Smartphone Surveillance - Hoax or Reality?

Are you aware your Smartphone is also a Surveillance Device ?
It is unimaginable in Today's world to separate an individual from his or her mobile device. The reality of living in a digital world is that every individual has to carry one of these devices just to stay in touch with each other. Owning a high end mobile Phone, therefore is increasingly becoming, if it has not already become, an existential phenomenon.
Yet only a small minority of informed individuals are aware that the modern day smartphone can be used as a surveillance device , to track your moments on a real time basis using the GPS Technology that is embedded in your smart phone circuitry and programmed into your device software.
The danger arising from the wrongful use of Technology that is meant to be a facilitator , is that it can also be used to track your whereabouts at any given moment of time.
What kind of safeguards must be employed then in order to de-risk ourselves from being tracked by private enterprises for their commercial interests and anti-national forces without our prior permission ?
A Public and Open discussion on this subject would be ideal n this regard covering aspects of Technology , Implementation, Infrastructure and the Law, so that proper steps can be taken to ensure that our rights as digital citizens are not compromised, by any person , or any private or public entity.

An Entrepreneur is not a Macho Man!

Entrepreneurial branding sometimes deludes the minds of youngsters into thinking that becoming an Entrepreneur is some sort of macho endeavour , aimed solely at making money or displaying bravado, in the face of a conservative majoritarian opinion.In essence there is a need in the written narrative about Entrepreneurship to eulogize about the art and the science that is Entrepreneurship.

The Art of Entrepreneurship is essentially about the creative aspects of being an Entrepreneur, that comes naturally to them, as a matter of instinct. These traits can be honed by hard work and experience to create a distinctive style, made visible to the external world by a signature method of dealing with a certain kind of problem.

Steve Jobs was such a creative and brilliant Entrepreneur who transformed the computer industry through the Macintosh. When one of his critics in an open forum asked him what he exactly contributed to the Computer Industry and why he chose a certain technology paradigm over an other, Steve was self-effacing and responded on his choices saying - You got to start with the Customer Experience and then work backwards to the technology. There are many more such creative entrepreneurs who have set the world stage on fire by their brilliant innovations . 

A noteworthy mention in this list, from an Indian-American context is Manoj Bhargava, the billionare turned philanthropist. His first venture of selling an energy drink earned him huge profits, which the humble man , who says he was inspired by Swami Vivekananda, has used all his energies and expertise to create a whole new set of inventions that are for the benefit of the common man, including a cycling apparatus to generate electricity for an entire household. There are many more such works in the offing and Manoj is quitely becoming a sensation and inspiration to millions of fellow Entrepreneurs across the world.

One more person who deserves special mention is the South African born Elon Musk who has revolutionized numerous industries like the online Payments industry via Paypal, the space Industry through his SpaceX program and the automotive Industry through Tesla Cars.

 The creative brilliance of such entrepreneurs however overshadows the hard work and ingenuity that is at fundamentally at heart of being an Entrepreneur , and that is the Science of Entrepreneurship.There is no alternative to an exhaustive, time consuming study of particular disciplines that enable one to achieve anything in the entrepreneurial space.  

One of Karnataka's greatest contributors to Indian Economic growth Sir M. Visveswaraiah, after whom the Karnataka's Engineering University, the Visveswariah Technological University is named after was a very innovative and enterprising Civil Engineer who, through entrepreneurial vision and a scientific temperament, pioneered the Irrigation Control Systems in India by the creation of dams  across India's famous rivers , and served as a source of generating much needed hydro-electricity to satisfy India's growing demand for power and water.

 In todays world, the internet and the Information Technology revolution has created an avalanche of Software and Hardware Entrepreneurs who are using these latest technologies to solve problems and simplify the ways of working in almost all areas of Business and Society.

