More Poor in India than in Africa

A new measure of global poverty has found that 8 Indian states account for more poor people than in the 26 poorest African countries combined.

More than 410 million people live in poverty in the Indian states, including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, researchers at Oxford University found. The "intensity" of the poverty in parts of India is equal to, if not worse than, that in Africa.

When the vast central Indian Madhya Pradesh state, which has a population of 70 million, was compared with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the war-racked African state of 62 million inhabitants, the two were found to have near-identical levels of poverty. The survey found that in Madhya Pradesh poverty levels were higher because of malnutrition. In Congo, access to schooling was a problem.

Appalling figures like these always raise questions about what India is doing about poverty. With reports like these knocking on the door of the Indian government every now and then, they seem to be at the bottom of the pile of the many sets of 'issues' the country faces.With the leaders failing to take action against poverty or even merely making an effort to do so, poverty remains the major cause and effect of most problems India faces.

The poor in India continue to be the ones who suffer in the vicious cycle of politics and corruption. The 'End Poverty by 2015' campaign is on with full force and the deadline is barely 5 years away.How many Indians are aware?

Many will have a lot of explanations to give and justify India's stance on poverty but all this makes me wonder- Is poverty the price we are paying for a democratic India?Share

Teens moving out of Facebook

Facebook may be the most popular Social Networking site in the world where 78% teens have created a profile and 69% are still active, but the past few months have seen them delete their Facebook accounts feverishly.

The graph below shows the Google Trends result for 'how to delete Facebook account'which clearly seems to be on the rise. It was at its peak somewhere in May 2010.

An astonishing fact is that this phrase was most searched in Delhi when we look in terms of all the cities in the world.

According to a study from OTX  and virtual fashion site Roiworld, nearly one in five teens (19%) with a Facebook profile had decreased or discontinued their use of the site as of April 2010. In addition, 9% of teen internet users said they had a Facebook profile but had completely abandoned it.

The Roiworld survey of 600 teens (age 13 - 17) found that while teens spend around 80% of their online time on social networks,Facebook's popularity is beginning to fall drastically. While about 45% say they have lost interest, 16% said they are leaving because their parents have joined and 14% think "too many adults/older people" now use the social network.

Facebook is definitely not going the 'Orkut way' but we are waiting to see what it does to contain its large teen audience.

via my post on Social TrakrShare

Twitter - World's Fastest growing Search Engine

Last year a study by Nielsen had concluded that Bing was the fastest-growing search engine in the U.S. after it had a growth of over 22%. Now it seems like Twitter has taken its place. With a whopping growth rate of about 33% over the last one year its co-founder might have managed to prove that its more than just a micro-blogging site.

According to its co-founder, Biz Stone, the micro-blogging site has reached over 800 million search queries. That’s over 24 billion in a month, way ahead of Bing (4.1 billion) and Yahoo (9.4 billion) combined but still lagging behind Google by a huge margin which supports about 88 billion search queries per month.

Maybe this is success is exactly what Twitter had always wanted. If we go by what Biz Stone spoke about at the World Innovation Forum Twitter seeks to shun the social networking site image it has acquires since the very beginning. They claim to be an information network or a source of new with social elements to it.

Biz also had some tips for companies trying to enter the Twitter-sphere. "I usually tell people who are just getting started: Search for your company or brand name or the name of your restaurant, and see what people are saying," he suggested to the crowd. "You don't necessarily have to immediately develop this strategy. What you can do is you can see if users are misinformed or if they have questions, and then you can jump in."

Twitter is growing in leaps and bounds but do they know what they exactly want? Only time will tell.


via my post on Social TrakrShare

Google's Major Screw Up in China

A few days back after days of speculation the 'miracle' good news was finally in. China had renewed Google's license to operate in the country. But there was more to it than just that.

Specifically, Google's search engine in China will now consist only of product and music searches (and maybe maps, although, according to China expert Bill Bishop, that involves a different license that has yet to be renewed).There will be a link on Google.cn to the uncensored full search engine Google runs in Hong Kong, Google.com.hk.

When Google announced that it would stop operations in China due to 'ethical' issues,it had a lot of sympathizers. Chinese people actually openly mourned the loss of Google by putting flowers and candles out at the company’s Beijing headquarters.Most publications noted that if Google has to lose its $600 million in revenues from China by pulling out of the country, then at the very least it had won a lot in brand and integrity points by the public, English-language and scorched-earth way they did it.

But with China having the highest population of internet users in the world it seemed like Google played it with the heart instead of the mind. It actually helped Baidu,China's home grown search engine which had more than double Google's market share to get a better hold.Ian Bremmer aptly said-Google v. China wasn't about free speech. It was about Baidu. Specifically, it was about the Chinese government's preference that a Chinese company own the China market.

Apparently the Chinese obsession to show the world that they are better than the rest has actually benefited them.A number of Chinese Internet companies are building hoards of cash and valuable stock currencies. It’s possible those companies will start competing with Google for acquisitions both in the Valley and the rest of the world. Google, after all, has announced that its shopping spree is heating up, and given the woeful state of its competitors in the US (Yahoo and AOL are too damaged to out-bid Google; Facebook doesn’t yet have a stock currency) Chinese Internet companies could emerge as its chief competitors for hot properties and talented staffs of engineers.

Seems like China's gain is Google's loss.With the new move,it will take no time for it to become insignificant and irrelevant in China.Its 'ethics' now lay forgotten,it has no other foreign company support and its stock price has gone for a nose dive showing little signs of recovery.What started a bold,overconfident move by Google was quashed under the fist of the Chinese rule like a small revolt.

God help u Google!

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Paul the Octopus..no,Paul the Superstar!

Paul,a German resident(now I think he needs no introduction as the Octopus)became a global superstar when he correctly predicted Spain's victory over Germany (traitor!) in the FIFA World Cup 2010.

