Women Empowerment...What's the way forward.

In last many days, I came across few things through articles, speeches regarding women empowerment. Today, I would like to share with you. I will try to avoid same old song about discrimination of women in our society and its implication on us as a society. 

Let us start with some religious facts (Or, you can say historical facts), though I am not a big believer of any religion. I will talk about Hindus with no intention to undermine any other religion or any individual's religious sentiments (If unintentional I do so, please forgive me). In Hindu religion, Goddesses hold most important portfolios i.e. education ministry by Saraswati, finance ministry by Laxmi. Apart from this, home ministry is being held till today by women only. In-fact, women are responsible for family culture in India; something you and I as an Indian must be proud of. What I want to say is that there is no need to worry. History along with present shows us that we have given very high status and high respect to females. We just need to reinvent the wheel and everything will be fine again. This is about history, but we will be fool if keep boasting about past and don't show any will to address the problems of present. Here I will talk about some solutions rather than the problem as you all are aware about it. 

Being Independent is the first and foremost criteria to achieve  gender  equality in the society. I had talked about it in previous posts and discussions also (You can read in the given links). So, will not elaborate much about it. Bottom line is that education to the girls is not giving the expected results. Girls should COMMAND equal independence with equal responsibilities to change the  present scenario.  Now, what small changes can be done in our society to do this. Also, I am supporter of laws rather the awareness programs to achieve results on mass scale. Hence, in many points, you will find me taking about enacting new laws.

1. Name/Surname change after Marriage: Why should women change their surnames after marriages? In some parts, there is a tradition to change also the name of girl after marriage. Why this tradition? Why should one leave one's identity to show loyalty? Only husbands or groom sides can't be blamed for this. Even, girls's parents told them to do so at the name of tradition. Why not enact a law to get rid of the issue? Regarding this, best example is Ashutosh, IBN 7, one of few honest journalists in the country, who dropped his surname to get rid of caste based identity. Lets focus back on women issue. We will talk about this issue some other time

2. Unbiased laws: Dowry is still in our system. Only strong law can eradicate this. But present law is highly biased in favor of girls. Many are using dowry law as an instrument. I was really surprised that Amir didn't raise it in his show, Satymev Jayate. By making laws in favor of girls, considering girls as innocent and putting label on boys, not only in Dowry cases but in majority of other issues also, I think, we will never able to achieve gender equality. In-fact, by this way, we are giving unnecessary power in the hands of those who don't need it. Even, we are promoting inequality by saying that girls are weak, they need protection by law.  We need to remember, these laws are there and awareness programs are going on from last so many years with minimal results, it is time to change the goal post. Make unbiased laws and put culprits, whether it's a boy or a girl,  behind the bars, it is as simple as that. Both, frivolous and genuine complains must be dealt with tough hands.    

3. Mothers' name compulsory in Schools: In schools, it is compulsory to write father's name with child's name while mother's name is voluntary. Why not reverse the situation? After all, mother gives birth to the child. 

4. Property purchase: Until one has to save oneself from income tax, most of the time people used to buy property with men's names. Why not make a law about some exemption in stamp duty for those who buy property against women's names? Will it not encourage people to buy property with women as the owner on paper? 

5. Entrepreneurship: It is well known that real talent of India lies in villages and females are not exception in this. One can find many women in villages running dairies and working in farms specially those living in the poor conditions. Somewhere, isn't it indicating their business skills? This talent can be tapped with proper support from government and corporate. What!!! I am looking crazy here. No, I am not. You may be surprised to know that such a scheme with name "Mission Mangalam" has been started in Gujarat in which four stake holders are: government as a watchdog only; nothing else, corporate to provide raw material and markets to finish products, NGOs to develop skills of women and poor villages women.  Turnover of this company is Rs. 1000 crore. (I took this figure from a speech of Gujarat's CM). So, I am not sure how much it is true. But it is worth to try this idea. 

6. Apart from this, why not government make laws like while giving lands or houses to the poor under various schemes, make women as the owners.

All this will give a sense of independence to the women. Along with point 5, Gujarat government made laws about Mother's name compulsory in schools and Property purchase. 

Note: Mentioning some of Gujarat government's initiatives doesn't mean I am supporting some individual here. In-fact, how can an individual give so many ideas? These are ideas of our social scientists and IAS officers who are working hard behind the scenes. One is just helping them to implement their ideas. Please don't make any political comment on the post. Any discussion and/or more information and/or criticism on the points mentioned above is/are most welcome.

बस एक बार वापस लौटने का मन करता है

बस एक बार वापस लौटने का मन करता है

आज हर वो दिन जीने को मन करता है
कुछ बुरी बातें जो अब अच्छी लगती हैं
कुछ बातें जो कल की ही बातें लगती हैं

तब की बेकार लगने वाली फोटो चेहरे पे हँसी लाती है
बस एक बार वापस लौटने का मन करता है

दोस्तो की proxy बोलना याद आता है 

कलास बंक करना याद आता है 

टीचर को तंग करना याद आता है 

पीछे बठकर comment पास करना याद आता है 

हर बात पर बिमारी का बहाना करने का मन करता है 

इक बार फिर से कलास अटेंड करने का मन करता है

दोपहर की क्लास में फिर से आखें बंद करने को मन करता है

बस एक बार वापस लौटने का मन करता है

assignment copy करना याद आता है 

प्रोजेक्ट के लिये दर दर भटकना याद आता है 

viva से इक रात पहले का पठना याद आता है 

दोस्तों के रूम की वो बातें याद आती है 

एक्जाम के टाइम पे वो हँसी मजाक याद आती है 

कॉलेज के पास वाले ढाबे की चाय याद आता है 

पर अबकी बार अच्छे से पठने का मन करता है 

बस एक बार वापस लौटने का मन करता है 

तुम्हारी गलती देखने का अब भी मन करता है 

अपनी गलतियों पे तुमसे डाट खाना का मन करता है 

आज तुम से दिल की बात कहने का मन करता है 
खोया मोका याद आता है 

बस इक बार खोया मोका दुबारा पाने का मन करता है 

एक ऐसी सुबह उठने का मन करता है

बस एक बार वापस लौटने का मन करता है

हां, बस एक बार और वापस लौटने का मन करता है

On the occasion of Mother's day

Today, I saw many FB status messages related to Mother's day, hence, came to know about it. On the auspicious occasion, I extend my heartiest congratulations to everyone. Today, I would like to share my views on the relevance of Mother's day (keeping Indian culture in mind). There must be some kind of history behind the celebration of Mother's day. In this blog, I don't have any intention to undermine it. In-fact, I can write that with the help of google :D. Instead of doing this, I would like to share what I am feeling today about this special day. 

