Diversity makes no sense if you know what you are doing - Warren Buffet
Monday, February 28, 2011
man paints with his brains and not with his hands
A man paints with his brains and not with his hands - Michelangelo
5-fold strategy to deal with black money menace: FM
Expressing "serious concern" over the generation and circulation of black money, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said the government has adopted a five-fold strategy to deal with the menace.
"The generation and circulation of black money is an area of serious concern. To deal with this problem effectively, the government has put into operation a five-fold strategy which consists of joining the global crusade against black money," Mukherjee said in his Budget Speech.
The finance minister also said trafficking in narcotic drugs also contributes to the generation of black money and the government proposes to announce a national policy in this regard.
more at rediff
Lesson for Raja? Sukh Ram’s legal battle on for 15 years and counting
Pushed and prodded by the Supreme Court, the CBI may have fast-tracked its probe into the 2G spectrum scandal and arrested former telecom minister A Raja for his alleged involvement in the award of licences. But a telling reminder of what could lie ahead — once the trial begins — is the status of the cases against Sukh Ram, one of Raja’s predecessors who was at the centre of the first telecom scandal in the country.
more at indianexpress
Cong responsible for 99% corruption: Ramdev
Yoga guru Baba Ramdev launched his campaign against black money by singling out Congress in front of a big crowd at Ramlila Maidan here on Sunday.
The yoga guru, who recently confirmed his desire to enter the political arena, was harsh on Congress, calling the UPA government the "most corrupt". Ramdev held Congress responsible for 99% corruption in the country as the party has been in power the longest.
more at timesofindia
Well, the culture at Infosys is to collect data, make analysis
"Well, the culture at Infosys is to collect data, make analysis, come to conclusions and then speak about it. I wish everybody did that," NR Narayana Murthy
Reading and preserving books are an essential part of our culture
"Reading and preserving books are an essential part of our culture. In this technology era, we should encourage the younger generation to cultivate the habit of reading books and imbibe the spirit behind the art of writing," NR Narayana Murthy
This is wonderful. I am tongue-tied and almost zapped
"This is wonderful. I am tongue-tied and almost zapped. I am highly astonished and immensely pleased to see so many child prodigies here," NR Narayana Murthy said, after six-year-old Niharika Ramesh solved huge mathematical problems in matter of few seconds.
Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools
"Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools." - Napoleon Bonaparte
Aishwarya Rai
Sunday, February 27, 2011
How not to tackle the black economy in India
Another Joint Parliamentary Committee has been announced. The government has been trying to create an impression of being proactive with regard to tackling the black economy. The President's address and the speech by Sonia Gandhi in January mentioned the need to curb it. The Prime Minister at various fora, while expressing helplessness, has emphasised action. The Supreme Court has been applying pressure to tackle black savings spirited out of the country and for unearthing wrongdoings in cases of corruption like the 2G spectrum allocation case
more at thehindu
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence
“Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence” ~Vince Lombardi
Maria Sharapova
Ex-CJI’s kin have black money: I-T
K G Balakrishnan
The Income-Tax Department Saturday confirmed that family members of former Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan have “black money”.
Talking to reporters in Kochi at a press conference called to outline steps to monitor the flow of money during the coming Assembly elections in Kerala, Income-Tax director general (investigations) E T Luckose said the department’s probe into the wealth of Balakrishnan’s sons-in-law — P V Sreenijan and M J Benny — and brother K G Bhaskaran had revealed that they have unaccounted money.
more at indianexpress
Say it in plain English please?
Who's afraid of the Union Budget? Not the experts and anchors on television. The aplomb with which they dish out acronyms or flash allocation figures as big as telephone numbers on the screen would lead you to think that Indians cut their teeth on tax manuals and sectoral spending statistics. But some of us didn't, so one could have been forgiven for assuming that all that talk about DTC was referring to Delhi's bus service. Turns out that it stands for the Direct Tax Code. And what is that? You are supposed to know because through an entire programme on Doordarshan nobody explained, they merely talked knowledgeably about fiscal consolidation and the aligning of personal tax with corporate tax. Switch to the next channel where somebody equally earnest was holding forth on fiscal correction. If there is plain English for any of this you are unlikely to get it on TV. It doesn't occur to either the expert or the interlocutor to explain.
more at hindu
An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast
“An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound ...” ~ Buddha
Wherever you go, go with all your heart
"Wherever you go, go with all your heart" ~Confucius
photo: Roger Federer
Friday, February 25, 2011
Emaar, APIIC land deal is a big scam, says HC
In a significant observation, the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Friday said that the deal between Emaar Properties PJSC and the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation was a huge scam and decided to adjudicate the matter in detail.
more at deccanchronicle
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
It's time to get down to business
Anyone trying to predict the outcome of our polity's life and death struggle with crony capitalism will have to make sense of two contradictory sets of images.
