The Indian Institute of Management-Lucknow (IIM-L) will implement the quotas for backward class students in three years, institute director Devi Singh said Thursday.
"We will wait for the government direction and implement the 27 percent reservation in three years," Devi Singh said at the IIM-L campus in Noida, on the outskirts of the Indian capital.
His comments came after the Supreme Court upheld 27 percent reservation for other backward classes (OBCs) students in government-run institutes of higher learning.
"We have enough infrastructure to initiate the reservation process," Devi Singh told IANS.
He said the matter had been discussed with the (M. Veerappa) Moily committee set up by the human resource development ministry to study the feasibility of 27 percent quotas.
J.J Irani, chairperson of the board of management, IIM Lucknow, said: "The Supreme Court has given the decision to implement 27 percent quota for OBC. Then we cannot change it; we have to accept it.
"But the court also must define the creamy layer in the underprivileged section."
While upholding the constitutional validity of the law, passed unanimously by parliament in December 2006, the court has clarified that the 'creamy layer', or the elite, would be kept out.
Political parties Thursday welcomed the Supreme Court verdict upholding 27 percent quota for other backward classes (OBCs) in institutes of higher learning, but some were upset with the ruling that excludes the creamy layer, or the elite, in the community from the benefit.
While the Congress hailed the ruling in its entirety, its allies like the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) as well as smaller Left parties were opposed to the exclusion of the creamy layer.
However, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) favoured the exclusion of the affluent.
"The CPI-M has consistently advocated reservation of 27 percent for OBCs and excluding the affluent sections, so that the really deserving get the benefits of the quota," the party politburo said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was also happy with the "landmark" judgment that clears the way for reserving 27 percent of seats for OBCs in places like the Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) and Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT).
Once implemented, the new policy would take overall reservation in government-funded higher education institutions from the current 22.5 (for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) to 49.5 percent.
"It is a historic judgment. Thousands of OBC students will benefit. The government has already decided that it will not affect any other category of students," said Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Arjun Singh, adding that the percentage of seats would be increased.
Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said: "The apex court has taken a middle path. The narrow exception (for the creamy layer) is well known and is understandable.
"It is a landmark judgment to strengthen the unity of the country by providing equality in education and thereby strengthening the democracy," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi told IANS.
The Congress, however, is expected to have a hard time convincing its allies like the DMK, Rashtriya Janata Dal, LJP and other parties opposed to keeping the creamy layer out of the reservation policy.
"It is a positive verdict. But while enabling the rules, the government should have a re-look at the criteria to define creamy layer," Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D. Raja told IANS.
Raja also expressed disappointment over the court's silence over quotas for OBCs in the private institutions.
LJP chief and Chemicals and Fertiliser Minister Ram Vilas Paswan also expressed his reservations: "Our party wants that the creamy layer should also get the benefits till the job quota for OBCs are implemented completely."
The apex court has clarified that children of MPs and legislators should not avail the benefit of reservation policies. It said the quotas for OBCs should not be in "perpetuity" and there should be a review of the OBC list every five years.
The legislation was passed unanimously by parliament in December 2006.
Indo-Asian News Service
The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a law which provides for 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Castes (OBCs) in educational institutions supported by the Central government.
A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan ruled that the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006, does not violate the basic structure of the Constitution.
However, the court ruled that creamy layer among the OBCs cannot get the benefit of quota. On quota in private un-aided institutions, four judges left the issue open and one judge ruled it would violate of the basic structure of the Constitution.
The court’s interim order of March 29, 2007, staying the implementation of the quota has now been lifted after Thursday’s order.
The court ruled the 93rd Constitutional Amendment Act, which was the basis of the law providing 27 per cent reservation in aided institutions, didn’t violate the basic structure of the Constitution.
The court held that the delegation of power to the Centre to determine OBCs is valid.
Following the judgement 49. 5 percent of the seats in higher educational institutes would be reserved. The Schedule Castes (SCs) and Schedule Tribes (STs) enjoy a 22.5 per cent reservation. While the SCs have 15 per cent reservation, for the STs it is 7.5 per cent.
