Indian News & Discussions

[SalmanNadeem]

Originally Posted by Developereo

I said the article is silly, not you.

Economic success cannot be linked to IQ so simplistically. Probably the two most important factors in individual economic success are risk taking/entrepreneurship and social skills. Even education and 'talent' are secondary, because you can always hire smart people. I don't know of any IQ test that measures these qualities.

Your argument is not supported by facts at all. Social skills are necessary of course, but then even Amazonian tribes have great skills of cooperation. It is brain power that brings about the change from Amazonian Tribe to 21st century City.

Capable of what?
Understanding quantum physics? probaby.
Raising socially and emotionally mature children? I don't know.

I don't think people with an IQ of 100 are social inept. Do you? however, their cognitive capabilities and consequently their contribution to the GDP would be much greater than someone with an IQ of 75 or 80.

Given a choice between:
1) A group of socially inept geniuses
2) A group of mediocre people who can work together

I will put my money on group #2.

Your choices are wrong. Socially inept geniuses make up only a tiny fraction of any population.

A person with an IQ of 100 is what I would call "mediocre". A person with an IQ of 80? Mentally deficient.

[ejaz007]

India’s fight against Maoists failing, says Manmohan
* Indian PM says rebels retain support of tribal communities

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told India's police chiefs on Tuesday that a campaign against Maoist rebels had failed to produce results and that rebel violence was on the rise in many states.

The comment came as hundreds of separatist rebels laid down arms and surrendered to authorities on Tuesday in Assam. More than 370 rebels of the Dima Halam Daogah group emerged from their jungle hide-outs and handed in their weapons to the police, said Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta, Assam's inspector general of police. The rebels, also known as the "Black Widow" group, are fighting for an independent homeland for the ethnic Dimasa tribes.

Singh's comment is the clearest signal yet of the government's concern at a rebellion that has virtually put a vast swathe of the countryside rich in minerals out of official control, hurting potential business worth billions of dollars. Though the economic impact of the rebellion remains limited, with the rebels largely operating out of jungle hideouts, the insurgency and the sense that it is worsening adds to risks for companies mulling investments.

"I would like to state frankly that we have not achieved as much success as we would have liked in containing this menace," Singh said, underscoring concern over what he has described as the biggest homegrown threat to India's internal security. "It is a matter of concern that despite our efforts the level of violence in the affected states continues to rise."

The rebels have increased attacks on railways, power and telecommunication networks to halt economic development, Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said. In June, bauxite production at state-run National Aluminium Co Ltd (NALCO) in eastern Orissa state fell by 20 percent after an April attack by Maoists in one of their mines.

The Maoist rebellion began four decades ago championing the cause of poor peasants in the east, but has now spread to about 20 of India's 29 states, with the rebels targetting police and government property in hit-and-run attacks. India's cities and bigger towns are largely free of the violence, but Singh warned that the rebels had managed to retain support among a cross section of society.

Support: "Despite its sanguinary nature, the movement manages to retain the support of a section of the tribal communities and the poorest of the poor in many affected areas," he said. "It has influence among certain sections of the civil society, the intelligentsia ... all this adds to the complexity of the problem." India's campaign to subdue the rebels has been limited as police are often outnumbered and use outdated weapons against insurgents skilled in jungle warfare and well-equipped with rocket launchers, automatic rifles and explosives.

"As I have stated before dealing with left-wing extremism requires a nuanced strategy, a holistic approach," he said. "It can not be treated solely as a law and order problem." agencies

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

[indianrabbit]

Originally Posted by Muhammad Bin Qasim

Descendants of Muhammad Bin Qasim need not to worry about india....

we we need to do is to find 17 year old true Muhammad Bin Qasim... and here is your india in a plate....

Best of luck to you, by the way it is 2009.

[Punjabi]

India to overtake China in 2020: Swaminathan Aiyar
Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar, ET Bureau 1 January 2010, 12:15pm ISTText Size:|Topics:China
India
US
terrorism
economy
2020

In the past decades, India has been world number one in starvation deaths, foreign aid and bribery. In the 2000s, it was transformed from a chronic

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under-performer to a potential superpower. Here are eight predictions of what it will look like in 2020:

India will overtake China as the fastest-growing economy in the world. China will start ageing and suffering from a declining workforce, and will be forced to revalue its currency. So its growth will decelerate, just as Japan decelerated in the 1990s after looking unstoppable in the 1980s. Having become the world's second-biggest economy, China's export-oriented model will erode sharply - the world will no longer be able to absorb its exports at the earlier pace. Meanwhile, India will gain demographically with a growing workforce that is more literate than ever before. The poorer Indian states will start catching up with the richer ones. This will take India's GDP growth to 10% by 2020, while China's growth will dip to 7-8%.

