www.BPODigest.com i-Vortal

Indian call centres facing competition from SA

Source: Welcome to SIFY News

Call centres in Britain's northeast region have seen job losses with firms outsourcing work to India, but now another contender for the same work is South Africa.

There are fears in the region that South Africa could also become a viable alternative, with South African firms announcing plans to come and get business from the UK by organising a road show.

The skill base in South Africa is also said to be higher than in India.

In India, night-shift workers are needed to service the UK but South Africa does not have this problem.

The Butterfly Effect

Saw The Butterfly Effect yesterday, cool concept. It got a rating of 7 and its worth every dollar.

Hero got a special ability to go back to the future and change the things that happened. He is usually not happy with the happennings in life and so goes back and changes an event in life, but everytime he changes an event, that gets rippled through out the life and somthing really bad happens to him or his family/friends which he does not again like. He kind of goes back and changes life incidents i guess about 5 times.

Finally at the end of the movie he goes back and changes an event in his life and everything remains good, ofcourse there is some thing that goes back, but that bad is still good thing to happen. Watch the movie for that.

Well, to guys from India out there, what I would suggest is that you see the movie and make a concept in the same lines suitable to India and take it to Ram Gopal Verma, and believe me he will sure finance it. If you take it somebody else, probably it will not generate that much curiosity. Well, if you do that, don't forget to call me for a role in the movie, if not hero atleast for vilan ;-)

Career Calculus

Eric Sink talks about Career Calculus

What opportunities do you have for learning on a typical day as a developer? You spend approximately 250 days a year sitting in front of a keyboard and a screen. For how many of those days can you make L(Cluefulness , makign yourself more knowledgeable) a positive number?

Don't work for a manager
who is actively hindering
your practice of
constant learning.
Just don't do it.

A very interesting article for both ambitious and non-ambitious IT people out there. Well, if you are ambitious, you will be reading this post in the first place.

Getting Started with Your Own Software Company

Eric Sink writes Getting Started with Your Own Software Company

A very interesting artilce for all aspiring entreprenuers. The quotes I loved from the article:

When you start running your own company, you will probably have good days and bad days. If your bad days are anything like mine, somebody will eventually catch you whining about "how great the company would be if we could just get rid of all the customers and the employees." :-)

And

Like I said, there are no easy answers. Ideally, you would start your company using cash you've already got. But that's not often possible.

As unappealing as these options are, you will want your initial cash investment to be as small as possible. For an ISV, this can be really tough. It's going to take several months at least to build the 1.0 release of whatever your product is. It is quite likely that your spreadsheet doesn't show product revenue for 6-12 months even though it shows expenses in the very first month. Life is so unfair. :-)

My favorite solution to this problem is to start out as a consulting company and evolve into an ISV later. SourceGear was built this way. The concept is simple:

• In your first 40 hours per week, build custom software or websites for other companies. Charge them enough money to pay your expenses.
• In your other 40 hours per week, work on building your product. After the product is released and its revenues start to grow, you can gradually stop taking contracting gigs.

If this sounds like a lot of hard work, you are absolutely right. If that sounds unappealing, keep your job.

The article got links to various concepts on which Eric has written, a very good read indeed.

Posted by Ramdhan Yadav at 11:37 AM Perma Link | Write A Comment (0)

Anju Bobby George - Next Athlete in Rising

It’s only once in a quarter of a century that an Indian athlete comes close to winning a medal at the Olympics in athletics. In 1960 it was Milkha Singh, in 1984 it was P T Usha — both came close. And now it is Anju Bobby George who is tantalisingly close to a medal, not just a bronze this time, she is tipped to be one among the top three, and her performance speaks for itself.

Another fascinating athlete rising in the Indian sports, see her amazing pics and read wonderful interview in the link bleow.

Read Interview Excerpts: ‘He (Powell) taught me how to behave... be aggressive, comb your hair, put lipstick...’

Profile & Photos Here

'Gandhiji had forseen his own death'

On that fateful day, January 30, 1948, a few minutes before leaving for the prayer meeting, Gandhiji was talking to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. He was informed that two leaders from Kathiawar were waiting to meet him. The Mahatma asked his grand daughter Manu to "tell them that if I am alive, they can talk to me after the prayer on my walk." "Almost all of us know that when Gandhiji died the last words on his lips were 'He Ram' but only few close associates knew that this was his longtime wish fulfilled," Dr Srivastava said.

On January 29, he told Manu, "If I were to die of disease, be it even a pimple, you must shout to the world from house-tops that I was a false Mahatma, even though people may swear at you for saying so. Then my soul wherever it be, will rest in peace. If on the other hand, someone were to put a bullet through me, as someone tried to throw a bomb at me the other day and I met this bullet on my bare chest without a groan and with Ram's name on my lips, then only you should say that I was a true Mahatma. This will bring good to the Indian people."

On January 30, Gandhiji walked towards the lawn for prayers outside where the people were already seated, his hand on the shoulders of his granddaughters Manu and Abha.

Ascending the steps he halted, took his hands off their shoulders and joined his palms to acknowledge the greeting of the people, a well-built young man pushed forward and pushing aside Manu who tried to stop him, knelt before Gandhiji as if to pay his respects and fired point blank three shots at Gandhiji's chest. Two bullets passed right through, the third was found embedded in the right lung.

Gandhiji sank to the ground with the words 'He Ram' and died as he wished with God's name on his lips.

Read Full Story:Welcome to SIFY News

Evolution of a Worm

Not long after the Department of Homeland Security announced its National Cyber Alert System at a morning press conference, security experts detected "MyDoom.B," which carries instructions for infected computers to launch a denial-of-service attack against Microsoft Corp.

The new worm quickly had the honor of being the subject of the government's cyber-alert system. Read the DHS's technical and non-technical postings on MyDoom, or sign up for the alerts at www.us-cert.gov.

