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Sunday, March 30, 2014

Why I Consider Narendra Modi a Better Choice as the Next Indian Prime Minister?



India is anxiously waiting to know about the person who would take the mantles of its government in just a couple of days ahead from now.

There are many ambitious politicians out there who may do any thing to fulfill their dreams to sit on the chair of the Prime Minister of India. There are several political outfits who are all making all out efforts to attract the people of India to support them and their leaders. None of them are confident to get an absolute majority as the people are a confused and divided lot. So the final game plans would only be known after the final tally of the winners gets declared by the election commission of India.
The media and their promoters are doing all efforts to carry out opinion surveys to know the outcomes in advance so that it becomes some help to some of those to whom such information would make some difference. But the common men and women from whom they try to know the moods of the people have become wary of them and are in no mood to express their real thoughts honestly any more.

As of now there is only one projected Prime Minister candidate and that is Mr Narendra Modi- the controversial Gujarat Chief Minister and the charismatic and vociferous leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). All others from other political parties have not yet got the courage to declare their PM candidate. They seem to be in serious doubts about their success to get in to the prime chair! From their inner hearts they know the handicaps of their potential candidates. They would only open it up only when they get some confidence!

Mr Arvind Kejriwal appeared in the political scene quite dramatically and with an appealing mission for fighting corruption in India. I have no doubt about his character and mission. However, what I now feel is that he has lost his initial mass appeal due to some of his impractical and adamant ideologies. The country is not yet ripe enough to accept his ideas! A corruption free society may be a desire for most Indians but that is not their primary concern as of now. Corruption may be the reasons for many of the ills of the Indian society, but sending all those businessmen who had created billions worth of job creating assets in India, by being practical in India is not a practical approach which the Indian public would accept. Indian youths are more concerned with employment and their livelihood and are not that concerned with the commissions that exchange hands while businessmen of India try setting up their companies. Mr Kejriwal is undoubtedly a highly educated and qualified person who took up politics with a sole purpose. Unfortunately, the time is not ripe for such politicians in India for the time being!

Mr Rahul Gandhi, is no more appealing to the Indian people. The Indian National Congress has become a party of nominated leaders who have no direct responsibility to the people of India. Indians no longer can accept this practice of a party gaining political control taking advantage of the family charisma of some aristocrat and then rule them with the help of unpopular faces who show their arrogance to the 'cattle-class' too often! The crocodile tears of Congress party high command is now having the teargas effect on the people!

So Mr Narendra Modi has obviously become the only NaMo or worshipful leader of the Indian people. He has shown a determination and is making all efforts to tell the people about his practical vision that he has about his country that he would try to implement for the people of India as their next Prime Minister. How far he would succeed to become the PM is still not very clear as there are some congress like mindsets in the BJP who might not like the the emergence of such a popular leader. But he has emerged anyway as the  potential and only practical choice not only for the BJP but also for India as a whole.

I have been a listener of many of the campaign speeches of Narendra Modi. From a very humble background he has emerged as a knowledgeable leader and an efficient state chief minister. He might have done some wrong decisions in the past, but such wrongs do happen when people are in public positions! And for that matter, there is no successful politician who could be deemed a holy saint in India! And a saint cannot be a good administrator for a complex country like India with so many contrasts in all walks of life!

Narendra Modi categorically expresses his vision statements about India. He stresses on development and progress. He talks about positive changes in governance such as tax reforms. He talks about employment creation and a government that takes decisions. 

To me a leader who gives top priority for job creation is the one who is needed for India at this juncture. And job creation cannot take place when all development plans of the government are marred by delayed decisions and lack of appropriate laws. I had written about this in a blog earlier. Narendra Modi seems to understand this well. Besides, he is bold and brave to speak and act!

Narendra Modi is well experienced and with little family encumbrances that would deter or deviate him in serving his nation. The chances that he would be interested in making money for himself is also very remote. He now knows the complex nature of the people of India. Incidentally I remember something a metropolitan bishop of an influential Christian church of Kerala told me personally a couple of years ago-Narendra Modi was the first and only Chief Minister who had shown the courage to extent courtesy to this bishop to welcome him as a state guest in Gujarat! Apparently, Mr Modi is not a hardened minority antagonist as some people believe that he is!  