 

The Plight of Stray Dogs

Bangalore , the erstwhile garden city of India , and the current IT capital is also home to a large number of stray dogs. Due to government legislation in place , it is not possible to find a amenable solution to the problem of strays in this country, partly because of society's apathy towards the homeless animals, and partly because of the unfortunate inability of animal welfare institutions to effectively deal with the raging crisis.
The unfortunate truth is that while the government and NGO websites are rife with helpline numbers to care of stray animals, it is a rare miracle when any person picks up the call at the other end, and even if they do, one has to wait on them, and even travel to the veterinary hospital with the affected dogs, until they deem it fit to provide us a suitable response. This clearly shows the civic bodies responsible for managing these welfare institutions have not sensitized the staff of these institutions on how to manage incidents involving stray dogs.
A recent initiative to take care of stray dogs, charges ₹2500 to provide emergency care for a single stray dog in Bangalore. This seems to be out of the reach of the common man.
What is needed is for the civic institutions to chair an emergency meeting on the stray dog menace, and use its discretionary powers to solve this raging crisis. 
Update  - 23rd December 2015
 

The said Dog was treated by the CUPA Shelter team at Hebbal . After the necessary treatment by the Doctors, de-worming, antibiotics and the mandatory Animal Birth Control for Stray Dogs, the canine was released back at the same location it was picked up. This is a shot in the arm for all government initiatives, as the whole activity was done at relatively no cost to the ordinary citizen.

The Politics of Meat and Meat Eaters in India

Just recently, on a Wednesday evening, as i was sipping tea at my favourite tea stall after a running workout at the nearby Jayamahal Park, a Goods-Auto driver asked me, when was the Festival Day. I looked at him quizzically and almost instantaneously realized he was asking me if Bakrid was tomorrow. Well, my favourite tea stall is in a predominantly Muslim area, and i was also sporting a beard, as i usually do these days. I guess that was reason enough for him to think that i was a Muslim. Besides there was also this large goat tied to the No-Parking Post adjoining the tea stall.

"Its on Friday" i replied back in Kannada, recalling an earlier news-byte i heard earlier on the telly about Friday the 25th of September being declared a holiday by the State government. I didnt care to admit im not a Muslim.He grinned and we both took our tea cups and got lost in our own worlds.

Actually this is quite a common occurrence in my life. People who come to the park for an evening stroll , and even those who meet me often greet me with a Khuda hafis or a Salaam-Aleikum.
Being an Indian, for me , its really no matter what your religion is when it comes to greeting and being greeted by your fellow men. 
Last year we got new neighbours, and the first time I spoke to the Uncle,was because of a particular flower that was growing in our small garden patch, which used to bloom only once a year, and he wanted to use it for  Puja. I obliged, without even a moments hesitation or checking with my Dad who carefully maintains the patch, even has he was left wondering what happened to the plant the next day.
Such incidents though trivial in nature, are evidence of the much deeper context of brotherhood and love that exist in the hearts and minds of all Indians, separated on religious lines, yet united in our goals and dreams of living a happy God-centered life. 
It is a truism that most religions are only superficially similar and fundamentally different, but the amazing thing about the pluralistic vision of our founding fathers, is that India is now one of the most vibrant democracies in the world, a notion that is heralded by all world leaders today.

The recent lynching of a poor man in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh over him having committed sacrilege by eating Beef makes me very sad, as this incident, just like the Godhra massacre, has now been politically vitiated, separating the best of friends, and dividing the unity of the people right down the middle. It is but natural to expect devout Hindus to be displeased when their religious sentiments are violated, and yet there is no voice of reason in the majority community that looks to overlook the insult and try to mend fences. In such an instance, the silence of the leadership was deafening until our Honorable President, and suave Prime Minister both have come out with statements asking all parties to maintain calm,and fight the poverty of the country , not each other.
What the Prime Minister is attempting is a bold idea, in trying to change the narrative of the country from that of focusing on one- upmanship and pettiness to one of  unfettered development and selfless service of the motherland. In his defense, with his bachelor status and his work ethic, he is setting the standard for all to follow, but yet he remains non-commital of reigning in extremist forces, which can only be presumed to be due to the fear of a political backlash.
The sincere hope is that sense will prevail, law and order will once again return to the affected realms, and the twitter storms and heated television debates will move on to more altruistic themes. Until then , may God have mercy on our land, as its people longingly look to the heavens for their moment under the sun.
Jai Hind!

