Dangerous precedence to create more states - 1:21 AM, December 21, 2009

Support Indian Idol's Sourabhee Debbarma - 11:25 AM, February 25, 2009

Friends we must support Sourabhee Debbarma Indian Idol finalist. She is a very good singer and the best of all finalist.  Indian Idol 4 is aired on Sony TV. 

Don’t see “Slumdog Millionaire”. It sucks! - 11:49 PM, January 28, 2009

By Arindam Chaudhuri
A phony poseur that has been made only to mock India for the viewing pleasure of the First World!!

The emperor’s new clothes! That’s “Slumdog Millionaire” for you… Five minutes into this celebrated patchwork of illogical clichés and you are struck by the jarring dialogues. The cumbersome delivery in a language which doesn’t come naturally to most of the actors sounds like someone scratching on walls with one’s finger nails; it ruins the possibility of a connection… Had this film been made by an Indian director, it would’ve been trashed as a rotting old hat, which literally stands out only because of its stench, but since the man making it happens to be from the West, we’re all left celebrating the emperor’s new clothes. The film borrows an undoubtedly interesting narrative style – from films like “City of God” – but then uses it to weave in a collection of clichés from the Third World’s underbelly for the viewing pleasure of a First World audience. The real slumdog in the movie is not the main protagonist but India as a whole… The makers and those celebrating this movie’s hard-to-spot brilliance are actually serving up India as the accidental millionaire, which in fact happens to be a slumdog… and like shameless fools we are gloating over its success without realising that it makes a caricature out of India.

The film does not have the sincerity and honesty of a “Salaam Bombay” or a “City of Joy” and nor does this slime covered fairy tale have the integrity or the rootedness of the above mentioned scripts, or even a “Shantaram” for that matter; the soundtrack and the performance of the child actors are the only bits in the film which live up to the hype. The real slumdogs who’ve hit the jackpot after wallowing in acres of human waste are the makers of this film who are now raking in millions while those court jesters who’ve critiqued the film and showered tributes and awards need to ask themselves why, scores of years after our independence, they still feel the need to suck up to the gora sahibs. It’s not a question of xenophobia… it’s definitely a well cinematographed film… but the film has no soul, especially after little Jamal has jumped off the train and become a teenager… The rest of the film is just a modern version of the West’s view of India where slums, slumdogs and Bollywoodian clichés have replaced the elephants and snake charmers. It’s a well made caricature of a country and a caricature can never be a Mona Lisa, for a masterpiece can’t be one dimensional juxtaposition of sadistic extremes… and that’s my grouse with the celebrations…

And I say all this not because I don’t know what is India. I know its poverty and the real statistics around it a little better than most others – especially the Indian film critics who have given “Slumdog…” an average of 4 to 4.5 stars! But the fact is that the film’s entire narration seems like the germination of a terribly sadistic and complex mind with the sole aim of satisfying the western idea of India – and its new found growth instincts at their cost - and it is done through a combination of illogical happenings in order to show everything in a disgustingly negative vein. Not that it doesn’t exist, but it surely doesn’t exist in this fictitious manner. While “Salaam Bombay” had realism, “Slumdog…” is just every scrap of dirt picked up from every corner and piled up together to try and hit back at the growing might of India. And the awards almost seem like a sadistic effort to show the world – look we knew that this was India, and these are the slumdogs we are outsourcing our jobs to. It stinks of racial arrogance and it’s such a shame now on second thought to see the Indian faces – including that of the undoubted master, AR Rahman - celebrating its success. There is nothing positive about the film and it seems that a deranged sadist has painted his insecure negative self in each and every character of the movie. It illogically shows every negative thing about India happening in the protagonist’s life... slums, open-air lavatories, riots, underworld, prostitution, brothels, child labour, begging, blinding and maiming of kids to make them into ‘better beggars’, petty peddlers, traffic jams, irresponsible call centre executives… everything apart from western pedophiles roaming around in Indian streets!! And its winning of so many awards and nominations only goes on to prove strongly that the paradigm of cinema and recognition of films are in the hands of a few retarded imperialistic minds. It’s a crying shame that our media hasn’t seen through this ruse and is touting “Slumdog’s” nominations to claim that India is shining at the Oscars, while in fact it is lauding a film that mocks and ridicules the idea of ‘India’, pigeonholing its identity into the straitjacket of depraved poverty for a global audience.

When the West wanted Indians to embrace them and their companies to come to India and capture the lucrative markets, suddenly we had all the Indian women, some very beautiful and some not necessarily so, winning all the Miss Universe and Miss Worlds. Today, they are in a crisis and India is looking unstoppable despite its slums and poverty, and they are losing their businesses to us. Isn’t it the best time to paint India as the Slumdog Millionaire?? All in all, the film is nothing but an endorsement of an erstwhile imperial mindset of the West and its blinkered vision of India. An English master has made an Indian slumdog. Don’t even waste your time watching this film in the theatres. It sucks and there is nothing great in it as a film too. Amitabh Bachchan was spot on when he said that Bollywood has made far better mainstream films. Take out a DVD of one of his old films instead…

Source: http://arindamchaudhuri.blogspot.com/

Useful Blog : http://theheadlinestoday.com/

Destiny saved me, but our blood sucking political vampires killed the rest!! - 11:43 PM, January 28, 2009

By Arindam Chaudhuri
Just as I was about to write this editorial, in the Times Now channel, a young man among those thousands who had gathered this evening near the Gateway Of India, said in the most unabashed manner, which typically reflected the mood of India now. He said in clear terms that he simply doesn’t understand what Manmohan Singh speaks and that he would rather prefer to die fighting a war than to die while dining in a hotel with his family. Just beside him was a placard in which was written, “A nation of lions led by donkeys”. The person stated that as a layman, he knew that there are terrorist camps in PoK, but couldn’t fathom why the Government of India was not doing anything about the issue, instead of begging to Pakistan. The man continued that a country like Bangladesh, which got its independence from India, is now becoming the biggest nemesis of India, sending Huji terrorists across the border every other day for terror attacks in Assam and West Bengal. What that young man was stating clearly indicated the present sentiments of India, which is laden with betrayal and anger. And why should it not be? For long, the self serving and spineless political class of this country has remained silent, presuming that aft er every terror attack, with time, the timid people of this country would soon forget about the same. And it is this presumption of indifferent, visionless, selfish and self-serving political leadership of this country that made them such a disgusting proposition. No doubt, the people of this country have seen enough. And with Mumbai, each and every citizen of this country feels even more cheated and betrayed. Betrayal to such an extent that in this ghastly attack, other than the invaluable lives of innocent citizens, the nation has also lost the lives of three of its brightest and most respected police officers, along with 11 others. Anger is evident, for these police officers – namely Hemant Karkare, Ashok Kamte and Vijay Salaskar – died in spite of wearing bullet-proof jackets, indicating the extent of corruption involved in the procurement of the bullet-proof jackets, and their quality, which could not even withstand bullets from a rifle!! What else does one expect from the crass political and administrative class, which has made money from fodder to coffins and from guns to bullet proof jackets!!!

In fact, reasons for anger and anguish are multifold and pertinent, and should never die down. Perhaps in no other country can the police constable of a financial capital be forced to fight with 0.303 vintage rifles from World War-II against highly trained terrorists armed with the most sophisticated AK-47 rifles. Perhaps in no other country would it take nine hours for its elite special forces to arrive for rescue operations... allowing people to die, just in the meanwhile. And all these happen because in this very country, in the name of police modernisation, state governments have looted the exchequer to buy expensive cars for charge-sheeted ministers and bureaucrats; and for some worthless and criminal Chief Ministers, who can move around with near 300-plus security personnel and convoys of scores of cars, while the citizens of India remain virtually unprotected.

No way should this anguish subside by the words emanating from the government now. Opportunistic and power hungry people who have always played the divisive games of caste, religion, populism and regionalism, are simply acting because the government itself is at stake and chances are high, that if the media and people at large reduce their pressure, the very same self-serving political class would simply allow things to mellow down and look the other way, for none of those at the helm of affairs have either the intent, courage or conviction to take the perpetrators by their horns. Our politicians have proved themselves enough. What more! As a gesture of mere tokenism, a few ministers have been asked to resign from their posts, rather than being arrested and put behind bars for miserably failing in their duties.

While I write this, I feel fortunate to be alive, for I was supposed to take a seminar on behalf of Planman Media on the fateful day of November 26, 2008. I still shiver when I recall that the venue was booked at The Oberoi Towers, topmost floor. It was on account of our CEO, Abhimanyu Ghosh, who requested me to cancel and postpone the seminar to some other later date, so that we all could celebrate his son Krishna’s (divine intervention I guess!) first birthday together on November 27, 2008 in Delhi. Today, me and my Planman Media team (who were supposed to be there on that day), looking back, feel thankful to Destiny for saving us. But unfortunately, the others present there were not so fortunate enough.

