Why Indian American Kids Dominate the Spelling Bee?

For three years in a row, the winner of the National Spelling Bee is an Indian American kid. This year the domination of the Indian Americans in the spelling bee was so evident that in the fnal round of 11 children, there were 7 who were of Indian American origin.

So why is it that Indian American kids are dominating the National spelling bee. The video tries to answer the question, albeit with a sense of humor



Link obtained from Outlook Blogs

India - Success Story for a Communication Revolution

Having spent my childhood in India in an era when government controlled almost all aspects of communications, right from what you watched on television to getting a telephone connection, the current state of affairs in the Indian communication industry is heartening to watch.

I clearly remember Oct 31st 1984, the day Indira Gandhi, the then Prime minister of India, was assassinated. The government run television channel Doordarshan carried her funeral live 3 days later on Nov 3rd 1984. Back then having a television was a luxury. Our family was fortunate enough to have a black and white television set and the entire neighbourhood turned up at our place to watch the funeral procession live. Contrast that with today where every household has a television set, and the list of channels that you can get is almost endless.

The other aspect of the communication revolution is happening the telecom sector. 25 years back, very few households had a land line telephone connection. And the wait to get a new connection was anywhere from 6 to 8 years. Contrast that with the current state of affairs. Mobile phones have totally transformed the telecom market in India. They have become so ubiquitous that even the humble milkman or the vegetable vendor now carries a mobile phone.

Shashi Tharoor paints this contrast in his book, The Elephant, The Tiger and The Cellphone. He writes:

Bureaucratic statism committed a long list of sins against the Indian people, but communication was high up on the list: tge woeful state of India's telephone right up to the 1990's, with only 8 million connections and a further 20 million on the waiting list, would have been a joke if it wasn't also a tragedy - and a man-made one at that. We had possibly the worst telephone penetration rates in the world. The government's indifferent attitude to the need to improve India's communication infrastructure was epitomized by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's communication minister, C.M. Stephen, who declared in parliment, in response to questions decrying the rampant telephone breakdowns in the country, that telephones were a luxury, not a right, and that any Indian who was not satisfied with his telephone service could return his phone - since there was a eight year waiting list of people seeking this supposedly inadequate product.

Much Ado About a Bed Bug

Ever heard the saying "Sleep Tight, dont let the bed bugs bite you". Well, its about to become official. A new bill being sponsored by some legislators in US Congress is titled "Dont Let the Bed Bugs Bite Act of 2009". The bill would require:

public housing agencies to submit bedbug inspection plans to the federal government. It would add bedbugs to a rodent and cockroach program in the Department of Health and Human Services . It also would require the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to research bedbugs' impact on public mental health. The bill would also authorize $50 million to train health inspectors how to recognize signs of the insects

Bed bugs have so much mesmerizied the federal government that the EPA recently hosted the first ever National Bed Bug Summit. Talk of wasteful spending in the time of record budget deficits and economic turmoil.
President Obama had recently asked that there be $100mil spending cuts from the federal budget. If he and his team are paying attention, they can reach half their goal by not letting this bill become a law.

Who's Who in World Leaders

Test your ability to name the world leaders past and present. Financial Times is running a contest to name the 100 world leaders.

Of the 100 world leaders in the picture below, I could name 50. Take a crack at naming all of them and you could win the Financial Times prize

End to Politics of Negativism and Hate

The results of the elections for the 15th Lok Sabha in India are still trickling in. But early trends suggest a clear mandate for the UPA. It is a mandate for the for the most respected of candidates, Manmohan Singh, in modern Indian history. It is a mandate to continue the path of economic reform. It is a mandate against the politics of hatred, negativism, opportunism.

With a clear mandate in hand, it is now UPA's and Dr Manmohan Singh's responsibility to lead India into a new era of prosperity and economic growth.

India Elections - Dead Heat

Elections in India are almost drawing to a close with one final phase of polling left. Earlier exit polls had predicted a slight advantage for the ruling UPA government. But todays Times of India had a projection in which there is virtually a tie between the UPA and the BJP coaliation.

If this projection holds true, then May 16th would prove to be the start of intense back door wrangling between the BJP, UPA and the Third Front. All the political pundits must be waiting in anticipation for what is about to unfold.



Image obtained from Times of India

Corporate Responsibility Meets Social Responsibility

Real Estate prices have sky rocketed so much that the dream of owning a home by millions of low and middle income people in India has been just a dream. But if the new project being planned by some of the big names in Indian corporate, non profit and construction companies pans out, then affordable housing for these millions of people would be around the corner.

On the anvil are houses for between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 5 lakh for a constituency as diverse as domestic help, taxi drivers, plumbers, senior citizens, graduates, newly wed couples - basically, those who earn between Rs 6,500 and Rs 13,000 a month.

Janaagraha founder Ramesh Ramanathan, MphasiS founder Jaithirth Rao and CSC Constructions are some whose plans have gone beyond the drawing board. Till now, the onus was on the government to cater to the needs of the under-privileged.