India will become the largest English-speaking nation in the world, overtaking the US. So, the global publishing industry will shift in a big way to India. Rupert Murdoch's heirs will sell his collapsing media empire to Indian buyers. The New York Times will become a subsidiary of an Indian publishing giant.

In the 2000s, India finally gained entry into the nuclear club, and sanctions against it were lifted. By 2020, Indian companies will be major exporters of nuclear equipment, a vital link in the global supply chain. So, India will be in a position to impose nuclear sanctions on others.

India, along with the US and Canada, will develop new technology to extract natural gas from gas hydrates - a solidified form of gas lying on ocean floors. India has the largest gas hydrate deposits in the world, and so will become the biggest global producer. This will enable India to substitute gas for coal in power generation, hugely reducing carbon emissions and making Jairam Ramesh look saintly.

India will also discover enormous deposits of shale gas in its vast shale formations running through the Gangetic plain, Assam, Rajasthan and Gujarat. New technology has made the extraction of shale gas economic, so India will become a major gas producer and exporter. Meanwhile, Iran's mullahs will be overthrown, and a new democratic regime will usher in rapid economic growth that creates a shortage of gas in Iran by 2020. So, the Iran-India pipeline will be recast, but in reverse form: India will now export gas to Iran.

More and more regions of India will demand separate statehood. By 2020, India will have 50 states instead of the current 28. The new states will not exactly be small. With 50 states and a population of almost 1.5 billion, India will average 30 million people per state, far higher than the current US average of 6 million per state.

China, alarmed at India's rise, will raise tensions along the Himalayan border. China will threaten to divert the waters of the Brahmaputra from Tibet to water-scarce northern China. India will threaten to bomb any such project. The issue will go to the Security Council.

Islamic fundamentalists will take over in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The US will withdraw from the region, leaving India to bear the brunt of consequences. Terrorism will rise in India, but the economy will still keep growing. How so? Well, 3000 people die every year falling off Mumbai's suburban trains, and that does not stop Mumbai's growth. Terrorism will bruise India, but not halt its growth.

[Red Dwarf]

Tharoor criticises Nehru and Gandhi, irks Congress

The junior minister at the External Affairs Ministry is at it again. Keeping up with his criticism of government policy, Shashi Tharoor has now criticised the foreign policy approach of Pandit Jawahrlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi.

Speaking at a talk by British Labour MP Bhikhu Parekh in New Delhi on Friday, Tharoor agreed with the speaker's critical assessment of the policies as "more like moralistic running commentary".

Tharoor said: "Lord Parekh and I have fought alike on issues of India's identity and domestic arrangements. So we do, I am afraid, come from a similar outlook of the world. I think his (is a) very clear summary of the way in which Indian foreign policy drew from our founding fathers' sense of our civilisational heritage. The extraordinary contribution of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru to the articulation of that civilisational heritage and the manner in which both enhanced India's standing in the world, gave us the negative reputation for conducting foreign policy as a sort of moralistic running commentary on other people's behaviour."

Sources claim that the Congress has taken cognizance of Tharoor's comments and may take action against the Minister of State on Monday. On condition of anonymity, a senior Congress leader said that the party has "taken note" of his comments made over a period of time.

Last month, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna had clearly said that "policy changes should not be discussed in public", specifically reacting to his deputy's tweets on the subject. (Read: Government reacts to Tharoor's Tweets)

Tharoor criticises Nehru and Gandhi, irks Congress

[skyisthelimit]

Towards self-reliance in launch vehicle technology

GSLV Mk-III, is the most powerful rocket to be built by ISRO, will make India totally self-reliant in launch vehicle technology for launching INSAT class of communication satellites which are now being put in orbit for India by the European launcher Ariane-5.
“Towards sustained self-reliance in accessing space, GSLV Mk-III, the next generation launch vehicle,” announces a stylish poster on India’s Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III, which is currently under development.

The poster, along with a model of the GSLV Mk-III, was prominently displayed in the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) pavilion, “Pride of India,” during the Indian Science Congress held recently at Thiruvananthapuram.

The GSLV Mk-III will make India totally self-reliant in launch vehicle technology for launching INSAT class of communication satellites which are now being put in orbit for India by the European launcher Ariane-5.

In the fourth week of this month, the ISRO will cross a milestone in its efforts to develop this aerial powerhouse called the GSLV Mk-III when one of its two gigantic strap-on booster motors, S-200, erupts into life and fires for about 130 seconds. The motor will fire at the massive new test facility built at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota. The motor is called S-200 because it is powered by 200 tonnes of solid propellants.

