India now has world's first super sonic missile

June 21st will be remembered in Indian Defense as a proud day. India now has all 3 versions - air, water and land i.e air force, navy and army - of supersonic cruise missile BRAHMOS. While we had earlier inducted the same in army and navy, this day we inducted into air force. It is the WORLD's FIRST AND THE ONLY SUPERSONIC ANTI-SHIP CRUISE MISSILE date. It is named after Brahmaputra and Moskva rivers of India and Russia respectively. Indian Navy will be the first navy in the world to carry this on board. It is also the fastest cruise missile in the world.

Kudos to both Russian and Indian scientists who jointly developed. Brahmos is 3 times faster than US's Tomhawk missile which is not a true supersonic cruise missile(US one comes inferior to what Brahmos is.) The missile can travel 2.8 times faster than sound.

While Russians designed, Indian counterparts manufactured and redesigned mass of the missile to maintain aerodynamic stability and this is truly an indigenous one. This is where we actually showed our creative genius and supreme smartness.

The deal is win-win for both Russia and India. While Russia is going to manufacture some of them by the next 5 to 10 years, India will be exporting 2000 of these to other countries. This is what is called reverse drain in Indian defense. This will truly signify a beginning of indigenous defense development. Russia will also have the same with it by the next 2 to 3 years.

Indeed a proud moment to all Indians!!!

Ref: click here

India on top of the world in Thorium Research

A matter of pride to all Indians is the fact that we lead today in Thorium Research. We are at the topmost position in the world. The countries following India include Japan, France, Germany and the US in the respective order. This is an achievement. Congrats to all scientists involved in this.

Some Statistics:

1) In case of Fast Breeder Reactors, Indira Gandhi center for research published largest number of successful research papers in 2005 and 2006 not done so far by any single institute in the world.

2) In case of Pressurised Heavy water reactors - 55% of papers in 2006 were from India.

3) India has exported 4,400 kg of nuclear-grade heavy water exported to a US firm recently.

4) Two orders received for 11 tonnes and 4.6 tonnes of heavy water

5) Higher demand foreseen for ‘superior purity’ of Indian product

6) US and South Korea have placed orders worth millions of dollars

Now, US's Thorium companies want to use India's proven expertise in the field. Once the Indo US nuclear deal is done, the deal will make India enter into global trade with 45 countries and in turn is going to get access to newer technology.

Where India lags behind is the size and capacity of reactors. While US and Germany have 700MWe and 1000 MWe generation capacity per reactor, India has 220 MWe. But once the deal is cleared India will be on par with the world because of continuous uranium supply.

With India highly expertized in Heavy Water Reactors will now work in tandem with French companies to enhance their reactors in return for fuel to us.

This is the way to go!!!

Ref: CLICK HERE
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Has a new Manmohan Singh born?

These days what is doing rounds everywhere is that "Has Manmohan become a strong politician after winning the trust vote?"

My answer is more towards "no" and less towards "yes".

"Yes"..Why?

Manmohan Singh is a person who has earned my admiration when he pushed forward for reforms in 1991 which was truly a pathbreaking step in our country. There can be do denial about this. Manmohan, as PM, stood true to his justification of the claim that nuclear deal is good for the country. He came out strong after giving a relatively good speech. He, in fact, several times threatened to resign on this matter.

"No"...Why?

