Wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified mark-uplanguage . Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used to create collaborative works including community websites, corporate intranets, knowledge management systems and note services. Ward Cunningham, developer of the first wiki software, WikiWikiWeb, came across the word 'wiki' while on honeymoon in Hawaii. The word means 'quick' . Jaya Srivastava, Uttar Pradesh

Breathtaking, these last few days in Egypt. What started with a scent of jasmine, the world's biggest Arab country trying to chase out a dictator, is now devolving into violent chaos and police-state terror. Smiling families one day, thugs on camelback the next. The brutal truth is this: where it ends in the cradle of civilisation will not be America's call. The particles of political energy are scrambled; to presume to know where they will realign is to think the sun can be kept from rising on a given day. But what we have in Egypt now, Tunisia last month, and perhaps Yemen in the days to come, is a fascinating real-time history lesson. "Stuff happens", as the negligently glib former defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld famously said, but it doesn't happen in that part of the world because of American muscle. At least, not according to script. President Obama was right in his 2009 speech in Cairo, when he said, "Suppressing ideas never succeeds in maki...

Fifty-one matches involving 14 teams spread over six weeks. It seems the ICC has learnt nothing at all from World Cup 2007 in West Indies. That event was widely held to be the worst World Cup yet: dull, uneventful and excessively long. And so, in their wisdom, cricket's movers and shakers have switched to a format that promises to rob the tournament of even the tiny bit of excitement it managed to generate last time. Little wonder that Kevin Pietersen and several others are unhappy. The only possible explanation is that this is an attempt by the administrators to wring every last dollar from the entire exercise. Consider the format. The number of teams has actually been reduced from 16 to 14. But instead of using this to tighten up the tournament, the ICC has promptly decided on a format that renders the entire first month of matches meaningless. With just two groups of seven teams each, the established Test playing nations are almost guaranteed to go through to the quarterfin...

The demise of K Subrahmanyam, India's premier strategic guru and a frequent contributor to these pages, should be an occasion to reflect on what he frequently bemoaned - the absence of a strategic culture in the country, which often held it back from achieving its goals. If that situation has been somewhat remedied today, that is due in no small measure to Subrahmanyam's own intellectual and institutional contribution. India set up a National Security Council, for example, as late as 1999 - and that was partly in response to Subrahmanyam's tireless advocacy. A strategic culture fosters an objective assessment of national capabilities in the context of the geopolitical environment in which it operates, and lays out policy options guided by a long-term view of national interest - rather than being simply ad hoc or reactive, or dictated by sentimental or ideological considerations. Among Subrahmanyam's contributions to a pragmatic reorientation of India's foreign po...

The tumultuous events in Egypt this week, still unfolding as I write, have been commented upon by experts far more knowledgeable than I am about the Arab world. And yet there is one aspect of what has happened that none of the experts seems to have focused on something with wider global implications.Let me explain. Perhaps one of the more interesting sidelights of last weekends dramatic events in Cairo, as millions poured into Tahrir (Liberation) Square and the Egyptian police melted away in the face of demonstrators, looters, democrats and vandals alike, was the reaction of the Peoples Republic of China. Beijings official spokesperson on Sunday called for a return to order in Egypt, expressing concern at the troubles besieging this friendly country. Praying for calm, the Chinese government made it clear that the restoration of law and order was its principal priority.What made China once a reliable supporter of the cause of liberation for oppressed peoples seen as groaning un...

Following extensive interrogation of A Raja and his associates regarding procedural irregularities in the allotment of 2G licences, as well as the filing of the Shivraj Patil report understood to have blamed the former telecom minister and some of his aides for the irregularities, the CBI has moved to arrest Raja along with key aides Siddharth Behuria and R K Chandolia. The government appears at last to be walking the talk on corruption. The arrests should go some way towards correcting the impression that those with high political connections will always be protected against corruption charges, no matter how serious. The current political logjam - with opposition parties having stymied the functioning of Parliament - offers, in fact, the perfect opportunity to launch a clean-up. The DMK can't afford to part ways with the Congress at this point, with assembly elections coming up in Tamil Nadu. Both parties, as part of the UPA and the government, need to re-establish their credibi...

