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Government of India recently introduced a dedicated symbol for its currency (Rupee). Rupee (Rs.) is being used by several other countries including our neighbours Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka & others. So having a dedicated symbol for India becomes necessitated for it to be differentiated from others. Initially I was sceptical about this symbol, considered this to be a publicity effort by the central government and that the symbol has to be accepted by all language speakers in the country. In the last few weeks as I see the growing usage of this in Media and elsewhere, I am convinced that this is a welcome move and it is needed to reinforce India’s growing Economy and its importance in the World stage.
Now the question is how do you start using this in PCs.
- Some companies immediately on government announcement shipped font files containing this character. Two of them (Foradian, Artech) have mapped this symbol to ~ (Tilde character above the Tab key in your keyboard). This is nothing but a Quick ‘n’ Dirty temporary fix. I will not recommend this as it doesn’t provide any interoperability. At the worst it can be used on Presentations and Brochures for display only.
- The proper process for using this character is that Unicode consortium & then ISO have to give it a unique number (location ID in the code-chart), which they have done tentatively in their recent meeting in USA. Department of Information Technology announced that Unicode has allocated U+20B9 location for the new Rupee Symbol unique to India. The existing location of U+20A8 (that displays Rs) will still continue for use by others. Now this has to ratified and published in their upcoming standards document and then Software vendors (Operating System mainly) have to implement this by shipping this Glyph in their default fonts and enabling typing of this character in their Keyboard Inputs. This is the only route to ensure that your documents (Word files, Excel spread sheets or even a webpage) having this character will show up the same in someone else PC.
A company called Foradian Technologies have released here, a free software to type the new Rupee Symbol and display it according to the proposed Unicode location, making this symbol available before it gets Operating System vendor official support.
இன்று தமிழ் ஆசிரியர் திரு.பெ.கி.பிரபாகரன் ஐயா அவர்களைப் பார்த்தப் போது தான் அவரின் தூண்டுதலில் நாங்கள் பதினொன்றாம் வகுப்பில் எடுத்தப் பேட்டி பள்ளி இதழில் வந்தது நினைவிற்கு வந்தது. அதை தேடி எடுத்தேன்.
இப்போது தான் மத்திய அரசில் பெண்கள் இட ஒதுக்கீடு என்று பேசுகிறார்கள், ஆனால் சார்க் நாடுகள் 1991ம் ஆண்டே பெண் குழங்தைகள் ஆண்டாக அறிவித்திருந்தது. இதைப் பற்றி மக்கள் சமுதாயத்திற்காகப் பாடுபடும் நல்லோர்களின் கருத்தையறிய முற்பட்டோம். எங்கள் பள்ளி செயலாளர், முதல்வர், கவிஞர் பொன்னடியான், தாமரைத் திரு ஜெயா அருணாசலம், எழுத்தாளர் அனுராதா ரமணன் ஆகியப்பலரை நாங்கள் நேரில் சென்று பேட்டி எடுத்தோம். அத்தொகுப்பு அந்த ஆண்டு (1991) எங்கள் பள்ளியின் இதழில் (Voice of Vailankanni) வெளிவந்தது. இப்படி ஒரு வலுவான தலைப்பை கொடுத்து கவிஞர்களை, எழுத்தாளர்களை நாங்கள் பயப்படாமல் கேள்விகள் கேட்கவும், அதைத் தெளிவாக எழுதவும் வைத்தவர் ஆசிரியர் திரு.பெ.கி.பிரபாகரன் அவர்கள் தான். எங்களிடம் கொடுத்துவிட்டு அவரே எல்லாவற்றையும் செய்யவில்லை, பேட்டியெடுக்கும் போது எங்களை நம்பி தனியாக தான் விட்டார், நாங்கள் தான் கடைசிவரைக் கட்டுரையை எழுதி முடித்தோம் – இது எல்லாம் இப்போது நினைத்துப் பார்க்கையில் எவ்வளவு சிறந்த வாய்ப்பு, பயிற்சி என்று விளங்குகிறது. அத்தொகுப்பை சுமார் இருபது ஆண்டுகள் கழித்து உங்களுக்காக இப்போது வருடியில்(Scanner) வருடி இங்கே தந்துள்ளேன்.
(முழுக்கட்டுரையும் சுமார் பதினைந்துப் பக்கங்கள்)
Adobe Acrobat (PDF)ஆக தரமிறக்க இங்கே சொடுக்கவும்.
