Say proudly, I AM AN INDIAN.

Advance Happy Independence Day !!!!  
Q. Who is the GM of Hewlett Packard (hp) ? 
A. Rajiv Gupta  

Q. Who is the creator of Pentium chip (needs no introduction as 90% of the today's computers run on it)? 
A. Vinod Dahm  


Q. Who is the third richest man on the world? 
A. According to the latest report on Fortune Magazine, it is Azim Premji, who is the CEO of Wipro Industries. The Sultan of Brunei is at 6 th position now.  

Q. Who is the founder and creator of Hotmail  (Hotmail is world's No.1 web based email program)?   
A. Sabeer Bhatia   
Q. Who is the president of AT & T-Bell Labs (AT & T-Bell Labs is the creator of program languages such as C, C++, Unix to name a few)? 
A. Arun Netravalli   

Q. Who is the new MTD  (Microsoft Testing Director)  of Windows 2000, responsible to iron out all initial problems?   
A. Sanjay Tejwrika  

Q. Who are the Chief Executives of CitiBank, Mckensey & Stanchart? 
A. Victor Menezes, Rajat Gupta, and Rana Talwar.  

Q. We Indians are the wealthiest among all ethnic groups in America , even faring better than the whites and the natives.   
There are 3.22 millions of Indians in USA   (1.5% of population) . YET,   
38% of doctors in USA are Indians.   
12% scientists in USA are Indians. 
36% of NASA scientists are Indians.   
34% of Microsoft employees are Indians.   
28% of IBM employees are Indians.   
17% of INTEL scientists are Indians. 
13% of XEROX employees are! Indians.  

Some of the following facts may be known to you. These facts were recently published in a German magazine, which deals with WORLD HISTORY FACTS ABOUT INDIA . 
1. India never invaded any country in her last 1000 years of history. 

2. India invented the Number system. Zero was invented by Aryabhatta. 

3. The world's first University was established in Takshila in 700BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalandabuilt in the 4 th century BC was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education. 

4. According to the Forbes magazine, Sanskrit is the most suitable language for computer software. 

5. Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans. 

6. Although western media portray modern images of India as poverty striken and underdeveloped through political corruption, India was once the richest empire on earth. 

7. The art of navigation was born in the river Sindh 5000 years ago. The very word "Navigation" is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH. 

8. The value of pi was first calculated by Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is now k! nown as the Pythagorean Theorem. British scholars have last year (1999) officially published that Budhayan's works dates to the 6 th Century which is long before the European mathematicians. 

9. Algebra, trigonometry and calculus came from India . Quadratic equations were by Sridharacharya in the 11 th Century; the largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Indians used numbers as big as 10 53. 

10. According to the Gemmological Institute of America, up until 1896, India was the only source of diamonds to the world. 

11. USA based IEEE has proved what has been a century-old suspicion amongst academics that the pioneer of wireless communication was Professor Jagdeesh Bose and not Marconi. 

12. The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in Saurashtra. 

13. Chess was invented in India .  

14. Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600 years ago he and health scientists of his time conducted surgeries like cesareans, cataract, fractures and urinary stones. Usage of anaesthesia was well known in ancient India . 

15. When many cultures in the world were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley ( Indus Valley Civilisation). 

16. The place value system, the decimal system was developed in India in 100 BC.  


Quotes about India .   
We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.  
Albert Einstein.   
India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend and the great grand mother of tradition.  
Mark Twain.   
If there is one place on the face of earth where all dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is India .  
French scholar Romain Rolland.   
India conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border.  
Hu Shih   
(former Chinese ambassador to USA )   

ALL OF THE ABOVE IS JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG, THE LIST COULD BE ENDLESS. 
BUT, if we don't see even a glimpse of that great India in the India that we see today, it clearly means that we are not working up to our potential; and that if we do, we could once again be an ever shining and inspiring country setting a bright path for rest of the world to follow. 
I hope you enjoyed it and work towards the welfare of INDIA . 

Say proudly, I AM AN INDIAN. 

Europeans in India

India was a British colony. The British left behind them in India a strong imprint of their philosophy and culture and even today it is evident that English which is a foreign language is the most important and respected language in India. But the British were not the only Europeans to arrive in India and have their imprint. Since ancient period even before the beginning of the Christian era there were relations between Europeans and Indians. The main Europeans to arrive in ancient India were Greeks. The Greeks are referred to in ancient Indian history as Yavanas. Even the most famous ancient Greek conqueror, Alexander the Great, arrived in India. But actually he arrived up to the present India-Pakistan border. But there were other Greeks who arrived in India and established kingdoms. Many of these Greek communities later on adopted Hinduism and integrated in the Indian caste system. Even today there are communities in Kashmir who claim to be of Greek origin. Not all Greeks arrived in India to conquer it. There were also Greek scientists who arrived in India for scientific research, especially in astronomy and mathematics.


Later on other Europeans arrived in India because of commercial reasons. The Indian sub-continent was then world famous for its spices. But when the Muslim Ottoman Empire of Turkey ruled the Middle East, they caused lots of problems to European Christian merchants who tried to pass through their land. Therefore the Europeans tried to find other routes to reach India. And so accidentally Christopher Columbus found the continent of America. Columbus tried to get to India while sailing westwards from Europe. Columbus presumed that because the earth is round he would eventually get to India while sailing westwards, instead he found the continent of America whose existence was not known then to the Europeans. Columbus thought that he had arrived in India and called the natives Indians.


