DESI - NEWS LETTER

May 09, 2004 NEWS LETTER Vol. 010504

Q1. What is an Electronic Voting machine? In what way its functioning is different from the conventional system of voting?

FAQ's: Electronic Voting Machine

Ans. An Electronic Voting Machine consists of two Units – a Control Unit and a Balloting Unit – joined by a five-meter cable. The Control Unit is with the Presiding Officer or a Polling Officer and the Balloting Unit is placed inside the voting compartment. Instead of issuing a ballot paper, the Polling Officer in-charge of the Control Unit will press the Ballot Button. This will enable the voter to cast his vote by pressing the blue button on the Balloting Unit against the candidate and symbol of his choice. MORE

By: Ashish Kumar

Complete Poetry

Uneasy Dialogue

By Wasbir Hussain

Yet another round of border talks between India and Bangladesh ended in Dhaka on May 3, 2004, amid charges and counter-charges by both sides that share a blow-hot-blow-cold relationship. The five-day Director General (DG)-level talks, beginning April 29, 2004 between the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), were held less than a month after the Bangladesh Coast Guard seized as much as 10 truckloads of sophisticated military hardware from the Chittagong Port, estimated at a value of more than Rs 10 billion, that was apparently heading for India's insurgency-wracked Northeast.

BSF Director General Ajay Raj Sharma, heading the 15-member Indian delegation, and his BDR counterpart Major General Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, leading the 19-member home team, discussed the usual border irritants between the two highly populous neighbours. BDR officials bombarded the media in Dhaka with charges that included killing of 15 'innocent' Bangladeshi nationals by the BSF and Indian civilians between January and March 2004, push-in attempt of 'Bengali speaking Indian nationals' by the BSF, setting up of 'illegal structures' by India within 150-yard of the zero point in violation of international rules and regulations, and trafficking of women and children. Besides, the BDR officials, according to Bangladeshi media reports, also raised the issue of drug and illegal arms smuggling from India. MORE

(Wasbir Hussain, Associate Fellow, Institute for Conflict Management, New Delhi; Consulting Editor, The Sentinel, Guwahati.)

The Concept of Shakti

By Dr. Frank Gaetano Morales

The intricate dynamics of power and gender has grown to become an increasingly important topic within the realm of present day academia - and justifiably so. Though representing half of the human race, women's voices, needs and inner psyches have, traditionally, been relegated to a place of unimportance in the history of the Western world. Throughout the history of European civilization, the nature of the feminine was misunderstood, neglected and, in some cases, practically demonized.

Consequently, for millennia women have been deprived of the power - political, economic, spiritual, even sexual - which men so take for granted. Recognizing the imperative need to correct this historic imbalance, many modern Feminist leaders attempted to devise an ideological framework through which they felt that the roots of this imbalance could be properly understood. The question, however, is should this have ever been the view of Western civilization? MORE

Editor & Composer: Saurabh Jain

Develop Empower and Synergize India, College Park, MD 20742, USA


May 09, 2004 NEWS LETTER Vol. 010504
Q1. What is an Electronic Voting machine? In what way its functioning is different from the conventional system of voting? FAQ's: Electronic Voting Machine Ans. An Electronic Voting Machine consists of two Units – a Control Unit and a Balloting Unit – joined by a five-meter cable. The Control Unit is with the Presiding Officer or a Polling Officer and the Balloting Unit is placed inside the voting compartment. Instead of issuing a ballot paper, the Polling Officer in-charge of the Control Unit will press the Ballot Button. This will enable the voter to cast his vote by pressing the blue button on the Balloting Unit against the candidate and symbol of his choice. MORE	By: Ashish Kumar Complete Poetry
Uneasy Dialogue By Wasbir Hussain Yet another round of border talks between India and Bangladesh ended in Dhaka on May 3, 2004, amid charges and counter-charges by both sides that share a blow-hot-blow-cold relationship. The five-day Director General (DG)-level talks, beginning April 29, 2004 between the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), were held less than a month after the Bangladesh Coast Guard seized as much as 10 truckloads of sophisticated military hardware from the Chittagong Port, estimated at a value of more than Rs 10 billion, that was apparently heading for India's insurgency-wracked Northeast. BSF Director General Ajay Raj Sharma, heading the 15-member Indian delegation, and his BDR counterpart Major General Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, leading the 19-member home team, discussed the usual border irritants between the two highly populous neighbours. BDR officials bombarded the media in Dhaka with charges that included killing of 15 'innocent' Bangladeshi nationals by the BSF and Indian civilians between January and March 2004, push-in attempt of 'Bengali speaking Indian nationals' by the BSF, setting up of 'illegal structures' by India within 150-yard of the zero point in violation of international rules and regulations, and trafficking of women and children. Besides, the BDR officials, according to Bangladeshi media reports, also raised the issue of drug and illegal arms smuggling from India. MORE (Wasbir Hussain, Associate Fellow, Institute for Conflict Management, New Delhi; Consulting Editor, The Sentinel, Guwahati.)	The Concept of Shakti By Dr. Frank Gaetano Morales The intricate dynamics of power and gender has grown to become an increasingly important topic within the realm of present day academia - and justifiably so. Though representing half of the human race, women's voices, needs and inner psyches have, traditionally, been relegated to a place of unimportance in the history of the Western world. Throughout the history of European civilization, the nature of the feminine was misunderstood, neglected and, in some cases, practically demonized. Consequently, for millennia women have been deprived of the power - political, economic, spiritual, even sexual - which men so take for granted. Recognizing the imperative need to correct this historic imbalance, many modern Feminist leaders attempted to devise an ideological framework through which they felt that the roots of this imbalance could be properly understood. The question, however, is should this have ever been the view of Western civilization? MORE
Editor & Composer: Saurabh Jain
Develop Empower and Synergize India, College Park, MD 20742, USA