Greetings and salutations! 2009 is upon us and as we embark on a new journey, I would like to extend my heartfelt tidings to you and your loved ones. May this year be filled with love, joy, prosperity, cheer, peace and good health. May all that you have hoped for and wished for, come true in the ensuing year.

In many ways, 2009 is a very symbolic year, dubbed as the International year of Astronomy by the United Nations, it marks the 400th anniversary of the first recorded astronomical observations with a telescope by Galileo Galilee and also the publication of Johannes Kepler’s Astronomia Nova in the 17^th century, containing the results of the Kepler’s ten-year long investigation of the motion of Mars. It has been 400 centuries, since we have started exploring the cosmos.

Meanwhile, even as you read this mail, two interplanetary space probes, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, traversing at some 16 km/s, are crossing the heliosheath (the very edge of solar system) and heading off into interstellar space. Both the probes are the farthest any human object has ever been; it takes light waves some 15 hours to traverse one-way between the crafts and us. Mankind has in, a very tiny wave, left a lasting mark on the vastness of this universe.

And it is not only in the vast interstellar space where we are leaving an imprint; right here on this beautiful planet we are doing the very same, albeit in a way our future generations will rue. Due to indiscriminate human actions (termed as anthropogenic factors by scientists), there are great changes taking place; glaciers and polar caps melting, sea-levels rising, forests disappearing, temperatures on the rise, species getting extinct, the list just keeps going on. Climate change is a reality that looms over our very survival as a species. Sadly, the whole issue has been caught in the net of governments and states that have often have blinkers on their eyes. As is the wont of such institutions, there is little action and lot of debate.

But all is not lost, as a race we are very resilient and resourceful and I very much wish that 2009 will mark that change. Hopefully in this new calendar year, each one of us in a very small way will take the onus to combat climate change. Let’s take an oath to not waste any of natural resources, be it food or water or even the pages that we indiscriminately print. Be conscious of our own individual carbon footprint in every action be it the exotic fruits that we purchase to the mode of transport that we take. Switch of all our appliances, and most importantly give up the use of harmful substances like plastic and the rest.

Long years ago, Mahatma Gandhi had given us a mantra that helped a nation rediscover itself. He had extolled the masses to “be the change, that you want to see in the world“. This mantra is still very much valid even in this age and time and I sincerely hope 2009 to be a year of change (like the one brought in the US) for the globe and for humanity.

On this note, I yet again wish you a very happy year ahead, hoping that it is wonderfully green as well.

Hundred dead and Hundreds injured, the heart bleeds for Mumbai. Please God please help my Mumbai!!!

There is a riot of colors on nowadays. Red, pink, blue, black are pretty much in vogue thanks to current economic conundrum. Enterprises or companies are in the red, they are issuing pink slips, the employee mindset is pretty blue and beyond that there is a lot of black that enshrouds us all. It is a rather colorful time that we live in. Or is it really?

Many years ago, when I was in school, I had learnt about how things got their color, so why was a blue sky blue or a red shirt red. Apparently, it was all due to color dissipation, and the whole theory was coined by a great Indian scientist CV Raman (hence it was dubbed as the Raman Effect). Now, what my petite mind comprehended then was this, that light essentially is white and composed of the different colors, namely your VIBGYOR, of different wavelengths. Things or material depending on their make or characteristics absorb most of these varying wavelengths and reflect back a single or combination of some. This is what we term as color of an object.

So essentially a red shirt was red not because of some inherent redness. But simply because if some inane reason, the shirt absorbed the violet, indigo, blue, yellow, green and orange aspects of the shimmering white light and chose to throw back red at us. What my petite mind then concluded was almost as brilliant as Dr. Raman’s Raman Effect, Thus, red was red not because it was red but simply because it didn’t want to be one.

Now, coming back to our mundane existence, and the colorful times that we live in these days. Much of gloom that shrouds is psychological in nature than anything else. If I recall right, John Chambers, CEO of Cisco, had warned quite a few quarters back that ‘We will talk ourselves into recession’. This was before the great tumble started. And like he had forewarned, things did happen quite like that.

In India of late naysayers abound. Everyday I keep hearing from my friends and colleagues stories of how different colors are laying off people left, right and center. Every company seems to be asking its employees to take a hike; even the good ol’ ethical Infosys is giving option to its employees to take an annual vacation at half the pay.

Well, it’s true that we live in a globalized world and anything that majorly affects anybody, affects everybody. So, in spite of all the rhetoric by the politicos in India, the global meltdown will have a major impact on India, especially the darling of all, BPO and IT sector.

Yet, the pall of gloom that surrounds us all is completely out of place. There was a specific reason why the US economy went down, much thanks to those brilliant billionaires at Wall Street. There is no real reason like that in India, after all the GDP is still growing at over 7%, there is still a huge untapped domestic market in India (remember Fortune at the bottom of the pyramid by CK Prahlad). In light of all this, the reaction of Indian enterprises by sacking people is hardly justified.