From the 15th century the European representatives arrived in India, namely English, French, Dutch, Danish and Portuguese. Among these European powers the Portuguese arrived first in India in 1498 via sea after they had circled the whole of the African continent. These representatives arrived in India after they received from their country rulers charter to do business with India.


These Europeans at first requested from the local rulers permission to trade in their entities. Later on they requested from the local rulers permission to build factories. After they built factories they requested to build forts around these factories to defend them from pirates and other dangers. Then they requested to recruit local Indians to serve as guards and soldiers in these forts and so on they slowly created their own armies. And so one of the European power's representative, the British East India Company, became the ruler of India.


The British control of India was a result of several factors. The Portuguese, who along with their business tried to enforce Roman Catholicism on the Indians were defeated by local rulers sometimes in collaboration with Protestant European powers. But still the Portuguese remained in India with small pockets. Their main center in India was Goa. The Dutch, who had holds in south India and the Danes, who had holds in east India, left India for their own reasons. The two main European powers that remained in India were British and French. These two powers tried different ways to control India and to defeat each other. Each of these European powers sometimes collaborated with local Indian rulers to defeat the other European power. Eventually the British became the rulers of India. But the French like the Portuguese remained in India with small pockets and both these powers remained in India even after the British left India in 1947.


The British East India Company was actually a trading company and it received from the British crown charter to trade with the Indian sub-continent. They arrived in India for spice trade in 1600. Like other European powers that arrived in India, they at first requested from the local rulers permission to trade in their entities. The British East India Company was more sophisticated than other Europeans who arrived in India. This company offered different sophisticated agreements to the different Indian ruling families, which made them the actual managers of the Indian kingdoms. They sometimes used their army against local rulers and annexed their territories with the result that there was lot of embitterment among the Indians against the British. After the 'Indian Mutiny' of 1857, the British Crown took back the charter from the East India Company and ruled India directly through a Viceroy. The British gave India independence in 1947, but its last soldier left India eventually in 1950. The French also left India in 1950. The Portuguese were the last to leave India in 1961.


Even though the European powers arrived in India for commercial reasons, they also started converting local Indians to Christianity. Of the five European powers the Portuguese were most enthusiastic to baptize Indians. The Portuguese inspired by the Pope’s order to baptize people around the world not only fought wars against the local Indian rulers, but also they tried to enforce their Roman Catholic prayers on Syrian Christians who were in India before the modern European powers arrived in India (see Christianity in India).
After many wars the Portuguese were defeated by local rulers and they had only one big pocket of control in India, Goa. Goa was made the capital of Portuguese colonies in the eastern hemisphere. The Portuguese not only fought the Indian rulers, but they also fought against other European powers in India especially Dutch and English. Many Portuguese churches in Kerala were converted into English and Dutch churches after they were captured by these powers.
The English missionaries started acting in India at a much later period. The British arrived in India in 1600 and they allowed the missionaries to enter their territory only from 1813. The British allowed different churches to establish missionaries in their territory. The missionaries didn’t only spread Christianity, but they also did humanitarian deeds giving the needy the basic necessities of life like food, clothes and shelter. The missionaries also built schools in India and many of them exist even today and have Christian or European originated names.




The British church missionaries succeeded less than the Portuguese in converting Indians to Christianity, but unlike the Portuguese who tried to enforce Christianity, these Protestant converts were voluntary. The Portuguese were also aware of the Indian custom according to which the wife followed her husband’s faith and therefore married their men to Indian women. Most of the Portuguese baptized Christians in India have Portuguese oriented surnames, like Fernandez, De Silva, De Costa and others.


There is also an Anglo-Indian community in India, who are also descendants from European (English) fathers and Indian mothers, but these relations between English men and Indian women started because of romantic reasons. The Anglo-Indians are mostly Christians and have adopted English as their first language. According to the Indian Constitution, two seats in the Indian Parliament are reserved for the Anglo-Indian community members.

Food from around the world

A gastronomic guide to local delicacies

Pizza in Italy, frog's legs in France, kangaroo in Australia, sheep's eyes in Mongolia - wherever you travel there are local delicacies to be enjoyed, or endured. But just where is the best place in the world to eat freshly-cooked squid? And which countries should you avoid if you don't want to tackle a sheep's eye sitting on your plate? Here's our guide to some of the best, and most unusual cuisines to be found around the world.

Gastronome on a Budget

Not feeling that flush but want to eat something a little more exotic than battered cod from your local chippy? You don't have to go far for some foreign treats. Just hop on a plane to Italy, Ireland or Sweden for a taste of the exotic. All of these culinary delights can be experienced in less than two hours flying time, and with budget prices at www.cheapflights.co.uk, it's a restaurant experience that won't break the bank.