For some time now, green tape has appeared to replace red tape as the dreaded hurdle to industrial projects. The environment ministry's conditional nod to the $12 billion Posco steel project in Orissa comes as a much-needed signal that industrialisation and green conservation aren't mutually exclusive. India Inc has welcomed the move, and with reason. The South Korean steel major's foray is billed the biggest single-project FDI in India. The steel sector in particular will gain with boosted output, better product quality and introduction of the latest technology. But the decision has a broader impact as well. Had Posco's plans been nixed after waiting six years to take off, India's image as a high-returns investment destination would have taken a beating. The RBI recently said a dip in inbound FDI seemed linked to "environment-sensitive policies" and cited gridlocks faced by various projects involving mining, integrated townships and building of infra...

India is planning to replace the rules under the Environment Protection Act with a Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (Brai) Act. This will give genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) fast-track approvals and throw its critics into jail. The recently-appointed minister of science and technology, Ashwini Kumar, has announced that the Government of India is planning to introduce four bills in the upcoming Budget session Brai Bill, DNA Profiling Bill, Regional Centre for Biotechnology Bill and the Public Funded R&D (Protection and Utilisation of Public Funded Intellectual Property) Bill. The Prime Ministers Office has already written to various state governments suggesting partnerships with corporations in the seed sector. This rush to push genetically-modified and patented seeds ignores evidence that GMOs will not be able to provide food security. Genetically-engineered seeds are patented. Patents allow companies to collect royalties. This increases the price of seed....

With food inflation going through the roof in recent weeks, government food schemes for children have taken a significant hit. States such as Assam, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Manipur and Bihar have either not been able to provide supplementary nutrition under the Integrated Child Development scheme or have downgraded to dry rations instead of cooked meals. Midday meal providers in primary schools too are being forced to compromise on their menu. The net result is a considerable reduction in the nutritive value of the food schemes, which could severely hamper child development. This goes against the letter and spirit of the Supreme Court direction in 2001 that had directed the government to ensure the supply of nutritious cooked meals to all children in primary schools. The multiple benefits of the programme, which include eradication of child hunger, keeping children in schools and bridging caste disparities through communal dining, have long been recognised. Yet the implementati...

Between February 19 and April 2, India will co-host crickets Fifty50 World Cup. Immediately after that it will stage the planets richest cricket tournament: the Indian Premier League (IPL), Indias flagship Twenty20 (T20) event. At the beginning of 2011, India toured South Africa. Later in the year, it will play top-line Test series against England and Australia. In a country that needs few excuses not to immerse itself in cricket lore, 2011 is an extraordinary bonanza. Its a 12-month festival of quality cricket.They say you can never understand a society without understanding its major sport. At one point, baseball defined the Middle American dream and the idyllic self-image of the towns and cities of the vast American heartland. Today, the English Premier League is not just emblematic of English football but also of British multiculturalism it attracts talent from all continents and, paradoxically, an essential insularity that has made the country non-competitive in everythin...

FILMMAKERS TODAY are trying and testing new schemes and plots in order to try and impress their audiences. Popular stars, item numbers and big banners are no longer the key to a Bollywood blockbuster and the same has been proved right by Kiran Raos directoral debut- Dhobhi Ghat. The film, revolves around the lives of its 4 main protagonists, namely Shai, Arun, Yasmin and Munna. Shai (played by Monica Dogra) is an investment banker, who has come to India to work on her fathers project of bringing to light the lives of people belonging to low socio- economic groups. On her visit to an art exhibition, she comes across Arun (Aamir Khan), who is a painter by profession and whose painting exhibition she attends owing to her fathers connections in the who's who of Mumbai. Arun is a divorcee, whose kids and wife stay in Australia. The divorce has left a deep impact on his mind and he is introvert and a very 'drawn to himself' kind of a guy. With the least dialogues to speak through...