But, when you look closer than the one can fathom out the reason so as to say. Much of this is being used as a pressure tactic. For years company owners have been grumbling about high growth in salary wages of employees. Even an average performer in India expects a 10% hike per annum, so imagine the performers. During this appraisal cycle, there would be a spurt in attrition and recruitment. Since, there were scores of opportunities available, an ‘unfavorable hike’ was often a good reason for an employee to quit.

The tide has turned now, since there is an almost ubiquitous freeze on fresh recruitment, managers are sacking people on whimsical reasons not to settle scores but to send a message. The message is in bold, “Be Scared. Be Very Very Scared”. Hence, now poor people who have taken home loans or car loans are jittery all the time, though they mumble and grumble, they put their head down and labor. Most of the employees are quite happy if the wages are not raised and quite ecstatic if it is raised by some 5-10%. Recession has become a tool to manage people. Look closely at the people that are being chucked, low level contractual and middle managers. Not your high-paying executives.

Quite like the Raman Effect in science, enterprises in India are taking on a dire shade by the reflection they are sending out. To be honest, there is no real recession yet in India, it is merely a collation of all these different hues that are being sent out by organizations. For the past few years, the average programmer ruled roost, now it is time for payback. The management strikes back, so as to say..

And Lord Ganesha comes today, amidst the roar of the drums and the chime of the cymbals, with dancing gaiety and shouting. He comes to innumerable street corners of the cities in varying shapes and sizes, in different colours and makes. He is grand, he is sweet, he is talk and rotund. He will be a special guest of the city for the next 10 days or so, at various street corners, in homes across.

And then after 10 odd days, he will make a much grander exit. In these days, there will be millions of prayers that will need to be fulfilled, so many to take care and forgive. So many sad and desolate to console, so many nervous and edgy to be comfort. Any other celestial in his pace would have been daunted by the task at hand, but not so our portly lord Ganesha, who has been coming to the city again and again for quite some years, in fact over a century and is quite aware and cued to what happens in and around here. So, without much ado, there is little we can say except welcome of lord Ganapati or as they say it here, Ganapati Bappa Morya….

Recently, I came across a piece on the Time Magazine website, authored by Simon Robinson (http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1817222,00.html), wherein Simon talked about Anil Ambani’s Hollywood dreams. The story talked of how there was a probability of Steven Spielberg and ADAG coming together, to be more precise; “Reliance providing between $500 million and $600 million to Spielberg’s Dreamworks SKG, financing that would allow Dreamworks to split from Viacom Inc’s Paramount Pictures.”

As, I went through the piece; my admiration for the junior Ambani brother went a few notches higher, not as much for making the phriangi Jurassic Park director indebted to us Indians, but more for the mileage that he seems to be deriving even before there was pen put to paper on the deal. Imagine WSJ and Time Magazine discussing the story and carrying them in their publications. The only other Indian businessman, who achieved this feat recently was Ratan Tata; but then he had to build a ‘Nano’ for the same after investing billions of dollars. And this is the very reason, I ‘kind off’ like Ambani, his media-savviness.

Unlike Branson (Vijay Mallya’s role model), Anil Ambani exudes a very no-nonsense business image. Each bit of news that emanates from his PR machinery subtly reminds that he is a “Wharton” MBA. The press handouts will have an image of him sitting in his corporate office, smiling benignly at you. He will hold joint press conferences with the Hoi polloi, be it Steve Ballmer or Bill Clinton. Then, of course, there are marathons that “fitness freak” Ambani runs and the innumerable trophies that he keeps accepting all the time. Some months back, there was immense coverage of the fact how Ambani Jr. had become a trillionnaire and also the 6th richest person in the world (based on the valuation of one of his company’s IPO, that tonked immediately after listing. So that was the end to that story).

There is a world of difference between how the two Ambani brothers carry on with their work. While the elder one (also the more richer) tends to keep away from media even though he owns a rather ‘costly’ IPL team. The only time Mukhesh Ambani was in news recent times was because of the $2 billion house that he is building. Meanwhile, ADAG’s public machinery seems to be working overtime, much like some 24/7 call center, trying to come up with some saucy and juicy bit.

So, there is Ambani Jr. investing millions in Fame Adlabs (a multiplex and film distribution chain in India). Or his Reliance Power is being listed (apparently, the very listing saw the end of the bull run and the return of the bears). Or how he aimed to be as big as TCS and the rest by launching a software firm Tech Reliance. Then, recently there has been these high-profile negotiations with MTN, the largest mobile operator in Africa. And finally, there’s Spielberg. He has even coaxed his good friend, Amitabh Bachchan to turn to blogging (he writes on one of ADAG’s online properties). Through all these stories, the official machinery will maintain a discrete silence. While some “informed sources” will keep the media wheels running with tid-bits and suppositions. Ask some one for a quote, and all you will get is hush-hush. Even the Time Magazine couldn’t coax them into commenting on a story.