The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram, has designed S-200, and propellant casting has been done in a newly built plant at Sriharikota. The final preparation for ground-testing of the motor is progressing at Sriharikota and test readiness is being reviewed by the Test Authorisation Board chaired by SDSC Director M.C. Dathan.

In February first week, the ISRO will cross another milestone when the GSLV Mk-III’s core stage (L-110), powered by 110 tonnes of liquid propellants, fires for about 200 seconds at the huge test stand at the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) at Mahendragiri near Nagercoil in Tamil Nadu.
Short-duration test

A test for 15 seconds will be done to validate the performance of the engine and the associated ground facilities before the long-duration test is conducted for 200 seconds. The final preparations for testing the L-110 stage are on at Mahendragiri under the guidance of LPSC Director M.K.G. Nair.

Sub-systems are getting ready for undergoing tests at the same facility for the upper cryogenic stage, which will be fuelled by 25 tonnes of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen.

If everything goes on schedule, the first flight of the GSLV Mk-III will take place by the end of 2011. It is the most powerful rocket to be built by the ISRO, weighing 630 tonnes and 43.5 metres tall. It can put a satellite weighing four tonnes in a geo-synchronous transfer orbit with a perigee of about 200 km and an apogee of 36,000 km. It can put a satellite weighing 10 tonnes in a near-earth orbit at an altitude of about 300 km.

It has three stages. The two boosters, S-200, form the first stage. The boosters hug the core/second liquid stage. Above this liquid stage is the cryogenic stage.

“S-200 stage is the third largest stage in the world. Preparations are on for the first static test of the S-200 motor at Sriharikota. It will be a milestone in the GSLV Mk-III’s development,” said VSSC Director P.S. Veeraraghavan. S-200 is the third largest booster after the NASA Space Shuttle and Arianespace Ariane-5’s boosters.

According to N. Narayana Moorthy, Project Director, GSLV Mk-III, the ISRO executed a massive programme of building the infrastructure needed for the project at Sriharikota, Mahendragiri and in Thiruvananthapuram. Out of Rs. 2,500 crore allocated to the project, Rs. 1,600 crore was earmarked for building infrastructure including facilities for assembling and testing the solid, liquid and cryogenic engines and their stages, and integration halls at Sriharikota, Mahendragiri and in Thiruvananthapuram. A big plant for manufacturing the solid propellants needed for S-200 boosters has come up at Sriharikota.

“The ISRO has built big facilities in the launch complex at Sriharikota for handling and integration of the GSLV Mk-III. These include erection of a new mobile launch pedestal since the core vehicle’s diameter is four metres,” said Mr. Narayana Moorthy. Major facilities have come up at the VSSC and Sriharikota for structural testing of different hardware including propellant tanks and light alloy structures.

“We have completed building most of the infrastructure and we are starting the testing phase. The launch schedule will depend on the outcome of the ground tests,” said Mr. Narayana Moorthy.

GSLV Mk-III’s motor S-200 will be tested in the last week of January If everything goes on schedule, the first flight will take place by 2011-end

[Red Dwarf]

India's 19th nuclear reactor becomes operational

India's 19th nuclear power reactor went into operation on Saturday night at the Rajasthan Atomic Power Plant near Kota, giving a boost to availability of electricity in North India.

The indigenous reactor of Rajasthan Atomic Power Project (RAPP-6) at Rawat Bhata, near Kota, attained its first criticality at 21:53 hrs on Saturday, posting a major milestone in the project completion process.

Rajasthan Atomic Power Project 5 and 6 comprises of two Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) of 220MW each. The first unit, RAPP-5 achieved first synchronisation on December 22, 2009 and RAPP- 6, the second unit, an indigenous nuclear power reactor has now joined the fleet of 18 nuclear power reactors in operation.

With the operation of RAPP 5 and 6, the installed capacity has risen to 1180MW. The power will be shared by the beneficiaries of Northern Electricity Grid. Both Units 5 and 6 of RAPP are using uranium imported from Russia and are under India-specific safeguards agreement of International Atomic Energy Agency as per the separation plan of military and civilian nuclear power plants agreed under the landmark Indo-US civil nuclear deal.

With the operationalisation of RAPP6, the overall installed capacity of nuclear power in India has gone up to 4560MW. The reactors have been designed and built by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), a public sector undertaking under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE). The Indian industry has played a major role in supply of critical equipment and in meeting construction schedules, Ranjit Raj Kakde, General Manager (Corporate Communications), said in a release.

