Indian Polititicos hitting the right cord Finally?

A money order delivered the next day to your cook's family. Clean drinking water in a remote village. Smooth-as-silk highways coming up without land acquisition hitches. Villagers using service centres to get things done without having to bow to babus.
All right, all right... that's too big a dream-may be. But all these are being made possible in small steps by a bunch of young, can-do ministers with great ideas and implementation skills. BT met some of these ministers of state to get to know them, and get a sense of the freshness they bring to problems of governance and development.
The verdict: they are learning the ropes. Some, like Agatha Sangma, have demonstrated their ability to come up with big-picture ideas, while others, such as Jyotiraditya Scindia, prefer execution.
The common factor: a preference for solutions that don't leave the people dependent on politicians or bureaucrats, but empower them to take charge of their own lot. Just what heir-apparent Rahul Gandhi wanted. Take some of the favourite things of R.P.N. Singh, the Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways: gently nudging state governments to acquire land for the highways project, and clearing files in a matter of hours.
Or meet the youngest of the lot, Sangma, a first-time minister. Sangma, who also happens to be the youngest Member of Parliament today, presides over the Ministry of Rural Development's policies for drinking water and sanitation. The ministry oversees almost all of the UPA's agenda for rural India and releases up to Rs 1,50,000 crore to the states every year.
At her insistence, the Rs 20,000-crore National Rural Drinking Water Programme or NRDWP began offering an incentive for sustainable projects proposed by the states. Earlier, a state had to come up with 10-20 per cent of the funds, and there was no incentive to make a project sustainable. Although funding for sustainable projects has been capped at 20 per cent of the total, states are making a beeline for it since they get full funding if the project qualifies.
Sangma is modest. "The role and capacity of a minister of state is limited," she says. "It is more an opportunity to learn than reshape policies." Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's choice of berths for the young politicians was judicious. For example, Arun Yadav, Minister of State for Heavy Industries, should find his auto dealership experience helpful in teaching ailing public sector undertakings a thing or two about markets and customers. The tech-savvy Scindia and Pilot were given the job of delivering e-governance solutions to minimise corruption.
Twice this year, a number of young ministers have met the Prime Minister to seek a bigger role in the government, with some complaining about the lack of working space. Not all have this feeling of not getting enough work, though. Scindia, who loves to roll up his sleeves and dig into problem-solving, for one, is not complaining. "There are many pain points... and solutions are hard to find, but I enjoy identifying a problem, ideating with knowledge, and execution," he says.
So, may be the youngsters could check their porfolios again and see if there is anything they could do better or have missed?
R.P.N. Singh, 46,
Road Transport & Highways
- QUALIFICATION: History Honours from St. Stephens, Delhi
- EXPERIENCE: Opposition MLA for 13 years in Uttar Pradesh
- HAS DELIVERED: Against the total land acquisition across all of India from 2006-07 to 2008-09 of 12,767 hectares, pushed through acquisition of 29,750 hectares in the first nine months of current UPA government
- WATCH HIM FOR: The Hapur-Garmukhteshwar stretch on National Highway 24 from Dasna; Vijaywada-Hyderabad stretch on the Mumbai-Hyderabad highway
- GEN NEXT QUOTIENT: Five hours is the maximum time a file stays on his table if he's in the Capital
Arun Yadav, 36,
Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises
- QUALIFICATION: B. Com
- EXPERIENCE: MP since 2007; runs auto dealerships and educational institutions
- HAS DELIVERED: Roped in HMT International for taking products of other state-owned firms to overseas markets; got BHEL to give some civil contracts to smaller brethren; expanded the market for a government salt refinery by giving it a brand
- IS DOING: Injecting market culture in ailing PSUs, pushing them to break the mould by entering overseas markets and chasing exponential, not incremental growth
- WANTS DONE: The government's role doesn't end at making and implementing policies; it must also offer "after-sales service"
Jyotiraditya Scindia, 39,
Commerce & Industry
- QUALIFICATION: M.A. from Harvard University and MBA from Stanford University, California
- EXPERIENCE: MP since 2002; Minister of State for IT, Communications & Posts in UPA-I
- HAS DELIVERED: Implemented the award-winning Project Arrow in India Post. The percentage of non-deliveries of Speed Post, money orders and registered mail has been reduced to decimal figures in the 500 post offices covered in Phase I
- WATCH HIM FOR: Delivering the much-awaited government portals aimed at cutting corruption: e-biz for starting, running and closing businesses without human interface at local, state or Central government agencies by obtaining clearances (fire, labour, VAT, MCD, toll certifications) through simplified online forms; e-trade is being planned similarly for clearances required by exporters
- GEN NEXT QUOTIENT: Putting technology to use—41 video conference reviews of the performance in Project Arrow post offices between November 2008 and March 2010
Agatha Sangma, 29,
Rural Development (Drinking Water & Sanitation)
- QUALIFICATION: M.A. from Nottingham University, UK, in environment management; Pune University law graduate
- EXPERIENCE: MP since 2008; a lawyer at the Delhi High Court HAS DELIVERED: Got the National Rural Drinking Water programme to disburse Rs 1,600 crore in 2009-10 for sustainable schemes of states. States are tapping the funds eagerly, and the ones in the North-East are harvesting rainwater
- WATCH HER FOR: Building a model that will encourage states to popularise eco-friendly sanitary toilets under the Total Sanitation Campaign
- WANTS DONE: Collapse ministry boundaries to implement programmes better. She attends consultative meetings in the Human Resource Development Ministry to have sanitation introduced in the education programmes
Sachin Pilot, 33,
IT, Communications & Posts
- QUALIFICATION: MBA from Wharton
- EXPERIENCE: Two-year stint at General Motors; MP since 2004
- HAS DELIVERED: Rolling out common service centres under India's national e-governance plan. These centres will deliver digital land records, birth certificates, ration cards, BPL cards et al
- WATCH HIM FOR: So far, 76,000 such centres have been put on the ground, and are functioning. If they catch on, his ministry could become one of the most important for the common man
- GEN NEXT QUOTIENT: One of the few politicians with an up-to-date website

Football a serious game of financial foothold.