Like any other day, today also, I talked at home, so, to my mother as I rarely miss a day or two when I don't call at home. But I didn't say any thing related to Mother's day or something very emotional statement. Even, she doesn't know that there is something like  Mother's day exists in our calendar. Two-three things came into my mind: 

Why do we need a special day for Mother's day? For the matter, any day related to family relations like Father's day, Brother's/Sister's day (I hope, these also exist). Aren't we including formalities in the relations also? Is it necessary for us to put FB status like I love you, mom etc etc? I can also put this but what's the point in doing this when my mother doesn't even know how to switch on the computer, FB is too much technical for her. Even if she knows about FB and all, do I need to say anything to her on FB? Personally, if possible, I would prefer to go home and enjoy the day with my mother or at-least would like to call her and would say whatever I want to say. Acc. to me, every day is a Mother day and Father day (any day related to family relations). I don't need any special day for this.

Having said the above things, another side of the coin came into my mind. What's the harm in celebrating Mother's day? Why not dedicate a day to most beautiful relation we have? Am I too orthodox? Did I fail to understand the modern trends in my generation (I hope, I didn't, otherwise would face some consequences in future specially after marriage ha ha ha ha :D :D)? 


In reality, if we look, these days are promoting consumerism. Corporates are running their businesses at the name of relationships (you can search  economic stats about it on google). These days have become opportunities for card makers, departmental stores, restaurant owners to make profits. If I am not wrong, these days are not part of Indian culture (I have all due respects to other cultures and not saying anything against them). The corporate houses are fueling it with the help of media to earn and we are falling in the trap. 

वक्त नही....

हर ख़ुशी है लोगो के दामन में,
पर एक हंसी के लिये वक्त नही ! 
दिन रात दौडती दुनिया में,
जिंदगी के लिये ही वक्त नही !

मां की लोरी का एहसास तो है ,
पर मां को मां कहने का वक्त नही !
सारे रिश्तो को तो हम मार चुके,
अब उन्हे दफनाने का भी वक्त नही!

सारे नाम Mobile में है,
पर दोस्ती के लिये वक्त नही !
गैरो की क्या बात करे,
जब अपनो के लिये ही वक्त नही !

आखो में है नींद  बडी,
पर सोने का वक्त नही !
दिल है  गमो से भरा,
पर रोने का भी वक्त नही !

पैसो की दौड में ऐसे दौडे,
कि थकने का भी वक्त नही !
पराये एह्सासो की क्या कदर करे,
जब अपने सपनो के लिये ही वक्त नही !

तू ही बता ए  जिंदगी,
इस जिंदगी का क्या होगा !
कि हर पल मरने वालो को,
जीने  के लिये भी वक्त नही !




~ Karamvir Singh Chahal

Whenever I hold a camera....

Whenever I have a camera in my hands:

a) I feel like a real photographer 

b) I feel like I am the best in business

c) I try to convenience myself that so what I feel like this; I am really good.

d) When I focus the camera, I don't see anything but the display of camera. But yes, after the click, I feel like I captured the best photo of all times.

e) Though I listen to other’s advice and sometimes follow also; but I don’t like any technical input while clicking something. Instant feeling is like how dare you to advice me about photography.

f) When someone praises the pic taken by me; I feel proud of my job. And, this further strengthens my feeling of being really a good photographer

With technology of digital cameras is improving day by day; many of us feel the same. Isn’t it? That's the issue these days that “Every monkey with a SLR camera calls himself a photographer”

PhD एक अग्निपथ

तू ना हँसेगा कभी , तू ना खुश रहेगा कभी,

Saturday Sunday को लैब मैं आने की कर शपथ,

PhD एक अग्निपथ ...अग्निपथ… अग्निपथ |

हर रिश्ते बेकार हैं , दोस्त ना कोई परिवार है,

Guide ही तेरी सरकार है |

मान ले इस बात को,  कर शपथ |

PhD एक अग्निपथ...अग्निपथ… अग्निपथ |

Guide खुश तू खुश, Guide उदास तू उदास |

तेरी ख़ुशी या गम का कोई मोल नहीं है, कर शपथ |

PhD एक अग्निपथ ….अग्निपथ….अग्निपथ |

पेपर लिखने हैं अभी , 30 के हो गए हैं सभी |

जॉब की तू सोच मत, कर शपथ |

PhD एक अग्निपथ … अग्निपथ… अग्निपथ |

~ Copied from facebook. 

Forensic Sciences University and Raksha Shakti University, Gujarat

I came across the news of two unique universities of its own kind started by Gujarat government; Forensic Sciences University and Raksha Shakti University. 

