Pathetic state of government owned websites

Its a matter of shame! Why can't government of India, who isn't spending less bucks than a small private company does, get a quality presence on the Web? See this page for instance. It has got loads of junk text on the page. That being the state of the affairs of the website of government of India's largest source of income, Indian Railway. http://www.ircot.railnet.gov.in/ is supposed to be the site for the online booking of a railway ticket (the home page of the site, however, says something different altogether). I have, in past, seen Google coughing broken links to this site. It is not impossible to for a site to have broken links, but there is a way to it. The kind of broken link I saw was a proof of poor maintenance.

A bigger question is -- Companied much smaller in size and with much smaller budget, how come they manage to have and maintain such professionally made sites?

The answer lies in the fact that -- The people make the difference. Smaller companies are made of people who take responsibity, people who bow to run a show, people who think the growth of their company and their business is directly related to their own growth. When they invest in something, they see to it that every single penny spent has its worth. Contarary to that, government officials can never get over red-tapism. Corruption and buck passing is the order of the day. No one takes ownership of anything. Being responsibile is not in fashion. No wonder, the work they get done even by paying higher price is of much inferior quality than what others get done for lesser price.

Government officials do not take responsibilty (doesn't look like it from what I quoted). They do things not becasue it should be done, but becasue it has to be shown on papers. Now that's a department of government of India for you.

Don't make fuss, officials are sleeping!

Shift in American Diplomacy?

The more I think about it, the more it gets complex. The context is: Has US really shifted its policy on the weapons and strategic balance in the Indian subcontinent in India's favour.

This is clear that the USA has been under pressure to return the money that it took from Pakistan to provide it with F-16 fighter jets. But my mind refuses to think that the money has been decisive factor. The entire world knows that the US has given Pakistan hundreds of millions of dollar as freebies in lieu of letting it use Pakistani soil for making army base for attacks on Al-Quida and Iraq. So, what then has been the basic impulse to clear export of F-16s to Pakistan?

In my opinion, doing that server the USA the following benefits:

• It ensures the availability of Pakistan's land for army base
• US will always be within a striking distance for Al-Quida
• US will be able to influence Pakistan governance better to control Islamic fundamentalists
• It gives USA army a direct presence in South Asia (long term strategy, just in case)

Keeping in mind so many benefits, it was only expected that the USA will go ahead with the F-16 deal with Pakistan. What then has been the reason behind immediate clarification of the US government on the issue to India. I see the following facts that played the role:

• India's strong protest about arms race. USA knows very well that India will need to think about its counter weapon
• USA sees it as a win win situation. Regardless of who buys the jets, they stand to make money
• USA would like India to be a major alternative (given that no other country in the region would be able to provide shoulders as strong as India's), just in case Pakistan is forced to go back by Islamic fundamentalists
• USA understands that India would anyway find the alternates, and it finds it a better option to sell F-18s to India and make it its own ally than upset it and weaken the ties
• USA really sees India as the rising world economic and military power and hence wants to keep the company

Whatever the reason, at the moment, the waves seem to be blowing in India's favor, with a clearly worded US govt official's remark about USA wanting to help India establish itself as major world power. But India needs to be on guard. Dependence on USA is not a great way to live.

 

 

English Test

While surfing today I came across this test on English language, and I found it so interesting I thought I'd share it with you.

 

Oh by the way, here is my test result!

 

 

Advanced You scored 92% Beginner, 78% Intermediate, 87% Advanced, and 64% Expert!

You have an extremely good understanding of beginner, intermediate, and advanced level commonly confused English words, getting at least 75% of each of these three levels' questions correct. This is an exceptional score. Remember, these are commonly confused English words, which means most people don't use them properly. You got an extremely respectable score. Thank you so much for taking my test. I hope you enjoyed it! For the complete Answer Key, visit my blog: http://shortredhead78.blogspot.com/.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 30% on Beginner You scored higher than 9% on Intermediate You scored higher than 18% on Advanced You scored higher than 26% on Expert

Link: The Commonly Confused Words Test written by shortredhead78 on Ok Cupid

Hello and Welcome

Hello! A small hello can be the beginning of a big relationship. Big conversations begin with a small Hello. According to a mail that was being circulated on the Net, Hello can be translated like this:

H - Hi, how are you?
E - Everything fine?
L - Like to know about you
L - Love to talk to you.
O - <i have forgotten this>

Needless to say, that's pretty good to impress friends. So, let me use this and try to impress you.

H E L L O !