Gurgaon seems to be the new Kashmir. Mobile operators are not issuing pre-paid mobile sim cards in Gurgaon anymore. I did rounds of Idea, Airtel & Vodafone offices at several locations in Gurgaon only to be told that pre-paid connections are NOT being offered in Gurgaon any more. No one had any explanation for this.

Some Airtel/Vodafone stores though offered me (very kindly) that they can give me a pre-paid SIM card in Gurgaon but would charge double the money for it. I do not know about the fringe operators (DoCoMo, Reliance, Virgin etc.) but the mainstream ones are certainly not offering pre-paid SIMs anymore.

To get some official word on this, I wrote an email to Vodafone care. This is the response I got:

Thank you for your email dated 01/02/10 regarding services on your Vodafone mobile numbers.

We sincerely regret the delay in replying to your e-mail and the inconvenience caused to you.

We would like to inform you that, currently we are not offering prepaid connections in Gurgaon. If you wish to take postpaid connection then you can visit your nearest Vodafone store( list enclosed).

Assuring you with the best of our services at all the times.

In case you need further assistance, please do call or email us. We?ll do our best to help you.

Happy to help,

Does anyone know what is going on?

It so happens that our dearest neighbor, the apple of our eyes and the sore spot on our bum, Pakistan is taking major issue with the treatment meted out to its nationals in India. No, they weren’t put in front of armed terrorists and shot. No, they weren’t tortured and made to accept being spies of India and later convicted to be hanged. This “treatment” is the IPL franchisees(read teams) ignoring Pakistani players in the recent auction, opting to spend their ridiculous $$ on lesser known players.

This event has the entire Pakistan nation up in arms against India. From complaining to ICC and burning effigies of Lalit Modi and planning to ban Indian TV channels, no means of expressing anger has been spared. Even the instances of terrorists fighting Indian security forces has gone up since IPL teams rejected Pakistani players.

Is it unsporting to put these players for auction and then teams not picking them up? The answer to this question lies in understanding of the phenomenon called IPL. IPL has nothing to do with cricket, passion or anything else. IPL is a money machine, an ATM with infinite supply of $$ , the proverbial money plant that will never run out of money. For an understanding of how much money can actually be pumped into this league, look at the owners: India’s biggest superstars, India’s richest family, some of the biggest builders and construction magnates, even the IPL commissioner is a big industrialist himself. Pakistan’s whining has nothing to do with politics. It is whining about being left out of the money hoopla.

But is it unsporting? Of course it isn’t. This is actually the biggest political hit India has scored against Pakistan ever. Pakistan is like a baby, a baby that wants all toys and will cry and cry and cry if it isn’t heard. The proof lies in its crying to the US all the time, asking for fancy weapons to “fight against terror” and then using them against India. By denying their players a spot to play in IPL, India has unwittingly hit Pakistan where it hurts.

Adding some perspective, sport has done nothing in the last 60 years. Pakistan is still home to the elite terrorists in the world, and time and again proves itself to be the best host to those terrorists. It is a nation that does not deserve an olive branch, but an olive tree shoved up its ass. This olive tree, that our politicians could not deliver in the last 60 years, IPL has delivered in one shot.

And now Pakistan is outraged. Outraged as it should have been when its terrorists killed hundreds in Mumbai on 26/11, outraged over the thousands its terrorists have murdered in India. If the blood of countless Indians evokes no outrage from this nation, then I do not give a flying fuck to their outrage on being ignored by IPL.

Neither should you.

In the run up to the upcoming general elections, India’s leading opposition party, BJP, has announced its “IT Vision” for the country. Before reading ahead, I would want you to read the IT vision at BJP’s website.

Now for the IT vision itself. I am not sure if I should call it myopic, or really far-sighted. It seems that the IT pundits who helped BJP write this vision are quite mis-informed themselves. Thus we end up with an IT vision that, IMHO, is unachievable. Let me pick out some points from it and try to explain why they are so difficult to achieve.

1.2 crore (12 million) new IT-enabled jobs in rural areas.