Gujarat Forensic Sciences University: Gujarat government had founded the Gujarat Forensic Sciences University in 2009. It is conducting regular/online Degree/Diploma/Certificate courses in the field of Forensic Science, Behavioral Science, Criminology and other allied areas. It is situated at Gandhinagar, the capital of Gujarat. The university has three institutes under it.

a) Institute of Forensic Science: The institute is offering Degree, Diploma and Certificate courses on the subjects of Forensic Science, Computer Forensics, Cyber Security, Crime Scene Management, Security Management, DNA Profiling, Photography etc. The institute is headed by Dr. M. S. Dahiya, an expert in Forensic Sciences. 

b) Institute of Behavioral Science: The institute is headed by Dr. S. L. Vaya. The institute has started Post Graduate Diploma in Forensic Psychology from the academic year (2009-2010). This course has been developed and designed to enhance the knowledge and professional skills of students to work with persons displaying antisocial and criminal behavior. 

c) Institute of Research and Development: The Institute is offering Doctoral and Post Doctoral Degree Courses and is headed by Prof. V. K. Aggarwal. The focus is on the Nano Science, Biochips, Nano devices, Digital Forensic Science and other fields related to Forensic Science and Behavioral Science. 

Raksha Shakti University: Raksha Shakti University is a police university founded by Gujarat government. It is situated in Gandhinagar, capital of Gujarat. It is offering certificate, diploma and degree courses in the field of public science and internal security. The courses offered by the university are diploma in Police Science, computer course on Police Applications, post graduate diploma in Police Science. Some retired and present IAS and IPS officers are in the board of governors of the university.

These are really good initiatives by Gujarat government. With crime getting more high tech and organized, these kind of technological inputs are need of the hour. Students of these universities can be easily absorbed in the forces. One can expect them to perform efficiently and in a much better way than from those who came by passing some tests and set procedures. Why not start these kind of universities in every state and/or some central universities across  the country? 

Note: Please, don't make any political comment on the post. I am not supporter of BJP or any other political party. I am just highlighting the one positive work by Gujarat government which seems to be really exciting.  For this, the much deserved credit must be given to Gujarat government and Mr. Modi.

Higher Studies or Job?

With the session coming to the end, final year engineering students need to make crucial decisions related to their careers. One of the most common questions in front of students is whether to go for higher studies or to go for a job. For people not doing their degrees from institutes of repute like IITs, few NITs and few more etc, it is more difficult to decide. Just like many others, I also faced the same dilemma after finishing my UG. Today, I would like to share my views and experiences about it.

If one is looking for a long term career in the industry, it is better to go for a job instead of higher studies. B.Tech. degree is sufficient to get into most of the industries. Also, one more question one thinks before going for higher studies is that how much value addition would take place in terms of package after masters'. Would one get a better paid job after master degree? Well, I believe, chances of getting a higher paid job is not bright. It was not in the past also. Hence, those who are looking for high paid jobs shouldn't opt for higher studies.  One will get salary almost equal to UG people.

Now, the one important question one must answer is that do one have qualities to enter into a multinational company? Quality of education in engineering institutes has degraded drastically in past few years. There are various reasons behind this. The most responsible factor is that the system failed to meet the growing demand of quality faculty. Hence, the quality has fallen sharply. I often keep saying that majority of the institutes specially state private colleges are producing "techno-craps" in place of technocrats. To improve once technical skills, it is worthwhile to spend two more years in higher studies. But again, selection of institute is really the key to achieve better skills. I strongly recommend,  one must opt for a reputed institute for higher studies. There is lot to learn in the premier institutions of the country like IITs, IISc, IISERs, few universities like JNU, DU etc. Apart from technical skills, one can develop other skills also like how to present yourself in a better way. Also, most of the good industries follow the ranking pattern for the campus placement. Better the institute, brighter the chances to get into a good company.  When I left the job from Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) to join Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore for master degree, some of my friends asked me why I wanted to leave a well settled government job? I used to answer them, now I am an engineer from some college. But when I will come out after IISc, I would be an alumni of the best institute of the country, which is good enough for me to decide. Studying in a top institution always gives a feeling of confidence, which will turn into pride over the years. It is worthwhile to leave a few lakhs which one could have earned in the industry in the two years that one would have spend studying for the masters degree in one of the premier institutes.  

Why to single out anyone based on gender?

Today, I watched a video on youtube in which girls were drunk and were using abusive language in their chit-chat; just like some boys normally do after consuming alcohol (Sorry, I can't share video here. It will not be good for those girls in the video). Also, I don't want to focus on the video.   After some lighter conversations with one of my friends about the video (we both know some of the girls in the video), we had some good discussion. I would like to share some part of it with my own views on the issue.

He said; "If girls do such kind of crap after getting boozy is the height of insanity". Well, this is height of insanity for anyone whether; it's a boy or girl. Why is it ok for boys but not for girls? Why to single out girls for this? 

Acc. to him "If we see our culture or the trend from the past;  the girls were innocent" I agree to some extent. But was this the culture only? As I see, males (brother and/or father before marriage; husband after marriage) were dictating terms and deciding the fate of girl in the family. Now, also, they are doing the same but extent is less as compare to the past. This is hypocrisy on our side. If somebody wants to name it culture then, he/she can do. Will it change the reality? 

Then, he said "As in our society, it will be ok to the parents if their son comes home late night with his friends after taking a heavy dose of alcohol and smoking. It is problematic but acceptable after undergoing certain negotiations. But for girls, it will not be really less than a trauma for parents and society. We are not used to see such drastic changes" Again, this is hypocrisy of parents and society as well. 

