India Blog Watch

Blogging in India is no more an alien phenomenon, rather it has well come of age. Today, tens of thousands of people are blogging from various parts of India. And they are not blogging just for the heck of it; they are gifted with sound thinking faculties too, which is abundantly apparent in the strong opinions reflected by them every now and then…on all issues of concern. What Indian bloggers need But since majority of them are non-corporate, individual bloggers, their presence is yet to be felt outside the blogging community. In fact, what they need today is proper coverage – in media and fellow bloggers. That being the reason, as an appropriate response to the demands of time, Instablogs – the first Indian blog network – decided to come up with just that kind of ‘springboard’ to reach the Indian bloggers their deserved slots in the global blogosphere. Welcome aboard India Blog Watch! What we’ll do India Blog Watch, apart from providing linkage among the Indian bloggers, in particular, and global bloggers, in general, will also highlight and comment on the salient features of every Indian/Asian blog/blog network, its relevance, content quality, impact, et al. No dearth of indigenous talent Given the immense potential of India’s intellectual property, it will hardly be a surprise to see Indian bloggers calling shots in the blogosphere before long (though we would prefer to refrain from saying that it’s going to be a replay of the Indian BPO story). So, watch out to be watched out!!!

The MSM (Main Stream Media) tried to ignore Indian bloggers. They said we are the big thing that is simply non-existent. They compared us with the western bloggers, especially US bloggers; they said we are not up to their standards. Now irony of ironies, the same MSM is talking about the murder of IIM-L graduate S Manjunath citing blogs written on it and the reactions that followed in the blogosphere. On 25 November, 2005 The Times of India carried out an article on the 13th page titled – ‘Blogosphere seethes at IIM grad’s murder’ where it quoted extensively from blogs of Gaurav Sabnis, Anthony, Sharad etc. The point I want to emphasize is that whether the MSM likes it or not, Indian bloggers have started influencing public opinion the way MSM did in its initial days. Incidentally, in the days of yore, newspapers had a strong personality when the electronic media was just government mouthpiece. Indian bloggers started later than their American counterparts. But that actually didn’t come as a big disadvantage to them in order to make an impact on the public. The IIPM scam, the Manjunath murder etc. are just not isolated incidences where bloggers moved the public like never before on issues that MSM chose to turn a blind eye to or ignore as insignificant like the recent murder of Manju. Indian Express quoted Rashmi Bansal’s blog as one of the letters that it received!!! Ok, we are not talking about Manjunath here. What I want to emphasize here that just check out the names of the bloggers whose names were quoted in the newspapers. Times of India quoted Gaurav Sabnis, Indian Express lifted the content of one of Rashmi Bansal’s blog as a ‘letter written to it’ on the murder of Manju etc. These guys were the ones who raised the IIPM scam that created such a furor in not only the blogosphere but moved the general public at large against the IIPM. When the IIPM controversy wasn’t covered by the MSM (or covered as it should have been covered) we said that it was deliberately ignoring this because of the ad revenue losses MSM might suffer should it joined hands with the bloggers in unearthing the great scam. Gaurav Sabnis and Rashmi Bansal are not the only bloggers in India who wrote about Manjunath, but they were the first who unearthed the IIPM scam in blogosphere which gave bloggers a mighty weapon to bash MSM (its favourite pastime). Furthermore, The Times of India had the cheek to carry out an article in the Delhi Times section where it obliquely tried to ridicule the Indian bloggers and tried to drive a wedge between the Indian bloggers unity by falsely quoting Tarun Pall as saying ‘this and that’. We stand vindicated today when we said that we, the Indian bloggers, are making a huge impact already in our short lifespan. With the kind of intellectual depth that India has coupled with the ever growing interest in Internet, we are going to be the numero uno blogging nation in the world in the no-so-distant future; not only in terms of sheer numbers, but in the quality of the content. With so much happening here in India, with so many pressing issues to be resolved, so many controversies floating around, we are going to have our moments that will pale what the TOI remarked as ‘the Dan Rather moment’ into insignificance. Also read these blogs related to MSM and Bloggers that I found really interesting: Shivangi Mishra in Black Ink, Diwakar in Floating Sun, Gargi in Point of View, Mukundan Krishnaswamy in ChennaiCentral and Dhananjay Shettigar in Chicken Soup for the Insane