Pizza and Pasta

Want to indulge your craving for carbs? The undisputed maestro of the pizza is, of course, Italy. Although the whole of the country will serve you up a pasta or pizza to die for, the sauces and toppings differ from region to region. In general, the coastline of the country specialises in fish and shellfish, so if you want a crab pasta head for the seas. Pizza con prosciutto, perhaps with a few olives on the top, is a simple culinary delight that will leave you wanting to order another for pudding. But although Parma is thought of in the UK as the best place for cured ham, the Italians often prefer prosciutto San Daniele, which comes from the small farming region of the same name near the Alps in Italy. And if you're staying in the countryside, there are few things in life more tasty than Italian tomatoes and mozzarella - as a pizza topping, in a pasta, or simply on their own for lunch.

However, if you think that one pizza is like any other, be warned. There is an intense rivalry between Naples and the rest of the country, especially the nearby Rome, over the thickness of pizza base. The Neapolitans prefer their bases thick (though we're not talking Pizza Hut stuffed crust here) whereas the Romans like a thin, crispy, paper-like base. Proffering an opinion that the Roman version is better when you're in Naples, or vice versa, can land you in serious trouble. The Italians are so proud of their culinary heritage, that there is even a pizzeria in Turin that was opened by some Neapolitan players for Juventus football team. They relocated their favourite chefs from Naples, because they didn't believe that the chefs in Turin could cut the mustard. Now that's amore.

Frog's Legs and Snails

Despite the stereotype, the French don't always smell of garlic, wear stripy jumpers, carry onions round their neck and consume huge amounts of escargots and cuisses de grenouilles. Unlike in Italy, where you will be hard-pressed to find a restaurant without pasta on the menu, these traditional French dishes can take a bit more searching for. If you're looking for a little bistro in Paris with these on the menu, you may find yourself surrounded by other tourists doing the same. Christmas and Easter time is when the French usually eat the creatures, so if you're visiting then you shouldn't have any trouble finding some.

So do frog's legs taste of chicken? And are snails really slimy? Well, yes, a bit, to both questions. Frogs legs look a bit similar to a chicken wing - the top joint of the hind leg is the part you'll be eating - and they are usually fried or deep-fried and sometimes covered in breadcrumbs. Snails traditionally come in a garlic butter sauce, and often it is difficult to taste anything else. Don't worry, you're not actually eating the whole snail. They are removed from their shells, stripped of their entrails and then cooked, before being put back into the shell, so you can remove them with a tiny fork. To be honest, it's unlikely that either will disgust you or convert you to the point of abandoning steak in their favour. But, when in France, it's definitely worth giving them a try.

Haggis

No self-respecting Burns supper would be complete without one - a lovely boiled haggis. But if you're planning on trying this delicacy soon, it might be wise to skip the rest of this section so that you don't find out what's in them before you eat it. Haggis is made from the liver, heart and lungs of a sheep, mixed together with some oats and stuffed inside its stomach. It is then boiled for around an hour and eaten with neeps and tatties (turnips and potatoes). That didn't put you off? Well good, because if you want a carnivorous feast, not much can beat the Scottish national dish for pure meatiness (and economy with the parts of an animal that might otherwise get wasted). The Scots have been eating haggis for time immemorial, though it has recently become something of a "specialist" dish, more likely to be found on the table in New York on January 25 than anywhere else. And just remember - it's all the same stuff that goes into sausages, they're just more open about revealing the ingredients.

Haggis has become such a symbol of Scottishness that it's even found its way onto the sports field. The annual haggis hurling event, held in - you've guessed it - the United States, invites participants to show off their prowess by throwing a haggis as far as they possibly can. Scotland's other "national dish" comes into play as well, the throwing platform, on which the competitors stand to make the throw, is a barrel of whisky. So if you lose, at least you can console yourself with a hearty supper and a good drink.

Boxty

Perhaps unsurprisingly, most Irish dishes are based heavily around the humble potato. A visit to the Emerald Isle is not complete without eating the tuber in as many forms as possible. But boxty, a sort of potato pancake, is a perennial favourite - immortalised in the rhyme "Boxty on the griddle, boxty in the pan, if you can't make boxty, you'll never get your man". If your cooking skills leave a bit to be desired, fear not, you can still get your man by whisking him off to Ireland, and let someone else sweat over a stove for you. Boxty's are made from a mixture of grated raw potato and cold, already cooked mashed potato, mixed together with some flour and milk. They are cooked in a pan in a similar way to pancakes.

Mussels in Brussels

Moules frites can be found on menus throughout Belgium and many parts of France, but eating them inBrussels has a certain ring to it. If you order them, you'll have steaming great bowls of the mussels in their shells brought to your place, probably with a bowl of water to wash your hands in, and some chips on the side. The mussels are usually cooked in a sauce - moules mariniere is one of the most popular, a garlic, onion and white wine sauce.

Mussel etiquette, like the food, is a slippery beast. Many swear by the "pincer action" method, whereby you use the shell from a mussel that you have already eaten as if it were a pair of tweezers to remove the others. But if this seems too messy, a small fork is also fine. Just don't think that the water bowl for washing your hands is a soup - though it often resembles the mariniere sauce.

Epicurean Feast

There are some experiences worth travelling for, and fried chicken feet bought from a roadside barbecue in Africa might just be one of them. If you've been saving up for a long-haul holiday, here's a pick of the local delicacies that you mustn't miss out on. Save money on your air fare with www.cheapflights.co.uk and you can spend even more in the restaurant. Who says a seven-course meal is too extravagant?

