ITI wants to reduce revenue from BSNL and MTNL

ITI, the loss-making state-run telecom equipment manufacturer, is working out ways to reduce dependency on BSNL and MTNL, the largest customers of the company. This has been necessitated by a significant drop in the revenue contribution from these companies during the financial year 2010-11, K L Dhingra, CMD of ITI Ltd told Business Standard.

The company wants to reduce its revenue exposure to these companies to 60-65 per cent during the ongoing financial year, from the earlier 80-85 per cent, Dhingra said. ITI, which reduced losses in 2010-11 to Rs 382 crore from Rs 459 crore, reported a year ago, saw a significant drop in revenues in the year ended March 2011. The revenues of the company dropped over 54 per cent to Rs 2,101.2 crore compared to the previous year.

“We saw a huge drop in demand from our major customers BSNL and MTNL, which affected our turnover. Traditionally, we have been too dependent on both these companies for our revenues. Now, we want to reduce the dependency and diversify into newer areas such as defence and other allied sectors,” he said.

ITI is part of the consortium manufacturing the biometric cards for the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the other two partners being Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) and Electronics Corporation of India Ltd (ECIL). While the project cost is estimated to be about Rs 700-Rs 750 crore, Dhingra said the company being the sole manufacturer of the cards, was expecting over 33 per cent of the project cost as revenues. Besides, ITI is also a hardware partner for the National Population Registry. The effort to bag defence contracts is on and the company has participated in some procedural tenders, he said.

“In 2011-12, we expect to derive about 45-45 per cent of our revenues from customers other than BSNL and MTNL. And we will slowly take this to more than 50 per cent as we go forward,” he said.

Meanwhile, the company is planning to introduce a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) for employees. A proposal in this regard has been sent to the board of directors, which would take a decision on this in its next meeting, scheduled in July.

ITI employs about 11,000 across its six manufacturing units. Dhingra said the company was comfortable with having 6,000 people to run the organisation in efficient manner.

ITI has three of its manufacturing units located in Uttar Pradesh (Mankapur, Rae Bareli and Naini), while one each are located in Srinagar and Kerala (Palakkad). The main facility of the company is located in Bangalore. Three of the six units are said to be profitable.


Link:

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/iti-wants-to-reduce-revenuebsnlmtnl/438323/

Banks seek cybershelter with "ethical hackers"

By Ross Kerber and Maria Aspan

BOSTON/NEW YORK | Fri Jun 17, 2011 6:49pm EDT

BOSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Professional hacker Nicholas Percoco received an unusual request from a major financial institution this week: How can you help us avoid becoming the next Citigroup Inc?

Amid a wave of cyber attacks on Citi, the International Monetary Fund and other institutions, Percoco and his team at security firm Trustwave Holdings Inc are fielding more and more calls from banks wanting to stress-test their online defenses.

Trustwave is increasingly being hired for so-called ethical hacking of banking systems to hunt for weaknesses, he said. It is also selling more data loss prevention software, which can freeze a computer network before an intruder can extract sensitive information.

"It's not a new technology, but in the wake of these data losses there's more interest," Percoco, senior vice president at the Chicago-based firm, told Reuters. Trustwave has filed for an initial public offering of stock.

Some cyber experts fear many financial institutions have inadequate defenses, due to distractions during the financial crisis and after that led them to ignore IT systems as they dealt with more pressing issues.

Percoco says his group almost always manages to penetrate bank firewalls or find other ways to cause mischief, from viewing confidential checking account images online to physically strolling into unsecured data centers.

"We'll call the CIO (chief information officer) and tell them, 'We're standing in the middle of your data center. Do you want to come get us?'" he said.

ARMS RACE

Still, there are signs of progress. Financial institutions are now keeping a closer eye on their databases and making more use of one-time transaction passwords to customers' mobile phones. Bank of America Corp, for example, has a SafePass service started in 2008.

Two-thirds of U.S. banks plan to raise spending on fraud-detection and authentication systems in 2011, including all 14 of those with more than $75 billion in deposits, according to a Gartner Research poll of 76 banks.

"This is an arms race," said Bill Conner, chief executive of Dallas-based security company Entrust, which sold $35 million worth of security software to financial institutions last year, up 50 percent from 2009.

"The risks are out there, the regulators are breathing heavy on this. Now the financial institutions are going to have to spend," Conner said.

The question is how quickly can this spending make a difference. Banks have always been targeted by cyber criminals but have so far avoided the worst breaches as hackers focused on softer targets, such as stealing credit and debit card data from retailers.

But banks got wake-up calls this month, when the attacks on the IMF and Citi, the third-largest U.S. bank, came to light. Security specialists say Citi suffered the largest direct hit on a financial institution to date.

MOBILE BANKING WEAKNESSES

As stewards of the payment system, banks face an extra burden to keep the confidence of their customers.

Many financial institutions are starting to bulk up security around their treasury services divisions, which can process trillions of dollars daily for large corporate clients, according to the American Bankers Association.

But now a new push toward mobile payments by big banks, from BofA to Wells Fargo, has some cyber experts worried.

On average, only 8 cents of every dollar that banks spend on IT infrastructure goes toward sustaining and securing that infrastructure, according to Tom Kellermann, chief technology officer at AirPatrol Corp in Maryland and a member of the Obama Administration's Commission on Cyber Security.

Bank security chiefs "are always playing second fiddle to the folks that are saying, 'Let's create the wonderful wireless Web portals with access to financial services through our mobile phones," he told Reuters Insider. "Most security wonks would say 'That's a really, really bad idea.'"

"I think there's been an over-emphasis in security on perimeter defenses, on the walls and moats of castles, and not enough attention is being paid on remote access and website security," he added.

CLEARINGHOUSES VULNERABLE

The threats go beyond retail banking. Among the financial system's most vulnerable points are the clearinghouses that act as central counterparties to all traders, security experts speaking at a Reuters-hosted cyberterrorism panel said on Thursday.

Mark Clancy, chief information security officer at the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, agreed on Friday that clearinghouses are especially attractive targets to hackers -- not because their defenses are weaker than other financial institutions but because they house so much concentrated data.

"If you wanted to destroy financial operations, those are the kinds of places you look because they are aggregation points ... they're just more interesting to that kind of bad guy," he told Reuters.

He said the DTCC's spending on cyber security has "really in the last 12 months ratcheted" up.

Market operators are also vulnerable. Hackers breached Nasdaq OMX Group's systems this year, leaving "suspicious files" on the exchange's servers and sparking an investigation involving the FBI.

None of the largest U.S. banks would discuss the latest attacks or make security executives available for interviews. JPMorgan Chase in the past had touted its use of security tokens, but a spokeswoman said it would not discuss the program currently "for security reasons."

Some specialists question whether the banks themselves have done enough to fight hackers in the past. Woodbury Advisor payments consultant Steven Kietz, a former credit card executive for Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase, said he helped to implement federal guidelines for Internet security standards in 2006 while at Citigroup.