And that is the shocking reality today, that the citizens of this country are safe only by divine intervention and not by the existing shameless, blood sucking vampires in the form of our political class. 
source: http://arindamchaudhuri.blogspot.com

Useful blog : http://bollywood10.blogspot.com/

Why the educated youth must join politics... the hurdles... and why they need to lobby for a better judicial system to make their dream a reality... - 11:39 PM, January 28, 2009

Useful blog on education: http://studyinindiainfo.com/ 

Education, the next thing to lobby for... if young, honest and educated India wants a chance at politics! - 11:35 PM, January 28, 2009

By Arindam Chaudhuri
Whenever an issue of immense national concern has arisen, it has been our endeavour at Planman Media to keep focusing on the issue relentlessly, so that people don’t just forget and move on. Keeping with the same ideology, after the Mumbai killings and terror attacks, thanks to our shameful political class, I have decided to write five consecutive editorial articles focusing only on our political class and the need for change. After my last editorial, a significant lot of people wrote to me through emails, text messages etc confirming that though they would themselves want to contest elections, they couldn’t even dream of winning in India when the masses have no clue about what issue and whom to vote for. Thus, with this fourth editorial of mine after the Mumbai massacre, I want to answer these. Why is it that people in India don’t vote for policies and fall for sloganeering instead? Why is it that an educated citizen in this country is in a dilemma about whether to vote at all or not, in the first place? And what is that key change, apart from judiciary – as highlighted in my previous editorial – that we, as citizens of India, need to fight for, so that even an educated, passionate man with the right thoughts and policies has a fair chance at elections?

Well, just as elections in India are won with muscle power, so they are with money power. That’s not to say that elections in other countries don’t require money. Of course, they do; but, for example, in a mature democracy like USA, money flows towards the right policies and thoughts. Thus, as Barack Obama kept winning debates and his popularity increased, more money flowed in for him... However, in India, that’s not how it happens. Often, bottles of alcohol, which get distributed the night before elections in various slums, determine who these people vote for. Money in India can almost buy votes. And the sole reason for that is the lack of education amongst the masses in India. The masses in India don’t even understand what is good for them and what is not! They are kept at such a subsistence level that they keep fighting to make their ends meet and never think beyond. Thus, the slum dweller or the village illiterate never questions, for example, why should young India be ruled by a bunch of opportunistic and corrupt ageing people, whose only motto seems to be to hang on to power till their last breath. These people, therefore, can be easily swayed away by the lure of goodies, or even one extra meal, or simply a few hundred bucks – for which they can do anything... from going to vote to going to attend election rallies!

The only method to break this and encourage people to come out and vote for the right policies is to give them education so that they can differentiate between what is beneficial for them and what is not. And education is the cheapest social service that any government worldwide can provide to its citizens. Yet, we in India have kept our country illiterate. And that’s not because we did not have the money. It’s because we never had the will... because it serves the interests of the political class. It’s only when people remain illiterate that the illiterate can rule, and become Chief Ministers to Prime Ministers. Can you imagine any American or British politician, who is similar to about eighty percent of our ill-educated and illiterate politicians, standing even a remote chance in his country’s elections? Obviously not! Politicians win elections here by keeping the masses illiterate, so that they get swayed away by silly slogans and election songs made on the tunes of hit film music. Keeping masses illiterate, even in the twenty-first century, is a well designed ploy of the ruling governments in India ever since Independence – for our ruling class knows that once masses get educated, the people who will be the first to get the boot will be themselves.

Thus, if the educated in India ever want to be a part of honest politics (well, they can always be a part of mainstream filthy politics as the political parties are always looking for a handful educated brand ambassadors – like Shashi Tharoor, for example – for some key posts etc), the second thing along with a functional judiciary that they need to force the government to give is education... education for every Indian... Unless we have an educated India, the honest educated Indian will have a very less chance at the election battlefield. And the least we should have expected from perhaps the country’s most educated Prime Minister ever, Dr Manmohan Singh, was to leave behind a legacy of education… Shouldn’t we have?

source: http://arindamchaudhuri.blogspot.com

Why not outsource our Parliament itself?! - 11:29 PM, January 28, 2009

By Arindam Chaudhuri

WHY YOU SHOULD STOP READING NEWSPAPERS GIVING BAD NEWS ABOUT INDIA! - 11:26 PM, January 28, 2009

DOES ISRAEL HAVE ANY OPTIONS LEFT, OTHER THAN RETALIATION? - 11:24 PM, January 28, 2009

By Arindam Chaudhuri

CHANGE HAS COME TO AMERICA; BUT I DOUBT IT’LL MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE TO ASIA! - 11:09 PM, January 28, 2009

By Arindam Chaudhuri

I still remember the early morning of November 4, 2008, as the US Presidential election results started pouring in, I realized that something unbelievably historic was happening in America. I just couldn’t stop wondering how a Black – African American (since so many mails and messages have told me!) – could become the President of the United States of America; the same country that had earlier re-elected George Bush as the President! The whole experience was so tumultuous! I couldn’t help recall old books about America that I had read. Books about the Civil War that President Abraham Lincoln had presided over; the war that eventually resulted in the emancipation of blacks. As I wrote in my editorial in The Sunday Indian on November 9, 2008, my favourite book, of course, was Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The book – which passionately documented the immense pain of black slaves – is perhaps the greatest read for any human wishing to understand the meaning of the term ‘depth of character’, and is guaranteed to bring tears to your eyes. And on January 21, 2009, I relived the whole gamut of those emotions seeing Barack Hussein Obama emotionally taking his oath to become the 44th President of the United States of America. That day again, I actually felt that historical figures like Lincoln and Stowe did have the biggest path-breaking roles to play in changing the character of modern day America.

My appreciation for Obama is immense, and this appreciation does not simply come from his becoming the President; but from his becoming President for all the right reasons. He demanded change from his fellow Americans, not simply in economic outlook or policy orientation, but in something graver; he beseeched them to realise that in the hardships of today should not be forgotten the intensity of the American character of past. Despite all research to the contrary – that a Black presidential candidate stood no chance against the white combine of America – Obama committed passionately to his steadfast belief that American character was deeper than suspected, wider than speculated and more intense than believed by Americans themselves... and he won... a win that is not only as brilliant as the brilliance of all his outstanding speeches combined – for I have rarely seen a more powerful and emotional orator than him – but a win that mirrors Obama’s greatness as proved by his commandingly devastating books – for Obama is great not just because of the words he speaks, but because of the greatness of the words that he has written in his books, which conclusively prove his magnificent character. I go as far as to say, and perhaps demand, that after his eight years as US President (!), Obama should be made the Secretary General of the United Nations for at least a decade more; for the world needs as amazing a leader as Barack Obama if we ever want to even take a shot at one day having true global peace and equitable development of the masses.

But even as I write this, Obama faces daunting challenges in Asia. And the least of those challenges that I’m worried about is Obama’s illogical disposition towards the outsourcing conundrum, with respect to specifically India. Obama has flatly commented that he wishes to restrict the outsourcing business to countries like India. But Obama, for all the gallery motivating statements, would fail double time on this issue. To discourage government departments from outsourcing is one thing, but forcing most competitive American multinationals to follow the example? Leave in high end software consulting and development, in this era of economic deceleration, there is no way that sensible global corporations would follow Obama think to stop IT outsourcing to India simply because of a patriotic appeal, especially when the cost benefits are dramatically expansive, sometimes even reaching 90% cost reductions.

Obama’s biggest challenges lie rather in foreign policy in Asia. And I have many questions. In Iran, Obama faces his predicament, as Bush faced supposedly in Iraq. Iran, and its clearly undiplomatic-mouthed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have regularly threatened the US about their intentions to go nuclear. Obama’s challenge lies in the Iran Libya Sanctions Act (after which came the present Iran Sanctions Act), which was in reality put in place in 1995 by the Bill Clinton establishment. The question is, will Obama go against this Act to create his own new liberal politico-think? That has a very slim chance of happening. And under what logic will Obama justify to Iran – which technically has a democratically elected government and was even a close ally of America till 1979 – that a nuclear deal can be signed with India but not with Iran?

And that leaves Obama with a neighbouring headache, remnants of the Bush era – Iraq! Obama has claimed he’s ready to pullout troops from Iraq and relocate them to Afghanistan. And this when the Afghan President Karzai has implored Obama to stay out of Afghanistan... How then would Obama ensure that the weekly bloodied ethnic battles between Shias and Sunnis in Iraq – which occur despite US presence – would not become more regular, god forbid daily? Will Obama also come clean about past US mistakes and reimburse to Iraq the losses they have suffered on account of stolen oil, a devastated economy and a destroyed society, all because of the US? I suspect Obama will not!

If there is North Korea that is threatening to go nuclear for a second time – and Obama’s predecessors have tried everything from hardball to soft pedal the Kim Jong clan – then there is China that is so strong economically that forget criticising China’s clear human right indiscretions, Obama might have to look towards them for an economic bailout in the future. If there are Arabs who’ve been well fed on US money for years and were the main reasons for inflation (by manipulating oil prices to reach historic highs), then there is Israel that only needs a justifiable excuse and a bloodthirsty Hamas to bomb everything in sight in Palestine. Will Obama come out strongly against all of them, now that he is the President? Slim chance again...
And perhaps the worst expected response of the Obama camp will be to the Pakistan issue. Will Obama continue to irrationally mollycoddle India to ‘take it easy’ despite huge casualties in the Mumbai attacks and despite clear evidence of the Pakistan administration’s complicity? I believe that the spineless Indian politicians will actually make his task easier. But the truth is that if Obama, like his ill valued predecessor, continues to finance Pakistan and its leaders in spite of their being a terrorist state, a major part of the Indian populace – which fervently wants to believe in him – would lose complete faith in him and the values that he stands by. For in his response to terror in Asia – especially in the Pakistan-India conflict – lies his biggest nemesis. Slight Pakistan, and Obama risks losing a critical geographical military beachhead in attacking al-Qaeda targets in border regions. Slight India, and Obama risks losing long term support from an economic superpower of the future.