Anthony James Leggett , professor of physics at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, US, won the Nobel prize for physics in 2003 for his earlier work on superfluidity. Of late, he has done pioneering work in the exciting new field of quantum computing and cryptography exploring the boundary between the strange, counter-intuitive world of elementary particles and the 'classical' world that we perceive with our senses. He spoke to Subodh Varma recently in Kolkata where he was attending a conference on quantum entanglement organised by the S N Bose Institute for Basic Sciences: What is your family background? Well, on my father's side, my forebears were cobblers in a village in Hampshire, UK. But my paternal grandfather opted to become a greengrocer. My maternal grandmother, who was Irish, worked as a domestic servant since a young age. Both my father and my mother were the first in their families to get a university education. In fact they met at university. Th...

A Totem is an object, usually an animal or plant, that is revered by members of a particular social group because of a mystical or ritual relationship that exists within that group. The totem or rather the spirit it embodies represents the bond of unity within a tribe or a clan. Generally , the members of the group believe that they are descended from a totem ancestor, or that they and the totem are "brothers" . In most cases, the totemic animal or plant is the object of taboo: it may be forbidden to kill or eat the sacred animal. This symbol may be tattooed on the body, engraved on weapons, pictured in masks, or carved on totem poles. Mrudul S, via email

THE BOOK "Mind of Mahatma" is an encyclopedia of thoughts of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi along with his ideology of life and human liberation. The book re-establishes the relevance of the Mahatma in modern times and has been translated in many languages. The book published by Navjeevan Trust, Ahmedabad, is divided into 15 chapters and 96 subjects. The book contains Gandhiji's thoughts on truth, non-violence, fearlessness, democracy, simplicity, Sarvodaya, trusteeship, celibacy, and self-reliance. Most interestingly, some of the thoughts are self-reflection on his personal life. The book, running into about 500 pages, has meticulously worked out index of subjects, dates, biography and explanation of difficult words. Seen as the most authentic and comprehensive book on Mahatma's thoughts and wisdom, it has been edited by noted personalities R. K. Prabhu and U. R. Rao. In the moderately priced book, Gandhiji's thoughts came alive with the wisdom he fo...

FIRSTLY, FILMMAKERSlike Prakash Jha and now Madhur Bhandarkar; renowned reality filmmakers have stepped out of their genres to leave us not baffled but discontented. Here, its disaster befalling the silver screen. Three times National Award winning director and script writer Madhur Bhandarkars Dil Toh Bachcha Hai Ji didnt reap out well. Films like Satta, Page 3, Corporate, Traffic Signal, Fashion and Jail serve as epitomes in the industry. DTBHJ has neither a relation nor any approximation to these. Therefore, if you are expecting a typical familiar Bhandarkar stuff then it may turn out disappointing to you. Perhaps, this may become a memento in his own life. Story and soul become synonymous when it comes to a film. Here you may call it an extract of all the unpalatable romantic films until now; just that they have a sad ending here. In the film you have three couples. Beginning with, Naren Ahuja (Ajay Devgn) and June Pinto ( Shazahn Padamsee) where the former is a 40 year old idealist...

It is not just legislators of the ruling party, but even his own staff who are deserting Chief Minister Mr N. Kiran Kumar Reddy. Though no one really knows why Congress MLAs are shifting their loyalties to Mr Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, one reason why staff in the Chief Ministers Office is also leaving could be that like the rest of us they dont want to work for free. The way it works is that all CMO staff in the previous regime are repatriated to their respective departments and new appointments are made by the new CM. Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy, however, has simply sat on the files endorsing the appointment of CMO staff for the two months since he was appointed, with the result that the staff's salaries have been withheld for two months. The somewhat high-handed behaviour of the Chief Ministers trusted personal secretary has not endeared him to many and could be another reason why there is little enthusiasm for working in the most powerful office in the State. Some PR lessons on h...

