Lokapal Bill : Why BJP is equally responsible as Congress ?

After the scrapping of lokpal (at least for now ) in parliament now,It is very clear that BJP is weakening the lokpal bill too and blaiming the congress alone (just for the sake of coming election ). BJP also want to prove that UPA govt. have failed in every department so that they have one more election issue to talk about and doing their best for it but with a different face. How....???
Section 24 of lokpall Bill : Allows presiding officers of the 2 houses of Parliament to act on the basis of a Lokpal report even before a trial is completed.

BJP has asked the government to drop this section and now the practical meaning of this 'drop' means following :
If a MP is chargesheeted : He/She will face no action from the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha till the courts pass the order.

If a ordinary citizen is chargesheeted : He/She would have been already handed down a penalty of jail, demotion, salary loss etc by the Lokpal. This ordinary citizen could then go in and appeal to the High Courts, but that could take years.

So this drop means 'corrupt MPs are safe but corrupt citizens are not !!!'...why just becaue they are Member of august parliamanet ???
Asking govt. to drop section 24 BJP has shown it's real face and that is -  It is exactly same kind of party as congress (may be even worse).

A note from the History of Lokayukta in Karnatka...

I just wanted to understand the history of lokayukta to know what it did in last few years. So I did following....

Karnatka(first state to set up Lokayukta) :
Lokayukta duration : 1986 and 2011
Landmark                : July,2011; indicting then CM(BS Yeddyurappa) for corruption in illegal mining scandal. ( Nobody is asking what he is doing now ???? )
Note:  
1. Leadership matters ? :  > 66% of the raid cases by the Lokayukta were initiated between 2006 and 2011.
2. What about the trial & conviction ? :  In Typical corruption case we have following stages :
Corruption(which falls in publicc/private domain),Complaint(when people complain about corruption) then comes investigation (both of these falls under the jurisdiction of lokpal) but last 2 stages trial and Conviction does not fall under the Lokpal , rather it falls under judicial system.





Facts and study said the Karnataka experience showed that sanction of prosecution and completion of investigation( in other words complaint and investigation) were not an issue at all as both were done in overwhelming majority of the cases handled by the state Lokayukta. Things failed when cases reached trial and conviction stage.
I doubt this has been debated in Parliament or within Team Anna ????

Another question : If setting up Lokayukta will be optional then all the states will do as they want. For example Gujrat did not have Lokayukta for past 12 years while Karnatka have.Mayawati will also say that it is stupid idea ....so how the general daily and pervasive corruption will be handled in thoses states ? Hope BJP who is so concerned about the corruption will make sure that Lokayukta setp become mandatory for states.

Anna don't be political...you will loose

It seems Anna is either prejudiced against congress or does not understand how the dirty politics is being played by all national parties in parliament.To me he is a simple man who is very much misguided by Kiran Bedi and Kejriwal( both are honest but have some vested interests and so do not like congrress party...why ??)

I am pretty sure that if Anna joins the compaign against Congress then he will lose more than congress and people will surely take this otherwise and so it will be big blow to anti-corruption movement.Not only this but this will not affect the congress prospects more as in all these 3 north indian states congress is not in power. More over congress has done atleast something at grassroot level( in spite of so much corruption) through its 16 flagship programmes,which will give some postive edge edge to congress.Let's look at the states one by one :
Uttar Pradesh :
Current Congress-seats             party in power
-------------------------------              --------------
20                                                 BSP


Can Congress gets less seats than earlier ?possibly not as :
1. Now congress has Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal with it.
2. UP is ranked much lower in implementation of all 16 flagship programs.
--UP has slipped to 20th position in the implementing of National Agricultural Development Scheme in 2010-2011.
--Embezzelment of funds under the NREGS in the state has put Mayawati govt. under CBI scanner.
3. NREGA+Food Security Bill+Minority bill

Punjab :
Current Congress-seats            party in power
-------------------------------             --------------
44                                               Shiromani Akali Dal+BJP
Can Congress gets less seats than earlier ? Possibly not, as anti-incumbency will help Congress.

Uttarakhand :
Current Congress-seats      party in power
----------------------                   --------------
20                                          BJP
Can Congress gets less seats than earlier ? Possibly not, as anti-incumbency will help Congress.