Unfortunately, to top it all, Obama’s fight to save the American economy would take precedence over every other global issue; for the solution to the current slowdown will require a long term structural repair program engineered by global governments, and Obama’s focus would completely be diverted to this issue for most of his first term at least. And that is the irony of it all; that though the world expects gargantuan change from a person who personifies the promise resounding in his words, most of the change would occur in the American continent only. And Asia, for most of it, will remain unchanged... lakhs would continue dying of poverty, many more would suffer ill-health, and lakhs more would succumb fatally to hunger. Asia will sadly remain unchanged.

But that in no way takes away an iota from Obama the fact that history, and future, will never remain the same. In my November 9, 2008, editorial, I was compelled to write: “Above all, it is the United States of America which won today at least the hearts of millions like me all over the world, because today, America has shown that it has in it to finally give respect to a black man at the highest level possible; and this surely will change world history forever.” Today, in Barack Hussein Obama, I see Uncle Tom’s deep emotion resounding in the dream of Martin Luther King Jr., a dream that had beseeched the character of Americans to change to a moment in history when a man would be judged by the content of his character and not by the colour of his skin. Today, in Barack Hussein Obama, I see that undeniable moment in history... And I would not give that up for anything!

Blurbs:

1. There is no way that global corporations would follow Obama’s call to stop IT outsourcing to India.

2. Will Obama continue to mollycoddle India to ‘take it easy’ despite clear evidence of Pakistan’s complicity?

source: http://www.arindamchaudhuri.blogspot.com/

World-Class Universities in India - 11:01 AM, December 25, 2008

University Grants Commission (UGC) has decided to establish 14 new world class universities and 316 colleges across major metros an cities in India.In this regard UGC has completed all necessary work related to policy matters. The universities, when they come up, will be located at Amritsar, Pune, Kolkata, Coimbatore, Mysore, Visakhapatnam, Gandhinagar, Jaipur, Patna, Bhopal, Kochi, Bhubaneswar, Greater Noida and Guwahati. With the growing population in India government should setup more number of colleges and Universities in different parts of India. Our industry needs employable employees and in this regard government of India should come forward for the development of Higher Education in India. Major reform is needed in education sector and course curriculam should be employment oriented.

'Amit Paul' mania grips North East India - 3:14 PM, September 19, 2007

'Amit Paul' mania grips North East India

Text: John W Thabah in Shillong | Photographs: Sanjib Bhattacharjee

Support for Amit Paul has swelled up in Shillong as the clock ticks towards the third season finale of Sony Entertainment Television's hit reality show, Indian Idol.

The local lad, who dropped out of high school to fulfill his dream of becoming a singer, has cast a spell on the people of Shillong and Meghalaya with his voice and persona.

Fans are high on 'Amit mania,' with the euphoria catching up from four-year-olds to the aged with their eyes glued to their television set every Friday night to watch hiM perform.

'Amit Paul' mania grips Shillong

Amit's father Dipak Paul, who runs a small garment shop in Shillong's busy Police Bazar, says he is satisfied with the overwhelming support for his son.

For Complete News visit: http://www.amitpaul.org/Amit_Paul_mania_grips_India_Shillong.htm

VOTE FOR AMIT PAUL - 11:45 AM, September 8, 2007

Thanks

Amitabh Bachchan with Jahnu Barua - 10:42 AM, July 19, 2007

Promoting Assam’s silk - 10:39 AM, July 19, 2007

Microsoft wants to buy Yahoo - 2:48 AM, May 5, 2007

Web Hosting Company India

Google, police collaborate to clean up Orkut - 2:42 AM, May 5, 2007

"But since January, we have a working agreement whereby we give them information regarding content which persons find offensive and they take appropriate action like blocking the user profile or community," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Enforcement) Sanjay Mohite told PTI here on Friday. 

He said that with the agreement they had been able to act a lot quicker on complaints received regarding the site.

Mohite said the police had received complaints about communities as well as from individuals who found derogatory profiles about them posted on the site by other individuals.

Orkut, a website run by Google, is extremely popular in the country with the second highest number of its members from the subcontinent.

"So far, communities regarding Bal Thackeray, Chhatrapati Shivaji and Babasaheb Ambedkar have been pulled off the site, thanks to the agreement," Mohite said.

Google has provided police forces across the country with a Priority Reporting Tool, an online software application using which they can report offending data on the Orkut website, a spokesperson for Google said.

The report is received by us and we verify whether the concerned community or profile is in violation of our existing terms and conditions and community standards," the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said if found to be in violation of the pre-stated rules the data is pulled off the website.

In addition to police reports, the site also accepts complaints from users regarding content posted on the website and takes action against the offending data if found to be in violation of rules, the spokesperson said.

Guwahati Web Designing Company

Firefox 2 Takes On IE7 - 2:18 PM, October 24, 2006

The beta of Firefox's next version doesn't have any radical changes, but it does include a few nifty tweaks. Can it continue to challenge IE?

By Preston Gralla TechWeb

Jul 17, 2006 11:37 AM

The just-released beta of Firefox 2 may disappoint those who expected a major overhaul, but it adds a variety of useful features that make it a must-have upgrade for Firefox users, including anti-phishing filtering, better RSS handling, a built-in spell checker, and more advanced tab handling.

In contrast to the dramatic redesign Microsoft has given to Internet Explorer 7, this is more an incremental upgrade than a major one. The final versions of both browsers will be strikingly similar in features, although not in design. When the two releases are final, IE will have largely caught up to Firefox, although the large ecosystem of Firefox extensions still gives the open-source browser the edge in usefulness.

Focus On Phishing
Phishing has become the latest scourge of the Internet, and Firefox attempts to address it. In a phishing attack, you're sent an e-mail that appears to be from a legitimate financial site, such as PayPal or your bank, and when you click an e-mail link to go to the site, it appears to be legitimate as well. But the site is in fact a spoofed one, and a scam artist steals your account information.

Firefox 2.0's phishing filter warns you away from dangerous Web sites. Click image to enlarge and to launch image gallery.

Firefox's anti-phishing filtering attacks the problem by checking every Web site you visit against a constantly updated list of known phishing sites, and also examining site characteristics to see if they match those of typical phishing sites. If it finds that the site is a phishing site, you get a warning. Click "Get me out of here!" to leave the site and you're sent to your home page. Click "Ignore this warning" to visit the site. The anti-phishing feature uses the same Safe Browsing technology currently available in Google's Toolbar for Firefox.

You have the option of having the list of phishing sites automatically downloaded on a regular basis, or you can have Firefox check the list in real time as you surf. In both cases, Safe Browsing provides the list. The default is to have the list downloaded, which means it would tend to be somewhat out of date compared to real-time checking. (Phishing sites are rarely long-lived phenomena, and are generally temporary sites that have a very short life. So if the download happens even as often as twice a day, it means that sites might not be caught -- even a delay of a few hours makes a difference.) If you want to have them checked in real time, select Tools/Options/Advanced/Anti-Phishing, and then choose the "By asking" option. You will get a warning that information about your browsing will be sent to Google; however, if you're okay with that, you'll get better protection.

Happy Durga Puja - 9:18 AM, September 28, 2006

Happy Durga Puja 

and

Dasara

A new website launched on Ma Durga

visit http://www.madurgapuja.com

Another Saha in SMS plea - 6:36 PM, September 9, 2006

A STAFF REPORTER

Tushar Saha holds up a poster of Abhro. Picture by Eastern Projections

Fibonanci No. and Phi - 8:29 PM, August 28, 2006

Pyaar Ke Asomiya Effects - 10:31 PM, August 27, 2006

Web 2.0 Boom, Web 2.0 Bust? - 9:07 AM, August 27, 2006

Web 2.0 Boom, Web 2.0 Bust?

“The phrase Web 2.0 was created by O'Reilly Media to refer to a supposed second generation of internet based services that let people collaborate and share information online in a new way - such as social networking sites, wikis, communication tools and folksonomies. O'Reilly Media, in collaboration with MediaLive International, used the phrase as a title for a series of conferences and since then it has become a popular, if ill-defined and often criticized, buzzword amongst the technical and marketing communities.”

“"The gold rush to the Internet directly spawned the shared and mass-market hosting sector we have today," says Jackie Fewell, CEO of Web host FatCow. "Hosting was once the bastion of only large and medium-sized companies that needed outsourced solutions and often had vendors such as IBM maintain datacenters and managed services for them. But this gave way to shared hosting for the masses who needed to ‘get on the Net,' eagerly provided by hosting companies both large and small that had a server, some bandwidth and a dream."

But something happened. At the turn of the century, dot-coms started dropping off the map. And they weren't being replaced. Funding houses were shutting their doors. By 2001, hosts started to suffer similar, unsustainable losses. Months earlier, companies like Exodus, GlobalCenter and Digital Island couldn't build data centers quickly enough. But suddenly, their dot-com customers were disappearing. Exodus filed for bankruptcy by September 2001. And it wasn't alone — Loudcloud would announce by June 2002 that it was leaving hosting to develop software. Digital Island reported that its data centers would be used at well under 50 percent capacity.”

Protest Vote! - 9:05 AM, August 27, 2006

Get ready for the return of the SuperDot - 11:08 AM, August 6, 2006

com, Pets.com, eToys went bankrupt in 2000, Excite@Home, Freeinternet, US’ fifth largest ISP then, went kaput that year as well as did Walt Disney’s Go.com, Kibu shut down in October 2000.