Security firm Symantec said the "worm will perform a Denial of Service (DoS) against www.microsoft.com starting February 3, 2004 and www.sco.com starting February 1, 2004. It also has a trigger date to stop spreading on March 1, 2004. These events will only occur if the worm is run between or after those dates. While the worm will stop spreading on March 1, 2004, the backdoor component will continue to function after this date."

Worse yet, CNET's News.com reported, experts said MyDoom.B "prevents PC users from going to security sites and could block some antivirus software from getting the latest updates. The new virus adds a file to the infected computer that tells it where to look for certain Internet addresses. Among the addresses are F-Secure's update site, Symantec's update site and Microsoft's downloads site. Symantec confirmed that its users may have to delete the file before they can update their antivirus software, while Microsoft was still investigating the effect on Windows users."

Source: Evolution of a Worm (TechNews.com)

'We were all wrong' - Kay got guts to Say to Bush about Iraq

''We were all wrong'' — Iraq had no remaining arsenals of germ-warfare weapons, no poison gas or a nuclear-weapons program, the White House's former chief weapons sleuth said yesterday, a stunning indictment of U.S. and Western intelligence agencies that undermines President George W. Bush's original justification for ousting Saddam Hussein.

David Kay's calm but candid and sweeping repudiation before the U.S. Senate's armed-services committee will also fuel the political firestorm over whether Mr. Bush misled Americans and the rest of the world when he launched a pre-emptive attack against Iraq last spring. The White House's core claim at the time was that Mr. Hussein, armed with weapons of mass destruction, posed a real and imminent threat to the United States.

"It turns out we were all wrong," said Mr. Kay, a former United Nations weapons inspector and top Central Intelligence Agency adviser who led the postwar Iraq Survey Group's search for banned weapons of mass destruction. Mr. Kay, who included himself among those who were incorrect, quit last week after uncovering no stockpiles and finding that the Pentagon was shifting resources from his group.

In effect, Mr. Kay's testimony lends credence to Iraq's insistence before the UN last year that it no longer had stocks of germ-warfare weapons, poison gas or an active nuclear-weapons program.

Mr. Kay laid the blame on deeply flawed intelligence gathering, not only by the CIA but also by France, Germany and others who agreed with the assessment that Baghdad had failed to destroy its stocks of banned weapons and might still be producing them.

"That is most disturbing," Mr. Kay said, adding that the spies had been equally wrong in underestimating the scope of nuclear-weapons programs in Iran, North Korea and Libya.

Source: The Globe and Mail

Its time for Bush to come out and say, its was stupid cowboy revenge attitude and oil, that made me go to war. He still speak the magic words like a parrot 'The World Is a Better Place With out him'. Gosh, look how intelligent the American and it allies intelligence services are. They let 911 happen and now they let Iraq War happen.

America, Its time to change your fundamental attitude towards the people in the Rest Of The World (as they say in America).

We need to put pressure on PM to get Joshi out of HRD

Governments of the past must be commended for their vision to have established and nurtured institutions like the IITs and IIMs. The fact that this commitment has stood the test of time of over 40 years and has been acknowledged unequivocally by the world. Credit must also go to the dedication and persistence of the educators in these institutions who gave up many lucrative options and possibilities and brought these institutions to where they are. Government had a role to play in the nascent stages. Today, when we talk of being international, needing freedom to compete with the world, being world class and so on, the IIMs and IITs should not be of any concern to the government.

The government has done what they had to do. Now onwards, the IITs and IIMs must be allowed to chart their path within the framework of some social norms and responsibilities.

Read 'We need to put pressure on PM to get Joshi out of HRD', has artilces written by:

Ramesh Venkateswaran rameshvenkat@vsnl.com) Alumnus of IIM Bangalore and IIT Mumbai, President of the IIM B Alumni Association, Visiting Faculty at IIM, Bangalore.

Venkatesh K (venkateshk@IIMB.ERNET.IN), Guest Faculty, IIM-B

Sunil Rajpurohit, sunilr02@IIMB.ERNET.IN, PGP II class of 2004

Vinay Avasthi, vinaya03@IIMB.ERNET.IN, Student IIM-B

Shenoy Sirish Narendra, shenoys02@IIMB.ERNET.IN) IInd year student

S Chandrashekar, Professor Corporate Strategy & Policy Area, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore

Shiv Pratim, shivp03@IIMB.ERNET.IN

Warrants against Kalam, Chief Justice

A sting operation conducted by a television journalist on Wednesday hit the portals of the Supreme Court when it was revealed that a Metropolitan Magistrate in Ahmedabad had allegedly issued bailable warrants against the President, Chief Justice of India, a sitting Judge of the apex court and a former president of its bar association without any case against them.

The journalist, who conducted a sting operation to expose corruption in the lower judiciary in Gujarat, claimed to have obtained warrants against President APJ Abdul Kalam, Chief Justice V N Khare, Justice B P Singh and former President of the Supreme Court Bar Association RK Jain after having bribed the Magistrate through local lawyers.

"What is happening in Gujarat? By giving Rs 40,000 you can get a judicial order? If this is the state of affairs, only God knows what will happen to the country," a stunned Chief Justice Khare said.

Source: Warrants against Kalam, Chief Justice

India's favourite new female star is 'ugly' and upright

She looks plain, wears thick black-rimmed glasses, teeth braces and dresses in unflattering voluminous clothes, yet she keeps viewers glued to television sets at prime time four days a week.

Clumsy, gullible and simple are adjectives used to describe her but Jasmeet Walia, better-known as Jassi, is one of the most popular characters on Indian television.

The Hindi serial -- entitled "Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin" aired Mondays to Thursdays on the entertainment-oriented Sony channel -- is the third most watched serial in the country of more than one billion people.

