Bharat Rakshak

Seva Rathna Dr.S.Thiruvenkatachari
Chennai Citizen


Seva Rathna Dr.S.Thiruvenkatachari shook his head in disgust on hearing the news on the radio that negotiations were going on with sandalwood smuggler Veerappan to rescue Kannada Superstar Rajkumar. "Where are we going? I don't know what has happened to our society, " he said angrily. At 89, Dr. Thiruvenkatachari has lived most of his life in a world where ideals and values were considered important. He has interacted with eminent personalities of the 20th century, who were men of great principles and deeds. No wonder, he finds the current socio-political situation absolutely unbearable.

His list of achievements is outstanding. Let us look at some of them. Dr.Thiruvenkatachari was awarded the Outstanding College Teacher Award for two successive terms by the University Grants Commission (UGC). For 42 years, he has served in colleges and universities in India and abroad. He has written several original works on History, Archeology, Economics, Psychology, Non-clinical Counselling, Gerontology and Public Administration. He is proficient in several disciplines broadly falling under the humanities. He has 12 Masters degrees and diplomas, besides two Ph.D. degrees. He was the first student to join the Masters Degree in Education in the University of Madras.

"I have met several great men in my life," he says with pride. One of them was Mahatma Gandhi himself. He attended the Wardha Training in Basic Education, a programme personally directed by Mahatma Gandhi. He has also attended a Child Education course directly under Madame Montessori and briefly interacted with Albert Einstein at Princeton. When he worked abroad, he met eminent people like Dr. Erling Hunt, Dwight Eisenhower, Trygvi Lee, Dr Ruth Strang, Sir Cyril Burt, Dr.Cohen and Lady Wattumull of the Wattumull Foundation. In response to a call from Maharishi Vasudevacharya, the founder of the R.K.Mission Schools, Dr Thiruvenkatachari rejected a post in the Indian Police and Customs Services to opt for a career in education. Among those who encouraged him to take this step are Rt. Hon. Srinivasa Shastri, Dr.S.Radhakrishnan and Dr.S.R.Ranganathan.

Dr.Ranganathan, the pioneer in Information Sciences, was a member of Dr Thiruvenkatachari's family. Economics, History, Political Science, Philosophy of education, Psychology, Methodology. These are all areas Dr Thiruvenkatachari has taught during the various phases of his career. At Columbia University, he assisted Dr.Taraknath Das, (a contemporary of Rabindranath Tagore), at the Centre for Far Eastern Studies. Teaching at the Columbia University was an exciting experience, as during his tenure the Centre became a training school for diplomats assigned to the far-eastern nations.

Apart from these notable memories, Dr Thiruvenkatachari also has the creditable achievement of organizing from scratch a number of institutions. These include 17 R K Mission institutions and upgrading the Madura College from second grade to first grade. On an invitation from Dr Alagappa Chettiar to set up the Department of Political Science, he joined the Alagappa College and contributed to its growth to University status. Besides, he forcefully presented the case for setting up University Centres in Madurai and Tiruchirapalli. Later, these centres started to function independently and in 1967 the Madurai University was set up. He has organised more than 200 extension programmes to encourage innovative teaching programmes in schools.

Along with Dr Billows, he led a campaign to promote English as a second language. Over 10,000 primary school teachers in South India were trained under the Madras English Language Teaching (MELT) scheme. Dr A Lakshmanaswami Mudaliar appointed Dr Thiruvenkatachari convenor of several special committees for education. As a research scholar under Dr S K Iyengar and C S Srinivasachari, he discovered an old palm-leaf manuscript in Trivandrum titled 'Madhura Vijayam'. Sir C.P Ramaswamy Iyer helped him in this. Dr Thiruvenkatachari went on to provide a detailed historical introduction to the work written by Kampana's wife, Ganga Devi (the Vijaynagar Princess). It was published by the Annamalai University and was equated with Kalhana's 'Rajatrangini' by scholars as a complete historical work with no legendary anecdotes.