Reacting to the judgement, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said, "We wanted the reservation and are happy about it but the problem is that government had promised that within three years it will create extra seats so that nobody suffers."
Youth for Equality Founder Member Anirudh Lochan said that the students are really angry all over the country and they were planning their next step.
Youth for Equality was in the forefront of anti-reservation protests across the country after the United Progressive Alliance Government decided to implement the quota for OBCs.
What is the quota row
It is the controversial proposal to increase reservation for other backward classes in higher education institutes.
The decision will impact 20 central universities, the IITs, IIMs and colleges supported by the Government. The Government accepting the Mandal Commission’s suggestion of 27 per cent reservation for backward classes in Government educational institutions and the quota increase is a part of this.
The Supreme Court Thursday upheld 27 percent reservations for other backward classes (OBC) students in higher educational institutions like the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).
The validity of the law was upheld by a five-judge constitutional bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, which said that candidates falling in the 'creamy layer' would not be eligible for quotas.
The Bench had on August 8 turned down the Centre's request for allowing admissions to OBCs under the 27% quota for the 2007-08 academic year itself during the pendency of the petitions.
The four-month-long arguments saw spirited arguments from solicitor general G E Vahanvati, former Attorney General K Parasaran and additional solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam. They presented the Centre's argument before the court impressing upon the need for quota for OBCs in CEIs without excluding the creamy layer.
Equally strong were the arguments from the anti-quota petitioners presented by senior advocates Fali S Nariman, Harish Salve, Rajeev Dhawan, K K Venugopal and P P Rao questioning the basis of the law. The Centre's main plank was that OBCs, who have been oppressed for centuries, needed a helping hand by means of quota and that caste was an accepted form of determination of backwardness as it was the basis for oppression and resultant backwardness.
Two aspects received a fair bit of attention from the apex court. First, the mode of determination of backwardness — whether it should be caste-based or economic condition, and secondly, whether the creamy layer should be excluded or not.
Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh declared government's intention to fix a quota for the Other Backward Castes (OBCs) in the premier government educational institutions like the Indian Institute of Technologies (IITs) and Indian Institute of Managements and other institutions of higher learning. While one know very well the intentions of Arjun Singh and his Congress Party, which was in the forefront of anti-Mandal agitation in 1990, it is important to analyse the nature of protest and fury of the upper castes in India. Why the same upper castes who burnt themselves today keep silent. Whether Arjun Singh and his party is just working on tokenism and refuses to learn lesson that the cry from the Dalit and backward today is political power which has not yet been over despite the fact that they had chief ministers and ministers. The administration remains strongly in the hands of the upper castes.
A Revisit to events in 1990 : A hero became villian
On August 7th, 1990 when Prime Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh announced that his National Front government was going to implement the Mandal Commission Recommendations in Education and jobs, there was not much fury in the beginning. Slowly, a slanderous media campaign was launched particularly to attract circulation. A middle class newspaper like Indian Express and its loud mouth Editor Arun Shourie became mouthpieces of the upper caste contempt to the Dalits and backwards. Shourie, worked not as an ethical journalist but as a hired lawyer who has to defend his case. Upper caste students and their parents went on rampage in North India. Suicide were committed by the innocent students as young as 8 years of age who might not have known what Mandal was and what was the meaning of reservation for the downtrodden. Clearly, two big brahmanical parties of the country, the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party used this opportunity to target the government.
Lal Krishna Adavani decided to go on a Rathyatra to unite the Hindu society, which was 'divided' by V.P.Singh and his actions. There was a wave of anti Muslim sentiments in the middle classes. Advani became hero who revived the Hindu society and VP Singh became 'dushman number one' of the upper castes in India. Yes, the prime minister of the popular votes of India became the target number one because of reservations. All his merits became non functional once he ordered the implementation of the Mandal recommendations.