On the one hand is the obfuscation and prevarication that senior Ministers have served up when confronted with the reality of the 2G spectrum scam and other unprecedented instances of corporate and political robbery. The most recent display of this was by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself, who needlessly played down the scale and significance of the revenue loss that the 2G scam had caused. But, on the other, are the pace and scope of the current investigation, which has also been unrivalled by anything India has witnessed so far.
more at thehindu
In praise of the Cricket World Cup's nine-to-five heroes
When the winning runs had been hit Peter Borren fell to his knees, disconsolate. He looked like a man who had lost something much more precious than a game of cricket. Ravi Bopara allowed himself a quick grin, then simply tucked his bat under his arm and trotted briskly from the pitch, pausing only to exchange a perfunctory fist-thump with Paul Collingwood. As embarrassed as they would have been had they lost, England's players felt that win far less than the Dutch did their defeat. It was only a group match after all, the first of many. For England it was just another game. For the Netherlands it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, as the respective reactions of Borren and Bopara showed
more at guardian
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Go for 200, Kapil tells Sehwag
India's only World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev has urged Virender Sehwag to carry on his good form and crack a double ton in the on-going World Cup.
more at mid-day
Madam, if you were my wife, I would drink it
"Lady Astor to Winston Churchill—
"Sir, if you were my husband, I would poison your drink."
His reply—
"Madam, if you were my wife, I would drink it."
— Winston S. Churchill
Government is committed to root out corruption
On account of the controversy relating to the allocation of 2G spectrum, the precious Winter Session of Parliament was lost. Our country can ill-afford a situation where Parliament is paralyzed and important legislative business is not allowed to be considered. In paralyzing Parliament, I believe, we all do disservice to those who have elected us.
Our Government is committed to root out corruption and has acted expeditiously and transparently in this direction. A CBI investigation into the allocation of 2G spectrum is being supervised by the Supreme Court. Also, the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament is seized of the matter and the Government is fully cooperating with it. We also have the report of the Independent Inquiry Committee set up under the Chairmanship of Justice Shivraj Patil, which is in the public domain. The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has also acted with expedition.
Our Government believed that as all effective steps were being taken, we might have been able to persuade the Opposition not to insist on a JPC. We could not succeed inspite of our sincere efforts. We can ill-afford a situation where Parliament is not allowed to function during the crucial Budget Session. It is in these special circumstances that our Government agrees to the setting up of a Joint Parliamentary Committee.
We are a functioning democracy and must strive to resolve our differences in a spirit of accommodation and collaboration not confrontation. This, I hope, will renew our confidence in India's forward march. I am, therefore, requesting the Honourable Speaker to proceed with the formation of a Joint Parliamentary Committee. A formal motion in this regard will be moved soon.
Monday, February 21, 2011
The world's biggest threat is corruption, not nuclear weapons
Last week I held my fourth hunger strike since being jailed on trumped-up charges in 2003. I did not do this to raise awareness of how my own legal case has been unfairly handled. The courts' actions have made it clear that I am going to be imprisoned no matter what. But Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who has taken the initiative to fight corruption in law enforcement in our country, should know how his efforts are being undercut by his own officials.
more at washingtonpost
rediff.com
Rediff.com (NASDAQ: REDF) is India's largest web-portal. It caters to a wide variety of tastes of Indian Internet users. Its flagship mail makes Rediff rank among the top 3 Mail Providers in India. It has hugely popular services such as News, Business, Money, Shopping, QnA, Blogs. Very recently it has ventured into social networking with a product called MyPage, which has gained good traction as well
richa gangopadhyay Connect the dots to find patterns
more at mydigitalfc
Cricket World Cup: Kapil Dev 175 in '83 - Sehwag 175 in '11
If Virender Sehwag were a boxer, he would move his feet. He would chase the man around the ring, look for an opening and deliver the punch. Clinging to the opponent or evading him by dancing around the combat zone would not be his style.
