Thursday, December 4, 2008

Right Solution.......?

Every time India is attacked by terrorists, we blame Pakistan and other external forces. This is not the first time we are talking to Pakistan or handing over list of terrorists to them. Result is the same , there is absolutely no progress.
We are been attacked left and right back and front by the terrorists. Especially in 2008, they have not left any big city; say it Jaipur, Ahmedabad , Bangalore or Delhi and finally Mumbai. No where we feel safe. They come by land, by water and by air.
But have we ever thought about the support they get India for these attacks ? Instead of asking Pakistan to act on terrorists, why don’t Indian Govt. act on the internal support system in India? Our Govt. has never taken any concrete step to fight with them in last years. Attack after attack and blast after blast.....there is no change in the approach from our Govt. Politicians say its a small thing and keeps on happening in big cities; people say, its not the first time..... etc etc.
Now the Govt. of India is considering military options to attack terrorist camps in Pakistan. Dont you think it will turn into another war and who knows ? a nuclear war? All previous wars have created a long lasting problem between the two countries.... slowly the younger generation in both the countries have started to forget those and thinking to move ahead with a better bi-lateral relationship. Any short of military action from any side will ensure that there is never a friendship between India and Pakistan.
At the same time, we should ensure that our people and our territory is safe and I strongly believe there are many other ways. Fight with terrorism and its reason ..... fight with poverty, fight with corruption and inefficiency of our system. That will bring slow but long term solution. Strengthen our security forces and infrastructure for immediate response to any future terror strike.
Act fast , smart and thoughtfully. Ensure that any act to solve this problem should not create another problem in this country.........
Jai Hind!

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Discriminating Orissa.......

 Snakes add to flood-hit Orissa's woes
18 districts, 32 lakh people are affected....... more than 150 died so far, still not a national disaster. I am talking about the ongoing Orissa flood. I am resident of the flood affected Kendrapara district and I know how painful, serious is the situation over there. I am not happy sitting here in the IT capital of India, each an every moment its giving me pain learning about the condition of my people over there water locked from last 8 days.

Its not new for orissa, its been facing natural disasters in form of flood, cyclone, draught since its inception I guess..... Oriya people knows how to fight and stand strong each and everytime a disaster hits them. But sometimes its tough......just like the 1999 super cyclone! It was my first year in college.....I still cannot forget the bricks, glass bottles flying down from my neigbour`s roof top.... It was the worst disaster for any Oriya.....10,000 people died as per official calculations....number of villages lost their existence to the Bay of Bengal.......thousands lost their loved ones, their property......their home. But what the super cyclone couldnot wash away was the hope of millions of poor people.......

This time also 18 districts out of 30 are under water....61 breaches in different rivers. All rivers flowing higher than the danger level. 150 people dead so far as per offical record which may go on increasing as the flood condition is worsening day by day. Mahanadi the largest river of Orissa is on its full swing creating destruction all over....

The Govt. of Orissa is helpless....they were probably not fully prepared for a disaster of this level. They have probably not taken any learning from the super cyclone. The central Govt. has not responded to the Orissa Govt`s request for 1500 crore flood rilief and declaring it as a national disaster.

I am not comparing but the fact is' around 200 people died in recent Bihar floods whn the figures in Orissa is close to 200 now..... 16 districts of Bihar were affected when 18 in Orissa are affected. 23 lakh people were affected in Bihar floods when 32 lakh are affected in Orissa......thousands have lost everything they had....... 

Bihar floods declared a national disaster. centarl Govt. announced an immediate package of Rs.10,000 crore, Prime minister and Sonia Gandhi visited the affected areas in Bihar follwed by other VIPs. Indian railways provided special train services to evacuate people, announced heavy package , appealed it`s employees to contribute to the victims..... Media highlighted and almost all the media houses formed Bihar relief funds including number of NGOs going for help and relief........

In Orissa: central Govt. has not yet responded the state`s request for relief. No high profile leader yet goe time timeto visit orissa flood vistims...... No package so far.......No relief from corporates, India Railways, media houses etc........ news papers not giving enough importance to the news........news channels not focusing on the affected........Nobody is bothered!!!

Even the super cyclone of October 1999 was not declared a national calamity. Not even the financial package was enough......

When there was attck on churches in Kandhamal, Orissa...... it became the headlines for all news channles all leading human rights organisations, even his holiness Pope also intervened describing the situation dangerous for mankind........ I am not trying to justify what people did.....wrong is always wrong and what the media, NGOs, human right agencies and the central Govt. are doing to Orissa now is also wrong.......... Can the so called human rights agencies not see the exploitation of human rights during a natural disaster????

When it comes to action.....everybody forgets their responsibility?

even the media; which was displaying pictures of people burning churches have forgot to take a picture of people on the highways loosing thier everything, starving and trying to save themselves with a torn polythene........

