Post 18 days of Demonetization in India -How life is impacted

On 8th Nov 2016, when Prime minister announced that existing 500 and 1000 notes no longer remain as legal tender, the whole nation was taken by surprise. Slowly, messages started flowing congratulating the prime minster for the move. Tweeter , Facebook, Whatsapp and all social media was filled with brave decision of the Government and how this was going to be a masterstroke to curb corruption and bring a new light to a common Indian. But the very next day, the struggle began. Commoners were in queues to get their money exchanged but banks were not ready. From 2 days to 18 days now, the configuration process for ATM's is still not complete and only on 24th the government has asked to stop any exchange of 500 and 1000 currency in banks. The only way remaining is to deposit this in banks and against it you will not be able to get it back in cash whole.

On Financial side, one report on very conservative side sets a no. of around 1.3 lakh crore as the cost of demonetization, still the overall impact will be difficult to ascertain, untill the exercise is complete, which may take more time then what the government has set.The larger picture as it surfacing now is that small and medium enterprises are finding it difficult to even take care of fixed cost with orders getting cancelled, some of the businesses have stopped, the economic activity is coming to a halt. How much time it will take to recover is difficult to ascertain. In For Indian finances, the decision on 8th was a sort of earthquake the after shocks of which are still being felt and uncertainty is still in air over next shock , though the devastation is not tangible , the time it will take to recover will be more than that of an earthquake itself. This is in infact a big earthquake in terms of geological location as the whole country is impacted. Overall, an impact of 1 to 1.5 % on GDP , though few experts put it at 2% will be there.

No decision is good or bad, the way the same is implemented and the final outcome will be the decider for the decision. Though it is difficult to digest that corruption will weed out and we will shine like Gold after 50 days ( Our shine will not be there at all as we will loose the business opportunity), still every indian is looking towards the Prime minister for that sunshine. The hopes are high though look like dream, but dream can be true. Already a parallel business has come up where people are exchanging old currency for 20-40% of the commission, some people are ready to put money in their accounts for minimal exchnage and Counterfeit notes surfacing for New 2000 notes and RBI coming with two versions of 500 rupees notes making it easy for Couterfeit and terrorists have been caught with new 2000 currency notes, still hope has not dwindled.

Overall it looks like that it was a master stroke meant to break the opponents but has been explained by the government to target multiple birds with one stroke. Whether we really achieve the other objectives, the main objective of the government in labelling opposition as anti national and breaking their back with the demonetization and in the meantime converting their own to white is showing.

Adventures in Social Media: Community Management Zen: Pebbles and the Ripple Effect

Adventures in Social Media: Community Management Zen: Pebbles and the Ripple Effect