But he said those standards are now far out of date, and "five years later we've seen really no new efforts by any of the major banks to protect customers."

(Reporting by Ross Kerber and Maria Aspan; Additional reporting by Jonathan Spicer and Lauren Tara LaCapra; Editing by Tiffany Wu and Matthew Lewis)

Links:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/17/us-cybersecurity-banks-idUSTRE75G5VR20110617

Special report: Government in cyber fight but can't keep up

By Phil Stewart, Diane Bartz, Jim Wolf and Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON | Fri Jun 17, 2011 6:51pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon is about to roll out an expanded effort to safeguard its contractors from hackers and is building a virtual firing range in cyberspace to test new technologies, according to officials familiar with the plans, as a recent wave of cyber attacks boosts concerns about U.S. vulnerability to digital warfare.

The twin efforts show how President Barack Obama's administration is racing on multiple fronts to plug the holes in U.S. cyber defenses.

Notwithstanding the military's efforts, however, the overall gap appears to be widening, as adversaries and criminals move faster than government and corporations, and technologies such as mobile applications for smart phones proliferate more rapidly than policymakers can respond, officials and analysts said.

A Reuters examination of American cyber readiness produced the following findings:

* Spin-offs of the malicious code dubbed "agent.btz" used to attack the military's U.S. Central Command in 2008 are still roiling U.S. networks today. People inside and outside the U.S. government strongly suspect Russia was behind the attack, which was the most significant known breach of military networks.

* There are serious questions about the security of "cloud computing," even as the U.S. government prepares to embrace that technology in a big way for its cost savings.

* The U.S. electrical grid and other critical nodes are still vulnerable to cyber attack, 13 years after then-President Bill Clinton declared that protecting critical infrastructure was a national priority.

* While some progress has been made in coordinating among government agencies with different missions, and across the public-private sector gap, much remains to be done.

* Government officials say one of the things they fear most is a so-called "zero-day attack," exploiting a vulnerability unknown to the software developer until the strike hits.

That's the technique that was used by the Stuxnet worm that snarled Iran's enriched uranium-producing centrifuges last summer, and which many experts say may have been created by the United States or Israel. A mere 12 months later, would-be hackers can readily find digital tool kits for building Stuxnet-like weapons on the Internet, according to a private-sector expert who requested anonymity.

"We're much better off (technologically) than we were a few years ago, but we have not kept pace with opponents," said Jim Lewis, a cyber expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank. "The network is so deeply flawed that it can't be secured."

"IT'S LIKE AN INSECT INFESTATION"

In recent months hackers have broken into the SecurID tokens used by millions of people, targeting data from defense contractors Lockheed Martin, L3 and almost certainly others; launched a sophisticated strike on the International Monetary Fund; and breached digital barriers to grab account information from Sony, Google, Citigroup and a long list of others.

The latest high-profile victims were the public websites of the CIA and the U.S. Senate - whose committees are drafting legislation to improve coordination of cyber defenses.

Terabytes of data are flying out the door, and billions of dollars are lost in remediation costs and reputational harm, government and private security experts said in interviews. The head of the U.S. military's Cyber Command, General Keith Alexander, has estimated that Pentagon computer systems are probed by would-be assailants 250,000 times each hour.

Cyber intrusions are now a fact of life, and a widely accepted cost of doing business.

"We don't treat it as if it's here today, gone tomorrow," said Jay Opperman, Comcast Corp.'s senior director of security and privacy. "It's like an insect infestation. Once you've got it, you never get rid of it."

The private-sector expert who requested anonymity said a top official at a major Internet service provider told him that he knew his network had been infiltrated by elite hackers. He could digitally kick them out - but that would risk provoking a debilitating counter-attack.

"THE THING ... THAT KEEPS ME UP AT NIGHT"

The idea behind the soon-to-be-announced Pentagon program for defense contractors is to boost information-sharing with the Defense Department on cyber threats. It also aims to speed reporting of attacks on firms that make up what the Pentagon calls the Defense Industrial Base.

The DIB, as it is sometimes known, provides the Defense Department some $400 billion a year in arms, supplies and other services. The new program is voluntary and builds on a smaller pilot, reflecting the persistent challenge of regulating private firms that traditionally shield proprietary data and often downplay cyber setbacks.

Ultimately, the new program may lead to agreement to put at least some Pentagon contractors behind military-grade network perimeter defenses, such as those that protect the Pentagon's own classified networks.

On another front, the Pentagon's far-out research arm, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, is expected to launch by mid-2012 the National Cyber Range, a kind of replica of the Internet costing an estimated $130 million that would be used to test cutting-edge cyber defense technologies and help train cyber warriors.

The Obama administration has made cyber security a national priority, and tried to fashion an "all-government response" that imposes order on the competing domains and priorities of the Pentagon, FBI, Department of Homeland Security, the super-secret National Security Agency and the private sector.

"We're far better prepared than we've ever been before," said White House cybersecurity coordinator Howard Schmidt.

"Notwithstanding all the threats that we see out there, the things that are making news on a regular basis about a company that's been intruded upon ... (look at) how much the system still runs," Schmidt told Reuters in an interview.

The key, Schmidt said, is resiliency, "to make sure that we're better prepared, to make sure that the disruptions when they do occur are minimum - we're able to recover from them."

Still, he said major worries remain. "The thing that I worry about that keeps me up at night is the unknown vulnerability that may exist out there."

Some officials are even less sanguine.

The Pentagon's computer systems are widely considered to be better protected than other U.S. government agencies', and far safer than the private sector's. Still, a U.S. defense official told Reuters he would give the Pentagon just a "C+" grade overall for its cyber defenses. "We're not impervious to attack by any stretch, but nor are we 'open kimono'," the official said. He added: "And we're getting better."

WHAT IS 'CYBER'?

Experts say that one of the toughest challenges of cyber defense is, oddly, definitions. What constitutes "cyber"? Computers and digital networks, certainly. But how about digitized pictures or video streams from a pilotless Predator drone flying over Pakistan?

Who is responsible for protecting what? Where does national security begin and privacy end?

"The other big problem is lack of policy," said one former U.S. official. "(We) lack policy because we lack consensus. We lack consensus because we haven't had an informed debate. We lack an informed debate because we don't have a common pool of data. And we don't have a common pool of data because we don't share it."

Nowhere is the problem more acute than in thinking about cyber warfare. What constitutes an act of war in cyberspace? And how do you determine who it was that fired the shot?

U.S. military officials, eager to talk about how the Pentagon has boosted computer defenses, clam up when the topic turns to offensive capabilities.

The Pentagon has put together a classified list of its cyber capabilities so policymakers know their options - just as it does for more conventional weapons.