Anna should understand :
1. Many who vote do not attend rallies; many who attend rallies do not vote.
2. All parties have corrupt politicians.
3. There is no single national party which supports Anna's Jan Lokpal Bill 100% ?
4. Anna should be flexible and help in strengthening the parliament and laws not by forcing them by his fast and media.Otherwise it will be wrong example to follow for next in line people...Tomorrow all govt. service personnel protest for a paypal bill and take the country by ransom? women of minority section will fast for 33% reservation in same way and it will be difficult for any goernment(forget UPA)to handle such things.
5. Lokpal is not magical wand. There has been no systematic effort to evaluate or assess the experience of existing anti-corruption agencies in the states(where the real problem is !!!). Problem is not the absense of law but problem is it's implementation(practicalities). He sould also concentrate on finding the reason 'why even putting the corrupt people in jail is not helping the country ?.' Raju,Raja, Kanimojhi,Kalmadi.. all are in jail and come out eventually after few days using the same law which has put them into jail.

Question for Anna : If in coming election ,Anna campaigns against congress and then ostensibly the most honest Congress candidate loses to a BSP candidate with a criminal record ? Who will be responsible then ? will that be win for anti-corruption crusaider ?

So If Anna will become anti-congress in coming election then Congress has very little to lose; Team Anna has a lot...

Does CBI alone can handle the corruption in whole India ?

Now a days , it looks as if Team Anna has 100% solution to ever growing corruption in India. Can Team Anna gives the guaranty that if following are included then , lok janpal bill solve the corruption from root in all parts of India. If that is so then they have not understood the real problem. Sometimes it looks that fighting against UPA govt. and winning over it is the only objective of Team Anna.
  • Is CBI handle the corruption on the grass root level ? I agree that if included under Lokpal, it should help in rooting out corruption in high places. But is that ALL. CBI is not the only agencies which needs reform there are other agencies/departments which needs reform so that we can curb the corruption. Common people is want rules and regulation related to local govt. agencies(police,courts,development authorities, Electricity,Public hospitals,PWD...) and private agencies. Unfortunately CBI does not have much role there.It comes into picture when we talk about the BIG issues.common people suffer from day-to-day corruption and read about the BIG corruption in News paper only.Team Anna should give more priority to common people and wait.....
  • What can't Team Anna wait for few days and see how the implementation goes and then protest to improve it further ?Is it not enough that after govt. has come forward so much in few months as compared to 40 years ?
  • Is it not enough that government is doing more than enough to accommodate as much as possible to respect the sentiments of people( i.e Team Anna now) ? Myway or hiway is not good all the time.
  • When I listen to Anna , it looks like he is just against the UPA(even ready to oppose in general election). Slowly and slowly he is becoming political :
    • He always talks about the Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi who have not spoken a harsh word against him.
    • He campaigned against Congress in Haryana elections.
    • He is threatening the Congress party about coming state elections.
Is this Gandhian style ? Actually he should never say that it is fault of UPA govt. He should try to make himself above the parties and elections to save his movement. It is fault of general Indian politics(specially politics of smaller parties like SP and RJD..) that country is not able to progress and parliament is not able to work properly or debate on serious issues such as corruption. We must also not forget the role of BJP in this whole context. BJP is biggest beneficiary in this lokpal movement.Now BJP has one point agenda to protest govt. on all front(this will help them in coming elections). So Jan lokpal bill is in danger because of negative politics of all parties not only UPA( so it is not UPA vs Anna actually it is Politics vs Anna).
  • There are many issues when it comes to implementation of jan lokpal bill.What will happen to efficacy of the proposed Lokpal if the trial keeps getting delayed? It cannot set a deadline for the judiciary and its processes. As many as 56,383 cases are pending in the Supreme Court and 4,217,903 cases in the high courts.At this moment, the most important need of the country is a far more efficient and faster judiciary. Fast-track courts to address corruption-related cases are a good option.
  • India is perhaps only country where people pay bribe to govt. servant for doing their duty while in most of the other parts of the world it is apposite.There has to very strict legislation under the lokpal bill to look into such cases and bind people to their duties not by fear of penalty but other perks and opportunity( we can not force our own people to do their job by fear there must be good reason to do the job as well )...I doubt that this has been considered in lokpal bill ?
I wish Anna should be satisfied with what he has achieved until now with his movement( by using media rightly and articulately ) and now takes things easily and accept the govt. proposal and then evaluate it's implementation in near future.

