From it hub to Killers’ Adda

“If you are in Bangalore and are still alive, you must be grateful to the murderers who have let you live… at least for today. Safety and security deserted this place a long time ago. And to ask us if we expect Bangalore Police to keep us safe is ridiculous!” says Raghavendra, resident of Bangalore’s prestigious retirees’ paradise in Jayanagar, which is fast turning into a killers’ adda.

Is Bangalore safe? This is a question that must be dwelt upon by anyone who is connected in any way to this city. After becoming a soft target for the terrorists within a couple of years, the once exuberant Bangalore is today rapidly turning into a ‘great corridor of burglars and killers’.

On January 20, the dwellers of Jayanagar woke up to the news of the cold blooded murder of three women, all from the same family. The next day, Gayathri, 25, housewife, was found murdered in her apartment.

A quick look at the statistics is scary. Bangalore has seen no less than 20 murders in the first 21 days of the year, which means not a single day has gone by this year that has not brought in the news of spilt blood of the innocent. The body count for the New Year started with the murder of Muniraju, a money lender, on January 2. Later, the city shuddered in fear as 79-year-old Rangan and his 72-year-old wife Vasantha were found ruthlessly murdered in their house in Jayanagar. Thefts, killing for cash and jewelry, murder of women living on their own, murder for vengeance – all these have now become a routine in the city. Even the city police now seem to be quite fed up of these daily crimes, keeping in mind the pace at which Bangalore Police carry out the investigation. The cases, it appears, won’t be solved anytime soon.....Continue

“It’s financial aid, not extortion!”

What action have you taken against your party MLA accused of killing a PWD engineer?
We arrested him within hours of his crime. I asked him to meet me but he sniffed my ploy of getting him arrested from my house and went back to Kanpur. We tracked him down by tracing his mobile calls. We have also arrested almost all the accused and those sheltering them.

If the MLA was extorting money for your birthday contribution, what action did you take against him?
I haven’t asked anyone to raise money for my birthday. BSP workers have for long been celebrating my birthday as arthik sahyog diwas (financial aid day) and they enroll fresh members by getting membership fee of Rs 10 to Rs 100. This not only contributes millions to the party’s kitty but also helps expand its membership base.

If MLA Shekhar Tiwari says he was raising money for my birthday then that is not true and I will teach him a lesson. I know that he was a muscleman even when he was with Samajwadi Party.

Then why did you induct such a criminal in your party and even fielded him in the Assembly elections?
You know, when you are in power, you have several agencies at your command to conduct background checks on any person. But, in opposition you are handicapped and have to reply on the information provided by the person. We did know that Tiwari was a toughie but had no idea that he was a criminal.

But he remains in your party. Are you protecting him?
I told you, I am going to teach him a lesson so that no other BSP worker would dare commit a crime and bring disrepute to the party. We have slapped him with Goonda Act, Gangsters Act and National Security Act. I have instructed my party men to practically ostracise Tiwari and his family. But before expelling him from the party, I want to investigate whether there is a deeper conspiracy, whether he acted at the instance of somebody else. Otherwise, like Amarmani Tripathi he too would simply hop over to the Samajwadi Party after being thrown out of the BSP.....Continue

In the midst of all the hype and hoopla about 3G services

The coming of 3G in India would also be significant because of the fact that the broadband penetration in India stands at a meagre 3-4 per cent in comparison to 28 per cent for mobile phones. According to TV Ramachandran, Director General, Cellular Operators Association of India, “The majority of the Indian population would experience broadband through mobile phones rather than fixed lines.” One of the reasons for this trend is that it is virtually impossible to lay fibre cables in India to the remotest of points. So it would be more viable for both companies and users to access internet, or rather broadband internet, through their mobile phones.


However, most people have the perrception that as 3G is more efficient and can handle much greater traffic, it would mean an era where there would be no calls dropping. This is not the case because the drops in the calls are caused by the congestion in the network. Although the introduction of 3G would lead to some improvement on this count and a better voice clarity, subscribers would continue to be bugged by call drops!

Another question that plagues the junta about 3G is whether they will be able to use their existing phones when 3G comes into play. If the customers want to use just voice based services, then there would be no need for them to look in to their existing handset or even think about getting a new one. However, if the subscribers are looking forward to try out this much hyped (you bet!) 3G, and want their pocket gadgets to be as competent as their computers, then in that case one would have to pick up a handset that is 3G enabled. But this does not necessarily mean that one would have to buy a new handset as there are plenty of 3G-enabled handsets already available in the market and for all you know you might be using one already.....Continue

Will the tigers be declawed?

Army ready to conquer the rebels' last bastion

The capture of Kilinochchi and Elephant Pass by the Sri Lankan army has understandably created great euphoria among many sections of the Sinhalese society in Sri Lanka. The fall of Kilinochchi on January 2, the de-facto capital of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) regime, was a devastating blow to the Tigers. Now their movements are confined to the jungles of Mullaithivu district. The army claimed on January 11 that its troops were making their way across the Mullathivu forests, the last bastion of the LTTE.

Earlier, the LTTE had total control of the northern and eastern provinces. However, after its military power started declining progressively after the Karuna, the former eastern commander of LTTE split with Prabhakaran in 2004, it has been losing much territory. It lost Kilinochchi in 1996 after a fierce battle, but the town was regained two years later through a military operation called 'Unceasing Waves-2'. Hence, though the army’s present victories have weakened the Tigers’ capacity to retaliate, it has not struck the death knell for the LTTE. Some prominent Tamil leaders of Sri Lanka, like TULF leader V Anandasangaree, call LTTE the greatest obstacle in the country’s path to achieve durable peace and a political solution. But critics believe the greatest obstacle to be the government’s failure to initiate any serious constitutional reforms that can satisfy the minority community’s demands for equality and regional autonomy.

Prof Jayadeva Uyangoda, a prominent political scientist and constitutional expert of Sri Lanka, told TSI: “Military defeat of the LTTE will certainly weaken the bargaining capacity of all minorities for political equality and for sharing state power. But the Tamils aligned with the Sinhalese political establishment are likely to accept a state of inequality for the minorities in a post-LTTE scenario. They think that LTTE is the main obstacle to negotiate Tamil rights with the Sinhalese political leadership. For them, it is a legitimate trade off.”....Continue