Offensive actions against foreign systems would require White House authorization. But the Pentagon does not need special approval to do the kind of cyber surveillance work that can identify vulnerabilities in foreign networks, a U.S. official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

That includes leaving hidden digital "beacons" inside adversaries' networks that could be used to pinpoint future targets. The beacons can phone home to tell U.S. military computers that they are still operational, the official said.

While the United States is trying to apply conventional military logic to the cyber realm, there is no global consensus about the rules of cyber war. A Pentagon report due out toward the end of the month is not expected to articulate case-by-case possibilities of when a cyber war could turn into a real one.

INTO THE CLOUD

Even as such policy debates rage, the technological landscape is being remade, seemingly by the month, posing new challenges - and opportunities. Tens of thousands of mobile applications for smartphones and tablet computers represent new vectors for hacks and attacks.

"The quick answer is we haven't been doing enough and we're semi-late to the game" on protecting mobile applications, said Rear Admiral Mike Brown, a senior Department of Homeland Security cyber security official.

U.S. government agencies are working with major commercial vendors "to start looking together at how to address the issues of mobile vulnerabilities," Brown said at a symposium sponsored by Symantec Corp.

Meanwhile, the U.S. federal government is planning to move in a big way into "cloud computing," in which off-site providers offer network and storage resources accessible remotely from a variety of computing platforms.

Potential cost savings are significant. Handled correctly, computing clouds could offer added security, specialists say. But there are also risks.

A study released in April by CA Technologies and the Michigan-based Ponemon Institute contained alarming findings. Based on a survey of 103 U.S. and 24 European cloud computing providers, it found that a majority did not view security of their services as a competitive advantage, and believed that security was their customers' responsibility, not theirs.

Most did not have dedicated security personnel on staff.

Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn met Google executives in California in mid-February to discuss cloud computing. On May 19, Lynn instructed the Pentagon's Defense Science Board to study the benefits and risks of cloud computing, "paying particular attention to attacks on communications that would destroy or delay delivery of services and information for time-critical uses."

Lynn told Reuters that "cloud computing has the potential to offer greater capability at equal or lesser costs." He added: "I want to make sure we are taking full advantage of these advanced technologies."

The Pentagon is preparing a cloud computing strategy, which it expects to complete by the end of the summer, a U.S. defense official told Reuters.

"We're trying to get to the place where warfighters or any of us can get to our information from anywhere on the planet, with any device," the official said.

Schmidt, the White House coordinator, said as many as 170 security controls are being built into government cloud computing projects from the start. "It's not deploying something and securing it later. We're setting the requirements at the outset."

"I'M NOT CONFIDENT THAT WE WOULD KNOW..."

So how safe are the computer networks of the United States, which perhaps more than any nation relies on them for banking, electric power and other basics of modern civilization?

In May 1998, then-President Clinton signed Presidential Decision Directive 63, calling for a "reliable, interconnected, and secure" network by 2003, and establishing a national coordinator for protecting critical infrastructure.

The Department of Homeland Security now has lead responsibility for protecting the power grid. Yet, as with almost everything involving cyber, it's not quite that simple.

If there were a cyber attack on the power grid today, "I'm not confident that we would know what parts of the government should respond," said one former U.S. official, who asked not to be identified. "Who jumps in there? DHS, DoD, Cyber Command, NSA, the intelligence community?"

"So nothing's really happened." said former Pentagon general counsel Judith Miller, talking about grid vulnerability at a cyber event in Washington this month.

"This is a discussion we had in the 1990s. We're having it right now. Nothing really has changed, although perhaps the ability of attackers, whether they're nation states or just kids, has grown apace," she said.

A central conundrum is that the Pentagon's National Security Agency, which specializes in electronic eavesdropping, has personnel with the best cyber skills, but has been until recently mostly shut out of protecting domestic networks. That's due to the highly classified nature of the NSA's work, and fears that it will stray into domestic spying.

Another complicating factor: the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, which generally bars federal military personnel from acting in a law-enforcement capacity within the United States, except where expressly authorized by Congress.

"NSA has a long history in cyber security, on both the offensive and the defensive sides. It has great resources and expertise. But it makes privacy advocates nervous," said Stewart Baker, a former DHS official now at the law firm Steptoe and Johnson LLP.

Last October, the Defense Department and Homeland Security - responsible for protecting civilian U.S. government networks - signed a memorandum to cooperate, with the NSA sharing technology and the agencies swapping personnel.

The effort has gotten mixed reviews. Schmidt said that early reports of inter-agency tension have dissipated, and Representative James Langevin, a member of the House intelligence committee, said DHS is improving. "I don't think that they're there yet but we're moving in the right direction," he said.

However other experts, who would not be quoted for the record, said the gap between the two agencies remains wide.

Even if the NSA, DHS and other agencies worked together seamlessly, the problem remains of coaxing industries in critical infrastructure to accept more government regulation.

"There's absolutely no question that the power companies and indeed state regulators have been unenthusiastic about a federal role," Baker said. He added this warning: "The regulation that would pass after a disaster is a lot worse than they would get right now."

And then there's the Stuxnet-like "zero day" attack, exploiting a flaw no one knew existed, perhaps tucked into some off-the-shelf software like that purchased daily by federal agencies.

"Our largest fear ... is the zero day attack," said Sherrill Nicely, the CIA's deputy chief information officer. "It's very, very, very difficult to protect oneself from an attack that you did not know was coming or the vulnerability that you did not know existed."

(Additional reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky and Warren Strobel; Writing by Warren Strobel; Editing by Kristin Roberts and Claudia Parsons)

Links:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/17/us-usa-cybersecurity-idUSTRE75F4YG20110617

New round of cyber attacks heightens focus on FBI

By Jeremy Pelofsky

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Each week brings word of another cyber attack on a major U.S. institution, sending law enforcement scrambling and raising new questions about whether it has the ability or resources to track down cyber criminals.

The FBI says it is working to bulk up its cyber division as hackers focus on higher-profile targets, but is at the mercy of a Congress struggling to cut the massive budget deficit.

FBI Director Robert Mueller, who has made it his mission to boost computer savviness during his decade-long tenure, acknowledged there was more work to do when he testified to Congress recently about extending his term by two years.

"I will tell you that we will increasingly put emphasis on addressing cyber-threats in all of their variations," Mueller said earlier this month. "Part of that is making certain that the personnel in the bureau have the equipment, the capability, the skill, the experience to address those threats."

Some experts question whether the FBI has the tools or manpower to apprehend those responsible for attempts like one earlier this year that sought to infiltrate the International Monetary Fund's computers, which hold sensitive economic data.

A Justice Department inspector general report in April said some FBI field agents raised concerns they were not qualified for cyber cases and were rotated between offices too often, hobbling their efforts.

The FBI is now reviewing its policy on agent transfers and reviewing training they receive for such investigations.

"The tools that the FBI has in its toolbox are really pretty limited," said Stewart Baker, a former top official at the Homeland Security Department and now a partner at the law firm of Steptoe & Johnson.