It is based on a top Colombian soap opera "Yo Soy Betty La Fea" (I am Betty the Ugly) with the original Spanish series becoming a small-screen sensation across Latin America and among the Hispanic community in the United States.

Source: Welcome to SIFY News

TIP OF THE ICE BERG

Well, I have always heard the quote 'TIP OF THE ICE BERG', well I was always what that means, now I know what it mean, you can see that visually in the pic below. Iceberg is buried down in the water and its not visible, only the tip of it is visible and we use the analogy TIP OF THE ICEBERG, when talking about things that seem small but infact they are really huge.

Cowism

Advaniism - You have two cows. You dont milk them. You worship them.

Chandrababuism - You have two cows in Vijayawada. You hook them to internet and milk them from Hyderabad.

Jayalalithaism - You have two cows. You teach them to cry, "Ammaaaaaaa..." and fall at your feet.

Karunanidhiism - You have two cows. You give one to your son and the other to your nephew.

Gandhism - You have two cows. But you drink goat's milk.

Indiraism - You have two bulls. You adamantly consider them as cows.

Lalooism - You have two cows. You buy Rs. 900 Crore worth of cattlefeed for them.

Rajnikantism - You have two cows. You throw them into air and catch their milk in your mouth.

Veerappanism - You have two cows. You take over a reserved forest to feed them.

Azharism - You have only one cow. You take money from bookies to maintain it.

Osamaism - You have two cows. You convert them into biological weapons.

Softwarism:
Client has 2 cows and u need to milk them
1 First prepare a document when to milk them (Project kick off)
2 Prepare a document how long you have to milk them (Project plan)
3 Then prepare how to milk them (Design)
4 Then prepare what other accessories are needed to milk them (Framework)
5 Then prepare a 2 dummy cows (sort of toy cows) and show to client the
way in which u will milk them (UI Mockups & POC)
6 If client is not satisfied then redo from step 2
7 You actually start milking them and find that there are few problem
with accessories. (Change framework)
8 Redo step 4
9 Atlast milk them and send it to onsite. (Coding over)
10 Make sure that cow milks properly ( Testing)
11. Onsite reports that it is not milking there.
12. You break your head and find that onsite is trying to milk from bulls
13. Atlast onsite milk them and send to client (Testing)
14. Client says the quality of milk is not good. (UAT)
15. Offsite then slogs and improves the quality of milk
16. Now the client says that the quality is good but its milking at slow
rate (performance issue)
17. Again you slog and send it with good performance.
18. Client is happy..

By this time both the COWs aged and cant milk. (The software got old and
new software has come in market)

Sent by Kiran Kumar Jakkaraju.

Eye Testing

Well, today I went for eye testing at Parkway Eye Care with Dr. Nitin Patel. Well, I have never got such a fulfledged eye testing done earlier, it was so cool going through the whole procedure and for a change the doctor actually explanied about the kind of sight I have.

Well, I have something called stigmatism. What that means is that, half of your eye can see properly and half cannot see properly, its like your having 1/2 sight. For me, I can see the vertical things properly, and horizontal things not as clear as vertical ones. Hmm, well, finally I know what kind of eye sight I have and its good to know.

I would fully recommend the doc for your eye testings. Here are the contact details:

Dr. Nitin K Patel
Parkway Eye Care

5100 Belt Line Rd
Suite 850
Dallas, TX 75254

Phone: (972) 991-2020
Fax: (972) 392-1781
URL: http://www.eyefinity.com/

Indian tech salaries will reach US levels: economist

Good news for techies: your salary will go up to American levels. Bad news for techies: your salary will go up to American levels.

Apparently, the gap between the paycheques of Indian IT pros and their American counterparts is bound to reduced, if the laws of economics are to be followed. At least, that’s what US economist Arnold Kling argues in a recent article on techcentralstation.com .

Refuting recent statements by American economists asking for government intervention to stop the flow of jobs from higher-paid US citizens in the US to lower-paid professionals in India and other countries, Kling argues that companies can expect to keep paying lower salaries to Indian pros in India without taking productivity losses.

He says that economics makes it impossible for a coder in Bangalore to be as productive as a coder in Seattle and still get paid only one-fifth as much. In other words, he contends, even if American companies outsourcing work to India are paying less per head than in the US, they will be paying about the same in the long run since they will have to hire more workers in India to get the same amount of work done.

Source: Indian tech salaries will reach US levels: economist - The Economic Times

I don't agree with this, what economists are talking about is the quality of work produced for the amount of money paid. Well, lets see the practical things going on the ground. Every Indian company which wants to expand its niche in the golbal market is adopting the route of CMM Level 5, Six Sigma practices and managing high level process control and thus maintaining quality of production. In US, you can hardly find any comapany which is going after these quality processes, atleast in IT departments its not happenning, almost every other company's IT department works like a start up. Every manager worries about 'Get the damn thing working, I don't care how it is written'. When coming to the quality of work, the analysts are forgetting that Indians have contributed in a huge way towards the IT Industry in west in the recent years and produced topnotch quality products. And when comparing the quality, well, for sure the top notch American Guys in IT Industry are very very birlliant and I have a personal experience working with them, but on an average an Indian IT Professional is more dedicated, hardworking, has drive for results than an average American IT Professional.

Alternatively, Indian pros will become as productive as those in the US, and start commanding the same salaries, which will nullify the offshoring advantage. Kling’s thesis is based on a simple economic law which posits that a worker must earn as much as the contribution he or she makes to the value of a product.

