NRI's were conferred voting rights in the recently held Pravasi Bharaitya Divas meet in Hyderabad.

The news has seen reactions from both side of the fence, people who argued on engaging NRI's for India's development and those who put forth scorn at the glorification of the spineless and escapist behaviours shown by sections of our society.

Malvika Singh puts forth her views in a recent article on The Telegraph:

Those of us who live here through the never-ending trials, contortions, anarchy, corruption, tribulations and misgovernance have issues and impossible truths to contend with and overcome, based on which we cast our vote. Those who ran with their tails between their legs because they could not make good in a tough and unrelenting environment, who became second-class citizens elsewhere with their spanking new passports swearing allegiance to their new homeland, and who worked hard to make good, are now looking for new pastures in an old landscape that they fled from.

Read the complete tirade here.

Five IIT geeks have come together to form a political party - called 'Paritrana'

The core team of "Paritrana" comprises Rajpurohit , Shukla, Amit Beesen, also the vice president and a B Tech (Mechanical) from IIT Bombay and a LLB graduate, Chandrashekhar (national treasurer), B Tech (computer science) from IIT Kanpur, Bharat Sundaram, the PRO of the party and B Tech from IIT Kanpur and PhD in electronics from Melbourne.

"Paritrana means complete relief from the various causes of distress, and that is what we want to do for our people", added Chandrashekhar. Low funds have not discouraged them in their efforts of holding door-to-door campaigns in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and parts of Maharashtra

Way to go geeks.

When Anil Chawla went back for an Alumni reunion at IIT-Bombay, after a gap of about 25 years, he was struck by the culture change that had swept his college. Digging further he found out the core of this change was Broadband and the personal computer, which having permeated the college life in Indian tech schools are having a disastrous effect on the students social life.

We were told that counterstrike is the favorite on the campus, with some students playing it for hours at a stretch every day. I was even introduced to someone as the invincible champion of counterstrike. I tried to talk to this so-called champion. It was a futile exercise - he did not know how to talk. His language capabilities were limited to monosyllables and some shaking of the head as a zombie probably would.

Anil Chawla wrote this to the Director-IITB.

Jellyfishes the size of sumo wrestlers are creating new problems for the Japanese fishing community. "It's a terrible problem. They're like aliens," says Noriyuki Kani of the fisheries federation in Toyama, northwest of Tokyo

CNN reports:

A slimy jellyfish weighing as much as a sumo wrestler has Japan's fishing industry in the grip of its poisonous tentacles.

Vast numbers of Echizen kurage, or Nomura's jellyfish, have appeared around Japan's coast since July, clogging and ripping fishing nets and forcing fishermen to spend hours hacking them apart before bringing home their reduced catches.

Infrastructure problems have started taking their toll on Banglore's software industry. Software majors have started cutting down their expansion plans for the city and are also reducing their future hiring plans.

"Travel time in Bangalore has expanded a lot. The industry has grown very large and is now growing faster outside of Bangalore. All software companies are saying their hiring here for the 2007 fiscal year will be far lesser than for 2006," says Infosys CFO T V Mohandas Pai.

IndianExpress reports.

What is wrong with India, and what will it take to set it right. This is pretty much the summary of Lee Kuan Yew's address at the 37th Jawaharlal Memorial Lecture on 21st Nov 2005 in New Delhi.

Two months later, Atanu Dey takes the message apart and gives his take on what Lew really wanted to say and why India should listen.

Take in more of his incisive commentary at IndianEconomy.org.

Big investments and huge markets are pushing India to become a global production base hub for small cars.

India can boast of world class capabilities in the production of small cars owing to its strong domestic market. Of the 800,000 cars sold in the country in the last one year, 600,000 were small cars of engine capacity up to 1,300 cc. And the market could just explode if Tata Motors succeeds in bringing out its Rs 1-lakh car.

Business Standard reports on the recent big ticket investment by Maruti.

Is it a man, is it a machine, nopes it ain't even Superman, its Metro Man.

Delhi Metro Chief E Sreedharan is on the 'top 25 newsmakers of 2005' list compiled by the United States' Engineering News-Record, a leading publication on the construction industry.

"Sreedharan is credited with single-mindedly knocking down the many obstacles that bedeviled other large Indian projects. This manager cut through the country's notorious red tape, employed global best practices and adopted safety steps not common in Indian construction,"

Rediff India has more.

What happens when innovation inspires the poorest of the poor -
a motorcycle drive plough costing just Rs 25,000, a mini tractor which is both cost-effective and fuel efficient and an amphibious bicycle which runs as easily on water.

Niti Bhan gives her take on how innovation works for those at the bottom of the pyramid.