Adventures in Social Media

Adventures in Social Media

FBI Reveals

Washington: The FBI says it learned in January that a Pakistani-born man arrested in the DC subway-bomb sting was trying to make contact with terrorist groups to help him participate in jihad against US forces overseas.FBI agent Charles Davoub says in an affidavit unsealed on Thursday that Farooque Ahmed and an unnamed associate hoped to fight in Afghanistan or Pakistan early next year.Davoub also says that Ahmed either bought, or tried to buy, weapons in May 2008 and February 2009 and is believed to have used firearms to train for his goal of traveling to Afghanistan to kill Americans.For more than six months, 34-year-old Farooque Ahmed went quietly about his business: casing Washington-area subway stations, sketching diagrams and shooting video, sizing up how best to kill the most people, police say.
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Rolling suitcases filled with explosives would be better than backpacks, he allegedly told others, and rush hour would be the best time to strike.The Pakistani-born Virginian thought he was working for Al-Qaida operatives, according to the FBI. In fact, the plot was a ruse: The information went to people working on behalf of the US government, according to a federal law enforcement official.Ahmed, a naturalized citizen, was arrested on Wednesday, the latest alleged example of homegrown terrorism."You never know who lives around you," said Margaret Petney, who lives on the same block as Ahmed in Ashburn, Va., outside Washington.Last week, a Hawaii man was arrested and accused of making false statements to the FBI about his plans to attend terrorist training in Pakistan. In August, a Virginia man was caught trying to leave the country to go fight with an al-Qaida-affiliated group in Somalia. And in May, Faisal Shazhad, a naturalized citizen from Pakistan, tried to set off a car bomb at a bustling street corner in New York.The FBI stressed that in the latest case, the public never was in danger. FBI agents were monitoring Ahmed's activities throughout the sting, the agency said.Nonetheless, US Attorney Neil MacBride said it was "chilling that a man from Ashburn is accused of casing rail stations with the goal of killing as many Metro riders as possible through simultaneous bomb attacks."Chilling, especially, for Washington-area commuters, who live with the memory of the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon."As I look around, I think about how vulnerable we are," said 45-year-old McCarthy Council, who lives near the Pentagon City Metro station. "I'm just going to stay off the Metro system for now."But Mary Brereton, 55, a personal trainer who lives in nearby Alexandria, Va., said she was more worried about the safety record of Metro's subway trains than the potential for a terrorist attack."Who was it who said, 'If we live in fear every day, then 9/11 was a success?'" she said. "You just can't."Ahmed, bearded and wearing glasses, made a brief court appearance on Wednesday in federal court in Alexandria. He didn't enter a plea and was ordered held without bond. He said he couldn't afford a lawyer. He faces up to 50 years in prison if convicted.In a nine-page indictment, federal investigators alleged that, starting in April, Ahmed met several times with people he believed were Al-Qaida operatives. He told them "he might be ready to travel overseas to conduct jihad in January 2011" after completing a hajj to Saudi Arabia he planned for November of this year, the document states. Date by date, the document lays out Ahmed's alleged activities and meetings in support of the fake bomb plot to be carried out in 2011.According to the indictment:--Ahmed took video of four northern Virginia subway stations -- Arlington Cemetery, Courthouse, Pentagon City and Crystal City, which is near the Pentagon -- and monitored security at a hotel in the District of Columbia. In a series of meetings at hotels in northern Virginia, Ahmed provided the videos to someone he believed was part of a terrorist organization and said he wanted to donate $10,000 to help the overseas fight and collect donations in a way "that would not raise red flags." In a September 28 meeting in a Herndon, Va., hotel, Ahmed suggested that terror operatives use rolling suitcases instead of backpacks to blow up the subway. During that same meeting, Ahmed said he wanted to kill as many military personnel as possible and suggested an additional attack on a Crystal City subway station.The indictment alleges he also handed over diagrams of the Arlington subway stations and gave suggestions about where to put explosives on trains to kill the most people in simultaneous attacks.At the White House, press secretary Robert Gibbs said President Barack Obama was aware of the investigation before Ahmed was arrested. Gibbs also offered assurances that the public was never in danger. There are no indications Ahmed was connected with larger terrorist groups like Al-Qaida, according to a US counterterrorism official, who requested anonymity to discuss an intelligence matter.Andrew Ames, a spokesman for the FBI Washington field office, declined to comment on how authorities learned about Ahmed. The Washington Post quoted an unidentified administration official as saying Ahmed drew the attention of law enforcement officials by seeking to obtain unspecified materials.The FBI has made several cases with agents working undercover: Last year, authorities arrested a Jordanian national after he tried to detonate what he thought was a bomb outside a Dallas skyscraper. In an unrelated case, authorities in Springfield, Ill., arrested a man after he tried to set off what he thought were explosives in a van outside a federal courthouse. In both cases, decoy devices were provided to the men by FBI agents posing as Al-Qaida operatives.A LinkedIn page that was created for Farooque Ahmed identifies him as a network planning engineer with a bachelor's degree in computer science from the City College of New York in 2003, during the same period that other records showed he had been living in New York. In Reston, Va., Ericsson Federal Inc. issued a statement confirming that Ahmed had done contract work for the company.A check of legal records for Ahmed found several traffic offenses in Virginia, including speeding.Law enforcement officials searched the brick town house where Ahmed lives on Wednesday.Neighbor Petney said Ahmed moved in about a year and a half ago with his wife and young child, and that they wore traditional Muslim clothing.Ahmed's wife, Sahar, joined the Hip Muslim Moms, a support group for women with children under 5 years old, and brought her young son to play dates with other mothers, said group organizer Esraa Bani. She had moved to the area and was looking for a mothers group when she joined. She was very quiet and kept to herself.Petney observed that "they didn't seem to be too friendly with anybody." Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/fbi-learned-of-subway-terror-suspect-in-january-63096?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ndtv%2FTqgX+%28NDTV+News+-+World%29&cp

