Laptop C.M.

More Google in my life !

2004-08-30T06:39:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Guru Shankar, I got my gmail account today: spamarty@gmail.com :-)
With this, google is fast becoming the most widely visited site in my daily life (search, news, blog and now e-mail) !!!

Next generation of mobile services

2004-08-24T14:28:00.000-04:00

Mobile technology is expanding our design toolkit beyond the desktop, and those who embrace this technology to enhance the core functions of their products will offer their users a superior experience. Find out more about the new mobile services that you can ask for in the near future.

http://www.boxesandarrows.com/archives/location_and_presence
in_mobile_data_services.php

Tax exemptions might become history soon

2004-08-21T19:57:00.000-04:00

Outlining the roadmap to achieve 7-8 per cent economic growth on sustained basis, the Economic Survey on Wednesday indicated major initiatives in the Union Budget to overhaul tax system, slash deficit, contain prices and boost agriculture and industry.

more details @ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/768560.cms

Briton won India's first Olympic medal

2004-08-02T10:44:00.000-04:00

Over the years, the Olympic Games have become a part of Indian life but it was not until 1928 that the country made an official entry into this multi-discipline extravaganza. India, however, was represented in one form or the other, starting with Briton Norman Pritchard and his two silver medals, one in the 200 metres and the other in the now discontinued 200 metres hurdles at the Paris Games of 1900.Though the record books give Normal Pritchard's nationality as Indian, there is no evidence of the country having sponsored him.

for more details http://www.123bharath.com/olympics-2004-athens/index.php?action=fullnews&id=4253

Daughter's wedding and teak-trees

2004-07-23T05:53:00.000-04:00

Bengalis know how to meet the sky-rocketing costs of a wedding - plant a teak-tree when a girl child is born. By the time the girl grows up, the tree will fetch enough money for her wedding !

Read it in 'Small seed, big idea'. The author of this article criticizes Naidu for doing away with panchayat system in Andhra Pradesh.

Tale of two wannabe states

2004-07-22T08:33:00.000-04:00

Kuldeep Nayyar takes a look at the demand for two separate states - Telangana and Vidarbha - in his regular column 'Between the lines' in the Deccan Herald.

His opinion on Telengana...

The reality is that the experiment of Vishal Andhra Pradesh (concept of Govind Vallabh Pant, "who was vetting the States' Reorganization Commission's recommendations") did not click. Fears of the Telengana people that they would lose in Andhra Pradesh their identity,seem to have come true. What they said before the Commission some 50 years ago that Telengana might be converted into a colony by the enterprising coastal Andhra stands more or less justified.

On Vidarbha....

That there is a deep-rooted regional consciousness in Vidarbha is there for all to sec- The Marathi-speaking districts of Madhya Pradesh continue to stick out like a sore thumb. If and when Vidarbha were to be constituted as a separate state, it would be the biggest cotton growing area in the country, making it viable. The States' Reorganisation Commission rightly said: "There is prima facie enough evidence to suggest that Vidarbha can be stable and prosperous state even if it stands by itself.

And on both....

Both Vidarbha and Telengana are a viable proposition. As separate territories, they will catch up with their parent states rapidly. Both of them are sizeable areas, compact and coherent. There is no reason why they will not be financially on their own. The experience shows how Himachal Pradesh and Haryana prospered after they separated from Punjab.

Probation for Naidu

2004-07-15T19:14:00.000-04:00

Naidu, Is doing an excellent job defending his Laptop policies in the Andhra Pradesh's legislative assembly.

Hope he comes out of all the investigations without many scratches.

A long way to go for him as leader of opposition.

Welcome, Ravi

2004-06-09T22:20:00.000-04:00

Today, I've added Ravichandra, my buddy at IBM to my blog. He'll be sharing this blogspace from now on. Being a techie, expect him to blog on tech-related stuff, apart from the main topics of this blog.

Hearty welcome to you, Ravi !

Telengana figures in President's speech

2004-06-07T22:11:00.000-04:00

President Abdul Kalam makes a one-sentence reference of Telangana in his address to the Houses of Parliament.

"The government will consider the demand for the formation of a Telangana state at an appropriate time after due consultations."

This led TRS leaders to compare K Chandrasekhar Rao with Mahatma Gandhi !

"Gandhi led the Indian freedom struggle with non-violence and peace as weapons. Chandrashekhar Rao too led a peaceful movement for three years," said TRS MLA Nayani Narasimha Reddy and senior leader S Madhusudhanachary .

Yes, he is the same Chandrasekhar Rao who threatened a river full of blood !!

Hyderabad's loss is Silverstone's gain

2004-06-07T21:18:00.000-04:00

Silverstone in Great Britain benefits if Hyderabad opts out as new F1 racing venue, reports crash.net. Here's how they saw the change of guard in Andhra Pradesh...



According to Reuters, Chandrababu Naidu, the man behind plans to bring a grand prix to Hyderabad, lost out in voting late last month, and has been replaced as chief minister by a man who does not share his vision.

:-)

F1 race project hits road block

2004-06-06T20:51:00.000-04:00

"We are not in a position to afford Rs 10,000 crore for a racing expedition which is an annual feature while our priorities are different and we have urgent and serious issues to address," says YSR.