The outgoing PM of India, Dr Man Mohan Singh, has commented about the negative roles of the watch dog agencies in pulling down developmental activities. But I think it is not proper for a PM to comment like that. It is the prime duty of the leader of the government to make laws accordingly. He should not weep about laws and rules that got created during his time or earlier. Of course, he cannot make any appropriate laws that he might desire when he is not the person in real command! Perhaps that was what happened in his case! The Man Mohan Singh regime is a typical case which proves the ineffectiveness of highly qualified persons as top leaders in India! Aristocrats of India are handicapped in understanding the people of India of the present times even while they might have been a be a bit successful in dividing the people by exploiting their weaknesses for many years in the past!

India needs a future PM who has a vision and determination to move ahead. Narendra Modi has got it. At least he is the best practical choice for the Indian people for the time being.

While I was typing this blog, I stopped for a while to watch Amir Khan's Satyameva Jayate TV episode-5. I do support the issue that he has dealt in this program. It is high time that Indian voters use their franchises properly to discourage known criminals to get elected as peoples' representatives. 

But at the same time we need to be practical. Let not our votes go as wastes to make a fragmented outcome with no party getting the decisive majority. A fragmented peoples' choice is the best scenario for many of those corrupt politicians who are waiting to pounce upon India to make their kill. Let us not make such a thing happen!

It is for all of us in this country to decide now! 

Added on 26th April 2014

As days pass, Narendra Modi keep showing his leadership qualities. The following are two of his views that have been reported in the media that reflects the man he is.

First he dismisses his communal biases:


Narendra Modi says he is not going to appeal to any community but to the Indians!

He justifies his links with corporate India:


There is no harm if the Political Leader is Supporting the Industry for the Overall Economic Growth of the Nation!

And finally he discloses his religious and spiritual convictions- Narendra Modi asserts that we are all children of God-the Immortal Spirit (I fully agree with him) and he also asserts that it is not the religious rituals or the affiliation to the religious places that makes a person near to God, but his ability to move according to the spirit of God that resides within him or her! No other politician of India presently has such a conviction!

Wide experience has taught him the true reality of God!

Yes, as a citizen of India, I earnestly feel that it is time that India needs a leader like Mr Narendra Modi at this crucial juncture.

I wish him succeed to give the much desired direction to this nation to progress materially and spiritually.


Friday, March 28, 2014

What is Amazon Kindle and How to Get it in India?

To be very honest with you, I have never heard of anything called Kindle until very recently. I noticed about it only recently. This could be true with many of my Indian counterparts!

And that is exactly the reason why I am writing this blog. It is a good thing to share some thing I learnt with at least a few others like me.

Now, Kindle is nothing but an electronic book reading device. Now-a-days, inexpensive tablet computers have flooded the Indian market which are available in price ranges of Rs. 3000 to 30,000. A Kindle is some thing similar to a tablet PC. Perhaps something superior with regard to its features as far as book reading is concerned.

I have been using desk tops, laptops and mobile phones for reading printable digital files (pdf) , MS word files and other digital texts for quite some time. No doubt they are good but I have always felt that they could have been something better.

For example, to use my PC or laptop for a convenient book reading, it is just not possible. I have to be in one predetermined position and place where these devices are placed and connected. Even the lap top is a heavy thing which blows hot air always and not fit to place on the lap as people think.

So reading a book with hundreds of pages at leisure and convenience of the bed or the sofa is out of question. Besides, these devices would never ever give the feel of the book and its white pages. The glare and the font sizes are all at odds and you have to try many things before you can make it in some comfortable mode.

I had always dreamed of a small hand held device which is light weight and could work for hours without those charging botheration and could also store all my digital books. My android touchscreen mobile phone does this for me but its small 5 inch screen is not sufficient for me to view and read a full page in one go. When I try to enlarge the page, the page goes out of my reading range and I need to pull it right-left and up-down for quite a number of times. This really kills my reading pleasure.

The tablet PCs could be better, but I have not tried it so far. People who have used those cheaper versions do not give a good report. Perhaps the expensive models could be better, but they are indeed too expensive.

Now this Kindle is a proprietary e-book reader specially designed and marketed by the international leader in book publishing, Amazon . Amazon is perhaps the largest book publishers and book sellers in the world who are also one of the largest electronic commerce company in the world. It is an american company with its head quarters in the US. Amazon has become international with its presence in many countries in the recent years. And now Amazon is in India too. You can see their logo on this page itself and click it to visit Amazon India website.