How, in its right mind, does the BJP believe it can create so many jobs in IT? That too in rural India, where lack of infrastructure, connectivity (road and internet), power and basic amenities are lacking. Before creating these crores of jobs, shouldn’t infrastructure issues be sorted out first?

Most IT/ITeS jobs in India currently are courtesy the US, which is now heavily coming down on outsourcing. I haven’t heard any member of the BJP come out and make noise about this protectionist attitude of the US. Neither does the BJP talk about creating indigenous demand for IT/ITeS. Unless there is demand, creating these millions of jobs is going to be a tall order.

1 crore (10 million) students to get laptop computers at Rs 10,000. Interest-free loan for anyone unable to afford it

Excellent idea. Throwing away cheap laptops seems to be the next in-thing (after throwing away free rice and ration cards). Now my question is, where are these Rs 10,000 laptops going to come from? The only laptop in this price (that I am aware of) is the upcoming Qualcomm “Kayak”, slated for launch later this year. These laptops are meant “for browsing the internet” and are connected via 3G services. Currently, only New Delhi has a working 3G service (MTNL). Is BJP planning to widen 3G services across the country as well? Sweeeeet!!! Or is this just another one of those, errmm, election promises?

Broadband Internet (2 Mbps) in every town and village, at cable TV prices (less than Rs 200/month).

Thank you thank you thank you!! I am willing to pay even 500 Rs/month for 2Mbps broadband services. But is it going to be of any use? In the IT city of Gurgaon (where I happen to live), there is a daily powercut of 3-5 hours. On a nice, hot, sweltering summer day, the powercut goes up to 8 hours (including hours in the night). If this is the power situation in Gurgaon, I wonder how it will be in small towns and villages. With such a power situation, the only use I have for the broadband internet is to use it hang my wet laundry on its wires. If India’s towns and villages need something, it is 24×7 electricity. Have a vision for giving us that!!!

Every BPL family to be given a free smart mobile phone, which can be used by even illiterate users for accessing their bank accounts.

Wait, so we had low cost rice, low cost laptops and now (drum roll) free smart mobiles. What intrigues me is this: A family is defined as being Below poverty line (BPL) if its monthly per capita consumption expenditure is below Rs. 356.35 for rural areas and Rs. 538.60 for urban areas (Source: Poverty in India on Wikipedia). Common sense dictates that if a family can only spend Rs 350 per month on living, how would it have a bank account? And if it does have a bank account, how much balance would be in that account for the BPL family to do “transactions” with on their BJP-enabled smartphones? This is not helpful, it is actually an insult to all those poor people who are barely surviving. They’ll appreciate more means of income rather than free mobile phones!!!

This idea seems to be given by the same people who made the “India Shining campaign”, that cost the BJP dearly in the last general elections. Instead of learning from its mistakes, BJP seems to be glorifying them!! Sad, sad, sad!

Government spending to be made corruption-free. A former Prime Minister had once said, “If I put Rs. 100 in the pipeline in Delhi, only Rs. 15 reach the end beneficiary.” In contrast to Congress governments’ Leaky Pipeline, the BJP’s IT Pipeline will ensure 100% benefit to people. Those who misappropriate public funds will be punished.

Whoa….corruption free government spending! A dream that does not need IT to be realized. But the BJP seems to think otherwise. I simply fail to make the connection between IT and corruption free government! Or wait, is it that because there will be IT, there will be more transparency. More transparency should ensure corruption free spending, right?

Wrong! The moot point here is that IT simply enables for sharing of information. I am not sure if the government is so willing to share its spending information. And if it is, might I suggest implementation of a system that shows me where my tax money was spent. I am sure a lot of the tax paying class would appreciate knowing how and where its money was spent. Simply saying x and y crores were spent on road development will not do. I want to know which exact roads were built using that money, and if they are any good (at least the roads here in gurgaon are trashy, to say the least).

If there is no political will (which hasn’t been present in the last 60 years) for reducing corruption, how will IT make any difference?