Come to think of it, the raison d’etre of Ambani’s wealth are entities that he did not create himself, like Reliance Communications and Reliance Energy, the former was done by big brother and the latter was a PSU. And that is the reason, I like Anil Ambani; he manages to be there on my newspaper every morning somehow the other, talking of some fantastical venture or a success and when neither just plainly accusing his brother for some corporate misdemeanor. Bravo Ambani Jr!

The Time Magazine piece by Simon gives me a good excuse to post a small analysis that I had done at the time rumors were floating around on Tech Reliance. Sadly, I am only a tech journalist, so I need good “tech” reasons to write such features. I thank Ambani Jr. for giving me a reason to write such a piece and Simon for giving me an excuse to post it here. BTW, there seems to be little happening on the Tech Reliance front, the website is still a dead link. Hope the Spielberg is not another Tech Reliance story.
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And now comes; Tech Reliance
The industry is curious about the latest foray by Anil Ambani. But he seems to be keeping the cards close to his chest, at the moment.

The dawn of New Year is often associated with cheer and celebration. It is the time to party, to let loose. But, it is also the time for introspection and inference. Individuals and companies alike make plans and resolutions for the coming year and gear themselves accordingly. Surely even the mighty trillionnaire Anil Dhirubhai Ambani, chairman of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG), must have made quite a few resolutions for 2008, ranging from garnering a few extra billions to running the full Mumbai marathon. But then resolutions are often a private affair, conceived in seclusion and its success celebrated in public.

Yet, barely had the sherry stopped flowing at the onset of 2008, there was a small bit of news that emanated from unknown quarters. The news concerned Ambani, and more so his proposed venture. After proving his mettle in the telecom and the entertainment sector, it seems that Ambani has resolved to take on the knights of the IT industry. Of the many, or even the few, resolutions made by 48-year-old businessman, Information Technology was one of them, and it was dubbed as ‘Tech Reliance’.

Little wonder, the industry was agog with excitement. There was lot of speculation and supposition about the viability of Tech Reliance. Discrete and unknown “company sources” kept feeding news bits to eager newspersons. There was talk about the how the group would take on the Biggies of Indian IT, or how determined Ambani was to make this venture a roaring success. Through all this, ADAG was mum. The official channels churned out the normal PR spiel, no confirmation was given and no denial made. “The group continuously explores new avenues for growth and we seek to enhance value for our stakeholders,” was the only word that came out.

The battle plans
The news went that Tech Reliance would have six development centers across India by the end of December 2008. Currently, the Group has IT centers catering to corporate needs in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Hyderabad. According to reports there are over 2000 employees working out of these centers, the numbers would supposedly double by March.

The Reliance – ADAG (R-ADAG, as it is called) happens to be among India’s top three private sector business houses, with a market capitalization of over $ 22 billion, net assets in excess of $ 7 billion, and net worth to the tune of $ 6 billion. Interests of the Group range from communications (Reliance Communications) and financial services (Reliance Capital Ltd), to generation, transmission and distribution of power (Reliance Energy), infrastructure and entertainment. In the last year or so, the group has forayed into numerous industries, for instance, acquiring stake in Adlabs.

It is estimated that Group spends anything between $400-500 million on IT services for all related ventures and the Tech Reliance could start up by serving the needs of the group at the onset, saving costs and also gaining experience. It is likely that Ambani desires to put all his IT eggs in one basket. Amongst other things, Ambani also owns a BPO company, Reliance Infostreams, providing inbound and outbound customer support to India Mobile, Reliance India Phone subscribers and a few foreign clients. But at the moment, it seems that Infostreams would continue to exist as a separate identity.

Taking on the Titans
Till now the story read smoothly: Tech Reliance for Reliance-ADAG. But, the news leak went further. It would seem that Ambani is not only keen to save money (by doing it himself) but also earn big moolah through his new venture. Tech Reliance, supposedly, would be a challenger to the Indian tech giants like TCS, Wipro, Infosys and Satyam. According to ‘informed sources’ Ambani has kept aside some $2 billion for the tech venture and Tech Reliance would be in the big league in a couple of years by offering various consulting and other IT services to domestic and international clients.

In recent times, telecom services have become a big market opportunity. Quite recently Vodafone outsourced all its IT operations, with the exception of network service platforms, to IBM for five years. Earlier, IBM had won a 10-year, $800 million contract IT infrastructure for Idea Cellular. While in 2004, IBM won a 10-year IT outsourcing deal from Bharti Airtel, the deal was valued at about $750 million and has grown to about $1.2 billion currently. Meanwhile, TCS had won a 9-year infrastructure management contract from BSNL valued at around $140 million. Ambani could be looking at a piece of this burgeoning telecom pie.