Kozmo shut down in 2001. PayPal, now a subsidiary of eBay, Flooz.com, online grocer Webvan and Priceline.com, the flop list could go on and on. And like Silicon Valley, nearer home, too, the field was littered with corpses: Sabeer Bhatia’s Arzoo.com, Wahindia and Indya, that may not quite have stuck to the business models they started off with.

Mathur’s sure they do. Skype, Facebook, Myspace, Flicker and Friendster. You name them and they have already encroached the mindspace, a dime a dozen. “Ultimately, Web 2.0 services are expected to replace desktop computing applications for many purposes,” he adds.

Mathur, a serial wentrepreneur, with Purple Yogi (now Stratify) in the knowledge management space, and now Webaroo, that enhances Net search on mobile devices, does not even believe that technology had anything to do with the Y2K bust. “It was an investment cycle bust. In the past few years, there has been less money than ideas.

Therefore, only the best ideas got funded,” he asserts. And like Mathur, Sunil Lulla, CEO, Times Now, who too was among the dramatis personae of the dot com euphoria as CEO of Indya, feels that skeletons of the bust have been left behind and it’s time to move on. “Bust is an investment banker led term.

The internet has only grown; so has its applications; value; usage. There is no bust. Many entrepreneurs chasing short term capital gains, met with a thud. That’s what happened. Those businesses that continued to invest, stayed focused, aligned their models to consumer and market needs – have grown.

At that point of time, there were too many businesses, chasing too few consumers, with businesses that were not ready to deliver. They were guided by investment returns rather than consumer returns.”

Ajit Nazre, partner at top Silicon Valley VC, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers says: “There were several valuable and sustainable companies built during that time such as ebay, yahoo and Amazon.

However, there were also some entrepreneurs who had unrealistic expectations about valuations and the time required to build sustainable companies. That was probably exacerbated by the frenzy of investors both in the public and private equity markets.”

So whatzin Web 2.0 model? And whatzinit for India? Web 2.0 was born at a brainstorming conference in America where experts felt exciting new web applications and sites were popping up with surprising regularity. “Web 2.0 is a read and write medium.

Web 1.0 was largely read only. Web 2.0 is based on enabling interactions with people (i.e. blogging) rather than 1.0 that was more focused on publishing static pages.

Web 2.0 is also about consumers categorising content (tagging) rather than businesses developing their own proprietary structures for organising information,” feels Sandeep Murthy, partner at Valley-based angel fund Sherpalo, at present focusing on investment opportunities in internet consumer service companies in India.

Web 2.0 gurus like to dig into examples to drive home the difference. So, if in advertising, Web 1.0 is Double Click, Google Adsense becomes Web 2.0; similarly for individuals — personal websites are passé and it’s blogging that’s happening. In usage metric, syndication has come to replace stickiness, and the list could go on.http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1859989.cms

More on http://guwahatitoday.com

IIT on Murthy project radar - 11:06 AM, August 6, 2006

Where Linux is hot, and where it's not - 1:02 PM, July 23, 2006

Jul. 18, 2006

Do you think you know, I mean really know, where Linux is popular and where it's not? I did, and you know what? I was wrong. I found out, thanks to a new feature from Google: Google Trends.

With Google Trends, you can enter in a word or a term, and find out where it's popular. So, for example, if you entered "Steelers," it wouldn't surprise anyone who knows anything about American football that Pittsburgh is the city where the most people are Googling the guys in black-and-gold.

Notice how I said American football? To the rest of the world, soccer is football, and Linux turns out to much more popular outside of the U.S. than within.

Google's new trend search is normalized. That is to say, the results are weighted not by raw numbers, but by numbers compared to the population. In sheer, raw numbers, the U.S. would lead the way in almost any category. That wouldn't say much. But, by looking at what percentage of a population is interested in a subject, you can see where people have the hottest interest in a given subject.

So, what's the number one city searching for all things Linux? It's Munich, Germany, followed by Hamburg, Berlin, and Frankfurt Am Main. Only Warsaw, Poland, at number three, broke into the German dominated Linux interest list. And, of the top ten, only Sao Paulo, Brazil was from outside of Europe.

Russia, however, is the country that has the most interest in Linux. It's followed by India -- out-sourcing anyone? -- and the Czech Republic. Germany, on the national list, comes in at number nine.

The U.S.? No American city or the country as a whole even makes the top ten.

Heck, for that matter, English-speakers aren't even on Linux's top-ten "language searched in" list. It's the Russians with a wide lead followed by Hungarian- and Romanian-speakers. German, by this metric, comes in at number six.

I don't know why that surprised me. After all, Linux was created by Linus Torvalds, a Finn (eighth in language) of Swedish descent (ninth in language). But, it did.

Now, not everything was a surprise. The top ten cities in the world where people search for SUSE were German. Darmstadt and Munich lead the way, here.

You might think that Americans must lead the way when it comes to Red Hat? Right? Wrong.

The number one and number two cities for searching about all things Red Hat are Mumbai and Delhi, India. The U.S. finally shows up at number three with Austin, Texas leading the way. Hmmm... I wonder if Michael Dell is getting serious about Red Hat Linux on the desktop.

What about the U.S. as a country when it comes to Red Hat interest? Nope, we're not even in the top five. The five countries in the world with the most interest in Red are: India, the Philippines, Russia, Columbia, and Mexico. With the Philippines coming up fast in outsourcing, I suspect we're going to be seeing a lot of outsourced data-center work in Red Hat's future.

I was also fascinated to find that India, Indonesia, and Norway are the countries with the most interest in "Linux desktop." The U.S.? Nope, not us. Again, we're not even in the top ten.

Then I wondered, "Where are the most popular Linux desktops the most popular?"

For KDE, you're about to say Germany, right? Wrong again.

KDE is searched for the most in the Czech Republic, with its former national partner Slovakia coming up in second place. Germany comes in at number six.

Even when you break it down to the city level, Prague, takes the checkered flag. After that, however, you'll find Munich, Berlin, and other German cities.

GNOME seems to be popular all over the Western world. While Stockholm, Sweden has the most interest in this desktop, the top ten list includes major cities from all over Europe with San Francisco, Calif. appearing as number nine. Looked at by country, Norway leads in GNOME interest.

However, I dug deeper, and I found that I'm not going to need to add Bengali or Swedish to my long list of languages that I know (1, English). While people from around the world search for all things Linux, what they end up reading tends to be in English and German.

Maybe Americans should start looking more for Linux, though. After all, we lead the way when it comes to looking into whether "Microsoft sucks" or not. Oh, and the city where the most people search on this burning question? Seattle, Wash. Who knew?

No one, however, looks to see if "Linux sucks." Why am I not surprised?


-- Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS5056220977.html

Google Spreadsheets - 12:52 PM, July 23, 2006

Friends try google spreadsheet  wonderful

login to http://spreadsheets.google.com/  with google username and password.

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Create basic spreadsheets from scratch.
You can start from scratch and do all the basics, including changing the number format, sorting by columns, and adding formulas.

Upload your spreadsheet files.
Upload spreadsheets or worksheets from CSV or XLS format - all your formulas and formatting will come across intact.

Familiar desktop feel makes editing a breeze.
Just click the toolbar buttons to bold, underline, change the font, change the cell background color and more.

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Choose who can access your spreadsheets.
Just enter the email addresses of the people you want to share a given document, and then send them a message.

Share documents instantly.
People with whom you share a given spreadsheet can access it as soon as they sign in.

Edit with others in real time.
Multiple people can edit or view your spreadsheet at the same time as you - their names will appear in an on-screen chat window.

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Edit from anywhere.
There's nothing to download; you access your spreadsheets from any computer with an Internet connection and a supported browser.

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Easily save and export copies.
You can save your spreadsheets to your own computer in CSV, XLS and HTML formats.

http://www.google.com/googlespreadsheets/tour1.html

Bangla-based ultras posing threat to NE - 12:52 AM, July 19, 2006

By R Dutta Choudhury
 GUWAHATI, July 17 – Growth of fundamentalist outfits in the neighbouring country Bangladesh is posing a serious security threat to the north-eastern region of India, and the Central Government has recently warned the Asom Government about possible attacks by jehadi groups in the State. Highly placed police sources told The Assam Tribune today that the Central Government, on the basis of intelligence inputs, warned the State Government about possible attacks by the extremists belonging to the Jamat-ul-Mujahideen, Bangladesh (JUB) and Laskar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) in Asom in the days to come. As per the inputs, the extremists belonging to those two groups were planning serial blasts like Mumbai and the railway station platforms, trains or railway tracks have been identified as possible targets. The reports said that the extremists, with a view to create terror, would plan something on July 22 and 23 but police said that the extremists attacking as per their convenience cannot be ruled out and as possible steps including checking of the railway stations and bogies have been carried out to thwart such designs.

Sources said that as per reports available, one group of extremists managed to sneak into India from Bangladesh and they were last spotted along the Asom-West Bengal bordering areas. The State Chief Secretary, who is also the head of the Unified Command Structure, reviewed the security scenario immediately after receiving the warning from the Central Government and the precautionary measures have been taken to thwart any move to create disturbance in the State.

