Terrorist Are Planning The Cyber War

According to a top government official, terrorists are preparing for an Internet war, designed to take down systems and create havoc in financial markets and defense systems. The result may be of far greater consequence than bombing.The senior defense official, who gave information anonymously to MSNBC, declares extremist groups are recruiting Islamic extremists and seeking experts who can breach government or other sensitive network systems for travel, communication and finances. In addition Internet fraud is used to raise money for this. One of these is a forum called Mujadedeen Electronic Net which gives hacking instructions, along with a weekly course.

SOURCE: DIGITAL JOURNAL

Netizens Of Iran Fighting Back Internet Censorship

As the disturbing events unfold in Iran, with reports of Internet censorship and government crackdowns on communications as the political unrest continues, a search engine developed in India is providing a ray of hope for those trying to tunnel under the radar. Indian developed Yauba.com is touted as the world's first privacy safe, real-time search engine, offering Iranian protesters anonymous access to information from outside the country which would otherwise have been blocked by Iranian censors.

SOURCE: TWEAKDOWN

The Technical Assistance For Law Enforcement In The 21st Century Act Of Canada

The Conservative government is trying to give police better access to online communications, introducing a new bill Thursday that will force ISPs to hand over subscriber data without a warrant and implement intercept-capable technologies.

Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan introduced The Technical Assistance for Law Enforcement in the 21st Century Act in an effort to modernize Canada’s Criminal Code to keep up with the Internet and other emerging technologies. Without a legal requirement for ISPs to make their networks wiretappable, the Conservatives argued that criminals will continue to exploit online “safe havens.”

“What the government is proposing today is new legislation that will update our legal framework for interception that was designed nearly 40 years ago in the era of the rotary telephone,” Van Loan said at an Ottawa press conference. “We are simply seeking to modernize our laws to reflect the realities of a 21st (century) high-tech society.”

SOURCE: ITWORLDCANADA

US Congress Showed Concerns Over E-Mail Surveillance By NSA

The US' National Security Agency is facing scrutiny over the breadth of its domestic surveillance program. According to critics in Congress, its recent penetrations of private telephone calls and emails are broader than previously stated, The New York Times reports.

A new law, enacted by Congress in 2008, gave the NSA greater freedom to collect American's private messages as long as such collections were an incidental byproduct of investigating people "reasonably believed" to be overseas. But it is difficult to distinguish between email being sent by ordinary Americans and being sent from foreign countries — a gray area that's driven some lawmakers to question whether the privacy of Americans in general is being adequately protected.

SOURCE: MARKETINGVOX

Crime and Criminal Tracking Network And Systems Of India

With a view to ensure speedy and transparent stations through Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems. The Informatinvestigation, the Centre today cleared a Rs 2,000 crore project of interlinking all police ion Technology enabled project proposal — Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) — with an outlay of Rs 2,000 crore in the 11th Five Year Plan was cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The CCTNS project aims at creating a comprehensive and integrated system for enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of policing at the police station level by adopting principles of e-Governance, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram told reporters here. The objectives of the CCTNS project are streamlining investigation and prosecution processes, strengthening of intelligence gathering machinery, improved public delivery system, citizen-friendly interface and nationwide sharing of information on crime and criminals. "This is a critical requirement in the context of the present day internal security scenario," Chidambaram said.

It will facilitate collection, storage, retrieval, analysis, transfer and sharing of data and information among police stations, district, state headquarters and other organisation or agencies, including those at Government of India level, the Union Minister said.

The system will also help in enabling and assisting the senior police officers in better management of police force, besides keeping track of the progress of the crime and criminal investigation, he said.

People will also be able to file complaints to concerned police station and can get status of complaints or cases registered. Besides, copies of FIRs, postmortem reports and other permissible documents can also be obtained through this system, he said.