"Many of these attacks are launched from overseas, they use individual e-mails with specially-packaged malware to get into the system," he said. "The FBI doesn't have a lot of tools to actually identify a wrongdoer."

The FBI does not reveal how many hacking cases it has pending or the budget for its growing cyber division.

Following a joint investigation with the FBI, British authorities on Tuesday announced the arrest of a 19-year-old man suspected of involvement in the attack on the public website of the CIA.

FINDING MORE RESOURCES TOUGH

A senior official in the FBI's cyber division said his team has recently received more backing from Congress. Now, about 60 percent of cases focus on national security and criminal intrusions, up from 50 percent about two years ago. Most of the remainder deal with child pornography.

"As we've received enhancements to personnel and non-personnel resources, we've specifically trained them in the areas of intrusion," Steven Chabinsky, deputy assistant director of the FBI's cyber division, told Reuters.

A Senate Judiciary subcommittee on Tuesday weighed beefing up cyber laws. But the critical issue of finding more money could be difficult as Obama and Congress are under intense pressure to cut the budget deficit.

National security matters tend to get spared the budget ax, but the chances of a large boost in resources are slim.

Obama's proposed budget for fiscal 2012, which starts October 1, includes a request for almost $19 million more for 42 new positions at the FBI focusing on investigating and protecting against cyber attacks, including 14 special agents.

Obama also sought money to hire six more attorneys who would be placed overseas to focus on cyber crime cases, adding to the 40 or so prosecutors already working on those crimes in the Justice Department's criminal division.

The FBI has been confronted with both "nuisance" attacks, like the CIA and Senate website cases, and much more serious intrusions at the IMF, Lockheed Martin and Sony.

The latter cases are a "higher priority in terms of damage and victimization, but an overall investigative approach can be quite successful by looking at the entirety of the problem," Chabinsky said, a possible indication of how broadly the FBI is examining the recent spate of attacks.

Still, he said the number of cyber attacks has not increased dramatically in the last two years, rather publicity about them has -- either from the victims or those launching the attacks.

"But I think they're more visible, and a trend toward destructiveness is disconcerting," he said. "The level of capability that's now being used for destructiveness as opposed to financial gain is different."

Cyber attacks often span multiple countries and servers. Laws overseas may be different. Determining who was at the keyboard at the time poses yet more challenges.

Chabinsky said the FBI spends considerable resources on those cases that take them around the world. Cooperation by foreign governments in pursuing hackers has increased.

One expert offered praise for the FBI upping its game, noting it was zeroing in on the more serious cyber attacks. He said the FBI must also try to infiltrate groups that openly publicize their hacks, like Anonymous and LulzSec.

(Editing by Warren Strobel)

Link:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/21/us-usa-cybersecurity-fbi-idUSTRE75K6EN20110621

Forget Spy Kids, try kiddie hacker conference

By Jim Finkle

BOSTON | Thu Jun 23, 2011 9:26pm EDT

BOSTON (Reuters) - Children as young as eight years old are invited to Las Vegas this summer to learn that it's cool to be a hacker -- provided they don't cheat, steal or commit other crimes.

The first-ever Defcon Kids conference in August is a chance for children between eight and 16 to learn the skills of computer hackers, as well as protect themselves against cyber attacks.

It will also be an opportunity for U.S. federal agents to size up tech-savvy youngsters who could form the next generation of digital crime-fighters.

Police, intelligence agents, military officers and the consultants working for them have long attended as well as recruited from Defcon, the world's biggest gathering of hackers held in Las Vegas every summer.

This year, against a backdrop of high-profile cyber attacks on targets ranging from Google Inc to the International Monetary Fund, Defcon organizers are holding Defcon Kids on August 6 and 7 alongside the main conference. Kids need to register in advance at www.defconkids.org to be able to participate in some conference activities.

One goal of Defcon Kids is to convince children from age 8 to 16 that it is cool to be a "white hat," or benevolent hacker who uses computer skills to fight crime.

"Black hats," in contrast, work on the dark side of the Internet, using their skills to steal money, identities and other perform nefarious deeds.

"Hacking isn't just fun and games. It isn't about breaking into systems," said a 16-year-old who goes by the hacker handle "FS." He will teach Defcon Kids how to protect against Internet spies who sniff wireless networks for private data. (www.defconkids.org).

"It's about securing yourself and the people around you," said FS, who gets paid by companies to conduct penetration testing, which is breaking into computer networks to uncover vulnerabilities.

Like many hackers, FS uses a handle rather than his real name to protect himself from being targeted by black hats.

Such names have special meaning for hackers, who often keep their significance secret. FS stands for forty seven, which is code for the initials of his real name, which FS declined to disclose.

HACKING TOOLS

Law enforcement around the world is scrambling to combat cyber crime, and each week seems to brings a new attack -- from activists promoting a cause, to more serious security breaches and data thefts at Sony Corp or Citigroup.

Some of the world's most elite hackers have volunteered to teach at Defcon Kids, running sessions on basic computer programing, lock picking and puzzle solving. A course in hardware hacking, for example, will show children how to modify a circuit board so it plays the game "Simon."

"CyFi," a 10-year-old Girl Scout whose identity has been stolen twice, is helping to organize the conference. Her personal agenda is to network with other young hackers, advance her lock-picking skills and meet real federal agents while she's there.

"Most of the time when people think of hacking, they think 'Oh that's a bad thing,'" she said. "I want to get more people to become good hackers and to have fun doing it."

While she has few friends who share her passion for hacking, CyFi is a fan of a website called CryptoKids (www.nsa.gov/kids) managed by the National Security Agency.

The highly secretive NSA, which runs spying operations for the U.S. government, tries to make hacking cool on the website by offering for download coloring books for the young, video games, and tips on breaking codes for older hackers.

Cartoon characters on the website include the code-breaking team of Crypto Cat and Decipher Dog, as well as Cyndi, a fictional hardware hacker who loves to figure out how gadgets work.

Defcon Kids will learn how white hats use Google's search engine to find confidential information that is exposed over the public Internet. But they won't cross the line into illegal activity by forcing their way into private sites.

"It will give the kids an avenue to practice certain skills without the fear of getting into trouble," said Chris Hadnagy, one of the Defcon Kids instructors.

That doesn't mean they won't have fun.

"We want to expose kids at an earlier age to the wonders of taking things apart and making them do things that they weren't intended to do," said Jeff Moss, Defcon's founder.