The total nuclear power capacity is planned to be increased to 7280MW by completion of projects under construction in Karnataka (Kaiga 4) and Tamil Nadu (Koodankulam units 1 and 2). The long-term plans are to take the capacity close to 60,000MW through diverse reactors technologies and designs.

NPCIL is unique in having comprehensive capacity in the various facets of nuclear technology namely site selection, design, construction, commissioning, operation, maintenance and life extension of nuclear power plants, Kakade said. PHWRs use natural uranium as a fuel and heavy water both as moderator and coolant.

Meanwhile, NPCIL, as part of its expansion plan of PHWRs, has designed 700MW PHWRs based on the experience of its540 MW built in Tarapur. Four 700MW PHWRs, including two at Rawat Bhata site, have been approved by government and construction is being taken up. These are slated for completion with a gestation period of 60 months

Source : India's 19th nuclear reactor becomes operational

[genmirajborgza786]

Taking off: How India's aviation industry is soaring

By Ben Richardson
Editor, BBC India Business Report


In a leafy Indian garden, Captain Anil Gadgil goes through the final flight checks and fires up his jet motors.

As they whine into life, his fingers flick switches and push buttons, the control panel blinking a reassuring response.

The tarmac runway of Mumbai's international airport stretches out in front of him, which is odd as we are sitting on the back of a small truck more than a 100 miles from the city, and any attempt to take off would put us firmly into the next door neighbour's front room.


“ Today, in India, hundreds and hundreds of people who have never flown are coming to the aviation industry ”
Captain Anil Gadgil, Jeet Aerospace
But Capt Gadgil is unconcerned, and turns round to explain the motivation behind his self-designed mobile flight simulator and aviation academy.

"No matter what the economy says, no matter what the jobs market is, a youngster will always want to fly," he says.

"There is always a thrill about this kind of career and many youngsters are looking for it."

'Inspire and train'

Capt Gadgil and his wife Kavita set up Jeet Aerospace in 1991 after their son Abhijit was killed during a training flight with the Indian Air Force.


Operating out of Pune, Maharashtra's second-biggest city after Mumbai, it aims to inspire and help train the next generation of commercial and defence pilots, and to cut the accident rate that was, at the time, robbing the country of some of its best flyers.

And while the simulator has helped them achieve many of their goals, it has also given them a unique insight into the way India's aviation industry is developing.

"Today, in India, hundreds and hundreds of people who have never flown are coming to the aviation industry," Capt Gadgil explains.

"They are attracted to the industry, not just for flying, but for many other jobs.

"I don't think we will see a very quick boom. It's going to be slow, but it's going to be steady and there is a huge market waiting to open up."


“ We are developing the small hub and spoke airports by which we can create a network of airports across the length and breadth of the country to facilitate our economy ”
Deepak Shastri, Airports Authority of India
The most recent figures seem to back up his view, though the boom may be arriving a little quicker than he expected.

According to the Airports Authority of India, the total number of domestic and international passengers was 10.7 million in October 2009, up 23% on the same month a year earlier.

Aircraft movements climbed by almost 59% in the same period.

At a time when many of the world's other airline markets and carriers are going through some of their toughest ever months, this sort of growth jars as freakish and unsustainable.

But for Deepak Shastri, the director of Pune's international airport, there are a number of very good economic and business reasons why India should be seen as unique in terms of its aviation industry development.

Planes versus trains

Sitting in his office at the airport, the sounds and dust of building work filling the air, Mr Shastri explains that today only a tiny percentage of India's more than 1 billion population flies.


Most still use the cheaper, though slower, option of the train to traverse this massive country.

As a result, he says that India will not be dependent on international flights or foreign tourists for growth, and can rely on the expansion of its internal market, which is being driven by economic growth of more than 7%.

Also, the issues that have plagued many of the world's airlines, such as high fuel costs, declining passenger numbers, and cut-throat price wars have had a more limited impact in India.

Low-cost carriers such as Spicejet have had to price competitively and are still making a loss, but that shortfall has narrowed in the most recent earnings figures and the company is predicting a return to profits in the financial year 2009/2010.

Many of the full-service companies such as Air India are in the process of reworking their business plans and analysts forecast that while some of them are still losing millions of dollars a day, they will be in a better shape once the changes are made.

Airport expansion

For Deepak Shastri, the future is not in doubt and he is taking steps to prepare for the boom in air travel that he believes is only a matter of time.

He explains that at Pune airport they have grown in size from 4,000 square metres to 12,000 square meters, has doubled the number of passengers it can handle, and has increased its plane parking bays from four to eight.

