Sheikh Hasina, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh is a natural ally for India. When her father was fighting for freedom, India helped adequately. To repay the debts she wants cordial relationship with her neighbor. But how far India is ready to take forward her genuine desire? She was well received and awarded Indira Gandhi peace prize recently. This is not sufficient. India should move up to dispel the wrong impressions created by it and by the opposition parties in Bangladesh about its interests in the Eastern nation . As a bigger nation, India should give wider concession to Bangladesh keeping long term benefits and geo political strategies in mind.

Mahfuz Anam writes in the Times of India on 2 February 2010

The history of mutual suspicion, petty bickering on trade negotiations, cavalier attitudes on border killings, dangerous gamesmanship with arms smuggling, etc, of the last three decades of Bangladesh-India relations would not normally justify the agreements that Sheikh Hasina penned sometime ago in Delhi. Only vision would. A vision of a South Asia doing what ASEAN did several decades ago, of trusting neighbours rather than of subverting them, of fighting poverty and not using it to justify other failures, of a thriving marketplace of goods and services rather than of counting items in the negative list. In the latest agreement, Bangladesh has moved towards such a vision. Has India responded? For us, the jury is still out.

Take the two biggest concerns of the two sides: for India they are security and connectivity with the north-east; for Bangladesh water sharing and trade imbalance. There is a feeling that the clarity and precision with which Bangladesh responded to its neighbour's concerns were not reciprocated in equal measure by India.

On Indian security concerns, Bangladesh's commitment was unequivocal: it will not permit the use of Bangladeshi soil for activities inimical to any other country, basically meaning India. It was in dramatic contrast to the past when India's worries about terrorist links and arms transit fell on deaf ears. India desperately needed friendly borders in the east that Bangladesh has now assured and is following up by decisive deeds. Sheikh Hasina has launched the most determined and widespread actions against internal militants and extremists and is systematically dismantling the terrorist infrastructure.

The permission for the use of the Chittagong and Mongla ports for shipment of Indian goods to the north-east is a very important step forward. With Bangladesh's present position on Asian highway and railway routes, the regional and sub-regional connectivity scenario is set to undergo a fundamental change.

On Bangladesh's priorities water sharing and trade imbalance there is no dramatic progress. On Teesta water sharing, the positive development is that the ministerial level joint river commission meeting will be held within March, 2010. But it still leaves us with an uncomfortable ambiguity about the outcome.

On the Tipaimukh dam issue, sadly, there was nothing new. The Indian prime minister reiterated his government's earlier stand that India will do nothing that will harm Bangladesh's interest. Such broad and generalised expression of good intention is definitely welcome. However clearer wording that further activity on Tipaimukh would only be undertaken after consultation with Bangladesh would have helped assuage remaining worries.

On enhancement of economic and trade relations, especially giving Bangladeshi exports (which are meager to start with) zero tariff access, the issue remained mired in the politics of an ever narrowing negative list which will now come down by 47 from 260 items, which earlier was higher still. The absurdity is that India earns a meagre $10 to $15 million in taxes from exports from Bangladesh of around $300 million. That is what it would have cost India to give Bangladesh zero tariff.

The promise of rebuilding of our railways, roads, bridges including the two ports, is welcome. The $1 billion credit line will serve to stimulate early action. However, all these are ancillary to both the functionality and efficiency of connectivity, which is a euphemism for 'transit'. The offer of 250 MW of electricity is of extreme relevance and among the most significant gains Bangladesh stands to make. Another hopeful sign is the agreement to amicably demarcate our maritime boundary.

Predictably, the Bangladeshi opposition, led by Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party and supported by Jamaat-e-Islami, have called the agreements a total surrender of Bangladesh's interest to India. They have called for opposition unity and are clearly marking time for an appropriate moment to strike against Sheikh Hasina's government.