Why 51% FDI in multi-brand retail is risky in long term ?

Today UPA cabinet has approved the 51% FDI limit in $450 billion multi-brand retail sector.I think it is good for consumers in general because soon big multinational firms like Carrefour and wallmarts will heavily come down and open their outlets in every medium and big cities and starts offering retail items via big TV commercial and advertisements. These firms will build their warehouses and have deals with local formers for whole sale agreements.Consumers will get a lot of offers at attractive prices under one roof.

So question is if this the case then why some people are opposing UPA government...can't they understand this positive phenomenon ?
Actually UPA government is facing issue of price rise and inflation(Wholesale inflation in India has remained stubbornly high for more than a year and is now close to 10% despite RBI intervention) and so their argument (also backed by RBI) is that this move will help to dampen soaring inflation – an argument that several international retailers have also advanced to promote their case for entry. They have argued that a higher international presence in the retail sector could lower prices and improve the food chain.....This is valid in short term.......but but but ????


General election are due in 2014 (short term period) and so government wants to help/show the common people in this way ???
Later this Gandhi marked Congress will fight for rights of Swedeshi people....then things will be too late perhaps ....I don't know but why it seems to me that opening up FDI in multi-brand retail would spell the biggest disaster for Indian economy....and extinct our general stores( or kirana store )......which constitute more than 90% of retail market now.


What about the Govt.'s claim that it will generate the employment ? It is true in a sense :
- Is Mcdonald is generating employment which we all want in India ....they are just using the unemployed youth and giving them meagre salaries and earning huge profit with the help of low production cost.....How good is that for India ....

Regarding cheap products : Govt. should make sure that these big firms not spoil the Indian SME by buying cheap products from China and selling to the Indians.


The only positive sign that I see here is that this may lead organised retail system where formers gets satisfactory prices for their products and mediators do not eat away all the profit that should genunely be with formers( This is what is happening in Mandi system today). Even in this case government will have the greater role of monitoring that giants like wall-mart not become the new middlemen and take away the cream. After all they are not coming here for social welfare ....so risk is there a lot....as Amricans are new Britishers in modern world. 

Why everyone is interested in Indian Retail market  ?
India is ranked 4th on US consulting group AT Kearney’s Global Retail Development Index for 2011. Emerging markets like India($1.6 trillion economy), China and Russia are the next big markets for retail growth.

Big Responsibility for Cyrus Mistry

This seems to be big honour for him to step into the shoes of Ratan Tata.It will not just be chairmanship of $71 billion Tata Group that he will hold but he has to make sure that he carries the  legacy of Ratan Tata as well in terms of philanthropic life, simplicity, honesty and payback to society attitude. The aim of this unique Tata Group is to improve the quality of life in the society by virtue of integrity, understanding, excellence, unity and responsibility. Ratan Tata is known to lead these values throughout his public and private life. Tata’s contribution to India’s education, science and technology has been widely documented and respected.


Surprisingly Cyrus has proved his business acumen in past by making his own company more profitable but 'profit' is not the only thing Ratan Tata has earned in his life. These is much more than that......and that is why when he said 'Not a single paisa was paid to A.Raja in 2G scam' - nobody in whole India gave his statement second thought.
To me it looks a bit surprising choice, as previous chairmen never had a major direct stake in the Tata group - none of them appeared in the India's rich-list or Forbes 20 etc because most of them were just high paid employees Ratan Tata for instance owns about 2% stake in the one of the old group companies through inheritance etc, he was practically an employee of the group like all other employees and got a pay check (of course must have been a large one :-) ). The group structure of giving back all its earning and profits to the society it severed is perhaps not just unique in India but the world. BUT with this choice does it not change this philanthropic message, with the biggest shareholders family member becoming the Chairman. Would there not be a dilution on this core message and would there be a conflict of interest ? ...the time will answer.....But Best of luck to Cyrus Mistry...

Starting a business in Norway ...as easy as 1,2,3

As  I have plan to start a social business and in preparation to that I took the opportunity to understand the basics when I saw an article in Aftenposten. So thankfully I was a part of a seminar  run by Oslo kommune where where we had a short introduction to 'starting a company in Norway' . This was the easiest and convenient way to attract the entrepreneurs to startup business in Norway.