(Reporting by Jim Finkle; Editing by Tiffany Wu, Steve Orlofsky and Bernard Orr)

Cut-off scare wake-up call for quality education

The New Indian ExpressLast Updated : 16 Jun 2011 11:23:42 PM IST

The stratospheric cut-offs fixed by some leading Delhi colleges in their first admission list might be unfair to students but Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal’s challenge to their rationale amounts to shirking his responsibility. The high cut-offs are not a college-specific issue but a reflection on India’s education system. If someone is to be blamed for this, it is not the colleges but those entrusted with formulating India’s higher education policy and making it work. The cut-offs will decline in subsequent lists but they have sounded a wake-up call for system, which is unable to create additional capacity to absorb top class students. Sibal would do well to concentrate on addressing this issue than gallivanting everywhere as a political fire fighter.


There is a huge demand for tertiary education in India and this is not matched by the growth in centres of excellence in higher education. Given the demand-supply imbalance the only solution is to increase the number of colleges and seats and ensure that there is no dearth of good teachers and right education for students. The number of universities in India has grown manifold during the past few years. A similar trend has been witnessed in the number of student enrolments in the higher education system, which reached around 14.6 million at the end of 2010-11 and is expected to grow over 11 per cent during the next two years.

It is undisputed that increasing higher education enrolment is central to the country’s ability to compete in a global economy, as economic strength and gross national income (GNI) per capita are closely linked to a country’s higher education enrolment ratio. But in order to increase India’s competitiveness, it is necessary to increase high quality higher education. Along with the quantity of graduates, the quality of education should be a focus area for the Indian higher education system

Promise of a new future for Bengal, TN

T J S George
Last Updated : 11 Jun 2011 11:59:16 PM IST

Opportunity has been called “thou strong seducer”. From A Raja to B S Yeddyurappa, from the Bengal communists to the UPA II high command, they have all allowed opportunity to seduce them. Which is a pity because opportunity is also a provider of inspiration for great and noble work.


Following the recent assembly elections, three states saw historically significant regime changes. How are the novice chief ministers in Bengal, and veterans in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, using their newly-won moment in history? It’s barely a month since they took charge. Yet, a tentative appraisal is possible based on first impressions.

Mamata Banerjee, because of her inexperience in state governance and the unpredictabilities of her mood and behaviour, had caused the maximum apprehensions. But she seems to have given the best first impressions. She began with herself, trying to look less unkempt and less temperamental. (The importance of appearance in this television age cannot be over-emphasised. Every time Baba Ramdev is seen walking to his jet, there must be multitudes who wish he wore a shirt. Shapurji Saklatvala, a Labour member of the British House of Commons in the 1930s, once told Mahatma Gandhi at a meeting in London: “For heaven’s sake, Gandhi, wear a pair of trousers”).

Mamata’s approach to governance also showed a touch of freshness. Although her attack of the CPM is relentless, she seemed anxious to show that she had put old enmities behind her. One of her first acts as chief minister was to call on arch critic Somnath Chatterjee at his house. Imagine Jayalalithaa going to the Gopalapuram residence of Karunanidhi.

The new chief minister’s most promising initiatives have been with respect to choosing ministers and advisers. This was clear during the election campaign itself, when she reached out to non-politicos with party tickets. Beyond the cabinet, she has also organised an advisory council consisting of experts from several fields. This means that the new Government will have the benefit of guidance from non-party, non-political specialists. It also shows that the chief minister wants to listen to experts, and not just carry on as a party animal.

The chief ministers of Tamil Nadu and Kerala have been war-horses for too long to not be party animals. Even so, Jayalalithaa has the greatest opportunity among all chief ministers. She wields the most power as she is unhindered by allies or rivals in the party. She is also experienced and intelligent with an administrative acumen recognised by all. She has in her, the faculties to become the architect of a new Tamil Nadu and the builder of a new India.

Two factors have stood in the way of fulfilling this promise—a tendency towards vindictive politics, and a tendency to listen to no one. Both can be overcome by recognising her own strengths. The Karunanidhi family has been in a state of self-destruct. She could afford to leave it alone and appear graceful in the process. As for the loner posture, there are some new faces in the cabinet. Nothing will be lost—and a lot gained—if some able ministers are allowed to speak for themselves instead of the unvarying “Amma-speak”. She has also engaged an outside adviser, Ponraj, who played a similar role for A P J Abdul Kalam when he was the President. If memories of the earlier “kitchen cabinet” are also given a go-by, we may finally see Jayalalithaa coming to her own.

Unfortunately, Kerala raises no such hopes. A historically thin majority should have made the Congress alliance cautious. Instead, it gave ministerial posts to a host of tainted politicians with a history of corruption. The Muslim League’s president even resorted to the unheard-of tactic of announcing portfolios—the hapless chief minister pretended that he saw and heard nothing unusual. Kerala is set for a new era of plunder—if the Government lasts with its two-seat majority. The Congress should be grateful that Achutanandan and the CPM are not Yeddyurappa and the BJP. Such is democracy

Uma’s return - A sign BJP is back on track

The New Indian Express
Last Updated : 08 Jun 2011 11:54:37 PM IST

It is too early to assess the impact of Uma Bharti’s return to the BJP, but it is clear indication that BJP president Nitin Gadkari has been able to assert himself on this score despite reservations from a section of party leaders. Gadkari had announced his wish to take back estranged party leaders immediately after taking over the reins of the party. Now he seems to have found an opportune moment to implement his agenda. In this he appears to have full backing of the RSS, which was not exactly happy with the present drift in the party.


This time, the BJP leadership wants to use Uma Bharti to regain its lost paradise in Uttar Pradesh. A firebrand leader of the Ayodhya movement, Uma had demonstrated her combative powers when she demolished Digvijay Singh’s 10-year rule in Madhya Pradesh in 2004. While helping the party regain its Hindutva plank, she can also make the BJP an attractive prospect for a section of the backward classes, which could otherwise go to Mulayam Singh’s Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh. Interestingly, Uma would be facing her old political adversary in the battleground of Uttar Pradesh, where Digvijay Singh is in-charge of the Congress affairs with Rahul Gandhi as the mascot.

If other estranged leaders like Sanjay Joshi and K N Govindacharya return to the party fold this will be an unmistakable signal that the party is reverting back to its core political constituency of Hindutva. Hints of this were available to the BJP’s national executive held in Lucknow recently when it reiterated its commitment to build the Ram temple at Ayodhya — an issue that the party seemed to have put on the back burner after the demolition of the disputed structure in 1992. Shorn of a sharply defined ideology and lacking an astute leadership, the BJP is behaving as the B team of the Congress, instead of performing the role of a combative Opposition. It needs to get back its organisational élan and ideological sharpness to convince the people that it presents a viable alternative to the Congress

Ramdev must talk less, stick to issues

The New Indian Express

Last Updated : 10 Jun 2011 12:04:04 AM IST

Baba Ramdev has done his image as a widely respected spiritual guru as well as the movement against black money led by him immeasurable harm by threatening to raise a private militia to take forward his mission. It is obvious that the brutal manner in which he and his supporters were evicted from the Ramlila grounds in the dead of night has hurt his ego so much that he has begun to think in terms of resisting such onslaughts in future in the name of self-defence. However, any such endeavour will be extremely unwise not only because of the inevitable possibility of violence, but also because that is exactly the excuse which the government needs to crack down even harder on him and give the civil society activists, including those with Anna Hazare, a bad name.