Manmohan Singh's government must guard against the agreement getting entrapped in a bureaucratic maze, implementing its provisions soon. As a first step, India should formally assure that, as an upper riparian state, it will always consider Bangladesh's interest and display maximum openness and transparency on water sharing. Killings on the border must immediately stop and the promised 24-hour access to Tin Bigha implemented. On maritime boundary, it should go for a liberal interpretation and allow Bangladesh access to all available hydrocarbon and fish resources. Zero tariff access must be granted to all Bangladeshi exports. This must be followed by elimination of all inter-state taxes and non-tariff barriers. We must institutionalise annual summit and informal meetings in-between, for a few hours on one-day trips, as EU heads of governments have done. Such a step will do wonders for our relations.

The moment is opportune for India and Bangladesh to lay the foundation of a durable, mutually beneficial relationship that will transform the region's strategic and security scene. Now is the moment for grand visions and grander actions. If Bangladesh was guilty of being shackled to the mindset of the past, let India not be accused of having failed to think outside the box when opportunity beckoned.

The writer is editor, Daily Star, Bangladesh.

Private investors are queuing up to lock their wealth in the galloping education sector. Will this new found craze for educational returns for the investors will pay their gamble? or the recent steps by the union government to crack whip on the extra charging private educational providers will dent the interest among the private investors in education? One needs to wait and watch the results.

Reeba Zachairah writes in The Times of India on 1 February 2010

The evergreen and recession-proof characteristics of the education sector are drawing interest among private equity firms. Billed to be a $80-billion market, the number of private equity deals in the education space has grown four-fold in the last four years.

According to Venture Intelligence, a Chennai-based research firm focused on private equity and mergers & acquisitions, eight deals worth $121 million were sealed in 2009, compared with just two deals worth $73 million in 2006.

The first educational institute to get venture capital funding in India was Career Launcher from Intel Capital as early as in 2000. And last week, India Equity Partners invested Rs 172 crore for a 26% stake in IL&FS Education and Technology Services, which provides training to schools, colleges and to the government and corporate sector.

Unlike other sectors such as steel and automobiles which bore the brunt of economic slowdown, the education sector stood out as many professionals chose to go back to school as they waited for the gloomy scenario to change. Moreover, the government's thrust that every child should have the right to education and the enhanced outlay to develop infrastructure reflect the growth potential of the sector.

Also, education occupies a top slot in a typical Indian household budget. A cursory look around any neighbourhood would highlight the mushrooming of educational institutes and coaching centres in the last few years.

Says Rajesh Singhal, managing partner, Milestone Religare Investment Advisors, "The sector offers investment opportunities across the entire value chain, from basic to higher education, training and skills development."

Milestone Religare has invested in IMS Learning Resources, a test preparation firm for aspiring students across management, engineering and law streams. According to Singhal, the annualised return on investment could be between 25% and 30%. Funds typically have an investment horizon of 5-6 years.

Too many emails, forwards, spams and junks are crushing the instant communication network through email. Despite all anti spam wares and anti junk filters there are many unwanted messages keeping jamming our inboxes. Mostly our office updates, mass emails, birthday reminders, event reminders, anniversary wishes and social network updates are the major villains of the electronic communication system. I spend more than 30 minutes to delete the junk messages. Most of these forwards are repeated by friends. No wonder Netizens are not able to handle this trouble. This problem is common among the public figures, bureaucrats and professionals. Those who have wide network also face the same problem.

times of India writes on 17 December 2009,

Computer technicians have found 22 million missing White House emails from the administration of President George W Bush and the

Obama administration is searching for dozens more days’ worth of potentially lost email from the Bush years, according to two groups that filed suit over the failure by the Bush White House to install an electronic record keeping system.
The two private groups — Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and the National Security Archive — said they were settling the suits they filed against the president’s office in 2007.

It will be years before the public sees the emails as they will go through the National Archives’ process for releasing presidential records.