Citizens will have a simple 1-800 BSNL Toll Free Number, which will be accessible 24×7x 365 days of the year, to contact their Member of Parliament.

And what would be the response? I am sorry, but the MP you are trying to call is too busy dozing off in the Parliament. Or wait, how about this, “the MP you are trying to reach is too busy creating traffic jams with his 10 car cavalcade”. Or this, “the MP you want to reach is busy blowing off taxpayer’s money in some foreign country”. If I contact my member of parliament and tell him that there is 8-10 hours of daily powercuts, water shortages, bad broken roads, no security, excessive inflation(the government says it is 0.11%, my vegetable vendor and grocer seem to disagree and increase prices every week), will he do something to improve the situation? BJP itself, by disrupting parliament proceedings hundreds of times has shown that it has utter disregard for the taxpayer’s money. However much its vocal leaders may shout, disruption of a constitutional machine like the parliament costs dearly to the taxpayer, not only in terms of the money wasted, but also in terms of wastage of valuable time that could be used to discuss important issues.

Oh, and even if there were a 1-800 toll free number, how does that guarantee accountability? How will Mr. L.K Advani be accountable for his work in his constituency? How will Ms. Sushma Swaraj be held accountable for not fulfilling those promises that she screams out on TV channels? We need accountability, we need politicians to be answerable to people who are paying for their daily bread and butter with their hard earned money.

What BJP needs in its IT vision is a simple statement: We will provide a report card for each of our MPs online, where people can openly say that their elected leader is not doing his/her job. where people can hold its elected representatives accountable in full public view, where politicians will have no place to hide after they make rosy promises and get elected.

Give us accountability, BJP. Not bullshit!

Author’s Notes:
1.The author hold no favour/bias towards any political party. This article is not written with any political motivations, but with a simple idea to show what the country really needs!
2. Hateful/vengeful/biased comments are not welcome. Please spew out your hatred somewhere else.

“Dawood - Who’s that? We never heard of him before.”

“Maulana Masood Azhar who? Sorry, never heard that name”

“Terrorism? What’s that? Don’t ask us to eliminate terrorism, we’ll go to war”

Pakistan is a nation that is in a state of denial. Never before has clearer evidence emerged that Islamic terrorists have established their roots deep within the Pakistani fabric. Yet all our neighbours seem to do is to turn a blind eye to this menace that has started affecting its own citizens.

The trouble started way back in 1947 when India was divided into two countries, India and Pakistan. The biggest flashpoint then was the Indian state of Kashmir. Back then, Pakistan supported the Mujahirs who were no more than armed mercenaries backed by the then rag tag Pakistani army to try and wrest control of Kashmir. They succeeded partially, and what began was a bloody era for people of Kashmir.

What also began here was a clandestine backing of the militant forces by elements in the Pakistani Army. The responsibility of handling these militants was then passed on to the Inter-Services Intelligence(ISI). Since then, several acts of terrorism have been  carried on in the state of Kashmir as well as several others throughout India. The developed world mostly ignored these incidences of terrorism till a certain Osama Bin Laden took terrorism to their own backyard.

Switch to 26/11. India’s financial capital Mumbai was held hostage by a group of ten terrorists for 3 days. Unlike previous incidents where all terrorists were killed, this time one terrorist was caught alive. Azam Amir “Kasav” has owned up to being a Pakistani national and has even written a letter to the Pakistani government. Only to be denied existence.

What Pakistan is doing here is playing with dynamite. Even though it has been time and again proven that Pakistan is the home to some of the most wanted on Interpol’s list, like Dawood Ibrahim  (mastermind of the 1993 bomb attacks in Mumbai), Maulana Masood Azhar (Jaish-e-mohammed chief and wanted for numerous terror acts), the chiefs and cadres of world famous terrorist groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Muhammed and also Al-Qaeda, it either denies their existence or calls them non-state actors to wash its hands off.

The murder of Benazir Bhutto and the multiple terrorist bombings in Pakistan make it quite clear that Pakistan is now bearing the brunt of the same terrorists it harbors. If this is not enough to serve as a wake up call, only God knows what will!