Fresh fish

Or, more accurately speaking, raw fish. The Japanese consume on average three times the amount of fish per head than we do in Britain. And one of the most popular fish dishes is sashimi: raw, very thinly-sliced fresh fish. It is often served with rice, as sushi, and with ginger, soy sauce and wasabi. Many types of fish are used for sashimi, including tuna, mackerel, squid and octopus. But the most famous fish used must be the potentially deadly fugu, or puffer fish. The puffer fish has a poisonous sac, the eating of which will kill the gourmand, if it hasn't been removed in the correct way. Needless to say, only a few chefs have the licence needed for preparing the fish.

But plucking up the courage to eat fish that hasn't been cooked - and just might kill you - isn't the most intimidating part of eating in Japan. In a country of great politeness, table manners are crucial. Just so you don't completely embarrass yourself here's a quick guide to what can seem a baffling code of dos and don'ts:

• Most Japanese tables in restaurants and homes are low to the ground. Do: take off your shoes and sit cross-legged at the table. Don't: sit down on the table itself.
• As a general rule, everything that would be rude in Britain is the same, but even more so. Do: finish your bowlful, right down to the last grain of rice. Don't: blow your nose at the table; discuss your toilet habits; burp (it's not considered a sign of appreciation here, as in some other Eastern countries.)
• Utensils can seem a bit daunting. Do: Persevere with your chopsticks for large bits of food and rice. Fingers are acceptable for some sushi. Don't: say "Can't you give me a knife and fork, for heaven's sake?"

Fufu

The status of fufu as a delicacy is arguable. Remember that flour and water paste you used to make as a child to hold together Blue Peter loo-roll castles? Fufu (or the East African equivalent ugali) is a little like that. A staple food in Ghana, with variations across many African countries, it is used instead of potatoes or rice as an accompanying "filler", often to go with big stews.

Similar to porridge, fufu is made from grains - usually maize or corn - pounded and then boiled with water, and mixed together until it is a thick mass. It is eaten with pretty much everything. In Ghana, you often see women outside their houses, battering the contents of a stew-pot with a large wooden pestle. This is to pound the grains to make fufu, the overall process of which can take a whole day.

Though quite bland, fufu is certainly an acquired taste, as it can seem a bit gloopy to the uninitiated. It is normally served as a big round ball placed on the table, from which you tear off small pieces, roll into a small sphere with your fingers and then dip in the soup or stew. As meat and fish can be scarce in the poorer regions of Ghana, the stew is often full of very strong spices to make up the flavour, and fu-fu is the equivalent of rice served with curry to help make the flavour milder and bulk up the menu. You won't necessarily be converted if you try this dish, but if you're spending lots of time in Africa you'll certainly have to get used to it.

Curry

Of course, you could save yourself a trip overseas and just head to Brick Lane in London or Curry Mile in Manchester for a fantastic curry. But if you want sunshine while you eat, you don't need us to tell you that the place to go is India. Spices were originally used in curries to mask the taste of what might not have been the freshest bit of meat. But it was a formula worth discovering, and the popularity of curry has spread so much that the chicken korma is now one of the nation's favourite dishes - in Britain. Authentic curries in India are often not as hot as those created over here for a British palate, and the flavours used are more delicate.

If you can't abide an Indian curry, no matter how weak, the other great curry-making country is Thailand. Thai green curries tend to use coconut milk and a lot more fresh herbs. Instead of dried spices, a curry paste is created with anything up to about 20 ingredients, typically including chillies, coconut milk and coriander, ground together with a pestle and mortar.

Biltong

Legend has it that biltong was first created by South African pioneers. The delicacy takes its name from the words "bil" meaning buttock and "tong" meaning strip, and is exactly what it says on the tin, thin cured strips of beef (usually taken from the buttock region of the cow). The migrating tribesmen had no way of storing meat as they were travelling, so they strung it to the underside of the horses' saddles as they rode. The salt in the horses' sweat cured the meat, and the air that went past as they rode along cured it. It was also an economical measure as salt was expensive and hard to get hold of.

Fortunately for biltong lovers, this method of preparation has fallen into disuse. The beef is now prepared by being covered in salt (that's real sea salt) for an hour or more, dipped in vinegar, sprinkled with pepper and coriander and left to dry in a more usual way. Biltong has become so popular worldwide that you can even buy it in plastic bags from the same place as your pork scratchings at the local pub. But if you want to eat the original and best, South Africa is the only place to go. And how does it taste? Well, let's just say that if you're expecting it to be chewy, you won't be in for too much of a surprise.

Kangaroo Steak

National dish of Australia? Not quite. Eating kangaroo meat has actually only been legal in the country in recent years, but since these bouncing animals have been allowed on the menus it has become a bit of a novelty meat in many high-priced restaurants. Many people still hate the thought of eating it, but the dark, gamey meat is quite lean and very good for you. As it is one of the native animals of Australia, it is also potentially less damaging to the environment to farm than sheep or cows.

And if you've got a taste for the unusual, Australia has many other “exotic” options to put on your fork. Crocodile meat is available, though often is something of a gimmick for tourists. A white meat, it looks similar to fish, but tastes more like, you guessed it, chicken. Ostrich meat is dark and quite tough, but popular as an alternative for beef in burgers. However, for something unusual and genuinely traditional on the Australian menu, you have to think smaller. Witchetty grubs are the larvae of the ghost moth and are found in the trunks of gum trees. They have been part of the Aboriginal diet for centuries, as well as some C-list celebrities on recent game shows. It's enough to make you scream: "Get me out of here".