If it is not descrimination, what is this then??

Is this because oriya people do not create problem for the central govt. like the people in J&K, people in singur? Is it because we do not have a single ministers in the central cabinet? Is it because we do not demand what we deserve???

Does the Govt., media and all other concerned agencies waiting for a distaer bigger than this to happen? then only they may focus ?

God knows............ I only know that its boosting regional differences between states and people. It will definitely keep the congress and UPA govt. out of Orissa for at least another decade.

The Govt. of Orissa has to ensure clean and curruption free relief & rehabilitation this time. There was huge curruption during the 99 super cyclone, so this time chiefminister Pattnaik has to take curruption prevetive measures.......

We oriya people assure the world that........despite of all discrimination, despite of being hit by natural calamities every year...........we will fight bak and will prove that we have the ability to eb the best in next 10 years!

Bande Utkala Janani!


Refer
 http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14764580
http://www.orissatv.com/news_details.asp?ID=4486
http://www.orissatv.com/news_details.asp?ID=4490
http://thesamaja.com/dtlshw.asp?st=5&nt=HOTNEWS

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Enough is not Enough here!!!

Enough is enough.........but it seems like enough is not enough in this country. A peace loving state like Orissa and Karnataka has become communal because of some unwanted elements in our community. These violators of law and order call themselves protector of hinduism. Boss! I am also a Hindu and proud to be an hindu......but I can never keep my head high if people like the bajrang dal and others continue to attack other religeon and their followers. I can never tollerate looking at a shiva temple broken by christians..... how can you expect them to see  a broken idol of the GOD and keep quite? 

whats your justification! converson? if so, then there are lot many peaceful ways of fighting it. Force the Govt. to bring in an anti converson lawa or something like that......but please do not kill people and attack churches....and still continue to be called a hindu. A hindu is who never gets into violence......believes in all form of God, respects all religeon and accepts all with love and care. Please dont change this..........

 

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

God....! Its time for you to Come Down!

Every day a new story…. Not the story of Abhinav Bindra winning the gold for India at Beijing, not the story of celebration of Janmastami ……Its unfortunately the story of 23 blasts in Ahmedabad, 15 blasts in Bangalore…. 27 Bombs found in Surat, Maoists killed Greyhound jawans more and more………………………
We really wonder whats happening in this a country….there is hardly a complete peaceful day in this country from along time now. Maamata banerjee is protesting in Singur , don’t know for whom?? And at whose cost? Is it really going to benefit the farmers who already have transferred the land to the TATA`s on their own …….? Why Mamata got up from sleep now when the project is in a uncompromisable stage? The TATA`s have invested thousands of crores …….. don’t know what will the farmers do with the land even if they get back it now? Very day you read story of farmers committing suicide! Are the farmers of singur going to get something else? No its just a political game and Mamata thinks she has the last chance in hand to come back to power in WB. She should understand …..she is not eligible! She really not eligible to be a representative of people……. If she is taking a step like this in Singur. My only comment is why did you get up now? Why not when the plant was not constructed ?
Come back to the Ahmedabad and Bangalore blasts……. We have no policing system neither to protect or even detect after the attacks. Our police force is busy protecting political leaders and purchasing grocery for their wives! They are guarding the protesters…… rallies and the bloody political meetings but not the AAM ADMI. So far there is no strong achievement being made in the investigations of all the blasts that happened all over the country in last few months. One thing that has been achieved is the political gain by different parties by blaming each other and communalizing the issue.
An orphanage along with 2 church staffs were burnt alive in Orissa by VHP activists yesterday! Do we have the right to ask WHY? What was their fault? Maoists killed Swami Laxamana Nanda ……… If you all VHP protesters have the guts then go and catch them…… kill the Maoists if you can……. But Who gave you the right to kill the innocent and destroy their property? Who gave you the right to attack the innocent Christians all over the state? They also are Indians and technically have the same rights as you! Religions are made by human and followed by human……. I don’t understand whats the difference being a Hindu and being a Christian or a Muslim…..the difference is in our personality our ideology…..which varies from individual to individual and not from religion to religion.
There is a tale in Oriya…that a day will come when man will eat man`s flesh and will drink his blood. I think the day has arrived ! Now you can see people are thirsty for human blood……resulting into killing of innocent people every day!
The story also tells that at that point of time….. God will take birth on the earth to save the society and humanism from these people. But unfortunately we are still waiting for him to come down to us and save us. We can only pray! God please save us…..our country and the whole human society!

KASHMIR NEEDS AZAADI !

