Good intentions cannot be a substitute for good judgement. The Indian media has, with some exception, discharged its duty well in keeping many scams and corrupt deals high on the public’s consciousness and bringing corrupt public officials to book. But the latest controversy over satellite transponder deal between ISRO and Devas Multimedia is a clear-cut […]
iBall, famous for computer peripherals such as keyboard, mouse, web-cam etc., has just launched the iBall Slide, a tablet very similar to the Spice Mi-720 tablet except for built-in 3G support. In addition, the iBall Slide also suffers from a higher price of Rs 13,995, compared to Rs 11,990 for the Spice Mi-720 and Rs […]
Debian Linux, the world’s largest volunteer software project that counts its contributors in the thousands, released the sixth iteration of its Linux version, called Debian Squeeze. Debian is famous for being the parent of the most popular Linux brand — Ubuntu, promoted by Mark Shuttleworth, the founder of Thawte who sold his firm to Verisign […]
China leads the World in software piracy, according to the software industry ‘advocacy’ group, the Business Software Alliance (BSA). According the results of a study of 15,000 users in 32 countries, the Chinese had a software ‘pirate rate’ of 86%, followed by Nigeria with 81% and Vietnam with 76%. Interestingly, India, which too is suspected […]
After getting the outlay for the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) from Rs 30,000 crore to 40,000 crore last year, the rural development ministry is seeking a further increase to Rs 64,000 crore for the next year. The government will also start kick off a Rs 2,500 crore programme to check fraud accounts by […]
The most impassioned speech in the Lokpal debate in the Lok Sabha today was made by the young parliamentarian from the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), Jayant Chaudhary. Chaudhary, the grandson of former Prime Minister Charan Singh and the son of Ajit Singh, was the only parliamentarian to go against the general trend of criticising Anna […]
The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) tried to prevent the emergence of Nepal as a republic in 2008 as it wanted to retain it as the World’s last ‘Hindu Kingdom’, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) felt. Krishna Mahara, a member of the Maoist Central Committee of Nepal expressed the fear in a letter written to […]
Suspicion about “Love Jihad” — an alleged Islamist plot to increase the share of Muslims in the population by incentivizing Muslim men to marry outside the community — is probably the result of the overall paranoia and religious tension in South India, US Consul General Andrew Simkin told his government in February last year. However, […]
Is the famed ‘Kerala Model’ of development — characterized by high government spending on health and education — unsustainable in the long run? Even the state’s then ruling Communists were not sure it was, according to a detailed report of a visit by US officials to the South Indian state in late 2007. The visit […]
Just days after Twitter indicated its interest in the search market, the messaging platform is now spreading its wings towards the social networking scene. Under a pilot project covering a small (lucky) portion of its user-base, it has introduced two new ‘tabs’ that increasingly turns the Twitter experience more ‘Facebookish’. The tabs, that replace the […]
Two German mountaineers missing in Afghanistan since last week found to be killed in the Salang Pass near the capital Kabul. Though the Interior Ministry Spokesperson, Sidiq Sediqi, has not yet confirmed the report, the Governor of the Parwan province,Abdul Basir Salangi, talking to the RTN confirmed the death. He said that the bodies have […]
Muslims in China’s Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) are increasingly becoming more aware of their Isamic heritage, thanks to more liberal policies followed by the Chinese government in the last three decades, according to an on-the-ground report from David Brown, the Consul General of Chengdu in Sichuan, a province adjoining the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR). However, […]
The coming to power of Mayawati, India’s most powerful Dalit leader, in Uttar Pradesh has instilled fear in the minds of criminals and improved law and order, the US embassy to India felt after a review at the end of 100 days of her rule in UP in 2007. While she may not be “up […]
Dish TV, India’s first DTH operator and part of the Essel Zee group of Subash Chandra, has finally come out with its ‘cam module’ that allows consumers of other DTH operators to also watch Dish TV channels on their existing equipment. The Cam Module (see picture) is inserted into the ‘cam slot’ located just above […]
Singapore consciously cultivates its relationship with India as a way to counter-balance China’s growing influence in South East Asia, according to a cable written by American ambassador to the city-state, Franklin Lavin in 2004. According to Lavin’s reading of the country’s new “India fever”, Singapore does not want China to dominate South East Asia and […]
In a bid to ‘clean up’ the government’s image before upcoming elections, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has moved with unprecedented speed to address concerns of a scam in the Commonwealth Games coverage. The PM on Friday evening removed Aruna Sharma, Director General (DG) of Doordarshan from her post and back to her original cadre, while […]
18 percent of all IT outsourcing contracts will have elements of ‘as a service’ or ‘utility’ billing model this year, according to a survey of the IT Outsourcing (ITO) companies by Gartner, the World’s largest IT research agency. This will rise to 24% in 2012, according to the same survey. It also found some IT […]
Days after launching the first of the new line-up of powerful candy-bar Blackberry phones, online e-tailer Letsbuy has now become the first to launch the Blackberry Torch 9810, first slider Blackberry phone built on the new platform. The Blackberry Torch 9810’s price in India is Rs 29,749. The Blackberry Torch 9810 is one of the […]
The recent expose of scams seemed to have made the Congress leadership more determined in cleaning up the system. ‘Cleaning up’ the system finds the second place in the Government’s to-do list for the next financial year, according to the speech read out by President Pratibha Patil in Parliament at the start of the Budget […]
The hard-line Deobandi school of Islam has the support of only around 20% of India’s 16-18 crore Muslims and most Indian Muslims prefer Sufi flavored versions, Timothy Roemer, the then Ambassador to India, told Farah Pandit before her first visit to India as Obama’s Administration’s ‘Special Representative to Muslim Communities.’ In a thorough analysis of […]