Fried insects

It's not a myth - fried locusts, worms and cockroaches are eaten as a snack in many African, Middle Eastern and Asian countries. Believe it or not, archaeological evidence shows that mankind has been practising entomophagy - that's insect eating to you and me - since we first arrived on the planet. Nowadays, rather than being the only option when you can't catch a tasty hairy mammoth, insects are eaten as a delicacy in many countries. In the Mexican town of Oaxaca, fried crickets, prepared with salt and lemon, are known as chapulines and are a speciality of the town. In Thailand, they enjoy not only crickets, but also grasshoppers, beetle larvae and even dragonflies.

Still not convinced? Then consider your health. Insects are low in carbohydrates but high in protein and fat - a fact that Dr Atkins surprisingly hadn't picked up on. To boost your levels of protein go for earthworm or termites; silkworms are high in vitamin A; while grasshopper are good for vitamins B1 and B2.

Sheep's Eyes

And if that all sounds a bit gruelling and drives you to the whisky bottle, take pity on the people of Mongolia, where the hangover cure is supposed to be a pickled sheep's eye-ball in tomato juice. We'll stick to the traditional bloody mary, thanks.

WWII Propaganda Posters

Although the First World War technically took place in the same century, World War II was undoubtedly the war of the 20th Century. Unlike the earlier conflict, which was a culmination of events deeply rooted in the 19^th Century, WWII fully reflected the technological, political, and cultural trends of the century in which it took place. One of the most telling examples of this was the propaganda. The ministers, commissars, and admen who governments relied on to sell their war employed every modern technique they could to convince often skeptical populations that the carnage and destruction that filled their streets and newspapers was just, under control, and absolutely necessary.

And while they increasingly turned to modern technological mediums like radio and television to transmit their messages, it was the propaganda poster that was the most effective tool of governments to inform, seduce, and cajole their populations. Now, they are potent, and often beautiful, artifacts of the last time the entire globe attempted to tear itself apart. Here are ten of the best World War II propaganda posters.

10. “I Want You for U.S. Army”

Perhaps one of the most recognizable propaganda posters of any time, “I Want You for U.S. Army” was actually commissioned for WWI. Based on an equally iconic British recruiting poster, this indelible image was so effective that it was also extensively used in the Second World War. Even to our 21^st Century media-savvy eyes, it isn’t hard to see why so many young men heeded its call. The stern, paternal face of the national icon Uncle Sam seems to be staring right into your soul, no matter which way you look at the poster. The appeal to honor and duty, not to mention the slightly sinister undertone, was enough to convince countless men to willingly sign up for a tour in Hell. If that isn’t an effective piece of propaganda, what is?

9. “Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuhrer!”

While America used a fictional figure clad in the colors of the flag, much of Germany’s propaganda featured the very real, very living Adolf Hitler. Hitler didn’t invent fascism or the cult of personality that fueled it, but he certainly perfected it. Not a particularly attractive man even by the standards of his day and nowhere near the Aryan ideal he so often extolled, Hitler nevertheless sold the German public his image over and over again as the unequivocal symbol of all their hopes and ambitions. A classic example of this is “Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuhrer!” Its simple message- ‘one people, one empire, one leader’ in English, was used throughout lands conquered by the Germans to inspire allegiance and fierce pride in the ethnic Germans who resided there. Unlike Uncle Sam’s penetrating gaze, Hitler here is looking off to the side, to a future where every German is master of every land. A powerful image. And an incredibly effective one.

8. “Keep Calm and Carry On”

While Hitler and the Nazis were busy convincing Germans of their destiny, the British government was desperately trying to convince its citizens that their nation wasn’t about to be utterly destroyed. In 1939, most Britons feared that in the very near future millions of German soldiers would be landing on their beaches. The government, the only major power that was currently at war with Germany, knew that while Germany was currently pursuing its other ambitions; eventually it would turn its full fury and attention to the United Kingdom. To keep up morale, the British Ministry of Information commissioned a series of posters to remind citizens of their national character. The most iconic of these was “Keep Calm and Carry On.” A simple message in bold type underneath a picture of the crown, it captured the core of the Britishidentity. Funnily enough, even though millions of copies were printed, it was never widely displayed during the war. It was only recently rediscovered and popularized. It still remains an amazing example of how a few words and a simple image can capture the spirit of an entire nation.

7. “Motherland Is Calling You”

Once the Russians entered the war, they produced a recruiting poster of their own that rivaled Uncle Sam’s call for soldiers in popularity and effectiveness.  Instead of using a steely eyed father figure to recruit soldiers to their patriotic duty, the Russians used a woman. With a gaze just as penetrating as Uncle Sam’s, Mother Russia stared into the souls of tevery young Russian and reminded them of the mothers, grandmothers, wives, and sisters they had lost in the brutal German invasion of their homeland. By appealing to the intense love of country that most Russians shared, this poster galvanized the desire for revenge that Russian men felt. And it kept them warm as they began their savage counterattack west.