Here I am not supporting the action by the girls in the video. My only point is why to use different yardsticks for boys and girls? Why to have different standards simply based on the gender? It reminds me of a forum discussion which I had few days back with some of my friends; "Is the education sufficient to empower women?" I would like to share my views on the topic. You can read the entire discussion in the link above. Well, I don't think that education is sufficient to empower women. Education can help up to some extent but will not empower women. People are educating girls. But, are they really doing it with the intention of empowering them? No, they are doing it to get them married. In-spite of being of the leading developing countries in the world, we are  struggling to maintain balanced sex-ratio.  In contrast to this, China and Korea are succeeding in bringing back the equality. If not worst, at least really bad sex ratio is in the leading states of the country , Haryana, Punjab, Delhi where illiteracy is lower than the other parts of the country.  Dowry is still there in the system. Even, educated and working girls are not getting the respect which they deserve,  in the families (neither before marriage nor after marriage).  Even, before marriage, they don't have much say in critical decisions related to their career and/or marriage. Males of the family (father/brother before marriage and husband after marriage) are assuming their right to decide the future of girls in the family (I mentioned few personal experiences in the forum discussion). I agree with Bhupender Singh's point in the discussion;  "Education may help girls in getting equality, but to what extent? Girls have to decide themselves about that."

Till the point, people would not change their mentality, things will not change significantly. If we as a society would not come out of mentality  that "लडकिया तो पराया धन है "; we should forget about equality based on gender. Also, this equality is essential not only for development for girls but also for us as a society. If we are dreaming to become developed without removing gender discrimination, then, I am so sorry, it will remain a dream forever. 

I am not saying anything against family culture in India. Parents make enormous sacrifice for their children. Concept of joint families is still here in India. This is something we must feel proud. Now, the bigger question is: are we ready to accept the negative side of this?  No improvement or little improvement would take place until we don't accept dark side of anything. It is time for us to do introspection. Sooner we do it, better for us. 

  

Yes, there is solution.

The Deputy Commissioner of Karnal, Haryana; Mrs. Neelam Pradeep Kansi had initiated a mass awareness program (March 8, The Tribune, Chandigarh. You may need to scroll down for the news)  last year in September against female foeticide involving all sections of the society to "save girl child". The program involves mass pledge by people from all sections on the 6th of every month and held at  various places in Karnal district and more than 5 lakh people took the oath in the program. Guess, what!!! It gave results within six months. Sex-ratio has risen from 813 last year to 852 this year. Mrs. Kansi said that she would continue it till a balanced sex-ratio will not be achieved.

I congratulate her for such an initiative. It is a lesson as well  as  inspiration for all of us that, yes, there is solution. We just need to come forward. I don't want to write long in the post as you all are aware about the problem and its consequences. Also, I may sound pessimistic if try to write more about the issue and news will lost its beauty. Read the news and ask yourself, Is it that you can't do anything? Or, Is it that you don't want to do anything? 

Why would one serve the country?

Before writing this blog, I thought a lot. I was in confusion whether to write or not. Till now, I am not sure whether I am doing right or wrong. On one side, I should write as it can reach to some more people and make them aware about the situation. And, at-least, this is the minimum I can do. On other hand, I am behaving like the media persons who always seek attention on the misery of others. I leave it to your wisdom to judge it. With mixed feelings, I putted words and would like to share with you.

Last week, Narender Kumar, an IPS officer of 2009 batch, was brutally killed when a tractor loaded with stones run over him in Marona, M.P. Since then, Lots of noise have been made in the media. This was really an unfortunate and painful incident. Narender was fighting with illegal mining mafia of the region single-handedly. His own department was not with him. The same kind of incident had happened with him earlier also. But no action was taken to tighten the screws over mafia-political nexus. Even after incident, M.P. police officials denied the hand of any mafia in the case. What the hell are they talking about? Illegal mining is an open truth not only in M.P. but in the entire country. The series of (in)actions after his death is more painful. I watched an interview  of Madhurani Tewatia, wife of Late Narender Kumar, who herself is an IPS officer. First of all, I must salute the brave lady for her courage and the bold face she is putting in these tragic times. Some of the really painful and shocking facts told by her are: 

1. There has been no official communication to the Narender’s family from government side till today. Even, the condolences has not been conveyed 

2. A copy of FIR has not been given to the family even on the request of Narender’s father. 

3. A copy of postmortem report is also not given to the family. 

4. Narender’s pistol, purse and mobile phone are missing. 

Is this the way to treat martyrs of the country? Narender was an honest and brave officer who was doing what he supposed to do. Is this the price of honesty? What is the message entire country getting? That Honesty can kill you. Isn’t it shocking the way people in power are trying to cover-up the case? Why is CBI inquiry not ordered till now? Why is so much delay in the process? Any sensible person can easily guess, what’s going on. Every attempt has been made to save influential people involved in the case. This is injustice and disrespect to Narender’s martyrdom. Madhurani rightly said in her interview: if this is going to be fate, then, why one would want to serve the country? Red tape, corruption is already well known in our system. And, now the death of honest police officers. This is not a simple case of murder but, is a classic example mafia-political nexus.    

Like millions in the country, my younger brother is also a civil services aspirant and is planning to start preparation in coming months. Few days back, I asked from him: “Why do you want to join IAS? You are Masters’ in CS from a reputed IIT. You can easily get a reasonably good job. What’s your motivation for civil services?” He replied, “I can’t imagine myself sitting in an A.C. room and writing some boring codes (That’s his perception only not mine). I want to do some meaning full job where I can help people and contribute to the country” I am sure; many others also have the same feelings. Narender’s case is disheartening for them. If I had been in his place, I would have given second thought to my plans. But, I know, he will not do this. Perhaps, this is the reason why I am not in his place and also, not a big fan of IAS (Though, I will be really happy if my brother would succeed in his aim). The thugs sitting in power never allow honest officers to do their job. If somebody resists much, then, he/she could pay the cost with his/her death like Narender. 

Team Anna called for a three days protest in Bhopal from March 13 to March 15 to build pressure on the system for justice in the case and demanding for the immediate action. I sincerely hope for the success of their protest. Hope, Culprits will be punished without any further delay.

