Another Tibetan self-immolates in protest against Chinese rule

Washington: Now, another Tibetan man has reportedly died after setting himself on fire in a protest against China's religious and political suppression. 

The death, reported by Free Tibet and the U.S.-based Radio Free Asia, took place in Gansu province in northwestern China. 

Free Tibet said the man was 22, while Radio Free Asia put his age at 19. 

According to CNN, details of the death, as has been the case with other such incidents, are sketchy and difficult to verify. 

Self-immolation is a common form of protest for Tibetans, who want genuine autonomy from China and accuse Beijing of repression. 

Beijing rejects accusations of oppression, saying that under its rule, living standards have greatly improved for the Tibetan people. 

It makes centuries-old historical claims on the region. 

BBC World News moves to Broadcasting House

Moving BBC World News, the BBC's largest television channel, from west London to New Broadcasting House in the centre of the city is a huge project that has taken years of planning.

Relaunching and rebranding every hour of its 24 hours of output to give audiences around the world a new exciting polished HD product has made that huge project even more challenging.

Hopefully on Monday at 1200 GMT, the hard work of our 100 dedicated staff will give our audiences a bolder, brighter, more engaging look for the channel they trust to give them independent, objective news and analysis from more correspondents, in more locations, than any other international broadcaster.

Meticulous planning began about three years ago - everything from the new look of our studios to bicycle parking. We tested our studio systems - literally to breaking point - then fixed them and began the dual-running piloting that has split our newsroom teams between those keeping us on air back at Television Centre and those training and developing our programmes in our new home.

We're calling our new location The World's Newsroom because it truly reflects the world we report. We now work with colleagues from 27 language services who report for us from far flung bureaus and in London, allowing us to celebrate their unique expertise - something no other broadcaster can offer.

We'll be introducing you to those new colleagues and our new location in special live reports from inside New Broadcasting House and offering enhanced social media access so you can enjoy behind-the-scenes access.

Audiences have also told us they want to engage more with the stories we tell - to feel closer to the issues we report. We're going to help you "live the story" with us. It's our new channel ethos.

Our correspondents - expert, brave, tough, determined - live and work where they report, and we want audiences to understand their passion for the stories they cover. So expect a new style of reporting from the field. And we'll be everywhere for our relaunch with live and exclusive reports planned from Syria, China, the US and Burma to name just a few.

In the studio, trusted and familiar presenters will be sharing the day's top stories - with a sprinkling of new faces on air. We'll have a more dynamic look, with robot cameras whizzing around our studios, improved graphics and high definition screens to enhance our ability to explain and analyse. We even have some virtual reality surprises planned.

We're also developing new long-form programmes, so expect to see new hard-hitting and timely documentary series. There'll be fresh new editions of favourites such as HARDTalk with Stephen Sackur (our interrogator-in-chief), Click for the latest on tech and Health Check for medical breakthroughs.

BBC World News has come a long way since it launched as a shoestring commercial operation in a backroom at Television Centre more than 20 years ago. Our audiences have grown massively. We're required viewing from the President's White House in Washington to the President's Blue House in Seoul. And in an era when bad mortgages in the US can trigger a global economic meltdown, we know there is a huge appetite for world news delivered fast, accurately and objectively.

We hope you'll enjoy our new look. And we hope you'll join us in the world's newsroom.

Andrew Roy is head for news for BBC World News

Tata Motors Planning To Put A Boot On Nano

Tata Motors is planning to revive the Nano by fitting in a bigger 1.0-litre petrol motor to take on the Maruti Suzuki Alto. The big news is that the company is also planning to stretch the Nano into a compact sedan. Reports say that Tata Motors is working on a 996cc petrol motor to replace the current 624cc unit powering the Nano. In order to support the bigger engine, Tata Motors are working on strengthening the Nano’s chassis.

The Tata Nano compact sedan is likely to carry forward the same styling from the hatchback, we don’t expect any major styling updates on the sedan and yes, it will measure less than 4-metres, in order to price the sedan aggressively. Recently we heard that the Nano will be upgraded with an 800cc 3-cylinder engine, although Tata Motors haven’t confirmed on any upgrades yet, apart from the diesel and CNG variant of the Nano, which is expected to roll out in the next few months.

While the Tata Nano sedan will require extensive re-working due to the rear-engine layout, we feel Tata Motors can bring out a sedan version of the Nano, given the high appeal a three-box vehicle has in India. These renderings by MotorBeam specialist Anupam Singh Parihar of the Nano CS shows the vehicle to be quite plausible.

We have heard unending rumors about different avatars of the Nano, but if the reports for the Nano sedan come to be true, this move from the car maker can help the product make a better presence in the Indian market. If the plan works out well for the company, we can see the cheapest sedan running on our roads soon. Currently, Tata Motors is offering the Nano only in a single avatar, which runs on a 624cc, 2-cylinder petrol unit churning out 37 BHP of power and 51 Nm of torque and starts with a price tag of Rs. 1,50,000/- (ex-showroom, Delhi).