6. “Rise of Asia”

To the average American, Briton, or Russian watching it quickly build its sprawling empire in Asia, Japan was nothing more than an evil race hellbent on subjugating anyone who dared stand in the way of its ambition. The Japanese, however, saw themselves and their conquests very differently. To them, their invasions of Korea, Taiwan, China, the Philippines, and the island chains of the South Pacific were an attempt to relieve the region of outside influence and create an Asian-led “Co-Prosperity Sphere.” To further this idea, and to convince the people of their new colonies to accept the reality of Japanese rule, they created the “Rise of Asia” poster. Depicting a noble looking Japanese soldier throwing off the chains of European rule and standing over defeated caricatures of Britain and the United States, it was meant to signal that a new order was rising to free the long oppressed peoples of Asia. Unfortunately for the Japanese, their actions on the ground didn’t convince anyone and they faced bloody resistance in almost every country they attempted to enfold into their empire.

5. “This is the Enemy”

One of the key features of propaganda during wartime is its attempt to appeal to the basest of human emotions and ideals, whether it’s noble human desires like justice and freedom, or less noble ones like hatred and fear. One of the most effective tools for stirring these evil thoughts and drumming a populace into support for a war is good, old fashioned racism. Used by armies since the dawn of time, the technique works because it casts the enemies as something less than human; a scourge that needs to be eradicated before it destroys everything we love and cherish. There are countless examples of racist propaganda posters from World War II, but one of the best examples was the American poster “This is the Enemy.” Shocking by today’s standards, it shows a grinning caricature of a Japanese soldier with slanted eyes and simian arms carrying away a naked white woman while others swing from their necks in the burning background. It is a dark, unnerving image. Perhaps the most frightening thing about the poster is that it wasn’t used to create an image of the Japanese, but to reinforce one already widely and unquestionably held by regular, everyday people.

4. “Be Sure You Have Correct Time”

Racist posters were not only used to stoke hatred back home. The American poster “Be Sure You Have Correct Time” uses similar racist imagery to remind soldiers of the operational value of keeping their watches wound while in the field. With its blatantly offensive cartoon versions of Hitler, Mussolini, and Tojo, it speaks to the hatred all soldiers feel for their enemies and the lengths to which they and their superiors went to dehumanize the men they were tasked with killing. Animosity comes easy when a group is attempting to kill you and your buddies, and the armed forces knew that. Every chance they had, including in simple instructional posters, they reminded the men who fought for them that the enemy were monsters who deserved nothing more than savage contempt.

3. “Loose Lips Sink Ships”

Racism, of course, wasn’t the only effective way to remind members of the armed forces that they needed to maintain discipline at all times. The British poster “Loose Lips Sink Ships” takes a simple rhyme, a stark iconic image, and a slash of deep red to warn soldiers of the dangers of talking out of turn about the actions they were about to take. Soldiers and sailors often cope with the long periods of inactivity that come with military life by being notorious gossips. Unfortunately, most military plans rely on secrecy. Factor into this the fact that the major powers of World War II were planning and conducting some of the most complex military endeavors ever attempted in the history of mankind, and it becomes apparent how much damage one talkative soldier could do. Hence the prevalence of this poster and thousands more like it.

2. “We Can Do It”

Besides the very real need to convince citizens to sign up for military service, governments also had to convince the people who stayed behind of the importance of their war efforts. In the U.S., which found itself in need of an incredible amount of skilled workers to produce the materials it, the U.K., and Russia needed to fight the Axis, many of the most memorable propaganda posters were aimed at the civilian population. Most iconic by far was “We Can Do It.” A simple poster of a working woman (based on the existing character of “Rosie the Riveter”) flexing her muscles, it encapsulated the new found power of women all across America. Pressed into service in factories across the country, these women were a vital part of the U.S. war effort and for the first time in the nation’s history, became an economic force to be reckoned with. Although things changed once the war ended, the poster is still used as a symbol of female power. A power, only awakened by necessity, that would change the face of the country for generations to come.

1. “Remember December 7^th”

Before December 7^th, 1941, few Americans felt that their country belonged in the war. Isolationism was a popular sentiment across the political spectrum, and the nation had remained almost entirely unscathed by the carnage happening on the other sides of the Atlantic and Pacific. America was happy to lease large amounts of war materials to its allies, but that was about as far as most people were willing to go. Then Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Even though it was a near fatal blow to the U.S. Pacific fleet, it was to prove one of the costliest mistakes Japan could make. The sleeping giant had been awakened and the U.S.’s full entry into the war was a foregone conclusion. To galvanize the rage that Americans felt, the government produced one of the most stirring propaganda posters ever made, “Remember December 7^th.” A haunting image of a tattered American flag resolutely swaying against a burning black sky, it perfectly captured the emotion of its intended audience. And more importantly, it inspired more than one able-bodied man to visit the local recruiting office.

corruption in India

Look at the rampant corruption and mess of the currently being organized Common Wealth Games in Delhi. Crores of rupees are alleged to be swindled in organizing these games and news channel investigations have show that almost everybody involved in the games have minted money. Fortunately, this has been revealed and unfortunately this is not the first time such large scale corruption and administrative incompetence is displayed in this country.

China by organizing the Beijing Olympics proved that it is a super power in the making.

