New Age Terrorism

The breakage of the fibre-optic cables somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea has brought down internet and telephone connectivity by 80% in India and created a communication blackout for Maldives. Trailing ship anchors and undersea earthquakes are the main reasons behind such cable cuts. The picture shows the affected cable area near Sicily.

This shows that we are vulnerable to terrorist attacks on these cables. Disruption of the net will have serious repercussions on our economies. For example, it can bring down VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) crucial for outsourcing and call centre services of India's IT industry . It will also disrupt crucial financial transactions and stock exchanges. In this age of interconnectivity, the cables are the major arteries of our economy and if any anti-national agency wishes, it can cripple these bloodlines without major technical or financial effort. It wouldnt take them the years of planning that went behind 9/11 or 26/11 to create havoc of greater economic magnitude.

Countries be warned!! Step up efforts to ensure protection to these under water cable links. Though there hasn't been any such attempt till now by terrorists, we must know our weaknesses and be prepared.

India kicks some Butt!

After courting a lot of controversies, its final here, A Ban on Public Smoking, put into force from today, Oct 2nd, all over India. Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss has stood firm on his decision to go ahead with the plan, amidst fierce opposition from fellow ministers, powerful lobbies and the film world. But let's wait and watch how its going to be implemented. I am quite certain, there will be a renewed vigour from the police to execute it, as it is going to be a lucrative business for them from day one. With an individual fine of upto Rs. 200, the lower rung of the police force is going to be extremely delighted with this new law. :)

Dr. Ramadoss is a tough nut. Expressing support for gay community rights s put him at loggerheads with the Home Ministry. Earlier he sought to put an end to smoking on screen, inviting bitter scorn from the filmi world. Before the complete blanket on public smoking, he had introduced laws to ban tobacco advertising in India, on sale of tobacco products to minors and a ban on the sale of tobacco products within a radius of 100 yards from educational institutions.

Coming from the southern land of Tamil Nadu, where public leaders are deified beyond bounds, he is finding it tough to find support in the Capital. I believe, we need not only strong worded politicians, but politicians willing to take strong action, like him. We can surely overlook the occasional peccadillos he commits.

Iraqi Oil Contracts Cancelled

While the US Govt vehemently denied that they werent after Iraqi Oil but were looking for WMDs (Weapons of Mass Destruction), and while the yankee hotshots bombed Baghdad, the only building left standing amidst the rubble was that of the Ministry of Oil. Surprising? Not at all, when Iraq has the second largest proven oil reserves in the world.1

Yesterday, the Iraqi Govt. cancelled the no-bids oil contracts awarded this June to Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Shell, Total, BP and others. Amazingly, the contracts were awarded without any bidding, to the very companies which were thrown out by the Saddam Govt when he nationalized the oil companies three decades. The contracts were supposedly awarded so that the fields could be modernized to kickstart production to pre-war levels.

The Chinese have in the meantime signed the first post-Saddam agreement for oil exploration in Iraq. Mr. Murli Deora and ONGC, please take note.

Nuclear Deal - Death of Indian Democracy ?

For those who think the 123 Agreement is all about the new proposal to reform the primary education system in India by introducing Sesame Street into the curriculum, please visit the CNN-IBN special page. And please do not form your opinions by reading the Wikipedia entries on such controversial topics as they may be heavily biased. Click here for the Wiki entry.

How is the Indo-US Nuclear Deal going to benefit India ?

According to Dr. Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi's parliamentary statements, its going to secure India's future energy requirements. What does that mean to the common man according to them?. No more 4 hour load shedding (power cuts) daily. No more increase in tariff for energy products.
The proponents in the UPA govt also assured us that the deal would not be affect India’s strategic interests, its nuclear R & D programmes or its 3-phase civil nuclear energy programme. The deal was also highlighted as Full Civilian Nuclear Cooperation.

It seems now after the revelation of the letter ( send by the US State Department to the US Congress in January this year ) alleviating the concerns of US Congressmen, the UPA Govt. has misled the nation with its false proclamations. The letter is available here at the Washington Post website. The letter consisting of 45 questions raised by the Congress and answered by the US Department of State.

Some direct contradictions to the statements made by the UPA from the letter are :

• "The US Govt. will not assist India in the design, construction and or operation of sensitive nuclear technologies through the transfer of dual-use items whether under the agreement or outside the agreement"
• "Should India detonate a nuclear explosive device, the United States has the right to cease all nuclear cooperation with India immediately, including the supply of fuel, as well as to request the return of any item transferred from the United States, including fresh fuel."

There is further ambiguity in the contents of the text of 123 agreement with phrases like "corrective measures", "strategic reserves", "appropriate verification measures" which are not properly defined.

This deal has nearly resulted in the fall of the Indian Govt. The parliament was transformed into the Great Indian MP Bazaar, with scandals that irreversibily tainted the world's largest democracy.

Is the Nuclear Deal really worth? Are the Left's opinion really valid? What about our indigenious research in Thorium based reactors? What about the investments of $ 200 billion that are required to build these uranium reactors? Is India's strategic interests going to be compromised? Questions remain open for debate.....

Blogger's Park

Meet the shamsudhins!

My bro Nithin maintains his blog at http://nithinspics.blogspot.com/
Hes been blogging for over a year now. An avid photographer and violinist.
My parents have one at http://asmathiyam.blogspot.com/

I am the only one blogging in English, while their blogs are in Malayalam. You can understand why!

:)

Blogging..

Hmmm...starting a blog is easy, but maintaining it is the hard part.

Sorry to begin my latest post with this confession...But it does remind me of a very similar phrase "Its easy to make a lot of friends, but its harder to keep them".
Its so true. I have made a lot of acquaintances and friends, but its with a very few of them that I have maintained a constant touch with. Online social networks like Orkut have made the job easier, but still the effort must come from within. A occasional email, sms, or a call will definitely prevent an erosion. So next time, you see someone's birthday popping up on Orkut, do send a scrap across, or the next time you clean your cell inbox, send across a reply to the fellow who send you the first sms.

:) . Will definitely keep blogging...

@ The Police Station

To Be Updated soon!!! :)