More information about this seminar is mentioned here :
http://www.naringsetaten.oslo.kommune.no/etablering_av_egen_bedrift/etablererkurs_pa_engelsk/

In this course we got to know about the different types of companies people(Yes- including Foreigners ) can start in Norway. There are following 3 types of companies :
  • Sole Proprietorship (enkeltpersonforetak) 
  • General Partnership (ansvarlig selskap) 
  • Limited Liability Company (aksjeselskap)
The beauty of the system is that one can start a business( of type  enkeltpersonforetak ) just by filling the form on internet. The Altinn link for this is following :

Who is more corrupt UPA or NDA ?

I was reading the blog of Sri. LK Advani where he was talking about the corruption in UPA government and referring the Transparency International.
I digged into it later.As per Corruption Perceptions Index(CPI) which is published by Transparency International, India has following ranking over the years :

Govt. Year  Index
------------------
UPA   2010- 3.3    
UPA   2009- 3.4    
UPA   2008- 3.4    
UPA   2007- 3.5    
UPA   2006- 3.3    
UPA   2005- 2.9    
UPA   2004- 2.8    
NDA  2003- 2.8    
NDA  2002- 2.7

Note : 10 is best and which means zeo corruption.

So as per above data NDA government was more corrupt than UPA. So what Mr. Advani will say about it ? Actually there is a need to lift the politics from party level to national level.Corruption is not limited to regime of NDA or UPA , it is now pervasive in society.....and in my India needs following 2 not one alone :
- Very objectified policies which make sure that people do not get easy chance of indulging in corruption in social life.Every government department must have explicit policy(or clause in every policy) which make sure  corcorruption stays out of department.
- Strict anti-corruption law which will make sure that even after following above policies if people involve in corrupt practices then they should face harsh consequences and/or financial penalty.

Sri. Anna Hazare is talking about the second but is just strict 'policing' .....but not the measure to avoid the corruption from root......................

Worthiness of human being


Loosing 2 kings in 3 days...How pathetic !!!

One more legend left us on 8-oct-2011. If Steve Jobs was the king of the visible then this shy but remarkable guy was the king of what is largely invisible. Can we acknowledge the following facts like following :

- Windows was once written in C.
- Unix was build on C.
- Web servers are written in C, and if they’re not, they’re written in Java or C++, which are C derivatives, or    Python or Ruby, which are implemented in C.
- All of the network hardware running these programs I can almost guarantee were written in C.



By now you must have guessed that I am talking about non other than Dennis Ritchie- Father of the C programming language.



RIP drm ....you will be remembered as one of the pioneers in history of computers.





Another Good one from DKV

"नहीं कहा जो कभी, खामखाँ समझती है ,
जो चाहता हूँ मैं कहना कहाँ समझती है
सब तो कहते थे ताल्लुक में इश्क के अक्सर
आखँ को आखँ , ज़बाँ को जबाँ समझती है.......Another Good one from DKV

Problems with kids ?

He once said the problem with children is that they carry your heart with them. The exact phrase was, “It’s your heart running around outside your body.”

Can you guess the guy ??

Death Is Very Likely The Single Best Invention Of Life

Today is just another day in life of all other people except the people who knows the Steve Jobs and his vision and contribution to modern world of innovation. He was of the level of likes of Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison. I did not know him so well until 6 years back when I by chance come across his inspiring speech on youtube and since then I became fan of his philosophy and vision and followed him on net.And as a result of that I am feeling the sadness and emptiness once he is not there in the world. Some where I read that all the great visionary people do not live long ....but for them it does not matter how long they lived what matters to them is how good they lived .................


".....Apple was never just a business to Steve. Apple is Steve Jobs and Steve Jobs is Apple. That was entirely different from anything I had experienced coming out of Pepsi.........Steve was a guy willing to create his own rules and a genius at creating his own industry. I had never met anyone like that before. I only have more and more admiration for Steve as time goes on.I wish Steve and I hadn't had a falling out. I wish I had gone back to Steve and said, "This is your company, let's figure out how you can come back and be CEO." I wish I had thought of that. But you can't change history."
Above are the lines said by the John Sculley- The Guy who fired Steve from apple in 1985.