The going won’t be easy, even for Ambani. TCS has been around for some 4 decades and has revenues of over $4.3 billion, Wipro Technologies with over $3.47 billion, Infosys with $3.1 billion and Satyam with over $1.4 billion. All these players have spread their operations globally, as well in India. Not to mention that MNCs also have a keen eye on India, with the Big Blue (IBM) clocking close to $1 billion in revenues from India. Breaking the stranglehold is tough, if not impossible.

To be a big player, Tech Reliance would need more than the Group IT revenues; it will need to win projects from Fortune 100 companies. But would these companies rely on Tech Reliance? Is a question that will be answered in the days to come. It is conjectured that Ambani would go the M&A way, pickup a single or a few ripe apples to expand. A joint venture is always handy in such circumstances, for instance the way Mahindra & Mahindra launched Tech Mahindra (earlier Mahindra BT) with British Telecom. Sometime back there were rumors that Reliance Communications (RCOM) was in talks with Accenture Consulting to float a joint venture to manage and operate the Group’s IT infrastructure services and processes. Somehow, nothing materialized. Maybe, Tech Reliance rose from the ashes of this JV itself.

Hot Air?
Nonetheless, media is having a field day, thanks to the innumerable anonymous sources. According to one such source, the company will be based out of centers in Mangalore and Bangalore, initially. Or the fact that Ambani has personally recruited a core team of 15 to overlook the operations and expansion of Tech Reliance. Yet, the official website of the Group does not even have a name of the proposed company. Of the numerous entities mentioned on the website (http://www.relianceadagroup.com/adportal/ADA/aboutus/companies.html) there is no mention of Tech Reliance.

Could it be that Ambani was testing the response to his idea before deciding to launch his venture? Many people (anonymously again) opine that this could be a smart way to drum up recruitment, by selectively leaking news bits. Indeed, on Orkut, a social networking website, many people are asking when, how and where is Tech Reliance recruiting. If indeed, Ambani wishes to ‘double’ his IT workforce by March, he must be making a big splash about it. But, there is a big under construction sign on techreliance.in, reflective on the state of the venture itself.

That is all there is about the venture at the moment. Till the dapper Ambani opens up about the venture, there will be lot of riff-raff about Tech Reliance. Hopefully in the days to come, there would be an end to news shrouded in anonymity and we could witness the birth on another IT company. A probable David that aspires to take on the Goliaths. Good luck, Ambani.
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I was 16 and it was my mom’s birthday. All of us were waiting for Papa to come home so that we could go out to Juhu beach followed by dinner at the Evening Post, a restaurant where prices were a wee-bit higher than the usual ones and the waiters were also dressed in starched whites bowing and nodding frequently, thus making it a special place fit for birthdays and anniversaries. Post afternoon, I was standing outside our home and I noticed something quite out of the place, nervous people were rushing hither-thither and one could spot a motley group talking quite animatedly.

It had not been much time, since the city of Mumbai had witnessed the worst kind of communal violence after the demolition of Babri Masjid, we were all edgy and worried, fearing and scared about the worst. It was then that we came to know that a series of blasts had rocked the city of Mumbai. Rumors were flowing thick and thin, the news on the television or the radio was not much of help. Some were saying that there were 15 blasts and some claiming it to be 5. With every passing moment, I would hear of a blast at some another location, Air India Building, Zaveri Bazaar, Sea Rock, Sebi, Centaur, Passport Office. I was extremely worried about Pa, this was the time before mobile phones become ubiquitous, so there was no way to reassure self.

Standing outside my home, I remember looking to heavens in utter helplessness, pleading with the divine powers to take care of my pa, many promises were made, many bribes were offered. What else could a puny teenager do in the wake of these circumstances? Fortunately for me, the gods were kind. Pa missed one of blasts by a whisker, so as to say. But that wasn’t the case for hundreds of poor individuals who on March 12, 1992 met a horrific death. For so many hundreds of teenagers like me who lost their parents on that day, life would never ever be the same.

There have been quite a few bomb blasts post 1992, even another serial blasts in suburban Mumbai trains and every time my blood curdles up. What really pisses me is the impunity with which these bastards commit the crimes and get away with it. It is as if, there is little that we can do to really protect ourselves, it is so easy for these gutter-snipes to place a bomb or two where they wish and never for once does our administration wake up. Every time, I see or hear about a blast, I remember my mom’s birthday, the day I was imploring and pleading with gods to take care of my Pa. So, when I heard and saw the news on television about the blasts in Jaipur, I felt like screaming, shouting, hitting out at somebody, anybody, I felt like crying. I needed to do something, and the piece below was written in angst and in pain. I just wish I didn’t have to return to that day in 1992, again and again.
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Jaipur blasts: A bloody soft state

The real answer to terror could come from hardware and software, and nothing else

Blood was splattered on the soiled ground; there was single leather shoe with singed laces; cycles, bicycles, handcarts all twisted horrifically out of shape; shattered glass everywhere; somewhere afar one could discern the silhouette of a human form – life snuffed out, and in the neighborhood, wails intermixed with groans, for the dead and for the living.