Well, I think with the current salary that indian IT professionals are getting, they are already in the highly paid rankings in the Country and they lead very comfortable life in the place where they are now. And talking about the amount of money a worker makes to the amount of money made by the organization and the unfair practices, gosh, i just stop laughing, thats what socialism or communism is like and capitalistic analysts talking about the same thing, give me a break. If worker wants to earn more, they will venture out start on their own, which is called as Entrepreneurism.

My 2 cents.

Telegrams Turned Funny/Shocking

TELEGRAM #1

A daughter sends a telegram to her father on her clearing B.Ed(Bachelor of Education) exams, which the father receives as :

"Father, your daughter has been successful in BED."

***********************

TELEGRAM #2

A husband, while he is on a business trip to a hill station sends a telegram to his wife : "I wish you were here."

"The message received by wife: "I wish you were her."

*****************************

TELEGRAM #3

A wife with near maturing pregnancy goes to railway station to return to her husband. At the reservation counter, while her turn came,it was the last ticket.
Taking pity on a very old lady next to her in the queue, she offered her berth to the old lady and sent a telegram to her husband which reached as:

"Shall be coming tomorrow, heavy rush in the train, gave birth to an old lady."

************************************

TELEGRAM #4

A man wants to celebrate his wife 's Birthday by throwing a party. So he goes to order a birthday cake. The salesman asks him what message he wants to put on the cake.

Well he thinks for a while and says: let's put, "you are not getting older, you are getting better".

The salesman asks "how do you want me to put it?"

The man says,Well put "You are not getting older", at the top and"You are getting better" at the bottom.

The real fun didn't start until the cake was opened the entire party watched the message decorated on the cake:

"You are not getting older at the top,You are getting better at the bottom".

******************************************

TELEGRAM #5

A man from Agra went to Ajmer. His wife was in her parent's house in Delhi.When the man went to Ajmer, he asked his servant to send a telegram to his wife indicating about his trip to Ajmer.

He sent a telegram.When the wife received the telegram, she fainte d.

It was written: 'sethji aaj mar gaye ! ( Sethji Ajmer gaye ).

New Virus On the Prowl-------

Source: Scotsman.com News - Sci-Tech - Mydoom and gloom from new e-mail virus threat

A MALICIOUS new computer virus spread via e-mail is clogging networks and may allow unauthorised access to personal computers, experts are warning.

The worm, called Mydoom or Novarg, is carried as an e-mail attachment and sends itself out to new e-mail addresses once opened by the recipient.

The virus may also open a "back door" to the computer to give hackers access.

Thousands of e-mails triggered by the worm were bombarding networks within hours of its discovery, warned Vincent Gullotto, vice-president of California-based Network Associates’ emergency response team.

Unlike many of its predecessors, Mydoom does not entice the recipient to open the attachment by promising nude pictures or personal messages.

Instead, the e-mail carrying the virus often bears the subject "test" or "status". The message inside may read: "The message contains Unicode characters and has been sent as a binary attachment."

"Because that sounds like a technical thing, people may be more apt to think it’s legitimate," said Steve Trilling, of Symantec, an anti-virus company.

The worm only affects computers which use Microsoft Windows.

Thank God - Kalam speaks up for IITs, IIMs

President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam appears to have reservations about human resource development minister Murli Manohar Joshi’s efforts to recast IIMs and IITs.

The existing “brand images” of these institutions should be protected, the President said tonight in his address to the nation on the eve of Republic Day.

“The nation’s vision of developed India requires greater thrust to scientific and technological advancements. All our IITs, IIMs have graduated as world-class brand institutions in addition to the century-old premier institution — Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. These characteristics must be preserved and nurtured.”

If these institutions face problems in holding fair examinations, they could be addressed differently, he said.

The Telegraph - Calcutta : Nation

Mr. Minister Murli Manohar Joshi, will you stop making senseless statements about IIT's and IIM's and their standards and let them decide themselves how they want to function better. Democracy is not about putting the power in the hands of the center, its about giving the power to people who deal with the community. IIT's and IIM's are a community of intellictual people and the people invloved there know exactly how to take the benefits to more masses. If you think they are not doing enough towards that, then give directions like a learned intellectual, not destroy the whole process, don't hit the core of the education system for your political reasons.

Path Breaking People of India

Read about the 5 Path-breaking bureaucrats who made a difference and are committed to make a difference.

1. Harsh Mander
   
2. DP Ojha
   
3. JM Lyngdoh
   
4. Maxwell Pereira
   
5. K J Alphonse
   

Read about the 5 Women politicians who can help change India who made a difference and are committed to make a difference.

1. Vasundhara Raje Scindia
   
2. Uma Bharti
   
3. Sushma Swaraj
   
4. Brinda Karat
   
5. Sheila Dikshit
   

Dr. Kurain - I Told Kalam He's Lucky I Chose Dairies

Pushing 80, Dr Verghese Kurien, the country’s legendary ‘doodhwala’, is not yet ready to hang his spurs. Credited with playing a stellar role in the implementation of Operation Flood, the cooperative movement in the dairy sector, and setting up of institutions like the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) and its Amul brand of utterly, butterly, delicious dairy products and the Institute of Rural Management, Anand, (IRMA), Dr Kurien is still an active and vocal champion of farmers’ rights in his dual capacity as Chairman of GCMMF and the National Cooperative Dairy Federation of India (NCDFI). Fiercely critical of the changes taking place in the dairy sector, especially the “corporatisation of the cooperative movement”, the grand old man has no qualms about calling a spade a spade. In a free-wheeling interview to Jyotsna Bhatnagar of FE, he talks about the state of the country’s dairy sector and the challenges ahead.

Read The Fascinating Excerpts: I Told Kalam He's Lucky I Chose Dairies

Getting Your Résumé Read

Joel on Software, has an excellent article on Getting Your Résumé Read

Excerpts:

• OK, this one really bugs me. Learn where spaces go in relation to other punctuation. Attention, the entire population of India: whenever you have a comma, there is always exactly one space and it's always after the comma and never before it. Thank you.