Here are the Top Ten Lessons Steve Jobs taught us:
1. The most enduring innovations marry art and science – Steve has always pointed out that the biggest difference between Apple and all the other computer (and post-PC) companies through history is that Apple always tried to marry art and science.  Jobs pointed out the original team working on the Mac had backgrounds in anthropology, art, history, and poetry.  That’s always been important in making Apple’s products stand out.  It’s the difference between the iPad and every other tablet computer that came before it or since.  It is the look and feel of a product.  It is its soul.  But it is such a difficult thing for computer scientists or engineers to see that importance, so any company must have a leader that sees that importance.
2. To create the future, you can’t do it through focus groups – There is a school of thought in management theory that — if you’re in the consumer-facing space building products and services — you’ve got to listen to your customer.  Steve Jobs was one of the first businessmen to say that was a waste of time.  The customers today don’t always know what they want, especially if it’s something they’ve never seen, heard, or touched before.  When it became clear that Apple would come out with a tablet, many were skeptical.  When people heard the name (iPad), it was a joke in the Twitter-sphere for a day.  But when people held one, and used it, it became a ‘must have.’  They didn’t know how they’d previously lived without one.  It became the fastest growing Apple product in its history.  Jobs (and the Apple team) trusted himself more than others.  Picasso and great artists have done that for centuries.  Jobs was the first in business.
3. Never fear failure – Jobs was fired by the successor he picked.  It was one of the most public embarrassments of the last 30 years in business.  Yet, he didn’t become a venture capitalist never to be heard from again.  He didn’t start a production company and do a lot of lunches.  He picked himself up and got back to work following his passion.  Eight years ago, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and told he only had a few weeks to live.  As Samuel Johnson said, there’s nothing like your impending death to focus the mind.  From Jobs’ 2005 Stanford commencement speech:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
4. You can’t connect the dots forward – only backward – This is another gem from the 2005 Stanford speech.  The idea behind the concept is that, as much as we try to plan our lives ahead in advance, there’s always something that’s completely unpredictable about life.  What seems like bitter anguish and defeat in the moment — getting dumped by a girlfriend, not getting that job at McKinsey, “wasting” 4 years of your life on a start-up that didn’t pan out as you wanted — can turn out to sow the seeds of your unimaginable success years from now.  You can’t be too attached to how you think your life is supposed to work out and instead trust that all the dots will be connected in the future.  This is all part of the plan.

Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
5. Listen to that voice in the back of your head that tells you if you’re on the right track or not – Most of us don’t hear a voice inside our heads.  We’ve simply decided that we’re going to work in finance or be a doctor because that’s what our parents told us we should do or because we wanted to make a lot of money.  When we consciously or unconsciously make that decision, we snuff out that little voice in our head.  From then on, most of us put it on automatic pilot.  We mail it in.  You have met these people.  They’re nice people.  But they’re not changing the world.  Jobs has always been a restless soul.  A man in a hurry.  A man with a plan.  His plan isn’t for everyone.  It was his plan. He wanted to build computers.  Some people have a voice that tells them to fight for democracy.  Some have one that tells them to become an expert in miniature spoons.  When Jobs first saw an example of a Graphical User Interface — a GUI — he knew this was the future of computing and that he had to create it.  That became the Macintosh.  Whatever your voice is telling you, you would be smart to listen to it.  Even if it tells you to quit your job, or move to China, or leave your partner.

6. Expect a lot from yourself and others – We have heard stories of Steve Jobs yelling or dressing down staff.  He’s a control freak, we’ve heard – a perfectionist.  The bottom line is that he is in touch with his passion and that little voice in the back of his head.  He gives a damn.  He wants the best from himself and everyone who works for him.  If they don’t give a damn, he doesn’t want them around.  And yet — he keeps attracting amazing talent around him.  Why?  Because talent gives a damn too.  There’s a saying: if you’re a “B” player, you’ll hire “C” players below you because you don’t want them to look smarter than you.  If you’re an “A” player, you’ll hire “A+” players below you, because you want the best result.
7. Don’t care about being right.  Care about succeeding – Jobs used this line in an interview after he was fired by Apple.  If you have to steal others’ great ideas to make yours better, do it.  You can’t be married to your vision of how a product is going to work out, such that you forget about current reality.  When the Apple III came out, it was hot and warped its motherboard even though Jobs had insisted it would be quiet and sleek.  If Jobs had stuck with Lisa, Apple would have never developed the Mac.
8. Find the most talented people to surround yourself with – There is a misconception that Apple is Steve Jobs.  Everyone else in the company is a faceless minion working to please the all-seeing and all-knowing Jobs.  In reality, Jobs has surrounded himself with talent: Phil Schiller, Jony Ive, Peter Oppenheimer, Tim Cook, the former head of stores Ron Johnson.  These are all super-talented people who don’t get the credit they deserve.  The fact that Apple’s stock price has been so strong since Jobs left as CEO is a credit to the strength of the team.  Jobs has hired bad managerial talent before.  John Sculley ended up firing Jobs and — according to Jobs — almost killing the company.  Give credit to Jobs for learning from this mistake and realizing that he can’t do anything without great talent around him.
9. Stay hungry, stay foolish - Again from the end of Jobs’ memorable Stanford speech:

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960′s, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.
10. Anything is possible through hard work, determination, and a sense of vision – Although he’s the greatest CEO ever and the father of the modern computer, at the end of the day, Steve Jobs is just a guy.  He’s a husband, a father, a friend — like you and me.  We can be just as special as he is — if we learn his lessons and start applying them in our lives.  When Jobs returned to Apple in the 1990s, it was was weeks away from bankruptcy.  It’s now the biggest company in the world.  Anything’s possible in life if you continue to follow the simple lessons laid out above.

Steve RIP....We will miss you but remember your contribution and words and be inspired by your life.

Unique Norway

Lysebotn Road, Norway
Although most seem to head to Lysebotn for the opportunity to BASE jump, you would hope that they also take time out to experience what looks to be an incredible drive. Winding your way around 29 hairpins as you climb high above the fjord would be hard to beat.


Trollstigen, Norway
The Trollstigen (Troll's Ladder) is a mountain segment of a road in Norway connecting the municipalities of Norddal and Rauma. It's famous for a combination of good reasons - the picturesque location, 9% incline and particularly its proximity to the Stigfossen Waterfall.




 

Preikestolen:
Massive cliff 604 metres (1982 feet) above Lysefjorden, in Forsand, Ryfylke, Norway. The top of the cliff is approximately 25 by 25 metres square, almost flat, and is a famous tourist attraction in Norway.



 

Atlantic road :
The Atlantic Ocean Road is a 8.3-kilometer long section of County Road which runs through an archipelago in Eide and Averøy in Møre og Romsdal, Norway. The fixed link passes by Hustadvika, an unsheltered part of the Norwegian Sea, connecting the island of Averøy with the mainland and Romsdalshalvøya peninsula. The road runs between the villages of Kårvåg on Averøy and Vevang in Eida. The road is built on several small islands and skerries, which are connected by several causeways, viaducts and eight bridges—the most prominent being Storseisundet Bridge.
 

Jagermeister vs Riga Balsam

Following should be read in the light of the fact - I am proclaimed very social drinker §§§§
Whenever I visit Riga(Latvia) , I taste Riga balsam just to make sure that visit gets stamped. As my visits are becoming routine so as Riga Balsam shots. I tried to know the all 24 ingredients of this special drink but could the complete list anywhere..


Previously I was in the impression that for me Jagermeister is worst drink(not even Takila ) but not anymore..

I voted for them

Today was the first time when I got the opportunity to include myself in selecting the local government in Oslo, Norway. I voted first time and did my part to :
- Support the cause of Jens Stoltenberg ( specially after 22 july)
- Support the following Indian community leaders who want to serve the Norwegian society :
1. Prableen Kaur
2. Ombeer Upadhyay
3. Meena Grover

Hope these people will get selected in government and live up to the expectations of people and make sure that Indians are respected as ever.

Winning a political battle in 55 days...Great IITian work

There is no doubt why he is most remarkable member of cabinet of Manmohan Singh when performance is concerned. This IITian is different and clearly demonstrated his skills by making sure that landmark land acquisition bill is passed in 55 days(from conceptualization to finally becoming Law). He strategically and systematically made sure that bill is accepted by each section of the parliament ( including opposition). Though he himself accepted that Rahul Gandhi personally took interest in expediting the process, But it does not make his role less significable at all.

1. 21st July : Land acquisition draft bill was submitted in parliamanet. The Draft was his wish list but he was fully ready to dilute his stand to accomodate concern of other concerned.
2. between 21 july and 7 sep : Cabinet colleagues were discussed and accomodated, Mamta Banarjee was persuaded and convinced. Industry leaders were informed and their feedback received and State government contacted and their views accomodated.
3. 7 Sep : Land acquisition bill introduced in Parliament; it  reflected the collective wisdom of the cabinet where different points of view are voiced and a consensus view is reached.

