Thursday, October 13, 2005

A Very Rare Map representation of India till 1882.

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Religions and God

Although this is true that religion is the integral part of our life or we can say it as human existence. But while chatting with one of my friend I got to know some thing called Taoism and then to capitalized my time over here in the project I started reading books and article related to religion apart from technical books and article (Its my Hobby). Some of the research work which I am able to explore describes different religions in term of God or Baghwan or Iswar or Allaha etc what ever u call it i will call it Almighty (Not of movie :) ) except for some of them, after all exception are every where.
Human psychology insist every human being to accept the existence of the creator, unless he has been conditioned to believe the contrary . I am ready to bet on that 97% of the human in the world believe in the existence of creator be it scientist, astronaut , doctor , computer professional or be a psycho too. Hence I can conclude that believing in god requires no reason or proofs while rejection of god does. I am also trying to do the depth study of religions one by one but here again if almighty will allow me and support to do it. :)

Some of the research papers broadly categorized the religions of this planet into two categories .
Semitic
Non-Semitic
Here Semitic word is derived from the name of one of the character of holy Bible Shem considered to be son of Prophet Noah. Descendents of Shem are known as Semites. Hence the Semitic religion are the religions that originated among Jews, Arabs, Assyrians, Phoenicians, etc. Major religion in this category are Judaism, Christianity, Islam,
Also known as prophetic religion that believe in divine guidance given by prophet of God.

Non -Semitic religions are further sub divided in to two more category
  1. Aryans
  2. Non-Aryans
Aryan Religions
Named on the community or race consist of powerful group of Indo-European speaking people that spread through Iran and Northern India in the first half of the second Millennium BC (2000 to 1500 BC). Almost all of the major Aryan religions are non-prophetic religions.
It is further divided into two major categories
  1. Vedic
  2. Non-Vedic
Vedic religion is given the misnomer of Hinduism or Brahmanism. While most popular non Vedic religions are Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism(Parsiism) etc

Non-Aryan
Religions have diverse origins. Like Confucianism and Taoism are of Chinese origin while Shintoism is of Japanese origin and do not have a concept of God. Some critics refer them as ethical system rather than as religions.

Confucianism moral and religious system of China is also considered to be agnostic religion and do not comment on God.

Taoism refers both to a Chinese system of thought and to one of the four major religions of China and do not have a concept of God. Tao means the way or path. Taoism has had a significant influence world-wide: in many Western societies it can be seen in acupuncture, herbalist, holistic medicine, meditation, martial arts, Feng Shui and Tai Chi .

Aryan Vedic :
Hinduism
is an assortment of religious beliefs, most of whom are based on Vedas and Upanishads. It is commonly perceived as a polytheistic religion. Some believe in the system of three Super Powers some believe in the existence of 33crore i.e. 330 million Gods. However learned Hindus who are well versed with their scriptures insist that a Hindu should believe in only one God. But then what is 330million ?

Its very simple as per the Hindu believes every thing is god (God is present in) be it tree, sun, moon, animals or even U and me . And as per believe their is 330 million creatures are in planet hence if every thing is god then 330 million gods are their.
Second believe of 3 super powers are considered to be the attributes of god; Creator, Sustainer and Destroyer (Brahma, Vishnu & Mahesh), originated from the null (sunya or Zero or Null ) called "OM" (its nothing but only a sound ) means god attributes originated from sound. ( In scientific term I can explain it with an example of nucleus of an atom. So their is different attributes of atom its an creator , its an sustainer its and destroyer too but its self existence is nill ie Zero its an totally different matter of fact, what it creates, what it sustain and what it destroy.) That's why in yoga this sound has a very special significance. I don't know how you will take it. But its an believe of millions of Hindus and mine too. Their is thousand of other believes too but most of them at last conclude in these two believes only. Hinduism believe in the doctrine of incarnation (Avtars).

Aryan Non Vedic:
Sikhism:
Its an non Vedic religion but considered to be the offshoot or branch of Hinduism founded by Guru Nanak at the end of the 15th Century originated in the area of Pakistan and northwest India called Punjab meaning the land of 5 rivers. GuruNanak was born in warrior cast of Hindu family but was very strongly influenced by Islam. Sikh word is derived from the word Sisya meaning follower. Its an religion of 10 Gurus (Teachers). The sacred book of Sikhism is Sri Guru Granth also called Adi Granth Sahib. In this religious believe their is one supreme god who is in the unmanifest form called "OM" and having several attributes. While Sikhism does not believe in incarnation means god does not incarnate himself in what is known as avatar. Also idol worship is strongly against this religion.

Buddhism is considered to be agnostic religion and do not comment on God . In the religion its neither confirm nor deny the existence of God. But I know most of the Buddhism followers believe in existence of almighty. This religion and philosophy founded in India c.525 B.C. by Siddhartha Gautama, called the Buddha. There are over 300 million Buddhists worldwide. One of the great world religions, it is divided into two main schools: the Theravada or Hinayana in Sri Lanka and SE Asia, and the Mahayana in China, Mongolia, Korea, and Japan. A third school, the Vajrayana, has a long tradition in Tibet and Japan. Buddhism has largely disappeared from its country of origin, India.

Jainism is considered to atheistic religion which do not believe in the existence of God. Being an ascetic religion of India, that teaches the immortality and transmigration of the soul and denies the existence of a perfect or supreme being. Arose in the 6th cent. B.C. as protests against the overdeveloped ritualism of Hinduism , particularly its sacrificial cults, and the authority of the Veda. Jain tradition teaches that a succession of 24 tirthankaras (saints) originated the religion. The last, Vardhamana, called Mahavira [the great hero] and Jina [the victor], seems to be historical. He preached a rigid asceticism and solicitude for all life as a means of escaping the cycle of rebirth, or the transmigration of soul. Thus released from the rule of karma, the total consequences of past acts, the soul attains nirvana , and hence salvation. Mahavira organized a brotherhood of monks, who took vows of celibacy, nudity, self-mortification, and fasting. Since the 1st cent. A.D., when a schism developed over the issue of nudity, there have been two great divisions of Jains, the Digambaras [space-clothed, i.e., naked] and the Svetambaras [white-clothed]. Jainists, then as now, accumulate merit through charity, through good works, and in occasional monastic retreat.

