Rebuild India

Ashutosh Didwania and his team have given a call to all right thinking people for suggestions for “Rebuild India” mission. “We need to form a core group of people who would decide on the subsequent plan of action. Since you all have contributed to the forum, I would request you all to pitch in and suggest as to how do we proceed from here on and make the mission a successful one.”

Here are 10 factors that need attention and implementation as soon as possible:

1. India is a democratic country so vote we must. In the coming elections none of us must sit at home. All eligible voters must compulsorily cast their vote to dislodge the non-functioning politicians sitting there at the top.

2. The top portfolios must be filled with people qualified for the post. Portfolios like ‘Defence minister’ and ‘Home minister’ should go to defence personnel, just as Manmohan Singh a non-politician had been roped in to head the finance ministry in 1991. A defence personnel as home minister would definitely not have taken six hours to send commandos to Mumbai, that too all in one single aircraft.

3. Air Defence should be given the top most priority now.

4. Another immediate step to be taken: All Pakistani passport holders must be sent back to their country, a thorough combing operation to be carried out all states of India, deport all refugees back to their respective countries, issue National Identity Card to all Indian citizens. Every villager in the remotest village should be proudly able to display their identity card.

5. The border areas have to be given high security for 24 hours, 365 days. Communication equipment provided should be of latest technology.

6. Money allotted to Defence ministry should be put to right use. The arms and ammunition provided to security personnel should be of latest technology. The terrorists had better bullet proof jackets than our officers. It pained me to see the Maharashtra police men fumble with decades old rifles.

7. Government should issue directives to the citizens how to conduct in a public place to face any kind of emergency. And these directives should be issued in regular intervals. No sensitive information received should be taken lightly.

8. Government should issue directives to the media how to conduct itself in case they are covering emergency. Nobody wants a ball by ball commentary in such situations.

9. Any politician found preaching communal hatred and sowing seeds of disharmony should be banned from entering politics and dealt with severely. They should be urged to give up their high level security.

10. Rehabilitation centers should be se up to take up the cause of families who have lost a family member in mindless violence. Emotional and financial support should be provided to those left behind.

Your chance to pitch in and contribute to the nation.

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Mumbai fallout: Calling bloggers and anchors

Confront or perish - this appears to be the option for the Zardari-led Pakistan government that is engaged in a clash of attitude with its military establishment over their response to the Mumbai terror strike.A perceptive edit-page piece in The Hindu, by Nirupama Subramaniam, makes these points:

1)President Asif Ali Zardari finds himself isolated in his government's promise of co-operation with India in respect of Mumbai terror strike investigation.
2)Pakistan military,on the other hand, would like to see India go for the military option.Their generals see in it an opportunity for resurrection of the Pak army image in the eyes of Pakistanis.
3)A majority of people,led by a 'disproportionately' influential electronic media is dismissive of evidence built up by India as just so much anti-Pak hype and 'conspiracy' to defame Pakistan.

Thus, we have a situation where the right-minded in Pakistan find themselve marginalised and voiceless.They have a well-intentioned,if weak,government at odds with its own military.And,above all, an opinionated electronic media with no-good opinion about India's intentions.

Question is: What can we do to make their media change their stance? Nirupama, who is The Hindu Islamabad correspondent, says Pak television has gone into a denial mode; which, in part,is a reaction to the ham-handed manner in which the Indian TV channels began implicating Pakistan soon after the Mumbai attacks. Media leaks from interested quarters played their role.
How do we make the Dutts and Sardesais,the Kanwals and Goswamis of our electronic media realise that their spirited utterances have unintended consequences on the minds of people beyond our borders? Would it be too much to expect our talking heads to do some thinking before they talk on TV?

Question is: How can the right-minded, but marginalised, millions find their voice? Blogs could be an answer,according to Ashutosh Didwania. His Rebuilding India forum, an online initiative to mobilise bloggers, gives one an idea of the possibilities open to an increasingly influential online community the world over. With its proactive networking,focused on factors that unify peoples in India and Pakistan, we should be able to identify Didwanias in Lahore and Karachi, and engage them in a collaborative endeavour to turn the worst of all isms - terror-ism - into a wasm.