And looming large over everything was silence, an overpowering silence, a defeated silence — a helpless one. Yet again, terror had come calling and yet again we were helpless and weak in front of it.

The only thing that had changed this time was the location: instead of a train or bus in Mumbai, or the Parliament in Delhi or instead of an open air theatre in Hyderabad, or a temple in Akshardham, or a mosque in down south, it was the beautiful Pink City of Jaipur.

In 12 minutes flat, 7-8 RDX bombs changed so many lives that it will be hard to account for all of them. Official figures put the casualty at over 60, with more than a few hundred injured. These statistics are not only symbolic of our helplessness but also of the sheer callousness of the administration.
Indeed, the jamboree has already started; fingers have been pointed towards the usual suspects, LeT, the HUJI, SIMI, ISI and the lot. Of course, one cannot so easily blame Pakistan (considering the mess it, itself is in), so there is Bangladesh (but then the poor state has been in a constant mess since the time it was carved out in 1971).

Leaders in Delhi are talking tough, “We will not tolerate these kind of actions…strict action will be taken…the perpetrators would be punished,” and so on. In the next few days be ready for a few ‘terrorist encounters’, where a few of the so-called LeT or HUJI terrorist will be gunned down and on their bodies will be found maps of different temples and army headquarters.

But all these claims by ministers and administration is just hollow posturing because the people who live with their families under X,Y,Z security categories and move around in a cordon of bullet and bomb-proof cars are completely inept to handle terror.

The question that begs an answer is why isn’t the government doing something conclusive about it? When we can send a capsule to the moon or simultaneously put 10 satellites in geo-synchronous orbit, why are we not able to detect the sleeper cells of these so-called terrorist outfits within the country? Why even after so many terror strikes has our intelligent gathering mechanisms not been modernized?

Look at the way US has battled terror. 9/11 brought terror to the American soil for the first time in history. A couple of thousand died in the twin towers itself. In the aftermath of the event, US invaded Afghanistan, later Iraq, made enemies across the Middle East. The US was much feared before 9/11, after 9/11 it was much hated.

And yet, there hasn’t been a single terrorist strike in nation after that catastrophic event even though its enemies have multiplied manifold. Simply because it learnt from the event, it strengthened its intelligence gathering apparatus, virtually everything has systematized. Land in the US, there are multiple times your fingerprints are digitally captured, every traveler into the country resides for eons on the servers of the FBI or the NSA.

Even for those not in the US, there is no guarantee that National Security Agency (NSA) is not keeping a tab on them. It is said that the agency, scrutinizes every call or email that goes in or out of the US. There are hundreds or even thousands of spy satellites up in the sky looking at every square inch of land. America shackled the beast of terror with technology.

The US is increasingly relying on GPS as a crime-fighting tool; India on the other hand took a strong stand against BlackBerry ‘to stymie’ terror. And terrorists use mobile phones to trigger explosions in India, leaving innocents still, silent and slain.

Fortunately or unfortunately, we can never be like the US. But surely we can at least learn from the all these calamities, if there was ever a time to act, it is right now. There is an urgent need to disband all the portly officials from RAW, CBI, and the intelligence Bureau and put in place a hi-tech network.

The real answer to terror could come from hardware and software, and nothing else.
If a private company in India can build world 4th fastest computer, EKA, surely we can have a hi-tech apparatus in place, which can monitor all those calls and emails and discern patterns.

A super computer has more chances of finding a sleeper LeT cell, than a whole police apparatus of a state. If Indian software engineers can help design software for NASA and the likes, why can’t their talents be used here in India? The question is not of capability but of will.

Are the people who run this country, capable and competent to understand the dynamics of this new warfare against us? Or they simply going to live in their cocoons and ‘share our grief’ and do bloody nothing? How many more Mumbais, Hyderabads, Delhi, Jaipurs, are needed to shake them out of their lethargy? How many more lives of poor helpless Indians need to be sacrificed on this altar of indolence?

Or is it that, we are destined to be a bloody soft state that can hardly do a thing when dastardly terrorist strike at will and shame us over and over again.

Meanwhile, all we can do is look to the heavens and beseech the lord to have mercy on the poor citizens of the charming Pink City and give them the power and wherewithal to tide over this crisis.