In the current Frenzy of World Cup Football 2010. One thing that comes into mind is how well established this game is in everybody’s mind. Anybody who does not follow the game at all will also get involved in this Global phenomenon. The popularity of the game builds up a massive market for the sponsors, organizers and everybody who are financially involved with the game. FIFA being a non profit organization is currently sitting on 1.061 billion dollars in reserve. A real great feat. Its very clear how the sponsors get their investments back.Though there is no comparison, but to just mark a point: IPL (Indian Premiere League, Cricket Championship tournament) has a major success with its glittery surroundings and Indian Mass support. To multiply that number in a global level would be enormous. IPL had a contract with YouTube for live streaming; you can’t see FIFA doing the same with online streaming. That builds up the crowd for television viewership. Makes more specific profit for FIFA. How does it help the organizing country? Regardless to say this definitely helps a country to showcase their capability of handling high volume global visitors as well as reflect on their infrastructural capabilities. As far as I know FIFA has signed a “Get Profit Guarantee” agreement with the current Organizers, South Africa for 2010 World Cup. The amount is of 80 Million Dollars. This should help Africa to improve their financial system. This should help the whole subcontinent to freshen up for new opportunities as well. Though FIFA has been at the centre of storm for sponsorship issues in the past, the ticket distribution scandal, VISA/MasterCard issue and so on has dented their credibility.
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Apple- Google- NOKIA- err...Microsoft and so on

5 years ago, I did not know what Android is, had a very limited visibility on apple development, barely heard about windows mobile though it was there, only big shot I knew was NOKIA and its other ancestors. Well when people say time changes fast and technology changes faster, I guess we somehoe realized that while manuvouring those small and smaller different shaped gadgets which we started as a on the move communication tool, called Mobile phones a.k.a Cell phones. Now there have come different bifercations like smartphones and so on and on. Apple, an impact to really deal with in this segment. The I-PHONE has really turned the industry around towards a new phase. Super technology, excellent amalgamation of different innovative applications, a superior packaging and a trend setter in different LOB. All these in one tool. Thats why Steve Jobs introduced I PHONE as "a Revolutionaly wide screen I POD + Phone + Breakthrough internet connector", and it really turned outto be one. It seemed like hell broke loose on the giant NOKIA. To spoil the party even more, Google jumped in with its own Android platform, cant say they had a tremendous success, but Android had made its impact for sure. Its a trend setter impact thats catching fire. Where does Microsoft fit in here? Well can they keep distance from any profitable venture?? Windows Mobile has been there in the market fora long time, pretty dormant I have to say. Seeing all these frenzy, Microsoft also launched their own version of cell phones. Cant really call it a success, not even close but we can wait and see where they are heading. Might be another inorganic growth coming on the way like before. Now lets get back and see where our king is in his kingdom, NOKIA. The global leader has seriously got a huge dent in its reputation as far as technological innovation is concerned. Suddenly it felt like the road ran faster than the limo. With such a huge grip around the globe, and enormous funds to back themselves up, I can assume they will go all out to outwit their rivals. We have to wait to see something like that as I dont see any glimpse of that any soon. I am very excited to watch out for any upcoming sparkle here and shall keep my eyes open. What you say guys?

Wanna eat out!! Go to www.!!!! ..WHERE??

Yeaterday I felt like having some good old Punjabi dishes, being in Chennai, cant say I am spoilt for choice!! "Where do I go to find a place to rest my soul tonight?" was a question I had to ask myself. Cause I COULD'NT ASK MY BEST FRIEND D "INTERNET"!! Where do these people go when I really need them? We need to get more info online about different taste buds. I had the same feeling while I was in Bangalore and was looking for some Bengali food. Being such a techno savy place, still the F&B googling didn't convince me much :(!! You cant expect m to know the term "Bangali macheer jho##ll!!" and search online, that's ridiculous. I want to see food courts across my town like I can for a damn Bus ticket from PUDUCHERRY to CHENNAI. Where do these restaurant owners get their brain from, they are out of such a HUGE market. In London I was so happy to go to sites like Hungry House. They were very efficient. Here the options are very very limited and cant say they cover the best. My friend was telling that day " These damn restaurant owners don't even know what we can do for them!!", obviously my friend is a SEO Expert and expert web designer.

boy gimme some good sites and get these things organized, I dont wanna miss good food just because the owner is low on grey cells!!

All about SPINAL ARCHITECTURE

Did you ever think....
.... that your computer is fatter than it should be?
Office spaces could be a lot less complicated with smarter system implementation.

Wired PCs around look a lot outdated in this wireless age of communication.

Laptops could be a lot lighter and smarter. with superfast efficiency.
....... Welcome to the spine!! Come into the SPINAL ARCHITECTURE!!

Watch this space for more.
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