Jammu & Kashmir are burning from more than one month now. Agitations, protests, blockades firing curfew….all has become a routine there. As citizen of India we all are feeling helpless today! We really are powerless. As all of know the story begun from the Amarnath land transfer then revocation of the same.
Who started all these? Was the land transfer really required to the amaranth yatra management? The J& K govt. was the one who took this decision, then why did they revoke it under the pressure of a group of people??? Then the VHP and BJP thought of showing their power too…..now the separatist Huriyats have hijacked the whole agenda and have mobilized support for AZADI recall in the valley! Why did it happened at all?
Is there not a Govt. in this country? Is any body allowed to disturb the normalcy in the state? Why there in no strong policy regarding protests? We are getting news of short supply of essential commodities to the valley due to the protest…. God knows how much truth is in that but definitely the huriyats are taking benefit of the whole game initially played by the J&K govt then some separatists and then by the BJP. The UPA govt. in the center seemed to be on holiday! Mr. Shivraj Patil has no clue about his responsibilities as the Home minister of India.
Every day we are watching politicians debating on NEWS channels about the issue! If you are really bothered to solve it , you should have been in Srinagar or Jammu discussing the same thing with local people and not shouting like monkeys in the air conditioned news rooms of NDTV, CNN IBN and AAJ TAK. Even calling them monkeys is a disrespect to the animal….
Look at the mass demand of azadi in the valley! Why are they asking so? Is the Govt of India and the Indian administration not taking care of them? Are they feeling of a better life being separated from India? Its not just a call for Azadi from India, It really has something else to say….. The valley want azadi from the dirty politics played over it since decades…..both by India and Pakistan! 3 full fledged and one half war being fought on the ground and increasing terrorism day by day……. Do no they have right to live in peace! Is it a punishment being born in the so called heaven on earth? Kashmir relay need to be AZAD from all bloody incidents…..it need AZADI from the political hot basket…….it need AZADI from the religious problems……….it need AZADI from social & economic problems! Then probably INDIA will be the true owner of the valley and their people not just winning it by military power!
Its really a serious concern for Indian administration to look into. If we want the Kashmiri people to leave in peace we have to ensure a permanent settlement of the issue with Pakistan. We understand that the Govt. of India is not getting enough response from Pakistan but this is also true that non of the sides really want the issue to be solved as it’s a ready made hot cake for them and they can take a bite when ever they are starving on political front in the country. But India has to play the role of a big brother instead of just requesting Pakistan all the time for peace…… we need a solution and India has to be tough when ever required. We are the worst affected by the problem, so we have to take most of the responsibilities of solving it.
Now probably the time has come, the Supreme court of India need to intervene to solve the matter as soon as possible, we really have no faith on the Govt and the politicians.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Left Right Left!

The hottest news of India from last one week is all about the Indo- US nuke deal and the future of the UPA govt in Delhi. This drama has actually surpassed the popular Arushi murder case of Noida. Every day there are some new twists into the story of the nuke deal, all of us know its no longer only about the impact on India as a nation, its allabout the impact on the Govt in the center. The UPA govt which has just completed its fourth year in power has actually gone through lots of up and downs.... Their first priority " the common minimum program" is no where in pcture now....media reports have exposed the failure in implementating the NREGS as compared to the NDA rulled states. Aam admi vima yojna, a shceme to insure the poor is a huge failure as the potential benificiaries do not know what a vima is, thats why even there are more than 2lakh registrations, there is not a single claim in last 2 years....

Inflation is about cross 12%, a figure highest in last 15 years. The aam admi is in trouble but the Govt is claiming to reach 9% growth in the fiscal year....no idea who is growing??? Oil prices have increased by double in last 5/6 years, ok lets blame the OPEC and international crude oil price rise for that.....but what about the food crisis at home? Our agricultural minister is proudly publicising the achievement of Indian farmers.....for over production, then why is inflation there???? Does he knows that he is responsible for the farmers first then the cricketers???

Left paties......no idea are they true Indians or not. They have no problems if India has nuclear deal with China but have problem with the US. They seem to be still in the ancient marxist time.... Truely they are not eligible to be called Indians..... forget about ruling the country. They are the biggest hurdle for the development of India. If Dr. Manmohan Singh is trying to do some thing better,,,,,,the left has problem. Its because if there is no poverty then there will be no issue for them to fight election and fool the poor people........ Biggest idiots on Indian soil is Mr. Praksah Karat whi is opposing the deal without going through the details. Whats his problem? Why is he in politics??? If he thinks so much about poor people he wouldn`t have using the luxuries of life. They have totaly paralised the UPA govt from taking any decision on the nuke deal. Threatning the Govt has been their main job from last 2 years.

Request to Indian voters.....please dont give a factured mandate so that idiots like Karata and his partymen can play with our national interest. They are lterally making the Govt move left right left each and every day!!!

Despite of the fact that there is no chance of compromise with the left on the nuke deal......the UPA govt has changed its priority to save the Govt than to save the deal. We are very clear about the future of the deal after Bush administration in US. India will not get a better deal like this even if goes through in the next senate on US.

