning of skilled and discerning Indians to learn from others - and then to make good use of it. While many Indians have a deep preference for what we can see as total local immersion and even succumb to evidently strong temptations to denigrate things happening abroad (and this attitude rears its ugly head from time to time in contemporary Indian politics as well), there has also been for thousand of years a very robust tradition here of admiring, using and learning from excellence anywhere in the world.

The IT technical experts may not readily perceive that there is a remarkable similarity between (1) their own valuational commitment to learn what they can from anywhere which has good ideas to offer, and (2) the open and welcoming attitude to departures originating elsewhere which Rabindranath Tagore articulated with compelling clarity in a letter to a friend (in a letter to Charlie Andrews in fact) in the 1920s, at the height of our struggle of for national independence:

Whatever we understand and enjoy in human products instantly becomes ours, wherever they might have their origin. I am proud of my humanity when I can acknowledge the poets and artists of other countries as my own. Let me feel with unalloyed gladness that the all the great glories of man are mine. Therefore it hurts me deeply when the cry of rejection rings loud against the West in my country with the clamour that Western education can only injure us.

It is, of course, to the credit of Western centres of excellence in education and practice that they were so welcoming to learners from abroad (I think America and Europe do not always get enough recognition for its liberal priorities in this field, despite their narrow-minded national and local priorities in other areas), but it is also important to see that the interest and initiative of bright Indians to learn from abroad for domestic use was strongly founded on an open-minded willingness to comprehend, as Tagore put it, that "whatever we understand and enjoy in human products instantly becomes ours, wherever they might have their origin."

I want to point to one further connection between the development and achievements of Indian IT and the Indian intellectual traditions on which Indian IT draws. I don't refer here only to the love of mathematics that has inspired so many young Indians throughout history, and which is important in many different ways, for the efficacy IT operations. The general maths-friendliness of Indian intellectuals is relevant here: according to some accounts, the mathematician Bhaskara even tried to convince his daughter Lilavati that if she came to master mathematical puzzles then she would be highly popular when she went to parties, which seems to me be, to say the least, a little doubtful. But aside from being fascinated by maths, Indian intellectuals have also typically been very excited about arguments in general: it is a subject on which I have even indulged in writing a book (incidentally, in my last trip to Mumbai I was very impressed to be offered a cut-price pirated edition of my book, The Argumentative Indian, by a street vendor near the airport, who also had the exquisite taste of explaining to me that this book was "quite good" - and from him, also "very cheap").

IT is a hugely interactive operation and in many ways Indian IT has depended on what we can call TI, that is, "talkative Indians." It is not hard to see how a tradition of being thrilled by intellectual altercations tend to do a lot to prepare someone to the challenges of IT interactions.

3

Given what the country has done for Indian IT, it is not silly to ask: what specially can the IT industry do for India (other than what happens automatically without any deliberate pursuit of non-business ends)? This seems to me to be right, but I would also like to emphasize that historical reciprocity is not the only - perhaps not even the most important - reason for being interested in the social obligations of the IT industry. Many considerations arise there.

There is, of course, the elementary issue of the obligation of those who "make it" vis-a-vis those who do not manage quite so well, which is a very basic ethical demand that, it can be argued, society places upon us. This raises immediately the question what any prosperous group may owe to others not so well placed. This is not only a reflective demand for social deliberation - part of what Immanuel Kant called a "categorical imperative" - but it is also a part of enlightened business operation. There is, as it happens, a very well established tradition in a part of Indian business to do just that, particularly well exemplified by the Tatas for example, through various socially valuable activities such as building hospitals, research centres and other social institutions of high distinction. I am impressed to see that many of the major IT leaders seem to be very seized of this challenge.

If that possible role is obvious enough, there is some need to understand better other roles in which the IT industry can make a very big difference in India. As it happens the key to the success of IT, namely accessability, systematization and use of information is also very central to social evaluation and societal change. There is, in fact, a very foundational connection between information and social obligation, since the moral - and of course the political - need to pay attention to others depends greatly on our knowledge and information about them.