The project, to be completed in three years, would be initiated by the Ministry of Home Affairs and implemented by the National Crime Records Bureau. "The CCTNS project is to be implemented in a manner where the major role would lie with the state governments in order to bring in the requisite stakes, ownership and commitment...Apart from the required review and monitoring of project implementation on a continuing basis," he said.

With the launching of CCTNS, the erstwhile Common Integrated Police Application (CIPA) programme would be subsumed into it in a manner that the work already done there under is not disrupted. "CIPA had been initiated to computerize and automate the functioning of police stations with a view to bringing in efficiency and transparency in various processes and functions at the police station level and improve service delivery to the citizens," Chidambaram said. So far, 2,760 police stations, out of a total of around 14,000 police stations across the country, have been covered under the scheme.

SOURCE: BUSINESS STANDARD

NATO Would Develop Strategies For Cyber Defense Activities

According to Kenneth Geers of NATO's Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence, located in Tallinn, Estonia, the challenge for cybersecurity operations these days is keeping law up to date with the latest threats. "Government and militaries and intelligence organizations can't by law do anything that has not been approved and told they can do," he says. The center has been tasked with developing concepts and strategies for cyberdefense activities, as well as with clarifying the issue for government policymakers.

SOURCE: SMARTBRIEF

Underground Botnet Leasing Network Unearthed

Researchers at security firm Finjan said on Wednesday that they have uncovered an underground botnet-leasing network where cyber criminals can pay $5 to $100 to install malware on 1,000 PCs for things like stealing data and sending spam. The Golden Cash network, dubbed "Your money-making machine" on its home page, sells access to botnets comprised of thousands of compromised PCs to cyber criminals for custom malware spreading jobs, according to issue 2 of the Cybercrime Intelligence Report for 2009.

SOURCE: NEWS CNET

Indian Government 100 Days Workplan In Serious Jeopardy

The Indian Congress led UPA Government made certain “Promises” for the socio-economic development of India. However, the fears of such promises turning into mere words have started becoming the reality within two weeks of such declaration.

While the “failures” became apparent within the “first week itself” yet they have now been confirmed by some of the recent announcement by various Ministries of UPA government.

The government is in no serious mood to actually implement the promises made by it on 4th June 2009. The actual period of 100 days started from 5th June 2009 and the government is just fooling Indians by now claiming that its ministries would release its 100 days plan very soon.

The 100 days period must expire on 12th September 2009. However, the ministries of UPA government have still not wakened to this reality. Rather they are fooling Indian by claiming that 100 days plan would be revealed very soon.

With this attitude and commitment, even the five year tenure would fall short to meet even a single promise made by the UPA government. This is more so for crucial issues pertaining to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) that has been passing through a bad phase in India. The cyber law of India is weak and deficient and there is no National ICT Policy in India.

It would be better if the Congress led government takes some concrete and active steps in the direction of achieving its promises otherwise the remaining hopes would also dies sooner than the promised 100 day period.

E-Stamping In Assam

Assam is introducing electronic or e-stamping on an experimental basis in two districts this month as a first step towards pre-empting fraudulent dealings with stamp papers, which made Abdul Karim Telgi a millionaire in the nineties.

To get the procedure moving, Dispur will sign an memorandum of understanding with the Stock Holding Corporation of India Limited (SHCIL), the agency mandated by the Centre to act as the apex record keeping agency for the pilot project, here tomorrow.

SOURCE: TELEGRAPH INDIA

Spamfighter Reports That India Is Facing Increasing Malware Attacks

According to Perry4Law, a leading Techno-Legal ICT company in India that recently conducted a research, attacks with malicious software are on the rise in the country. Also said the company this problem is sure to escalate even further as there is neither the political will nor a National ICT Policy to counter against it.

Besides, India lacks the required cyber security although many effective tools and software for cyber security are freely available on the Internet.

But it is worth noting that India is not devoid of the means to combat the menace, still the problem persists due to its lack of good specialists who could execute the government's various promises. Consequently, cyber law within the country is extremely ineffective and weak, the company said.