The UPA govt should go ahead with the deal and break ties with the left. Mr.Prime minister should understand that the people of India are with him on the deal. NDA and BJP are also playing a dirty game on this issue. If they are the true patriots, they shouldn`t oppose the deal. Infact the Vajpayee Govt only started the discussion on the deal with the US and now they are opposing it only not to see a UPA brand on it.

This multiparty politics will kill India`s interest one day. Nobdoy is bothered about the interest of common man today and are busy fighting for their own interest.

An rule in Madhya Pradesh has enabled and empowered to recall the elected representatives of the Panchyat in the middle of the term if the representative seems to be unfit for the position. That rule should be replictaed for all positions and all institutions from Panchayat to parliament all over India. It will create fear in the mind of politicians and may stop them doing monopoly after getting elected. According to Mr. Ravishankar Prasad of BJP, if the rule comes there will be elections every year in India. My view is let their be election every year.......no problem, we will loose money right!! are we not loosing money and time by electing the corrupted people to institutions???

Lets loose money , lets vote every year if required but we want right people for right position.......then only India can be a developped nation. I am sure no political party will agree to this but thats what the need of time is.

Hope despite of the threat from the left, Mrs. Gandhi and Dr. Singh will take their only brave step to ensure India`s bnational interest.

Jay Hind

Following are the key aspects of the Indo-US civil nuclear deal:

* The agreement not to hinder or interfere with India's nuclear programme for military purposes.

* US will help India negotiate with the IAEA for an India-specific fuel supply agreement.

* Washington will support New Delhi develop strategic reserves of nuclear fuel to guard against future disruption of supply.

* In case of disruption, US and India will jointly convene a group of friendly supplier countries to include nations like Russia, France and the UK to pursue such measures to restore fuel supply.

* Both the countries agree to facilitate nuclear trade between themselves in the interest of respective industries and consumers.

* India and the US agree to transfer nuclear material, non-nuclear material, equipment and components.

* Any special fissionable material transferred under the agreement shall be low enriched uranium.

* Low enriched uranium can be transfered for use as fuel in reactor experiments and in reactors for conversion or fabrication.

* The ambit of the deal include research, development, design, construction, operation, maintenance and use of nuclear reactors, reactor experiments and decommissioning.

* The US will have the right to seek return of nuclear fuel and technology but it will compensate for the costs incurred as a consequence of such removal.

* India can develop strategic reserve of nuclear fuel to guard against any disruption of supply over the lifetime of its reactors.

* Agreement provides for consultations on the circumstances, including changed security environment, before termination of the nuclear cooperation.

* Provision for one-year notice period before termination of the agreement.

* The US to engage Nuclear Suppliers Group to help India obtain full access to the international fuel market, including reliable, uninteruppted and continual access to fuel supplies from firms in several nations.

* The US will have the right to seek return of nuclear fuel and technology.

* In case of return, Washington will compensate New Delhi promptly for the "fair market value thereof" and the costs incurred as a consequence of such removal.

* Both the countries to set up a Joint Committee for implementation of the civil nuclear agreement and development of further cooperation in this field.

* The agreement grants prior consent to reprocess spent fuel.

* Sensitive nuclear technology, nuclear facilities and major critical components can be transferred after amendment to the agreement.

* India will establish a new national facility dedicated to reprocessing safeguarded nuclear material under IAEA safeguards.

* Nuclear material and equipment transferred to India by the US would be subject to safeguards in perpetuity....

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Environment Vs World!



Reduction in carbon footprint of the world’ is the theme of the world environment day 2008. But the big question is why this question arise? We keep on exploiting the environment and conventional natural resources the whole year and celebrate environment day on 5th june to show, how concerned are we about the environment around us! Isn`t it like cheating to self? In fact it is.

We are cheating ourselves. But how long more? The environment has started reacting strongly. Take example of China earthquake, Mynmar Cyclone or even the tsunami a couple of years ago which took thousands of life and left millions roofless. The economic and social impact of these natural disasters are clearly visible in forms of various problems. Still we like to sleep on teak wood beds and still we like to cut trees in the name of infrastructure development.

See the enclosed picture. Its taken today near my office in JP Nagar, Bangalore they are cutting trees for constructing underpass which will ease traffic and decrease the travel time to the Bangalore international airport. Tell me who is benefiting and who is suffering ??

We are going on and going on creating questions for our next generations. The problem is at the cost of the whole world, we are benefitting a smaller part of the population.

Continuous hike in price of crude oil in international market has forced the richer world to think about alternatives. Please note here that “its not the environment concern which has forced Automobile giants like the GM to shut down their SUV plant in the US and go for fuel efficient car production” it’s the concern about decreasing demand caused by fuel price hike. What if they have taken the decision a decade back?

A news in the time of India today attracted my sight this morning that “Airlines may treat passengers like baggage”. Some international airlines are thinking to decide the fare of individual passengers based on their weight. Impact of fuel price hike!