Kindle is designed and developed specially by a subsidiary unit of Amazon with special attention to the needs of book lovers. So all the problems that I have mentioned should have been addressed properly by them.

There are many models of Kindle e-book reading devices and all are reportedly sold as hot cakes whenever they had launched them earlier in the USA where many people love reading books. 

I have not yet purchased a Kindle. I think I would go for it shortly. I would be in a position to share a much more detailed feed back with user experience then. I would request people who are already using Kindle devices to share their experiences using the comments facility at the bottom of this page.


Since Amazon is now in India, it is quite easy to get this device from their on-line shopping facility. It is acknowledged as one of the pioneers and one of the best in the world. 

Amazon named their e-book reader as Kindle because kindle means lighting the fire. It is indeed for lighting the mind fire of people by encouraging new generation to read more and more to ignite their intelligence to burning heights!

But let this be specially noted. Kindle is not a tablet phone. It is not used for internet browsing or telephony or messaging services. It is also not a general purpose multimedia player, though it can play some limited music, video and picture formats. Its main purpose is for storing and reading books with a reading experience matching with that of reading a paper book. The multimedia is for adding some additional electronic life to the electronic texts. It is another electronic gadget addition to the many other electronic devices one may have already.

Those who are interested in knowing the technical specifications of the various Kindle models may use this link.

Kindle is for those who love reading books. It is for those who might think it right to curtail cutting trees for making paper books to some extent. There are now millions of books in digital formats compatible with Kindle, all supplied by Amazon.

It would not be surprising to see many Indians with Kindle in their hands in the coming days!

Hopefully, I too would be among them!

Let this electronic book kindle the fire of knowledge thirst among the masses of India too!

Get Computers from Amazon!

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Some Selected Free Online Story Links For Reading Good Stories!

While it is not a big problem for internet users interested in reading short stories online by searching through Google or other such search engines, such searches are bound to return many useless links where one might get lost. It is also not a good thing for youngsters and children to try search engine on the internet unless they are under the guidance of some responsible elders with sufficient knowledge about the world wide web.

Internet is good as well as bad, just as all human activities are.

Yesterday my daughter called me from her home a-thousand-mile-away for asking some guidance to get some good stories for our grand daughter. She is not a novice on computers. Yet, for many like her, googling does not always yield what they really look for. It is also not very easy for many to remember the website address and use it on the address bar.

So, blog sites like this keep helping people. I write this page today for those who are in the look out for websites with lot of good stories for the young and the old, both.

I have carefully gone through these sites and the stories. I feel they are good and so I give the links of those sites for the benefit of my readers. Please click the links below to reach the story site or page:

1. Inspirational Childrens' Stories
2. Inspirational Animal Stories
3. Inspirational Teacher Stories
4. Inspirational Love Stories
5. Inspirational Life and Death Stories
6. Inspirational Family Stories
7. Inspirational Friendship Stories
8. Inspirational Mix of Stories
10. Children's Online Story Books
12. Children's Online Hindi Story Books
14. Children's Online Comics Books

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Mutual Fund Asset Management Companies in India: How to Check NAV and Other Details of MFs?

The following gives the list of all Mutual Fund (MF) Asset Management Companies (AMC)  in India with the links to visit their official websites given in red right below their names. 
The linked name of the company may be clicked to visit the respective website of the AMC. All details regarding the MFs floated by the respective AMC could be obtained from these websites:
Axis Asset Management Company Ltd
Baroda Pioneer Asset Management Company Ltd
Birla Sun Life Asset Management Company Ltd
BNP Paribas Asset Management India Pvt Ltd.
BOI AXA Investment Managers Pvt Ltd
Canara Robeco Asset Management Company Ltd
Daiwa Asset Management (India) Pvt Ltd
Deutsche Asset Management (India) Pvt. Ltd.
DSP BlackRock Investment Managers Pvt.  Ltd
Edelweiss Asset Management Ltd.
Escorts Asset Management Ltd.
FIL Fund Management Private Ltd
Franklin Templeton Asset Management (India) Pvt Ltd
Goldman Sachs Asset Management (India) Pvt Ltd
HDFC Asset Management Company Ltd.
HSBC Asset Management (India) Pvt.  Ltd
ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company Ltd.
IDBI Asset Management Ltd.
IDFC Asset Management Company Ltd
India Infoline Asset Management Co. Ltd
Indiabulls Asset Management Company Ltd
ING Investment Management (India) Pvt. Ltd
JM Financial Asset Management Pvt Limited
JPMorgan Asset Management India Pvt. Ltd
Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company Ltd.
L&T Investment Management Ltd
LIC NOMURA Mutual Fund Asset Management Company Ltd.
Mirae Asset Global Investments (India) Pvt. Ltd
Morgan Stanley Investment Management Pvt.Ltd
Motilal Oswal Asset Management Company Ltd
Peerless Funds Management Co. Ltd
Pine Bridge Investments Asset Management Company (India) Pvt. Ltd.
Pramerica Asset Managers Private Ltd
Principal PNB Asset Management Co. Pvt. Ltd
Quantum Asset Management Company Private Ltd.
Reliance Capital Asset Management Ltd
Religare Asset Management Company Private Ltd
Sahara Asset Management Company Private Ltd
SBI Funds Management Private Ltd
Sundaram Asset Management Company Ltd
Tata Asset Management Ltd
Taurus Asset Management Company Ltd.
Union KBC Asset Management Company Pvt Ltd.
UTI Asset Management Company Ltd