Mysticism too has interested Dr Thiruvenkatachari. He recalls his meeting with Ida Ansell, an American disciple of Swami Vivekananda at the Ashram in Hollywood. Rechristened Ujjvala by the R.K.Mission, the 92-year-old Ida Ansell, handed 13 unpublished lectures of Swami Vivekananda to Dr Thiruvenkatachari. These were notes she had taken in shorthand and wanted them to be handed over to the Belur Math. The lady was ecstatic as she received Dr Thiruvenkatachari and when she bade farewell after dinner, she said with tears in he eyes, "My dear son, I have not waited this long in vain. May the Swamiji's blessings be with you." Two days later, the Head of the Ashram told him that Ujjvala died the very evening. The incident continues to baffle Dr Thiruvenkatachari.

He has led a rich life. What does he consider his greatest success? He fondly remembers the day when a student of his, whom we know as Gen. Sundarji, came to meet him before taking office as the Chief of Army. Gen. Sundarji had come to meet and thank the teacher who had taught him everything. "When I was young, you encouraged me to pursue my dreams sir, " he said. Dr Thiruvenkatachari says he was a satisfied man that day. At 89, he is active. In 1991, he presented an International Charter of the Senior Citizens of the World. He is the Vice President of the All India Pensioners Association. If this piece reads more like a citation than an article, it is because Dr Thiruvenkatachari's achievements are so numerous!


Meenakshi Anantharaman

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has taken a U-turn. She has decided to allot the land for a railway coach factory in Sonia Gandhi's constituency Rae Bareli.

It is being stated that 189 acres of extra land will be given on a lease of 90-years.

After announcing this move, Mayawati said, "I don't want to come in the way of development. Moreover, Congress should not politicise this issue."

Congress, however, has asked Mayawati to apologise to the people of Uttar Pradesh.

This factory project is being dubbed as a dream project of the Congress chief, with an investment of Rs 1,689.25 crore, as it is expected to provide employment to at least 10,000 people from the area.

Mayawati had scrapped the land allotment just a day before Sonia Gandhi was to flag off construction.

Principal Secretary Vijay Shankar Pandey had stated that the state government had decided to cancel the acquisition of 400 acres spread over five villages in Lalganj and Dalmou blocks of Rae Bareli, where a railway coach factory was supposed to come up.

Pandey had said that the decision was taken after Rae Bareli District Magistrate Santosh Srivastava handed in a report which mentioned that the farmers were agitating against the acquisition of the land, which belongs to the Gram Sabha.

Once again, India has shown us the difference, in a practical manner, between a nation that works and an idle nation.

We have India launching its space shuttle – produced entirely by the hands, brains and technology of India – to the moon, joining the exclusive space club. The incredible India experience continues to captivate those who monitor its developments; it is the biggest of the world’s democracies reaping the fruits of its labor such as paying exceptional attention to education, training, and the bringing together of diverse segments of its society towards one outlook, motivated by the economy of knowledge that made India and its economic model a clear emblem of that.

All this took place whilst its Pakistani “neighbor” continues its foolish tribal and sectarian wrangling and the chain of assassinations and car bombs that claim innocent lives through indiscriminate savagery.

The developing world is watching in astonishment and wonder to the extent of envy and jealousy (where some arrogant people belittle India’s accomplishments expressed in a racist, despicable and reckless manner) as India transforms from a developing country of the Third World to join the major industrial countries, and this is well-deserved.

India today has transformed into a center of gravity and the backbone of the modern world of technology. One of India’s businessmen owns one of the biggest steel producing companies in the world and it is also home to one of the world’s most important companies, the Tata Group, which owns a number of major companies and hotels around the world. Today India has taken the lead role in cinematic production and its authors continue to receive the most prominent of awards.

The Arab world should carefully and seriously examine the Indian experience and how it largely benefited from its advantages because it presents important and eye-catching examples of what can be accomplished. The Indian model is similar to the Arab situation; there are the same challenges in development and the same social, political, cultural and economic challenges without doubt.

India still has some surprises in store; the anticipated Nano car produced by Tata is ready to be launched and presented to the world as the cheapest car in the world therefore giving scores of people from the world over the chance to own a car for a cheap price.