The biggest challenge today for parents is bringing up children. Apart from offering the children best possible education and nutrition, parents are facing difficulties in monitoring children's ethical behaviour. Apart from social ethics learnt from educational institutions children too learn from the family. Learning from the family has been labelled by sociologists like Talcott Parsons as "primary socialisation". But socialisation is under constant threat by technology and consumerism. Whatever ethical norms and behavioural patterns codified by parents and grandparents are on and off broken by the fast moving peers. Curbing this trouble will be the most crucial challenge in the coming days.

Amrit Dhillon writes in The Times of India on 2 December 2009


It's easy to visualise the Pune teenager who arranged to meet her boyfriend the day before Friendship Day recently. Just 15, she must have been flushed with excitement at the prospect of feeling special and desirable, and coming home later from the rendezvous floating in that delicious dreamy delirium that characterises the early days of a relationship. But the boyfriend brought along three friends for some 'fun' and they raped her in turns. The following day, the girl hanged herself. In their tragic interplay, i imagine she was seeking love while he wanted sex. Her humiliation and death reveal how the dating game in India is going horribly wrong because boys and girls are playing by different rules.

Girls are eager to explore their newfound social freedom to experience the headiness of loving and being loved. Physical desire is obviously an important part of this exploration because the hormones of a teenage girl are fizzing just as furiously as those of any young male. But girls venture into this new world almost utterly defenceless and, as mostly small-town ingenues, are vulnerable to the first predator who comes along.

So girls are filmed undressing by their boyfriends. The MMS clips are sent to friends or used for blackmail. Girls who end relationships have acid thrown on them. Girls who reject boys' advances are stalked and threatened. In the West, young girls absorb vast amounts of information about relationships before acquiring their first boyfriend. From TV programmes and debates, magazines, playground gossip and conversations with mothers and elder sisters, they develop a sixth sense for detecting a false note or a whiff of aggression that could endanger them.

More than information, certain ideas have entered their minds. The theories of the feminist movement from the 1970s onwards in the West made women aware of the power dynamic between men and women. The ideas of Germaine Greer, Simone de Beauvoir and Betty Friedman filtered down into popular consciousness. No doubt, they were diluted and reduced to slogans by the time they reached the woman on the street but they nevertheless coloured the landscape of her mind.

This process has been absent in India where such debates have been largely confined to women's groups and magazines such as Manushi. Here, girls plunge into the dating game intellectually blindfolded, groping (excuse the pun) for signposts as they navigate this new terrain. They possess none of the psychological tools to discriminate between genuine and fake interest. Having had arranged marriages themselves, their mothers and elder sisters are of no help.

Quite apart from the limited help available from their families, even the wider culture around them fails to imbue girls either with sense or suspicion. How can it? For centuries, social norms have imposed strict social segregation. The new freedom for the sexes to mix is so new that society has barely woken up to its implications. Whereas in the West, relations between the sexes evolved gradually, over decades, in India, the process has been squeezed into 10-15 years, jumping from Jane Austen to Paris Hilton in the blink of an eye.

As girls, without being forewarned, rush into the arms of their beaux, they misread the signals. Exacerbating their vulnerability is the desire for male attention that virtually consumes girls at this age. Not all young men, of course, are hell-bent on abusing their new access to women. Plenty of them treat their girlfriends with respect. But many, just like the girls, misread the cues.

They see a woman in a bar wearing attractive clothes as 'available' because they have never been educated by literature, films, books and newspapers to grasp the notion that a woman can be drunk, dressed revealingly and behave suggestively but if she says 'no' to sex, it means no. They too are confused. All the old familiar rules have gone and it's a free-for-all. Just the other day, at least in some circles, they were taught to believe that any woman who displayed pleasure during lovemaking, even with her own husband, was a whore. Now they have to learn that women can pose semi-naked, smoke and drink and yet must be treated as respectfully as they treat their mothers.

India has moved from segregation to mingling between the sexes without any of the attendant debates on sex, feminism and contraception. There has been no transition. Many men have leapt from believing that women should be sequestered inside the home to expecting their girlfriends to take responsibility for contraception. Girls pop the 'morning after' pill casually, rather than as an emergency measure. The boyfriends are happy to be carefree and few even bother to find out whether there could be repercussions on the girl's health.