The burning alive of Nashiks additional collector at Manmad in Maharashtra on the eve of this years Republic Day by an oil mafia gang he had caught redhanded should not really come as any surprise. It was almost dj vu: the murder of yet another upright public servant doing his duty, reminding the nation of the horrific circumstances in which Satyendra Dubey of the National Highways Authority of India was killed for exposing misdeeds relating to the Golden Quadrilateral project in Bihar seven years ago, in November 2003, as well as another oil mafia-related killing that of Shanmugham Manjunath of the Indian Oil Corporation just two years after that, in November 2005, in Uttar Pradeshs Lakhimpur Kheri region. Maharashtra too has seen some similar incidents such as the death in mysterious circumstances of a DIG of the CBI who had taken on the oil mafia. More recently, a top oil mafia gang leader operating in Mumbai Port suspected of smuggling Rs 25 lakhs of diesel every day was...

The court martial of Lt. Gen. P.K. Rath in connection with the Sukna land scam is a welcome move by the Army to set its house in order. This case along with the Adarsh Society scam has turned the spotlight on corruption in the military. It is widely assumed that these cases underscore the extent to which corruption from our public life has seeped into the armed forces. Isnt the military a mirror of the society it serves? This assumption is mistaken. In fact, the corruption highlighted by these cases stems from an increasing divergence between the armed forces and Indian society. And this growing civil-military gap could have other, more serious consequences.It is commonplace to assert that armed forces reflect the societies from which they arise. But it is wrong. The fact is that civil society is based on an expectation of peace. Military society, by contrast, is predicated on the expectation of war. If this werent true at a fundamental level, there need be no hyphen between civ...

In 1950, free India formally became a sovereign republic where the popular will is king. Fast forward six decades, and pride in constitutional democracy and its achievements remain undiminished. Today, Indians aren't alone in feting their success story scripted by marrying political freedom with economic progress. The world too recognises us as an emerging powerhouse drawing strength from deep-rooted democratic traditions. But on this occasion, let's remind ourselves that the republican ideal is ultimately about people's empowerment. For countless Indians, growth is a mere statistic. How can we make prosperity touch more lives? While welfare policies promote social justice, they can't substitute for equality of opportunity. However well-meant, disbursal of state largesse makes citizens dependent on political paternalism; genuine empowerment weans them off it. It's by increasingly shifting public resources away from a dole culture toward robust returns-oriented i...

The social role of Islam in the Indian subcontinent has become a topic of global debate. The liberal world is looking at Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh as bad states and as uncritical and undemocratic societies because of the issues they grapple with. There is a view that Islam has not gone through any reform, while other religious and civil societies have passed through reform after reform. There is a strong view that the Islamic civil societies are resisting reform, even while a religion like Hinduism, which practices caste and untouchability, is willing to change. This view is now acquiring global acceptability with the recent developments in Pakistan particularly in relation to the blasphemy laws.Before examining this view, we must understand the social role of Islam in the subcontinent. Before Islam came to India, there were two notions of God in India. One was that of Vaidic Brahminism, which believed that God (Brahma) created Indians into unequal varnas (or castes)...

The most important relationship in the world took a step towards parity last week when China's President Hu Jintao visited Washington. A balanced relationship between the lone superpower and Asia's rising hegemon promises global stability. Much will depend on Beijing ironing out the fault lines within its own foreign policy making apparatus whose opacity is confounding. Neither Washington nor New Delhi is ever certain of the dynamic between China's pragmatic president, the military and nationalist sentiment. Significant interests generate significant stresses. In seeking to defuse them, Hu noted that the China-US relationship is not a zero-sum game. Speaking economically, for that is the bedrock of the relationship, Hu noted that more than 70% of US companies in China stayed profitable during the global economic crisis and that Chinese products saved US consumers $600 billion over the last 10 years. There is more than a grain of truth in this. Americans are not forced...

The 61st anniversary of the birth of the Indian republic will invariably focus on the Republic Day parade: a state-sponsored programme that seeks to encapsulate the diversity of the nation as well as showcase the military might of the country. However, given that Delhi is turned into a security fortress in the run-up to the parade - to the great inconvenience of the public - and the event itself is largely reserved for VVIPs, the orchestrated pageantry is an impersonal experience for the average citizen. Contrary to the ideal of a republic, our Republic Day celebrations are more about the state than its people. This is precisely why January 26 means little to the common man. If the real significance of the date is to be driven home, civil society must be encouraged to participate in the celebrations. After all, it is the individual that is the most important entity in a republic. Republic Day should be about the aam admi, not politicians and dignitaries. Neither is the display of mi...