Universities, schools and technical institutes in India continue to improve their capabilities and programs to become more competitive and effective in transforming India into one of the most important elements of efficiency, success and excellence and its “price” in the labor market is higher than that of many of its counterparts of the old industrial world. There is no doubt that in Bangladesh, Pakistan, (and even Sri Lanka and Nepal) there are regrets that these countries are not on the same level as India and do not compare with its economic growth as the gap is widening between them and the motherland.

Yet again, the Indian option is about equality and education for all. They reaped a glory that the world envies.

The Indian example continues to amaze; it is a fascinating success story that deserves to be told…more importantly it deserves to be learnt from.

Singha wrote:why is it called Dunnington ? was the initial work done somewhere?

Yahudis get to keep their own names - the upcoming Nehalem 8core lineup in 2009
sounds like a yahudi center project.

“I always used to refer to my team here internally as Dunnington from ‘Dunn (Done) in garden town’ (Bangalore),” says this Bangalorean.

With the state government unveiling a new website, tailor-made for the common man to register his grievances online, the Bihar residents now have a unique window of opportunity for letting the government know how good the Nitish Kumar's governance is.

To top it all, this is arguably a very smooth process, as all one needs to have is a valid email ID and a genuine complaint to register, which can be done by a click of the mouse.

A maximum limit of three months has been fixed to address the issue raised. The idea obviously makes it more convenient, easy and effective for everyone to shoot complaints and follow up.

No wonder, by registering the complaints and through the follow up exercise, the Nitish Kumar administration would also collect valuable feedback on the state of governance in Bihar.

The website http://cspgcbihar.bih.nic unequivocally claims that it has been created to facilitate "quick and qualitative redressal." Incidentally, the website is an extension of the Public Grievance Cell created in April 2006 under the stewardship of state chief secretary.

Cabinet Secretary Girish Shanker told reporters after the cabinet meeting that government officials, if found guilty, would be booked under DA case and their properties be it moveable and immovable would be seized and they would be tried by a special court.

In another case, the traffic police caught a drunk driver twice within an hour on Thursday. Rajan Patel, 46, was first caught at Worli Naka for riding his bike under the influence of alcohol. The police charged him Rs2,000 as fine and also confiscated his licence. At that time, his pillion rider Subhash (name changed) told the police that he also possessed a driving licence and he would take Patel home.

“Subhash rode the bike only till Haji Ali junction. Patel insisted on riding again and asked Subhash to sit behind. However, they were stopped by the traffic police at Girgaum chowpatty,” said Baijal.

When Patel failed the breathalyser test, the cops once again asked him to pay a fine of Rs2,000. “His licence will be cancelled for committing the same crime twice,” said Baijal. “Usually, people take the police for granted. We will follow such cases till their logical end,” an officer from traffic department said.

Ameet wrote:Husk power for India

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/educa ... dia&st=cse

Many of India’s cities have become bustling centers for high technology and heavy industry, but hundreds of millions of people in the countryside remain off the grid. Growing up in rural Bihar State, Manoj Sinha knew what it was like to sit in the dark. So after earning an electrical engineering degree at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and working for the Intel Corporation, he began exploring ways to turn farm waste into electricity, with the dream of building village-scale generators.

Last year at the University of Virginia, where he is studying for a master’s at the Darden School of Business, he and a fellow student, Charles Ransler, teamed up with another engineer from Bihar, Gyanesh Pandey, and Husk Power Systems was born.

The Indian engineers, both 31, had initially planned on raising money to build small generators for simply a few villages. But the company now has a proprietary generator that runs on a methane-like gas released by heating rice husks a certain way. A waste product of rice milling, husks are plentiful in villages. While agricultural waste is common for generating heat, it is not often used for generating electricity, and there is nothing remotely like this system in the villages of developing countries. The system produces enough electricity to supply 300 to 500 households for 8 to 10 hours a day. A byproduct is silica, a valuable ingredient in making cement.

The long-term plan is to profit from the global market in credits — earned by avoiding greenhouse-gas emissions, which result from burning fossil fuels like coal — and to sell the benefit.

