Why are we still not showing the Brits their place?

Cameron flew ‘blind’ over Delhi?

Here is yet another instance of the British media trying to trash India. It is as if their prime minister was put to grave peril because a flight control system failed at the Delhi airport. The Brits really need to get out of their colonial hangover. It is as if such systems do not fail in their country -- just think of the SeaKing helicopters they sold the Indian Navy and were grounded almost immediately because almost every system in that chopper started to fail.
After being daylight robbers for centuries, and then having spawned the world with many of the geo-political conflicts in the world in their attempt to keep their superiority despite losing their empire, the Brits still think of themselves as the saviors of the world.

Such a puny country that has lived on the blood and sweat and food of billions of people, being allowed to continue with their gratuitous meddling in the world's affairs is beyond my understanding.

But then, they have been past masters of the divide-and-rule policy!

India's IT sector starting to roar again? Maybe not

So India's vaunted IT/ITES sector is on the roll again, media reports indicate. Q1 Earnings: TCS, Infy, HCL emerge as showstoppers - screamed an ET.com headline today. But is it all that rosy a picture? Is the IT sector about to regain the glory it lost once the downturn hit in 2008?

Rents in Bangalore, India's Silicon Valley, are still depressed. And it is rather easy to find vacant houses for rent in Indiranagar and HAL II stage, in the heart of the city -- unlike in 2008.

IT hiring is up, stats indicate -- but my talks with friends say those hirings are for freshers.

Salary hikes are not what they used to be; foreign assignments have dwindled.

Mid-level professionals are disenchanted; many feel under-utilized. Media going to town about India emerging as a global IT research powerhouse, professionals I spoke to felt they were still doing the repetitive tasks of a backroom operation than real, cutting-edge research.

My own gut-feel is the IT sector will never be what it used to be. It would sure be a job engine -- but that would be for entry level people; there will not be much that the sector can offer in terms of promotions or pay.

So why is India not banning the BlackBerry?

UAE, Saudi set to ban BlackBerry services
The Associated Press reports that both UAE and Saudi Arabia are set to ban BlackBerry messaging services. Research in Motion, the Canadian maker of the popular communications device used by business and corporate users worldwide had been in talks with UAE authorities from 2007 over the issue, the report said.

The Gulf states' concerns are similar to what Indian authorities have been raising over the last couple of years -- the encrypted messages that zip between BlackBerrys cannot be intercepted, and that terrorists could make use of the devices and the network to plan attacks.
Why the Indian authorities chose to remain quiet after raising a hue and cry is a mystery. Contrast that to how the two Gulf states have wielded their power to deliver a strong no-nonsense message to the Canadian company.

While there would never be an end to the debate on whether it is right to ban the service or not, what I loathe about the Indian authorities is their apparent surrender to the arrogance of the foreign company.

Many of these western companies still think India is a banana republic and they can get away with what they want to do; think of how Canada denied visas to Indian security officials recently.

These companies still are living in a time warp and would like to believe they are the master of the world.

Whether India would end up banning the BlackBerry or not, we need to send companies like RIM a strong message -- that we will tolerate no nonsense when it comes to national security.