The Unkempt Roads of Bangalore

Walk along the roads of Bangalore, take a leisurely stroll if you must, and chances are you will come across a pile of garbage staring at you, with street dogs adding to the nuisance. The cities once famous tag of Garden City is now restricted to the downtown areas and unnervingly near the residences of most politicians and Councillors. While the city municipal corporation does try its best to keep the city litter clean, there is clearly no Singaporean vision that Bangalore has yet to have taken hold off, despite all the efforts in that direction by NGO's, citizens groups and successive state and local governments. 

This year , municipal apathy has probably never been more clearly visible, when after the  2015 municipal elections for the BBMP wards, our politicians hooked of to resorts in Kerala and other parts of Karnataka, in order to escape poaching by other parties, while our city dwellers helplessly looked on as the dilapidated state of our public roads was once again ignored, just after the Councillors walked towards us on those very roads, promising change and a cleaner , better Bangalore.
Another phenomenon that is visible on Bangalorean roads is the footpath encroachment by construction workers, and the heaps of construction material strewn by the side of every road, when a new building is being constructed. This makes these streets ineligible for cars and medium size vehicles to ply on. Often times, the young children of construction workers can be seen playing in the middle of the road. The state of apathy towards civic sense and propriety is so backward in our city that rudely constructed cement huts on the footpaths, ends up as the home of these workers for more than a year, and they even hook up a dish tv connection and watch tv into the late night hours, though that is a rare occurrence, but even without this luxury, often the huts are centres where all kinds of vices like drinking proliferate.

Our People addicted to Our Brew

Everyday, hundreds of thousands of our city dwellers can be seen lining up at the teeming roadside bars of Bangalore, for a drink to drown their sorrows. In many cases, they are blowing up the days income, and that is the best case scenario, for sometimes they borrow money from the household to pay for their drinks.

Households of the urban poor are full of tales of how this addiction conundrum is wreaking havoc in their family's life, affecting each member of the family in a drastic way.
This is not just an issue affecting poor families alone. Even households that have modest incomes face the problem of their members consuming copious amounts of alcohol, having a large impact on the family environment, and their upbringing and influence on society.
States like Kerala have seen the impact of an outright ban on prohibition, causing a bloodthirst amongst many of its people for the strong drink. The situation has already reached pandemic proportions in rural areas in India, but unfortunatey this is one story which is rarely covered in the mainstream media.
 Though there is no direct, overnight solution to this issue that affects our families, the state has a role to play in ensuring its citizens are empowered to fight the effects of addiction through empowerment of the people who are addicted to drinking, education of the people so that they understand the importance of sobriety ,and encourage them to participate in society in a more meaningful way. To that we can all  say Cheers!

The Plight of the Differently Abled

Its a vicious cycle by any standards. Victims of polio like Bharat**, are a result of our society's apathy and sign of the extreme neglect being faced by the semi-urban and rural families across the country.

Living in squalid conditions further worsens their health, and the lack of any educational background prevents them from ever leaving these conditions, resulting in them being completely dependent on their already frayed caregivers, who barely are able to make ends meet.

In India we have close to 65 million differently-abled citizens, according to the latest figures released in the 2011 Census of the Government of India. Hardly 4% of this number have received a formal education. A vast majority of the differently-abled citizens do not have access to proper healthcare and recuperative treatment in their local environments, often having to travel to cities to get admitted to private hospitals.

In short there is a huge void between the needed rehabilitation of the differently abled in India, and the impact of the outreach programs being conducted by the state administrations, and the various NGOs. Yet another dastardly statistic in India, is the number of persons horribly maimed in road accidents  on our state highways, by passing trucks and speeding vehicles. 

Let us take the case of Suresh** who was recently injured in a vehicle accident. Suresh suffered a grievous injury to the left side of his head, rending him unable to speak , and affecting his motor functions of the left side of his body. He now faces a huge medical bill in a private hospital and is being attended to by his poor relatives, not knowing how they will face the rising sun tomorrow, with its set of bills , dietary requirements for their ailing son, and hardly any option for food, except the mercy of passers by in the neurological ward of the hospital.

Yet the hope out there is that state run institutions that cater to the differently abled, empathetic private citizens and NGOs will together continue to work towards building a cohesive partnership in order to solve the burning issue of disability empowerment, or rather the lack of it in our country.

**Names changed