Young Indian women need to realise that many of the new sexual freedoms that were hailed initially as 'liberating' in the West (such as the availability of the pill) turned out to carry a heavy price. When neither side knows the rules because the rules are still being worked out, the dating game becomes potentially lethal.

Everyone is eager to see technology solving all the problems faced by humanity. But the response to this mass expectation has been dismal. Bio technology which is touted as the one stop solution for all problems is yet to prove its credentials in a big way. Its achievements so far cannot be belittled. However there is a big mismatch between the hopes and reality.

Along with the developments in bio technology there is a parallel growth of controversies. Especially the food products and medicines. It is up to the bio technologists to sort out these troubles and prove to the world that they are savious of future.

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw writes in The Times of India on 3 December 2009

Biotechnology is aptly described as the "technology of hope" for its promise to deliver food security, life-saving drugs, alternate energy and environmental sustainability. India has many assets in its strong pool of scientists and engineers, vast institutional network and cost-effective manufacturing. Over 100 national research laboratories employ thousands of scientists. More than 300 college-level educational and training institutes offer degrees and diplomas in biotechnology, bio-informatics and the biological sciences, producing nearly 5,00,000 students annually. About 3,00,000 postgraduates and 1,500 PhDs qualify in biosciences and engineering each year. According to reports, outside of the US, India ranks the highest with 61 USFDA-approved plants and in excess of 200 GMP certified pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities.

The Indian government's national biotechnology development strategy is a comprehensive road map for this emerging sector. The document recognises the challenges of building both scale and critical mass in pursuing a global leadership profile. The biotech industry is poised to deliver a size of $5 billion by 2010 with biopharma driving the growth trajectory. However, funding, infrastructure, regulation and skill competency mapping pose obstacles in this path to the future. Conversely, India is uniquely placed to build a strong competitive edge. It offers an attractive cost arbitrage in research & development at roughly a third of that in the western hemisphere. Key enablers include a large, qualified English-speaking workforce, a network of reputed research laboratories and state-of-the-art pharmaceutical labs and manufacturing facilities. Further, the patient population offers a large, diverse pool for effective clinical research and development.

Ever-increasing cost and time involved in drug discovery and development, fierce competition and pricing pressure are all spurring western pharma companies to have an India strategy. A large number of blockbuster drugs are also set to go off-patent, giving the sector here tremendous opportunities. The industry is collaborating with global giants in clinical trials, discovery and development research, and manufacturing, thus rapidly moving up the value chain. In this age of hyper competition and wafer-thin margins, India's biotech sector is poised at an inflection point.

Yet the industry continues to face numerous challenges. Foremost is finance. Venture funding has abstained from investing in this sector on account of its high risk profile. Aversion to risk is also seen within the sector, which prefers low risk ventures based on services and generics, shying away from an innovation-led business model. The department of biotechnology has plugged this deficiency through a number of funding schemes. It is for entrepreneurs to avail of these funds and rise to the challenge of innovation.

The sector also faces the same infrastructural hurdles affecting Indian industry. The country continues to fall short on critical enablers such as quality roads and uninterrupted supply of power and potable water. However, beyond these common issues, the sector has its own problems. It requires a streamlined regulatory framework to accelerate commercialisation of products. Numerous regulatory agencies pulling in different directions slow down the process of growth. Bt Brinjal is a good example of how years of intensive research investment are unable to guarantee commercial returns. Human clinical trials are still an unresolved aspect. Further, essential strong industry-academia connections are sadly lacking.

The government can lead the way in facilitating growth by treating biotechnology as a priority sector. R&D is the bedrock on which biotech rests. The government must enable international patenting, which curiously does not qualify for tax deduction, and encourage investment. A regulatory environment that helps the drug discovery process and approves products without delays is urgently required. A five-year tax holiday on new products developed in-house can be a great incentive for R&D. Profits on such products can be mandated for reinvestment in R&D to encourage development of newer and better drugs at lower costs.