Mutual Fund investors and enthusiasts are likely to be interested in some online financial calculators such as those given below with the links to their respective websites:




Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Extremely Expensive Foodstuffs and Medicines that could Shake Even the Sheiks!

By nature, Indian fellow men and women of my country are not adventurists. They do not normally venture out to eat some thing which are not approved by customs and habits. Common Indians are simple people and their food requirements are also simple. Even when they are very rich, they would not over step their eating habits and try out some thing which is not in their traditional menu as approved by the family traditions.

A majority of Indians are either vegetarians or prefer to be known as veggies even while they might occasionally relish non vegetarian food stuffs. Meat and wine are wishfully considered as vilely vices that entered in to the culture of some Indians from the Occident.

Indian Maharajas and the oriental royals, however promoted many ayurvedic and unani medicines which were used mainly to maintain their royal vigor and never hesitated to spend huge sums for such royal medicines that were out of reach to the commoners. Such medicines are available even now and the costs of such medicines are unimaginable to ordinary folks. Such exotic medicines made using various natural minerals, medicinal plants and animal products are available through out the world, though not common.

Some of these medicines are extremely useful and effective when administered by those are conversant with them. For example, in the Indian ayurvedic rasayana  chkitsa system there are such medicines which work like magic potions for certain kinds of diseases which are almost incurable for the modern medical scientists. But many of these medicines are too expensive. Costs of some of these medicines sometimes might be even equivalent to some of the modern chemotherapy medicines. Some twenty years ago, I purchased one gram a tasteless powder containing swarna bhasm (processed salt of gold) to be administered to the wife of a family friend as advised by an ayurvedic vaid (medical practitioner). The lady was discharged from a modern hospital to face her ultimate destiny as even morphine was not able to sooth her pain. She was critically ill and wriggling in pain due to an advanced cancer. I remember the powder immediately soothing her unbearable pain for some time whenever a small pinch of it was pasted on her lips. But the cost of the medicine at that time was about Rs.1000/- It costs about Rs.10000/- now and it is equivalent to about 8 dozes. Obviously such medicines are not for the common folks.

But medicines are medicines. Even ordinary folks might not hesitate to spend huge sums for medicines when such situations arise in life.

But what about eatables? How much money a person can spend for a kilogram of some kind of a food material? Mind you, I am not talking about food flavoring substances.

One such food stuff is the truffle. Remember, it is not a trifle, but the truffle. Both are foods. Trifle is a traditional dessert dish of the Scottish people. But truffle is a foodstuff that is grown below the ground. It is a kind of edible fungus just like the common mushrooms. Only difference is that it is not that common. These are obtained in countries like France. There are two kinds of truffles. The black truffle and the white truffle.

Truffles grow below the soil and trained dogs are used to locate a truffle that has grown underground.

But how much any one could spend for eating this mushroom? The average price of truffles are to the order of about Rs 300,000 to 400,000 per kilogram ($5000-6000). Even there are people who have auctioned a piece of truffle weighing 1.5 kg by shelling out a sum exceeding two million Indian rupees. That is the kind of craze among some people on earth for whom money is not a truffle worth.

Another expensive food cherished by extremely rich fellows is the eggs of a fish called beluga. The eggs are called beluga caviar. It costs over Rs. 650, 000 [$ 10,000] a kilogram.