Moreover, the 2000 Information Technology Act requires an immediate modification for an effective fight against current cyber-crimes, suggests Perry4Law.

Also according to the company, hacking appears to be a trendy thing in India, since following a hack into the account of Rina Dhaka a Delhi-based designer, fraudulent e-mails were dispatched to her contacts. The e-mails stated that Ms. Dhaka, who had lost her wallet was stranded in London and so requested the recipient for a sum of $2,000 so that she could return home.

Soon after this, another similar scam e-mail circulated in the country when two other designers, Rahul Jain and Aruna Singh in Rajasthan were spoofed, apparently resembling the classic instance of Nigerian phishing and scam attack.

Meanwhile, a new research by Symantec confirms what Perry4Law observes i.e. India might become the principal country in activities with malware if there are no norms for cyber security pertaining to potential e-governance plans of the country.

However, despite alarming malware activities in India, failures of the country's e-governance have not allowed them to take catastrophic forms. Certainly, things would change, rather become scary as soon as Indian government would supply to the country's huge population, an "unprotected Internet connectivity."

Meanwhile, attacks with malware against the websites of Indian Government too have escalated tremendously. For instance during April 2009, the Department of Telecommunication website was reportedly infested with malware.

SOURCE: SPAMFIGHTER NEWS

Proof Of The Pudding Is In The Eating

The latest update on the Website of Lok Sabha Secretariat will give you the impression that the present Union Minister for Textiles and former Minister of Information Technology and Communications Dayanidhi Maran still has his eyes set on the Ministry of IT and Communications! The Lok Sabha Website mentions that Maran's e-mail ID is still minister@mit.gov.in. And interestingly one of his telephone numbers, at his Delhi residence, 011-23019191, is of the General Manager, BSNL, while his permanent residence number, 28122222 is of ICICI Prudential office in Chennai.

Though the official Website of the Ministry of Textiles has acknowledged that Maran is the new Union Minister for Textiles, it does not acknowledge the same in the organization chart which was last updated in April, 2009.

On exploring further, it was found that one of the phone numbers, which is supposed to be at the permanent residence of A. Raja, (04328) 277052, is in an eternal silence mode! Despite many attempts, it gives only a beeping sound followed by an 'unbreakable' silence.

Similarly, the mobile number of Sachin Pilot, the Minister of State for Information Technology, 9868180343, also gives 'this number does not exist' answer. However, all the contact details of Gurudas Kamat, the other State Minister, mentioned on the Lok Sabha website were working. But sadly enough, the Parliament seems to have not yet recognized his ministerial berth. His biography does not mention what he is now.

And coming to the websites of the security agencies, the story is not different either. The e-mail ID of Indian agencies fighting against economic crime (ceib1@bol.net.in) through which general public can information to central agencies also not working.

We have a government that proudly speaks of bridging the digital divide and revolutionizing the country with e-Governance. But finally, when it comes to the government's own sites, if this is the pathetic condition, how do you expect poor Indians to have faith in them? Is it that charity does not begin at home? Or is it that the 'e' in e-Governance stands for eternal errors?

AUTHOR: PRASOON SRIVASTAVA

SOURCE: CIOL

Naveen Patnaik Means Business

While the 100 days agenda of Congress government is heading towards a “failure” yet Orissa is all set for socio-economic reforms. It would be a good idea if the Congress led government takes some clue from Orissa for effective implementation of various socio-economic policies. A special emphasis upon ICT policy and e-governance by Naveen Patnaik is really praiseworthy. It is apparent that Naveen Patnaik is not only serious about the election promises but is also taking active steps to get them implemented. This is the desired shift from promises to achievements that Congress is lacking presently.