Pakistan’s democratic government under Mr.Zardari must take swift, affirmative and urgent actions against these known terrorist forces. If they do not, they are sitting on a ticking time bomb that will cause more harm to Pakistan than anyone else.

Raj Thackerey, Chief of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has been reported as missing by the citizens of Mumbai for the last 3 days. Here is a description:

Raj Thackeray is the founder and president of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (Maharashtra Renaissance Party), which is a regional party in the state of Maharashtra in India. He is especially known for his constant tirade against North Indians residing in Maharashtra. He has led several “violent” movements to ensure Mumbai is freed from North Indians. He is about 5ft5 in height and wears glasses.

It has been three days since Mumbai has been under siege from terrorists. Mumbai has yet to hear anything from this self-proclaimed saviour of the city and the caretaker of the “Marathi Manoos”. The usually vocal leader is in hiding when he should be out on the streets, when he should be asking the MNS cadres to line up outside hospitals and donate blood. People who can go out and break people’s bones at his speeches can surely donate blood and help if he asks them to.

And yet, Raj is missing.

Help Mumbai today to find Raj Thackeray. He is missing when his city needs him most!!

2008 seems to be the year of the terrorist. After serial explosions in Lucknow & Jaipur that claimed over a 100 lives earlier this year, two more cities have faced the brunt of terrorist strikes.

On Friday(25-July), 8 explosions rocked across Bangalore, the IT capital of India. The bombs were reported to be low intensity explosions, with 1 death and around  20 people injured. Mobile networks were jammed to avoid spread of rumors, but abundant (and critical) information was being posted from Bangalore via channels like Twitter. High alert was sounded across India.

The high alert could not prevent what happened the day after. On a busy Saturday evening, 16 blasts ripped across Ahmedabad. Most of these were low intensity blasts, but some were high intensity blasts. The heaviest blast happened at the Civil Hospital, right outside its trauma center where injured from other blasts were being brought. The number of dead stands at over 40 now, and it keeps rising by the hour.

I am outraged. And so will every other citizen of this country. The internal security scenario in India seems to be really pathetic, with terrorists blasting bombs at their own whim. In the recent past, the buzzword has been sleeper cells. This means a group of terrorists ready and waiting to strike, literally sleeping till the time comes for them to carry out their cowardly plans.

There have been no arrests in the Jaipur blasts earlier this year. This proves the weakness in our security agencies, be it the State Police, CBI, RAW, IB ….. whatever. Nobody seems to bother about these terrorists whose dastardly acts claim hundreds of innocent lives every year.

And the terrorist group that has claimed responsibility for these strikes calls itself “Indian Mujahideen”. Well let me tell you something, you “Indian Mujahideen” pricks, you are not Indian. An Indian will always work towards the benefit and progress of his nation. An Indian will never think about harming his fellow Indians. An Indian will always rise above cast, religion, region to be an Indian first. You sir, are not Indians. You are cowards, cowards who want to follow the agenda of death and destruction. Forget Indians, you do not even belong to your religion. No religion ever asks it followers to take innocent lives.

And if you are so interested in being the Mujahideen, and fighting a holy war, go on the border. And take on a war with the Indian Army. I am sure they’ll rub it in your face that you are neither warriors, nor brave. You are just a pathetic bunch of cowards who can hide and take lives of innocent people. Don’t hide behind excuses of religion and holy wars, you are just ignorant fools with no understanding of life. Maybe if your mother, your father, your sister, your wife or your kids were to die in one of your terrorist attacks, your sleeping conscience would wake up.

And to the Indian Government, and our politicians who run this country, get a spine!! Your vote bank politics have led us to a situation where we innocent people bear the brunt of your inadequacies. Our lives are lost because you are more interested in saving your vote banks than taking steps to make this country safer for its citizens.

We need to stand united, we need to stay calm. These terrorists want to disturb our peace, our lives. Let us be resilient, let us be peaceful and tolerant. Let us not fall prey to the plans of these terrorists who want to instill fear in our hearts. Let us show these terrorists that our unity cannot be shaken by their cowardly acts.

