Today is 26/11/2011, it was the same day when Mumbai was attacked by terrorists trained by Pakistan. As 3 years went and we back at the indecent  we had much more information than we had then. The indecent which shocked the nation was planned by the ISI using their front organization Laskhar e Taiba. I don’t see much difference between ISI and the militant organizations.  We all know that it was Pakistan’s state policy to “Bleed India through thousand cuts”. Also, would like to remind the readers what former Pakistani prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto said that He would fight a thousand years battle with India to take Kashmir. It is of their convenience to create such front organizations through which they get their dirty works done and if anyone questions the Pakistani government then say it is a handiwork of some non state actor. But don’t we know who created this non state actors and who handles them.

The work for Mumbai 26/11 might have started as early as 2003-2004. David Coleman Headley a half Pakistani and half American breed who was a drug smuggler was hired by the US DAE and FBI to spy on their behalf in Pakistan on terrorism.  But Headley  born as Dawood Gilani was already radicalized by then had become a partner of Laskar e taiba and ISI. He became a double agent and started working for both US and Pakistan ISI. He did surveillance of the Mumbai targets. His deeds and what he was upto has been reported couple of time by his wifes from time to time but the American establishment could not act nor did it pass enough information to India. If the US would have interrogated him then he would have spill the beans. View the complete video of the recent investigation of Frontline and Propublica done by Sebastian Rotella.

Watch A Perfect Terrorist on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

Also read how the US botched up the investigation otherwise Mumbai might not have happened.

10 years after 9/11 the US has already eliminated Al Qaeda head Osama Bin Laden from Abottabad which is near the Pakistani garrison town of Rawanpindi. Was the location of Osama Bin Laden not enough to the US that the Pakistani establishment is hand in gloves with the extremists. 3 years after 26/11 Ajmal Kasab the lone surviving terrorists is still alive and it seems the Maharashtra government has spent over Rs 16 crore on his security. So it means he is the most secured and guarded person in India. Leave alone the masterminds who are still thriving in Pakistan. Today the Pakistanis are taking of peace not because they have realized their mistakes but they have very little option. With US turning their back on Pakistan, the Pakistani establishment do not want to open too many fronts. This peace talks are nothing but a ploy to buy time. Pakistan today is in a very precarious situation with internal conflicts in Baluchistan, Pakistani Taliban, Shia – Sunni conflict, conflict between military and civilian governments etc.

In the world of economy we say China is a manufacturing based economy, India a service based economy, same way we can tell Pakistan is a terrorism based economy. How Pakistan is running terrorism these days is nothing short of business. They raise funds in the name of Islam and Jehad from Gulf countries and collect money from the US on the name of fighting terrorism. So we can clearly see what a double game Pakistan is playing. The issue is Pakistan has hardly ever been a part of the solution rather it itself creates problem. Pakistan has been declared a failed state by the international community as the thought of a homogenous never existed in different regions of the country. Pakistan’s racial discrimination has already created a new country in the name of Bangladesh in 1971.  Further racial discrimination continues in Baluchistan where people are fighting for an independent country. The Muslims who migrated from India during partition are still known as Mohajir (refugee). Like Pakistani Nuclear scientist Abdul Qaader Khan said in an interview that he still feels he is a Mohajir as the way he was treated. Watch the video below:

The burning issue with Pakistan is that people in different region of Pakistan has a a different meaning of the state and interprets in its own way. So the rulers has always blown passionate views like anti India sentiments, extremist views etc to keep the country together. The NWFP area is a Phustun area and which have more affinity towards Afghanistan. The Baluchistan has the Balouchs and so on. All this entities are drifting in their own ways. Only time will tell how long Pakistan can hold on!. So will Pakistan mend its ways? The answer is most probably no and not anytime soon in future. Many people, countries, think tanks etc talk of Pakistan’s disintegration soon and one person seems to have the map of division as well. Disintegration of Pakistan might bring down terrorism but to completely finish it there must be concrete military and political actions. Pakistan in its existence of over 64 years has achieved nothing but globalized terrorism.