Indian Govt. has started rationing LPG cylinders – 8 per family per year and any additional one will cost them double the existing price. Petrol is Rs.5 more and Diesel is Rs.3 more. When are we going to wake up and take a stand? Time is running out of hand and we cant really afford to take more time to act.

For example an electric scooter, an electric car and a solar/battery operated cycle can not only decrease the CO2 emission but also ease the traffic in the city so that minimizing construction of more flyovers and under passes leading to less deforestation. It will also save money from our fuel expenses. Using CFLs instead of normal electric bulbs may save thousands kilometers of land from coming under dams and may decrease our social problems as well. Using efficient machineries, computers etc in our factories and offices can save some money and at the same time can create a space to breathe clean air. Even using water, electricity, petrol LPG etc little carefully and responsibly can also alp our lovely planet earth to be ever beautiful .

Please wake up and start acting. Lets not make this day “the world environment day” as another day for celebration. Lets act and make each and every day to protect the environment around us.

Happy Environment Day!
Prasanta Biswal

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Experience with BSNL Broadband

Developing economy, increasing demand and deceasing infrastructure services! India is on a development express highway so far as the economy, GDP and IT is concerned but most of the Indian service providers are not capable enough to provide relible service to its customers.

I have personally experienced it in issues like transport services, infrastructure, etc etc. But the recent experience with BSNL broadband service is actually too much.....

The first mobile service I used in late 2003 was of BSNL`s. Though reliance mobiles were available for Rs.500 at that point of time, I prefered to go for a BSNL sim card , standing (waiting) under burning sun for the whole day at Bhubaneswar GPO. But the impression has changed over the period of time.

We are using BSNL broadband from last 5/6 yrs in our office and are facing service problems in regular intervals. Problems are bound to happen in any technology and thats absolutely not the issue, the issue is the time taken to shortout the problem and believe me that is huge so far as BSNL is concerned. This is the 3rd time on 30th of April our internet stopped working and we called the BSNL customer care and registered a complaint. They said it will be shorted out within 24 hours. The next day was a holiday 1st May, so understandably we were expecting it to get solved on 2nd but after waiting for whole day on 2nd we called up again and filed another complaint. The 4th day means 3rd May, 2 of my colleagues went to the concerned telephone exchange and met some officials who promised to get it repaired the same day. The 6th Day, I again called up the customer care and mentioned the 2 previous complaint numbers and you will be surprised to know the answer, the answer was and I quote "we can only forward the complaint to the concerned telephone exchange and it depends upon them how much time they will take. If you can put some pressure through somebody on them, they will do it soon." an you expect this answer from the largest telephone and ISP(Internet service provider) of India ?

We lost 7 working days, as most of our work depends upon the internet. I dont know BSNL can value that.......they are PSUs so they are not bothered about the consumer, but being a small business entity, we are responsible and answerable to our customers.

This is the reality but the last reality has changed i.e the monopolly of PSUs in several sector. Though our internet was repaired on the 8th bay of our copmlaint i.e on 7th of May, we have decided to migrate from BSNL to Airtel which is providing atleast prompt aftersales service. Most probably we are going to disconnect the BSNL one very soon.

Hope BSNL changes its current avtar and turns into a prompt and reliable service provider.

I dont know whether privatisation is the solution or not but it can certainly make these careless guys work.

Friday, March 21, 2008

An Innovative Hole-in the -Wall to educate poor urban Kids.......