In a bid to ensure that his government’s flagship programmes benefit the poor, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has asked the secretaries of various departments to go to the villages instead of functioning from the State capital. The secretaries have also been asked to prepare a five-year prospective plan within 15 days in consultation with the ministers concerned. Naveen’s direction to secretaries came after he advised the BJD MLA s and ministers to work like servants of people, instead of trying to rule over them. Presiding over a meeting of all secretaries here today, the Chief Minister said that the objective of the prospective plan should be to realise the promises made by his party in its election manifesto.

Emphasising on e-governance, the Chief Minister asked the secretaries to ensure that each department should introduce the management information system (MIS) for better flow of information from gram panchayats to the State headquarters. While information technology has made it easier for online monitoring of development projects, MIS is an effective tool for monitoring the activities of field-level officials.

Field visits by secretaries have been made mandatory. Instead of making district-level review, as has been the practice till now, the Chief Minister said each secretary should go to the villages and interact with the people. From now onwards, the district visit of the secretaries will be videotaped, sources said.

SOURCE: EXPRESSBUZZ

Strengthening Police Forces

The next time an emergency strikes Kolkata, you could be spared the sight of sloppy, overweight lathi-wielding cops struggling with their outdated .303 rifles. By mid-June next year, Kolkata will have its own commando force — trained in counter-terrorism, armed with the latest weapons and aided by state-of-the-art surveillance instruments that are yet to be used anywhere in the country. What’s more, these commandos will move around in armoured vehicles — again a first for a city police force. Kolkata police is getting a whopping Rs 100 crore — along with Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Chennai — as central grant for the security upgrade.

SOURCE: TOI

When The Part Rules The Whole

Have you ever heard that a part ruled the whole lot? This is happening in India. While the Congress led government is in power, but it seems to be “helpless” against the arm twisting techniques of its own allies. What is surprising is that Congress is limping when it can walk straight and without a dependency support. This weakness of Indian Congress is becoming a “major cause” for the “possible failure” of its 100 days Workplan. Now the only question that remains to be answered is would it also push Congress for another five year failures for India that it cannot afford? Till now there is nothing that shows that Congress is capable of making its promises a reality within the next 100 days. Does it also mean that the speech by the President of India would remain a speech alone?

When the United Progressive Alliance won almost an absolute majority in the Lok Sabha elections, many Indians expected firm, purposive governance in place of the earlier dithering when the Congress was constantly blackmailed by the Left, yet had to pretend to like it. But in less than a month, we now know that the new Congress-led government may just display as much spine as a jellyfish. The latest example of this is its decision not to sell any minority stakes in public sector undertakings (PSUs) located in Tamil Nadu.

This is not the first surrender. When the Cabinet was being formed, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wanted A Raja out of the telecom ministry, but later gave in to DMK pressure on this. Yet we have the tail wagging the dog. Accommodation does not mean surrender. Congress is in a strong political position, and has no need to funk firm action. Alas, despite paying lip-service to the great ideal of socialism, it looks more yellow than pink.

SOURCE: ECONOMIC TIMES

Failures Of E-Governance in India

Very few words are more fanciful than the words electronic governance (e-governance). These words have a tendency to portray an image of all advanced Nation or capable manpower. But the bigger question is what is more important; the image or reality? We have to analyse this question in the light of e-governance in India and the efforts of Government of India to achieve the Herculean task of being an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) enabled and capable Nation.

Let us peep into the mind of those who have a deeper insight of this “India Shining Syndrome” of Indian Government and Bureaucrats. According to Mr. Praveen Dalal, the Leading Techno-Legal ICT, Cyber Law, Cyber Security and Cyber Forensics Specialist of India, “The Government and Indian Bureaucrats need to change their mindset and stress more upon outcomes and services rather than mere ICT procurement. India needs a services-based approach that is not only transparent but also backed by a more efficient and willing Government. Presently the Bureaucrats and Government of India are in a “resistance mode” towards novel and effective e-governance policies and strategies and they are merely computerising traditional official functions only. This is benefiting neither the Government nor the citizens and is resulting in wastage of thousands of crores of public money and UNDP/World Bank grants amount”.