Nasser Hussain and former Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Farooq Engineer Agree. Rajeev Roy says Shut Up, don’t blame Tendulkar. He says, I agree Sachin is not a match winner. But its only because most of the times, the whole team starts chilling out the moment he scores a century (and he has done that 39 times now). Earlier, it would have been a blasphemy to doubt over Sachin Tendulkar’s place in the Indian Team. His return from Tennis elbow injury has been a rocky one. If we had a Nobel Prize for standing to intense media and public scrutiny, Sachin Tendulkar would be the first winner. His failures in 3 innings in Pakistan raised the temperature again. Sample this story titled Can Sachin be a quitter? Nitin Goyal calls Sachin’s Pakistan Tour as Sachin in Pakistan : Hercules in New York. After his century in the first One-dayer, Sachin has warmed many of his fans’ hearts gain. By the way, did you know this? There is a New Tendulkar for India. He is just 15 years Old. His name – Rahul Tondulkar and he is making tons of runs in the local circuit.

Delhi being the most happening place in India has people from the Blogistan pen down posts on the most happening thing they feel is going on at present. So let us have a look at Delhi from their perspective. 1.Pareshaan blogger is worried about the lack of interest Delhi-ites show about Delhi. He compares the citizens of other states and the enthusiasm they have when they speak about their region and the enthusiasm shown by the people of delhi to talk about Delhi. 2. Inkspill Blogger writes from the UK about the necessity of her knowing India from a Indian’s viewpoint and therefore she wants to delve deep into the Indian spirit and culture to give her British and Chinese friends the Indian in her. 3. Angela Johnston from the US reports on the housing problem in Delhi. This report was on her way back from India to the US and is based on the inefficiency of the Government of Delhi on keeping a track of the rapid urbanization in Delhi.

The most amazing thing I have heard in recent times. His name is Sidin Vadukut. This guy to pursue his passion in writing left AT Kearney, one of the biggest consulatancies. This is what he writes in the "about me" section in his blogspot site, Abu Dhabi Indian School -> as College Thrissur -> REC Trichy -> BE Metallurgy -> Auto Comp -> B2B Portal -> CAT -> IIMA -> ATK -> Freelancer Kudos Siddin

The 3rd World View records the latest confessions of the terrorist organization Jaamyat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), who have mushroomed to 10,000 activists since its inception in 1998. The confessions recorded in the blog reveals that two British citizens gave £10,000 to Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) chief Abdur Rahman, last June to carry out bombings in Bangladesh and the money given to them was spent on explosives. The confessions revealed the explosives required to make the bomb was procured from India.

ambarthejovian.blogspot aggregates best of bloggers here, (he received very few nominations), you have ex IIMA Rashmi, greatbong, theotherindia all lined up.

William Niskanen has theorzied that bureaucrats are ‘budget-maximisers’. OK, The theory is is great though you will in any way get to hear a lot of similar common man theories out there in the street corners and pan shops. The good thingis that the man himself will be in Delhi shortly. Get a fresh knowledge insight on babudom and bureaucracy from William Niskanen.

Bush’s Feb 28 India visit and India’s access to civilian nuclear deal…there’s much ado already…you don’t know what actually he will deliver…both sides…India US tight lipped, tight seated…is it an Indo-Pak world cup final? Aditya has shared some "gyan" on his blog "about what the hell NPT is about and why is this such a big deal." (1) NPT for dummies (2) Good articles to catch up on India’s Tango with US about the nuke deal (3) The IAEA is UN’s nuclear watch dog, well more like a puppy coz US chose to ignore their findings before going into Iraq. Here’s an article that tells us more (4) It’s "constructive" says Musharraf

India’s service industry is rising. A decade ago it used to get only 40% of GDP from 30% of service industry workers, now it accounts for more than half of GDP, informs The Acron. Now the blessings of this development are rising too… Salaries in India, especially for skilled workers, are rising. This is almost invariably attributed to the projected shortage in the number of workers available to sustain the rapid growth in India’s IT, biotech and other services. What’s better and wider education has to do with it. Why head honchos devote staggering investment for customized learning devices..