The next step is to build a brand new airport that will allow them to meet the increasing numbers of passengers looking to fly to and from Pune, which he expects to rise from 2 million to 2.5 million in the next financial year.

Mr Shastri, who also works for the state-run Airports Authority of India, explains that his ambitions for Pune are matched nationwide by the government, which views the industry as a driver of development and not just a consequence of an expanding economy and rising consumer demand.


“ Seeing the past trends, the way in which demand has increased especially in the domestic market, we see a lot of growth ”
Anirudha Thete, Altos Electronics
In the next 10 years India has "very ambitious plans of investment in large numbers through different business models," he says, adding it will include government funding, public and private partnership systems, and private financing.

"We are developing green field airports and brown field airports," he continues.

"And we are developing the small hub and spoke airports by which we can create a network of airports across the length and breadth of the country to facilitate our economy."

Technology

One company that is directly benefitting from the growth in the airline industry is Altos Electronics.


Based in their new factory down a road that threatens to loosen your fillings and remove chunks of your car, the firm makes aviation warning lights that are placed on structures such as tall buildings and antennas.

An exporter to the UK and the Gulf states, company boss Anirudha Thete says he can draw a direct comparison with the way India is performing when compared to other countries worldwide.

"As the aviation industry grows, naturally the demand for our products will increase," he says as his workers solder and assemble the light emitting diodes and motherboards that are central to the company's flashing lamps.

Mr Thete explains that demand for his products has tripled in the past years, and while domestic sales are still climbing, exports to the UK have dropped by 50% over the past year, reflecting the tougher times the British economy faces.

"Seeing the past trends, the way in which demand has increased especially in the domestic market, we see a lot of growth," he says.

He's not the only one. The question now is if India's aviation industry can live up to the hype and expectations that are surrounding it.

Or if it will continue to be a market with huge potential just waiting to take off.

Story from BBC NEWS:
BBC News - Taking off: How India's aviation industry is soaring

Published: 2010/01/24 18:03:39 GMT

© BBC MMX

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[Red Dwarf]

Last speaker of ancient language of Bo dies in India

The last speaker of an ancient language in India's Andaman Islands has died at the age of about 85, a leading linguist has told the BBC.

Professor Anvita Abbi said that the death of Boa Sr was highly significant because one of the world's oldest languages - Bo - had come to an end.

She said that India had lost an irreplaceable part of its heritage.

Languages in the Andamans are thought to originate from Africa. Some may be 70,000 years old.

The islands are often called an "anthropologist's dream" and are one of the most linguistically diverse areas of the world.

'Infectious'

Professor Abbi - who runs the Vanishing Voices of the Great Andamanese (Voga) website - explained: "After the death of her parents, Boa was the last Bo speaker for 30 to 40 years.
Map

"She was often very lonely and had to learn an Andamanese version of Hindi in order to communicate with people.

"But throughout her life she had a very good sense of humour and her smile and full-throated laughter were infectious."

She said that Boa Sr's death was a loss for intellectuals wanting to study more about the origins of ancient languages, because they had lost "a vital piece of the jigsaw".


"It is generally believed that all Andamanese languages might be the last representatives of those languages which go back to pre-Neolithic times," Professor Abbi said.

"The Andamanese are believed to be among our earliest ancestors."

Boa Sr's case has also been highlighted by the Survival International (SI) campaign group.

"The extinction of the Bo language means that a unique part of human society is now just a memory," SI Director Stephen Corry said.

'Imported illnesses'

She said that two languages in the Andamans had now died out over the last three months and that this was a major cause for concern.

Academics have divided Andamanese tribes into four major groups, the Great Andamanese, the Jarawa, the Onge and the Sentinelese.

Professor Abbi says that all apart from the Sentinelese have come into contact with "mainlanders" from India and have suffered from "imported illnesses".

She says that the Great Andamanese are about 50 in number - mostly children - and live in Strait Island, near the capital Port Blair.

Boa Sr was part of this community, which is made up of 10 "sub-tribes" speaking at least four different languages.

The Jarawa have about 250 members and live in the thick forests of the Middle Andaman. The Onge community is also believed to number only a few hundred.

"No human contact has been established with the Sentinelese and so far they resist all outside intervention," Professor Abbi said.

It is the fate of the Great Andamanese which most worries academics, because they depend largely on the Indian government for food and shelter - and abuse of alcohol is rife.

[HAWK73]

Originally Posted by Squallmao

You can't free anybody but yourself. Again, make sure most Indian people can eat first.

Well Said!