Commentators after commentators condoned the Hindutva and their thugs, their misdeeds and anti national act of spreading hatred and violence but none of them could ever muster the courage to support a prime minister who dared to go ahead against all odds. Yes, one may not agree with VP Singh and his style of politics but one need to see his track record as an efficient minister and an honest Member of Parliament. It was for the first time in history of India that a government fell because it defended a shrine and committed its constitutional duties. Yes, Ayodhya's October 1990 events led to fall of V P Singh government. It is not for nothing that he decided to stay away from the parliamentary politics, disown prime ministership and is persistently being seen with the growing mass struggles in India when the so-called mainstream politicians are busy with their castes, religious sentiments. How many of them come and support Narmada or the cuase of dying farmers. When the slums were being dislocated none of the politicians dared to come out and challenge the court. But these things do not matter for the journalists who have decided that they have to oppose anything, which brings social justice.
V.P.Singh is nowhere in mainstream politics but his Mandalisation process has spread all over. That is the great achievement because the composition of our parliament has changed. Dalits and backward communities are asking for their share in power. The political parties have to listen to them and come to the reality. Today, thanks to Mandalisation process among the Muslims, the one time social justice hero Laloo has to go.
Conspicuous Silence
15 years later when Arjun Singh informs the journalists about the reservation policy, there is not much war by the upper castes though there is resentment by the 'meritorious' industrial houses who run on a monarchical basis. Again, the same talks of merit being affected and non-availability of the students from the backward and Dalit communities. It is amusing how people change their stand. Industrialists like Rahul Bazaz, known for the shameless Hindutva lineage, remarked that reservation in the private sector would damage the credibility of big companies in India. The Bazazs should tell the world why most of the business works in India is done by the Bania community. North East South West, it is the Marwadis and Banias who have captured the major institutions with Brahmin their Gurus. The opponents of reservation should also inform why the scavenging work is fixed for the Valmiki community in India. Why is this 'Intellectual property Right' over certain work while ignoring others. Social scientists should also explain why no other community person is seen as doing scavenging work or carrying night soil over head. This meritorious upper caste would then hang their head in shame.
What is happening is most astonishing and show double standard. In 1990, the Dalits were in the forefront of supporting the Mandal Commission Recommendations meant for the backward communities. Today, a number of 'Dalit' intellectuals, who would like to parade Dalit capitalists in Delhi, are asking for a creamy lawyer theory to implement the Mandal Commission Report. An example is being given here of the lone dissenter why should the dissenter argument be taken into account. Mandal gave a report and government accepted it in toto. A person like S.S. Gill who was member secretary of the Mandal Commission today condemns VP Singh for implementing it with political motivation. It is amusing when commentators write of political motivation. Why should not any work done with political motivation? Did not the backward communities voted for the government? It is also important to analyse as why some of the Dalit intellectuals are crying for fixing quota for the Most Backward Communities (MBCs).
Arun Shourie, who spearheaded anti Mandal agitation through his reckless writings and was later rewarded by the Sangh Parivar for persistently abusing the minorities through his newspaper columns, would never had imagined that Mandal would eat his own party. He might never have foreseen the growing assertion among all communities after it. Why was India burning in 1990 and quiet in 2006.
