Intel's "Innovate for India " challenge 2015

I recently wrote a post about my dream of a "Digital India " where I shared my thoughts about how India can achieve this so I was very happy when I received an invitation to attend an App  launch by Intel in collaboration with DST(Department of Sceince and Technology, Govt of India ) and supported by MyGov.in  and Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Government of India.

“India has dropped 10 points from last year in Global Innovation Index and is now ranked at 76. To increase technology adoption in the country, it is important to focus on creation of products and boost entrepreneurship,” said Debjani Ghosh, vice president, Sales and Marketing Group and managing director, Intel South Asia.


There was an interesting infomal talk too with Professor Rakesh Basant, chairperson, CIIE; Mr. H K Mittal, Member Secretary, National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB); Vikas Jain, co-founder, Micromax Informatics and Mr. Gaurav Dwivedi, CEO, MyGov.in as key partcipants which shed some light on the challenges to counter in digitalization of India and Innovations .

The contest will be running from April 2015 to January 2016 and is open to academia, aspiring entrepreneurs and startups. The initiative will offer total grants worth Rs 1.5 crores which includes 20 prototyping grants of up to Rs 2 lakh each, a maximum of 10 product development grants of up to Rs 5 lakh each and three seed funding or equity investment of up to Rs 20 lakh each.(Press Release ).

Through this challenge Intel and DST want to promote and invite innovative ideas and solutions that will bring not just internet to every doorstep but also make it a utility towards improving accessing education, heathcare and e-governance .

I had high hopes with this App-launch but it turned out much ado about nothing since the challenge has just opened  and it remains to be seen what ideas will spring up from it .

Is #reservation for #Jats under OBCs justified ?

The need for reservation came into picture when it was noted that some strata of society were shunned by all .They were not allowed to lead a normal social existence .People avoided sitting with them, touching them or sharing community meals with them.Children from these castes were denied the right to education and thus the right to rise above the unequality that was their fate due to the unfortunate caste system .In such cases there arose the need to create reserved spaces in our education system and government jobs to accomodate  these neglected sections of society and uplift them.

I personally feel , that reservation should not be caste based at all ,or if so the criteria should be revised every 10 years once the said caste has enjoyed the benefits of the reservation to recalculate the need for reservation for that caste or stratum.

The Jats form a powerful part of our society .Nowhere , be it in villages or urban areas , have I come across a person belonging to this community and feeling ashamed of this fact .They are not considered untouchables.They have traditionally been land owners unlike some other castes that were not allowed to own land or cattle of their own.

None of  my Jat friends , even if they are not well off economically have ever complained of social ostracisation or of being denied opportunities for education and employment because of their caste .Of course some of them are so wealthy that they do not feel the need for education for advancement in society .In fact you might have seen many SUVs with "Chhora Jaat Ka (son of Jaat)" written on them and proudly flaunted by the owners.There is not an iota of shame or embarrassment in that display of caste .

So I feel that the honourable Supreme Court of India has taken a very wise decision by not allowing reservation in government jobs for the Jat community .

I feel similarly for the Meena community in Rajasthan, I have come across so many IPS officers belonging to this community that I feel this community has immensely benefited from reservation and it is about time that this benefit be now taken to other castes that have been traditionally landless or are from socially ostracised sections of our society .

Holi celebrations in modern times

As a child there was a lot of enthusiasm about Holi .Of course to us Holi meant  drenching ourselves and innocent paaser bys in coloured water ,gorging on Mother's home made gujhias,pakorasand Dahi Bhalle  .A stream of visitors were a hallmark of that day .

Over the years , as we grew up , Holi was more about saving ourselves from opportunitic fondling and bear hugs and avoiding allergies to the chemical gulal .I now wonder how I could eat so much deep fried stuff being a kid then.But then we had so much running around to do ,shouting and squealing that we could have digested stones too !

This year our Holi was different from other times.It was far more peaceful.We invited a few friends over and after some playing a bit with herbal gulal  and Tesu colored water ,we had Indian snacks and Jaljeera (a tangy digestive indian drink ). Children and adults indulged in musical chairs .We sung songs and played antakshari and then had vegetable pulav and Raita for lunch .After a long time ,we had such a nice time .It was decided that we shall celebrate Holi thus every year , every friend taking turns to be the host .

How was your Holi ?