Like any other Indian I was devastated at what happened in Mumbai on 26th Nov 2008. Watching Television over the last 4 days it was a mixed feeling of Anger, Scare, Sorry & Disappointment. I pray for the departed souls to rest in peace and for almighty to give strength to the families that lost their loved ones and for the injured for speedy recovery.
Since lot has been reported about the incident around the world, I was not sure whether I too should be writing about this. Then I decided that every Indian has to raise his/her voice against this atrocity, so here is what I feel on this:
- Indian Political establishment, the government & the intelligence machinery have failed spectacularly once more. There is no point in blaming the present Central or State Government for this, this is a failure of government at all levels over the last two decades – ever since the fall of "Cold War" and the raise of "Global Terrorism"
- Over the decades, time and again Indian Government and Indian Civil Service have shown by their non-action that they don’t value the loss of a life especially of a ordinary Citizen. For them only the lives of Political Party Chiefs, Ministers and their immediate family members lives have any value
- I just can’t come to terms on how easy it was for the Terrorists to come into India without being stopped and how easy it was for them to smuggle huge arms and ammunitions. Does India have any coastal guards and navy worth mentioning?
- I am glad that there was no negotiation or surrender were made. Unlike previous incidents were our government was ready to bend backwards rightaway in the Indian Airlines – Khandagar incident in 1999 or in the Rubaiya (daughter of then India’s Home Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed) incident in 1989. In the Mumbai Incident now, it appears that the security forces were given a free hand to do their job, which they have done
- Though I felt the operation by security forces was very slow, we should commend them for handling it skillfully with no civilian lives lost due to their firing, for not using disproportionate gun power and for capturing one terrorist alive
- I am at loss on why our security forces don’t seem to be taking advantage of technology. For two days they kept saying they don’t know the number of terrorists and where they are inside the buildings. Why didn’t they use any Infra-Red Scanners, Motion Detectors, Satellite Sensors and the other modern fighting gadgets we see the American Armed Forces using skillfully in Iraq?. Does Indian Armed Forces have any of these or just like everything else in Indian Government was the budgets allocated for these swindled by Corruption?
- Without these modern gadgets how does Indian Armed Forces dream about fighting even a conventional battle – with the changing world order wars are fought nowadays in Cities and not in deserts. Are these gadgets too expensive for India to buy, I don’t think so especially when treasury can spent US$14 Billion (INR 70,000 Crores) on the famous farm waivers and for issuing government bonds for subsidizing "Fuel" – both of which yielded Political capital
- Though it is purely symbolic I still welcome the resignation of Central Home Minister Mr.Shivraj Patel
- Though I don’t agree with American & George Bush policies on their International Policies and Iraq War. Still due credit should be given to them for protecting their country (USA) in the last 8 years. After the devastating 9/11 there have been no major Terror Attacks with in the United States. In a sense they skillfully moved the battlefield of the Global war on Terror from being within USA borders to outside USA
- As an Indian, I feel ashamed that we still don’t have any Crisis Management Infrastructure in India as Mr.Ratan Tata rightfully pointed out. We don’t even have the basics like a US "911" helpline in India. I am not sure how many people who got stuck inside the hotels knew who to call for help – I certainly don’t know
- India needs all the help it can get especially from US, Israel and other countries with huge expertise on fighting terror. Now is not the time to trumpet how great Indian Scientist are, or on how great our technology is, or being self-reliant, etc. But I am afraid our civil service will ensure this opportunity is missed to work with the world to our advantage by their outdated bureaucracy. A fine example of this happened today when the FBI was detained for hours in Mumbai Airport
One of my friends sent me a nice email summarizing on what he feels will happen from here which is worth reproducing here on his own words: "I really don’t want any more cries of "Indian resilience", peace and harmony. Indian resilience is nothing but casual indifference if not directly affected. We’ll go back to watching our stupid soaps and reality shows once the real-life "reality show" of the terror attacks are over. A few discussions over dinner and drinks and we’re done. We’re mostly peaceful and harmonious people – but the ones massacring us aren’t. So these kind of displays don’t really do anything. What we need now is a strong government with a strong anti-terror law. One that can have the guts to take out terrorists wherever and whoever they are…Till then, I will remain cynical and angry"
Having said all this I am still an optimist at heart and that is the reason I have a photograph of the NSG team on the start of this post. Finally, I salute the brave men and women from Mumbai Police, National Security Guards & Army who lost their lives in the battle.