Is India by messing up with the Delhi CWG proving that it is only a paper power?

And this is just one instance.

Look at the tonnes of rotting food grains going waste in government granaries.

Look at the rampant corruption in almost all of the government organizations.

Look at the pathetic state of infrastructure in the country.

Look at the way some of our ministers and administrators speak.

Look at the way parliament, assemblies, corporations all function in the country, screaming and fighting members, politicians abusing each other and behaving like goons.

Look at the number of politicians with criminal track records.

Look at the common public who have assumed that paying bribe is a part and parcel of their life and so is finding means to evade taxes and law. A two wheeler rider riding without a license is as guilty as the traffic policeman who takes bribe from him. Bribe is a convenient way for both the parties to restrict the law only inside the books.

Look at the sons and daughters of VIPs and VVIPS driving rashly and killing innocents on the streets without getting caught.

And, the root cause of all these problems in this country is Unaccountable Democracy.

A democracy where

Representatives once getting elected can rule, ruin and loot the country for the next five years without ANY accountability, and at the most they might lose the next election, before which they would have made enough wealth for their next 10 generations.

Public servants and employees of public sector companies once entering a government job can sleep on their jobs without having any real sense of service till they retire! Nobody can dismiss them from their jobs, and at the most they get is a suspension or a transfer!

And the general public who keep blaming the elected representatives without ever casting their vote, or casting their votes based on caste, region and religion, who due to lack of time or money or whatever become a part and parcel of the corruption system. Takers are always there as long as there are givers, isn’t it? If people keep saying, my votes won’t make a difference, well then they need to go back to their school days to unlearn what they currently know and to relearn the lesson which goes “Little drops of water make a mighty ocean”.

Now this has made our democracy into a five yearly rotating dictatorship. People elect a set of dictators who then rule the country based on their own rules. This results into a system where smaller insects are swallowed by the spider, where as the larger mightier ones actually become the supporting pillars of the spider’s web.

And the only solution to this is to convert our democracy into an accountable democracy. In a corporate environment, failure to meet the deadlines results in disciplinary action being taken and the project in question might be related to even a few hundred people. Now compare this with the politicians and ministers, who are accountable for millions of people, and what is the disciplinary action taken against them for their failure to perform and show results?

So how do we convert our unaccountable democracy into an accountable one? How do we make sure that the system remains democratic (because we naturally hate communist or military rule or any other dictatorship) and yet is extremely accountable at all levels?

The first thing we need to do is to enable active participation by the general public instead of the current passive participation in the democratic process. Currently we elect and forget for we cannot do anything till the next elections arrive. We need to convert this into an active participation. How?

1. Have an annual or half-yearly review of the elected representative’s performance by the voters who again vote to indicate their level of satisfaction about the performance of their representative, and if more than a certain percentage (say 50%) of the voters reply in negative, then the elected representative’s term should be immediately ended calling for a re-election in that constituency. This might seem a costly and time-consuming process, but if one considers the gains of creating a corruption free society and rapid development due to alert administrators, this process is really worth it. This would also keep the electorate informed about the progress in their constituency.

2. At the end of a five year term, every minister should have the country vote for their performance in the past five years. In case of state governments, the entire state should vote on the performance of each minister at the end of the government’s term. Now if more than certain percentage (say 80% of the voters) say that they are not satisfied with the performance of the minister, then the minister should be imprisoned for the next five years for stalling development of the nation (or state) for five years and for not keeping up the promises made to millions of people to win an election. Section 420 of the IPC (Indian Penal Code) punishes a common man if he cheats another single person. Then shouldn’t there be more stringent punishment for a person who cheats millions of people for five years and wastes five precious years of development of a country or state?

3. Measure performance in government services and drop non-performers. Remove the guarantee of a government job till retirement. Privatise all public sector companies and allow for competition by private companies. When BSNL was the only telecom service provider in India you had to wait for months to get a telephone connection. Today after privatisation, one can get not only a telephone connection, but even mobile and broad band access within a matter of hours.

The job of the government is NOT to RUN BUSINESS, but is to MODERATE business to make sure that the private sector is functioning according to the law of the land.

4. Get rid of paper work in all government departments and make everything electronic and make all information available online so that the citizens can log in into online government portals to see the status of their services. It should be the system that raises an alarm in case of a delay in providing the service, and not the affected individual. Every administrator who has files pending on his desk past the clearance due dates should be penalized accordingly. Make RTI (Right to Information Act) automatically applicable to all government services ie every citizen should get the status and details of his services in his online account WITHOUT having to apply for it.

5. Democracy requires active participation of the citizens and not participating in the democratic process should also invite penalization. If an eligible voter has not cast his vote in an election then he/she has to provide valid justification for the same. At the same time government should also use technology to make voting an easy process instead of having to wait in long queues for hours. For instance, technology can be developed to enable citizens to vote via their mobile phones! Eligible voters who skip voting for say more than three consecutive times should be penalized. For instance such voters should be refused certain government amenities like subsidy or loan eligibilities.

Just a few thoughts in a dream land, but who will bell the cat?

And going further deep, is democracy a perfect form of governance?

Isn’t Democracy a society where 51% steal the rights of 49% ?

or isn’t Democracy just the right to elect our own dictator ?

or like Mencken once said isn’t Democracy just a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance?

