India is currently blocking access to certain blogging sites, such as Blogger, at Indian ISPs. For more: India – Censorship. Also, visit the Google group Bloggers Collective.

So the LTTE is in a bad spot now and wants the Indian govt to step back into the conflict in Sri Lanka. And just as in Kashmir, the people are stuck in the middle of this terrorism from all sides, and I doubt any new IPKF will do better than the previous one. A weakened LTTE, in the absence of all other Tamil representation which they so meticulously eliminated, will be only more encouragement for the Sri Lankan government.

I can remember the headier days of the LTTE, when Prabhakaran and his entourage lived in upscale houses in the street adjacent to my own, and the occasional bloody streetfights in Pandi Bazaar or elsewhere (not to forget the bomb threat we received by postcard, one fine day!)… and wondering how this would all end 20 years later. And it is now 20 years later, and it seems to be much the same.

FT.com – Sri Lanka rebels express regret over slaying of Rajiv Gandhi
By Jo Johnson in New Delhi

Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger guerrillas last night expressed "deep regret" over the assassination in 1991 of Rajiv Gandhi, then Indian prime min-ister, and called for a "new relationship" with India in which New Delhi would play an active role in resolving the island's ethnic conflict.

The unprecedented statement, made in a televised interview by Anton Balasingham, the Tamil Tigers' chief negotiator, reflects the separatist group's increasing isolation following the European Union's decision last month to follow India, the UK and the US in putting it on a list of banned organisations.

[...] 

[via RawStory] 

Guardian | Indian state bans Baa Baa Black Sheep
Maseeh Rahman in Delhi
Wednesday June 14, 2006

Tens of thousands of children at Indian schools have been told they can no longer sing popular English nursery rhymes such as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Baa Baa Black Sheep.

In an attempt to rid schools of what is perceived as malign western influence, the school education minister in the state of Madhya Pradesh, Narottam Mishra, has commissioned a new set of rhymes written by Indians to "infuse a sense of patriotism" among five-year-olds.

[...]

This is not the first time that the Hindu nationalist BJP has stirred a controversy by tinkering with the school curriculum. In neighbouring Gujarat state, school textbooks were rewritten to categorise religious minorities including Muslims, Christians and Parsis as "foreigners" and to extol aspects of Nazism and fascism. A social studies textbook in Gujarat said: "Hitler lent dignity and prestige to the German government within a short time, establishing a strong administrative set-up."

BW: India: Why Apple Walked Away
[...] Apple Computer Inc. has shelved plans to build a sprawling technical support center in Bangalore, even as IBM (IBM ) and other tech powers are ramping up. Just three months back, Apple appeared to be on the same trajectory, and there was talk of the company hiring 3,000 workers by 2007 to handle support for Macintosh computers and other Apple gear. Many in India even speculated that Jobs might travel there this year to publicize Apple's commitment to the country.

It wasn't meant to be. In late May, Apple dismissed most of the 30 new hires at its subsidiary in Bangalore. (A handful working in sales and marketing will stay on.) Spokesman Steve Dowling would say only that Apple had "reevaluated our plans" and decided to provide support from other countries. Another source familiar with the situation, though, says the decision was cost-driven. "India isn't as inexpensive as it used to be," the source says. "The turnover is high, and the competition for good people is strong." Apple feels it "can do [such work] more efficiently elsewhere."

The shutdown highlights concerns about the sustainability of India's fast-track economy. True, India grew 9.3% last quarter and is still home to the world's largest and fastest-growing offshore outsourcing sector, which last year generated some $17.3 billion in revenues and employed nearly 700,000 people, according to the McKinsey Global Institute. Yet India's benchmark Sensitive index, or Sensex, has dropped by 20% in the past month as global investors have fled emerging-market stocks. And the outsourcing sector is now plagued by concerns about rising wages. Entry-level pay at tech and outsourcing companies climbed by as much as 13% annually from 2000 to 2004, while salaries for midlevel managers jumped 30% a year during the same period, to a median of $31,131, according to McKinsey and Nasscom, India's software industry association.

[...] 

This is too freaking hilarious! [via BoingBoing] A YouTube video of a desi movie song that copies The Beatles' I Want to Hold Your Hand. Shammi Kapoor is just the icing on the cake on this one. Finally, a Beatles song I can listen to without barfing ;-).

Buried in an article in the NYT about Indian-American lobbying in the USA, is a bit of data that I have long suspected:

Indian-Americans Test Their Clout on Atom Pact – NYT

[...]

Although Indian-Americans have contributed heavily to both Democrats and Republicans, they have tended to favor Republicans, giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to President Bush's campaign in 2004.

[...]

What a pathetic bunch of wannabes! Apologies for the rant, but I am sickened to the core, right now.

[A question to English usage types: is "Apropos of" or "Apropos to" the right usage in this title? My initial urge was "of" but on further thought I felt "to" is more apropos!]

I have already posted on the Kaavya Viswanathan affair (plagiarization by the young Indian-American author), though I did not quite articulate what it is that bothered me about her. Below is an article from the Guardian that describes the difficulty that minorities have in getting published. A comment towards the qend of the quoted text describes my uneasiness: that minority writers are further disadvantaged by those (otherwise privileged) who play upon their minority status to open doors. 