To be sure, in 1990, the people realized that the government that time was determined to give the Dalits and backward their due share in power. One need not to remind that Ministers like Ram Vilas Paswan and Sharad Yadav had become very powerful proponents of the Mandal Mantra. The government did not stay there only. It was bringing a bill in parliament for labour reform particularly related to labours participation in Management, bill on electoral reform under Dinesh Goswami, autonomy to Prasar Bharati apart from putting Dr Ambedkar's statue in Parliament and honoring him with Bharat Ratna. Every of these acts had loud messages. It is this time that the Buddhists converts got right in job reservations. Mandal in 1990 changed the politics of the country. It gave an unprecedented and lethal weapon for the Dalit backward and Adivasis to come together. Every party had to understand the power of Mandal. Over the years, despite talks of globalisation and Hindutva, Mandalisation process continued. In the process, the upper caste leadership of the Hindutva gangs have to play second fiddle. Right from Uma Bharati to Kalyan Singh and Narendra Modi, caste his forced the Sindhi Lal Krishna Advani to ponder over his own future and he is again on another Yatra, knowing fully well, that he has lost his caste battle. The upper castes are silent and protesting just in front of the cameras. A few papers that do not sale much are again trying to instigate people to protest but those who get everything at home cannot protest. Secondly, they know they have their own government and their opposition. A government which just pretend to work for the Dalits and backward and has no real intention to do so. Most of the people know that in Manmohan Singh's safe hand their interest are safe and would be looked after. After-all, Arjun Singh's own track record for social justice is laughable and his politicization of Ministry of HRD is well known. The tricks of anti Hindutva do not work all the time in the same way as the anti Muslim card of Advani failed miserably.
Why Opposition to reservation for backward communities
One needs to understand the psychology of opposition to Mandal. Reservation for Dalits was never implemented properly before 1990. Every time it was informed that due to lack of non availability of the candidates, seats remained vacant and quota was filled by the upper caste particularly those close to the people in power or with big bags. The 1990s changed that the backlog has to be filled with the candidates from the same community. Therefore 1990 is a watershed in the history of India and implementing the Mandal Commission Report VP Singh might have become the most hated politician of the country despite his impeccable credentials, yet, the politics of India has changed.
15 years later when Narsimha Rao crookedly with the help of the Hindutva brigade tried to undo what the Mandal had done. He went overboard to implement the privatization process and added fire to the Hindutva. Therefore, both the demolition of Babari Masjid and growing privatization were part of the Narsimha Rao era which some of our pen pushers termed as glorious. One need not to inform the readers here how Narsimha Rao died. Not a single tear was shed for him.
When the jobs are nowhere and everything is gone private, then why are the upper castes angry at reservation for backward communities? The fact is that seats for Dalits were rarely fulfilled and we had seen huge backlog. There has been no protest. It was easier to curtail the protest of the Dalits because of their numbers and social background. Now, the reservation for backward communities being a reality, the powerful backward communities will hit and break the bone of the upper castes. That is the fear of these. They know that there are enough students from these communities who will join the great institutions of technology and managements.
Today, these pen pushers pretend that reservation should only for the Dalits. Similarly, Dalit opportunists also dance to the tone of their brahmanical masters when they condemn reservation for the backward communities. It is a fact that many of the backward communities should not have been there in the list. But that is not a way to justify that there should not be reservation.
Discrimination despite merit
It is completely lie to say that Dalit and backwards are not doing business today or they lack ability. To say that there is no discrimination in India on the basis of caste is again a great lie which only insensitive caste Hindus can tell the whole world. Four years back I investigated a case of a very bright Dalit student Jyoti Prakash Vishwas who passed out from R.K.Mission School in Kolkata and was working as an engineer in a central government public sector company. His Bengali bosses used filthy language against him and suspended him on various charges, which were found absolutely untrue by a team of human rights activists including me. Vishwas was not allowed to join a well paid job in a reputed private company. His wife who was working with Government of West Bengal was not given medical compensation as per company's rule. After our fact-finding report came out, the management tried to strike a cordial note. Vishwas who by then had never knew what exactly was Dalit movement and discrimination realized what is the identity of a bright Dalit scholar. Two Years, when he left Delhi, Vishwas one day send me a mail from Saudi Arabia where he was working as an Engineer. He wrote: "Sir, I thank you for standing with me in my struggle against injustice. I know Dalits would not be able to get justice as long as they are part of Hindu system. I have decided to embrace Islam, a faith which give me strength and inner peace."