The Prank that paved the foundation of Apple

Few days back, on the way to Miami, one of the top places to visit in my long wish list :) :), for a trip, I was reading biography of American business magnet, Late Steve Jobs. It was a six hour journey, so, to kill some time, I read. Like many others, I am also a big fan of Steve Jobs. He was fascinated by electronics items since his childhood. He used to do many pranks using electronic items; like in school interchanged the locks of friends's bicycles, made sign boards and hung up in school announcing "bring your pets to the school on pet day" while there was no such day in the school's calendar; putting sound recorders in entire house and listening everybody's voice at the his room like a control room; putting explosive in the teacher's chair, designing TV noise generator and making people believe if they stand on one leg or in some other position while touching the TV antenna, only then  picture would show-up on the TV screen, making "Tick-Tick" bomb, even, school Principal was terrified from "Tick-Tick" bomb etc. List of his pranks is pretty long. All are really good LOL moments and exciting as well. Here, I wish to share one of his pranks which, according to Steve, paved the foundation of Apple i.e. "The Blue Box". After that, rest is history.

Steve Jobs met Steve Gary Wozniak, nick-named "Woz", a computer engineer from UC, Berkeley, USA. Soon, both became very good friends because of their common interests in electronics. Steve Jobs said about him "he was the only person I met, who knew more electronics than me". One morning, Woz's mother left an article titled "Secrets of the Little Blue Box" in the kitchen for him. At the lunch time, he read it and got excited. Actually, Blue Box was an unauthorized device developed by hackers that could generate same frequency tones used by telephone operators. And, one can make free long distance calls. Woz gave a call to his best friend, Steve. As expected, Steve was also equally excited with the article. As it had the potential to cause big losses to AT & T, the largest telecom service provider in US, it had asked to all libraries to remove the journal article from their shelves. On the same day, Jobs and Woz went to the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) library. It was Sunday and the library was closed. They entered from the some secret door and got the article. They decided to replicate the machine and bought the parts to make an analog Blue Box. After several attempts, they succeeded but the analog version was not stable. Hence, Woz decided to make a digital version. Finally, they succeeded with the help of a music student. To try it, they attempted first call to Woz's uncle from Jobs's house in California. Woz said in the excitement "Hi, we are calling you for free! We are calling you for free!". Jobs jumped in between "We are calling from California! From California! With a Blue Box!" The man replied in anger "I am also in California". It was a wrong number. Nevertheless, they got the success and their Blue Box was woking. They continued to make fun and pranks with Blue Box. The most daring prank was to call the Vatican. Woz pretended to be Henry Kissinger and wanted to talk to the pope. He said "Ve are at de summit meeting in Moscow and Ve need to talk to de pope". It was 5:30 a.m. and the pope was sleeping. When they called back, they got the Bishop and he realized that it was a prank call. Woz got nerves and hung up the phone. Jobs came-up with idea of commercializing the Blue Box. They made the device at a cost of $ 40, and Jobs decided to sell it a price of $ 150. 

The fun and profit business came to an end when one day Jobs tried to sell to some guy at pizza parlor. After seeing demonstration at public booth, that man asked them to walk over to the car to collect the money. When they reached the car, he looted the Blue Box from Jobs and Woz at the gun point. The guy also gave a phone number to Jobs and said he would try to pay if it worked. Later Jobs called him and found that the guy was not able to figure out how to use the Blue Box. Though Jobs persuaded the guy to meet him and Woz but they decided not to meet the dangerous guy. According to Steve "If it had not been the Blue Boxes, there would not have been an apple". They learned how to work together and gained the confidence that they can handle technical problems and can put things to production level. After this, Apple is history.

Ref: Isaacson W., Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography 

Final year B.Tech. projects

Recently, the council of Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT –M) has decided to make final year B.Tech. projects optional for the engineering students. In place of projects, now, student will have a choice of taking some optional courses after consulting with faculty members. The argument given is that many times students are not motivated enough to do projects. And, it’s really tough to get something significant without interest. The argument seems to be reasonable as nobody can force motivation. Prof. Idichandy, former deputy director, IIT-M, suggests that state engineering colleges should follow the footsteps of IIT-M and make the projects optional as most of the times, students get the ready-made projects form Ritchie Street, Chennai. Prof.C. Thangaraj, Vice-Chancellor, Anna University of Technology, Chennai admitted the fact but also pointed out that the idea is good for IITs but the students in state engineering colleges need to practice what they learn in theory. So, projects are necessary. 


First, the idea seems to be interesting. Let’s leave the IITs out of discussion. They have enough resources to implement the idea. Now, what about other engineering colleges especially state engineering colleges? Every city has its “Ritchie Street” and most of the times; students get projects from there. In B.Tech., I didn't get projects from any "Ritchie Street" but want to share my experience. I had two projects in last two semesters of UG, minor and major project, though; I don’t know why different names were given to the two, perhaps, marks were the reason. In 7th sem., Prof. S. D. Bhattacharya, retired prof. from IIT-Roorkee was my guide; hence, I learned a lot. While in major project, I didn't learn even half of the amount I learned in minor project. Though, topic of major project was more fascinating than the minor. Reason was simple; I didn’t get the expert like Prof. Bhattacharya for guidance. This is no longer a secret that until one is not motivated as well as gets guidelines from a good person for guidance (may be a faculty or industrial person), it's tough to learn something substantial. Most of times, students are guided by faculty members and faculty quality is very well known. Also, I don’t think, situation will change much if students would guided by industry persons. Some engineering colleges have the system of one full semester training for students at industries. Apart from few, majority of students don’t learn much. Reason is again the same; quality of persons who are guiding the students is not at par. Sometimes, people claim that they are too busy and don’t have time for UG people, which, at-least, I am not ready to buy. Even an hour every 2-3 days is sufficient to help students. They are making arguments to hide their incompetence. 