Little drops of water, little grains of sand, make the mighty ocean and the beauteous land But what about little drops of blood? What do they create?On the immediate eve of the 61st birthday of our republic, this is the question to be addressed as a priority, at a time when assorted violence is claiming the lives of our fellow citizens on an unprecedented rate. The state of the nation seems to be symbolised by Netai, an obscure hamlet in the tribal belt of West Bengal, which came to national attention recently when eight persons were killed and 18 injured in an exchange of fire between two armed groups subsequently identified as armed militia of the ruling political party, and villagers used as human shields by Maoists. The situation is not unique to this state. Similar situations are prevalent elsewhere.Omissions and commissions in general governance have allowed political violence and subversive activities to reach a stage where they threaten the security fabric of the countr...

The votes for South Sudan's referendum on independence have nearly all been counted and the verdict is a foregone conclusion. The long-running civil strife may finally be resolved with South Sudan splitting from Sudan to form the world's newest country. The voting patterns - the target of 60% voter turnout in the south was easily achieved with over 98% of the counted votes so far being for independence - are unsurprising. The power struggle between the Arab Muslim north and the Christian and animist south, predicated on ethnic and economic conflicts, has taken a terrible toll on human lives over two civil wars from 1955 to 1972 and 1983 to 2005. The second of those has seen more than 2.5 million people killed and over five million displaced. Darfur has become a synonym for ethnic cleansing with its bloody tales of the havoc caused by the Janjaweed, Khartoum-backed Arab militia. In the face of this, no other solution is viable. What is important now is that the referendum r...

The Cabinet reshuffle has come and gone but has done little to restore confidence in the Prime Minister or give a positive indication for the future course of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. The reshuffle is difficult to understand, so perhaps the best way to make some sense of it is to look at it from the perspective of the multiple power lobbies that spring up every time a crisis occurs. Yet, the fact remains that the Cabinet reshuffle was an opportunity lost for the UPA government and the Prime Minister.One can deduce from the changes in the Cabinet that decisions on crucial issues will be affected. We see that happening already in the attitude of the government on the 2G issue in terms of its reaction to the Comptroller and Auditor Generals (CAG) report and the appointment of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC). It is very clear that the investigation into former telecom minister A. Rajas role is being delayed till after the Assembly elections in Tamil N...

Our ancestors invented the zero and that's just where we might end up if we continue to be beaten in mathematics by not only East Asians, but also peoples not traditionally thought of as numerically outstanding, such as Turks and Israelis. Nor is it any comfort that Indians do considerably better than most nationalities including Americans, because of the Indian test-taker's profile. They belong to our elite - at least economically since they can afford to go abroad - and benefit from this country's best. They are far more focussed than, for instance Americans, for a variety of reasons. Most significantly, about 60% of Indian GMAT test-takers are engineers by training as opposed to the global average of 15%. This means that Indians have the advantage of background, focus and training. Despite this they are beaten by people statistically unlikely to be engineers, relatively unmotivated and most likely not hailing from the economic elite in their own countries. This is d...

First, the good news. With an average score of 42 in the quantitative section of the Graduate Management Admission Test ( GMAT) - used as selection criteria by B-schools across the world - Indian students placed seventh globally, comfortably beating the global average of 37. Now for the bad; Chinese students topped the list, beating the Indians handily. Given the obsession with China in this country, this is likely to cause dark warnings about Chinese students and corporate workforce outdoing their Indian counterparts. But this is a false alarm. Standardised test scores have very little bearing on the actual academic or professional quality of an individual. To understand what these scores really signify, one could look at Battle Hymn Of The Tiger Mother, a book by Chinese-American academic and author Amy Chua on how Chinese mothers raise successful kids. It is a somewhat alarming account of parental pressure. We have Chua forcing her seven-year-old daughter to practise piano for ...