Those votaries of 'merit' should understand clearly well that things are not as easy as they think. A few days back when I was in Chhatishgarh and a Dalit student from National Law University Raipur came to me and informed me about the harassment he faced in the University. Despite the fact that he was the only candidate in his course of M.Phil/Ph.D/LLM, it took 3 years for the board of the college to accept his M.Phil and then deny him right for Ph.D. Yes, I talk about Abhishek Priya Anand, a student who completed his M.Sc from Hyderabad and qualified and ranked 8 th in the merit in the National Law college entrance test, today face a caste prejudiced Vice chancellor and his bureaucracy.
Will the Indian merit mongers ever think why they want to shut every door for the Dalits and backward communities? If Dalit converts to other faith, the Hindutva brigade is up in arm against it. There is no reform movement with in Hindu dharma where they can get justice. The jobs, which were reserved for them, have been privatized. Educational institutions rarely fulfill their quota. So demeaning are the upper castes that they are ready to get forged certificate of Dalit quota to get admitted in the University. In Delhi, a prominent doctor of a famous medical college got his MBBS degree on passing an entrance test under the SC quota. He produced a false certificate of adoption by a Dalit father. The fact was that his father's servant happened to be a Dalit. This upper caste doctor used his leverages and asked his servant to 'adopt' him to get admit. A Similar case of admission has been found in Lucknow by a Brahmin girl.
Creamy lawyer theory is dangerous at the moment
Unfortunately, some of the Dalit intellectuals have also jumped in to condemn the quota for the Dalits. These commentators are talking in terms of creamy lawyer theory. Question is let the government first implement the reservation only then creamy lawyer theory could be implemented. If the creamy lawyer theory could be implemented in the Mandal, then the same should be true for the Dalits also. And the same should be true for the upper castes also in the general seats. It is a dangerous preposition. It is a fact that the power elite of a community are the first to get the benefits of education and quota. Did not the Brahmin got it from the upper castes initially? There are so many of them but many of them have little representation in power structure. Same is true about Dalits and backward communities.
Of course, the politics of quota is dangerous. Arjun Singh's intention has been like that of his party. I am sure he know it well that Dalit and backwards are thoroughly politicized and are not going to be just 'vote bank' of any party. They are today running with confidence and asking for a share in power. While the political parties may not have implemented the reservation fully, the Most Backward Communities in Uttar-Pradesh have learnt a lesson from Bihar. The MBCs have already revolted against the political elites of the state and asking for their fair representation in power. Today, power is the real need of the people.
As far as jobs are concern, let the government bring a white paper on reservations and give us ideas as how long will it take it to complete its backlog. When can we see 17.5% IAS officers from Dalits, 27.5% from backward communities and 7.5% from tribal? Once the government fulfill its promise we can think of new ideas to give representation to MBCs and oppressed Dalits particularly women from these sections of society.
Reforms mean debrahmanising India
In a welfare state, the government cannot shy away from implementing reforms. Where are government reform for land, forest and water? If reform mean giving precious national assets to a few cronies of the power elites then the government has to be ready to face protest of various forms. Reform means that the government demolish its brahmanical structure. Reform truly mean debrahmanisation process of India. It means India's corrupt caste structured village structure is hit from below the belt. For that a strong land reform measures need to be carried out. Our corrupt and caste-iests Industrial magnets are not ready for the same therefore face resistance from the people. Reform means that the upper castes should learn that time for hegemony has gone and it is time they learn to live together and respect diversity of India. Reservation are going to stay as long as government does not reform itself and Hindu system remain caged in the age old myopic vision of division of work based on caste. Let us truly reform our society and work for a truly democratic India where every community participates in power and every person go to school irrespective of caste and creed.
With an eye on crucial assembly elections, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday gave a push to refurbish the image of the Congress party and his government inducting fresh faces and veterans but not going the whole hog for an overall image overhaul.
Seven ministers of state were inducted into the council of ministers. The reshuffle, coming ahead of the 2009 general elections and crucial assembly polls this year, stood out because of the induction of two MPs, Jyotiraditya Scindia, 37, and Jitin Prasada, 34, from the brood of Young Turks in the Congress.
Former chief election commissioner M.S. Gill was the only one given independent charge of sports and youth affairs.