Sugata Mitra has a PhD in physics and heads research efforts at New Delhi's NIIT, a fast-growing software and education company with sales of more than $200 million and a market cap over $2 billion. But Mitra's passion is computer-based education, specifically for India's poor. He believes that children, even terribly poor kids with little education, can quickly teach themselves the rudiments of computer literacy. The key, he contends, is for teachers and other adults to give them free rein, so their natural curiosity takes over and they teach themselves. He calls the concept "minimally invasive education."
To test his ideas, Mitra 13 months ago launched something he calls "the hole in the wall experiment." He took a PC connected to a high-speed data connection and imbedded it in a concrete wall next to NIIT's headquarters in the south end of New Delhi. The wall separates the company's grounds from a garbage-strewn empty lot used by the poor as a public bathroom. Mitra simply left the computer on, connected to the Internet, and allowed any passerby to play with it. He monitored activity on the PC using a remote computer and a video camera mounted in a nearby tree.
What he discovered was that the most avid users of the machine were ghetto kids aged 6 to 12, most of whom have only the most rudimentary education and little knowledge of English. Yet within days, the kids had taught themselves to draw on the computer and to browse the Net. Some of the other things they learned, Mitra says, astonished him.
The physicist has since installed a computer in a rural neighborhood with similar results. He's convinced that 500 million children could achieve basic computer literacy over the next five years, if the Indian government put 100,000 Net-connected PCs in schools and trained teachers in some basic "noninvasive" teaching techniques for guiding children in using them. Total investment required, he figures: Around $2 billion.
On Feb. 25, BW Online Contributing Editor Thane Peterson sat down with Mitra, a stocky 48-year-old with a mustache and a mop of graying black hair, in his tiny, triangular office at NIIT's R&D center on the campus of the Indian Institute of Technology in the south part of New Delhi. Here are edited excerpts of their conversation.
Q: What gave you the idea of giving slum kids access to the Internet?
A: It was a social observation rather than a scientific one. Any parent who had given his child a computer would invariably remark to me about it. I could hardly ever find an exception. Within a very short period of time, the parent would be claiming that the child was a genius with a computer. When I poked a little further, I invariably found that the child was doing things with the computer that the parent didn't understand.
I asked myself whether the child was really doing something exceptional or if what we were seeing was adult incomprehension. If the adult was simply underestimating the child's ability to cope with a computer, then that should happen with any child. And I asked myself, "Why then would we want to use the same teaching methods for children as we use for teaching adults?"
At first, I tested my ideas with children who were easily available -- children at the company here, whose parents are in our executive group ..
Then we tried this "hole in the wall" concept, where we put a high-powered Pentium computer with a fast Internet connection into a wall and let [slum] children have access to it with no explanation whatsoever. To be very brief on what happened, the results have been uniform every time we've done this experiment. You get base level computer literacy almost instantly. By computer literacy, I mean what we adults define as computer literacy: The ability to use the mouse, to point, to drag, to drop, to copy, and to browse the Internet.
The children create their own metaphors to do this. To give you an idea of what I mean, a journalist came up to one of these kids and asked him, "How do you know so much about computers?" The answer seemed very strange to her because the kid said, "What's a computer?" The terminology is not as important as the metaphor. If they've got the idea of how a mouse works and that the Internet is [like a wall they can paint on], who cares if they know that a computer is called a computer and a mouse is called a mouse? In most of our classes here at NIIT, we spend time teaching people the terminology and such. That seems irrelevant to me with these children.
But we also found that they would tend to plateau out. They would surf the Web -- Disney.com is very popular with them because they like games. And they would use [Microsoft] Paint. It's very, very popular with all of them.
Because these are deprived children who do not have easy access to paper and paint. Every child likes to paint, so they would do it with that program. However, that's all they could do. So I intervened, and I played an MP3 [digital-music file] for them. They were astonished to hear music come out of the computer for the first time. They said, "Oh, does it work like a TV or radio?" I said, in keeping with my approach, "Well, I know how to get there but I don't know how it works." Then I [left].
As I would have expected, seven days later they could have taught me a few things about MP3. They had discovered what MP3 was, downloaded free players, and were playing their favorite songs. As usual, they didn't know what any of it was called. But they would say, "if you take this little box, and you drag this file into this box, it plays music." They had found out where all the Hindi music was on the Web and had pulled it out.
Q: What does it mean? What does it say for the potential of these slum kids? After all, being able to download music isn't enough to get them a job.
A: I don't wish to claim that this shows anything more or less than what it has shown, which is that curious kids in groups can train themselves to operate a computer at a basic level. In doing so, they also can get a generally good idea about the nature of browsing and the nature of the Internet ... And, therefore, if they view these things as worth learning, no formal infrastructure is needed [to teach them].
Now, that's a big deal, because everyone agrees that today's children must be computer-literate. If computer literacy is defined as turning a computer on and off and doing the basic functions, then this method allows that kind of computer literacy to be achieved with no formal instruction. Therefore any formal instruction for that kind of education is a waste of time and money. You can use that time and money to have a teacher teach something else that children cannot learn on their own.
Q: What else have you learned?
A: Well, I tried another experiment. I went to a middle-class school and chose some ninth graders, two girls and two boys. I called their physics teacher in and asked him, "What are you going to teach these children next year at this time?" He mentioned viscosity. I asked him to write down five possible exam questions on the subject. I then took the four children and said, "Look here guys. I have a little problem for you." They read the questions and said they didn't understand them, it was Greek to them. So I said, "Here's a terminal. I'll give you two hours to find the answers."
Then I did my usual thing: I closed the door and went off somewhere else.
They answered all five questions in two hours. The physics teacher checked the answers, and they were correct. That, of itself, doesn't mean much. But I said to him, "Talk to the children and find out if they really learned something about this subject." So he spent half an hour talking to them. He came out and said, "They don't know everything about this subject or everything I would teach them. But they do know one hell of a lot about it. And they know a couple of things about it I didn't know."
That's not a wow for the children, it's a wow for the Internet. It shows you what it's capable of. The slum children don't have physics teachers. But if I could make them curious enough, then all the content they need is out there. The greatest expert on earth on viscosity probably has his papers up there on the Web somewhere. Creating content is not what's important. What is important is infrastructure and access ... The teacher's job is very simple. It's to help the children ask the right questions.