Zoroastrianism (Parsiism) is an ancient Aryan religion originated in Persia more that 2500 years ago. Though it has relatively few adherents, less that one hundred and thirty thousand in the whole world, The Iranian prophet Zoroaster was the founder of Zoroastrianism. The scared scripture of parsis is the Dasatir and Avesta.

Semitic
Judaism is one of the major Semitic religions. Its followers are known as Jews and they believe in the prophetic mission of Prophet Moses. That's what I am able to explore so far.

Christianity and Islam: They are almost same only way of seeing things different . Both religion believe in the one supreme power . Both of the religions believes in the existence of Jesus. Difference is that in Islam its believed that Jesus was one of the mightiest messenger of god while Christian believes in divinity of Jesus. In Islam it is a believe that Holy Quran has word of God revealed to Prophet Mohammed. Also Idiol worship is strictly prohibated. As per islamic belives every thing is of god's be it tree, animals, human, sun, and moon.

Saturday, October 01, 2005

IT export of India


One of my college always state that the India software export is only 2% of its all export and crib that Indian government is not doing any thing for its other export (agriculture according to him) which are the core of export. His cribbing and criticism enforced me to collect some vital statistics and know the truth. Why in country so much hype for software export sorry its better to say IT export . This small research help me to collect some of the information which are mind blowing . Like to share some of these information with u people so that some misconceptions and elegation will be removed. I agree the statistics are not every thing but still it is some thing. Proof is below.

Starting from Union budget 2003-2004 section 1.44 India continues to make progress on export-oriented production in electronics and computer technology. Software exports have grown at a compound growth rate of over 50 percent per year for the last five years. (unfortunatly our gov is not able to understand that its not software export but its and combined IT export hopefully they are able to correct it in next budget) So if government is concentrating more in this sector whats the harm . It doesnt mean that putting so much efforts in this sector makes them sleep for other sector.

As per the report published on 4th July 2005 India's merchandise exports have almost doubled in the last three years to $80 billion, and exports of software/IT-enabled services have almost tripled to $17.2 billion. which shows that the software/IT-enabled export is not 2% while its approx 21%. Might be he has some wrong data or some calculation mistake. It might be 2% once upon a time. Some other statistics which I am able to consolidate are as.

As per one of the prediction report published by McKinsey
India started exporting software in 1983 is expected to touch an envious $ 50 billion figure in 2008. India whose export earnings from all sources totalled $ 36 billion till recently will be able to boost its total exports to $ 260 billion in 2008, 35 per cent of it from the IT related exports.

Other key findings of this report are:

  1. Software & Services will contribute over 7.5 % of the overall GDP growth of India
  2. Total annual turnover of IT Industry is $ 87 Billion (Internal + export)
  3. IT Exports will account for 35% of the total exports from India
  4. Potential for 2.2 million jobs in IT by 2008
  5. IT industry will attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of U.S. $ 4-5 billion
  6. Market capitalization of IT shares will be around U.S. $ 225 billion

India started IT related exports as early as 1984, the Indian IT industry remained in red till 1993. The first and only one multinational company, Texas Instruments, came to India in 1986. The year 1993 could be called a turning point for the Indian IT industry when the software exports crossed the $ 330 million figure, over six-fold that of $ 52 million in 1987. It was also the year when the US MNCs flocked to India in gangs to reap the profit.

A very interesting statistics is present in BREAK-UP OF PROJECTED $ 87 BILLION IT INDUSTRY

  • IT Services -$ 39 Billion- 45%
  • Software Products -$20 Billion- 23%
  • IT Enabled Services (BPO) -$ 19 Billion- 21%
  • e-Business -$ 10 Billion -11%

So what would you think so called software developers and software consultants. 80% of us who is working in software usually see IT Enabled Services (BPO) with some other angle which is competeting while IT Services (Support centers or maintenance project ) will be the leading the export economy.

This is the fact that fastest-growing export sector is the outsourcing of business services called BPO (business process outsourcing) or ITES (information technology enabled services). These span a huge range of services from simple call-centres to engineering and R&D services. They are growing so rapidly that one day they will surely overhaul software exports. In 2004-05, computer software exports rose 30.4 %, but service outsourcing exports rose even faster by 44.4 %.

Indian software giants like TCS, Infosys and Wipro are India's biggest exporters. Yet, foreign companies now account for 30 per cent to 35 per cent of software exports. Every big name in the world has opened an Indian unit, from Microsoft to Oracle to SAP. Here again, what look like Indian exports are also the internal trade of MNCs.

What is not so well known is that two-thirds of our outsourcing exports come from captive Indian units of multinational corporations. The entire industry was kick-started by General Electric, and others followed. So, India's most dynamic export sector is not Indian at all but foreign-owned. In official economic terms, such service exports are Indian exports. But in pure business terms, they are the internal trade of MNCs.

This shows that globalisation is not a zero sum game, in which the gains of one side are the losses of the other side. Both sides gain. There are some short-term losers in the US whose jobs travel to India. But US living standards rise only because workers are constantly forced out of lower-productivity jobs into higher-productivity ones. Every year, the US destroys 32 million jobs and creates 32.5 million jobs. The net result is a richer, more productive USA.