The truth becomes more obscure in the maze of various reports and surveys, most of which are Government or its agencies/partners “sponsored”. The Bureaucratic incompetencies and lack of Governmental will only find support in high profile workshops and seminars where common man has neither an access nor a say. At the International level, however, India’s ranking is falling when it comes to basic prerequisites of e-governance, i.e. e-readiness, public-governmental interaction, public services, etc.

“The Governmental will and leadership is missing in India. To worsen the situation the Government of India is concentrating more upon the image rather than upon the end results. The grassroot level action is missing and the benefits of ICT are not reaching to the under privileged and deserving masses due to defective ICT strategies and policies of Indian Government. India is suffering from the “vicious circle” of defective e-governance, as the basic input .i.e. governance itself is poor. India needs a “virtuous circle” of e-governance through good governance that would have multiplication and amplification effect upon e-governance efforts of Indian Government. We neither have a right nor would be we honest and true if we call ourselves an e-governance oriented Nation as even the basic “e-mail communications” with the Government of India, including Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), President, Ministry of Information Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, etc are “NEVER” replied back” says Mr. Praveen Dalal.

It is astonishing to know that the so called “e-governance experts” in the Bureaucratic and Governmental circles of India do not even know when and how to respond back to urgent and pressing public communications (e-mails). What is the benefit of attending and participating in high profile conferences and workshops in a cool and comfortable hotel room environment when the Citizen to Government (C2G) and Government to Citizen (G2C) wings of Indian e-governance are “missing”? The C2G and G2C are the core pillars of not only e-governance but electronic commerce (e-commerce) as well. The problem seems to “lack of accountability” among the Government Departments in India.

It is surprising that despite these “serious problems” the India Shining image is often portrayed when it come to e-governance in India. All these factors have resulted in the failures of e-governance in India.

AUTHOR: KUNAL

SOURCE: ITVOIR

SQL Attack Resulted In Data Loss Of More Than 100,000 Websites

A popular UK ISP has reportedly fallen victim to a large-scale cyber attack that led to data loss from as many as 100,000 websites through a virtualisation manager solution called HyperVM.

Back on Sunday, hackers broke into the security of Vaserv.com by exploiting a zero-day vulnerability in its virtualisation software, the prominently used HyperVM from LXLabs, thereby allowing hackers to gain system access with root permissions.

SOURCE: ITPROPORTAL

Digital Rights Protection And Management Is Urgently Required In India

Counterfeiting and piracy have always remained a cause of concern for intellectual property rights (IPRs) holders. There are many solutions suggested for curbing the menace of counterfeiting and piracy in India. One of it is “digital rights protection” in India. However, the concept of digital rights has never been understood properly in India.

Experts believe that digital rights must not only be protected but they must also be managed properly. The same must be done in a techno-legal manner. Instead of imposing foreign models, India must formulate its own “techno-legal model” of digital rights protection and management, says Mr. Praveen Dalal, the leading Techno-Legal Expert of India.

Entertainment Industry has always complained about the issues of piracy in India. In the absence of a law pertaining to entertainment industry in India, these concerns would always remain unresolved.

The problem has now starting taking its natural shape. Incidents of stealing signals from satellite have been reported in India. The entertainment industry is wary about these issues as presently there is neither a law nor technology in India to deal with these issues.

SOURCE: ITVOIR

Techno-Legal Policies Cannot Be Achieved Within 100 Days Workplan of Indian Government

The Techno-Legal Policies of Indian government may not be achievable within the 100 Days Workplan. Mr. Praveen Dalal, Managing Partner of Perry4Law and leading techno-Legal Expert of India, opined that within a week of time span (100 days starting from 5th June, 2009) some of the “Promises” of the Indian government seems to be just “political jargon” alone.