It is clear that projects and industrial training are not serving the purpose for which these were introduced. So, what’s the way forward? Should the final year projects/training (here I am focusing on 6 months training not on some weeks training) be scraped? Should the idea proposed by IIT-M be implemented? As I said earlier, idea is exciting and good, hence, can be tried provided  the colleges have resources like IITs. Let's face the reality. In present scenario, people are not getting sufficient exposure to practical training in the labs at colleges (no need to mention the condition of laboratories especially in state colleges), so, it’s not a good idea to make final year project optional. Along with this, I believe colleges don't have enough quality faculty to run useful elective subjects. Then, what’s the solution. Here, I would like to discuss which I believe can help. 

Introduce the projects/training where students are guided by both industrial persons and faculty members. For this, industries and academic institutions have to come together and identify the problems which interest the both. While identifying the problems, a larger goal must be defined which can be targeted over a longer period like 2-3 years. After defining the goal, things can be break up into smaller aims. When an action plan (smaller and bigger aims of the project) is ready, students must be "employed" on the projects. This way, I feel, everybody will be benefitted. Now, we need to take care of other important aspects also. There are double standards in India that if anybody wants to do things in education sector, he/she should not demand money. He/she should do for the sake of the society only not for himself/herself. This is mostly expected from academia people. This is totally unreasonable  and non-sensible especially from the one having quality. Today, during the lecture, professor said in the class that, now, he wants to do something revolutionary (device manufacturing or some technological change) in his research field so that he can spend rest of his life lying on a beach. I don’t see anything wrong in his statement. We need to accept that money is the driving force to make people work. People must be paid for their efforts including students. End of the day, students are going to make things happen. Also, one very important thing is that we must welcome the ideas from students because they are the fresh and untrained minds. They can come-up with out of box ideas. Let’s accept that in the growing age of technology, present generation (or so called “facebook” generation :D :D ) is much smarter than the previous generation. Students shouldn’t be forced to walk on a fixed path. The main goal must be explained to them. Then, allow the students to come with their own ideas. Equally important is that their ideas must be discussed on the table. After the discussion, execute the one which seems to best in the project’s interest. This is just a broad idea. Further details can be figured out with discussions. This way, industry academia interaction will get encouragement which is need of the hour. After getting success in this, further steps can be taken to enhance the collaboration of industries with academia like introducing some shared elective courses etc. 

Changes in IIT-JEE and AIEEE

Few days back, there was news in the media that there is going to be a single entrance examination for the admissions in all engineering institutes across the country including IITs, NITs, Central and State institutes. IIT-JEE and AIEEE will be merged together in 2013. Along with this, there are some other interesting proposals on the table. I would like to discuss some of them: 

• Weightage to the Marks of +2 standards: The entrance exam will not be given 100 % weightage. Marks obtained in entrance exam and in the +2 standard, together are going to decide the final merit list for admissions. The relative weightage of both can vary from institute to institute (IITs, State Colleges, and NITs). Proposed weightage for IITs is 40 %. This step is taken to reduce the effect of coaching institutes. Now, the big question is how to normalize marks of all the boards across the country. “Sources” in the media are telling that some formula has been created for normalizing 12th class marks across all boards. If some formula is there, then, why not make it public? Why is there so much secrecy about it? Let’s make it public so that experts and students can discuss it, hence, can comment on its merits and demerits. Why is MHRD in so much hurry? Has the matter been discussed with all the boards who are supposed to adopt this formula? Let’s 1st bring that “secret” formula on the table, see its applicability for a year. Then, analyze the results next year. Cheating in some of the boards exams is not a secret anymore. There may be a need to scrap some open and/or state boards for a fair deal for the students. The goal is that the student should take the school education seriously and not blindly prepare for the entrance exam. I am not sure; this is the right approach. Without improving things at grass root level, how government is expecting students to improve. 
• SAT type Test: The model opted for common entrance exam is based on the SAT exam, used for admission in colleges at United States of America. Hence, it is likely to be held online in coming years, may be from 2014. And, a professional organization like ETS is going to conduct this. It seems to be a good step. But before implementing it, we need to ensure that students get sufficient exposure to computer education and online system at school. Do we have enough infrastructures for this? I believe, no. In 2009 (I am not sure about year), an 18-year old boy from Khammam district of Andhra Pradesh managed to secure 453 rank in IIT-JEE with not enough to eat, and no money even to burn the midnight oil, in a village with hardly nine hours daily power supply. In present system, we used to hear some of these inspiring stories ever year. Can we provide computer education to these deprived but extremely talented students with the existing infrastructure in most government schools (where they are studying)? Aren’t we making things impossible for under-privileged class of the society? Why not wait for some years and improve education at school level? In some years, we will come to know the impact of Right to Education law also. 
• One exam; less stress: MHRD is very keen to reduce stress on students due to multiple exams, hence, merger of AIEEE and IIT-JEE is proposed. Will this really help? I have doubts about it. If MHRD really wants to reduce stress, then, GRE style model should be adopted, where a student can take exam multiple times until he/she is not satisfied with performance. Proposal is silent on this point. There is no clarity about this issue. Nobody wants to explain how one exam means less stress. 
• Is it right to merge so many institutes in one exam: I don’t see much issue with this. CAT has been working quite well over the years. So, it’s well known that this can be done easily. 

All in all, on the paper, proposal looks exciting. Decreasing quality of students at engineering college is surely an issue. It must be tackled. But MHRD is proceeding in a “typical” government style. Aren’t we creating a cart without having the horse? This can further worsen the situation. Why is there so much hurry? Quality can’t be improved over night. It's unreasonable to expect that 2013 batch students would be of better quality simply because they would be forced to adopt something new. Let’s be reasonable with students and move step-by-step.

Are the existing corruption laws sufficient?