Google Play hits 25 billion downloads

Whether you’re looking for directions, checking email or sharing a picture with friends, apps are now an indispensable part of life. And if you’re using Android, it all starts with Google Play, home to 675,000 apps and games. That’s a lot of choice. We’ve now crossed 25 billion downloads from Google Play, and to celebrate we’re offering some great discounts for the next five days.

Every day you’ll be able to choose from a collection of apps from some of the world’s top developers including Gameloft, Electronic Arts, Rovio, runtastic, Full Fat and more. And all for just 25 cents. We’ll also be offering some special collections like 25 movies you must own, 25 banned books, 25 albums that changed the world and our 25 top selling magazines, all at special prices. Visit Google Play a little later today to check them out.

Twenty-five billion is more than twice the distance, in miles, that the Voyager 1 spacecraft has travelled since its launch 35 years ago. It’s the amount of time, in minutes, that have passed since some of our earliest ancestors began to set foot in Europe. And now, thanks to all of you, it’s a Google Play milestone. We look forward to the next 25 billion.

Dear Chetan, you are wrong. We don’t need to do an expose on ourselves..

Dear Chetan, earlier today, I chanced upon your column in ToI, “We the Shameless”. You started your piece by saying: “It’s time to stop blaming just our politicians for corruption and look within”. You went on to write,“..organisations like the IAC should also send out the message that it is a lack of values within us..that has turned India corrupt” And in your concluding paragraph, you said: “it is time we did an expose on ourselves”

That was what tipped me over.

Frankly, I’m sick & tired of hearing “the fault lies with/within us” & variations on this theme when talk comes to corruption.

The fault does not lie within us.

Indians are NOT genetically programmed to be corrupt.

It is the systems & processes around us that make us behave the way we do. Humans are fickle – and they are prone to temptation. Indians are no exception. But our behaviour is driven by incentives – or lack thereof.

Acharya Chanakya realised this several thousand years ago. We seem to have forgotten that.

The vast majority of Indians who live & work outside India are honest and law-abiding citizens or residents of the countries they live & work in.

Why?

What makes us – or them – behave differently in India? Could it be the climate? the heat, perhaps?

No.

It is the systems and processes.

Systems and processes that makes it almost necessary to “be corrupt”, that provide strong “incentives” to be corrupt and that allow such acts of dishonesty to go unchecked & unpunished.

In simple mathematical terms,

“Incentive to be corrupt” + “Necessity to be corrupt” + “No consequence of being corrupt” = Deadly cocktail of rampant corruption.

That is what ails India.

A clear understanding of this equation and consequent action to fix these variables will be the only way to achieve any probity in public life.

How do we do that?

How about starting with a fundamental overhaul of the electoral system & reform of campaign financing laws? It is widely accepted that the need to spend enormous amounts of money in elections is what engenders large-scale loot of the kind we are witnessing today.

As friend Atanu Dey explained in a column earlier this year: “Perhaps the system selects the most dishonest and the least principled”.  This system provides not only an “incentive” to be corrupt (so you can outspend your opponent) but almost makes it “necessary” to be corrupt (so you can contest with a decent chance of winning).

How about bringing in transparency and creating simpler processes? So that people like us are not “forced” to be corrupt to get our driving license? or to get a clearance from the Municipal Corporation? or to get a permit from a government department?

Let’s create simpler processes. Let’s focus on transparency and leverage technology – as widely as possible and as deep within the system as possible – to eliminate petty and low-level corruption.

Let’s bring transparency and simplicity in decision-making with as little room as possible for discretion. Complexity breeds corruption; Opacity in decision-making is a tonic on top of that.

Let’s bring in a smaller government and fewer laws.

Let’s fix the judicial system – so it never again happens that a corruption case against a Union Minister drags on for more than a decade.

And finally, let us bring in swifter consequences. Consequences that tilt the “cost-benefit” balance; consequences that are delivered swiftly and transparently.

I think you get my point.

And I hope next time you catch someone saying this, you will stop them. Right away.

Trust me, Indians are not intrinsically corrupt and we can do better than doing an expose on ourselves. Thank you for reading. Jai Hind, Jai Bharat!

The forgotten story of Kargil’s first hero and a tireless fight for justice..

There are times when words simply flow.. Writing in such moments of extreme lucidity is sheer pleasure..This happened to me last evening. The news that triggered this was one of joy but tinged with a great deal of sadness – and lots of anger too.

This is the forgotten story of Kargil’s first hero and a tireless fight for justice. This is the sad tale of Captain Saurabh Kalia. Some of you may be too young to remember the name and it may fail to ring any bells at all. But the story of Capt. Kalia is a tragic story of a spineless government and an indifferent administration that has managed to keep a wound alive for more than 13 years.