Why this dire need to resign not happen when for 4 years not a single reform was made? Why didn't Singh rise to the occasion and say - "I am going to resign because the Left parties are stalling eveything". Why didn't the party support him? When a great scheme like Rural Employment - (definitely, a wonderful scheme, a revolutionary scheme) was being indulged in corruption, he didn't raise a single voice. This was essential because he himself knew that the mechanism being adopted is going to make it corrupt, yet he surrendered. Why didn't he raise his voice? When his education schemes - all path breaking, were being stalled by Arjun Singh- why didn't he object? When his party chief and former PM Rajiv Gandhi said reservations are not going to help anyone, Manmohan allowed Arjun Singh to carry on with it. I admire Rajiv Gandhi for this that he rose above politics and spoke what he thought was right. When Right to Information Act - (I believe is one of the path breaking legislations w.r.t common citizen) was brought into effect, he allowed it to dilute coming under the pressure of allies. Where was his conscience and why did he allow the dilution of such a strong act? When there was a food crisis, why didn't he ensure that government godowns get filled first before private hoarders are given access to it? It has always been observed that a man comes out with his real colors when a crisis hits him hard. Mr. Singh, unfortunately, has come out with his real honest color of a tough politician by passing through a crisis that was more political. How do I accept the view of such a great intellectual when he said - "Muslims have the first right over resources in the country".
Does water, oil, air, energy now needs to be given first to Muslims and then to others. Do all these natural resources see one's religion and satisfy them? This was the last thing to expect from an intellectual, forget a politican.


These are some of the questions which history is going to ask from the academically most qualified person for country's top post, from an economist whom I admire a lot, from an individual from whom I expected so much. It is a dream come true to see 3 best intellectuals governing this country - Chidambaram, Singh and Montek Singh. Yet, why we don't see sweeping reforms? What has the aam aadmi got?

The dark day when my city was targetted

If one looks at the pattern of blasts since 2004 in Jaipur, Hyderabad, Delhi, Varnasi, Ayodhya, Mumbai, ajmer and now Bangalore...it is all the same...SERIAL BLASTS. It is highly deplorable and painful. Why our system continues to bleed and allows everyone to bleed? There is a total lack of law and order. In stronger terms, it is tough posturing that is lacking,

To remember, in 2002 when Parliament was attacked, the govt almost went to a war. It was a tough signal not just to such terrorists but to the entire world that we are serious. From 1971 to 1984 - as long as Indira Gandhi ruled, not a single attempt was made by any terrorist (Bhindrawale and NE conflict apart) because she had given such a stern and tough answer to 2 things 1) International countries like pak and Bangaldesh 2) an effective law and order system that took care of (wish it could also take care of corruption) such things.

In 1989, when Rubaiya was kidnapped in Jammu that was the starting point for militancy in India. Till 2002, India has been bleeding. In 2002, when the Govt led by Vajpayee took a very tough stand and decided to stop talking to Pak and declared to go to war...Pakistan realized that its game of kashmir has to be ceased and it must continue to disrupt India by going deep inside. Since then they have been taking the help of every possible outfit in Bangaldesh and disturbing the country. Unfortunately, the timing was so bad that the govt of today took it very casually and the blasts happened in every major city.

Today, it was my city. Bangalore was attacked. serial blasts one after the other, causing panic in the IT city - "Namma Bengaluru"..It is with deep pain and sadness I write that we no longer are safe in our city. This was conducted by SIMI (that's what media claims) in retaliation to arrests by the BJP. One thing that has happened is that the central govt has decided to use paramilitary forces to protect IT city. This is essential because if that is attacked, the growth factor will be hampered and no one can take a chance. Yet, lapses will happen.

Once, Advani said and this was what was done by NDA - "Have a tough law and a centralized intelligence apparatus". The govt of that day made POTA (yes, there have been misuses, but the law must be there) and created National Security Agency. Today, NSA does exist but intelligence system is still decentralized and unorganized. It is out of sync with state govts. Forget everything - the NSA in our country not only is incharge of intelligence apparatus, but also is the personal secretary of the PM. Is controlling PMO and country the same with respect to priority? It is so disgusting. J.N.Dikshit, one of the toughest intelligence expert clearly had stated that NSA's job is only intelligence. But, no use. He died and his idea is also dead. It is not just revaming the model.

Most importantly we are not tough. We keep making slogans like filmi dialogies but never dare to take action. It was only 3 politicians who took action - Indira Gandhi, Narasimha Rao and Vajpayee..Each of these did commit blunders..but were very tough and not soft like the present govt. US attacked Afghanistan, we decided to attack military camps in Pak. The step was stopped only because of US pressure. It is at this point that I remember when Indira Gandhi told US president - "It is not the duty of the President to advise a democratically elected Prime Minister of a sovereign country what it must do". It is exactly this we need. Act..Don't speak or listen.