As I key in this post, there is report of a car bomb explosion in Peshawar,klling 20.

Books for Children

Kalyani's idea to set up a chilldren's book library in Ooty has picked up steam. She has mobilised online over 150 people to back Sirukathai project with cash and books donation.The library seeks to help children,with little access to the world of books and other audio-visual material, widen their mental horizon.

In response to Kalayani's plea, many have volunteered to act as post office for accepting books donations and shipping them to Ooty. The volunteers include Sathyam Ravoor in Annanagar East, Chennai (91-44-26284746 - sathyamravoor@yahoo.co.in ); Raji Muthukrishnan at Alwarpet (24994160); Newton Raja at Teynampet (98409-2499):and N S Sudhakar/S Priyarani in Bangalore(98453-25287).Those who wish to send books direct to Ooty could mail them to Hobart Park Cross Road, Market, Udhagamandalam 643001 (cell-94430-70540).

Those inspired to set up such libraries in other places could count on expert guidance from Kalyani - kalluxyz@yahoo.com

Volunteerism: Corporate initiative

IT professionals in corporate Bangalore have taken to vounteering in varied ways. In an earlier post I referred to a group of 30 from HCL spending Diwali with children at an orphanage. More recently, nearly 60 Mphasis employees with brush in hand painted the premises of the National Association of the Blind, as part of the company's Global Volunteer Day. Mphasis volunteers were there last October as well, when they painted a class-room.

EDS, a multinational that has taken over Mphasis, has a tradition of observing in its units worldwide Global Volunteer Day in October. EDS is now part of HP.The company website says Volunteerism has many business benefits, such as corporate awareness, improved employee morale, better teamwork skills and increased opportunities for personal and professional growth.

Projects the company takes up are diverse - building ponds and planting flower beds, preparing and serving meals to pouring foundations and painting fences. EDS website provides guidelines to other multinationals wanting to start volunteer programmes.

Survey employees in different areas for holiday schedules. Consider allowing a window of time for the event, such as two weeks or a month, to accommodate worldwide schedules.

Communicate the event via company newspapers, electronic mail, bulletin boards, leader communication, direct mail, voice mail messages, speeches at group meetings, pre-event posters.

EDS provides on request information kit on how to recruit volunteers, choose a project and a recipient organization, report results and give feedback, recognize volunteers, and talk to the press.

According to Anand Parthasarathy of The Hindu, almost every international IT player in Bangalore has a volunteer programme going in the city. Dell runs a learning centre for destitute kids with Parikrama;funds a HIV rehab centre. AMD promotes what it calls '50 by 15' project - Internet access to 50 percent population anywhere by 2015. Intel is into training school teachers in imparting IT skills to their class.

Of the Indian companies big ones such as Infosys, Wipro and TCS have put their money into many worthy causes, says Mr Parthasarathy. This could not be said about the numerous small and medium enterprises that owe their name and fame to what Bangalore offers by way of human and other resources. His quesion is:

When did you last stumble on an initiative by these small guys that helped changed life for the better albeit in a tiny way for the less advantaged ?

Diwali at a Bangalore orphanage

Many orphanages and old people's homes receieve sweets, fruits and other gifts on special occasions.But not many who gift them find time to visit the institutions. Some 30 techies of HCL, Bangalore, chose to carry gifts and also spend Diwali with children at a local orphanage.Their company contributed towards purchase of tiffin boxes, bags, sheets and towels for the children.

The Visitors, many of whom came with families, had a fulfilling day; and the children,lots of fun. Bangalore Mirror wrote that when the time came for the visitors to leave,they were escorted to the gate by the grateful children, who wanted them to come again next Diwali.

This is social networking at its best. For many of these IT professionals who spent the day with the kids would want to visit the place more often, and sooner than tne next Diwali; and some may want to have the children come home to spend a weekend with them.

Founder of the institution, Dr T V Ramakrishna,is quoted in Bangalore Mirror as saying he tried and failed to mobilise retired people for charity work through such social interaction with the children. "None of them were interested, but these young men and women have shown enthusiasm ...Their gesture makes a difference ...and others should emulate them by doing their bit to society”.

