It is common knowledge nowadays that the academic journal industry has largely deteriorated into what can only be termed as a racket. Thousands of journals with shoddy standards have cropped up luring unsuspecting or inept academics and students with the promise of publication.
The Washington Post has an article based on a study conducted by a couple of Swedes on racial intolerance across the world. Te resulting infographic highlights India and Bangladesh as being two of the most racially intolerant places in the world. Then again, seeing Pakistan all in blue is surprising. But seeing as to how this is about racial intolerance rather its religious cousin, perhaps this could be explained.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) apparently already has a team which monitors blogs and social networks such as Facebook and Twitter for stock fraud where manipulators try to influence people to buy certain stocks thereby driving their price up. But it is finding it difficult to perform the same task with Blackberry and WhatsApp messages.
The Indian Express has a rather nostalgic (for some) story on the early days of the Internet in India.
Jaiprakash Associates, aka the Jaypee Group, are recouping some of the Rs. 1800 crores that they invested in the Buddh International Circuit by allowing super-rich amateurs to rent the track out when it's idle.
According to HT, the father has been arrested on charges of endangering the life of a child and allowing a minor to drive, and released upon posting bail of Rs. 5000. The kid's mother is the one filming him.
A story in TOI notes that Airtel has introduced flat roaming charges and free incoming calls across its networks in Africa and South Asia. Even though this currently only appears to cater to its African customers, it's still impressive.
India's very own GPS network, the Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS), appears to be nearing deployment with the first of seven satellites, the IRNSS-1, scheduled to be launched in June on the PSLV-C22.
Datta Phuge of Pimpri Chinchwad, outside Pune, commissioned a gold shirt for himself. The end result weighs 3.3kg, comes with a velvet inner lining, and is unwashable.
Phuge says wearing it makes him feel good. For him it is the ultimate manifestation of achievement and gives him a status he has craved since he was young.
"When I was at college, people would say you were from a rich family if you had gold. So from the age of 20, I started wearing gold. Back then in smaller quantities, like 10 or 15g."