The biotech sector needs creativity to harness its potential and assume global leadership. There exists a huge opportunity for growth but only if innovation becomes part of the business ethic and a primary enterprise driver. It is no longer enough to produce clones of pharma products that have saturated the market, which do nothing to add value. Benchmarks must be set high and out-of-the-box thinking must become the norm. Profit margins can be maintained through contract discovery and manufacturing for foreign firms.

Extensive research requires expensive equipment that needs to be imported. The government can step in again by exempting or reducing import duties. It can also approve the Association of Biotech Led Enterprises's (ABLE) recommendation to set up a biotech fund to support first-generation biotech entrepreneurs up to the 'proof of concept' stage. ABLE has also urged the government to exempt venture funds investing in the sector from capital gains tax. That can act as a reward for longer-term investment cycles.

Already a major hub, India has all that it takes to become a global biotech leader. This will not only spur economic growth and provide much-needed jobs, but also ensure that we find answers to modern-day challenges in healthcare, energy, food security, and the environment. However, biotechnology's promise and India's potential can be realised only if government and industry work together and draw up a road map to facilitate innovation.

The writer heads a biotech company.

Afghanistan has been America's curse for the past one decade. What was the last decade misdeeds of America has been paid back. In 80s America trained Afghans with weapons and sophisticated technology to crush Russian forces. The same training is giving nightmares to America for a decade.

Unable to get out of the Afghanistan mess the White House establishment has been clueless. Barack Obama the promised savior of America is trying his best to put an end to the American embarrassment in the troubled Asian soil. He might have bought another 18 months to crush the Al Qaeda network but the troubles will continue to complicate his image and leadership. It is better to phase out Allied troops in 18 months the time he had sought and leave it to the managerial skills of decade long trained Afghan nationals. If America cannot deliver the results and make Afghans to take care of their country it is utter shame. Ten years is not less time for this.

Times of India writes on 3 December 2009

US president Barack Obama's outlined plan for a troop surge in Afghanistan, coupled with an exit strategy setting July 2011 as the kickoff point for the withdrawal of US forces, is likely to attract criticism from both sides. Domestic public fatigue with the war may cause some to say he committed too much, while those wanting the US to stay the course will say he didn't commit enough. But Obama has probably made the best of a bad situation. There are no easy answers in Afghanistan after seven years of mismanagement. Now, to obviate the danger of the Taliban deciding to simply wait out the US presence, a few focus areas are important.

The first is ensuring that the Afghan government is in a position to deal with the Taliban once the US withdrawal starts. And for that, the prime necessity is an effective administration in Kabul. Without good governance, Afghan president Hamid Karzai's government will lack the legitimacy it needs to succeed against the Taliban. How exactly Washington can apply pressure without making Karzai seem a US stooge is problematic, but Obama hinted at it in his speech when he spoke of reaching out to local leaders and elders. It will serve both to build effective local governance systems and exert pressure on Karzai to clean up his act if he does not wish to be left out in the cold.

Another important facet of beefing up the Afghan government is bolstering the Afghan police and military's size and capabilities. At the same time, the complementary task of degrading the Taliban's strength must be undertaken. For this too, reaching out to local leaders is important. But perhaps the crucial factor is Pakistan. If Islamabad allows militants safe havens, all the American efforts will be wasted. A US withdrawal with the Taliban's Quetta shura still intact would mean that a decade of war and loss of life was for nothing. As for hardliners in Islamabad, they would do well to remember that July 2011 is simply the starting point for the withdrawal. The actual pace of the drawdown will depend on the situation on the ground.

New Delhi must not cavil if large amounts of civilian aid flow into Pakistan, since that would shore up anti-militancy forces. It must, on the contrary, stay closely engaged with Washington and with Kabul, keep reminding Washington and other international capitals of the urgency of the task of turning Afghanistan around, and itself remain ready to help.