Husk Power Systems won first place in 2008 in the University of Virginia business plan competition and the social innovation competition at the University of Texas, Austin. The students are headquartered at the Darden School of Business incubator, where they get space and advice.

There are generators in five villages now, with the hope of expanding to 100 within a few years, Mr. Ransler says. Eventually, these communities could shift to other electricity sources as the Indian economy matures. But Mr. Ransler, 30, predicts there will be a market for many years to come for small-scale power systems burning renewable farm waste.

Business leaders must realize that the world’s poor need investments more than handouts, he says, adding, “These are customers, not victims.”

Hollywood Goes Bollywood: India's Fashion Influence on the West

Posted Jan 14th 2009 2:40PM by Angela Bronner
Filed under: Style and Beauty, Style Spotter, Life and Style

Maybe it was Shakira. The international starlet shook, shimmied and rolled Indian fashion into the American mainstream during the 2006 VMAs. Before that, there was Madonna, who in the late '90s wore henna on her hands and saris to high-profile events. And if you want to take it waaaaay back, Princess Diana in 1992 made Indian fashion in the West all the rage after her trip to India and Pakistan.

Whoever deserves credit, Indian fashion is here and non-Indian celebrities all over are partaking in this colorful, bespoke couture. From bindis and tikkas on their foreheads to saris on their backs, mehendi on their bodies or antique Indian jewels in their ears, it looks as if Westerners have gotten sari-savvy in a big way. Rapper Snoop Dogg last year appeared in the Bollywood flick 'Singh is King' in a turban, and, this year, Bollywood is anticipating a lot more Hollywood presence, with Beyonce and Rihanna doing 'item numbers' in Bollywood movies – in Indian dress, we're sure.

Innovative companies the world over are discovering the research and development advantages to be found in India

A new portable electrocardiogram machine, the MAC 400, can take 100 EKGs on a single battery charge and weighs less than three pounds. This is appropriate for rural areas in emerging markets where electricity is not always readily available and where patients cannot easily travel to urban diagnostic centers. The product's roots are as remarkable as its capabilities: The MAC 400 was designed at General Electric's (GE) John F. Welch Technology Center in Bangalore by a team of Indian engineers. Most of the early growth at this research and development center, GE's largest outside the U.S., took place during the 2001-02 recession. Today, the 50-acre campus employs 3,500 scientists and engineers; they've created patents on aircraft engines and locomotives in addition to medical devices.

Many other companies are, like GE, turning to Indian talent for new product development. Technological innovation has powered the rise and the economic domination of the West for two centuries. With scientific research, technology development, and product innovations from the steam engine to the World Wide Web, the West has led the world in wealth creation. A vibrant and structured educational system coupled with a strong intellectual property regime has enabled the creators and owners of ideas to profit handsomely.

But the balance of power has begun to shift. Despite the current economic problems both countries face, we will soon witness a dramatic rise in the participation of India and China in global R&D. The first reason for this is the diminished role of corporate laboratories that were the birthplace of many of the ideas of the 20th century. Bell Labs, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, and IBM TJ Watson Center no longer enjoy the same preeminence that produced ideas such as the transistor and the mouse. Today's nimble companies rely on ecosystems of external innovation to drive new products to market; venture capital and private equity investors are eager to fund collaborative innovation for quick wins but have little appetite for long gestations for science.

* VEE Feb 12, 2009 12:00 AM GMT THE MOST UNPATRIOTIC AMERICAN WHO EVER LIVED IS JACK WELCH(THE FORMER CEO OF GE), HE IS THE PIONEER OF OUTSOURCING JOBS TO INDIA, BECAUSE OF HIM LOTS OF GE EMPLOYEES GOT LAIDOFF. HE IS THE TREND SETTER FOR LAYOFFS IN AMERICA DUE TO OUTSOURCING.

* Vee Feb 11, 2009 11:56 PM GMT ANY ARTICLE THAT GOES AGAINST AMERICA, WHO TALK ONLY OF OUTSOURCING, AND WHO PLAN FOR MORE AMERICAN LAYOFFS SHOULD BE BANNED. WE DONT WANT TO READ SUCH ARTICLES, THERE IS TOO MUCH UNEMPLOYMENT IN THIS COUNTRY NOW, WHICH IS DUE TO OUTSOURCING, STOP ALL THESE INDIAN AURTHORS FROM WRITING ARTICLE PRAISING INDIA.