The resultant demoralisation among them will not be easy to overcome if only because there are sections in the political class and in the media who will not be too unhappy with such a turn of events. As it is, the government has made its intention clear by targeting the yoga guru’s business enterprise to undermine his position. The very timing of the official move shows that the government is guided not so much by a desire to check whether everything is aboveboard as to discredit Baba Ramdev and ensnare him in legal difficulties so that he will not have much time to carry on his campaign.

Baba Ramdev’s decision to declare his assets shows that he has seen through the government’s game, but he has to be careful not only with his deeds, but his words as well because any loose talk, as about the militia, will have long-term debilitating consequences. Nothing can be more disheartening for his many admirers because his highly laudable effort to unearth black money, along with Anna Hazare’s focus on the Lokpal Bill, have cornered the government far more effectively than what the Opposition parties could do. The next stage is crucial because any misstep by civil society will mean playing into the government’s hands

Jayalalithaa exposes DMK’s stand on SL issue

The New Indian Express
Last Updated : 10 Jun 2011 12:08:20 AM IST

Kudos to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa for moving the resolution in the State Assembly urging India to ask the United Nations to declare as war criminals all those who committed excesses in the war in Sri Lanka. The brave stand of the state government, which has also demanded economic sanctions against the island nation, is only a reflection of the aspirations of the people. In the process, Jayalalithaa has also exposed the DMK regime’s lackadaisical approach in saving the Tamil people when they were being ruthlessly butchered. This has now been brought to light by a United Nations expert committee report.


On April 17, 2009, M Karunanidhi sat on a fast between breakfast and lunch at Marina in Chennai demanding an immediate ceasefire in Sri Lanka. He abruptly called it off, saying that all will be well for the Tamil people there. We know now that most of the war crimes that have been brought to light by the UN were committed after that fast.

The Tamil Nadu chief minister has been right in pointing out that thousands of Lankan Tamils lost their lives because of the selfishness of the DMK government. Being an ally of the Congress, the DMK did not want to stand up against the Centre. After the end of the war, when the skeletons started tumbling out in the form of photographs and video clippings, reaffirming the atrocities committed by the Sri Lankan army, too, Karunanidhi maintained a stoic silence. That he never spoke against the Sri Lankan government or the Centre, even when civil rights movements were making shrill noises, was nothing but a betrayal of trust as he had crowned himself as the leader of the Tamil people world over.

Jayalalithaa has set in motion a process that would pave the way for the international community to not only proceed legally against Sri Lanka for war crimes but also rehabilitate the internally displaced Tamil people.

West’s dominance of IMF must end

The New Indian Express
Last Updated : 12 Jun 2011 11:24:04 PM IST

The sudden vacuum in the IMF’s seniormost position caused by its former managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s arrest on charges of sexual misconduct has given an opportunity to recast the organisation’s hierarchical structure. There is undoubtedly a consensus outside the western hemisphere that the time has come to end the practice of having a European at the head of the IMF and an American at the World Bank by choosing a person from what is known as the developing countries to be the next IMF managing director.


The case for ending the European monopoly has already been made by the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). Now, since the governor of the Mexican central bank, Agustin Carstens has thrown his hat into the ring, New Delhi should play a more proactive role in favouring his candidature. The stance will be in keeping with the role in resisting the West’s habitual hegemonic tendencies which India played in the time of Jawaharal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Atal Behari Vajpayee. Any hint that New Delhi’s outlook is being influenced in this matter by the present perceptible tilt towards the US will be unfortunate.

It is difficult to assess in this context the veracity of the reports that an Indian minister made known his preference for the candidature of the French finance minister, Christine Lagarde. If so, New Delhi should reverse its stance even if Lagarde is seen as the odds-on favourite at the moment presumably because Europe’s and America’s clout still outweighs that of the “emerging countries”, to use Carstens’ phrase.

There is much to be said for the Mexican contender’s view that the 65-year-old ‘tradition’ of European dominance of IMF should end not because it had been so prolonged, but because of the rise of the non-European countries in the world economy. If this reality of a new global order was ignored, the IMF would lose its legitimacy

Treat Maoists as enemies of the nation

The New Indian Express
Last Updated : 12 Jun 2011 11:27:37 PM IST

Striking for the third time in succession, the Maoists on Saturday ambushed a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) team in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district, killing three security men. They had killed five security personnel in Bastar district on Thursday and another 10 in a landmine explosion the same night. The killings signify the renewed offensive by Maoists in the Bastar region, where they had been lying low since the massacre of 75 security personnel in April last year. Significantly this coincides with the army’s entry in the region to train its commandos in jungle warfare. Add to this statements made by a spokesman of the Maoists which made it clear that such attacks will continue till Operation Green Hunt is dismantled, the Maoists and their supporters in jail are released and the proposal to set up a training college, where the army will teach jungle warfare to paramilitary forces, is reversed.


No self-respecting government can give in to such demands and the only option for the state is to meet aggression with aggression. For this security personnel will have to be better trained, better equipped and, most important, adequately motivated. Unfortunately the UPA government’s attitude to the Maoists’ challenge is far from clear. While Union home minister P Chidambaram is concerned with the slowdown in anti-Maoists operations, the appointment of known Maoist sympathiser Binayak Sen on a Planning Commission committee sends a contrary signal.

This is bound to impact adversely on the fight against the Maoists. The UPA government must not vacillate on handling the Maoist menace and take a firm stand that there can be no dialogue with them unless they are willing to voluntarily lay down arms. The Maoists must be treated as enemies of the poor and anti-nationalists and dealt a decisive blow. The war against the Maoists should be stepped up as a national priority and partisan political considerations should not be allowed to blur its edge. If the UPA government dithers on this front, it would be failing to discharge its constitutional obligation to protect the life and liberty of the people

Bring Dey’s killers to book, root out Mafia

The New Indian Express
Last Updated : 12 Jun 2011 11:19:21 PM IST

Speculations about who killed journalist Jyotirmoy Dey in Mumbai on Saturday might not be in order but it would not be surprising if it turns out that it had a link with his profession. This is because he had a formidable reputation as an investigative reporter and authority on Mumbai’s underworld. It would be proper to hold a comment till the police are able to lay their hands on his killers. However, the manner in which he was bumped off in a posh locality raises fears of the return of the mafia raj in the metropolis, where Haji Mastans, Varadarajan Mudaliars and Dawood Ibrahims called the shots once. It is only by bringing to book all those involved in the conspiracy and killing of Dey that the Mumbai police can scotch such fears. Otherwise, India’s commercial capital will soon become a crime and terror capital and lose international credibility.