This approach helped Sehwag conquer Bangladesh’s competent left-arm spin and register a score that has a karmic connection with Indian World Cup campaigns—175.
more at open
Corruption, Scam, Bribe: The plunder of India
India has always been plundered — first by medieval warlords; then by the British; and now by ourselves , which, like a self-goal , is by far the most hurtful. What else can you call it but plunder when our former four-star generals are accused of appropriating apartment spaces intended for war widows? Or when judges are accused of stealing from the provident funds of class IV employees? Or when academic regulators are arrested for graft?
more at economictimes
Corruption is a systemic threat
The world is right to admire China’s enormous economic progress. Within half a generation, the middle kingdom has moved from an impoverished nation to the second most powerful economy in the world. The key to this astounding progress lies with the economic reforms of China’s leader Deng Xiaoping. Deng knew that the ideological fervour, which had been the hallmark of Mao Zedong’s regime, had destroyed his country and that only a determined change towards pragmatism would open the path towards a brighter future. Deng Xiaoping was successful and today a large part of the Chinese population is enjoying a living standard that only a few decades ago had belonged to the realm of dreams.
more at mydigitalfc
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Mauritius to help India unfold black money trail
Facing flak over its tax-friendly regime allegedly facilitating the flow of black money, Mauritius has promised full support to India's quest for unearthing the source and destination of such illicit wealth.
more at deccanchronicle
Civil society should stand up against corruption
[[posterous-content:pid___0]]Sri Sri Ravishankar expressed his views on a variety of things during an interaction with the media.
On corruption: Scams and scandals have left the general public without any hope. Even prime minister Manmohan Singh cannot shirk away from the responsibility of his cabinet colleagues indulging in rampant acts of corruption. Lok Pal Bill is a step in the right direction. It has worked in Karnataka.
more at timesofindia
Success is the sum of small efforts
Success is the sum of small efforts - repeated day in and day out - Robert Collier
Citizens Join hands with the Central Vigilance Commission in fighting Corruption
Project VIGEYE - Citizens Join hands with the Central Vigilance Commission in fighting Corruption in India
Project Vigeye (Vigilance Eye) is a citizen-centric initiative, wherein citizens join hands with the Central Vigilance Commission in fighting corruption in India.
Project Vigeye is the platform through which vigilance information flows freely through common public, the government agencies and the vigilance commission, making it possible to achieve a step jump in improving the corruption index of the nation.
The important features of Project Vigeye are:
Citizens have multiple channels to air their grievances and complaints to CVC
a) Through their mobile phones: by downloading the mobile application from the CVC website. The complaints can be better articulated with additional data like audio/ video/ photo evidence from their mobiles directly.
b) Through the internet: by filling up the complaint form online they can attach audio/video/photo evidence.
c) Through telephone: help line have been setup
The entire complaint processing is done online, in digital form, enabling fast and accurate processing of complaints.
The concerned CVO will interact with the complainant directly over phone/email or in person, as the case may be, to take it forward
Status of the complaint is communicated back to the complainant - the communication loop becomes complete
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Black money: Swiss Bank Accounts Special Task force
On the steps to be taken by the Indian government
To bring the funds illegally stashed away in secret tax havens, particularly Switzerland
Members of the Task Force
1. S. Gurumurthy – Chartered Accountant and investigative writer, Chennai
2. Ajit Doval - Security expert, New Delhi
3. Dr. R. Vaidyanathan – Professor of Finance, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore
4. Mahesh Jethmalani - Senior Lawyer, Mumbai
Shri L.K. Advani, prime ministerial candidate of the BJP and National Democratic Alliance, addressed a press conference in New Delhi on 29 March 2009 and criticized the UPA Government’s indifference towards getting back vast amounts of Indian wealth stashed away in secret Swiss bank accounts and other tax havens around the world. The press conference was held against the backdrop of the G-20 Summit in London on 2 April, where the issue of illicit funds in tax havens was scheduled to be discussed. Sadly, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, who represented India at the G-20 Summit, failed to raise this issue effectively, even though the OECD (Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development), a group of rich nations, were vociferous in demanding an end to banking secrecy in countries like Switzerland.
At his press conference, Shri Advani announced the determination of a future BJP-led government at the Centre, if elected, to bring India’s sovereign wealth back from foreign shores. He also announced the formation of a Task Force to recommend to the BJP leadership specific steps that a future government may take to translate this promise into reality.
Thank God for politics
[[posterous-content:pid___0]]Sekhar Gupta
Just a 90-minute interaction between the prime minister and the captains of electronic media in the country turned our entire upper crust into TV reviewers. And of course, in their near-unanimous judgment, the prime minister came off poorly. That is the clamour wherever Indian elites are to be found, from the party circuit to airline lounges: He sounded too defensive, he was getting too much into minutiae, he did not sound assertive enough. How does it measure up to a quick reality check?