For some avid fish eaters of Japan, spending some $ 1.8 Million for a 222 kg tuna fish was not too much. That is nearly Rs.520,000 per kg and yet they considered it a good bargain! Whatever tuna fish it is, most Indians get their tuna for Rs.100 per kg ! And tuna in India is one of the cheapest sea fish.

Some fruit lovers would not hesitate to spend as much as $ 4000 for a kg of their beloved grapes. But some fruit lovers of the world might even pay more to get some of these exotic fruits when they feel of relishing some of them.

I have written about these only to tell you some interesting things about our interesting world. In our world there are some of our fellow beings whose purpose of living is to live fulfilling their material passions. Fulfilling such passions is nothing bad, but living only for those passions forgetting certain other important aspects of life may not be so good. Why it is so needs to be explored with some passion of a different kind.

In this context I am compelled to quote a few words of caution that the authors of my favorite book (you have the details of it already in this page) of life guidance wrote in this book, to my human fellows who live passionately to accomplish their short term goals during their short life on this earth:

Do not try to satisfy the curiosity or gratify all the latent adventure surging within the soul in one short life in the flesh. Be patient! be not tempted to indulge in a lawless plunge into cheap and sordid adventure. Harness your energies and bridle your passions; be calm while you await the majestic unfolding of an endless career of progressive adventure and thrilling discovery (that awaits you beyond this short life of yours in your world) TUB 195:5.10

Yes, there is need for patience and restraint. Trying to fulfill all the passions means living a life about which you are not sure. But just as passions built in our minds, we also have analytic capacities and reasoning abilities with decision making powers. All are there because of a God who knows and prevails with some purpose.

Knowing the purpose of God for you in this life should also be a passion just as all those other things in life. Perhaps you would be able to live a much more purposeful and worthy life when you try to fulfill that passion too! 

Monday, March 24, 2014

Essential Oils: Keep Some of These Nature Wonders at Home for Some Pleasing Advantage!

When I was a graduate student of chemical engineering way back in the Nineteen Seventies I heard about essential oils for the first time. I did not understand much about it at that time. But what struck me most was the technology of extracting the natural chemicals from some of the well known plants and the commercial value that one could gain by selling those extracted natural chemicals generally known as essential oils.

In fact many of us with the able support of some of our faculty members used to make our mock study project reports giving the techno-economic feasibility of setting up of small scale and medium scale chemical plants for the production of various kinds of essential oils from raw materials abundantly available in our home state, Kerala.

Production of essential oils from lemon grass, black pepper, cinnamon, clove, eucalyptus, ginger, turmeric, cardamom, etc used to be discussed those days not only because of the availability of the raw materials in our state, but also due to the technical enthusiasm of budding chemical engineers to make use of some of the new learning that they have acquired during the course of their studies.

Essential oils are not some thing essential for our life. They are called essential oils because people thought that the chemical extracts that are derived from some of the pleasant smelling plants are the essential ingredients contained in those plants that give the aroma or taste qualities to those plants. In other words, they are the essential substances of such aromatic plants. Again, the essential substances are not essentially oils, but people considered those as similar to oils as these substances did not mix with water well just as oils. 

Essential oils contain a mixture of naturally occurring organic chemical substances. They give the characteristic odor or flavor to the leaves, flowers, barks, roots, etc of their respective mother plants. The plants from which the essential oils are obtained are considered as exotic plants with many useful benefits to humans in medicine, food flavoring, perfumery, insect control, etc. A wide spread application is in aroma therapy where certain essential oils are used for creating various soothing odors that are beneficial in the treatment of certain human illnesses. 

Essential oils are expensive and rare. They are considered as privileged substances affordable only to the rich and the aristocrats. This is some what true, because for the production of few kilograms of these oils several tonnes of the original plant stock would be required. Many times the plants themselves are in short supply or are considered as endangered species making the availability of the raw materials much restricted.

There are many essential oils produced from many plants. Wikipedia has a comprehensive compilation of the list of most of the essential oils.  

Though many of the essential oils used for food flavoring are produced in India, they are not commonly used by the Indian public. Such flavoring essential oils are black pepper oil, red chilly oil, clove oil, turmeric oil, garlic oil,  nutmeg oil, cardamom oil, etc.

Some of these oils are very good for immediate relief to pain, especially tooth pain. Clove oil is an example.