We need action...We have an intelligence system..It needs co-ordination...It needs more powers...We also have to stop inflitration from all our deadly neighbors - Pak, Bangaldesh, nepal, Sri Lanka - What neighbors have God given us?? When will we take action, if any? Security system continuously needs revamp. It is dynamic and should be made independent of all politicians except for one or two.

Life is so volatile in a system like ours whose both ends are non-commital and non-ethical.

Now, Govt listens to Advani

It appears very funny to me. 2 years ago when there was a huge discussion on Indo-US nuclear deal, Advani had suggested that if India amends Atomic Energy Act accordingly to ensure the side effects of Hyde Act of US will not curb or restrict our foreign policy, he will support the deal. The Congress Govt never listened. Now, after all the hungama and drama, govt says it is ready to do so.

Had this been done BJP would have supported the deal. Sometimes, I wonder the clash between Congress and BJP was uncalled for had there been proper consultation between the two. Both stood by their egos. This paralyzed the govt for almost 2 years with no reform and no work. The Govt would not have waited for Left who were anyways unwilling to agree.

This is a classic case of good politics played out in a shoddy manner. It is a different issue that when Vajpayee and Narasimha Rao were dealing with issues, there was broad consensus.

India-EU have open skies agreement

Good news for both EU member states and India. 30% of India's international traffic is towards EU countries like UK, Germany, France. 40% is towards Gulf. With a potentially higher traffic and foreseeing a better inflow of European tourists into India, Govt today decided to sign the open-skies agreement.

By this: Air India, Deccan-Kingfisher, Jet Lite, Jet Airways can fly unrestricted number of flights to UK, Germany and France. Even if agreement with one of the member nations fail, it can continue to do with others. This is a really good news as now there is a win-win situation to people and companies in both regions. There are lots of software engineers who fly to Europe and open skies agreement means more options and higher frequency.

Here's the article

Some parts are pasted below:

The proposed horizontal aviation agreement between the two sides provides far more flexibility than the air service arrangements being pursued by India with individual EU members. The liberal aviation pact between the two of the world’s largest trading partners is expected to be signed in September when prime minister Manmohan Singh visits France to participate in the India-EU summit.


“Germany and the UK have already agreed to the terms of the proposed agreement. We are expected to negotiate with other member states as well shortly. The agreement is expected to be signed during the PM’s visit to France in September this year,” a civil aviation ministry official said. The EU has similar agreements with China and the US. Currently, 26 bilateral air services agreements exist between EU members and India.


The proposed pact between the sides would remove nationality restrictions (from the EU side) in the bilateral air services agreements between EU members and India. This would allow any designated airline from the member states and India to operate flights to each other’s side where a bilateral agreement with India exists and traffic rights are available

Now, both BJP and Congress will push for reforms

All the sad acts, dramas are over and the govt survives. Now, the best part to see will be how Congress and BJP will together work for the economic reforms. This is going to be a record. All those who said that in India ruling and opposition cannot agree on economic reforms will go wrong. Over the past decade there is a consensus on economic reforms in the country and the 2 major parties - Congress and BJP agree on almost everything.

So, most of the bills Chidambaram is going to pass are those which were started by the BJP. So, BJP will support and the Left's opposition will die.

The net effect - India will shine. Of course, for this the Govt must really start working on disinvestment - the only single source of raising money for development of India in India. It is on record that just by strategic disinvestment of some major companies, NDA minister Arun Shourie was able to raise crores of rupees without waiting for any foreign aid/FDI. It is also something Congress wants and didn't do because of Left. now, Left is out...BJP and Congress together will push for disinvestment. If all sick PSU's go this way, then the amount generated will reach half of what China has in terms of FDI. That is the potential India on its own has and will continue to have.