And in all this, let us pray for those who lost their lives and loved ones in these attacks. May God be with them in their hour of need.

The UPA government succeeded in winning the trust vote in Parliament, but June 22, 2008 would go down in the annals of Indian democratic & parliamentary histories as one of the saddest days. The reason: MPs flaunting crores of Rupees in cash that is claimed to be given to them as a bribe to stay out of the trust vote. Whether these allegations are true or not is a story for another day. The Indian democracy looks like it needs an overhaul, and soon.

Let us take the story back to 1947 when India had just got its Independence, and the founding fathers of our nation were huddled in a room discussing the constitution of our nation. The most important question they had was, how to model a democratic environment in India? At that time there were only two major democracies that were successful, American democracy & the British democracy.

Now the American democratic system is a complex one. The US Congress, which is essentially like the Indian Parliament has senators who are elected representatives of the people. However, the US President is directly elected via a separate electoral process. The President then appoints his (there have been no female presidents in the USA yet) cabinet of secretaries similar to the cabinet of ministers appointed in India. Now this is a complex democratic system, where the President can stay in his post even if his party is out of majority in the congress.

The other democracy was the British democracy. This system had two houses, the House of Commons & the House of Lords. Representatives in the House of Commons are elected representatives of the people and those in the House of Lords are appointed representatives. Then of course, there is the Queen.

As is clear from the above explanation, the Indian democratic system is a spin-off from the British democratic system. We have two houses of Parliament, Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha. Even their names are plain translations of their British counterparts. But what our founding fathers missed out was, that it is not such a simple model to scale.

India is a diverse country. Even the Indian Constitution acknowledges this diversity of cultures, regions and religions in India. However, it is this diversity that is being exploited by politicians and political parties of the day to their profit.

Let me pull up some statistics from the last general elections held in 2004(data from Election Commission’s report on 2004 elections).

1. Number of participating political parties : 230
2. Size of electorate (eligible voters) : 67,14,87,930
3. Voter turnout : 58.07%
4. Number of candidates : 5435

It gets more interesting now..

Performance(seats contested) :-
1. National Parties - Contested 1351 Won 364 Percentage 26.94%
2. State Parties - Contested 801 Won 159 Percentage 19.85%
3. Registered(unrecognized) Parties - Contested 898 Won 15 Percentage 1.67%

Performance(% of votes polled):-
1. National Parties - 62.89%
2. State Parties - 28.90%
3. Registered(unrecognized) Parties - 3.96%

The one factor I’ve left out here are the independent candidates, as I wanted to focus more on the parties. If you see the percentages of seats won, the numbers of national & regional parties are quite close (26.94% as compared to 19.85%). Now see the number of votes polled in favor of these parties and the huge gap becomes visible - national parties have 35% more votes polled for them as compared to the regional parties!!

Now for some data on the parties who were key players in the confidence vote held yesterday:

1. INC - Our ruling party, the congress that also heads the UPA with the maximum number of seats. Their 2004 elections stats are the best of the lot : Contested 417 Won 145 Votes% 26.53%
2. BJP - The main opposition party, also heads the NDA (now defunct alliance ) that was in power before 2004. Their election stats: Contested 364 Won 138 Votes% 22.16%
3. Left Parties (CPI + CPM) - They were comrades in arms of the UPA till the 123 dance began. Then pulled out support and caused the confidence vote to happen. Their combined stats : Contested 34(CPI) + 69(CPM) Won 53 Votes% 7.07%

So effectively, a set of parties who have polled only 7% of the vote managed to destablize the government. But this has happened before as well, parties that have a small vote share have time and again proven their mettle at destablizing governments.

The question now is, should these parties even be in the parliament?

