Gravity shifts to Bangalore not just for its Software Programmers, but this time for IBM investors. IBM’s annual Investor briefing will be held in Bangalore June 6-7. Got the message?

News Link at Yahoo 

IBM’s annual investor briefing is typically held in a bland hotel conference room in New York. But this year look for something radically different. It’s kicking off the event 10,000 miles away at Bangalore Palace, a sprawling Colonial-era edifice modeled on Britain’s Windsor Castle, in the heart of India’s Silicon Valley. Speakers at the June 6-7 extravaganza will include Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and Diya Mirza, Bollywood’s answer to Lindsay Lohan, who will emcee an event attended by 10,000 IBMers.

Exciting news for Illegal mexican immigrants in US and H1B visa aspirants:

US Senate to double H1B VisasThe US Senate has approved a landmark Immigration Reform Bill that would give citizenship to millions of illegal people and double the number of H1B visas.

The move will also greatly benefit thousands of Indian software professionals who work in the US.

The Bill passed on Thursday provides for doubling the H1 B visas from the present 65,000 annually to nearly 1,15,000 and with a 20 per cent increase on an annual basis.

Good news for the Net Neutrality camp.

US House panel approves net neutrality bill
“A U.S. House of Representatives committee has approved a bill that would prohibit broadband providers from blocking or impairing their customers’ access to Web content offered by competitors.

The House Judiciary Committee voted 20-13 to approve the bill, called the Internet Freedom and Nondiscrimination Act. Bill sponsor James Sensenbrenner, the Republican chairman of the committee, was joined by a handful of Republicans and most of the committee’s Democrats in supporting the bill.

.. the Internet Freedom bill would require broadband providers to give independent content providers the same speed and quality of service as they have.”

Another reason why US corporations should turn to Indian IT companies:-))) It may be crazy to say just based recent stories on this topic, but I am not aware of any corporation suing Indian IT company for not delivering on its promise so far. I believe the Indian IT companeis infact are little afraid of lawsuits still (:-)). Blessing in a disguise.

Sprint Nextel Sues IBM
Outsourcing may be one of the hottest trends in technology, but Sprint Nextel Corp. is so unhappy about one outsourcing contract that the company is suing.

Sprint Nextel filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Kansas, this week, claiming a deal with IBM failed to live up to expectations. The lawsuit seeks more than $6 million in damages, according to a report in the Kansas City Star.

If IIT Mumbai has 100 seats, 50 seats will be reserved for people belong to certain castes. People belong to other castes have only 50 seats for which people from all castes can compete. What does it mean? Untouchability in a new form?

India by providing reservations based on caste, is infact reinventing untouchability in a new form in the new world. One of the Key persons that drafted the Indian constitution understood the issue much better than other politicians of any day. He experienced the social outcast based on his caste first hand. When first introduced Reservations in India, the system was set only for 10 years. But the greedy politicians have been extending the reservations system from then on with only one motive, to win elections. Almost 60 years after introducing Reservations for the first time, by thinking about not only extending reservations but by also increasing the %, Indian Goverment is actively nourishing another new form of untouchability. The people who belong to so called forward/higher casts are now legally outcasted from their fundamental right to study and prosper. 50% of all resources and opportunities are made inaccessilble. Reason, they belong to a certain caste.

I have not seen untouchability or discrimination in the form as described in history. It was unfortunately true that people belong to certain castes were not allowed in social gatherings, temples and trade long back in the dark history. But from the moment I saw this world, I haven’t noticed it to that extent that need special treatment. I heard stories that in certain parts of India, people still suffer from this, but that is very insignificant in number. The only form in which I saw discrimination based on caste is when it comes to Government, Education, Elections and jobs. I only noticed it whey my friends got seats in colleges, got jobs though they just managed to pass while I had to wait for another year to get another attempt to top the list to get a good college or a job.

I serioulsy doubt that the reservations system in the current form solve the real issue let alone any issue for that matter. It is just suicidal to continue the system that promotes the new form of social ill.

1. The very people who are suffering from this or suffered from this problem, are not the ones who are enjoying the benefits of this system. Almost all benefits are enjoyed by people who never suffered or suffer from this social issue as they are from cities, or from families who are well educated and having jobs. So the reservations system is not attacking the real problem. The policy of using the benefit of reservations once per family we never heard. The same families gets the benefit leaving behind a vast majority of people without any impact.
2. The reservations system is making more people from these castes incompetent and lazy. I had lots of friends who belong to so called lower castes. They are much better both in financial and educational aspects compared to a lot other. Some of them are much smarter as well. But they never competed with others. They never tried to top the lists. They never tried to work hard. Because they had a guarantee of job due to reservations. While though poor, and from families without any educational background, people from other castes worked hard, topped the lists and got better jobs, people who have the advantage of reservations took the full advantage and stuck to some form of Govt jobs. I felt so bad about my friends who did this. Its like closing eyes and taking advantage of charity while having perfect visibility to drive their lives.
3. The Reservations system has been in place for almost 60 years now. If it did not change the system and removed the social outcast, that triggered further extension then there is no point relying on such a foolish strategy now.
4. Reservations at 50% is a nightmare for people from other castes. Its like saying you have access to only 50% of any resource in India, and for that 50% you have to compete with everybody else. Isn’t Indian government doing injustice to the people from other castes by removing 50% of all resources from their access?

How can people belong to so called forward castes eradicate this new form of untouchability? Introduce reservations for these minority people who suffered from social outcast from 1947 to till now? Hell NO.

Does any body remember the chinese proverb:

Give a man a fish, and he’ll eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he’ll eat forever.