The murder is also a pointer to the threat investigative journalists generally face in the country. Very often, they are seen as adversaries of the state, though their intention is to expose corruption and, thereby, cleanse the system, rather than imperil the system of governance. But in the pursuit of their vocation, journalists become enemies of persons who enjoy money and muscle power. Therefore, they need support and protection. Over a decade ago, Kamala Saikia, a well-known journalist of Assam, was kidnapped and killed, allegedly by the Ulfa militants, but the murderers are still at large. Laws, however imperfect they may be, are now in place to protect whistle-blowers. A similar attempt to protect the interests of journalists, who face similar threats, needs to be made, for at stake is the freedom of the Press, without which democracy would lose much of its meaning and appeal

Jaitapur is core meltdown of Indo-US N-deal

Prabhu Chawla

Express News ServiceLast Updated : 24 Apr 2011 03:19:40 AM IST

The cacophonic victory of falsehood over the bitter and silent truth doesn’t last long. Castles built on sand crumble in a strong wind.


As powerless protesters from the sleepy hamlet of Jaitapur in Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri district choose darkness over doom from the nuclear power plant, the truth about a nation betrayed is haunting the country with the dangers of a deal that was sold as the most powerful panacea for all the ills that plague poor Bharat. While those who sold the mesmerising mirage of a brighter countryside are simply keeping quiet over the rising protest against setting up the massive 9,900 MW nuclear energy plant, the radioactive waves triggered by Fukushima nuclear disaster are demolishing every iota of faith in the virtues of nuclear energy. Looking at the ferocity and determination of the local residents, it is evident that they are now determined to call the bluff. They just don’t want energy that would splash venom on the future. They prefer poverty to poisoned prosperity.

But trust our avaricious politicians. They are quick to put the blame on adversarial politics behind the Jaitapur agitation. Quite expectedly, Minister of State for Environment Jairam Ramesh, better known for his turns and about-turns, was the first to blame the rudderless Shiv Sena for fomenting trouble. Unable to comprehend the public outrage against the fear of the unknown, Ramesh arrogantly thundered, “It (Jaitapur) stays. We need nuclear power as an alternative source of energy. I haven’t called for re-think.” How could he? Only a month ago he was singing a different tune when he said, “If additional safeguards have to be built in, we will certainly look into it.” But he had to beat a hasty retreat when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stepped in and defended India’s nuclear energy policy while on a tour to nuke-hit Japan.

Singh had repeated his resolve to pursue nuclear energy projects with added vigour.

The belated popular anger against India’s civil nuclear energy programme stems from the realisation that Western countries are hawking their plants to India for reviving their own sinking economies. The Jaitapur plant will cost over Rs 100,000 crore and a huge amount of agricultural land will have to be taken over.

It is being built in collaboration with a French company, Areva.

Foreign companies made their triumphant business entry into India when the UPA leadership bulldozed the nation and Parliament into conceding a one-sided Civil Nuclear Energy Agreement with the US. In fact, a powerful coalition of the corporate-politician- bureaucracy nexus and foreign lobbyists maimed and massacred every dissenting and contrarian voice against the deal.

The passage of the Bill was touted as a paradigm shift in India’s economic diplomacy and the end of our nuclear apartheid. All those who promoted and fought for the Indo-US Nuclear agreement were handsomely rewarded with sinecures— both in India and abroad.

Ironically, the target of people’s anger on Jaitapur is Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, who was at the forefront of pushing the N-Deal when he was a minister in the PMO. He is now not as aggressive as he used to be in the company of nuclear netas in Delhi. Chavan is feeling the heat and so are other Congress leaders who are now speaking in whispers about the political fallout of India’s disastrous nuclear energy policy.

Not only has the agreement crippled India’s defence-related nuclear programme, it has allowed the country to become a market for the most expensive power to be generated by foreignbuilt reactors. Nuclear energy will cost the consumer twice of what he now forks up for his power needs. The people’s outrage against nuclear power has been fuelled by the rising suspicion about their security, particularly after the Japanese tragedy. Those who are opposed to India’s N-policy argue that even the Americans haven’t been encouraging the setting up of new nuclear energy plants in their country. According to published reports, of the 253 nuclear power plants commissioned to be built in the US since 1953, over 48 per cent were cancelled and 11 per cent prematurely shut down. In real terms, only one-fourth of those ordered or just about half those completed are still operating. Even other members of the exclusive Nuclear Power Club are discarding and discouraging nuclear plants, but are very aggressively lobbying for their nuclear power companies to open markets in countries like India. Taking advantage of India’s acute power shortage, they and their mighty lobbyists succeeded in forcing the American agenda on us. None has ever raised the question as to why India is not able to lift 40 million tonnes of coal lying in stock at its coal mines to be supplied to thermal power plants. Those who are in charge of the infrastructure development have never pushed the railways to provide additional number of rakes to take the coal. Why has the Planning Commission not encouraged public undertakings like the National Thermal Power Corporation to add and build new thermal power plants? It is only now that private operators are setting up new power plants.

The megaphones sponsored by the establishment and the multi-national corporations have begun to blow loudly to suppress the movement against nuclear plants. Since $100 billion is at stake, those who stand to lose the market and the money will unleash the worst-ever propaganda to seduce the protesters of Jaitapur.

For them making money is the mission, no matter if it endangers life in the process, not only of the current generation but also of those yet to come. But the people are also prepared to die now rather than wait and die later.

prabhuchawla@newindianexpress.com

Sen’s presence in panel will send wrong signals

The New Indian Express Last Updated : 31 May 2011 12:59:27 AM IST
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Monday did not attend a Planning Commission meeting with Eastern chief ministers in protest against inclusion of Binayak Sen in the commission’s committee on health. He had made his intention clear the moment the government announced Sen’s nomination to the commission’s 40-member committee and has not attended any meeting of the commission. In protest letters to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the Chhattisgarh chief minister has raised a number of important issues.
The crux of the chief minister’s argument is that since Sen has been convicted of heinous charges, including sedation and hobnobbing with the Maoists, his nomination on a government panel was not only improper but would also adversely impact on the Planning Commission’s institutional integrity and the nation’s fight against Maoists. Backed by the Congress at the Centre, Sen in turn has sought to defend his nomination by referring to observations of the Supreme Court, which has granted him bail. According to him, these observations prove that he was falsely convicted and it would be unjustified to deprive him of membership in the panel.
Whatever the merits of the criminal case against Sen and his contribution to healthcare of tribal children apart, the indisputable fact is that a trial court has found Sen guilty of heinous offences and sentenced him to life imprisonment after a due trial and his conviction has been confirmed by the Chhattisgarh High Court. That the Supreme Court has granted him bail does not amount to his acquittal. And as the Supreme Court has itself pointed out in a number of cases, remarks made by the Bench during a hearing do not amount to a judicial pronouncement. Apart from impacting Centre-state relations, Sen’s continuance on the Planning Commission will also send wrong signals to the security forces engaged in the battle against Maoists and could result in their demoralisation. The UPA government will do well to review its decision.

