Independence day no. 63

It is India’s 63rd Independence Day and I felt compelled to write something. 2009 has not been a great year so far for India. The Congress may claim it has been a good year for them and the stock markets seem to be doing well  but given the two major problems facing the country at present viz. drought and swine flu(which is excessively hyped in my opinion) the party in power has a lot to do. However these are internal problems solutions to which are not too difficult to find. The true challenge is preserving Independence for the whole of India.

Progress often breeds jealousy and it is not unnatural for fast developing countries to want to eliminate competition. It seems to be the case with the fastest developing economy in the world, which openly expressed the desire to break India into meaningless small chunks. This is the latest in a series of actions which have raised tensions between the two fastest growing economies in the world. While it is difficult to predict the future a neutral observer would certainly feel that any country should learn from its mistakes. Luckily most Indians now understand the meaning of “Hindi Chini bhai bhai”. The presence of Highways on the Chinese side of the Kashmir border and the conspicuous lack of them on the Indian side was a cause for alarm post 1962 and still is. Similarly the constant gradual retreat of Indian armed forces in Arunachal Pradesh is also a cause for concern. Of late it certainly seems that India has awoken to the threat of the dormant dragon, especially with the deployment of the Sukhois in Arunachal Pradesh and the inauguration of the first nuclear submarine, but are a handful of Sukhois and a submarine strong enough to protect our sovereignty  from the strength of the most populous and disciplined country in the world? One can only hope that the ministers at the top are doing something constructive which does not reach the media, so India can meet any force which threatens its freedom.

If this is a small preview of what is happening on the armed forces front, there is more to fear on the commercial front. IT outsourcing is bread and butter for India. Most business is done online and one wonders what security do India’s online resources have. The newspapers reported that Chinese hackers have been hacking into international sites and making away with confidential data or bringing down important sites. Moreover the newspaper report stated that below the hollow statements made by the spokesperson the country responsible intends to take no action against the perpetrators. I am almost an IT engineer now but have not noticed many Indians with similar capabilities. Moreover the IT infrastructure looks not just shoddy but also pretty fragile to my eye, but then again my eye is probably an untrained one.

Current happenings all over the world only go to show that we cannot take our Independence for granted. I hope that I am wrong when I say that the threat of war in years to come looms large. Perhaps a game of Brinkmanship is all that may result, but then again I have never known any Indian leader to be good at that game. As the country moves into the 62nd year of its Independence it is important that we realize the need for strong decisive leadership just as our realization for economic reforms made us the second fastest growing economy in the world. In the hope that we may always safeguard this Independence,

JAI HIND

watch?v=i0PKCMhFdjk

With the missile man of India

It is not for me to write an eulogy for Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam mainly because there are many better ones written by more qualified and dignified people. Everyone knows that he was probably the most popular and best President India has ever had. Not for nothing is he known as the missile man of India and being the recipient of the 3 highest civilian honours given by the nation is no mean feat. The honour of his visit to VJTI was so great that it may not be possible to put it into words.

For the first time ever I felt that our college had outdone itself and pulled out all stops to impress the ex-President. Security was water tight with police vans doing the rounds of the roads around the college. The atmosphere was so tense with excitement that you could have tasted it. Students were excited and so was the staff though they attempted to conceal it behind fixed smiles. Being one of the twelve students selected from the college to ask His excellency a question was a great honour which came with certain privileges like an early entry into the hall. Admittedly the seating arrangements were not the most comfortable for the students but the aim was to fit in more students, so I shall not comment.

His excellency was apparently delayed by almost 45 mins. (or the students were deliberately misinformed about the time of his arrival) but gave a full hour to the students. Among the other dignitaries present were Dr. J J Irani and Dr. Anil Kakodkar, two men who require little introduction. On Dr. Kalam’s speech I shall pass no comment as it is not my place to do so. It was an honour when he called out my name so I could put forth my question to him. For those who may not be aware, my question was: “Even though India produces so many computer and IT engineers every year, why are we still seen as the outsourcing hub and not as a leader in the production of new technologies for the masses.” To my delight he called my question a very good one but to my disappointment his answer to the question was not something I understood, nor what I expected.

More illuminating was the discussion I had with a friend of mine after the great man left. This friend of mine(whom I do not name since I asked him not for permission) is already on his way to greatness(true greatness) and on a large scale. I only hope that I can follow in his footsteps soon.

Results out! Cabinet=?

No closely fought election this time. The UPA outstripped its competitors by a wide margin. Success needs no explaination and failure has no excuses. On a personal level I had a few mixed feelings, me being an admirer of Mr. Narendra Modi but at the same time am happy to see some educated mature canditates in the congress win the seats. More heartening was the drop in votes to regional parties. My belief is that only national level parties should be given votes on national issues. Regional parties are just not open minded when it comes to national level issues.

Now it is time for the cabinet to be decided. The names of P.Chidambaram,  Montek Singh,  A.K.Anthony, Pranab Mukherjee and Salman Khursheed seem to be doing the rounds for the key positions of home, finance, defense, External Affairs. The PM has also gone on record saying that he would like to bring Rahul Gandhi into the cabinet. The name of Milind Deora is also doing the rounds. It is believed that a young cabinet is on the cards.

Whils some seem good choices others are appaling. Last time in 2004 when Shivraj Patil was made home minister it sure made some people wonder if the top brass had not been partying too much late into the night and made the decision in an inflammed state of mind. HRD minister Arjun Singh also earned the ire of the student community for his wicked vote bank politics. This time hopefully such problems may be observed to a lesser extent. However some big names are being missed. Why has Mr. Sashi Tharoor not been thought of for the post of External Affairs or Information and Communication? He has certainly had an impressive record in the UN. Why has the name of Mr. Jyotiraditya Scindia not been heard anywhere? At the same time why is the PM so keen to bring in the young Gandhi over so many better candidates? So that the next time there is an election the post of PM can once again pass on into the hands of the descendents of the Nehru-Gandhi family? This country has many leaders, and many of those are better than the current descendents of Mr. Nehru and Ms. Indira Gandhi. (Frankly I think that the young Gandhi is a bit of a joker-how he won so many UP seats is a mystery to me)Why can’t we continue to have mature sensible PMs like Dr. Manmohan Singh and Mr.Vajpayee?