The stature of a political party (national/state) is decided by its presence in states and also by the number of constituencies where it is fielding it candidates. This is the reason why parties like CPI, CPM and BSP are classified as national parties and not regional/state parties. But if detailed numbers are seen, their voting percentages are strong in only a handful of states and very weak in most others(as also apparent by the overall percentages). A national party, by definition, should be one that represents the interests of the nation and not a particular state. Consider the data for BSP(Bahujan Samaj Party) in this regards:

Classification - National
Stats - Contested 435 Won 19 Win% 4.37% Votes% 5.33%
Seat division by state - Uttar Pradesh - 19

So, all 19 seats that BSP won were in UP. Even though it clearly represents only one state, the 2004 election commission report lists it as a National Party!

Most of the parties sitting in the Parliament today have no concern about the nation. Parties like TRS(demanding a separate Telangana state), BSP(it won all its seats only in one state), JMM(demand for a separate Jharkhand that has now been granted) and so on, are all regional parties. Even the CPI + CPM have won seats only in 5 states. It is the INC(Congress) & BJP who have won seats in more than 10 states & UTs.

For the last 10 years, Indian Parliament has seen one coalition after another. Be it the NDA, UPA or whatever, coalition politics seems to be the way forward for our democracy. But is it a healthy way forward?

The whole point of electing a party to power is that the masses believe in the party’s manifesto, and want it to implement the same. A coalition puts restrictions on parties implementing their manifestos. This was clear during the rule of the BJP led NDA, and now during the Congress led UPA, where smaller parties who have the critical 20 odd seats hold the government to ransom. And if the government does not yield to their demands, they withdraw support from the government, leaving the nation to witness desecration of the holiest institution of democracy, the parliament.

The nations progress will be slowed down if we allow coalition politics to rule the roost. Hence, I propose a radical, yet simple solution.

Only parties that have over 10% of national vote share in an election should be allowed to contest elections for the Parliament. Of course, independent candidates should still be allowed, but parties who have representation of one/few states should be limited to playing at the state level only. This will ensure that India has stable governments who are able to rule by their party’s agenda, and the Indian public has a clear choice when they go to vote at the general elections. As of 2004, there were an average of 10 candidates per constituency. If what I suggest here is implemented, there will be two candidates from national parties, and the others independents. This will make the choice of the electorate much simpler.

What this will also do is give India a clear direction when it comes to issues of foreign policy, financial policy, home affairs & defense policy. Also, it will ensure that a government lasts for its full term, and that parliamentary sessions are productive. With a stable, single party government, Indian democracy will finally be the voice of the nation that it serves.

“MNS Mob fury!!”, “Gujjar agitation in Rajasthan for ST Status”, “BJP workers force down shutters, block highways”

These are just some of the headlines from our newspapers and news channels. Each headline representing some or the other political/social group holding a state or the nation at ransom to have their demands met. So are we turning from a peace loving, democratic nation to one that is ruled by hooligans of political parties?

The MNS rioting in Mumbai is a classical example of a political party deriving valuable vote bank mileage from its violent acts. When Maharashtra goes to elections next, Mr. Raj Thackerey would harp on his successes in making the life of the average Mumbai resident no less than hell. Yet the voting public would cheer, rather than condone, such acts. Who knows, it may even win him a substantial number of votes! After all, we Indians are known to forgive our politicians very quickly. Absolution is very cheap in our country.

The Gujjar agitation was a complete case in contrast. Without any direct political backing, a community led by a retired Army Colonel held the whole of Rajasthan and North India in its grip for a whole month. The reason, they wanted to be given reservation in the ST(Scheduled Tribe) quota. Roads and railways were blocked, with agitators damaging railway tracks to make sure rail traffic was disrupted till their demands were met. The Indian Railways incurred losses to the tune of millions of rupees. Now that the agitation is over, and the Gujjars have been promised of a special reservation quota, will the goverment send the Gujjars and their leaders a bill for the losses they caused? Naa, that won’t happen. Its not the government money, it is the taxpayers money that is laid to spoil. Our leaders sat in silence as several thousands of people had their lives affected with regional and national strikes!! And yet we forgive, forget and move on. What a great nation we are!!!