Meanwhile, commenting on the threat posed to the security of the nation by the growth of fundamentalist outfits in the neighbouring country, Police sources said that it was a fact that several major terrorist attacks in India were linked with Bangladesh and it is widely believed that the jehadi extremist elements, who have managed to establish their roots in Bangladesh, managed to sneak into the country through the porous Indo-Bangla border either in the north-eastern region or in North Bengal. Sources said that after the Kargil war, it was becoming difficult for such elements to sneak into India through the western border and they have shifted their attention to the border in North Eastern region. Sources revealed that the attacks on the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, on the barracks of the Special Task Force in Andhra Pradesh and the Dewali evening blasts in Delhi were all linked to Bangladesh.

Sources said that as per intelligence inputs, the militants belonging to the dreaded Al Qaeda have also shifted their base to Bangladesh after the US attack on the Talibans in Afghanistan and it is proved beyond doubt that the jehadi extremists managed to sneak into India from Bangladesh to carry out subversive activities. So far the Government of Bangladesh has not been able to take strong action against the groups but after mounting international pressure, two dreaded militants were nabbed. Sources said that there was growing pressure on Bangladesh mainly from the United States after the serial blasts in 2005, attack on a British diplomat and the killing of two judges in front of a court and the Government of Bangladesh arrested Abdur Rahman, the commander in chief of the JUB and another dreaded militant Siddiqul Islam, commonly known as Bangla Bhai on March 2 and 6 this year. According to information available with the Government of India, both the militants admitted before the security forces after their arrest that they had links with the Al Qaeda and some jehadi elements from Bangladesh even fought along with the Al Qaeda militants against the US forces in Afghanistan. Such developments proved beyond doubt the links between the Al Qaeda and the jehadi elements of Bangladesh and this may pose a serious security threat to the North Eastern part of India in the days to come, sources added.

Terror heat hits cyber zone, select blogs blocked - 11:36 AM, July 18, 2006

Terror heat hits cyber zone, select blogs blocked

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1767836.cms
MUMBAI/DELHI: The central government, reeling under fierce criticism of its response to the Mumbai blasts, has struck a blow at the online community by issuing orders to block blogs across the country.

The Department of Telecommunications has sent a notice to internet service providers (ISPs) to block around 17-18 websites on the internet. DoT usually sends such notices of censorship only when it finds objectionable, anti-national content or anything against public interest on these websites.

Experts believe that the government’s sudden move is aimed at thwarting the use of blogs (online journals) and websites by terrorists and their supporters. Blogspot, a Google-owned site, is among those blocked by this government measure.

However, among the apparently ‘anti-national’ sites blocked by this policy are those like the MumbaiHelp blogspot, which was a lifeline for people post the Tuesday blasts in Mumbai, giving information about critical numbers to contact and details about the dead and injured.

To compound the absurdity, it’s still possible to get onto this site — but only by logging on through www.pkblogs.com, a site set up by Pakistani bloggers to get around the blog ban that their government had put in place after the Danish cartoons episode. In short, thanks to this new policy, a blog to help the victims of a possibly Pakistan-inspired attack can only be accessed through a Pakistani site!

Peter Griffin, one of the founders of the MumbaiHelp blog, points out that the government’s policy is particularly futile, given the explosion of the blog universe. “Apart from free blogs like blogspot, which is what the government seems to be targeting now, there are also private blogs that anyone can put on their site, and the blogs being run by media organisations like CNN and the Guardian. Is the government going to shut them all down? It would probably be simpler for them to decide to close off the whole Internet and then only allow selected sites the way China seems to be doing. Is this really the way India wants to go?”

Deepak Maheshwary, secretary of the Internet Service Provider Association of India (ISPAI) confirmed that most of the ISPs have received the DoT notice and have blocked these websites. He also added that some ISPs have not received the notice, but may get it today, and will also be blocking these websites. He refused to give the names of the blocked sites.

The DoT had sent this notice to all ISPs on Friday, and some of the ISPs have started blocking these websites. While it could not be confirmed from the ISPs whether they have blocked these sites, internet users were not able to get through to certain websites.

The process followed for blocking is as follows: The Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) reports on the presence of websites or content that is anti-national or against public interest to DoT. DoT then issues a notice to all ISPs — more than 100 across the country — to block these websites.

Over the past six years, DoT has blocked more than 100 websites. Generally, a DoT notice has one or two names of websites to be blocked. This time around the notice had more than 17 names.

The online community has already started debating and criticising the government’s decision to block blogs. The online community also claims that some of the ISPs have started blocking the whole domain Blogspot. If the domain name is blocked by the ISPs than none of the websites on that domain can be accessed by subscribers. For instance, if the domain name like Blogspot or Typepad are blocked, then all the blogs on these domains cannot be accessed.

Sources say that sometimes when the government gives a particular website or URL address to be blocked, it cannot be done unless the domain name is blocked. This is why some of the ISPs have blocked access to all websites hosted by one provider.

Many of the ISPs could not be contacted for comment on the issue. When contacted, Sify officials vehemently denied that they had received any notice from DoT to block any site. They also denied that they have blocked any sites. According to sources, the rationale for blocking these websites and blogs is to prevent foreign terrorists from communicating with the cell networks in India.

Source: Indiatimes.com

Internet Service Providers are blocking blogs? - 8:24 AM, July 18, 2006

Web 2.0 - 10:52 PM, July 13, 2006

Web 2.0  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The term Web 2.0 refers to a second generation of services available on the World Wide Web that lets people collaborate and share information online. In contrast to the first generation, Web 2.0 gives users an experience closer to desktop applications than the traditional static Web pages. Web 2.0 applications often use a combination of techniques devised in the late 1990s, including public web service APIs (dating from 1998), Ajax (1998), and web syndication (1997). They often allow for mass publishing (web-based social software). The concept may include blogs and wikis.

O'Reilly Media and MediaLive International popularized the term as the name for a series of web development conferences that started in October 2004. CMP Media, which purchased MediaLive, claims the term as a service mark for live events, reserving exclusive use of the term for its own conferences.

Some members of the development community see Web 2.0 as an overly vague buzzword, incorporating whatever is newly popular on the Web (such as tags and podcasts), without having any fixed meaning.

Introduction

• With its allusion to the version numbers that commonly designate software upgrades, Web 2.0 trendily hinted at an improved form of the World Wide Web, and the term has been in occasional use for several years.

It was eventually popularized by O'Reilly Media and MediaLive International for a conference they hosted after Dale Dougherty mentioned it during a brainstorming session. Dougherty suggested that the Web was in a renaissance, with changing rules and evolving business models. The participants assembled examples — "DoubleClick was Web 1.0; Google AdSense is Web 2.0. Ofoto is Web 1.0; Flickr is Web 2.0" — rather than definitions. Dougherty recruited John Battelle for a business perspective, and it became the first Web 2.0 Conference in October 2004. A second annual conference was held in October 2005.

In their first conference opening talk, O'Reilly and Battelle summarized key principles they believe characterize Web 2.0 applications: the Web as platform; data as the driving force; network effects created by an "architecture of participation"; innovation in assembly of systems and sites composed by pulling together features from distributed, independent developers (a kind of "open source" development); lightweight business models enabled by content and service syndication; the end of the software adoption cycle ("the perpetual beta"); software above the level of a single device, leveraging the power of "The Long Tail".

Earlier users of the phrase Web 2.0 employed it as as a synonym for "Semantic Web", and indeed, the two concepts complement each other. The combination of social networking systems such as FOAF and XFN with the development of tag-based folksonomies and delivered through blogs and wikis creates a natural basis for a semantic environment. Although the technologies and services that comprise Web 2.0 are less powerful than an internet in which the machines can understand and extract meaning, as proponents of the Semantic Web envision, Web 2.0 represents a step in its direction.

As used by its proponents, the phrase refers to one or more of the following:

• The transition of websites from isolated information silos to sources of content and functionality, thus becoming computing platforms serving web applications to end users
• A social phenomenon referring to an approach to creating and distributing Web content itself, characterized by open communication, decentralization of authority, freedom to share and re-use, and "the market as a conversation"
• A more organized and categorized content, with a far more developed deeplinking web architecture
• A shift in economic value of the web, possibly surpassing that of the dot com boom of the late 1990s
• A marketing term to differentiate new web businesses from those of the dot com boom, which due to the bust now seem discredited
• The resurgence of excitement around the possibilities of innovative web applications and services that gained a lot of momentum around mid 2005.

Many find it easiest to define Web 2.0 by associating it with companies or products that embody its principles. Some of the more well known Web 2.0 entities are Google Maps, Flickr, del.icio.us, digg, last.fm, and Technorati.

Many recently-developed concepts and technologies are seen as contributing to Web 2.0, including weblogs, linklogs, wikis, podcasts, RSS feeds and other forms of many to many publishing; social software, web APIs, web standards, online web services, and others.

Proponents of the Web 2.0 concept say that it differs from early web development, retroactively labeled Web 1.0, in that it is a move away from static websites, the use of search engines, and surfing from one website to the next, to a more dynamic and interactive World Wide Web. Others argue that the original and fundamental concepts of the WWW are not actually being superseded. Skeptics argue that the term is little more than a buzzword, or that it means whatever its proponents want it to mean in order to convince their customers, investors and the media that they are creating something fundamentally new, rather than continuing to develop and use well-established technologies.

On September 30, 2005, Tim O'Reilly wrote a seminal piece neatly summarizing the subject. The mind map above sums up the memes of web2.0 with example sites and services attached. It was created by Markus Angermeier on November 11, 2005.