Yesterday 18th September 2011 a strong earthquake of 6.9 Richter scale hit northern and eastern part of India. The epicenter of the earthquake was around 60 km from Gangtok, capital of Sikkim. The tremors struck at 6.10 pm on that day left many building broken and people fearful. Many buildings in Assam, West Bengal, Bihar etc has developed vivid cracks on the walls. In Sikkim it has triggered many landslides. There were three aftershocks within a span of 30 minutes measuring in the range of 4 – 5.5 in Richter scale. As of now already 50 people are believed to be dead in India. The reason of this earthquake as in most cases was tectonic plate movement. The entire north east and the Himalayan region is high seismic zone. These region has already experienced high intensity earthquakes in the past of 8.7 in Richter scale. The strongest earthquake recorded in history was in Chile in 1960 of around 9.5 in Richter scale.

Phone connection the earthquake prone areas was completely lost. My father was trying to contact people in our native town but was unable to do so that evening and night. I heard on news that Indian PM was able to speak to Sikkim CM using the highly secure hotline. The PM has been proactive in ordering relief for the affected areas. The government which is battered many corruption scandals, if they have slumbered on this disaster then they would have invited nails for themselves. It is a good opportunity to show that they care and they work.

Government has declared compensation for the deceased and injured. But the concern is will the compensations will reach in time and will they get the exact amount. As in all government dealings there is a commission for all work. Lets hope that after Anna affect this changes. May god take care of the people of Eastern India.

West Bengal helpline # is 033-22143230

Sathya Sai Baba who claimed to be the reincarnation of the popular Indian saint Shiradi Sai baba of Indian state of Maharashtra is no more now. After battling for life for many days at Prashanti Nilayam in Puttaparthi. Following multiple organ failure he was put on ventilator. He died on 24th April, 2011  at the age of 85. His funeral will take place on 27th of this month.

From the poor to the mightiest had been his followers stating from the ex Prime Minister of India. Following news of his ill health lakhs of people started to flow to the town of Puttaparthi. In the midst of his deteriorating health, a growing concern who will ran the Sathya Sai Empire of crores of rupees. Some estimates it to be 50,000 crore, 1 lakh crore or 5.5 million UK pound. His organization had done a lot of philanthropy work like running educational institutions, hospitals etc. Now that he is dead there will be a huge power struggle to head this organization. There were also talks that government might take over. I think government can help in the succession plan and not take over it. That way it can maintain its own character. If government takes over it then political games will start over it.

Already heavy security has been posted in puttaparthi for any untoward incident. Prominent personalities like Indian cricket player Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar who were adherent devotees visited to pay homage to the god man. There have been controversies surrounding him as well. Media reported sexual abuse and murder charges which devotees do not believe and Sathya Sai baba rubbished himself during his lifetime. Sathya sai Baba claimed to have performed many miracles but rationalists and critics never believed them. Also, he died much before the age of 96 which he predicted for himself.

He was born on 23/11/1926 as Sathyanarayana Raju in Puttaparthi village of present Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and then Madras presidency of British India. His father’s name was Peddavenkama Raju Ratnakaram and mother’s name was Eswaramma. On On 23 May 1940 Sathyanarayana declared that he is the reincarnation of Shiradi Sai Baba who died 8 years ago. He took the name of Sathya Sai Baba.

Sathya Sai Baba had predicted that he will reborn as Prema Sai in Mandya district of Karnataka. He also told it will be an abandoned child who will be raised by a fisherman. Lets hope meanwhile the succession goes smoothly without any ugly fights. And they should continue Baba’s work and legacy.

PETA an animal right activist organization always created provoking ads to forward their cause and at times outrageous ads. I am not sure how titillating ads can help people become veggie. Check their new set of videos which urge you to go veggie. After watching the videos you will develop a different urge then to go veggie.

Website: http://www.peta.org

Some people will be ready to attack me by seeing the title, “BPO jobs are not stable”. Now the question is why I said that and how can I say that? Let me reveal that I am myself a BPO worker and I have worked in this industry for quite a few years now. I have seen the industry from inside out. So I have a fair idea how it works and what happens there. So lets analyze now.