So from start to win in 55 days and in Indian politics....It requires a standing ovation for Mr. Jairam Ramesh....And a obvious hypothetical question that is popping up in my mind ....Why can't he handle the anti corruption bill ?

Hotel Albert , Latvia - Beautifully inspired by Albert Einstein

Past week I spent in a calm and fascinating baltic city - Riga (capital of Latvia ).My company has the Nordic new joiner course for all the fresh,experienced people who recently join the company. As training is my hobby , so whenever I get the opportunity and have time I sign up as coach.Every time I come here, I meet interesting young fellows from Norway,Sweden,Denmark,Finland n Latvia and also celebrate the diversity in human nature(derived from cultural background).

We stayed in Radisson Blu, hotel Latvia in city centre but the actual venue of the training was hotel Albert.
By name it looks as if it is just another hotel ( whose owner might be some 'Albert' ) but it is not just another kind of hotel.It is a theme hotel which is inspired by the legendary scientist Albert Einstein and so interiors is beautifully and aesthetically designed to suit the work and life of Albert Einstein.Apart from this they have very polite and energetic staff who is shows 'yes, we can attitude' and food is great. Our whole team enjoyed their great hospitality every time and so they we are their permanent corporate client.

I love this hotel because it reminds us of the belief of Albert Einstein and so educate and inspire us.
I am putting some of the pictures of the hotel interior for you :


Note : only one watch runs clockwise , rest of the watches are running anti-clockwise.






Following is the picture of carpets they have in hotel:



Above are the pictures of the floor 5 and 7 , so every floor has Eienstein's formula.

Following are the pictures taken inside the lift :



Following are the symbols for toilets ; Guess , which one is for male ?








Can IT help in handling corruption ?


Anna’s JLP bill assumes that what’s broken can’t be fixed.But actually it is not the case ,we have a lot of good laws and regulations ( and if not then why he is not asking for specific strict amendment to law) but implementation is somehow bogged down at many level of system. 

Being an IT professional and believing in the fact that India is IT capital of the world, I always think and try to find out - How to use IT strategically to tackle( I am not using the word solve ) the problem of corruption in India.So here are the points that I come across :
  
Electronic Identity : Government has already taken initiative by creating Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and soon under the visionary leadership Nandan Nilekani, we will see its impact in reducing corruption. Though there will be hiccups but remember this is herculean task , so one should not lose hope towards best possible finish. Once each Indian is covered ( even if 70% coverage we should treat it 100%) we will identify the real beneficiary and slowly and slowly each and every transaction done by AADHAR holder will be traceable which will certainly control the corruption.

Online Legal information system : Anna’s JLP grants powers to initiate Prosecution against anyone found guilty.  This implies some kind of a parallel judiciary and law enforcement mechanism. Do we need one more court in country of 1.2 Billion people? Why not make reforms to our current courts system and law enforcement enterprises and expedite the pending 30 million cases first to reduce the burden from judiciary. Justice delayed is justice denied. Why can’t we have a electronic system of managing the legal cases , so that people get justice in a specific time-frame and long pending cases get priority and a transparent system of appraisal exists for judges and advocates.   

Integration and Networking: We have experienced that ATM have revolutionized core banking and reduced the burden of banks and so banks are engaged in more productive banking work. Similar reform is much widely appreciated in railways where Centre for Railway Information Systems (or CRIS) is doing fantastic job. So networking and integration is the key to reduce corruption as manual intervention will be controlled, limited and transparent. For example:
-          -   Integration and networking of police stations
-         - Integration and networking of different municipal agencies like Nagarpalika and development authorities (DA).
-          -  Integration and hospitals and Nursing homes and if possible then even medical stores.
-          - Integration of traffic police and transport department

Online Tendering and Evaluation : Since tendering in government departments plays a very important roles in boosting corruption, so computerizing this tendering process will certainly help in transparency. Government can create a specific department for online tendering processes and ask enforce all the government agencies to publish tenders via this interface. Another option is to outsource this online process to some IT company like TCS or Infosys.

Understanding the differences between Govt. Lokpal and Jan Lokpal

For many days , I was trying to understand the differences between Govt's differences on Lokpal and so I tried to do get some comparisons before commenting. Here is the difference in excel sheet format :





Practical meaning of Minority ?