The retrospectively-labelled "Web 1.0" often consisted of static HTML pages that were updated rarely, if at all. They depended solely on HTML, which a new Internet user could learn fairly easily. The success of the dot-com era depended on a more dynamic Web (sometimes labeled Web 1.5) where content management systems served dynamic HTML web pages created on the fly from a content database that could more easily be changed. In both senses, so-called eyeballing was considered intrinsic to the Web experience, thus making page hits and visual aesthetics important factors.

Proponents of the Web 2.0 approach believe that Web usage is increasingly oriented toward interaction and rudimentary social networks, which can serve content that exploits network effects with or without creating a visual, interactive web page. In one view, Web 2.0 sites act more as points of presence, or user-dependent web portals, than as traditional websites. They have become so advanced new internet users cannot create these websites, they are only users of web services, done by specialist professional experts.

Access to consumer-generated content facilitated by Web 2.0 brings the web closer to Tim Berners-Lee's original concept of the web as a democratic, personal, and DIY medium of communication.

Market drivers of Web 2.0

While the term might have appeared out of nowhere, the underlying fundamentals of this evolutionary shift stay the same:

• Broadband has become mainstream and ubiquitous, resulting in an increased usage of the Internet for even small tasks on different devices.
• More people go online for a variety of tasks and shopping-related activities.
  The founders and executive management of the first batch of companies have moved on - either joined one of the big players, left to join Venture Capital companies, or started or joined a completely new thing. This means a lot of experience of what did and didn't work is in the mix.
• New ventures can grow more slowly - barriers to entry are lower, there's less pressure to gain venture capital, less hype to cater to.
• New browsers becoming mainstream are capable of supporting advanced AJAX and other technologies.

New web-based communities

Some websites that potentially sit under the Web 2.0 umbrella have created new online social networks amongst the general public. Some of the websites run social software where people work together. Other websites reproduce several individuals' RSS feeds on one page. Other ones provide deeplinking between individual websites.

The syndication and messaging capabilities of Web 2.0 have fostered, to a greater or lesser degree, a tightly-woven social fabric among individuals. Arguably, the nature of web-based communities has changed in recent months and years. The meaning of these changes, however, has pundits divided. Basically, ideological lines run thusly: Web 2.0 either empowers the individual and provides an outlet for the 'voice of the voiceless'; or it elevates the amateur to the detriment of professionalism, expertise and clarity.

New web-based applications & desktops

The richer user-experience afforded by Ajax has prompted the development of web sites that mimic personal computer applications, such as word processing, the spreadsheet, and slide-show presentation. Wysiwyg wiki sites replicate many features of PC authoring applications. Still other sites perform collaboration and project management functions. Java enables sites that provide computation-intensive video capability. One of the best known sites of this broad class, Writely, was acquired by Google in early 2006.

Several browser-based "operating systems" or "online desktops" have also appeared. They are essentially application platforms, not operating systems per se. These services mimic the user experience of desktop operating systems, offering features and applications similar to a PC environment. The primary difference is that they can be used from any modern browser.

Numerous web-based application services appeared during the Dot-com bubble and then vanished, having failed to gain a critical mass of customers. The best known of these, Intranets.com was acquired in 2005 by WebEx for slightly more than the total it had raised in venture capital, after six years in business.

FIFA World Rankings July 2006 - 9:50 PM, July 13, 2006

FIFA World Rankings July 2006

Can trade in yak tail and horses boost economy? - 11:31 PM, July 10, 2006

By Syed Zarir Hussain

http://www.newkerala.com/news3.php?action=fullnews&id=19765

“Beat the Heat” courtesy Kamakhya temple - 11:19 PM, July 10, 2006

http://www.northeasttribune.com/

With Guwahati fast imbibing all the ingredients of a metropolitan city, the shrines of the temple city has also joined the rat race along with the city revelers who swear by funky accessories and trinkets to showoff.

For the historic Kamakhya temple, installation of four air conditioners inside the cave of Shakti shrine to ‘beat the heat’ along with the construction of two silver doors, which is on the pipeline, has become the cause of ‘Owners pride and neighbour’s envy’.

“It’s too hot inside the cave during the summer and the pilgrims sometime get exhausted due to suffocation when there is too much rush inside. Installation of AC’s have been done for the interest of the pilgrims, more than anything else”, opined Deepak Sarma, employee of the temple committee.

“Moreover, I must inform that the temple authorities have not installed the ACs. A devotee of our temple has donated it”, added Sarma.

Meanwhile, the incorporation of the ACs has seized some of the traditional rights of performing rituals in the temple.

The temple authorities have restricted lighting of incense sticks (Dhoop) and earthen lamps (Chaki) after the installation of the ACs, for safety of the devotees of course. 

“Lighting dhoops were restricted even before the installation of the ACs as it, at times, leads to suffocation of the pilgrims but now lighting earthen lamps has also been restricted, which is a bit disheartening”, said a priest on the ground of anonymity. 

“What can we do? We as a priest cannot go against the whim of the temple authority. Moreover, I feel that the onus is on the devotees to put their views across if they really are not happy with these restrictions”, added the priest whose family has been serving the temple for the last four generations.  

Too add cherry on the cake, the temple authorities have also ordered for two giant entrance door made of pure silver with intricate designs by the specialists of Kolkota.  

“This will consist of around 52-55 kgs of silver and will cost several lakhs, informed Sarma while adding that the artists are working on the designs of the doors and will complete their work by another two to three months.      

India to host 2011 World Cup final - 7:06 PM, July 8, 2006

July 08, 2006 14:02 IST

http://www.rediff.com/cricket/2006/jul/08wcup.htm
India will host the final of the 2011 World Cup with the opening ceremony to be held in Bangladesh, a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official said on Saturday.

Pakistan led opposition to the committee's recommendation that would allow players to make three appeals per innings to a third umpire.More details on www.silchartoday.com

Google is now a verb! - 11:26 PM, July 7, 2006

Google is now a verb!

July 07, 2006 20:55 IST  http://www.rediff.com/news/2006/jul/07goog.htm  

rediff news Bureau

NE failed on tourism projects: Soni - 10:15 PM, July 4, 2006

NE failed on tourism projects: Soni

By a Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI, July 3: The north-eastern States have so far failed to avail the opportunities of some Centrally-sponsored schemes for promoting tourism in the region. This was stated by Ambika Soni, Union Minister for Tourism and Culture, while inaugurating a meeting to review issues relating to tourism and culture in the region here today.
The meeting, first of its kind in the region, was attended among others by ministers and top officials of Tourism and Culture from the Centre and the north-eastern States. “The UPA Government has laid special emphasis on overall development and employment generation in the north-eastern region,” the Union Minister said.
She, however, said that the States of the region had failed to take the opportunities under some special Central schemes for promoting tourism. One such scheme, according to the Union Minister, is the ‘Big Budget Scheme,’ under which the Centre provides up to Rs 30 crore. Similarly, according to Soni, the opportunities under the scheme to encourage ‘budget hotels’ around tourist spots in the region have not been properly availed yet. Under the scheme, the Union Ministry for Tourism provides 10 per cent subsidy up to Rs 75 lakh to private parties for the setting up of three-star hotels.
The Union Minister said that the Centre had so far sanctioned Rs 270 crore for development of tourism in the North-east by the UPA Government at the Centre. According to her, the share of tourism from the total amount coming to the region in the form of 10 per cent spending of the Budgets of all the Central Government’s departments for the North-east is Rs 83 crore. The amount might be increased to Rs 100 crore if the States of the region could submit viable projects, she added.
Soni has sought status reports of various projects sanctioned during the Ninth and the Tenth Plans. “I would like to know what new inputs you want to give in this meeting for promoting campaign to boost tourism in this part of the world at national and international level,” she said.
Issues relating to restricted area permit and inner-line permit in the North-east were among the key agendas of the meeting. The meeting also discussed the 2,550th anniversary of Mahanirvana of Lord Buddha, cultural festivals of the North-east and constitution of the proposed North-east Tourism Development Fund. Soni said that her ministry had decided to organize an ‘Octave’ cultural festival, which took place in New Delhi recently, every year to showcase the rich cultural heritage of the eight north-eastern States.