On February 4, trial court dismissed Dr. Subramanian Swami’s petition seeking prosecution of present Home Minister, P. Chidambaram in 2G spectrum. According to trail court, the decision taken by a public servant didn’t come under criminal culpability simply because it caused the loss of public exchequer. Some of the key points of judgment are: 

• The decision of the spectrum price was taken by both the Telecom Ministry and the Finance Ministry in unison. P. Chidambaram agreed with A. Raja that the spectrum price would be same as discovered in the year 2001 and also, told Mr. A. Raja that there is no need to revisit it. This decision was subsequently conveyed to the Hon'ble Prime Minister. 
• There is no material on the record to show that incriminating act on the part of Home Minister. 
• There is no evidence on record to suggest that there was an agreement between him and Mr. Raja to subvert the telecom policy 
• Mr. P. Chidambaram was party to only two decisions, i.e., keeping the spectrum prices at 2001 level and dilution of equity by the two companies which is not sufficient for criminal proceedings. 

One positive side of the judgment is that now government can function more freely in coming budget session of the parliament which I believe is very essential for the country. 

Justice O.P. Saini is one of eminent judges of the country. It’s really tough to comment on his judgement. Also, I am not in any position (in terms of procedures of law) to do so. Let’s not focus on the 2G case only but look for a bigger picture. This verdict has surely raised some serious deficiencies of our law system. 

With existing laws, is it possible to prosecute any public servant in the majority of corruption cases? How one can show the criminal intent of somebody especially in a high profile cases? It can only be achieved by sting operations or cash tracking which is highly unlikely in majority of cases. The bar set for criminal culpability in corruption cases is so high that majority of corrupts will fall under it. Also, remember, Swami’s petition was only for the inquiry. What will happen to the trail in high profile cases? Is there any hope that justice can be delivered in high profile cases? It’s time to introspect our laws about corruption. Nobody is denying that we need to save the public servants against frivolous complaints and need to give them enough safety cover so that they can take a prudent decision. But in doing so, a system shouldn’t be made that encourages corruption and malpractices. It’s time to make stringent laws so that justice can be delivered. It’s time to bring transparency and accountability in the system. This is important not only to avoid financial loss due to corruption but also to keep up the morale and confidence of the citizens.

It's time for action.

Today, I read an interview of Dr. N. R. Narayana Murthy in Times of India. He pointed out one of the biggest disadvantages of corruption, malpractices, chalta hai, etc. is that enough number of people is not there who youngsters can look-up as role models. I believe that he is quite right. In-fact, corrupts are showing the way to make easy money. Corruption is so-much deep rooted in the system that we can’t imagine the system to be running without it. It has become the necessity of present time. The alarming situation is that youngsters are looking to corrupts as role models. Honest are marginalized by the anti-social elements of the society. 

As an Indian, we are very good in blaming the government and the system. In any get-together with friends or at homes or at any public place, we can easily find people who are doing wrong-doings in life and blaming system and government (Perhaps, I am also one of them). Yes, government is not doing suitably. There are barely few acts from government side from where one can draw confidence. But if we look at the larger picture, we are paying the price of putting families above the society opposite of the west as pointed by Dr. Murthy in his interview. That’s why western countries are relatively corruption free. Yes, families are necessary. One has to take care for his/her family. But along with this, we have some moral obligations to fulfill for the country. It’s our apathy towards the society that somewhat around two fifty families are dictating the entire India at the name of democracy. Enough of blaming, it’s time for action. The biggest power we have in our hands is vote and so called “educated” class doesn’t care about it. Many times we don’t go for voting in elections, even if go, rather than voting on the real issues like development, honesty of candidates etc. we vote on issues like castes, religion etc. (I am also one of you, till date, voted once). Voting percentage decreases as literacy rate of constituency increases. Metro cities have worst voting percentage in elections. This is the reason why our politicians don’t care about our views on any issue. They call us facebook population. We have to change this scenario. At this stage, voting is the minimum thing we can do; not for the country but for our future and the future of the coming generations. It’s time to step-up otherwise developed India will remain a dream forever.

In the morning, facebook status of Sukdpeep (one of my friends from Punjab, India) was "For the first time ......to contribute.....the election fever....eagerly waiting to vote...!!!". Good work, Sukdeep. Keep it up.

The Infosys Award 2011

On January 9, 2012; Infosys science foundation awarded the Infosys Awards to the six eminent Indian scientists in their respective categories for the year 2011. I extend my heartiest congratulations to the winners. The jury chairs for year 2011 were the same as of year 2010 except for the Engineering and Computer Science Category. In Engineering and Computer Science category, Prof. Suresh Subra was replaced by Prof. Pradeep K. Khosla because Prof. Suresh was appointed as the director of National Science Foundation, USA. Prof. Khosla is the dean of college of Engineering and the Philp and Mar-sha Dowd University Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, USA.

The award ceremony was held at Leela palace, Bangalore. Former President, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam was the chief guest. He honored the each recipient with a cash prize of 50 Lakhs, a 24-karat gold medallion and a citation showing a body laureate work. During his speech, he stressed on encouraging productive academic pursuits that would boost the confidence of researchers in physical, biological and social sciences and related fields. The laureates of 2011 awards are:

Prof. Kalyanmoy Deb (Engineering and Computer Science Category): In computer Science and Engineering category, the prize was awarded to Prof. Kalyanmoy Deb for his fundamental contribution to the emerging field of Evolutionary Muti-objective optimization and for his ideas on optimization and computing principle to devise the efficient algorithms that are fast and scalable.
      Prof. Deb did his B.Tech. in Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur in 1985. Before joining University of Alabama for PhD studies in 1987, he served the Engineers India limited from 1985 to 1987. He finished his PhD form University of Alabama in 1991. After returning from USA in 1993, He joined as an Assistant Professor at IIT, Kanpur. Since then, he is working there. Presently, he is a Gurmukh and Veena Mehta Endowed Chair Professor of Mechanical Engineering, IIT, Kanpur and the Director of the Kanpur Genetic Algorithms Laboratory (KanGAL) which he established in 1997. He is an author of more than 275 journal articles, two text booksand 17 edited books. He conferred with many prestigious awards and fellowships. Some of them are: Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar award (2005), Thomson Citation Laureate Award, Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research award, Humboldt Fellowship from Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany. He is a fellow of Indian National Science Academy (INSA), Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE), Indian Academy of Sciences (IASc), and International Society of Genetic and Evolutionary Computation (ISGEC).