That wound is of Dr Kalia and his family.

My first interaction with Dr Kalia was a truly moving and humbling experience, more than a year back. It was the consequence of a chain email that had found its way in my Inbox. That email left a deep impression on me. I tracked down Dr Kalia’s number and called him. What I heard that day angered me and made me ashamed in equal measure.

It angered me to see and realise the behaviour of a callous administration. It made me ashamed that most of us are silent spectators to the heartless indifference with which we treat most of our brave soldiers who die defending our borders..

The story of Capt Saurabh Kalia is brief but truly horrifying..

“On May 15, Lt Kalia along with five jawans – Sepoys Arjun Ram, Bhanwar Lal Bagaria, Bhika Ram, Moola Ram and Naresh Singh – had gone for a routine patrol of the Bajrang Post in the Kaksar sector when their patrol was captured by the enemy.

They were in their captivity for over twenty-two days and subjected to unprecedented brutal torture..

…The postmortem revealed that the Pakistan army had indulged in the most heinous acts; of burning their bodies with cigarettes, piercing ear-drums with hot rods, puncturing eyes before removing them, breaking most of the teeth and bones, chopping off various limbs and private organs of these soldiers besides inflicting all sorts of physical and mental tortures before shooting them dead, as evidenced by the bullet wound to the temple” [link]

Numerous letters by Capt Kalia’s father and others failed to move the government to pursue the matter in international fora and declare this horrific and brutal treatment of these men as a war crime. In disgust, Dr N K Kalia was forced to say: “I am ashamed of being an Indian. The country has spineless leaders”

Subsequent to my brief call with Dr Kalia, I received a deeply moving reply from him.

His truly heroic and lonely battle inspired me to seek ways in which I could help. That is how I came  in touch with another remarkable soul – the indefatigable Jas Uppal. Jas is better known as the tireless spirit behind the campaign to free Sarabjit Singh and numerous other Indians illegally detained in Pakistan. She has been single-handedly fighting for the cause of Dr Kalia – and numerous others without any assistance from anyone (nor funding). Hers and Dr Kalia’s has been a long and almost thankless fight.

Until yesterday – when the Supreme Court finally admitted a plea by Dr Kalia seeking the Court’s intervention in the matter so that the Union Government takes up his son’s case at the International Court of Justice.

This man who served the country so honourably as a scientist – and whose pain only a parent who has lost a child in the prime of youth can begin to understand – has been reduced to making applications and requesting “help” from the government for his rights and justice. Hopefully this is a turning point in Dr Kalia’s fight for justice.

I would like to end this piece with excerpts from Dr Kalia’s email, which is deeply touching & truly inspiring. I wish it is read and shared by a large number of people, especially youngsters – who may not be aware of the sad history of this case (I have his permission to share this publicly).

“Dear Shantanu Ji, Heartiest aashirvaad. Many grateful thanks for your phone-call & mail.

I often state that losing one Saurabh, though physically only, we got thousands Saurabhs all over the globe. They never let us feel alone even for a moment. The love, respect, honour showered on us by in-numerable persons in last over twelve years is overwhelming. You too are our Saurabh. Over 1.55 lac emails and more than 42,000 hand written letters apart from countless persons visiting or calling from India or abroad vouch for that. Certainly, we would have to take more births to repay all that.

Our sufferings and pains can never exceed to what brutal torture those six valiant sons of Mother India faced for over 3 weeks with Pak army. We get infinite inspiration and strength when we think so. In fact, Saurabh & his men made every Indian proud.

Sacrificing for the Nation is not a new phenomenon. Over thousands of years, to safeguard our motherland & culture, honour of our mothers, sisters & daughters, sacrifices have been made. If we all hesitate to send our sons in army, who would defend theirs honour.

But what happened to these valiant soldiers is totally unacceptable. Personally, I feel it is not the question of Saurabh or his men but the dignity of our all men in armed forces, rather a National issue and this mine crusade would continue till I am alive. It is more shameful and frustrating when men in power promising me to take up this issue with Pak and also at international forums. Unfortunately, these were tall promises. Regretfully, I am fighting the callousness of our own system.

…I am afraid I would achieve anything but this humble endeavour would at least stir the conscience of common Indian and sensitize them. Sadly our Netas are more Internationalists than Nationalists. We have lost the very sense of National Pride, so common in several other Nations.

You please do read the article http://specials.rediff.com/news/2004/jun/07kalia.htm

Kindly visit us whenever convenient to you.  Yours affectionately, N K Kalia”

Please do share this tragic tale of Dr Kalia’s fight for justice with your friends…and please leave a comment here if you can help in any way in this matter..Thanks a lot. Jai Hind, Jai Bharat!