Indeed, already in the 1770s (more than two hundred years ago), that remarkable Scottish philosopher, David Hume, had noted the importance of increased intercourse in expanding the reach of our sense of justice. He had put the issue thus (in his chapter "Of Justice," in An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals):

....again suppose that several distinct societies maintain a kind of intercourse for mutual convenience and advantage, the boundaries of justice still grow larger, in proportion to the largeness of men's views, and the force of their mutual connexions. History, experience, reason sufficiently instruct us in this natural progress of human sentiments, and in the gradual enlargement of our regards to justice, in proportion as we become acquainted with the extensive utility of that virtue.

Negligence of suffering of others is sustainable, given human interest in justice and equity, only when we know little about that suffering. More information in itself goes a long way to breaking that chain of apathy and indifference.

This foundational connection also gives the information industry a huge opportunity to help India by trying to make its contribution to the systematization, digestion and dissemination of diverse clusters of information in India about the lives of the underdogs of society - those who do not have realistic opportunity of getting basic schooling, essential health care, elementary nutritional entitlements, and rudimentary equality across the barriers of class and gender. This can also be said about problems of underdeveloped physical infrastructure (water, electricity, roads, etc.), as well as social infrastructure, that restrain the broad mass of Indians from moving ahead. There are particular causal connections also here: an enterprise that hugely depends on the excellence of education for its success - as the IT sector clearly does - has good reason to consider its broad responsibility to Indian education in general.

I do not know enough about the IT operations to see whether all this can be turned into a business proposition as well. But my point is that even if it cannot be so transformed, it is something that the IT sector has good reason to consider doing. Can there be a group initiative in any of these fields? Can NASSCOM itself play a catalytic role here? Informational issues are thoroughly rampant in morality and politics, and in many direct and indirect ways, the preoccupation of the IT enterprise links closely with the foundations of political and moral assessment and adjudication.

Even though in this presentation I am mainly concentrating on domestic issues, I should mention in passing that the role of information and informed understanding can also be very large in the pursuit of global peace and in defeating ill-reasoned violence. When we consider how many of the brutalities in the world today are linked with ignorant hostility to cultures and practices abroad, we can appreciate the contribution of informational limitation, among other causal factors, in cross-border belligerence. I could have talked about that too, in developing some ideas presented in my last book (Identity and Violence), but given my time limits I will resist that temptation.

4

I return now to the domestic scene. In emphasizing the role of the moral domain for the IT sector to feel some responsibility towards making India a more equitable country, I do not want to give the impression that there is not also a prudential case for going in that direction. One of the huge obstacles to the domestic development of the IT sector is the size of the local market, which is still quite small, despite all the recent expansions. Indian IT has done very well in making excellent use of the global market, but competition there is likely to be increasingly fierce. Other countries are trying to learn from the experience not only of America and Europe but also from India , and while India has some peculiar advantages in the IT field (which I have already discussed), the barriers may well be gradually removed in many countries - indeed even in many poor countries - in the world. China, which has a much larger domestic market already and will continue to expand that market very fast, is not as vulnerable as we may be, in this particular respect.

As it happens, one of the reasons for the larger domestic reach of IT in China is its much wider base of good basic schooling. So, what is an issue of equity, on one side, is also a matter of central importance for prudential reasoning about domestic economic expansion, on the other. The same goes for a much wider base of elementary health care in China, though this, as it happens, has been going through some turmoil since the Chinese economic reforms of 1979 which effectively abolished free health care for all, through insisting on privately purchased health insurance. It is a subject on which I have written elsewhere, so I will not go further into it here, other than noting that the Chinese authorities are quite receptive now of critical scrutiny of the present system of health care that China has ended up having. This, in fact, is in sharp contrast with the past when we had made similar criticisms earlier, and I do know that very serious critical scrutiny is currently going on in Beijing on this, in a very constructive way. I expect major changes to happen in China in a more inclusive direction before long.