I always wondered whether we really need this !?

No more "active pursuit" of armed naxalites

2004-06-04T22:04:00.000-04:00

New policy towards naxalites is a complete contrast to that adapted by Naidu's government.

State sponsored aggression has sometimes worked in crushing armed extremists (eg., Punjab). But the aggressive stand taken by Naidu's govt against naxals has resulted in more violence. Hope the new policy brings in much needed peace to the affected areas.

'Democracy tax'

2004-06-03T01:19:00.000-04:00

We have seen George Monbiot comparing reforms program of Andhra Pradesh with that of Chile's. And now, we have Anna Greenspan matching it up with China's.

In her well-researched analysis of Indian elections, she says...

"It is often said that India pays a price for its political freedom. Inside the country this is known as a 'democracy tax', a term which is used to explain India's failure to compete with China, in everything from health and literacy to trade and poverty rates. For nine years Naidu seemed to counter this unpalatable idea that a commitment to rapid economic development depends on authoritarian rule."

She goes on to say this about the "laptop minister"...

"...he is one of the very few democratic politicians in the world to run on a platform unapologetically focused on economic growth."

Bravo, Naidu! :-)

Pollcasters

2004-06-02T22:24:00.000-04:00

If you are still mulling over the election results, pollcasters.com has some interesting surveys.

But who are these Pollcasters and why on the earth have they conducted this study??

Naidu's first salvo

2004-06-02T15:12:00.000-04:00

Naidu makes his first swipe on the new government... complains about the absence of "important election promises of the Congress party like 5% reservation to minorities and free single bulb connection to the below poverty line families" in Governor's address to the State Assembly.

Telangana in CMP

2004-05-28T01:47:00.000-04:00

Chandrashekar Rao's sacrifice of Shipping ministry pays off!
This man is unstoppable! :-)

EAMCET (Medical) topper's village is not wired yet !

2004-05-28T00:59:00.000-04:00

Hearty Congratulations to S Surekha on achieving the 1st rank in EAMCET-2004 !

Hope her mother got informed about her proud achievement by now. Incredibly, Deccan Chronicle ran a story that Surekha's village (Rayavaram in Kadapa district) is not connected to telephone lines yet! (I couldn't get the URL of the article as DC doesn't provide online archives.) This fact makes Surekha's feat even more interesting to me. Maybe there are hundreds of villages in India like hers. It is highly commendable that a girl from such a village can make it to the top in this intensely competitive exam !

"Nothing can stop a genius whose time has come"! :-)

The world's most dangerous economic experiment !?

2004-05-27T23:42:00.000-04:00

George Monbiot rips Vision 2020 programme and compares the economic reforms of Andhra Pradesh with that of Chile's. In his words...

McKinsey's scheme, Vision 2020, is one of those documents whose summary says one thing and whose contents quite another.  It begins, for example, by insisting that education and healthcare must be made available to everyone. Only later do you discover that the state's hospitals and universities are to be privatised and funded by "user charges". It extols small businesses but, way beyond the point at which most people stop reading, reveals that it intends to "eliminate" the laws that defend them, and replace small investors, who "lack motivation", with "large corporations".

Laptop politics

2004-05-25T00:09:00.000-04:00

"In India, for the last 50 years, we have this classical theory of economic development... That if you develop a very advanced, modern corporate core, the rest of the economy in the periphery will be pulled by the core into its orbit. It's the very famous trickle down theory. But the trickle down theory doesn't work until you have very strong redistributive policies."
- Ananya Mukherjee-Reed, political science professor at York University.
"Take the example of China. For its economic reforms, it reformed agriculture. The Chinese farmers got more money. You don't build a pyramid from the top down; you have to build a strong base first. Mr. Naidu, perhaps, was looking at pyramid upside down."
- Mahesh Rangarajan, political analyst and visiting professor at Cornell University.
"I've travelled through Andhra Pradesh and you can't say that the rural people are any worse off than they were five years ago," ..."Naidu had effective programs for women, children, health and building roads. The problem was that his image focused on IT. And maybe he didn't do enough in terms of what people expected of him, but you can't suggest that he hasn't done anything at all."
- Sanjaya Baru, political analyst comes to Naidu's rescue.

More expert comments in this interesting article by Arpita Bhandari in the Toronto Star.

Is Naidu's technology orientation his nemisis?

2004-05-23T00:56:00.000-04:00

"... analysts’ view that Naidu’s IT reforms were not liked by the populace of his state is incorrect" argues Kingshuk Nag in the Times of India.

India's leading reformer

2004-05-22T14:16:00.000-04:00

Lest we forget his good deeds.... Naidu, India's leading reformer (Rediff)

Computer pun on Naidu's defeat

2004-05-14T22:49:00.000-04:00

Computer puns used by media to describe the routing of Chandrababu Naidu's party in the 2004 elections:

Tech focus seen hitting wrong key for Chandrababu Naidu (Yahoo)
AP reboots: CEO Naidu out, Cong in (Economic Times)
Why was Chandrababu Naidu logged out? (ToI)
It's Ctrl + Alt + Del for Chandrababu (Rediff)

Another prank that was widely distributed via e-mails: naidu@naukri.com :-)