Guardian | Monica Ali and Zadie Smith are in the minority, finds survey
Michelle Pauli

Wednesday May 10, 2006

The book trade is missing a trick by ignoring the potential of the black and ethnic minority (BME) market, says a new report by the Bookseller and the Arts Council.

The Books for All survey of publishers, booksellers, agents and librarians found that a "fear factor" was holding back the book trade from pursuing a growing market and a huge potential source of writing talent.

[...]
While 7.9% of the UK's population is of ethnic minority origin, only 50 (1%) of this year's top 5,000 bestsellers are by BME writers, despite the high profile of award-winners Zadie Smith, Andrea Levy and Monica Ali.

[...]

The report is critical of the lack of monitoring that takes place in the publishing process, with 58% of publishers unsure whether the number of submissions received from BME authors has risen, fallen or stayed the same during the past year, but acknowledges that accusations of tokenism can also be damaging.

"There is obviously a wealth of excellent Asian writers out there," said Poorna Shetty, editor of Asiana magazine, "but, inevitably, there are some books that get published because of the ethnic tag, rather than because they're actually great books."

[...]

Ok, the title of my post is more alarmist than necessary, since even I do not think this is a huge warning sign. Now, how can they spin this to blame it on the people for voting out the rightwing BJP? 

BBC NEWS | Business | Indian stocks rebound after pause

Indian shares have rebounded after a drop of more than 10% prompted the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) to suspend trading for an hour.

The BSE's benchmark 30-share Sensex index closed 456.84 points, or 4.2%, lower at 10,481.77.

Earlier it had lost 1,111.71 points, its biggest intra-day drop, amid heavy selling by domestic and foreign funds.

Investors said they were worried that recent record gains had come too fast to be justified by the profit outlook.

[...] 

From Schopenhauer (serious) to the Beatles (trivial), the West has demonstrated a fitful fascination for things Indian. The latest (not counting the return of Yoga) has been Indian English literature — by which I mean not the modestly illuminating works of someone like R.K. Narayan, bot more the cutesy stuff such as the exotic prose of Arundhati Roy. Much was made of the Indian-American Kaavya Viswanathan's precocious work of fiction in the past year. Things have taken a turn for the worse and the below news item might signal the beginning of the end of this fad.

Young Author Asserts Copying Was Unintentional – NYT

By DINITIA SMITH and MARIA NEWMAN

Kaavya Viswanathan, the young author who has admitted copying parts of her chick-lit novel, "How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life," said today she was troubled to see so many similarities between her book and two novels by Megan McCafferty.

"When I was writing, I genuinely believed each word was my own," the 19-year-old Harvard University sophomore said in an interview this morning on NBC's "Today" show.

She also said the similarities were unintentional, even though she admitted earlier this week that she had copied them, and she hopes Ms. McCafferty can forgive her.

"The last thing that I ever wanted to do was cause any distress to Megan McCafferty," she said. " I've been unable to contact her and all I want to do is tell her how profoundly sorry I am for this entire situation."

She has promised to revise her book and said she would acknowledge McCafferty in a foreword.

On Tuesday, the day after Ms. Viswanathan apologized to the author, the publisher of the two books she borrowed from called her apology "troubling and disingenuous."

Steve Ross, Crown's publisher, said that, "based on the scope and character of the similarities, it is inconceivable that this was a display of youthful innocence or an unconscious or unintentional act."

[...]

Publisher to Recall Harvard Student's Novel

By MOTOKO RICH and DINITIA SMITH

Published: April 28, 2006

Just a day after saying it would not withdraw "How Opal
Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life" from bookstores, Little,
Brown, the publisher of the novel whose author, Kaavya Viswanathan, confessed to copying passages from another writer's books, said it would immediately recall all editions from store shelves.

[...]

Author may have copied from 2nd book
'Opal Mehta' has been pulled from retailers' shelves

BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) — A Harvard sophomore's novel, which was pulled from the market last week after the author acknowledged mimicking portions of another writer's work, appears to contain passages copied from a second author.

A reader alerted The New York Times to at least three portions of "How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life," by Kaavya Viswanathan, that are similar to passages in the novel "Can You Keep a Secret?," by Sophie Kinsella.

Some interesting links:

• Probability theory and Viswanathan's plagiarism
• Examples from the Harvard Crimson

Last year the rural population in India handed a stinging defeat to the right fundamentalist BJP which had been trumpeting India’s recent economic boom as one of its successes. Now, the new government is moving to address the neglected segment that brought them to power. Whether any of this effort will filter through the corrupt political system is something that I remain pessimistic about. It is refreshing however to hear political leaders talk about transparency!

BBC NEWS | South Asia | India launches anti-poverty deal
India launches anti-poverty deal
The Indian government has launched one of the country’s most ambitious efforts to tackle rural poverty.

Under the National Rural Guarantee Scheme one member from each of India’s 60 million rural households is guaranteed 100 days of work each year.

They will receive a minimum wage of 60 rupees ($1.35) or an unemployment allowance if there is no work.

[...]