Vijay Simha's Tehelka Column - What Indians politically do wrong

While not sure about every aspect, still felt this is something we should rethink about. The thing is, we do know all this but what actually prevents us from doing what is right?

	PAMPER DYNASTIES  Blinded by powerful families, we vote for them continually though our conscience must say no.
	DON’T REWARD FIGHTERS  The CPI(ML) has been seeking a clean Bihar for years. They don’t get more than a handful of seats.
	IGNORE WORTHY NOMINEES  Manmohan Singh lost by 29,999 votes in the 1999 South Delhi Lok Sabha election. Hasn’t contested since.
	DON’T CHANGE VOTING HABITS  Grandfathers voted for Indira. We vote for Sonia and Rahul. The world has changed in between.
	GIVE UNDUE CREDIT  The Congress didn’t do CNG in Delhi. The Supreme Court did.
	DON’T STAND AS ONE  Thirty-seven parties in the Lok Sabha and 29 in the Rajya Sabha. Can get crazy, like in Jharkhand.
	ARE LETHARGIC  Can’t step out, for causes or for voting. So, we minimise who we are.
	DON’T THINK  The BJP in Gujarat after 2002. The Left for 33 years in West Bengal. Chamling since 1994 in Sikkim.
	CHOOSE PERSONALITIES, NOT POLICIES  Amitabh. Dharmendra. Azharuddin. Jayaprada. Not liberalisation, Article 370, RTI, women’s reservation.
	ACCEPT BRIBES Liquor. Money. Land. Jobs. And sundry other favours. We are fine with it. They are fine with it.

OPEN CONTENT ALLIANCE-Libraries going open!

Imagine a world where each human can have access to information from books, no matter where on earth he or she is! Open Content Alliance is striving to get the books from libraries in universities, online, for each of us to access...the abundant information that would be possible will enable us to view the world with endless possibilities...and alternatives...
This would also unite a lot of elements which are disjointed from each other..in this world..in the current system!
A new consciousness would evolve bringing us together and giving meaning to the yet unrealized phrase - WE ARE ALL CONNECTED!!!

What is the Open Content Alliance?

The Open Content Alliance (OCA) represents the collaborative efforts of a group of cultural, technology, nonprofit, and governmental organizations from around the world that will help build a permanent archive of multilingual digitized text and multimedia content. Content in the OCA archive will be accessible soon through this website and through Yahoo!

The OCA will encourage the greatest possible degree of access to and reuse of collections in the archive, while respecting the content owners and contributors. Contributors to the OCA must agree to the principles set forth in the Call for Participation.

Building a Digital Archive of Global Content for Universal Access.
For further details please visit: http://www.opencontentalliance.org/
http://www.openlibrary.org/details/oca_test_004
This movie was commissioned by Internet Archive for the 2007 Open Content Alliance meeting held on October 17, 2007. click here for the movie

Mountaintop Removal movie!

Please check this movie from ILOVEMOUNTAINS.ORG

Firearms - America's Internal Chaos?

Which came first? Is this a case of the chicken/egg scenario? Why does American society carry a lot of guns? Have the number of guns increased because of crime rates OR have crime rates led to the increase in the number of guns? 90 guns per 100 people is not just another yawnable statistic....according to the Small Arms Survey 2007 by the Geneva-based Graduate Institute of International Studies "published in Yahoo".

GENEVA (Reuters) - The United States has 90 guns for every 100 citizens, making it the most heavily armed society in the world, a report released on Tuesday said.U.S. citizens own 270 million of the world's 875 million known firearms, according to the Small Arms Survey 2007 by the Geneva-based Graduate Institute of International Studies.About 4.5 million of the 8 million new guns manufactured worldwide each year are purchased in the United States, it said."There is roughly one firearm for every seven people worldwide. Without the United States, though, this drops to about one firearm per 10 people," it said.

This seems like a necessity based on seemingly false dangers and the insecurity and fear created in people's minds. Well, but isn't American society the land of the free, where dreams are fulfilled?
Gun control laws have really gone out of control or have they. What is the solution for this? To find a solution, there has to be a cause. Seems like the mindset is clearly an-eye-for-an-eye approach. So basically this is about consciousness and how we have to adapt ourselves to the increasingly chaotic society. If a society has to advance in all ways, there has to be more tolerance, understanding and respect for the fellow human being. This statistic indicates that people wouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger if there is something even remotely indicative of danger. Who do we blame? The Govt or the people?
(Pic Courtesy - Neaca)

India's Knowledge Commission

This is an email from one of the members of SAJA(South Asian Journalists Association), Ram Narayanan who is with the US-India Friendship group. Good read for those who want to do something for India, in any of the following ways.