SpeedNetworking

Most people on our e-mail contacts list may not know one another. Connect them, and you can have a network going.An e-group brings together people with shared interests such as cooking, books,music,java,bee-keeping,dating,job hunting and umpteen other activities. Networking has its uses,for,to quote Horsesmouth.com,Someone knows what you need; someone needs what you know.

I have 90 plus LinkedIn contacts,whose contacts add up to 12,800 connections.In SiliconIndia my 60 odd friends account for over 27,000 connections. Notionally, I can
network with so many. Snag is, I don't know how to go about sending them messages, without getting deleted as spam. How many us open a message from an unknown ID or
forwarded to us by a contact.

I reach for 'delete' tab when I see a chain mail, even though many of the messages sent out are well intended; and the sender believes his mail would interest me.Far too many e-mail users do not want to have anything to do with messages received from an unfamiliar address;there is too much viral traffic.

Spamless and viral-free networking is what Oli Barrett does to promote Global Entrpreneurship Week. He has developed what he terms speednetworking, which is like speed-dating. Mr Barrett puts together in a room some 20 people of varied fields, unknown to one another,and lets them interact among themselves. He carries a whistle, which he blows every three to five minutes. At the blow of whistle each partipant finds someone else to talk with. This way,at the end of the day, each participant would have created a few contacts.

Mr Barrett believes speednetworking gets people talking ideas; it helps them find answers; and brings together people who don't know each other,and want to build
connections fast. All you need is a venue, a whistle and a gathering. When you blow the whistle, everyone finds someone to talk to. Blow the whistle every 5 minutes and everyone has to talk to someone new.

You must speednetwork with people you don't know well enough or have never met before. No sticking with the person you arrived with or your buddy! Talk about anything you like! You can speednetwork anywhere - be it at school, college, cafe, or a club.Read more...

Coastal erosion: A green wall for protection and for profit

Let us forget the communal strife in Orissa for a moment and look at a natural calamity the state faces repeatedly. Frequent tidal waves and the soil erosion caused by them endanger the lives and properties of lakhs of people along the 480km shoreline of Orissa.

IIT Chennai and some other agencies are studying this issue and have reportedly submitted some preliminary recommendations. In the meantime, the Orissa Government has approached the Central Government for financial support for a Rs.7000 crore project to save the coastal villages from the ravages of the sea. The main focus appears to be on building protective walls along the shore.

There could be a far cheaper, more effective, eco-friendly and profitable project to prevent soil erosion. My suggestion is to try planting Morinda citrifolia (Noni) along the coast. This plant, which is endemic to India, is unfortunately on the endangered list now.

How do plants prevent soil erosion? When rain water runs off to lower levels or waves recede to the sea, they carry away loosened soil with them. The stems of trees and the roots mitigate the erosive force of flowing water, thereby preventing soil being carried off. The native plants are best suited for this.

Significantly, Morinda citrifolia (Noni) is also known as Indian mulberry and Beach mulberry. It tolerates saline and secondary soil, can withstand drought conditions and grow well on sandy beaches. It can attain a height of up to 20 feet and serve the dual purpose of preventing soil erosion and acting as a windbreaker. Normally stem cutting is used for propagation. The planting distance is about 15 feet apart. Once introduced, it will start growing wild.

Photos of Morinda citrifolia growing wild

in the coastal belt of Kerala.

Copyright reserved. Click to enlarge.

The benefits of planting Morinda citrifolia are not confined to protection from coatal erosion. It is actually considered to be a wonder plant with immense medicinal values. India has known that for thousands of years. But the Western countries started taking note of this gift of nature only in the 1990s.

And, in less than two decades, the Noni (Morinda citrifolia) products, particularly the juice made from the fruit, has turned into a business that is worth billions of US dollars! By planting Noni along the coastline the country can, apart from preventing soil erosion, capture a major chunk of the fast-growing Noni market.

Additionally, greening such a large area would help in reducing the carbon levels. And, it does not take long to feel the impact. Noni starts yielding in 18 months and has a productive life span of around 40 years!

The only negative point is that during flowering time the plant emits a foul smell.

Why not give it a try, at least in small stretches?

Read more about the plant at::

Medicinal Plants: Noni (Morinda citrifolia) planting for profit?

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