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How can the Indian success in IT be explained?
Is it an eventual result from the liberalization in the 1990s? Why,
then, have other sectors not produced such an impressive performance?
This paper is concerned with the successful development of the software industry in India. It is motivated by two noteworthy phenomena. Firstly, most studies analysing the ‘Indian’ software industry cover essentially the major centres in South India. Secondly, while there has always been a tradition of entrepreneurship by a particular social group, the merchant and trader caste of the Vaishyas, the software industry witnesses a more than proportionate appearance of Brahmins, traditionally the priestly caste group. MORE |
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By a "Mallu"
Based on True Life Story
"Don't ever lose her.." and as I said that , I realised that it had been a little loud and strange, more so from the look of my friend, who did not expect this when he wanted to borrow a mere umbrella...
But then, "she" is not a mere umbrella for me, but someone who shares a wealth of memories with me ..., not for a year or two, but for 14 long years!
It was a few days before my 5th standard classes started there were plans at home to get me an umbrella . Come May end, and Mallus are busy either buying new umbrellas or getting the old ones out of their homes . My mom had her plans clear . " Lets not buy a new one for you lest you may lose it. You take my 3 year old umbrella,its okay even if you lose it " . And thence she became mine.
Years have passed . My mom has been losing, on an average one umbrella in two years and my Father, two in one year, but I have had the distinct ability of keeping her with me this long...
The funny thing is , the company which made it - a
very famous one in Kerala at that time, who almost monopolised it for
several years- doesn't exist anymore. The partner brothers fought and
split it into two. Every
time I see the seal of the old company on her , I remember those good
old days and the ad in the TV which was a famous hit
Well, I should be lying if I said, I have never parted
with her. Once- I was in my 11th, I forgot her in my class. Needless
to say, I was so depressed...But then, a good friend of mine, kept her
safe , and returned to me, and the day he returned her, happened to
me my birthday! What
better birthday present could I have got?
Well, at her "sweet seventeen" she has started showing signs of weariness.. but still , anytime it rains, I can feel the urge she has to blossom with full energy and shelter me, for now, and for ever!...
J&K: Withering Roses
- The Peace Process Melts Down
Guest Writer: Praveen Swami
Special Correspondent, Frontline
It is perhaps a sign of the extraordinary desperation that has gripped policy-making on Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) that the blossoming of every single rose is heralded as evidence that summer has arrived. The unremitting violence that has followed Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's August visit to Srinagar has shown yet again that roses can be easily cut down, or can simply wither away in the relentless heat of the real world. Amidst the usual hand-wringing provoked by the violence, however, few have asked the real question that needs to be addressed: just why has peace-making proved so difficult a business in Jammu and Kashmir?
One answer, perhaps, is that peace making is often
founded on false
premises and half-truth. Much of the early-summer peace initiative was
based on the assumption that Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's
'Healing Touch' agenda had succeeded in starting to build a working
civil-society consensus against violence. 'Healing Touch' optimists
claimed there had been a 'marked reduction' in violence since the People's
Democratic Party (PDP)-led alliance had come to power. This was variously
attributed to Sayeed's programme of prisoner releases, his campaigns
against corruption, and the realisation among secessionist organisations
that they could find a place within mainstream political practice and
discourse.
In fact, the figures show, there was no really meaningful decline in violence. If one considers the total numbers of killings as an index, the events of this winter closely mirror those of 2001 and 2002, slacking off in the winter and then escalating as spring and summer set in. There was, in fact, a far larger drop in killings in the summer of 2002, compared with 2001, than anything the 'Healing Touch' achieved. This could, perhaps, be attributed to the impact of Operation Parakram, the massive military mobilisation set in place after Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorists stormed India's Parliament building in December 2001. Operation Parakram, it could be argued, established a threshold level for violence, sustained since by a variety of factors, ranging from United States of America pressure on Pakistan, and a realisation in that country's military establishment of the potential costs of a near-war situation. MORE