Dr. Imran Siddiqi (Life Sciences): Dr. Imran Siddiqi was awarded the prize in life sciences category for his breakthrough contributions to the basic understanding of clonal seed formations in the plant which could revolutionize the agriculture sector. Dr. Siddiqi is a scientist and group leader at Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) – CSIR, Hyderabad. 
      Dr. Siddiqi did his MSc from IIT, Bombay in 1981 and PhD from University of Oregon, USA in 1989. Before joining CCMB in 1992, he did postdoctoral work at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. His research is mainly focused on the developmental biology of plant reproduction with an emphasis on the control of female meiosis and gametogenesis.

Prof. Kannan Soundararajan (Mathematical Sciences): In mathematics category, the prize was awarded to Prof. Kannan Soundararajan for his work in number theory and development of new techniques to study the critical values of general zeta function to prove the quantum unique ergodicity conjecture for classical holomorphic forms.
      Prof. Soundarajan did his undergraduate studies from University of Michigan, USA in 1995. He joined Princeton University for PhD studies in 1995. During his PhD, he was a fellow of prestigious Sloan Fellowship. After PhD, he served to various places including Princeton University. In 2006, he moved to Stanford University where, currently, he is working as professor of mathematics and the Director of Mathematics Research Center, Stanford. He got the Salem Prize in 2003, Sastra Ramanujan Prize shared with Manjul Bhargava in 2005.

Prof. Sriram Rajagopal Ramaswamy (Physical Sciences): In Physical Science category, the award was given to Prof. Sriram Rajagopal Ramaswamy for his work in the field of active matters that enables a detailed exploration into several aspects of the collective behavior of living systems as interacting mechanical entities with distributed input and dissipation of energy.
      Prof. Ramaswamy did his BS from University of Maryland in 1977, then, he went to University of Chicago and got his PhD in 1983. After finishing postdoctoral studies from University of Pennsylvania, he joined at Department of Physics at Indian Institute of Science in 1986. He held numerous number of positions throughout his career. 

Prof. Raghu G. Rajan (Social Sciences - Economics): Prof. Raghu G. Rajan won the award in the social science – economics category for his work in analyzing the contribution of financial development on economic growth as well as the potential harmful effects of dysfunctional incentives that lead to excessive risk-taking. Prof. Rajan presented the convincing evidence of the possibility of global financial crisis (In 2005, he was quite vocal about the issue) well before the actual crisis occurred on 2008-09.       
      Prof. Rajan did his UG in Electrical Engineering from IIT, Delhi, India in 1985. After completing from there, he joined Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, India for MBA. Then, he moved to MIT, USA for doctoral studies in 1987. After finishing from MIT in 1991, he joined as an assistant professor at University of Chicago, US. Presently, he is a professor there. Since 2008, he is Economic advisor to Prime Minister of India (Honorary). He also served as the chairman of High Level Committee on Financial Sector Reforms, India in the year 2007-2008. He held numerous numbers of academic positions throughout his career. He also won various awards and honors throughout his career. Some of them are: Treffstz Prize for outstanding academic achievement, Western Finance Association (1991); Inaugural Fisher Black Prize awarded by the American Finance Association (2003); Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2009); Bernhard Harms Prize awarded by the Kiel Institute for International Economics (2010); Global Indian of the Year Award, NASSCOM (2011). 

Dr. Pratap Bhanu Mehta (Social Sciences – Political Science and International): The Infosys prize in Social Science – Political and international was won by Dr. Pratap Bhanu Mehta for his work on political philosophy and social theory and also for his acute analysis of India’s politics and public policies.
      Dr. Mehta did B.A. from St John's College, Oxford in Philosophy, Politics and Economics and a Ph.D in Politics from Princeton University. He is a recipient of the Malcun S. Adishehshiah award (2010). He was Member-Convenor of the Prime Minister of India’s National Knowledge Commission; Member of the Supreme Court appointed committee on elections in Indian Universities. Presently, he is president of Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, India. 


Along with prize distribution, Infosys Science Foundation made the announcement of including humanities as the sixth category for prizes of year 2012.

Note: I took all the information from Internet. Please let me know if found any thing wrong specially about the work and/or achievements of these eminent scientists 

कहा गये वो दिन

कहा गये वो दिन
जब तितली देखकर उछला करते थे ,
बारिस के रिमजिम अपनी मे
अपनी नाव चलाया करते थे
कापी के पन्ने फाड कर
जहाज उडाया करते थे
कहा खो गये वो दिन

कहा गये वो दिन
जब इक बार रोने पर
सब काम छोड कर
चुप कराया करते थे
आज दिल रोता है,
फिर भी कोई नही देखता
हमारी छोटी सी मुस्कान
सबको खुसिया दिया करती थी
कहा खो गये वो दिन

कहा गये वो दिन
जब गुलक के चंद सिक्के भी
खुसिया दिया करते थे
आज हजरो के बाद भी
इतना गम छाया है
कहा खो गये वो दिन

कहा गये वो दिन
जब बाबूजी की डाट खाकर भी,
मा की गोद मे सो जाया करते थे
सुबह फिर किलकारिया भरा करते थे
आज किसी की इक बात भी परेसान कर देती
कहा खो गये वो दिन

कहा गये वो दिन
जब पाच पेसे की टोफी भी मिठी लगा करती थी
आज दुकान की मिठाई भी फिकी लगती है
काश कि वापस आ सकती वो मिठास
कहा खो गये वो दिन