No rain relief for Delhi

India Meteorological Department (IMD) sources on Wednesday said it was highly unlikely that the monsoon would set in before July. "The monsoon is definitely not going to keep its date for June 29 and we are expecting it instead in the first half of July for northwest India. What is also certain now is that it will be a deficient monsoon at 81% of the long range forecast. Overall a deficient monsoon of 93% for the country is being expected. We are, however, expecting some development in central India by June 30 and only then will be be able to predict more accurately when the monsoon will come to northwest India,'' said B P Yadav, director, IMD. According to IMD records, the 2008 monsoon came a record 14 days earlier than usual. Since 1900, the monsoon has been delayed 63 times while it has come earlier than its scheduled date of June 29 about 38 times. Delhi, more or less certainly, will get monsoon rains only in July and the present heat wave was likely to continue for another three to four days. The situation doesn't bode well for both the water and power situation in the city. The maximum temperature in the Capital inched towards the 44 degree mark as Wednesday recorded a maximum of 43.9 degrees Celsius, five degrees above normal. The minimum was recorded at 31.9 degrees Celsius, three degrees above normal. The highest temperature in the region was recorded in Dholpur in Rajasthan where the maximum temperature went up to 46.5 degrees Celsius. "The situation is not going to change for a few more days and the heat wave that has been affecting northwest India will continue till the end of the week at least. We are expecting no respite and the temperatures will continue to rise. Had the monsoon approached central India at least there could have been some respite but that is expected only at the end of the month,'' said a Met department official. "The heat is becoming just more and more unbearable. It is sheer torture to step out of the house but if there is a power cut then it becomes worse. The children's school is soon to open and I can't think of how they will manage in this weather,'' said Pratibha Kumar, a resident of Preet Vihar. This appears to be the result of Global warming. The whole cycle of summers and winter has gone into disarray.This time around it hardly snowed in places like Shimla, in winters. The rivers are going dry. The very fact is that the rain that we receive is in a duration of 100 hours and it remains a challenge how to utilize this to fullest.There is a hard time ahead for everyone. But we can do something as an individual and that is to conserve energy. This can help in improving the overall power condition in the country. All the best to everyone for facing the severe heat condition

10th Board to be scraped? -Kapil Sibal

Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal has come up with a innovative idea to reform school education system and is planning to scrap the Class 10 board examination.
Sibal not only wants to do away with Class 10 board examination but also set up an evaluation system based on percentiles.
According to Sibal the examination-based system is a source of trauma for both parents and students.
Sibal insists that the gaining knowledge should not be stressful and it is time to restructure the system.
"We need to de-traumatise it and reduce the burden on parents and children. We could, for instance, think of abolishing the Class 10 board exam. Why does a child need to appear for a board exam in Class 10 if he or she is continuing in the same school?" asked Sibal
The Union HRD Ministry will consult and take into confidence the state education boards before taking a final decision.
Sibal also said it this ministry will do its best to implement the Yash Pal Committee report within 100 days.
The Committee headed by Professor Yash Pal had been set up to advise on Renovation and Rejuvenation of Higher Education and has recommended the establishment of a National Commission for Higher Education and Research (NCHER).
The NCHER will be an advisory body responsible for reforms in higher education, the committee had recommended.

Bad Strategy puts India out of contention from 20-20 World Cup

Well It was do or die for Indian team, if they had to be in hunt for the coveted trophy.To qualify for the semifinals it was a must win for them when they came out to field against England at the 'Mecca of Cricket'-Lords.
Well the bowlers restricted the Englishmen to a reasonably defendable score of 153,thanks to a quickfire 50 by Kevin Pieterson and late slog by the taileneders.The bowlers especially R.P. Singh and Ravinder Jadeja bowled a tight line.But Indians were weak in fielding. In twenty-twenty cricket, it is must to save runs and misfielding can not be tolerated.But irrespective of everything ,this target was conceived to be an easy go for the strong Indian batting lineup even in the absence of hard hitting Virender Sehwag.Indians had a poor start as they lost In form Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina. But then the biggest maistake which costed India the match was to bring in Jadeja. He didn't play a single game and was thrown such a responsibility.Then in twenty-twenty we should keep in mind that there are just 120 balls to be faced and your top most and inform batsman should get the maximum of these balls. Jadeja consumed 36 deliveries for his 25 which was almost the 1/3rd of the whole innings.He was sent to throw his bat and propell the inning, but contrary to it his slow innings put pressure on other batsman and when the inning ended Indian team saw themselves 4 runs short of target,with the best batsman on crease. Yusuf Pathan and Dhoni did try to steal the victory but they did not have deliveries to face.
Well it is always good to conduct experiments as it brings out the best but at cruical junctures one should stick to the reliable options.Well defending champions are out and now there are three strong teamswhich I feel can be there in semis-South Africa,Sri Lanka and Newzeland. But there are still uncertainities in this version of cricket, which saw two strong teams-Australia and India out from last four and which saw the emergence of teams such as-Ireland.
But Indian think tank should rethink on the strategies for this version