Q: Are you saying that if we put computers in all the slums, slum kids could become literate on their own?
A: I'm saying that, in situations where we cannot intervene very frequently, you can multiply the effectiveness of 10 teachers by 100 - or 1,000 - fold if you give children access to the Internet.
Q: This is your concept of minimally invasive education?
A: Yes. It started out as a joke but I've kept using the term ... This is a system of education where you assume that children know how to put two and two together on their own. So you stand aside and intervene only if you see them going in a direction that might lead into a blind alley. That's just so that you don't waste time ... That would create teachers who are experts at composing questions.
Q: What are the business applications of all this?
A: I get asked this question all the time. It's kind of ironic that a company that makes [a big chunk of its sales from running computer-training institutes] should invent a method where no teacher is required. The answer is that just because a method is economically viable, doesn't mean you shouldn't look for alternatives. A good business is one which provides more and more for less and less. The cost of your goods and services should spiral downwards.
The second point is that we are going to have an e-commerce boom. But what happens when an Indian businessman puts his shop up on the Web? Where's he going to get customers from? If someone lets me do this experiment for five years, with 100,000 kiosks, I reckon that I could get 500 million children computer-literate. It would cost $2 billion. But if you had to pay to educate the same children using traditional methods, it would cost twice as much.
Q: If this were to become a business, would it require government funding?
A: Advertisers like Coca-Cola might be interested. But it would absolutely have to have government funding. I can't think of a company that would put $2 billion into this. The governments will have to realize that the problem of the haves and have-nots is about to [become] the problem of the knows and knows-not. Do we want to create another great big divide where the problem of illiteracy will come back in another context? In a very short period of time, adults who do not know how to deal with a [computer] mouse will have a very difficult time dealing with almost everything in life.
Q: But most of the information on the Internet is in English and the people you're talking about don't speak English.
A: We had some very surprising results there. We all have great misconceptions about what these children know and don't know. At first, I made a Hindi interface for the kids, which gave them links for hooking up with Web sites in their own language. I thought it would be a great hit. Guess what they did with it? They shut it down and went back to Internet Explorer. I realized that they may not understand the dictionary meaning of [English] words, but they have an operational understanding. They know what that word does. They don't know how to pronounce F-I-L-E, but they know that within it are options of saving and opening up files ...
The fact that the Internet is in English will not stop them from accessing it.
They invent their own terminology for what's going on. For example, they call the pointer of the mouse sui, which is Hindi for needle. More interesting is the hourglass that appears when something is happening. Most Indians have never heard of an hourglass. I asked them, "What does that mean?" They said, "It's a damru," which is Hindi for Shiva's drum. [The God] Shiva holds an hourglass - shaped drum in his hand that you can shake from side to side. So they said the sui became a damru when the "thing" [the computer] was doing something.
Q: Of all the things the children did and learned, what did you find the most surprising?
A: One day there was a document file on the desktop of the computer. It was called "untitled.doc" and it said in big colorful letters, "I Love India." I couldn't believe it for the simple reason that there was no keyboard on the computer [only a touch screen]. I asked my main assistant -- a young boy, eight years old, the son of a local betel-nut seller -- and I asked him, "How on earth did you do this?" He showed me the character map inside [Microsoft] Word. So he had gotten into the character map inside Word, and dragged and dropped the letters onto the screen, then increased the point size and painted the letters. I was stunned because I didn't know that the character map existed -- and I have a PhD.
Q: So what you're talking about is a different sort of literacy, a sort of functional literacy ...
A: Yes, it's functional literacy. There are two examples I'd like to give you from the recent past. It's already happened in cable TV in India. There are 50 or 60 million cable-TV connections in India at this point in time. The guys who set up the meters, splice the coaxial cables, make the connection to the house, etc., are very similar to these kids. They don't know what they're doing. They only know that if you do these things, you'll get the cable channel. And they've managed to [install] 60 million cable connections so far.
Example No. 2 is the bicycle. I think we have the biggest bicycle-manufacturing industry in the world. The bicycle is ubiquitous here, and it's much the same in Malaysia, China, Africa. But you don't ask how the population became bicycle-literate. They just use it. So what I'd like to see is an India in which a large part [of the population] treats the computer that way.
The other thing is [how the Internet will change when most Indians gain access to it]. We have the analogy of cable TV in India. Originally, it was all in English. It took exactly four years for all the programming to become Hindi. Star TV is now almost all in Hindi. If you go to Bangkok, they hate it.
Q: You're saying that a lot of Hindi content will appear as more Indians surf the Net?
A: Exactly. Let me go on record as saying it's not a question of what the Internet will do to India. It's a question of what India will do to the Internet ... If rural India goes onto the Internet, there will be an absolute flood of Indian-language content from people trying to sell to them.
Q: Has the Indian or any other government expressed interest in funding such a project?
A: Several government agencies, several state governments, and several world agencies have expressed an interest. Unfortunately, I don't want to name them because I need to get the funds first.
Q: You say that only the children used the computer, not adults. What does this mean for adult education?
A: I'm not even going to suggest that we use this [technique] for adults. The only reaction we got from adults was, "What on earth is this for? Why is there no one here to teach us something? How are we ever going to use this?" I contend that by the time we are 16, we are taught to want teachers, taught that we cannot learn anything without teachers.
There are two points I'd like to make about the adults. One is that the adults asked the children to do things for them. For example, to read their horoscopes on the Hindi news sites. The second thing is the reaction of the women. I would ask them why they didn't use [the computer], and they would say, "I don't have enough brains to understand all this." I would say, "What about your daughters?" And the answer was, "They have lots of brains." So I said, "Do you think I should just remove this thing?" The answer was always, "No, no, no." I asked why not. And they said, "Because it's very good for the children."
Now, if the mothers have realized that, I'm happy. I don't care if they don't come [to use the computer]. Because all we have to do is wait one generation. Not even that. In five years, a 13-year-old is going to be 18 and be an adult.
Q: Where do you go from here?
A: There is one experiment that scares me. These children don't know what e-mail is. If I gave them e-mail, I don't know what would happen. I'll probably try it anyway. But remember the stories one used to hear about people finding lost tribes and introducing them to Coca-Cola? I'm really seriously scared about what would happen if suddenly the whole wide world had access to these kids. I don't know who would talk to them for what purpose.