Excessive reliance on private health care in India for the most elementary problems of ill-health and disease (resulting mostly from the limited size, reach and operational efficiency of public health facilities) is similarly a barrier to the availability and entitlement to health care for all Indians, and this obstacle urgently needs removing. These are all subjects on which the IT sector is well placed to provide considerable enlightenment and guidance. As it happens, the IT sector itself will indirectly benefit (for reasons I have already outlined) from playing a constructive and deliberated role in widening the base of social and physical infrastructure. But the more immediate - and also the more foundational - reason relates, I think, to demands from the moral domain to which the IT sector has reasons to respond. This is so, I have argued, for a variety of reasons, varying from Indian IT's unequal current success and its debt to India's traditions and priorities, on one side, to - and this is often unrecognised but happens to be extremely important - the central role of information in moral reasoning, on the other. There is indeed, I would argue, something of a socially connected obligation here, the recognition of which could make a huge difference to the future of India.

Courtesy : Hindu.com
Source: IT and India

Nuclear Proliferation And The World

noreply@blogger.com (Bibin) — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 11:31:00 +0000

The latest hot topic of debate in world affairs for the last one month has been "Iran and Its Nuclear Energy Program" . There are all kind of debates going on the effect of Nuclear Proliferation and its effects in World Peace. let me introduce my fellow readers to what exactly Nuclear Proliferation means:

Nuclear proliferation is the spread of nuclear weapons production technology and knowledge to nations that do not already have such capabilities. It has been opposed by many nations with and without nuclear weapons, who fear that more countries with nuclear weapons may increase the possibility of nuclear warfare, de-stabilize international or regional relations, or infringe upon the national sovereignty of individual nation-states.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been the primary international anti-proliferation organization since it was established in 1957 by the United Nations. It operates a safeguards system as specified under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) of 1968. It has involved cooperation in developing nuclear energy while ensuring that civil uranium, plutonium, and associated plants are used only for peaceful purposes and do not contribute in any way to proliferation or nuclear weapons programs.

Those countries which have signed the NPT has been in deep trouble in the recent past. Simple because like very UN laws this also is used by the powerful countries against them. If you take the Iran case in particular there is no concrete evidence which shows Iran has a Weapon Program. But it seems every other country in the UN is more or less convinced that they have one. The point I want to throw some light here is "What makes a Nuclear weapon so attractive for most of country". The main reason why many country is trying to become a nuclear power is "The protection it gives". If Saddam Hussein had a nuclear weapon, then the truth is that the entire latest Iraq war would have never happened. No world leader is crazy now to attack a country which possess Nuclear Weapon and sacrifice so much of his forces along with his political career. If there was a chance of this happening, this world would have ended during the cold war days. During Cold War it was actually the Nuclear Weapons which kept the peace in the world. In todays world with terrorism threat looming around the world, this is the main cause put forward by Nuclear powers to prevent other countries from acquiring Nuclear weapons. or in other words "Osama Bin Laden and company helps these nuclear powers to keep their control over other countries".

Nuclear Weapons are giving nations a sense of protection, which the UN security council failed to provide. The recent Iraq War demonstrated how in effective is the UN Security Council. Us and its allies attacked Iraq without a UN mandate, not even a finger was raised. Whereas in 1990 when Iraq attacked so much actions were rightly taken. So it emphasizes the point that the UN security council is used to control and target the Third world countries or in other words make them fall in line. Every nation in the country has the right to go Nuclear and protect itself from the wrath of the superpowers. The underlining principle of the Nuclear strategy should be "Either Every country possess it or no one possess it". Like Denzel washington's character in crimpson Tide said "In the nuclear world War is the enemy". So only solution is get rid off all nuclear weapons. There is no point of talking about reducing the weapon numbers. And for those who claims that Osama Bin Laden will get hold off a nuclear bomb." What difference it makes whether it is fired by terrorist or by any country". So get rid of it.

NDTV’s Fake Face

noreply@blogger.com (Bibin) — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 12:21:00 +0000