I know that BPOs create huge number of jobs. They also pay well compared to many India companies. As of now around 5 lakhs people work in BPO industry in India. So if BPO brings in prosperity, then why it is unstable? It is unstable because BPO industry is very sensitive and requires a conducive environment to survive and flourish. It requires the essential ingredients of good infrastructure, available talent, conducive environment like government policy and stability. Companies in the west are outsourcing not because they love low cost destination but the different low cost destination with available talent pool make the difference to their balance sheet. So even if there is a slight price between service providers of different countries, companies may be tempted to move operations to lowest cost.

I have heard of many operations moving from India to Philippines like Palm process which was with Sykes, Bangalore in the year 2002 – 2003 etc. It is a inevitable movement from low cost destination to more low cost destination. Companies like India have already started to follow this trend. Convergys has open a center in Guwahati, Assam, sutherland in Chennai and Kochi, Wipro BPO maintains its operation mainly in Kolkata etc. Sitel moved its entire operations from Bangalore to Hyderabad and Chennai recently. During such re-locations most employees are given a choice to re-locate but that may not be a viable option for many. However, if the movement is inter country then re-location options are negligible.

Acquisition is another factor which result in relocation or job loss. A recent example is acquisition of the HRM arm of Convergys by Northgate Arinso for $100 million. They asked the employees to either re-locate to Hyderabad or Kochi or quit.

Conducive environment like government policy plays a major role. Bangalore has been and is still the IT capital of India. But some of the biggest companies are moving to neighboring states for expansion. Recently, Bangalore Mirror published that Infosys will execute is expansion operations in Pune as they were not allotted any land by the government in Karnataka. This way the Bangalore headquartered company will have it largest campus in Pune in terms of operation and head count. Other companies like Wipro and HCL are banking their expansion plans mostly on Pune, Chennai and Hyderabad.

Then again BPO jobs have acquired a reputation of hip jobs. Many young freshers join this industry and continue until they find job of their dream or their line of study. Some join to make some quick bucks, some come here to pass time etc. The timing of the most BPO jobs are in the night which against your biological clock. If you spouse works in the day shift then you may see her only in the weekend. This creates stress and tension in the family. BPO industry is a high stress job, to counter it a hip culture has been devised like fun at work. This is good but some people has taken it to its extreme like coming to work drank, using drug at work and even sex at work like the Gurgaon BPO sex scandal. The high attrition rate and coupled with other factors gives the environment of BPO industry an air of instability.

1. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/conservative/5772749/David-Davis-MP-accuses-MI5-of-outsourcing-torture.html

2. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/the-big-question-how-is-britain-implicated-in-the-torture-of-terror-suspects-1737956.html

3. http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2010/jun/14/british-man-torture-claims-bangladesh

Car and bike theft are on rise. If you have to park your vehicle at any parking place and go for shopping or some other work it can shake your peace of mind. Unfortunate if anyone lose a vehicle then you are at the mercy of our police. I doubt if they even care apart from the high and the mighty. But now with a device called Tcop you can act as a copy for your vehicle. Tcop is an anti-theft device for car and bike manufactured by iTrans located at Bannerghatta road, Bangalore.

How it works?

You will have to purchase this device which includes a sim card and fit on your vehicle car or bike. If you vehicle is stolen or tampered with you will receive an SMS message from the device to any cell phone number your configure. Also, the movement of the vehicle can be detected on a map platform like Google Earth. It draws little power from your vehicle battery and do not require recharging. The owner should register once and then he can decide whether he want the sms tracking or internet map based tracking. The owner can send a sms to the device which in turn will create a siren attracting attention from passerby. It can also track the route taken by the vehicle in past 72 hours. This will add a layer of security for your car or bike. With such information on hand will force the police to work.

But what about if the device is detached from the vehicle by the thief! So keeping your vehicle safe is the best option. Park it at secure locations with engine lock and handle lock.

The device will cost you in between Rs 1500 to 6000 and Rs 100 for a pre-paid card to receive sms for an entire year.

Website: http://www.tcop.co.in