Are there any better alternatives available? or is democracy the best bet? Do we need more innovation in governance? 

Is Nuclear Energy Worth The Risk?

With increasing demand for alternative energy, Nuclear energy is increasingly being looked at. Recent events at the Fukushima Nuclear plant in Japan reveal the high risk associated with this form of energy, however, Nuclear energy does offer many positives that would benefit us and help to drastically reduce our dependance on our natural resources.

In the following article we will discuss the positives and negatives associated with Nuclear energy, whilst trying to remain unbiased. But ultimately only you know what you believe, so is nuclear energy worth the risk?

Is it worth the risk?

The worlds energy demands are increasing at a dramatic rate. Increasing amounts of polution are being pumped out of power plants and we are using up the natural resources of the planet. Something needs to change to help drastically reduce this growing global problem. Alternative energy forms are key to achieving this; Solar, Wind, Tidal, Thermal, etc, are all great choices that offer clean, renewable energy, however the amount needed to replace current fossil fuel plants would be gigantic. There is another option that we could turn to which would give us the required output that we need, but involving major risk…Nuclear energy!

All electricity is generated by rotating large magnets around a length of wire, which creates a magnetic field that electrifies the wire. The moving of the magnets around the wire is key to the whole process and can be achieved in many different ways. Currently we burn fossil fuels to heat water, creating steam. This steam spins a turbine, which rotates the magnets around the wire. Nuclear energy is simply just a different way of generating this movement. Instead of burning fossil fuels to heat water to generate steam, a nuclear power plant splits apart uranium to release heat energy, which we use to heat the water and produce steam.

Advantages of Nuclear Energy

• + The main advantage of Nuclear power is that it doesn’t produce any greenhouse gasses. In the modern world where the pollution of the Earth’s atmosphere is a major concern, a way to produce a carbon free energy source has a major advantage over current methods of burning fossil fuels which cause so much pollution. The waste that is produced by Nuclear power is very small in quantity and can be removed and stored so that it can’t affect anyone. It is estimated that if an average family of four used nuclear energy, then over their lifetime the waste produced would be as small as a golf ball. This is a massive reduction of the amount of pollution that is released over a lifetime of a similar family of four.
• + A major benefit of Nuclear energy is that it is much more abundant in the form of Uranium, than the decreasing amounts of fossil fuels. Since there is such a large amount, which will last for centuries to come, Nuclear power would last us for many generations to come. It is also much cheaper than buying large quantities of oil and gas, with rising fossil fuel prices, saving government billions of pounds.
• + A big fear about Nuclear power is that it is unsafe and dangerous. True, there have been some major incidents including Chernobl and the recent event in Japan at the Fukushima plant, however these are very rare compared to the rate of accidents that occur in the fossil fuel industries. Coal mines are frequently in the news when they collapse (Chilian Miners), Gas pipelines and oil rigs can explode (Gulf of Mexico) causing millions of pounds of damage and casualties.
• + Nuclear power can be seen to be a very reliable source of power because a nuclear reactor has an estimated life cycle of between 40-60 years. Although these reactors have a high initial cost to build, due to their long life, the overall cost is much lower than a current fossil fuel power plant that needs replacing more frequently.

Disadvantages of Nuclear Energy

• - Naturally, the main disadvantage of nuclear power is the potential disastrous consequences of a major nuclear disaster. This is clearly the biggest worry that the general public have about this type of energy. Since Chernobyl, Three Mile Island and now Fukushima, pubic concern has grown over the safety of nuclear energy. It was the disaster at Chernobyl that sent shockwaves around the world after a full scale meltdown occurred. A massive release of radiation from the reactor spread across hundreds of square miles and the town had to be quarantined. Chernobyl is still shut off from the general public for safety reasons because of the high levels of radiation in the area.
• - Nuclear power generates nuclear waste. This waste remains radioactive for hundreds and maybe thousands of years. This waste must be disposed of in a very secure waste disposal facility that will need to last until the waste is no longer a risk.
• - Nuclear waste can be turned into nuclear weapons. If an increased number of nuclear power plants opened, then more waste would need to be disposed of. It only takes a small amount of this waste to create a very deadly weapon that, if in the wrong hands, could result in hundreds of thousands of people dying!
• - Radiation has been linked to many forms of cancer, birth defects, other illnesses and even death. If there was a small incident at a nuclear power plant that resulted in a small leak, it could result in a big impact on the surrounding population and native wildlife.

Conclusion

Many people are split over the debate on nuclear energy and it is clear to see why. There are clearly huge advantages of using nuclear power that would be very beneficial to society. Global warming has to be addressed and nuclear power could help solve this. However, there would always be the fear of nuclear disasters. An interesting viewpoint is to compare nuclear power to airplanes, airplanes have a far better safety record than other forms of transport, however in the unfortunate event that something goes wrong the consequences can be disastrous.

We desperately need to do something about our energy crisis, whether that is to start building nuclear plants or invest heavily in renewable energy such as Solar plants, Wind farms etc. The likely outcome will be a mixture of the two, which will help greatly in reducing pollution levels. The key is that we begin to address the problem on a global scale.

Ultimately only you know what you believe is right. So do you think that Nuclear energy is worth the risk?