The north eastern state of Assam has been undergoing tremendous fissures due to the high voltage terrorist activities for many decades. The fragile political situation compounded by the natural calamities and underdevelopment has taken heavy toll on the state. Lack of strong political leadership combined with the total neglect of the centre has made the terrorist control impossible. After Naxal violence, North Eastern terror groups pose major challenge to the Indian security system.



The porous border with Bangladesh, Bhutan and Myanmar has been the worst troubles. Luckily Bangladesh government is ready to cooperate with the Indian security agencies to curb the anti-Indian forces. It is now up to the home minister and his officers to put an end to the terror menace in north-east and save the Indian paradise.



Times of India writes on 4 December 2009

Good news has finally followed bad in Assam. The Nalbari attack and just a few days before that, the burning of 12 tankers and derailment of four

train bogies at Jorhat had created the expectation that the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) would ramp up its activities. But with the detention of Arabinda Rajkhowa, one of ULFA's founders and its current 'chairman', the scenario has been turned on its head. If ever there was an opportunity for New Delhi to make progress in the state, this is it. ULFA's pressure points have become apparent in the recent past, perversely enough after the Nalbari attack. The contradictory crosstalk that emerged from some of the organisation's lower level leaders at that point highlighted the tension between the pro-talks and anti-talks factions within ULFA. Rajkhowa's capture and New Delhi's offer of safe passage he is firmly in the pro-talks camp provides an opportunity to focus on this.

The larger takeaway, however, may be about the north-east as a whole. By some accounts, there are over 120 militant groups operating in the region. At least 30 of them demand sovereignty. Factor in highly porous national borders and it becomes apparent that these are not problems New Delhi can resolve entirely on its own. That is why recent events in Bangladesh are heartening. Rajkhowa was not the first arrest. Biswa Mohan Deb Barman, National Liberation Front of Tripura president, as well as two other ULFA leaders and a Lashkar operative have been captured in the past few days.

These point to a new sensitivity to Indian concerns on the part of Dhaka. Without Dhaka cracking down on cross-border safe havens and training facilities, any north-east initiative by New Delhi would be made more difficult. Cooperation on the part of Nepal and Myanmar is a must as well. The revised extradition treaty with the former could be useful here. Admittedly, it may face hurdles due to domestic opposition in Nepal, but New Delhi must persist with low-key efforts to push it through. As for Myanmar, a potential way forward is one that was, in fact, suggested by Dhaka in 2008 when it mooted a counterterrorism treaty between all three countries.

But these initiatives will amount to little if New Delhi lacks political will in engaging rebel groups who want to talk, while putting pressure on those who don't. Insurgency cannot be defeated unless at least a section of insurgents are weaned away and offered an honourable exit. The offer of unconditional talks with ULFA is a good one, but it is just the beginning. There should be enough of both carrots and sticks to bring rebel groups to the table.

The public sector banks are smashing all doom predictions and leaping forward. Despite the revenue addition and steady growth there are several loopholes. One of the grave gap is that bad debts which are mostly forced by rich, mighty and powerful. Day in and day out politicos and burst out business people bee line PSU banks for loans. Knowing fully well that they cannot repay the loan banks are forced to give them the required amount due to political pressures. I remember the strict saying of a bank manager in Salem to an educational loan request. The boy who applied for the loan belonged to poor economic background. He got 1095 marks out of 1200 in HSLC exam. His parents are long standing small customers in the bank. They make potato chips and live hand to mouth existence. When I pointed out to the manager that he is duty bound to give educational loan to this poor boy, his prompt arrogant reply was "how can this potato maker repay Rs.70,000/- loan? I told him that the finance minister told the Lok Sabha "educational loans must be disbursed without collateral security for high scorers from the weak economic background. He shot at me "oh! finance ministers keep coming and going. Will they rescue if these people don't repay". Those strictness apart PSU banks have return off a whopping Rs.25,000 crores last years as bad debts.