Many of these oils are very good natural agents for insect control. For example, eucalyptus oil, citronella oil, neem oil, cinnamon oil, clove oil etc could be effectively used as natural mosquito repellents.

Many of these oils have very good medicinal properties and could be effectively used as house hold first aids for the management of many common ailments. Many of them are also good natural perfumes and could be used for aroma therapy and sleep inducers without much side effects.

It is a good idea to get a few vials of these natural wonders from reliable sources and keep them at home. It is also a good idea to learn more about their uses and applications. Use the wiki list above and the hyperlinks there in to learn more.

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Enhancing Employment in India Should Be the First Priority for Indian Politicians!

What should we Indians expect from our successful political leaders who chance to become our heads of governmental functions in our central and state governments?

How are we going to evaluate their performances?

In an election year, how would we decide whom to vote? There are so many candidates forced on us by the numerous political parties all with highly ambitious chiefs who are interested in getting in to the seats of political power and governance.

They are spending millions and millions of rupees from their individual and collective coffers to reach out to the Indian voters. All parties get the money to spend on their party leaders and for election propaganda by what is known as donations from the Indian people or the Indian business organizations who make money by various economic activities.

So the circle is like this. The individuals gain money by doing various economic activities. Some of them get paid for their work as employees of some organizations of people formed for doing making profits from various economic activities. These economic activities are numerous. Any activity of human beings which is carried out for some cash benefit is an economic activity. 

So activities related to agriculture, mining, production, manufacturing, transport, communication, entertainment, health, sports, education, administration and governance, insurance, accounting, auditing, policing, politics, law making, law practice, tax collection and administration,  research and development, software development, quality control, etc, and even religious activity are all economic activities. Some of these are economic activities directly involving production of goods and materials while a large number of other activities involve some kind of service. In short economic activities are all about goods and services by people and for people all done for some kind or remuneration or advantage or profit.

Food, clothing, shelter, health, entertainment, security, justice, spiritual comfort are all essential for human beings and as humans progress in body and mind, his requirements and aspirations also increase. Food is the primary requirement of a person who is hungry. But when hunger is resolved, he needs clothing and shelter. When these are also fulfilled, he wants to improve and aspire for other comforts and entertainment.

No human can be self sufficient. God has created humans to exist and prosper under mutual dependence.

Modern economic activities with money as its measuring unit is one of the greatest evolutionary achievement human beings have made. Human progress of any nation is measured by the sum total of the value of the economic activities of its people that our economists define as the Gross Domestic Product or GDP.

The more the GDP the more likely the country's prosperity. Alternatively, the more the people are engaged in economic activities, the more the country's GDP. So, GDP grows when more people are involved in economic activities and their individual gains also keep growing.

Organizations of people help in organizing the economic activities of individuals and to gain collective synergy.

If these organizations make more money than they spend, they make profits. If they make profits, they can afford to enhance their economic activities by employing more people by paying them salaries or even enhance the salaries of their employees. Such business organizations are legally known firms or companies. The companies pay salary to their employees and divide profits among their share holders and promoters. The companies, their employees and their share holders all pay taxes to the government and the governments also get money when business firms progress. 

The money generated through small and big business gets further distributed to people as money never gets accumulated any where, but only accounted. So if some one makes lots of money it will be reflected in his bank accounts but the banks in turn lend that money to some one who uses that money elsewhere for some other economic activity and in turn help others to engage in more and more economic activities.

Thus the more the economic activity, the more the people get opportunities for getting involved in some kind of such activity and gets paid in some manner. Only when economic activities increase, then only employment opportunities enhance. Enhancing the economic activities should, therefore, be the primary concern of all people who come to occupy the seats of decision making in governments.

People occupying governmental positions have many functions. They have to first get money for themselves through collection of taxes and by promoting other economic activities. Then they have to spend the money for various purposes such as defense, policing, infrastructure development, health, education, etc. All functions are important. Income generation and income distribution are all important.

But the primary thing to remember is this: if the income is less then expenditure would be affected and the government would not be in a position to give attention to all of its functions and responsibilities properly. This kind of government would soon become a problem for its people and the nation suffers because such governments would try to do foolish things that kill economic activities. Employment opportunities in the nation come down when the governmental authorities take foolish decisions under stress, ego, incompetence or immaturity to visualize the effects of their decisions wisely.