* ROB Feb 11, 2009 11:50 PM GMT Yes, I know: any article that states anything other than the unquestionned supremacy of China should be banned. In fact, any author who dares to say anything positive about India must be stoned to death, just as they do in the the great worker's paradise of Communist China. Where do these American mags like BW come off, anyway? Allowing Indian authors to say good things about India? Untkinkable! In China minorities are stoned to death for daring to say anything other than 'China is the best'. America and its stupid democracy and free speech: what nonsense!

Indian tycoons are the 'knockout punch' against China

Thu-Apr 17, 2008

Toronto / Indo-Asian News Service
Heaping praise on India's billionaire business leaders, a major Canadian newspaper said Wednesday that they could take India ahead of China in the battle for economic supremacy in the 21st century.

In the Globe and Mail, which is the most respected Canadian newspaper, columnist Marcus Gee said the genius of its business leaders will be India's "knockout punch in the title bout 21st century business".

It said that though China was way ahead of India in exports, infrastructure development, foreign investment and energy consumption, India might surpass it in the long run because of its "smart, ambitious, and forward-looking" business leaders.

Thanks to their genius, it said, India, which was an "economic washout" just two decades ago, now has more billionaires than Japan.

"India has 53, up from 34 the year before. Four Indian billionaires are on the Top 10 list of the world's richest people, more than any other country can claim."

The newspaper said Indians were now accumulating money faster than the Japanese did in the 1980s and the Chinese in the 1990s.

Citing how Mukesh Ambani gifted his wife Neena an Airbus worth $60 million on her 44th birthday, it said Indian business leaders were no longer shy to flaunt their wealth. Even more impressive than their wealth, it said, was their leadership of their companies.

"It's the way they are taking their companies, and in the process their country, forward. The companies they are building are not just big, bold and brawny in the Chinese model, but smart, nimble and surprisingly modern," it said.

Describing his meetings with Ratan Tata and Azim Premji, Globe and Mail columnist Marcuss Gee said: "With men like these behind them, India may land the last blow."

Despite his great achievements - making the world's cheapest car Nano, and acquiring Tetley Tea, the Anglo-Dutch steel company Corus and the British Jaguar and Land Rover brands, the columnist said Tata is not given to hyperbole.

"He doesn't expect Tata to become a global brand like Sony or Coca-Cola." But by producing the $2,500 Nano, he has set new standards in creativity, which "other companies are rushing to imitate, not just in India but around the world".

Legendary honesty

Referring to the Tatas' legendary honesty and strict business values, the newspaper quoted Ratan Tata as fearing that the group might abandon them once he was not on the scene.

"I think the day we do that we have lost everything," he was quoted as saying.

Azim Premji came in for praise for his "vision of a bold, innovative, ethical company."

Discipline and modernity are Wipro's hallmarks, the columnist said.

Premji "encourages managers and employees to share all possible information with each other and to disagree openly with higher ups, something that goes against the grain in hierarchical India.

He invests heavily in training and retraining, fosters innovation and excellence, rewards success with stock and other bonuses and keeps a tight rein on costs (managers fly economy and often stay in guest houses or company suites instead of hotels).

The result is a lean, smart, progressive company that few in China could match and that many in North America might envy, the columnist added.

Hyderabad shows the way

Shailaja Chandra

Rajiv Gandhi Airport and Novotel Convention Centre in Hyderabad showcase what India can achieve. Provided we yank decision-making away from Ministries, their sarkari mode projects and their inept minions. People are exhausted with convoluted explanations, CAG reports and banalities. They want the promised infrastructure fast

It was the foggiest day of February. My Hyderabad flight was at 6 am. The journey to the airport was terrifying as the driver could see nothing beyond the window panes save for the tail lights of a ramshackle truck ahead. Once inside the airport, I got past security and squeezed a seat for myself amid chaos. Hoards of passengers had begun pouring into the departure hall with no option but to shuffle around or crouch on the floor. Some were bundled into waiting aircraft to make room for new arrivals. My plane was delayed by only four hours — nothing compared to 50 others that were delayed indefinitely or, worse, cancelled.