• The personal pronoun "I" is always capitalized. All sentences must end in a period. If your cover letter looks like this I will not even look at your résumé:

  i m interested in your summer job.
  here is my resume
  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Do you Yahoo!?
  Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free web site building tool. Try it!

• In most of the English speaking world it is not considered polite to open letters to a Mr. Joel Spolsky by writing "Dear Spolsky." One might write "Dear Mr. Spolsky," or "Dear sir," or perhaps, "Hi Joel!" But "Dear Spolsky" is usually followed by some story about embezzled funds and needing to borrow my bank account.
  

  Read the article Getting Your Résumé Read for more tips.

  Posted by Ramdhan Yadav at 11:53 AM Perma Link | Write A Comment (0)

BPO Wave

BPO Wave - The Times of India link has a collection of all artilces related to BPO published in Times Of India, pretty good read.

Yet again: they were changing a Bihar village and were shot dead

Ex-Naxalite Sarita and a former builder, Mahesh, mobilised people in and around Fatehpur block to revive a centuries-old 45-km canal system which virtually changed the face of this village. The Indian Express had featured their story on Diwali day, This Diwali, Heart of Darkness is Bright and Shining.As they did every evening, Sarita and Mahesh were travelling on a bike from Shabdo to the Fatehpur Block Resource Centre when at around 7 pm, they were shot by assailants.

The change the duo catalysed in Shabdo village—in the heart of the Naxalite-dominated Bihar-Jharkhand border—is spectacular:

• They successfully weaned hundreds away from their alcohol addiction

• People have erased boundaries of their individual fields totalling 175 acres. Collective farming has increased wheat production by at least 25 per cent.

• The two reached here in 1999 and revived a historical canal system. About 35,000 people in 40 villages got together under this scheme in which tanks were connected to a river or a stream through canals.

• In caste and class conscious Shabdo, the canal’s construction saw unprecedented community action: Rajputs and Dalits would work and eat together.

• When the Zila Parishad gave Rs 22 lakh, villagers donated land and built a community centre, anganwadi and a playground.

Read More: Yet again: they were changing a Bihar village and were shot dead

National Anthem Sung Again in Kashmir Valley Schools after 14 years

Source: Welcome to SIFY News

After a gap of 14 years, the Jammu and Kashmir government is reviving the old tradition of singing the national anthem during the morning assembly in government schools.

A senior official of the education ministry told PTI in Jammu that the practice, suspended due to militancy, is being revived in a phased manner in districts where there is less militancy, including in some places in the Kashmir valley.

The official said the government has also decided to establish four additional university campuses and 22 colleges to provide avenues for higher education to the youth.

Two campuses each of the Kashmir and Jammu universities would be in place soon. Work on the north campus of Kashmir University in Baramulla district has already been taken up while land for a south campus is being identified in Anantnag district.

Pretty surprising fact that National Anthem is not sung, well not a shocking one though, and really good and refreshing to know that J&K govt. is trying to revive the tradition again.

Historytalking.com - History of tales of Indian Diaspora

Via: Welcome to SIFY News

Historytalking.com, the website, developed by former BBC journalist Vijay Rana, hosts recordings of first person narratives of leading personalities in the Indian diaspora.

Its latest addition is Captain Abbas Ali, an old Indian National Army (INA) soldier and freedom fighter. The INA was founded by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

"I saw Netaji (leader) alive after his alleged plane crash (in Taiwan)", Ali says in his talk on the website.

Ali, a graduate from the Aligarh Muslim University, joined the British Army as a commissioned officer in 1939. A year later the young officer was sent to Southeast Asia to fight against Japan.

Other stories include:

* Cricketer Nasser Hussain was not the first Asian to lead a national English team; it was Sutinder Khehar who captained the English hockey team in the early 1980s.

* If you were an Indian woman in England during the 1960s and wearing a sari, you would not be allowed to supervise English staff. Raksha Tandon was sacked before she could begin her managerial job only because she refused to abandon her sari in favour of English dress.

* In the 1960s, the Ealing Council in London had a policy of having not more than 25 percent Asian children in a school. To keep the racial balance right, young Asian kids were sent to schools outside Ealing.

* After playing an important role in India's first Test victory at the Oval in 1971, wicket-keeper Farooq Engineer thought he would be booed by the Lancashire crowds, where he is settled. Instead he got a standing ovation.

* Tennis ace John McEnroe could never tolerate a Sikh, Raghubir Singh Mahajan, umpiring at Wimbledon.

* Legendary Mushtaq Muhammad, the youngest ever Test player from Pakistan, now lives in Birmingham, passing on techniques of the trade to the future Asian stars of English cricket.

The website was launched by veteran Saeed Jaffrey in June 2003, and aims to create a valuable online educational resource of oral history.

It invites people to volunteer information, eyewitness accounts and life experiences about some of the socially and educationally relevant events, social trends and cultural themes.

"Most of our contributors are senior citizens narrating their life experiences. While a large number of our visitors belong to the web-savvy younger generation. By bringing them together we hope to build bridges between the two generations," says Vijay Rana, editor of Historytalking.com, told IANS.

New stories appear on the site every week - stories of courage and determination, stories of social discrimination and stories of the pioneers of the social and cultural movements in Britain.

America Diconnected from the rest of the world

The recent speech of Dick Cheney at World Economic Forum, concentrated on terrorism.

But, a funny thing has happened. While the war on terrorism has dominated headlines, the great engine of globalization has kept moving.

And it seems America clearly, asusual, got disconnected from the world (rest of the world, as it calls).