https://egovindia.wordpress.com/2006/07/04/ne-failed-on-tourism-projects-soni/

NORTH by NORTH EAST - 11:27 PM, July 2, 2006

The Statesman, 15 June 2006
NORTH by NORTH EAST
SANJOY HAZARIKA Condemn cowardly killers The cowardly killers who placed a crude IED (Improvised Explosive Device) in a bag of vegetables on Friday afternoon in Guwahati?s busy Machkhowa vegetable market demonstrated once again that there are terrorists in Assam, that they have no compunction or conscience, as brutal shadowy figures, in striking at the vulnerable. There are intelligence and police reports which say that the banned United Liberation Front of Asom planned and organised the strike, a view that, at the time of writing, has neither been confirmed or denied by Ulfa. This has, of course, become standard for the organisation except in the rarest of cases where it issues a statement either taking credit or rejecting views that it was involved. It should not forget that it is on the US administration?s watch list of terrorist organisations and as one State Department official said recently: ?It is difficult to get on that list but nearly impossible to get off it.? Deepak Dutt, Assam?s director-general of police, told me it could not be but Ulfa and that it had been made fairly well known that the group would try and hit official targets between 9 and 11 June. The time-table seems a bit awry: the attacks began a day earlier, on the 8th with assaults on police positions and other centres, wounding over 30 persons in four towns. Then came the big blast at Machkhowa, not far from the banks of the Brahmaputra and in one of the busiest parts of the region?s commercial and political hub. Whichever group is responsible, such murderous crimes cannot be regarded as pro-people, no matter how hard it proclaims itself as such. All civil society groups, especially the human rights organisations and the Peoples Consultative Group, must condemn such attacks unconditionally and demand that those responsible for it come forward. If Ulfa is not involved, it should say so. Could there have been a mix-up of messages ~ did it want to pressure the Centre for a fresh round of talks with its PCG representatives and issue instructions to cadres to attack to show its intent? If so, then it made another bloomer: the Centre announced that such talks would take place on 22 June. Perhaps, Ulfa does not have the capacity to communicate effectively with its field groups. Or could it be that there is a group within Ulfa which is opposed to the talks? This last possibility is unlikely but not ruled out. Such attackers deserve the toughest punishment under our legal system. And since the wheels of justice grind slow, it would be appropriate that they suffer the tension of long trials and prison captivity before sentences are received. Laughter is silenced I was about to leave Shillong for Guwahati airport to catch a flight to Dibrugarh and then travel by a small ship to Joynath Abedin?s eco-camp in Upper Assam on the Brahmaputra when the phone rang at my mother?s home. It was a cousin giving the news of the passing of a beloved relative, a lively, spontaneous cousin, who was deeply loved by all in the family and her circle of friends. Rubi Saikia ~ earlier Baruah ~ had lost the battle for life at Chennai and was to be brought home to Jorhat for the final rites. I cancelled the trip to Abedin?s place, informing of the tragedy and assuring him of a future visit, especially as I was keen to see how a former shikari has transformed into a conservator and resource person for environmentalists and researchers as well as a promoter of eco-tourism. I got to Dibrugarh, met with my researchers and other associates, assigning work and responsibilities before driving the next day to Jorhat, a three-hour journey. Both the journey and the stay became times of reflection and sadness as well as sharing with others. All of us have favourite relatives and she was certainly one of mine, with our fights, play and happy times in my great uncle?s sprawling estate at Nowgong, central Assam, where my brother and I visited during winter vacations from Shillong. There were picnics and many times together and her laugh ~ she would double with laughter at something she enjoyed ~ and, in the process, make us all laugh. Some people are born beautiful, others make themselves or are made beautiful ~ she was not a classic beauty but her quality of joy and ability to find goodness in all things and people made her, in my view, one of the most beautiful people on earth. She did things that those of us who wander the world and trying to change it, in our belief that we can do so such things, often neglect or realise much later. She built a family, she raised two wonderful sons, she gave friendship and companionship to a quiet and courteous man, she befriended all she came in touch with and she became, effortlessly, their favourite person. She was meticulous in the beautiful home she kept, the warmth of her welcome and her attention to detail ~ and the lavish way she fed her favourites. I was touched by her joy and grace ~ and many skills, including her food and laughter. She is the first of my generation of cousins to go to a place which all of us shall inhabit. But the timing of her going was cruel, a new daughter-in-law who has barely had a chance of settling in, and a disease which was benign but whose treatment led to an infection that silenced laughter. Our laughter, hers. Cremation & a garbage dump We cremated Rubi on Tuesday; she was carried out of the drawing room where she lay the previous night and placed on the grass, where the gohain said a prayer. All of us knelt on the asphalt drive leading to the beautiful porch of this wonderful house which was her home all through her marriage. Then she was placed on the bamboo bier wrapped in the beautiful off-white silk and golden brocade mekhela sador which she never wore, for a reception that never took place. The lane to the cremation ground turned muddy after some time. There is not even a decent path to the last resting place of family members and friends in many of our cities. Jorhat is no exception. What is unbelievably worse here is that the site is next to the town?s garbage dump. How can there be such indignity next to the last rituals for a beloved relative or friend? But why can?t Jorhat have a decent distant place for rubbish disposal, instead of one right in the city, next to a river? It?s a health hazard. I talked to the competent deputy commissioner, J Shyamala Rao, about it. Rao says that a concept paper for the new waste disposal system has been submitted. But when will it be built and commissioned? This garbage should be removed and placed in a distant wasteland where it can be separated into composting and non-degradable products. Isn?t there such a place in Jorhat?s municipal limits? A designated urban water removal site and management policy is also needed in every Assam and northeastern city. Every town is transforming itself into a mini-Guwahati with all the attendant filth and other problems.

Netaji did not die in August in 1945 - 10:48 PM, June 26, 2006

Netaji did not die in August in 1945

Netaji's great escape of 1941

Netaji's great escape of 1941 wasn't his best. Four years on, India's then most promising leader performed an astonishing vanishing trick. He faked his death in a planted plane crash story. Sixty-one years and two government-inspired fraudulent inquiries later, the truth finally manifests with the Mukherjee Commission's momentous findings.

On the morning of August 17, 1945 Subhas Chandra Bose arrived in Saigon accompanied by his cabinet colleagues and senior Japanese officers. The world war was over and Japan had announced surrender to the Allies. The choices before Bose were but just two. Either to fall into the hands of the British, or try out something to continue fighting for India.

Netaji was implored to go on. But where? Justice Mukherjee quotes what Lt General Saburo Isoda had stated before Khosla Commission. The Japanese military had given Bose a tacit undertaking to take him out of the harm's way. Isoda was to execute this "secret plan". "The purpose of his (Netaji's) flight was to go to the Soviet Union and with the aid of the Soviet Union he was to continue his independence movement. That was the aim of his mission," stated Isoda. Justice Mukherjee agreed and noted:

* The above evidence of General Isoda gets ample support from the other colleagues of Netaji who were with him at the material time including Col Pritam Singh of the INA, Shri E Bhaskaran, his Confidential Secretary ....

* A secret plan was contrived to ensure Netaji's safe passage to which Japanese military authority and Habibur Rahman were parties.

* ... the departure of Netaji from Saigon on August 17, 1945 along with Habibur Rahman and some Japanese officers for going to Russia via Manchuria is ... not in controversy.

And Justice Mukherjee gave his verdict thus:

* ... it stands established that emplaning at Saigon on August 17, 1945 Netaji succeeded in evading the Allied Forces and escaping out of their reach and as a camouflage thereof the entire make-believe story of the air crash, Netaji's death therein and his cremation was engineered by the Japanese army authorities including the two doctors and Habibur Rahman and then aired on August 23, 1945 ....

* Obviously, in cooking up the story of Netaji's death in the plane crash and giving it a modicum of truth they (Japanese military authorities and Habibur Rahman) had no other alternative than resorting to suppression of facts and in doing so they not only invited material contradiction in their evidence ... but also left latent loopholes which have now been discovered.

* Though no firm opinion can be expressed about Netaji's exit point it can be legitimately be inferred, having regard to the established fact that Habibur Rahman who accompanied him form Saigon was next found present in Taipei cooking up a story (along with others) of his death there, that Netaji disappeared therefrom (Taipei).

Thanks to the disinterest of our Government, this was as far the Mukherjee Commission could go in the trail. "Whether Netaji thereafter landed in Russia or elsewhere cannot be answered for dearth of evidence," it avers, leaving us with the pointers that Russia holds the key to resolving India's longest running political controversy.



How PMO hushed up Top Secret Bose files
By Anuj Dhar

Wouldn't it shock you to know that several Subhas Bose-related files with our Government are "Top Secret"? What could it possibly imply?

We know that governments classify informations when they have the potential to disturb internal stability of the country or mar ties with foreign countries.   When a file is marked "Top Secret", it means that it contains information whose disclosure to the public would result in "exceptionally grave damage to national interests".   

Which is why classified materials are handled most carefully in accordance with foolproof procedures overseen by people on the top. The files are stored in security containers under lock and seal. Without clearance from the top, even top bureaucrats cannot set sight on them. And should a need arises to destroy such records, a prescribed set of rules is methodically followed. Orders are issued by a competent authority and senior officers supervise the destruction process, which is duly recorded.

Why I am dwelling on all this is because India too has a similar system in place. But throwing cautions and all rules to wind, the PMO destroyed not one or two papers, but 15 voluminous classified files on Netaji. The PMO itself admitted this under pressure to the Mukherjee Commission in late 2000. One of the destroyed files was revealingly titled Investigation into the Circumstances Leading to the Death of Subhas Chandra Bose. Little details that are available suggest that this was the master file in the PMO on the case and meant for Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru's eyes only.

This deliberate annihilation of official information on Subhas Bose should rank as the big daddy of all Indian scandals. The Government would have been within limits to retain these files for a few years. But eventually, these, and other files on Bose, should have been released to the National Archives for the benefit of the people. Instead of doing that, the Government destroyed the files at a time when a judicial inquiry into Bose's fate was going on. What credence will you place on the Government's standing in the Netaji death controversy after this revelation?

Further details that the Commission managed to extract from the Government revealed a deep-rooted conspiracy that went right to the top. The Government was unable to trace, as they say, the order concerning the destruction of these files and nor were available any agenda papers/Cabinet decision regarding the "master" file. So no one knows exactly who ordered the destruction and why. But one incriminating information did come out. The files had been destroyed by the Indira Gandhi government in 1972 when Khosla Commission was functioning.