Before I wrote the story on Tibet, I went to Youtube and saw the video of the Tankman, times and again. I remember seeing the video clip as a teenager in one of the television shows, Pranoy Roy’s The World This Week. As, a youngster I was amazed and spellbound by the courage of the man, who stood in front of that column of tanks, waving at them to leave. There hasn’t been an image that has left a mark on me, in the way Tankman had. And every time I was seeing the video on Youtube, I could feel the pain the travesty of the person that drove him to make a statement like that. I often think to myself, was tankman immensely brave aware of the consequences and ready to pay the ultimate price or was just so frustrated that he didn’t bother of anything. And that’s what I recalled when I saw the images of all those monks in Lhasa shouting slogans against the Chinese rule.

Free Tibet, is a phrase that seems to be plastered all across the globe. As the momentum for the 2008 Olympics in China gathers force, so does the movement by Tibetan protesters some asking for autonomy and some for freedom. There have been hot debates, whether politics should be linked to sports. But in all these debate and discussion, what we seem to forget is that around 5 million Tibetans are not only living in the fear for their lives and sustenance but also in danger of losing their identity.

In many ways, this incursion by China into the ‘roof of the world’ could be termed as ethnic cleansing. Sadly, while India has been a host to Tibetan refugees, it can never take a stance for them. So, thousands live into cramped quarters in Dharamsala, dreaming of the day when they will move freely and be able to live in the valleys of Amdo or Kham. It is not hard to understand the pain that the exiled Tibetan community is feeling and can be gauged from the way they are using Internet to connect and spread the message. Using this as an excuse, I did a story on the issue for Dataquest and it was published recently. I am uploading the story in the memory of the tankman (who supposedly is living in Taiwan or was killed within a fortnight by the PRC Army) and more importantly as a salute to the indomitable human spirit that yearns and pines for liberty and freedom. We were all born to be free and that is how we should be.

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The struggle for Tibet goes digital

While monks and protesters in Tibet are battling with the heavily armed Chinese forces, Tibetans across the world are using the Internet to connect and rally for their fellowmen back home.

The gloves were finally off, as a column of Chinese Type 59 tanks rolled down the Chang’an Avenue, near Tiananmen Square. It was the spring of 1989, and hundreds of thousands of students were protesting all across China and especially so in Beijing crusading for liberty and free speech. To make their voices heard, students huddled in Tiananmen Square went on a hunger strike. But instead of negotiations, the communist regime of China decided to crush the non-violent movement in the most virulent fashion. Army was sent in to break the protests. The battalion of tanks was part of the same effort.

As the tanks slowly rolled on, a single student decided to make a statement at the very risk of his life. Armed with two empty shopping bags, he stood right before the mighty tanks and brought the whole column to a halt. The tank right in front tried to dodge him, but the unknown rebel (as he would be dubbed for eternity) would not be dissuaded. He gesticulated with his arms and climbed on top of the tank to express his views to the soldier manning the tank. He was not ready to let go, but people (protesters probably) pulled him on the side before something untoward happened.

The whole incident was captured on video and beamed by the channels across the world, making it the most emotive image of the fight for liberty beck in 1989. The images raised international concerns and country after country lambasted the Chinese regime for the brutal reprisal. Other than that there is little that we know of the Tiananmen protest.

The world has changed infinitely much since then. Today China is a global power, both in economic and military terms. The country will be preening in front of the world by the Olympics this year. But there seems to be trouble brewing again, this time in the ‘roof of the world’, Tibet.

Last fortnight, near simultaneous protests started in Lhasa, and then spread to different cities of the Tibetan Autonomous Region. Monks and ordinary Tibetans supposedly attacked Chinese business. People were seen marching in different parts of Tibet, denouncing the oppression of the Chinese military. Once again the Chinese government decided to come down heavy again. The protesters were shot at, and all media access to the region was denied. But unlike in 1989, this time the protesters did not have to be physically present in Tibet to be counted. Thanks to the Internet, Tibetans across the world are taking part in the ongoing struggle.

While China has blocked Youtube and many other chat rooms in the bid to suppress news on the unrest, thousands of Tibetans across the world are using the Internet to connect and spread the word on the real picture on the ground. So when the Chinese officials claimed that the rioting had withered away, videos on Youtube showed the contrary. Also the claims made by officials that suppression was not brutal was shown to be hollow as images of dead monks and protesters were shown on different Tibetan websites.

Google “Free Tibet”, and you will see over seven hundred thousand results, there are around 1500 videos on Youtube on the same keyword, with over 500 added this week itself. Hundreds of pro-Tibetan websites provide links and forums for organizing mass protests against the Chinese rule, the chief ones are Freetibet.org, Tibet.org, Savetibet.org, and many others. In fact Tibetsites.com has a list of all the websites that raising the issue. The Tibetan government in exile has its official website on Tibet.com.

There is also much action on Secondlife.com as well; in fact, there is much talk about the rebuilding the Tibetan Potala Palace as a gift to the 14th Dalai Lama and preserving Tibetan History in virtual space.