Read More: MSNBC - The One-Note Superpower

Weird Day

Well, today, i mean yesterday was weird, i was sleeping almost all day and then I dropeed to two coffee glasses and so obviously broke them. Actually coffee came out really good, but it got dropped before I can drink all of it. Is this an indication of anything. Well, may be its like I am just focussing on things that fell good, but not on things that are boring but are necessary to fulfill the things and take a complete shape. Just like cofee tated very good, but its extremely important that I hold the coffee cup properly until the end. Well, I just kind of getting a feeling that I am making nice things happen, just like nice coffee, but not exactly making sure that the things get materialized properly, I am trying to depend on others for the most part, instead of taking control and getting hands dirty, well its extremely important to get hands dirty to make things happen in the way you want them to happen. Ram, take the charge and get going and make the things happen. You have a powerful soul reciding inside, take charge.

We are not worried about BPO Bill - Indian IT CEO's

Putting it even more emphatically, iGate chief delivery officer Mohan Sekar said, “nobody has any government contracts in India.”

American companies such as IBM, EDS, Accenture and CSC which usually handle large US government projects are expected to be the most affected. All of them have operations in India and are likely to be outsourcing government work here.

“The current move by the US senate to bar offshoring of government work, though may not have a great impact on Indian IT companies, does not augur well for their own economy. Such decisions do not help in moving towards a free-trade policy envisaged by WTO. This Bill is yet to be passed as a law and we hope the US government takes a more pragmatic view and not get pressurised by political considerations,” Satyam chairman B Ramalinga Raju said.

Complete Article: US BPO Ban: We Aren’t Bothered, Say CEOs

Books Banned In India

Reforms is alive, the Empire’s long dead, the Cold War over, MTV all around. Yet, 54 years after India became a Republic, our erstwhile mai baap sarkar still plays nanny. Books banned by the Raj remain on the banned list and many more have been added since—James Laine’s on Shivaji the latest in Maharashtra. Here’s some of what you can’t read in India today. Of course, you can try to google your way out.

Read the list at: Books you can't read 54 yrs after we became a Republic

Why the rich fear globalisation

A very interesting article by Surjit S Bhalla: Why the rich fear globalisation. He wrote a book Imagine there's no country: Poverty, Inequality and Growth in the era of Globalization

Excerpts:
During the twenty years pre-globalisation period (1960-1980), per capita incomes in the poor world grew at 2 per cent per annum compared to the rich industrialised world's growth rate of 3.4 per cent i.e. the poor world grew at a considerably slower rate.

During these decades, there was no anti-globalisation movement, but the hard reality was that the rich were getting relatively richer. The reason there was no white man led anti-globalisation movement then was because the rich folks had never had it so good.

During these days, an average person in a rich country (let us call her Mary), born in 1960, witnessed her parents income double by the time she was 20 years old and thinking about entering the labour market. In contrast, an average poor person in a poor country (let us call her Sita) saw her parents income increase by only 50 per cent, or half the rate of her rich country counterpart.

In the globalisation period (post 1980), the poor countries began their long march towards catch-up. In sharp contrast to the previous 20 years, the fortunes were exactly reversed --the poor economies registered a growth rate double that experienced by the rich countries - 3 per cent per annum compared to the rich countries considerably slower growth of 1.5 per cent per annum. And the poor in the two poorest countries, India and China, saw their incomes increase at an even faster pace -- above 5 per cent per annum for over 20 years.

This miracle has never occurred before i.e. when about a billion people (about 350 million poor in India and 650 million poor in China in 1980) increase their incomes by 175 per cent in a short space of 20 years. One can debate how much of this increase in incomes of the poor was caused by globalisation.

What remains incontrovertible, however, is the fact that policy makers in both these countries were conscious of opening themselves up to the rest of the world, were conscious of the fact that only by globalising would they be able to reduce poverty and make their citizens richer.

But now let us go back to the effect of globalisation on the (mis)fortunes of Mary. In the pre-globalisation years, and especially if she came from an upper middle class family, she saw her family income triple. She not only went to college in 1980, but was able to 'easily' enter the best universities. Her own working period, however, has witnessed only a glacial increase in family income.

After 20 years of hard work, such income is up only 35 per cent, and most of the increase is driven by the fact that she is now working along with her husband. Five years of wage growth in the exploitative pre-globalisation days is equal to 20 years of wage growth in the era of globalisation.

To make matters worse, Mary finds that her children are finding great difficulty in entering the best universities, especially because of the large number of worthy applicants from Asia.

Put yourself in Mary's position -- would you also not rant and rave against globalisation? Of course you would; but would you do so if you were Sita? Of course not, because you have never had it so good. At the risk of being politically incorrect, but with the accuracy of being factual, it is the case that one should not witness any brown, or yellow, or black people in the vanguard of the anti-globalisation debate. If one does witness non-white intellectuals articulating anti-globalisation sentiments, then one needs the explanation of a psychiatrist, not an economist.

Why do some poor country intellectuals support the rich, elitist anti-globalisation movement? Perhaps these intellectuals have not really emerged from their feudal cocoon; perhaps they subliminally retain their colonial mentality.

The leaders and operators of the anti-globalisation movement are the formerly colonising rich whites, who, as per their heritage, need non-white intellectuals as their disciples and followers. If the intellectuals were to argue for Mary's relative enrichment, they would be honest and would be constructive towards finding a better future for all, rich and poor. But such sentiments do not befit a 'Left-intellectual'.

I'm not going to Hollywood: Ash

"Where does everyone get all their news?" She laughed that musical tinkle, using it to neatly sidestep the question. "Maybe talks are on but nothing is final as yet. In fact, a lot of talks are on. So lets wait and watch what happens. Don't take the surprise away now, come on." Who? Me? Surprised? Naaa! I tried to act as nonchalant as I could, but then I couldn't resist asking about talk of her not wanting to do the ' Bond gal ' role (if offered) in case it required her to do hot scenes with Mr Brosnan.