Ref: BusinessWeek Online Daily


Thursday, March 20, 2008

Salt workers of the little Rann


The picture on the left shows one woman working in one of the worst living atmosphere. This is a salt pan area in rann of kutchh, the wet desert of Gujarat.
I had a recent visit to the rann of kutchh regarding some project. The situation I observed is simply pathetic. People over there living with no minimum requirement for life. Drinking water: worst quality, lighting: beyond dream, Food: any how survive with rice, chapati. In summer the temperature goes more than 50 degree celsisus which is simple unbearable.
THere are around 25,000 families doing salt farming for atleast 7 months a year inside the wet desert. September end or october, they move to the desrt with their water pump and other temporary staying arrangements. They dig well and prapare pans for water....lift water using diesel pumps and chanelise it to the pans made earlier. The pans are made so that the water passes from one pan to another so that they get maximum salt out of it.
october to February are the pick production period and once the summer progresses, the ground water level goes down and production also goes down. A simple survey shows that each farmer spends around Rs.50000 only on diesel for water lifting per pump. Its almost half of their income. Most of the times the other half goes in transporting the salt to market and nearby areas. They survive on a monthly loan from the trader who purchases salt from them and ultimately they pay off via salt to the trader which some times makes them pay more money even after giving all the salt.
The area they work affects their health worstly. Lack of proper nutrition, medication and tools for work makes their job tougher..... Lot of organisations have came their and have promised to do something for them but whatever has been done till date is nothing compared to their need....
Hope somebody in future will think and work for these poor who adds salt to every Indian`s curry.........

Dying ethics and value of Indian society.......

We Indians are probably the best ones to understand the surrow of peace friendly Tibetians. And India is probably the only country that can change their fate.... Our politically selfish central Govt. has till now not taken any couregeous and bold step against any unhumanitarian act of any nation on another.... take the example of old friend Iran (Nuclear issue), Malaysia`s action against budhhist Monks or the tibet issue.....India`s stand remains the same. We are proud of our growing economic and military power but we really feel ashamed and hurt when the issue of ethics and value comes into picture. We are loosing faith from our old friends......never know why ? under whose pressure ?

The poor exploited tibetians feel that India is the only nation who can give them freedom some day ! But after the Indian govt`s stand on the tibet issue recently, they must be feling like loosing their hope! Are we not responsible for the downfall of the most peace friendly society of the world ?

Take the issue of Taslima Nasreen.....do you still feel that we are in a "free" "democratic" and secular nation? I dont think so..... We are just nonsence fools thinking that we are the largest democracy in the world. The truth is that we never have looked beyond elections, assemblies, parliaments to search the real democracy......real democracy means something else....something when the common people rule the common people........but the case here is completely different....

The so called secular left parties crying for secularism, minority empowerment, common man etc ecc and creating blunder in central politics using their nasty tricks against Indo-US nuclear deal.... bloody played a major role in throwing a woman out of the country who has raised voice aginst some relevant issues. Why dont they put pressure on the Govt to speak to China about Tibet issue ? Is it because they are inclined to CHina as they are also communist!!!

Indian politics has turned into a bloody hell with all corrupt, selfish and inelligible ediots...... and making the nation feel ashamed about its indeendency and so called democracy...........FOr the first time in life I feel ashamed of my country (especially its Govt and ethically blind politicians).