I am member of one yahoo group for foreigners in Norway and there very recently an American guy put up the following question :

"I'm applying for a job and one of the questions is this:
Har du minoritetsbakgrunn? Minoritetsbakgrunn defineres som personer fra Europa utenom EU/EFTA, Asia (inkl. Tyrkia), Afrika, Sør- og Mellom-Amerika og Oseania utenom Australia og New Zealand.
I translate it as:
"Do you have a minority background? A minority background is defined as people from Europe outside of the EU/EFTA, Asia (including Turkey), Africa, South- or Middle-Americas, and Oceania outside of Australia and New Zealand."

I'm from the USA so I'm not from the UE/EFTA but I'm also not from any of the areas listed above. Do you think I *am* considered a minority or...?Do any Caucasian Americans out there know from your own experiences whether you've been considered a minority?

and generous members of the group helped him by following responses :
  • I do not believe that a white American will be considered a minority in Norway.
  • I normally choose : Prefer not to answer :)
  • I am a white American and for the past 6 years here have been told not only that I am not a minority, but also that I am not a foreigner. Technically according to the dictionary definitions I am both in Norway, but that is not how the words are used on a daily/practical basis here.What it meant is pridomantly people with non-white skin colors who come from non-western cultures or countries.
This raises some more questions  like :
- Do Swedish people are minority in Norway or do Swedish people are immigrants ?
- Do Polish people are minority in Norway or do Polish people are immigrants ?

These are the questions which should be well answered in near future by Norwegian politicians.

Diluting discretionary powers of the Ministers and Diplomats

In India corruption often comes in forms like favouritism and nepotism. It is difficult to stop these practices in practical sense. Looking at the debate which is happening in political circle now , it seems that policies which will be part of Lokpal Bill will be sufficient to solve all the corruption issues India is facing now. I understand that policing is important, but will not eliminate implicit corruption from root. Systemic action calls for focusing on electoral funding reforms,govt-transparency  and the steady reduction of discretionary government power should also be there so that we fill the loopholes in system.

Out of these 3 it looks like that GOI has taken some initiative is diluting the discretionary powers of the Ministers. Though it is just a part of initiative but still worth to start with....Read the following report in indian express.

I m fortunate that I am part of it...

Today I joined the Rosetog(i.e flower march) is Oslo along with thousands others in support of peace , harmony ,unity and compassion for each other.This was the time when Norway showed its character to the world. Norway has shown to the world that :
1. Norway not only promote the peace in other parts of the word by sending its peace keeping people and money
2. Norway not only encourage and support the efforts of peace in world by its Noble peace prize.
BUT
It also follows the same standards when it comes to handling the challenges like war,terrorism and hatred.

Thousands of  young kids,adult and pensioners all were part of this flower march. Every religion was present. And as usual there there was nobody(like security or police) to manage this crowd because in Norway people believe in self disciplined and  so it was not the crowed it was a giant grief stricken but united family marching for the cause of humanity.
- People were not shouting but instead raising their flowers as a sign of solidarity to world peace.

- Many people were having tears in their eyes but they were not angry.
- Everybody was sad but nobody was shouting slogans against anyone.
- Many foreigners who were not knowing Norwegian but still marching together because they believed what any Norwegian was thinking.
- People were carrying their kids on their shoulder, so that ultra young generation understand the feeling of compassion and unity. 
- Foreign media journalists were surprised by the behaviour of the Norwegian people.
- There was no VIP is the crowed ; all were equal.
- Though somehow police(politi) was late in reaching the Utøya but their sincere efforts were praised by the people...because everybody believe that they did their job with honesty and so deserve respect and applause.



Another Example of great country :
Mamma Behring( Mother of the guy who tried to kill the spirit of Norway) was not alone in this difficult situation of life Norwegian people have wrote to her following :

"Dear Mom Behring! In these bad times for you and the rest of the nation, we in this group that you should know that we think of you, you are also one of the relatives.....You are also hard hit, you are also one of the victims, you also are one of those that must be met with more care, more love and more kindness." 

"No one should judge you for what he has done. A mom will always love their children, and there is nothing wrong with that. Do not lock yourself inside came out and accept all the love we have to give you, "

It is very difficult to find such a country where the mother of mass-murderer is so protected and cared. I don't know but somewhere I think that noble peace prize for next year should go to people of Norway.

Some snaps to feel what I felt ...












Blog Archive