Other new faces in the council of ministers, which stands at 80 now, are Congress party's former Puducherry chief V.N. Narayanswamy, industrialist-turned-politician Sanjay Bagrodia, former police official Rameshwar Oraon (all Congress) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Raghunath Jha.
Scindia will be the junior IT and communications minister while Jitin Prasada has been made minister of state for steel.
Vayalar Ravi, Congress MP from Kerala and minister for overseas Indian affairs, gets additional charge of parliamentary affairs. Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, who still retains the information and broadcasting ministry, was earlier put in charge of West Bengal.
The reshuffle is also aimed at toning up the government's performance in crucial sectors of governance. Gill, with his experience as former chief election commissioner, is expected to give important inputs in this regard.
Jairam Ramesh, minister of state for commerce, has been given additional charge of power.
Paving the way for the new ministers as well as a revamp in the Congress party structure, six ministers of state resigned from the council of ministers.
They are Suresh Pachouri, minister of state for personnel, Dasari Narayan Rao (coal), M.V. Rajasekharan (planning), T. Subbirami Reddy (mines), Akhilesh Das (steel) and Manikrao Gavit (home).
None of the leaders of the main opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) were present at the oath-taking ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan, the presidential palace. Neither were there any representatives from the Samajwadi Party and the Telugu Desam Party. Sitaram Yechury from the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), however, was present.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is driving hard at improving his party's pre-poll performance record and the reshuffle was expected to reflect this.
"But barring the two young MPs, we do not get a sense that the government wants to impact at macro-level," said G.V.L. Narasimha Rao, a political analyst.
"The only thing which stands out is the induction of the two young MPs. It should have been done before. But better late than never," he said.
Congress spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan described the reshuffle as a blend of "youth and experience". "The two young inductees will deliver in a spectacular manner," she said, adding that a "great deal can be achieved in a short time."
DMK MP and Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi was expected to be inducted in the cabinet but was a surprising exclusion. Insiders point out that the party's internal family squabbles came in the way of her induction, even though Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi were rooting for her.
The drive to mobilize youths began with the appointment of Rahul Gandhi, son of party chief Sonia Gandhi, as a Congress general secretary in September 2007. Party insiders pointed out that the induction of Scindia and Prasada takes this process ahead.
"We needed some young and experienced faces to help the people and that is why this expansion," Manmohan Singh told reporters.
When asked about the non-inclusion of Rahul Gandhi, he said, "Rahul is an important leader for us and has desired to work for the party."
Crucial assembly elections are scheduled later this year in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir.
Scindia, who represents the Guna constituency in Madhya Pradesh, is expected to give a boost to the Congress' poll campaign in the central state. Bagrodia, from Rajasthan that is going to polls later this year, is expected to boost the party's chances there.
The reshuffle also fills gaps created by the Congress' earlier moves to shore up its organizational work.
Indo-Asian News Service
Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia, young MP and scion of former royal family, hogged the limelight at the swearing-in ceremony Sunday of seven new faces in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's council of ministers.
He was the first to reach the Ashoka Hall at Rashtrapati Bhawan. A visibly elated Scindia interacted with everyone and freely mingled with the mediapersons present.
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The conspicuous absence of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) leaders at the swearing-in ceremony set the tongues wagging. Many were speculating Leader of Opposition L.K. Advani would be present on the occasion. But he did not turn up.
Nobody from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or any other constituent of the NDA was present at the occasion.
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Sitaram Yechury of the Communist party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) was the sole key figure from the Left Front present on the occasion.
Amid the confrontation between the Congress and the Left over the Indo-US nuclear deal and the elections nearing, perhaps the Left doesn't want to be seen rubbing shoulders with the Congress.
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Quashing all rumours of his ill health, Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh attended the ceremony.
He even blessed Jyotiraditya Scindia who represents Guna in Madhya Pradesh. Singh walked up to his seat on his own and one would not be surprised if he contests the next Lok Sabha polls.