So while the denizens within the Great Walls, might come across invalid links and blank pages when they search Tibet in the cyber world. The world outside is brimming with action; there is much talk of how to use the Olympic event as a platform for highlighting the Tibetan cause.

Sometime back, John Gilmore, the co-founder and board member of Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) had spoken on the issue of using the Internet as a medium for freedom struggle.

“Every person is responsible to follow the laws of their own country; yet we can all work to change those laws. And when those laws are reprehensible, then passive or active opposition may be required. Mahatma Gandhi provided many useful lessons in how a populace can nonviolently free itself from oppressive rules and rulers. And many technologists have developed ways for citizens to evade information controls that they think are inappropriate,” he had stated.
So, back in 1989, the unknown rebel had to stand in front of a tank to make a statement, the Tibetans now use Blogspot and Youtube to do the same.

Shashwat DC

Among the few places in India that I really wish to settle down in; Lakshadweep would be right on the top. A chain of 30 odd islands in the Arabian Sea, Lakshadweep is truly a coastal paradise. Cut off from modernity, it still retains some of the old world charm, though computers and IT are reaching the remotest islands. Hopefully, before modernity spoils this idyllic paradise, I just hope to hang my boots somewhere in Kavaratti or even Bitra.
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Tiny Lakshadweep’s Giant Strides

The smallest union territory of India is eagerly embracing ICT and changing the lives of its citizens for the better, thus, becoming a role model for its bigger cousins on the mainland.

Khadim Miyan seldom makes a promise, but in the rare cases that he does, he goes to any length to live up to his words. Thus, when Miyan promised his niece, Hidmat, that he would bring her gifts on Eid ul-Adha, or Bakri Eid, he knew it would be impractical but not impossible. After all, he could not take more than 3-4 leaves from his work at the local tourist cottage in Kalpeni and the journey to his sisters house in Minicoy takes over 14 hours by sea. But, more than the time spent in traveling, it was the time spent on arranging a ticket in one of the five ships that linked the dozen odd islands in Lakshadweep that bothered Khadim.

Seats are scarce, especially during festivals like Eid, and there is no guarantee that one could find a berth on these ships. It is simply a matter of too many passengers and too few ships. There have been cases that aspirants for a berth on these ships have lined up a few days in advance in the hope of finding a seat. Considering the situation he was in, Miyan decided to play it safe. He decided to check the availability of tickets on Lakport.nic.in and then plan his trip accordingly. In a matter of minutes, Miyan zeroed in on MV Bharat Seema and booked for self a ticket to Minicoy. Stepping out of the port office, all that Miyan was concerned about was which toy should he purchase for his seven-year-old niece. At least he was sure that this time too he had managed to keep his promise and he had to thank technology for it.

Like Miyan, there are thousands of people on Lakshadweep whose lives are changing for the better, thanks to the miracles of technology.

Located some 200-300 km off the coast of Kerala in the Arabian Sea, Lakshadweep is the smallest union territory of India. The total land area of the territory is some 32 sq km. In 1956, Lakshadweep was designated as a union territory and brought under the direct authority of the Center. As the ecosystem of the islands is pretty fragile and not supportive to heavy industrialization, the territory lagged the rest of the nation in terms of economic growth. In fact, it was an isolated paradise where quite a few travelers wanted to go, but only a few did.

Over the past many years, the government seems to have woken up to the potential of the island paradise as a top tourist destination. Located close to the “Gods own country”, Kerala, Lakshadweep can be a big draw for people looking to be away from the madding crowd. This, in turn, has prompted much needed investment into physical infrastructure, thereby making the place attractive to visitors and tourists.

Bridging the remoteness
Fortunately, technology is a two-way sword and it always cuts both ways; so the very application of technology, namely, registration of seats on ships to and from Lakshadweep, has not only been a boon to tourists, but also to the local population like in the case of Miyan. Credit is due to a few individuals like the administrator of Lakshadweep, BV Selvaraj, and technical director and state information officer, NIC, Lakshadweep, Ajith Brahmanandan. Both have taken upon the cause of modernization and the result is robust and thriving ICT initiatives in the various islands. In fact, over the years, e-governance projects in Lakshadweep have received awards at different platforms in recognition of the path breaking efforts made by the smallest union territory.

“Technology needs to have a human face. ICT, for the sake of technological upgradation, is no good unless and until it raises the standard of living of people. In Lakshadweep, all the projects that we have completed or are working on, have a very strong focus on making life easier for the citizen,” says Brahmanandan.