The most recent case is of the BJP & VHP calling a nation-wide bandh(strike) today. There are reports of protesters blocking road and rail traffic. The nation is being held to ransom again. People who earn their livelihood on a daily basis will go home with no money and no food to feed their families. Yet the political parties will gloat in their success at holding the entire nation at gunpoint!

So I ask, are we turning into a nation of rioters and hooligans?

There is one, and only one way to stop this menace. Make those responsible of such agitations to pay up! Ask MNS to pay up for every taxi its workers destroyed, ask Mr. Bainsla to pay those millions of rupees the Indian Railways lost due to the agitation he led, ask the BJP and VHP to pay up for the destruction and damage it has caused to property across the nation.

And while we are at it, send them bills for the lakhs of man-hours wasted by the police in controlling their crowds. Time that could have been spent in making our roads and our lives safer.

Some political leader, some political party needs to find its spine and take such action. But wait, is there any political party in India that HAS a spine in the first place?

George Lucas, in his movie Star Wars III made a very potent observation, in the form of a dialogue. I find it really apt as a closing quote to this post

So this is how democracy dies, with a thunderous applause

The Indian Blog & New Media Society (www.ibnms.com) is pleased to invite you to a 3-day Blogging workshop at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi later this month. Following up on last month’s BlogCamp, this is another effort by IBNMS to enable blogging enthusiasts - both rookie and experienced - leverage this medium for both personal and professional reasons.

All sessions will be highly interactive, allowing participants to raise specific queries and also to try their hand at what is being discussed (you will need to carry a laptop and datacard for this).

Schedule: The sessions will take place in the Gulmohar Hall, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi from 6.30 - 8.30 pm on the dates given along with sessions below:

Session I, Saturday, June 28
Blogging Technology: How To Set Up And Manage A Blog

What is a blog? How to set it up on platforms like Blogger, Wordpress etc? How do you get your own domain like www.myname.com? Hosting on your own severs. Custom options. Adding photos and videos. Adding subscriber sign up boxes. Using tools like LiveWriter. And more…

Session II, Sunday, June 29
Marketing Your Blog

How do you make your blog more visible? How do you generate greater traffic? How do you get comments on your blog? What is SEO? How do you generate advertising for your blog?

Session III, Monday, June 30
Benefits Of Blogging For Executives, Businesses And Professionals; How To Make Money As A Blogger

Using blogs for personal and corporate branding. Engaging with stakeholders through blogs. Using blogs as a PR and communication tool.

HOW TO REGISTER
There is no attendance or registration fee. You can register on the spot, or in advance by sending a mail to ibnms.in@gmail.com. You may attend one or more sessions.

WANT TO VOLUNTEER / SPEAK?
If you would like to speak at any of the sessions above, do let us know and we will be happy to consider you for the same. And we are always looking for volunteers - call us if you can spare some time.

And do help us by spreading the word around.

CONTACT US
You may contact the following for any queries, clarifications etc:

Ajay Jain, President, +91.99100 44476, ajay@ajayjain.com
Abhishek Kant, General Secretary, +91.9899115375, abhishek@abhishekkant.net
Ashish Chopra, Director (Communication & PR), +91.9891977333, theemptyhead@gmail.com
Amit Gupta, Director (Technology), +91.9868445814, m@amitgupta.in

The Indian ad space seems to have lost its originality. With one after another, ads copied blatantly from global advertising campaings. The Indian advertising firms, who had campaigns like the Amul Butter ads, the Fevicol ad series seem to have lost their original touch. First it was the IPL ad that had an uncanny resemblance to the NFL ads running in the US, with the ink splashes all over the screen. Now it is the Frito Lay ad campaign that is a blatant copy of the very famous Budweiser ad campaign, better known as the “Whazza” campaign. Don’t believe me, then look at both the campaigns and be the judge yourself.

First, the original Budweiser ads:

And now, for the “inspired” Indian Frito Lay ad:

I was wondering if I should do a review of the Lays ad, but its so much of a blatant copy of the Bud Ad, I decided it is not worth. Admakers, find your conscience and stop copying ads. Such blatant imitations will really hurt the reputation of the Indian ad world.