How does Paul choose? His favorite food-a bunch of mussels-is kept in 2 different containers having the flags of the 2 competing teams. Paul's first pick is taken to be his prediction.

With six out of six correct predictions, the eight-legged creature has now predicted every result for Germany's games in this World Cup with 100 per cent accuracy and earned the 'psychic' tag.

So far,he has appeared on all major TV channels in the world and cover pages of many newspapers.The Spanish Prime Minister has been concerned about his safety and spoken about 'sending him a team of body guards'(I'm serious!).The Twitter account "Pulpo Paul" is one of the most searched in the charts and is a trending Twitter topic. And there are a number of fan pages on Facebook - mostly from Spain.

He has death threats and hate clubs too!(Now that confirms his celebrity status!).Even before the match, the German Westfaelische Rundschau paper had Paul on the front page on Wednesday after his semifinal prediction, accompanied by a one-word verdict: "Traitor." Thousands of Germans have commented on Facebook and posted on Twitter calling for Paul to be barbecued or turned into a seafood salad or paella,fried publicly and even thrown into the shark tank at the German aquarium in Oberhausen.

Spanish Environment Minister Elena Espinosa would like to file for Paul's endangered species status so that Germans do not eat him. But Paul's keeper Oliver Walenciak remains confident that the octopus will continue performing his remarkable act for years to come from the safety of his tank in Oberhausen as opposed to the dinner table and says 'Paul remains unfazed by death threats'.

The World is now holding its breath for Paul to make his prediction for the finals.He will first pick the winner of the third-place playoff game before selecting the winner for the final.His keeper seems doubtful about the prediction."In the European Cup he got one game wrong. It was the final between Germany and Spain and he picked Germany which was wrong and this time he has picked Spain so we are thinking he must be wrong again." He says.

I don't care who wins Paul,I'm rooting for you!Share

(Ex) Goa Minister’s Ploy to Escape Prison

A little while ago DNA reported the following-“a day after a local court dismissed his bail plea in the Nadia Torrado death case, former Goa tourism minister Fransisco Pacheco was today shifted from a district hospital to the prisoners ward in the state-run Goa Medical College (GMC)”

Some short history before coming to the actual ‘health issues’.

The 46-year-old NCP legislator was booked by the crime branch in connection with death of his ‘close friend’ (everyone knew she was his girlfriend) Nadia Torrado (28), who allegedly committed suicide after consuming poison. He was charged with abetment of suicide and culpable homicide not amounting to murder and was forced to resign from his position.

After loads of explanations over why she consumed poison-silly things like she thought it was toothpaste and accidently swallowed it (we swallow the whole toothpaste when we brush our teeth!) and she was saddened by the fact that his living partner was a called as chief guest to some public function (really intelligent thinking!) – applied for anticipatory bail suspecting he would be arrested.

After the local courts rejected his pleas he went to the Bombay High Court and later even the Supreme Court to avoid arrest but without success. (If it was within him to go to International Court also he would have, believe me).

He even ‘went absconding’ for while (who wouldn’t notice a burly popular politician escaping the tiny state of Goa, except maybe those with an eye for money?) and when all the so-called legal and illegal tricks failed he suddenly fell seriously ill enough to be kept in the ICU!

And even after all this our judiciary fails to see through the act (or has really become blind to it). Additional sessions judge Pramod Kamat had ordered crime branch to take custody of the former minister only after he is discharged from the hospital or certified to be medically fit.

While investigating agencies ‘raise suspicion’ over his illness, the former minister is undergoing (enjoying?) treatment for hypertension, jaundice and urinary tract infection.

GMC sources said they are yet to constitute a panel and till then, the minister would be kept in the prisoners ward.

Is the judiciary really blind or are there special provisions for the ‘Political Class’? We can’t wait to find out!Share

Would You Eat Jam Containing Lady Di's Hair In It?

When it comes to weird and innovative foods Bompas and Parr definitely take home the trophy. The UK based 'food architects' who have been known for their ways of presenting their foods have now come up with a jam containing what they claim to be Lady Diana's golden hair!

The preserve, called "occult jam," is part of a surrealist art show at London's Barbican Art Gallery that includes exhibits by Salvador Dali and Rene Margritte. The Company wanted to take mundane food and convert it into something surreal. Sam Bompas, the founder of the company says it is both food and art.
He said the preserve is made by infusing a tiny speck of the late princess of Wales’ hair with gin, which is then combined with milk and sugar to create a product with a taste resembling condensed milk. The hair was bought on eBay for $10 from a U.S. dealer who collects what he says is celebrity hair and sells it in extremely tiny parts. I personally believe it could be anybody's hair- his own,his neighbor's or probably straight from the hair salon if eBay is to be trusted!

The "occult jam" comes in 2 more flavors- one containing sand from the Great Pyramids, and the other having wood from The Victory, a warship from the Battle of Trafalgar.

If I was ever gifted one (for I wouldn't ever buy a jam worth 5 pounds-the stomach knows no art,only taste)I would keep it in a glass showcase for exhibition (art!).

While it appears this is the first time that Bompas & Parr have profaned the sacred ground of celebrity veneration, the duo has been making news for some time now with their arty culinary creations. They have previously been in news for their architecturally inspired gelatin molds (such as St. Paul's Cathedral in Jello orange),a Black Banquet which was a "monochromatic feast of black food" served in eight courses, the last of which included towering black jelly ziggurats, and their Alcoholic Architecture, for which Bompas & Parr created a "walk-in cloud" of breathable gin-and-tonic. They also gave audiences at a screening of the Peter Greenaway film "The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover" scratch-and-sniff cards that evoked smells from key scenes in the movie.

Truly creative...what say!Share