Anuj Dhar is the author of Back from Dead: Inside the Subhas Bose Mystery.

http://www.indiansforaction.com/main.html
http://www.missionnetaji.org/index_new.php

Bonjyotsna promises help for Assam’s music industry - 4:15 PM, June 18, 2006

Bonjyotsna promises help for Assam’s music industry 

http://www.northeasttribune.com/newsarchives.htm

Guwahati, June 17: Not dented by the criticism of the groovy gurus in the recent episodes of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa -Ek Me Aur Ek Tu, Assam’s very own Bonjyotsna Borgohain today promised to work on her shortcomings while appealing votes through SMS in the Mega Finals slated to be held on June 24 next. 

Her singing partner Sharib in the reality show also accompanied Bonjyotsna.  

Bonjyotsna while interacting with the media this afternoon said that she is thankful to the people of Assam who have showered support to the singing duo during the course of the show. 

“I want to bring pride for the people of Assam. God willing, if we are chosen as the number one Jodi then I would definitely love to do something for the music industry of Assam”, opined Bonjyotsna. 

When asked, the local lass admitted that Debojit Saha’s craze has boosted her confidence. “His success worked as an inspiration for me”, she pointed out.  

Meanwhile, Sharib who is making his first visit to Assam said that he is completely bowled over by the greenery of the State. “Everything is so natural about Assam and its people”, said a visibly astounded Sharib who hails from Rajasthan.  

While thanking the music lovers of Assam for their support, Sharib said it feels so homely to be in Assam.  Sharib also amused the gathering with a welcome Rajasthani song.  

Earlier, the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) today welcomed the duo with grand convoy from the LGB Airport to the Shahid Nyas. 

The duo apart from visiting SOS children village also visited Bonjyotsna’s school Ascent Academy on the way to the Nyas. 

Representatives of AASU, Asom Sena and All Assam Photographers’ Association also felicitate the duo during the function.   

Comment spam.. - 5:24 PM, April 26, 2006

Majuli, World's Largest River Island - 11:56 PM, April 1, 2006

Friends,  a new website launched on majuli. Kindly visit www.majuli.info and do keep your speaker on.

Thanks

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3117371.stm

India river island under threat

By Ayanjit Sen BBC correspondent in Majuli   An ecological disaster looms over the world's largest river island. Located in the Brahmaputra river in India's north-eastern Assam state, Majuli is rapidly eroding away, threatening the lives of the 150,000 islanders. Environmentalists say Majuli has shrunk by more than 400 sqare kilometres in the past three decades. They say the island's main problem is the Brahmaputra, infamous for floods, and for frequently changing its course. And every time this happens, the current undercuts Majuli's sandy soil, undermining its foundations. Environmentalists say an earthquake in 1950 added to the problem. Majuli has been rapidly eroding away ever since. Originally covering an area of 1,250 sq km, the island has now shrunk to about two-thirds in size. 'Immense problem' There has been proposal to have Majuli declared a world heritage site by the Unesco, but it could be wiped off the map one day. Majuli's islanders face a future threatened by erosion Indian authorities have built several embankments and dykes to check flooding, but this has not solved the problem. Assam's Flood Control Minister Nurzamal Sarkar told the BBC the government was making fresh attempts to control erosion but admitted that an ecological tragedy loomed large. "We understand the immensity of the problem, but the central government too should take steps to protect this island," he said. One man who tried to look into the problem of erosion was Sanjoy Ghosh, an activist leading an NGO called the Association of Voluntary Agencies for Rural Development. But he was killed shortly after he began taking an interest. Police blame rebels of the United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa) for his death. Endangered faith Local NGOs say soil erosion threatens the security of Majuli's islanders, whose only link with the mainland is by using boats. Even the islanders' religious faith is not safe "Hundreds of local people have been reduced to nomads as they have to move from one place to another because of this erosion," says Dr AK Sharma, a member of parliament from the state. Ananda Hazarika, of the Majuli Island Protection and Development Council, says the geology of the land is complex and quake-prone. Even members of local Vaishnav (followers of Hindu God Vishnu) monasteries say they will have to leave Majuli if erosion continues. Known as "satras", these are monastic institutions that enshrine the essence of the Vaishnav faith and spread the teachings of the sect's saint - Sankardeva. There are 22 such monasteries in Majuli, which act as the centre of Assamese culture with their traditional prayer form, a 500-year old open air theatrical custom, colourful boat races, classical dances and handicrafts. "We will be forced to move if no action is taken to solve the flood problem and end erosion," said Golap Baruah, a senior member of a local monastery.

World's largest river island seeks heritage status
By Syed Zarir Hussain
A Hindu monk belonging to rhe Vaishnava sect at a monastery in Majuli island in Assam. Photo IANS
MAJULI (ASSAM): Tribal boatman Titaram Payeng sings lustily as he anchors his wooden ferry on the banks of the mighty Brahmaputra river in India's northeastern state of Assam.

After a hard day's toil ferrying people from the mainland to Majuli, the world's largest river island, Payeng goes back to his home, a mud-and-thatch hut raised on a bamboo platform.

But despite being an unlettered man, Payeng is eager to know if this correspondent had carried some news from the mainland. "You are a journalist and I am sure you have some latest news about Majuli," Payeng said.

Majuli, 350 kilometres (about 220 miles) east of Assam's main city of Guwahati, is waiting impatiently to be listed as a World Heritage Site with hundreds of islanders eager to celebrate the international recognition.

The island of Majuli once covered a prosperous 1,500 sq km that was dotted with Hindu monasteries. But today the island is down to half its original size and is prone to extensive flooding and erosion.

Despite the shrinkage in the landmass, Majuli is unique for its great cultural landscape and considered a site of outstanding universal properties.

"Majuli deserves to be listed as a World Heritage Site for its uniqueness and hence we sent a detailed proposal to UNESCO to list it as a heritage site," said C. Babu Rajiv, director general of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).


A Mishing tribal woman outside her mud and bamboo hut in Majuli island. Photo IANS
"Majuli is facing extinction with the island shrinking rapidly due to excessive flooding. Saving this unique place on earth will be possible only if it is accorded international recognition," said Assam's Culture Minister Hemoprova Saikia.

"Not only will more funds come in, but we expect to get help from experts worldwide on how to save Majuli from the wrath of the annual flooding if UNESCO lists the island as a heritage site."

The threat to Majuli's existence began in 1950 after a severe earthquake shifted the river bed and caused massive silting that, in turn, led to heavy river erosion, especially during the rainy season.

Majuli has remained the cultural capital of Assamese civilization since the 16th century with the visit of the great social reformer Sankardeva, who preached a form of Hinduism called Vaishnavism and established monasteries and hermitages known as 'satras' on the islet.

A majority of the 150,000 islanders are tribal people who eke out a living from fishing and ferrying people to and from the island.

"It's an irony to find the Brahmaputra feeding us for most of the year and the same river washes away all our earnings in one big push during the high floods," says Robin Pegu, another boatman.

Although the origin of Majuli is rather hazy, it was Vaishnavism that brought this island into focus - his new religion was simpler and more accessible than the ritualistic Hinduism of the time.

His approach was rooted in faith and prayer, and stressed on the cultural aspects of life and living. There was no idol worship or sacrifices - instead, he developed the dance drama forms of 'bhaona' and 'ankiya-nat', theatrical depictions of the triumph of good over evil.


A country boat on the Brahmaputra River on way to Majuli in Assam. Photo IANS
Sankardeva established satras on Majuli to nurture this philosophy and practice of life. In its heyday, there were sixty-five satras, each with hundreds of bhaktas, or disciples, and several hundred thousand followers all over the state.

The satra at Auniati, for instance, has even today 125 disciples, and over a million followers. The satras have also nurtured certain art and craft traditions, which can now be found only here. In Natun Samugri satra, for instance, one can still find the craft of mask making; Kamlabari satra still makes the finest boats.

This cultural ambience is not confined to the satras alone. Every village on the island, whether tribal or non-tribal, has assimilated these traditions in daily life. The central point of all villages is the namghar, or the community prayer hall, where periodically people gather to sing and pray.

The namghar is more than a temple - it is a sacrosanct meeting place as well. Usually after the sessions of reading and discussion, the members get together to decide on matters concerning the village.

In this day of individualism, Majuli still preserves the notion of the community.

The monasteries apart, Majuli is known for its exotic pottery products made from beaten clay and burnt in driftwood-fired kilns in the same mode carried out by the people of the ancient Harappan civilization.

Sociologists have stressed on the preservation of this unique art form and the people of the island whose culture and dance forms are untouched by modernism.

"Despite virtually being cut off from the mainland, the islanders of Majuli have been able to preserve its distinct identity and hence its uniqueness," said Annanda Hazarika, a teacher in Majuli.

Today there is a serious campaign by the Assam government to include Majuli in the itinerary of international tourists.

"A visit to Majuli can give a tourist a feel of the tribal lifestyle, besides a taste of the rich culture and traditions associated with Vaishnavism," Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said.

"We are setting up infrastructure for tourists willing to visit Majuli."

Already hundreds of tourists and researchers have been flocking to the island in groups.

"This is an amazing place on earth where people live in the midst of the tempestuous river and yet maintain their distinct cultural traditions without any dilution," Andrew Wilson, an American anthropologist, said after a visit to Majuli.

"Majuli is a virgin island and has the potential to offer tourists a lot."

The prospect of Majuli being listed as a World Heritage Site has led to optimism among the islanders.

"We are all waiting with great hope to find Majuli listed as a heritage site. Majuli's future is in the hands of UNESCO and we are praying for good news soon," said R.L. Pegu, a lawmaker from Majuli.

--Indo-Asian News Service

visit http://www.majuli.info