Times of India writes on 2 December 2009

When everyone was raising a toast to the success of government-nurtured public sector banks (PSBs) for their canny business sense and for having posted robust growth backed by huge profits in the downturn, these desi financial institutions quietly wrote off bad debts running into thousands of crores in each financial year just to give their bottomlines a clean look.

According to statistics submitted by the finance ministry before Parliament on Friday, the government banks together in the last three years, since 2007, have written off nearly Rs 25,000 crore.

The figures are alarming when compared against the net recovery of these government entities and the fact that a part of these write-offs included one-time settlements (OTS) that the banks entered with its defaulters by agreeing to take a token amount against their outstandings and close the case.

This OTS scheme of banks had led to the fall of many criminal cases being prosecuted by the CBI in various courts, leading to the intervention of the Supreme Court last year. In many such cases the investigative agency had enough evidence of a collusion of bank officials with the "willful" defaulters.

According to government data, in 2007, against a recovery of Rs 9,200 crore, these PSBs had written off more than Rs 9,400 crore. The story was repeated in 2008 when against a recovery of Rs 9,300 crore these banks had written off Rs 8,000 crore. The net recovery in 2009 was about Rs 11,000 crore while write-offs exceeded Rs 7,400 crore.

The government's claim that it has managed to bring down NPAs from 18% in 1997 to 2% at the end of March 2009 sounds hollow and highlights an alarming trend of "cooking" books to present a healthy status. Though in the previous year, a portion of write-offs also included agricultural loans, the net NPAs of these PSBs at Rs 44,000 crore at the end of last fiscal against an outstanding of Rs 21 lakh crore is likely to see a surge given these banks exposure to commercial real estate.

Total outstanding credit to the commercial real estate of Indian banks, both government-owned and private, at the end of March 2009 was Rs 91,500 crore as against Rs 63,000 crore till March 2008.

Search engines are becoming ultimate engines for development and crime. One can google other's vital details, locate remote people through maps, find out the tastes of people, political views and many more sensitive information. What is considered to be the best aid for knowledge sharing and communication sans frontiers turning out to be a strong commercial proposition and global terror aider. This cannot be averted just by simply saddening over the issue. It needs a strong commitment and vigilance by Netizens and Engine operators like google. Without the proactive participation of these two partners it is impossible to curb the violence through Internet. The immediate need is software to track the culprits and fixing them tooth and nail. The earliest it is done is the better for the world.

In the latest venom spiller Google image search brings a caricature of Michelle Obama as monkey at the top of search on her name. As Google had clarified in its communication that it cannot do much about it the ball is in the court of Internet criminals who manage to malign Obamas. It is sad that Internet played a pivotal role in bringing Obama as the president of the United States and the same Internet is devastating his happiness as the president.

The Times of India writes on 26 November 2009


Google has apologized for a racist caricature of Michelle Obama that became the top result for users searching for images of the US First

Anyone typing "Michelle Obama" into Google Images this morning, was presented with an altered photo depicting the US president's wife with animal features.

However, the California-based Internet giant distanced itself from this by posting a message above the offensive photo.

The note, which states "Sometimes our search results can be offensive. We agree" directs users to a page explaining the technology giant's policy on "disturbing" search results, The Telegraph reported.

The message makes it clear that the Michelle Obama image is not endorsed by Google, but indicates that the company will take no action to have it removed.

"Google views the integrity of our search results as an extremely important priority," it states.

"Accordingly, we do not remove a page from our search results simply because its content is unpopular or because we receive complaints concerning it."

"We apologise if you've had an upsetting experience using Google. We hope you understand our position regarding offensive results," it ends.