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Hindi was the flavour of the day at the swearing-in ceremony with all the ministers except V. Narayanaswamy, the Congress general secretary from Puducherry, taking oath in Hindi.
The first to take oath was minister of state (independent charge) Manohar Singh Gill and others - Scindia, Jitin Prasada, Santosh Bagrodia, Rameshwar Oraon and Raghunath Jha - followed the suit.
Indo-Asian News Service
The Grid: Next-gen Internet 10,000 times faster than broadband
THE internet could soon be made obsolete. The scientists who pioneered it have now built a lightning-fast replacement capable of downloading entire feature films within seconds.
At speeds about 10,000 times faster than a typical broadband connection, “the grid” will be able to send the entire Rolling Stones back catalogue from Britain to Japan in less than two seconds.
The latest spin-off from Cern, the particle physics centre that created the web, the grid could also provide the kind of power needed to transmit holographic images; allow instant online gaming with hundreds of thousands of players; and offer high-definition video telephony for the price of a local call.
David Britton, professor of physics at Glasgow University and a leading figure in the grid project, believes grid technologies could “revolutionise” society. “With this kind of computing power, future generations will have the ability to collaborate and communicate in ways older people like me cannot even imagine,” he said.
The power of the grid will become apparent this summer after what scientists at Cern have termed their “red button” day - the switching-on of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the new particle accelerator built to probe the origin of the universe. The grid will be activated at the same time to capture the data it generates.
Cern, based near Geneva, started the grid computing project seven years ago when researchers realised the LHC would generate annual data equivalent to 56m CDs - enough to make a stack 40 miles high.
This meant that scientists at Cern - where Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented the web in 1989 - would no longer be able to use his creation for fear of causing a global collapse.
This is because the internet has evolved by linking together a hotchpotch of cables and routing equipment, much of which was originally designed for telephone calls and therefore lacks the capacity for high-speed data transmission.
By contrast, the grid has been built with dedicated fibre optic cables and modern routing centres, meaning there are no outdated components to slow the deluge of data. The 55,000 servers already installed are expected to rise to 200,000 within the next two years.
Professor Tony Doyle, technical director of the grid project, said: “We need so much processing power, there would even be an issue about getting enough electricity to run the computers if they were all at Cern. The only answer was a new network powerful enough to send the data instantly to research centres in other countries.”
That network, in effect a parallel internet, is now built, using fibre optic cables that run from Cern to 11 centres in the United States, Canada, the Far East, Europe and around the world.
One terminates at the Rutherford Appleton laboratory at Harwell in Oxfordshire.
From each centre, further connections radiate out to a host of other research institutions using existing high-speed academic networks.
It means Britain alone has 8,000 servers on the grid system – so that any student or academic will theoretically be able to hook up to the grid rather than the internet from this autumn.
Ian Bird, project leader for Cern’s high-speed computing project, said grid technology could make the internet so fast that people would stop using desktop computers to store information and entrust it all to the internet.
“It will lead to what’s known as cloud computing, where people keep all their information online and access it from anywhere,” he said.
Computers on the grid can also transmit data at lightning speed. This will allow researchers facing heavy processing tasks to call on the assistance of thousands of other computers around the world. The aim is to eliminate the dreaded “frozen screen” experienced by internet users who ask their machine to handle too much information.
The real goal of the grid is, however, to work with the LHC in tracking down nature’s most elusive particle, the Higgs boson. Predicted in theory but never yet found, the Higgs is supposed to be what gives matter mass.
The LHC has been designed to hunt out this particle - but even at optimum performance it will generate only a few thousand of the particles a year. Analysing the mountain of data will be such a large task that it will keep even the grid’s huge capacity busy for years to come.
Although the grid itself is unlikely to be directly available to domestic internet users, many telecoms providers and businesses are already introducing its pioneering technologies. One of the most potent is so-called dynamic switching, which creates a dedicated channel for internet users trying to download large volumes of data such as films. In theory this would give a standard desktop computer the ability to download a movie in five seconds rather than the current three hours or so.