In my opinion, all business men should be honored because they are the agents and key-drivers of economic activities and employment generation. Businessmen and women are driven by the passion to achieve and move against the odds. The greatest thing they do is tapping the small potentials of individuals to contribute in in a larger way in economic activities under the companies and firms they have created and nurtured. 

So, the Ambanis, Adanis and the Saharas of India have done greater contributions in India by fighting the odds to create large business organizations that employ thousands of Indians. In the process they might have influenced many in the decision making hot spots of the Indian governance and administration by various means. But that is essentially that they do and what makes them different from others. That is why they are business leaders.

It is foolish for any one to kill the organizations that they have created by accusing them of corruption or breaking the rules. It is not good for any country to put such businessmen behind bars for any so called economic offenses. Economic offenses should be deemed as only business errors and it is not fair to equate business errors with felony. It is not good for any democratic country, whether it is the USA or India, to make and implement laws that kill the enthusiasm of people to to do business and enhance economic activities. 

In my opinion, punishment for economic offenses or errors should be only fines payable to the government and such fines should not be such that it would kill the organization for ever. People who violate the laws by taking willful decisions should be taken to task. But that should not kill the organizations that they had created. That would be sheer injustice to the employees , the shareholders. and clients.

In my opinion, it is not at all harmful to the country if any Ambani or Adani or Sahara has achieved huge profits for their companies. Through their companies and their employees the country has made billions as taxes of various kinds. Their businesses have made great dynamism in the economic activity scene of India directly and indirectly. That is what all businesses are doing. If they make profits it is good. Viewing that with jealousy is not good.

Remember, none of these businessmen and women are not going to take all the wealth that they have created with them when they die. The money and the systems that they had created would remain in the country for reaping economic benefits to the people of India.

That is the reason why I adore the visions of Mr Narendra Modi more than that of Mr Arvind Kejriwal. Mr Modi speaks of economic development through companies while Kejriwal speaks of corruption by companies. Modi stresses more on growth while Kejriwal stresses more on putting some breaks on economic growth by trying to cleanse the economic systems from possible violations of rules.

While I do honor and respect Mr Kejriwal for his honesty and spirit of principles, I do have doubts about the practicality of his visions in a country like India where the people are not essentially idealists nor mature enough in mind and body. I think he and his associates are wise enough to understand this and make corrections.

There is no point in talking idealism to people who are deprived from earning a livelihood by involving in some kind of economic activity. Generating economic activities to the maximum should, therefore, be the first priority of any politician who comes to occupy the hot seat of decision making in India.

Let economic activities grow first so that all Indians are gainfully employed and earn a livelihood. 

Other priorities can follow later.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Missing Malaysian Flight 370 : Did it Descend to the Sea Safely?

Never in the recent history of advanced air travel and space communications, something of this kind has happened.

One of the most advanced passenger aircraft ever made by one of the most advanced aircraft manufacturer of the world and operated by one of the best airline company of Asia and commandeered by one of the best trained pilot had vanished into thin air with all the passengers and the crew in the midst of its flight without out leaving any traces. At least no traces till now, even after ten days as on today, the 18th March 2014! The aircraft went missing on 8th March 2014!

If you haven't read about all those news, just brush up those once again in these CNN News coverage about this mysterious happening. For a detailed understanding with all technical information, you may also look into the Wikipedia article about this mystery of flight 370 of the Malaysian Airlines. The aircraft was a Boeing 777-200ER, one of the most advanced commercial flying machines. It was totally designed by computers and flew entirely by the fly-by-wire technique of the advanced on board computers.

There are many pieces of curious information in this case, just as much or more as similar aviation mysteries that had happened in the past.

Had the flight crashed on the ocean surface or on land surface, by this time our satellites in the sky and the thousands who do the scanning of the satellite images would have by now got some clue. It is almost impossible for such a large aircraft to crash without leaving some evidence!

Some say that the aircraft might have exploded at a high altitude of 35000 odd feet above the sea and in such a case it would be difficult to get any traces so easily. Perhaps this could be accepted for a moment. But the later information confirmed that the aircraft's engines have been working for sever odd hours even after the plane went missing from the radar screens.

The plane's communication systems-transponders- were switched off by some one in its cockpit. That could be a deliberate attempt to hijack the plane from its approved course of travel. But who could have done it?

Who ever had done that and the later piloting of the plane for long hours without getting noticed by the air space watch dogs of several countries should be an expert by any logic.