Again that laughter. "What a delightful bit of news. Where did it first come out? … Anyway, let me say here again that with nothing on the anvil as yet, I cannot comment. Once we're past the discussion stage and something is finalized, I may be able to shed some light. Right now, 'my lips are bonded', oops sealed! Ha ha ha!"

Clever, very clever, but then it was that quality of brains over beauty (which, as we all know was quite considerable to begin with) that set Ash apart from the rest the also-rans (hate to say that about Nicole, but hey.). And she did have the final say in this 'conversation', "Just yesterday Raj ji (Rajkumar Santoshi) asked me, 'I hope you are not leaving us for Hollywood. What are al these rumours I keep hearing?' And my reply was, 'No Rajiji, I am not going to Hollywood. Hollywood is coming to us. (Gosh, I just love that statement)I guess the world has realized our potential. They are now valuing our culture and our sense of understanding. And they are looking eastwards. So, I guess they will be adapting to our requirements with respect to our culture. And that's a big leap for all of us Indians. Right?"

Could I even begin to argue? I guess I will save that for the actual interview. Right Ash?

Read Full Article: I'm not going to Hollywood: Ash - The Times of India

Siraj Desai's brush with Indian Jails

Siraj Desai, who got bail Friday after being in jail since January 18, was arrested after a fellow delegate to the World Social Forum, Salome Isaacs, charged him with rape.

Salome Isaacs has since withdrawn the charge, which Desai has denied. After his release, Desai recounted some of the more "humbling" moments of his incarceration.

Very interesting facts of Indian Jails, a must read interview.
Read the Excerpts: Welcome to SIFY News

Indian software firms shocked by US anti-BPO bill

In a recent move, the US Senate yesterday passed a law barring the sub-contracts to India and other countries by US companies to cut costs.

Under the measure, when the US Government gives contracts to an American firm the latter cannot give sub-contracts out of that to a source outside the US.

Thought the legislation is still to be approved by the US President, the contents of such ''omnibus'' bills, adopted in a hurry when a budget measure is long overdue, as in this case, is not changed later and the head of the government does not veto it.

Besides, states like Indiana, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina and Washington are slated to vote on bills that aim at banning foreign workers from public contracts.

Indiana were among the US states that backtracked from contracts that involve hiring foreign workers, a process called "off-shoring."

NASSCOM chief Kiran Karnik reacted, "We are dismayed to learn about the Bill in the US Senate that restricts off shoring of work contracted out by the US government. This Bill is yet to become a law, and we hope that wiser counsel will prevail."

Source: Welcome to SIFY News

In my view this is completely crazy, I agree that the Amecian workers need to be protected, that does not mean that you can dump the rest of the world completely. It should be handled in a way that x% of contracts stay in US and y% ofcontracts can be offshored. This is how the rest of the world works. Lets say in FDI(Foreign Direct Investment) rules, based on the industry the percentages are fixed. The same should be done here also, so that its a win-win situation. Is there anybody who is thinking in rational terms?

COLD MOUNTAIN

Cold Mountain, what can i say, splendid movie, wonderful picturization of emotions, has very good scenic beauty and talks about America in the times of Civil war, you can say its a love story made out of the war scenario, some thing like Vidhu Vinod Chopra's '1942 A Love Story'.

The most funny diaglouge was Renee Zewllweger asking Nicole Kidman - 'Did you wrap your legs arround him?'. Renee was marvellous, will certainly right for best supporting actor award with Sam in LOR. Nicole as usual stunningly beautiful and splendid in acting. Jude Law was good too.

I completely enjoyed watching the movie end to end and it kind of gave me a feeling if there are problems arround people tend to help each other and if its cosy, they just stay for themselves, something like what happened during 911 and Balck Out in NY. Reminded of the affections people show in India too. Enjoyed it thouroughly.

Interview With God

The Interview With God has got an amazing video presentation. Its kind of a must see for everybody almost everyday to make sure that they live life every day. It got amazing quotes, well, everybody knows about them and got wonderful graphics in the whole presentation, don't missit.

Review on Khakhee

Well, first I have to tell you the funny thing about the movie, usually when u go to movie in a theater there is a chance of missing the starting of the movie, but strangely I missed the end of the movie, after Tushar shoots (who is a suspense), the projector failed and gosh missed the last part.

Anyways, about Khakhi, its a long movie asusual, but the best part of the movie is, its not all that movie stunt blablabla like, its action is completely down to earth, natural and the Rajkumar Santoshi made sure that the grip of the movie is there till the last frame, its a fentastic screen play. Well, for sure asusual you feel its not realistic some scenes, on the whole worth the money you spend on the ticket. Everybody gave a terrific performance. Kudos to the movie, the best part is that Rajkumar Santoshi successfully portrayed the patriotism that is filled in the Muslim communit in India, he showed them that they are also Indians and they study along with us in the same schools and are filled with Desh Bhakti, I have to commend Raj on that part.

Rediff Review: If there is one thing that you must do when you watch Khakee, it is this: You must focus complete attention to the goings-on. A momentary lapse in your focus or a brief hiatus to buy Popcorn at an inopportune moment may deprive you of exciting moments of this densely-packed and intricately-laid out film.

Rajkumar Santoshi's latest offering Khakee is tough, electrifying and explosive. It is one of the most exhilarating thrillers to reach the screen in recent memory.

Khakee scores points at almost all levels, except… Read Welcome to Sify.com

Tearful Pak bride looks forward to life in India!

Twenty-one-year-old Tehmina Ibrahim will create history of sorts on January 29 when becomes the first Pakistani girl to marry a Muslim in India after the resumption of air, road, rail links between Pakistan and India.

Ibrahim will marry her maternal cousin Mustkhal Qadir in Ahmedabad.