The position is worst on the front of “Policies Formulation” especially on the front of Techno-Legal Policies and National ICT Policies of India. The cyber law of India is worst affected with the imposition of Information Technology Amendment Act, 2008 upon Indian citizens despite their protests. Fortunately, the same is ineffective and not applicable till now as the same is not yet “notified” by the government.

SOURCE: ITVOIR

Phishing Attacks On Rise In India

According to a recent research by India’s leading Techno-Legal ICT Firm Perry4Law, Malware attacks are increasing in India. The problem is bound to further increase in India as we have neither a National ICT Policy nor “political will” to fight against the same. India does not lack the resources to fight the same but we do not have good experts who can execute various promises made by the government. The end result is that cyber law in India is very weak and ineffective. The Information Technology Act, 2000 needs an immediate amendment to make it effective to fight the contemporary cyber crimes.

Hacking is in fashion in India, it seems. After Delhi-based designer Rina Dhaka had her account hacked, mails went out to all her contacts saying that she was stuck in London without her wallet and asked the recipient to send her $2000 to get back home. After that case came to light, it appears that a couple of Rajasthan-based designers, Aruna Singh and Rahul Jain, have also faced a similar problem.

This seems to be a classical case of Nigerian scam and phishing attack.

Indian Government 100 Days Workplan May Fail To Materialise

President of India has recently revealed the “Priorities” of Indian Government in the next five years/100 days. However, there should be a political will and bureaucratic competencies to achieve these promises. The Indian Government must shift from promises to real achievements if it really wishes to achieve the 100 Days Promised Agenda.

Within a weak of time span (100 days starting from 5th June, 2009) some of the “Promises” of the Indian government seems to be just “political jargon” alone.

AUTHOR: PRAVEEN DALAL

SOURCE: LEGAL ENABLEMENT OF ICT SYSTEMS IN INDIA

E-Governance In India: A Success Or A Failure?

Electronic Governance or E-governance, a fancy terminology that portrays an image of advanced Nation or capable workforce. The word is so magical and has the tendency to overpower everything else. But the question that has some more important aspect is: What matters most: Reality or an Image? The article is a sincere effort to make our readers aware of e-governance in India, its aspects and what all are the security norms for it? Which phase it is still in India?

Present Scenario:

India is flourishing, undoubtedly. It is on the track to be renowned as world leader and has the best IT work power globally. Still, India has to go distance to achieve the Herculean task of being an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) enabled and capable Nation. It is high time that Indians should peep outside the “Indian Shining Syndrome”. The call of the hour is to understand the real meaning of e-governance and its implications. The deep insight in ICT regulations will unveil the hard facts that how we are in resistive modes till now. It is the time when the Government and Indian Bureaucrats need to change their opinions and lay pressure more upon outcomes and services rather than mere ICT procurement.

Required Strategic Developments:

Presently, country needs a service oriented approach that is transparent and supportive in terms of ICT applications and its outcomes. We need to be at receptive end rather than at resistive note. The Government should lend their ears to the novel ideas and should be pro active in implementing effective e-governance policies rather than just computerizing traditional official functions only.

Merely computerizing the functions is of no help to anyone. Rather, it is just the wastage of thousands of crores of public money and UNDP/World Bank grants amount. The truth becomes more vague in the maze of various reports and surveys, most of which are Government or its agencies/partners “sponsored”. At the International level, India lacks the basic prerequisites of e-governance, i.e. e-readiness, public-governmental interaction, public services, etc and hence mirrors the incompetency of bureaucrat and Government.

Adding to the misery is situation of Indian Government and its Bureaucrats who are more focused upon the image rather than upon the end results. The grassroot level action is missing and hence the benefits of ICT are not reaching to the under privileged and deserving masses due to defective ICT strategies and policies of Indian Government.

What Next?

To imply the e-governance initiatives rightfully, India needs a “virtuous circle” rather than “vicious circle” of defective e-governance. The deeper dive in this mess will show some more horrible results. Reports support the facts that the so called “e-governance experts” in the Bureaucratic and Governmental circles of India do not even know when and how to respond back to urgent and pressing public communications (e-mails).