The news media report that the commander of the plane was an techno-geek whose only interest in life was the technicalities of flying this mammoth of a plane. He had installed a private flight simulator in his home! He knew ins and outs of the air craft he was flying! Perhaps he was a loner!

The majority of the passengers were Chinese. But there were a few from India as well. There are unconfirmed news about a Canadian Indian family of an Indian technocrat who worked as a top executive in the company where I too worked, also on board. 

It is indeed a big trauma for all the near and dear ones of the passengers and the crew members as they wait for any news about their missing ones!

It is now reported that about 26 nations have joined the search activities for the missing plane but so far with no conclusive success. Let us only hope that they would soon succeed in their mission!

But what could have happened?

The hijack theory is now getting some credence. But no one has claimed any responsibility for this act so far. This has become a mystery that is too intriguing even for the aviation experts!

One of the CNN's expert reporters had even theorized about the possibility of the plane flying of its own without even the auto pilot. That could happen when the pilots are incapacitated and some one forcing them to switch off every signalling systems. But in such a case, the plane should have crashed after it went out of fuel. But there is no evidence of such a thing so far.

There are even unconfirmed reports that say of getting some signals from the communication gadgets of some of the passengers after the lapse of the last handshake signal that the air craft had with some of the communication satellites. That shows some slim chances of the aircraft landing some where and the possibility of its passengers safe at least at that time.

From a logical deduction of all the input news, one can deduce about the possibility of the plane being flown by an expert with active help of some others deviating from its normal course in a clandestine manner. But where could it have gone that way?

It is highly improbable that the flight could have headed north, north west or north east as these areas are mostly land areas under the close monitoring of the airspace monitoring radars of several countries. The plane could have then moved south, south west or south east. Had it moved to south west, there are chances that it could have reached the Indian ocean or the Bay of Bengal, some where near the seas around the Andaman and Nicobar islands. This possibility is reported as being checked.

The Times of India reported about such a possibility. I think this is very likely. The Andaman and Nicobar islands are Union Territories of India and consists of 572 islands with an area of 7950 sq.km. Most of these islands either have no human population or are sparingly populated by protected tribes. Most of the islands are separated by sea to the tune of thousands of kilometers and even the Indian authorities have practically very little access to many of them. 

Under such a situation, I am compelled to postulate another theory of my own. It is only a wild wild guess.

Imagine the situation when some expert in the plane commandeered the plane to the Andaman and Nicobar sea with its transponders switched off. They also flew at low altitudes at those critical space where there were possibilities of radar detection. So they avoided radar detection. But perhaps the Indian airspace around the Nicobar islands have possible radar holes or areas where no one constantly monitored the air space, even while the islands have a strong presence of the Indian Air-force. Here the plane flew at low altitude over the seas and perhaps was forced to land on the sea waters adjacent to some isolated uninhabited island.

The majority of people could have swam to the shores of the island near by with the help of the life jackets of the plane. Shortly after wards either the plane was forced to sink to the sea, some one deliberately or it sank by its own fuselage breaking. There could be little chances of any evidence floating on the sea if the plane was forcibly and safely piloted to land on the relatively calm sea surface and later forced to sink.

If the fellows who have done this hijacking landed in a place other than their designated area, it would be difficult for them to get in to touch with their associates immediately. They would also be forcing the live passengers to be hidden behind the greenery of the remote islands for reasons known to them. Some passengers could have tried their advanced cell phones or internet gadgets to communicate but failed due to poor connectivity. Else they might be prevented from doing so.

It is a good idea to scan all the islands of Andaman and Nicobar by the Indian authorities before it is too late. Official request from Malaysia to the Indian authorities for this, is reported

Let us hope this mystery would be solved soon even while we realize the world is too big a space to search for a plane.

Let us hope the bereaved would find some solace. 

Let us hope those passengers are alive and they would join back to their beloved ones soon!

You may also read some other media news and speculations about this mystery in the following links:

1. Theories behind MH370 disappearance- MSN News
2. Norwegian ship continue search operations-MSN News
3. Air search expands to remote south of Indian ocean-Google News

Now it appears that the plane had been hijacked to the farthest point in the south as far as the plane could have gone with the fuel it had and crashed in to the remote ocean south of Australia and sank for ever. There are reports of satellites spotting some floating objects which could not be traced and located physically so far even after intensive searches.