It won’t, if you remember that the key to understanding
more at indianexpress
Act II, The Fall Of Man
Just in case one was still starry-eyed about the quality of our political leadership, Manmohan Singh’s interaction with TV journalists last week put paid to that hope. At a press conference held at his official residence on 7, Race Course Road, a defensive—and tentative—prime minister told the nation that he was helpless in most matters linked to corruption and had limited authority in coalition politics. For good measure, though, he added: “I am not such a culprit as I am made out to be” and that “the government will bring the wrongdoers to book”.
more at outlookindia
Friday, February 18, 2011
Cricket World Cup: Sponsors in fierce, off-field copyright battles
The first ball of the cricket World Cup is yet to be bowled, but the agency hired to protect sponsor interest has already registered at least 150 instances of copyright infringement and ambush marketing.
Copyright Integrity International, the intellectual property rights firm enlisted by the International Cricket Council (ICC) to protect sponsor interest, is seeing some fierce rivalry off the field over the tournament that will kick off on Saturday in Dhaka.
more at livemint
Rajni declared ‘Entertainer of the Decade’
Rajnikanth was honoured with the prestigious ‘Entertainer of The Decade’ award and Trisha was named ‘Indian of the Year from South Films for 2010’. Both awards were from a national network television channel. Reportedly, a beaming Rajini said at the function that ‘Robot’ (‘Enthiran’) was the best film in his career till today.
more at expressbuzz
India Tries to Calm Fears Over Cricket World Cup
As India gears up to hold the ICC Cricket World Cup, there is no reason to fear a repeat of the problems that plagued the country’s last major sporting event, cricket officials have promised.
more at nytimes
Successful people ask better questions
Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers. ~ Tony Robbins
Thursday, February 17, 2011
The past is a guidepost, not a hitching post
The past is a guidepost, not a hitching post. ~L. Thomas Holdcroft
When you ascend the hill of prosperity, may you not meet a friend
When you ascend the hill of prosperity, may you not meet a friend. - Mark Twain
Degree of corruption
Forget your BAs, MAs and PhDs - Bribery is the criterion of qualification.
I'm a totally uneducated and useless fellow. And chances are that if you've nothing better to do with your time than to read this, you're pretty uneducated and useless too. Why? Because i know that i'm not a BP, let alone an MB, or a PhB. And i've a pretty good hunch that, like me, you're none of these things either. A BP is a degree, or qualification, equivalent to the old BA (Bachelor of Arts) or BSc (Bachelor of Science) or BCom (Bachelor of Commerce). Similarly, an MB is today's equivalent of an MA (Master of Arts) or MSc (Master of Science) or MCom (Master of Commerce). And a PhB - you've guessed it - is the equivalent of the old PhD, or Doctor of Philosophy. What does the B stand for in BP, MB and PhB? That you have to ask shows how useless you are, along with me.
more at timesofindia
If you want a quality, act as if you already had it
"If you want a quality, act as if you already had it." - William James
Srikrishna report full of blatant lies: HC judge
Justice L Narasimha Reddy of the AP High Court on Thursday described the 'secret' contents of the Srikrishna Committee as full of lies and mind-boggling descriptions of non-existent things.
"It is unfortunate that this report and its related exercise was presided over by a former judge of the Supreme Court," he told additional solicitor general M Raveendran. The issue came up when the judge was hearing a petition filed by former Congress MP M Narayan Reddy demanding chapter 8 of the committee report, which was submitted to the Centre in a sealed envelope, be made public.
more at timesofindia
Reveal secret T-report: HC judge
Regarding the references on the communal and political overtones of the bifurcation, the judge remarked that the committee had “over projected certain non existing things in its ‘secret’ findings.” “It is unfortunate that a retired judge of Supreme Court was associated with this kind of report,” he said. “It is disgraceful for any person. Was it for this that the government spent `40 crore on the committee?”
He added that such reports would decrease the public confidence in judiciary. “If the judiciary fails in protecting democracy then who will?” the judge asked.
more at deccanchronicle
The mind is its own place
"The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell and a hell of a heaven."
Govt has a new plan: Pay 45% tax, move your black to white
This Budget, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee may announce a last and final call for all tax evaders who have stashed away black money here or abroad, to come clean after paying tax plus a penalty, collectively amounting to 45 per cent.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes has worked out an immunity — not amnesty — scheme where people can voluntarily disclose their hidden earnings without being prosecuted.
more at indianexpress
I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.
I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. -Michael Jordan
Winners, I am convinced, imagine their dreams first
Winners, I am convinced, imagine their dreams first. They want it with all their heart & expect it to come true. -Joe Montana
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