Slew of innovative projects
Indeed this human focus has been the hallmark of all e-governance projects carried out in the union territory. Unlike other places in India, Lakshadweep has very unique problems and pain points. Thus the solutions that have worked well in the hinterland are not necessarily the best solution for it. Take the case of ship reservation itself, the 5 or so passenger ships connect the 11 inhabited islands. The total population of Lakshadweep is in the range of some 65,000 people. The population is also spread very unevenly, for instance the capital Kavaratti and Androth islands have a population of over 10,000, while Bitra has a mere 250 odd people living on it. From this problem came the genesis of the reservation system.

Similarly, employment is a big issue in Lakshadweep. As there isn’t much industrialization, there is a high level of unemployment amongst the youth. For these people the only hope is the employment exchange, and close to 20% of the population has registered themselves with the bureau. In not so distant past, people had to travel to Kavaratti employment exchange for registering and other facilities. Keeping in mind the geographic spread and inadequate transport facilities, it would anything between 8 days during normal season and around 15 days in monsoon for the job aspirant to travel to Kavaratti and back to his island.

To cut down on this unnecessary travel and trouble caused to the islanders, the administration of Lakshadweep and National Informatics Center put together “total digitization of employment services”. Under this, all the data relating to some 15,000 registrants was digitized and re-codified, virtual employment exchanges were opened up in all the islands and the same were connected through the bandwidth provided by NICNET and BSNL. The project, launched in 2007, has been a roaring success with hundreds of job aspirants registering themselves in the new employment exchanges that have been set up on their islands.

“Additionally, the process has become transparent and free from any kind of manipulation that could have been easily done in the past. It has also touched the lives of many people as they no longer have to spend money or their valuable time just for mundane registration process. But, according to me, the biggest benefit has been the spread of awareness of the benefits of ICT among the poor and the uneducated people who live in far flung and isolated islands,” adds Brahmanandan with a touch of pride.

The project was recently bestowed with the Manthan Award, and, accepting the same, Selvaraj said, “The administration, along with all the political representatives, namely, members of Parliament, and members of the District and Village (Dweep) Panchayats, has been working toward effective administrative reforms through aggressive e-governance. We are going to have a basket of e-governance projects and compete for the best e-administered State/UT of the country shortly.”

Another project that has received a lot of applause has been the Web-enabling of the Lakshadweep electricity department (read Selvarajs column for more on that). Lakshadweep also has the unique distinction of being the first union territory/state in the whole country to have universal electricity. And due to the efficient materials management and transportation of fuel and effective maintenance of power houses there has been no instance of load shedding in the past year.

Not only that, the administration has also refurbished the Lakshadweep (lakshadweep.nic.in) Web portal, providing vital information about the islands and also giving a link to over 20 different administrative departments. The portal also has links for citizen charter and even an online photo gallery that showcases the beauty and serenity of the island paradise. Little wonder, the portal is referred to as the ‘electronic window’ to the union territory.

Future beckons
Going ahead, Lakshadweep has decided to implement a state level SWAN Implementation Committee that will formulate the technology to be adopted and various other aspects of the implementation of state wide area network. As of now, the SWAN project is in proposal stage and the implementation committee will aid in faster completion of project, the deadline for which is September 2008. The members of the committee have been derived from NIC, BSNL and ISRO and the project will be funded by the Department of Information Technology (DoIT) and jointly implemented by NIC and the IT society of the Administration

Additionally Selvaraj is also keen on improving the Web connectivity in the different islands. In this regard, he has asked BSNL to augment the bandwidth of the BSNL satellite earth station, Kavaratti to 16 Mbps from the present 8 Mbps immediately. Once the SWAN is in place, a slew of e-governance applications, like digitizing of land records or payments of taxes, etc. would be rolled according to officials.

Through all this, Selvaraj also emphasizes the need for structural reforms. “Technology is important, but e-government projects by themselves will not bear fruits unless they are coupled and integrated with structural reforms,” he says. He has also appointed a committee on administrative reforms that harmonizes the functioning of different departments and looks at bringing in transparency.

With these and many other Lakshadweep is finally coming out of the isolation that geography has bestowed on it. Like any other place in the country, mobile phones have also made a huge impact in the lives of the islanders. In was in 2003, when BSNL had launched it services in Kavaratti and today there are more than 10,000 mobile subscribers in Lakshadweep. In fact private operators are also on the anvil and Airtel supposedly does provide connectivity on Kavaratti.

Little wonder, people like Miyan no longer feel left out in the race to modernization, and there lives have been enriched in ways they would have scarcely believed. Using the portnet online system, Miyan was not only able to visit his niece on distant Minicoy but also ensure that he did not waste any time in the process and was back to his job on the promised day. He is quite happy, that he was able to live up to his word and has ICT to thank for it. The best part is that stories like Miyan are no more mere anomalies or exceptions but are steadily becoming the norm. And by this benchmark alone, tiny Lakshadweep has made giant strides towards a better and wholesome future. Something its larger cousin states on the mainland could take a few pointers on.

Shashwat DC