Some weeks before there were coverage on NDTV about the hungry of this country. It was a response to the Government’s announcement of the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS). I have to admit that it was one of the most heart warming programs which came on TV for some time. There were pathetic faces of children of this country who never had the luxury of having a proper meal. They found most of these children as really malnutrition. But two days before there was one more story which made sure to me that all those emotions shown by NDTV was really fake. The news was about Sonia Gandhi asking the government to study the impact of the Wall mart’s entry in to the Indian Market. It really was a political ploy to capture the attention of the voters. But whatever it is there was no explanation of the attitude shown by NDTV reporters reporting these stories. There was real contempt shown toward the story. They were trying to depict the attempt as a bastardly act. It was not such an act. Sonia has asked the government to make sure that no one monopolies the market. Wall Mart has a record of doing that. They always sell products at cheaper rates, compares to others. This will have an impact on the poor street side vendors, who will be eventually driven out of their jobs. These results will always result in more hunger and unemployment. The children of these people will ultimately enter into that “Hungry of the Country” category. There is no point in rolling crocodile tears about their situation at that time. There is a rule in this country “We only see the poor in this country only when disaster strikes them. i.e. To make us see their lives they have to die glorifying. That means they have to be in news for the private media to sell. Maybe this is the real Vision 2020 – Let them all die so that there is no poor in this country and we become a developed country. Let God bless their souls.”

Check Out Other stories: The Upper Class Indian Judges

The New Upper Middle Class Indian Judges

noreply@blogger.com (Bibin) — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 08:00:00 +0000

The latest series of judgment by the Indian Supreme Court Judges points to the exact status of affairs of the country. Most of there judgments in the recent times have been anti poor. Lets take about the case of Narmada Bachao Andolan. The latest judgment orders the government to implement the rehabilitation as ordered earlier. When we look at the judgment, it seems a very ruling that goes to benefit all those who is going to displace by this Enormous Dam Construction. When we look into the fact that the ruling was made on a complaint saying rehabilitation has not be done properly, we find the foul play in the ruling. How many times have we heard an instance of the court ruling a judgment by taking into account only the statement made by Government(Surprisingly here Governments are the culprit). This is equal to freeing a murderer, since he has told in the court he has not done the crime.

The latest ruling by the Honorable Supreme Court of India opening up the laws under the ninth schedule to legal preview has to be seen a continuation of this trend. For the record most of the laws in the ninth schedule are laws which give government authority to implement the land reforms and all other kind of reforms. The ruling by the court point out that any law that goes against the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution has to be reviewed and may be needed has to be revoked. Now here comes the great need to review the fundamental rights given by the constitution.

The first of these rights are

1) Right of Equality

This right seems to be very self explaining and very simple. The definition should be something like this “Everyone should be treated the same in front of Law. Everyone should be treated the same in every opportunity”. But to explain how complex is this right, I am quoting an example or a situation which came into my mind:

Let’s take two people who are writing IIT-JEE (entrance exams to India’s Premium Engineering Institute IIT). One person is coming from an upper middle class family and another from a lower middle class family (I am not considering lower class people, most of them may not have heard of IITs). Let’s call the first person Mr. X and the second person Mr. Y. X has been attending coaching classes for IIT-JEE from class 9^th and is been preparing for last 3-4 years. But Y cannot even think about such an expensive coaching class. Now when they get ready for writing the exams can we say both are Equal? Of course not, you know those reasons why. I was pointing to this example to explain how difficult the interpretation of these Fundamental Rights is. In a Utopian world we can have the law bonded completely to the Fundamental Rights (Cause there everyone starts with equal money or points and will not receive any help from outside). In a practical world it is not that simple. I am a Software Engineer; it also means my parents had the sources to fulfill my ambitions. There are many extra ordinary persons who became a big person from very humble beginnings. But the percentage of them is very low. The laws under the ninth schedule are addressing to decrease this parity. So it is essential for them to be left out of Legal review. Let’s take the example of the Narmada Bachao Andolan. Nobody is saying here that the Dam project should be stopped or aborted. The point here is very simple – The people who have been displaced should be rehabilitated. And that should be the first thing to be done. Like all the people in this country they have the Right to Live. Every time when the court is been approached for the negligence of their rehabilitation process, the courts of this country chooses to ignore their pleas and take the Governments statements in Face value. This is a very disturbing trend. If you look at very careful our justice department seems to run according to the stock market. They are more worried about the impact on stock markets rather than the life of poor people of this country. They should always remember that most of this countries people have no connection with these stock market values. Let me Quote Mahatma Gandhi on his view of development “A country’s Development should not be judged on the number of millionaires in the country, but on how well off is the country’s poor”.