"Dear Friends:
The National Knowledge Commission is a high-level advisory body to the Prime Minister of India, set up with the objective of transforming India into a knowledge society. It covers sectors ranging from education to e-governance in the five principal focus areas of the knowledge paradigm, viz.:

1. Access - Easy Access to Knowledge: Literacy, Language, Translation, Libraries, Networks, Portals
2. Concepts - All Levels and Forms of Education: School, Vocational, Higher, Medical, Legal, Management, Engineering, Open and Distance Education.
3. Creation - Effective Creation of Knowledge: Science and Technology, Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs), Innovation, Entrepreneurship
4. Applications - of Knowledge Systems: Traditional Knowledge, Agriculture
5. Services - like e-Governance.

The Commission has set up nine working groups on:
Libraries, Language, Health Information Network, Undergraduate Education, Medical Education, Legal Education, Management Education, Traditional Knowledge, Open and Distance Education
It has organized a number of workshops and surveys on these and related subjects.

The website of the National Knowledge Commission can be seen at http://www.knowledgecommission.gov.in/
The Commission’s Report to the Nation 2006 can be read at http://www.knowledgecommission.gov.in/report2006/default.asp
There are many pieces of information on the website worth reading including:
Report of the Working Group on libraries, as submitted to the National Knowledge Commission... http://www.knowledgecommission.gov.in/downloads/documents/wg_lib.pdf
Expert Report on Knowledge Network prepared by Dr.D P S Seth...
http://www.knowledgecommission.gov.in/downloads/documents/er_nknet.pdf
and
Report of the Working Group on language, as submitted to the National Knowledge Commission....
http://www.knowledgecommission.gov.in/downloads/documents/wg_lang.pdf
More working group reports will be out in due course.

The Commission’s website also has a "Discussion Board" to post comments, although I didn’t see any comments at this time.
All in all, the Commision’s website is worth careful study. For those living here in the US or in India or elsewhere, who possess specialized knowledge and/or have the ability and passion for doing something in and for India, here is an opportunity to start thinking.
To me it appears for successful implementation of the Knowledge Commission’s present and future recommendations, the involvement of government bureaucracy, especially at middle and lower levels, should be minimized (except for funding) and a major share of responsibility fixed on the private sector, including credible, competent and passionate NGOs. Do you agree?

Do you think it would be a good idea to set up a "Fraternal Help Team" (can we coin a better term?) for each of the 21 Focus Areas to offer ideas to the Working Groups and to help implement their recommendations when they come out.
Would you like to be part of one or more "Fraternal Help Team(s)" devoted to each of the following 21 Focus Areas?:

Literacy, Language, Translation, Libraries, Networks, Portals, School Education, Vocational Education, Higher Education, Medical Education, Legal Education, Management Education, Engineering Education, Open and Distance Education, Science and Technology, Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs), Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Traditional Knowledge, Agriculture, e-Governance
If you have specialized knowledge in any of the above specific areas, your contribution may be crucial to help India get successfully established on the road to becoming a knowledge superpower.
Do let me have your thoughts on what you CAN AND ARE WILLING TO DO?

Cheers,
Ram Narayanan
US-India Friendship
http://www.usindiafriendship.net/

If you know a Secret let the World know without revealing yourself

Wikileaks is developing an uncensorable Wikipedia for untraceable mass document leaking and analysis. Our primary interests are oppressive regimes in Asia, the former Soviet bloc, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, but we also expect to be of assistance to those in the west who wish to reveal unethical behavior in their own governments and corporations. We aim for maximum political impact; this means our interface is identical to Wikipedia and usable by non-technical people. We have received over 1.2 million documents so far from dissident communities and anonymous sources.

We believe that transparency in government activities leads to reduced corruption, better government and stronger democracies. Many governments would benefit from increased scrutiny by the world community, as well as their own people. We believe this scrutiny requires information. Historically that information has been costly - in terms of human life and human rights. Wikileaks will facilitate safety in the ethical leaking movement.

Wikileaks opens leaked documents up to a much more exacting scrutiny than any media organization or intelligence agency could provide. Wikileaks will provide a forum for the entire global community to examine any document for credibility, plausibility, veracity and falsifiability. They will be able to interpret documents and explain their relevance to the public. If a document comes from the Chinese government, the entire Chinese dissident community can freely scrutinize and discuss it; if a document arrives from Iran, the entire Farsi community can analyze it and put it in context. Our first sample analysis is available from the news page, providing a look into the future of what Wikileaks can provide.

In its landmark ruling on the Pentagon Papers, the US Supreme Court ruled that "only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government." We agree.

The ruling stated that "paramount among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people and sending them off to distant lands to die of foreign fevers and foreign shot and shell."

We believe that it is not only the people of one country that keep their government honest, but also the people of other countries who are watching that government. That is why the time has come for an anonymous global avenue for disseminating documents the public should see.

Other articles about Wikileaks

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/tech/mg19325865.500-how-to-leak-a-secret-and-not-get-caught.html

Get ready to post all your secrets anonymously via http://www.wikileaks.org/index.html