Crime committed in society is short lived in the memory of people. Taking advantage of this situation, politicos play their game endlessly. A party which promises to provide life and hope to all Indians is violating its code of ethics. Mohammad Azharuddin the tainted cricketer who once redeemed the lost status of India in the international cricket and then sold the status of the nation for few million dollars has been patronized by India's first political party. After TDP refused his entry, Congress embraced him with open arms. To his luck, Moradabad people validated his candidature and gave him the victory with 48,000 words margin. Today the party is seriously considering him to be the Muslim mascot to be paraded in the U.P assembly election in 2012. If Congress is good in popping up criminals and saying its nature as political diplomacy to win the electoral war why it is not using the same to win the terrorist battles and international games.

As the electoral victory level of Congress looks better it must abandon these kinds of criminal patronizing games. The same card has been played in Maharashtra where the goons of Shiv Sena and MNS are allowed to clash and keep the Congress in power. Is this is the contribution of the Congress party for the development of the nation? It is destroying the political culture and forward movement of the nation.

The Times of India writes on 22 November 2009

Mohammad Azharuddin may be cleansed of the match-fixing taint for good, with BCCI willing to reconsider the lifetime ban on the former India skipper, in a development which can potentially add to the lustre of Congress' new Muslim mascot. ( Watch Video )

The fresh bid to extricate the Moradabad MP from disgrace comes from a Congress eager to pitchfork the ex-cricketer as a key campaigner, having launched him politically with a massive win from the minority-dominated Moradabad constituency in Uttar Pradesh. The move is being facilitated by the dual roles of UPA members as politicians and cricket managers.

Hectic lobbying in this direction took a Congress delegation led by AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh - that included Congress MP and BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla - to NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Friday. Pawar, who is ICC vice-chairman, directed the delegation to BCCI chief and close associate Shashank Manohar who has succeeded Pawar in BCCI. Rajiv Shukla told TOI, "I spoke to the BCCI president. He said if Azhar files a petition, it would be taken up in the next AGM."

There is an all-round eagerness to bail out Azhar, be it the player himself or his political home or even the present cricketing setup. It was under Pawar's helmsmanship that the hallowed doors of the cricketing world were opened for him in 2006 after they were slammed in 2000, with the Punjab Cricket Association inviting him to witness the Champions Trophy semifinals in Mohali.

Congress's eagerness to lift the lifetime ban on Azhar stems from its strategy to unveil him as the new Muslim mascot. Its revival plans in UP require glamorous minority faces to take on "secular rivals" SP and BSP even though the party's own secular credentials and the leadership of the Gandhi family scion seems persuasive enough to woo the community.

The recent party win in Firozabad bypolls where it trounced Mulayam Singh Yadav's daughter-in-law has been attributed to largescale shift in Muslim votes from SP. Alive to the threat posed by shifting minorities and a resurgent Congress, SP was quick to act, snapping its relationship with once Hindutva mascot Kalyan Singh and raising the pitch on minority agenda.

For Congress, planning to use the favourable mood to rejuvenate itself in the fallen fort of UP, SP's vulnerability has heightened expectations. The unveiling of the onetime cricketing idol in identity politics seems an intoxicating prospect for strategists. It's not a coincidence that rival SP too brought in this week its Maharashtra legislator Abu Azmi as the new minority face to cash in on his "defiance" of Sena outfits. Azmi fills the void left by Azam Khan's expulsion following his high-voltage rebellion.

Congressmen feel the Hyderabadi's election victory in far-removed Moradabad has proved his appeal among the community.

While the ban is seen as academic in nature given that Azhar is past the age to make a comeback, it would still come in handy in buffering him from a future assault on the issue of "integrity". On the poll trail, the opposition targeted him for match-fixing, citing his excommunication from cricket, to question Congress's commitment to probity. The question of ban keeps popping up every time Azhar is mentioned in social circles. It is hoped that he would be free from embarrassing queries once BCCI overturns its order.

Digvijay Singh said, "We want the lifetime ban to go from the man who brought laurels to the country with his skills. There were many players in the match-fixing case but they are all free of the ban. Why should the one on Azhar continue?"