I arrived in Hyderabad, late for everything but in the three hours that I was in the city, my eyes opened wide. First the arrival side of the Rajiv Gandhi Airport was breathtakingly modern, with a peak hour capacity of 3,000 people. Squatting on the floor was unthinkable here. It was like the best European airports one has envied for decades, always wondering when India could match up. Happily Hyderabad had. With a 12-million-passenger capacity a year, the airport is ranked 10th among 25 of the world’s fastest-growing airports.

Once outside, I was driven past miles of landscaped grass on either side of a luxuriant central verge bursting with pink oleander and lilac bougainvilleas. As we sped over a 40-km journey to the high-tech city, the road quality even in an old Indica taxi felt smooth. Be it Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, or any city in China, the roads feel like the first world no matter which dictator made how much money in the process. A recent visitor told me that even Kigali in Rwanda (despite its history of genocide and abject poverty) has perfect roads. What a far cry from Delhi where MoRTH, the Delhi Government, the Central Road Research Institute, the Indian Road Congress, the National Highway Authority of India, the CPWD, PWD and MCD all combine to give us the bumpiest, potholed network any capital city dares exhibit.

I was deposited at the Novotel Convention Centre which was another eye-opener. It is India’s largest and most technologically-advanced conference facility with a seating capacity of 4,000 people expandable to 6,500, again executed in PPP mode. A four-day Global Conference was in progress, making determined use of the high-tech plenary halls, an array of conference rooms, perfect acoustics, escalators to every floor and ‘just right’ air-conditioning.

Having said my piece, I was deposited back at the airport where an imposing departure hall with a high, imaginatively designed ceiling and countless check-in counters gave a sense of unending space. Alluring shops, automatic X-ray screening (eliminating trundling trolleys and grotesque security machines) all added up to project a great ‘look and feel’. Even a visit to the loo exhibited a state of efficiency and hygiene unseen in India. A uniformed staff member thoughtfully squirted disinfectant on the door knobs after each use; the automatic water systems and toiletry dispensers actually functioned.

As we took off from Hyderabad airport, I settled down to ooh la la la of good times, struck by only one thought. The airport and the convention centre were shining examples of what could be achieved through sensible partnerships and the capacity to think big. The airport contract had been awarded to the GMR group from Malaysia holding 74 per cent equity. GMR also brought with it the ability to foresee and get past hurdles, howsoever insuperable. Much like the Metro’s E Sreedharan who has acquired complete freedom to eschew meddling, raise levels and ring alarm bells when needed.

The GMR group is also handling the fast developing Indira Gandhi International airport with a capacity of 37 million passengers despite having none of the advantages of a greenfield project. Civil Aviation mandarins crow that the Chinese sent a delegation to ferret out the engineering and management details as Beijing could build a 50-million-passenger capacity only in six years. Be that as it may, much of the flush has faded after the huge airport ‘development fee’ of Rs 200 for domestic and Rs 1,300 for international travel was announced. But that is another story.

To return to Hyderabad, we can learn from its achievements and compare that with what the National Highway Authority has failed to accomplish, even after nine years. Both are great case studies, one of great success, including of political commitment no matter which party was in power, and the other of abject failure. How else can one explain India Today’s recent report that more than three quarters of the 33,000 km of the National Highway Development Programme are nowhere near ready? Contentious qualification criterion, non-acquisition of land, rampant delays in awarding projects, preoccupation with ‘in my backyard’ issues have been responsible for the mess-up-not the recent financial crisis now touted as an alibi.

We need to yank decision-making away from Ministries, their sarkari mode projects and their inept minions. People are exhausted with convoluted explanations, CAG reports and banalities. They want the promised infrastructure fast. High-tech Hyderabad says it all.

The airport contract had been awarded to the GMR group from Malaysia holding 74 per cent equity. GMR also brought with it the ability to foresee and get past hurdles, howsoever insuperable.