Bookmarks:
- Video – NDTV’s Randeep Nandl explaining what an alleged terror suspect may be telling Indian authorities about the planning of the Mumbai attacks
- Attack in India – Summary by NewsWeek, Summary by New York Times
- We’re all Bombayites today by Vir Sanghvi
- BigB on the anger of the ordinary citizen and on complete loss in faith in the system and in the governance
Yesterday was a proud moment for all Indians.It was the placing of Indian tricolour on the Moon’s surface on Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthday. The Indian flag was painted on the sides of Moon Impact Probe (seen above), one of the 11 payloads of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, that successfully hit the lunar surface today at 20:31 hrs (8:31 pm) IST. This is the first Indian built object to reach the surface of the moon. The modern Indian space programme was initiated in 1962 when Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was the Prime Minister of India.
I have been reading in some sections of media where critics are arguing against spending for space programs in a country like India, when much has to be done here for Poverty eradication, Healthcare and Literacy. I don’t see merit in this argument. If you say that space can be explored only when everything is completed in ground then no country can qualify for doing it – ever. I am against arms race and space wars, but scientific space programs are must for a developing nation like India. It has several benefits including Employment, Challenge, Ambition for youngsters without which literacy or poverty eradication becomes meaningless.
What do you think, please post your comments.
Today all FM Radios in Chennai were talking only about the birthday of Dr.ABJ Abdul Kalam – Hon’ble President of India. He is a great self-made man and I am big admirer of him. Born today (15-Oct) makes him a Libran (I do come up with such great discoveries once in a while  ) and it is a great feeling to know I share the same Sun Sign with him.
As a responsible citizen, I casted my vote for the ongoing Localbody elections in Chennai (Tamilnadu). Though localbody elections are not high-profile, they have the most direct impact for citizens.
Last 3+ parliament/assembly elections that I voted have been on Electronic Voting Machines, but I was surprised that today it was paper based. May be they don’t have so many voting machines.
India Image is a portal to access all of Government of India websites.
I always admire Dr. A.B.J. Abdul Kalam, especially in his role as President of India. The admiration is more because he is a worthy man of the post and he got there through sheer hard-work and not by birth. I am also glad for him being the President, because with him all Indians now have a worthy role-model. Think about it, today if I were to show someone in public-life as a role-model (someone to see up to and grow like) to my 3 year old son, it certainly cannot be any of the existing Politicians (State and Central). Beyond a shade of doubt, it can only be Dr.Abdul Kalam.
And he is a big change influencer, but he doesn’t try to change the grown-ups (he will not have the time to do it in his tenure) but he seeds good-thoughts and nurtures the young who in turn will grow to make the changes. His interest and energy for students is infectious. I salute you Sir for this.
Anyways, I started this post to write that the President’s Website has recorded 1 Million (10 Lakhs) hits on a single day (August 15) and over 12.7 Million (127 Lakhs) hits in a month (August 2006). Indians are very patriotic especially on the Independence day, I suppose!.
As I wrote yesterday today is Tamilnadu State Elections and in the first hour of polling itself I voted. Polling booth opens at 7AM and if you go in the early hours, though there will be little crowd you can feel the excitement. So this is my preferred time to vote.
Since I have made up my mind last night itself, I just saw the chart outside for the number of my choice, then quickly spotted the number in the EVM (Electronic Voting Machine) and registered my choice.
[You can see above my Voting Mark. EC marks a line rather than a dot this time]
One of the things I am proud of being an Indian is the vibrant Indian Democracy and Elections. We have enough problems which can serve as good reasons and excuses for not conducting free and fair elections. But in the 58+ years of independence one of the institutions which are living up to the founding fathers dreams is “Election Commission”. This is an autonomous body with guaranteed funding and rights from Indian Constitution. In the last decade, with the path shown by a dynamic Chief Election Commissioner T.N.Seshan, the commission has achieved new heights in its efforts to guarantee free and fair elections. Though there are few anomalies reported like in every election – those are statistically and operationally insignificant for a country with 1.2 Billion People. For more on EC read my earlier post “Need help in Elections? Come to India”
Anyways, coming to the topic – the Tamilnadu State Election which is happening tomorrow May 8, 2006. The election is for electing 234 MLAs for the state assembly. Tamilnadu has been always decisive in its mandate, never an hung assembly has come here. This surprises me on how the people of the state come up with this united mandate every time – this is despite the state having a good percentage of illiterate voters, no serious issue based discussions, only personal accusations and personality based parties. This time the competition is said to be still tougher and my decision has been tough. But with few hours to go to the polling booth I seem to have made up my mind. Let us see whether I remain unchanged when I press the button
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