Additionally, the grid is being made available to dozens of other academic researchers including astronomers and molecular biologists.
It has already been used to help design new drugs against malaria, the mosquito-borne disease that kills 1m people worldwide each year. Researchers used the grid to analyse 140m compounds - a task that would have taken a standard internet-linked PC 420 years.
“Projects like the grid will bring huge changes in business and society as well as science,” Doyle said.
“Holographic video conferencing is not that far away. Online gaming could evolve to include many thousands of people, and social networking could become the main way we communicate.
“The history of the internet shows you cannot predict its real impacts but we know they will be huge.” (c) Times Online
L.K Advani's walk down memory lane is proving to be too bumpy for comfort. The release of his memoirs "My Country, My Life", coming close on the heels of the launch of his prime ministerial candidature by his party has opened up an unexpected can of worms.
The flood of controversy threatening to swamp the author has come at a time when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader was all revved up to answer the final call. He had finally got the backing of his party for the top job in the country that he had been eyeing for long.
But his memoirs are messing up his credibility, ruining the one label he badly wants to flaunt - of being the perfect commander who is ahead of every crisis, particularly the crisis wrought by terrorism. The book is raising a question mark over Advani's ability to lead the nation, especially because at the core of the controversy lies the Kandahar hijack issue and Advani's role in it as the home minister then.
Apart from the Kandahar incident, Advani's memoirs are inflicted with a rash of gaffes, a result of shoddy research. It must have given the BJP's prime ministerial candidate a few blushes to be told that Satya Pal Dang, a leader of the Communist Party of India (CPI) whom he pronounced dead in the book, is alive and kicking in Punjab.
Or to be tutored on the execution of freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev. Contrary to Advani's research that the three were executed for hurling bombs inside the Delhi assembly, the freedom fighters were put to death in the Lahore conspiracy case.
But the shrill sparring over the Kandahar hijack has wounded Advani where it hurts most. It has botched up the image he wanted to graft on himself - a 'iron man' - a resolute home minister - in the mould of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, independent India's first home minister and deputy prime minister.
By his own admission made in his autobiography and a slew of interviews later, Advani, then home minister of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)-led government, was unaware of the fact that his colleague and then external affairs minister, Jaswant Singh, was being sent to Kandahar to ensure safe passage for three terrorists and the hijackers who were holding to ransom the lives of 160 passengers, on board IC 814.
Advani inadvertently has revived dark memories of the hijack drama that was played out before a stunned nation nine years ago.
In an interview to a television news channel, the BJP leader said: "I don't think I am answerable for that (sending the foreign minister with the terrorists), if the committee on security had taken a decision."
Prodded whether he knew of the decision, Advani responded: "I didn't know about it. I came to know when he (Jaswant) was going."
For a former home minister who strongly favoured the "hot pursuit" theory of crossing the Pakistan border to smash terror camps, Advani's admission of ignorance of such a crucial event lands him in a spot.
Worse still, George Fernandes, the then defence minister, has called Advani's bluff by pointing out that the decision to send Jaswant Singh to Kandahar was taken in the presence of Advani.
If the book set the stage for a flurry of controversies, more revelations, made later by the author in various media interviews, added to the spice. The Congress, having got its claws into none other than the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, is waiting for the kill.
But Ravi Shankar Prasad, a senior BJP leader, like others in his party, has adopted aggression as the best form of defence. "The Congress has no face to talk about terrorism. Most of the ills of terrorism from Bhindranwale to Maoism began with the party," he said.
Responding to Sonia Gandhi's blistering attack at a public rally on Advani on Kandahar, Prasad said: "Sonia Gandhi has no experience in politics. How can she comment on somebody with 50 years of experience?"
But underneath the BJP's "all is well" response, there is a snip of uneasiness, triggered by its prime ministerial candidate's book. And spokesman Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi hopes that the controversy will die down.
"Controversies have their own life. They will die down after some time," he said.
For the moment, however they are multiplying by the day.