India’s chance to nail ISI down

The New Indian Express Last Updated : 30 May 2011 12:44:03 AM IST
The lawsuit filed by the relatives of Rabbi Gavriel Noah Holtzberg and his wife Rivka, victims of 26/11, in a New York court to demand declaration of Pakistani intelligence agency ISI as a terrorist group provides India an opportunity to nail it down. They have provided documentary evidences to prove that the 2008 Mumbai attack was planned, coordinated and executed by the ISI in collaboration with the terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT). During the on-going trial of Pakistani-Canadian Tahawwur Rana in a Chicago court, LeT operative David Headley has made several revelatory statements which prove the complicity of the ISI. He has provided several proofs like e-mail messages that show Major Iqbal of the ISI and LeT founder Hafiz Saeed were the masterminds of 26/11 in which 164 innocent people were killed.
As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said, few in India are surprised by Headley’s revelations. However, the disclosure about his attempt to foment greater trouble by planning an attack on the Shiv Sena headquarters has certainly shocked most people in the country. Even those who initially gave the Pakistan government the benefit of the doubt are amazed that a government agency could use mass murder as its policy. Understanding the ISI and its diabolic operations is not the same as fixing responsibility for the Mumbai attack on the agency and its LeT collaborator. A state which could bluff the US about Osama bin Laden’s whereabouts for years while sheltering him all the while cannot be expected to take action against any of those whose names India has given to Pakistan.
By impleading itself in the lawsuit filed by the Rabbi’s relatives, India can provide proof about the involvement of the ISI in several other terrorist attacks. If the federal court in New York is convinced about the ISI’s involvement and declares it a terrorist organisation, it will be a validation of India’s stand. Such a declaration will force not only the US government but also international agencies like the UN to demand disbanding of the ISI. It is an opportunity India should not miss under any circumstances.

The developed world must pay

The New Indian Express Last Updated : 31 May 2011 12:56:05 AM IST
According to the International Energy Agency, last year a record 30.6 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide was poured into the atmosphere — a rise of 1.6Gt on 2009. If emissions this year rise at the same pace as last year, the world will exceed 32 gigatonnes of CO2 in energy-related emissions alone in a single year. This is the level the IEA had expected emissions to reach by 2020, indicating that the growth of CO2 emissions has been much quicker than expected. Unless these rises can be turned to reductions within a few years, the world will soon be well beyond what scientists say is the limit of safety.
Coming on the eve of a crucial meeting of the world governments on climate change at Bonn, Germany, next week, this should serve as a walk-up call. The chances that this will happen, however, are slim. The glimmer of hope that had appeared at Cancun last year, when emissions-cutting targets were firmed up and financial commitments from rich countries to the poorer ones flesh out, seems to be vanishing. This was borne out at last week’s summit of the G8 group of leading industrialised nations, where Russia, Japan and Canada reportedly said they would refuse to join a second round of carbon cuts under the Kyoto Protocol.
Unfortunately, industrialised countries, which have a historic responsibility for climate change challenges the world faces today, seem to be dragging their feet. Despite paying lip service to the cause, they seem reluctant to either cut their emissions or fund the developing countries for green energy. The Green Climate Fund proposed at the UN-led Cancun meet six months ago — to which wealthy nations were supposed to contribute $100bn each year to help developing countries adapt to the challenges of climate change — has proved to be a non-starter. It is time developed counties took ambitious actions to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and also provided adequate financing and transfer of technology to help developing counties effectively address the impact of climate change.

A history Congress prefers to brush aside

The New Indian Express Last Updated : 01 Jun 2011 01:31:34 AM IST
The fifth volume in the series of publications on the Congress’ history is proving to be as embarrassing for the party as the earlier ones. The Emergency was criticised in an earlier book although the blame for its excesses was sought to be shifted from Indira Gandhi to Sanjay Gandhi. In the latest volume, however, Indira herself has come in the direct line of fire with the author, Sudha Pai, blaming her personalised style of functioning for stifling internal democracy and leading to the party’s decline in Uttar Pradesh. Although the focus is on one state, anyone conversant with recent history will know that the same reason was responsible for the Congress’ overall decline.
As may be expected, there have been murmurs of dissatisfaction from several Congressmen, whose habitual sycophancy evidently comes in the way of an uncluttered look at one of their icons, however correct the interpretation may be. Although party spokesman Manish Tiwari has sought to brush aside such criticism by saying that the articles have been commissioned from well-known analysts on the occasion of the party’s 125th anniversary, the fact that Pranab Mukherjee is the chief editor of these volumes gives an official stamp of approval to the controversial assessments. What is more, since the Nehru-Gandhi family’s operating style has not changed from Indira’s time, both the Congress’ friends and foes may see these opinions as a dig at the party’s present leaders.
When the party spokesman says, however, that these publications are not the party’s authorised history, he is probably distancing the organisations from the unflattering evaluations. But since the written word, like the thrown dart, cannot be recalled, the authorised version, if and when it is penned, will have to take these critical assessments into account. The fallout will be a thumbs up for history itself.

Govt wants to dish a toothless Lokpal Bill

The New Indian Express Last Updated : 01 Jun 2011 01:24:49 AM IST
Considering that it took the government four decades to produce what was called a ‘toothless’ Lokpal Bill, only the naïve would have expected the joint committee comprising ministers and civil society representatives to reach an agreement after a few meetings. In fact, it was only because the scam-tainted government lost its nerve in the wake of Anna Hazare’s fast that it agreed to the formation of the committee. If the number of scandals affecting it were fewer, it would have stubbornly refused to accept the demand. But, now, having accepted it, the battle-scarred ministers are pursuing the expected path of shooting down any suggestion which will open up the government and the political class to closer scrutiny.
So, the government has rejected any proposal to bring the prime minister, the MPs, the judiciary and officials below the rank of a joint secretary within the Lokpal’s ambit. What this means is that the ombudsman will have no say in the affairs of a very large section of the political class as well as the judiciary. Instead, its jurisdiction will cover only a few thousand civil servants above the joint secretary’s rank. The other proposal which has been rejected by the government relates to the merging of the CVC, the CBI’s anti-corruption section and the investigating wings of the various departments in the Lokpal. Though the official side hasn’t spelt out the reason for the rejection, it probably fears that the merger will create too gargantuan a bureaucracy for effective functioning.
Having said ‘no’ to nearly all of the civil society’s proposals, the government has taken recourse to another time-consuming ploy — seeking the views of the states and political parties. While the present logjam may be compounded by a prolonged stalemate as these responses are awaited, it is necessary for the civil society to remain patient. Even as the government tries all the tricks in the book to wear out Anna Hazare and Co, it is for the civil society to remain in the battlefield till it achieves its objective — or, if it fails, expose the government’s insincerity.