Loopholes in Implementations:

India is lacking at the basic level of e-governance implications. It lacks the Citizen to Government (C2G) and Government to Citizen (G2C) wings that are the core pillars of not only e-governance but e-commerce as well. The problem is due to “lack of accountability” among the Government Departments. The National E-Governance Plan (NEGP) and E-governance in India have failed to achieve their motives. In short, there is a complete “ICT Failure in India”.

It is surprising that despite these “serious problems” the India Shining image is often portrayed when it come to e-governance in India.

Ading to the misery is reports by Symantec, security research firm that confirms India may emerge as the leader in Malware activities if the cyber security norms are not established for future e-governance initiatives of India. But, this can be a blessing in disguise as failure in implementation of e-governance in India have prevented security holes from being catastrophic.

AUTHOR: KUNAL

PRIMARY SOURCE: APC

SECONDARY SOURCE: ITVOIR

Can India Wash The Blackspot Of Being Asia’s Most Corrupt Administration

Indian politicians and civil servants are rated to be the most corrupt persons according to the 2009 Global Corruption Barometer (GCB) released by Transparency International, (TI) the global body monitoring corruption in governance. Although the political and bureaucratic circles in India may not feel happy with this finding yet there is no doubt about the correctness of this finding. The question arises "can India wash the blackspot of being Asia’s most corrupt administration"? Also does the proposed statutory protection to the bureaucrats would make any difference in the absence of well defined responsibilities and accountabilities?

A well reported news item has also raised a very pertinent question regarding guaranteeing public service. It claims that while the idea of protecting bureaucrats seem to be worthwhile, it seem designed more to protect civil servants than to make sure that they do their job properly. Accountability to the public has to be ensured, in a measurable manner, with proper feedback systems do that bureaucratic incompetencies can be minimised.

Congress Previous Bad Policies Haunting It Now

Samajwadi Party and BSP, which are extending outside support to UPA government, on Monday attacked Congress and said its policies and programmes since independence had failed because of which India could not become a developed nation.

Participating in a debate on Motion of Thanks to the President's Address, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav specified agriculture, education, employment, healthcare, naxalism and foreign policy as the areas of failure under Congress rule.

He said even if 20 per cent of the programmes announced by the Congress governments during the last five decades had been implemented, the country would have become developed.

SOURCE: ZEENEWS

Government Plans To Scrap UGC, AICTE

The government plans to scrap the top two regulators of higher education in line with the recommendations of the National Knowledge Commission (NKC), the advisory body to the Prime Minister that has repeatedly called for the abolition of the regulatory regime in the education sector. A senior official of the ministry of human resource development said on condition of anonymity that the government will soon scrap the University Grants Commission, or UGC, and the All India Council for Technical Education, or AICTE. The two regulators, which oversee the functioning of universities and engineering and business schools in India, have often received flak for restrictive policies and sometimes opaque functioning.

SOURCE: LIVEMINT

Educational Reforms In India Unlikely

The government of India has announced major educational reforms in India. However, in a “corruption ailed environment” this seems to be a dream alone. Before bringing any educational reforms the government must curb the increasing corruption levels at the school, university and UGC level. Without that it is like beating wind with a stick. If the HRD Ministry is really serious it must start taking stringent actions at all the level that is presently missing. This means educational reforms in India are unlikely to happen.

India's education sector is heating up -- to scalding point. But the cash-strapped Indian government, which far overshot its budget in the last fiscal year to March, is more likely to spend on basic infrastructure such as school buildings and not on advanced facilities like e-learning and computer services in schools.

As for reforms, they remain a distant possibility. Current rules bar private investment in primary and secondary schools, whether government-owned or private, because education is designated as a not-for-profit sector. In this context, betting on education isn't such a good thing.

SOURCE: ONLINE WSJ