"I am leaving for India as a daughter of Pakistan. I expect, in return, love, brotherhood and ever lasting peace," she was quoted by The Dawn as saying as she boarded the Lahore to Delhi "Dosti" bus on Thursday.

Source: Welcome to SIFY News

Namaste Van Damme

Guess what! Hollywood star Jean Claude Van Damme may now star in a Bollywood film as the Hindi film industry begins to dazzle the world.

Asad Sikander, a Bulgaria-based businessman, is ready with his Bollywood film "Bullet - On Target". And it is his next project titled "Namaste India" that will have a big Hollywood actor.

According to sources, it might be Jean Claude Van Damme!

Source: Welcome to SIFY News

Next Indian DOT COM - Three Portal Ideas

The next chapter in the Indian dotcom story is waiting to be written. The first one ended up being aborted. How the second phase shapes up is up to each one of us. Here are three portal ideas which can help kickstart the Indian Internet:

• New India News Ecosystem (NINE)
• PIN-code-based India Network (PIN)
• SME Trade Information Marketplace (STIM)

Read Complete Narration at: Rajesh Jain's Post

Blogshares Info

David Raynes: MTBlogShares Archives

Desperate US techies to 'code for food'

What on earth does that mean?

Simple, haven't you heard of "Food for Work". That oft-highlighted programme the Indian government launches to help people in times of famine and draught. This means the same thing. Only, it's in the lingo of a jobless US techie .

Yes, that sign was held up by a jobless protestor outside a Manhattan conference on outsourcing that opened Wednesday. ( Do you think Indians would have reacted differently if they faced job losses? )

Recent reports have said at least one out of 10 technology jobs in the United States would move overseas by the end of this year.

Maybe the US politicians would start a “Code for Food” programme. After all, it’s an election year .
Source:Desperate US techies to 'code for food' - The Economic Times

'If Vajpayee, Musharraf bring peace, they will deserve Nobel'

Source: The Hindu News Update Service

If Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, succeed in settling the Kashmir issue and bring peace to the region, they will deserve the Nobel peace prize, a leading American columnist said today.

"Shrewdness" on the Indian side and "desperation" in Paksitan have come together to produce a potential Nobel Peace prize for "the two uncommon leaders," the Washington Post's Jim Hoagland wrote in his column.

Well for sure that will be a Nobel Prize winning achievement and they will get all kinds of prizes available in the world and they will stand in the history of world for ever.

What wonderful way to start a day !!!!!!

Well, these days I am actualy waking up and starting my day with a real bang. I wake up and start my laptop and go check the stats of my site, boob atlest 50 hits and then I check my mail and boom atlest one reader sending me a mail of appreciation or asking for information, and that message fills me with so much enthusiasm and makes me feel like What A Way To Start A Day.

Thank you everybody who is going thorugh my website and sending me messages and making everyday of mine a wonderful day. Thank you.

BOP - The Blogging Of The President 2004

BOP 2004(The Blogging Of The President 2004) link

"The Blogging of the President: 2004" – A Live Campaign Special with
Christopher Lydon

Sunday, January 25, 8 to 10 p.m. on KERA 90.1
"The Blogging of the President: 2004," is a live, two-hour national
special hosted by Christopher Lydon. The program will open a
national conversation on the Internet transformation of politics and
the new rules of "the making of the president." It's about bloggers:
the influential new class of chatterers and their bottom-up
democracy - new voices building new communities on the web.

The rise of Howard Dean, on blog energy and blog fundraising, is the
tip of the Internet iceberg, moving like a high-speed glacier across
American politics and culture. Mixing live calls, guest interviews,
and produced pieces, listeners will hear and interact with the
people that are taking the "mass" out of media and putting in
individual citizens.

Time running out fast for H1-B applicants

Your time for getting to the US on an H1-B this year is running out. Fast.

With the quota having brought back down from 195,000 to 65,000 for the year, the situation has suddenly changed from not enough applicants – as was the case in 2003 – to far too many chasing the limited number of visas available.

Some estimates say the quota could be reached as early as March or even February.

One way to ensure you’re not out of the race is to opt for the fast-track review – the accelerated 15-day process. Not paying the premium will mean having to wait the normal three to six-month period, by which times this year’s quota will definitely be gone.

Source: Time running out fast for H1-B applicants - The Economic Times

Rush Rush for the visa.

Future engineers flocking to IIT's Techfest

Techfest 2004, the seventh since it started in 1998, includes teams from NT University, Singapore, Institute of Engineering, Nepal and University of Peradinya, Sri Lanka. This year prize money totals Rs 7 lakhs spread over 25 competitions that test practical application of engineering knowledge through paper presentation and working models. With six workshops and a lecture series, the festival turns out to be a melting pot of engineering brilliance, thought and activity.

‘‘That’s what makes it so exciting to attend. Firstly, a technical festival organised by an IIT automatically draws attention among other students. Then the range of events like Yantriki, which is perhaps a one of a kind robotics competition organised in India, is mindblowing. There’s a whole load of engineering news and advancement that you can catch up on. Where else could I have caught a documentary on spy equipment!’’ says William Benjamin, final year mechanical engineering student at MIT.

Pune’s future engineers flocking to IIT's Techfest

This is exciting to know, in US there is an organizatoin called F.I.R.S.T which does this for school children, making science fun to do.

For Priyanka And Rahul - Politics on cards for sure!

Main man bana rahi hoon par kab tak faisla karongi yeh pata nahi hai (I am giving it a thought, but cannot say when will I make the final decision)," she said, adding that her decision could take one week or even three years.

Commenting on the issue, Rahul said, "I never said no to join politics." The duo made these remarks when mediapersons covering the high- profile three-day visit insisted on lifting the veil of secre