Digital Library of India

In early 2000, the Union Government initiated a unique project to establish the Digital Library of India (DLI). Its vision was to create a digital collection of rare books sourced from libraries in different parts of the country and make them accessible as a free online resource for research, study and of course archiving and documenting.

As a first step towards creating the DLI, a collection of one million books on a variety of subjects, including literature, science, art, culture and music were to be digitized and listed in a searchable catalogue. The project later passed into the hands of the ministry of communications and information technology. The DLI houses several rare books and publications on music in many Indian Languages, including Hindi, Urdu, Marathi, Gujarati, and Bengali. Researchers and collectors can access these at their convenience and even download and store for future reference.

The DLI also contains a scan of Musicians I Have Met by S.K. Chaubey, published in 1958 by the publications division of Uttar Pradesh information department, consisting of “pen portraits” of some of the outstanding names of in the world of Hindustani classical music. Along with several articles on music, it contains fascinating reports filed by correspondents of leading publications.

Till recently, these and thousands of other rare books could be accessed only if an intrepid researcher was willing to crawl into dusty libraries, sometimes fenced in by all manner of often unreasonable rules and red tape. Free access to DLI makes it easier and welcoming for readers and researchers. The programme in two parts, consisted of a first segment featuring presentations of instrumental music by members of Samaj, followed by a second segment of vocal music rendered by schoolchildren.

Liberalism in India

The recent incident near Delhi where a Muslim man was lynched to death on suspicion of eating and storing beef has once again underlined the lack of liberal values in our country. It is likely that the mob that carried this vigilante action was confident of escaping punishment for its actions. After all, perpetrators of many communal riots have not been punished till date in the country.

Such facts stand in sharp contrast to the fact that India is among a handful of developing countries that has maintained its track record of having free and fair elections since Independence. There can be one possible answer and it’s between two kinds of democracies. Electoral democracies can guarantee the first two sets of rights, but only a liberal democracy would ensure that civil rights are honored as well.

Chances of emergence of a liberal democracy in a country depend on the nature of dominant cleavages in the social mobilization that ushered in democracy whether it was class based or identity based. While the majority would like to transition to electoral democracy as it gives them control over policies such as taxation and provision of public goods, it might not always be interested in liberalism. This is because the majority stands to increase its gain by denying civil rights to the minority once it has captured political power through universal suffrage in an electoral democracy.

The reason why countries of Western Europe have liberal democracies is because liberalism, a product of events such as Protestant reformation and resultant acceptance of ideas of tolerance and equality despite religion, preceded a democratic transition. In contrast to this, democratic transition in most developing countries was achieved after an anti-colonial struggle in which identity rather than class occupied center stage. Liberalism must have political legs in addition to normative appeal.

Ruthless Leaders of all Time

There have been cruel leaders at all times and ages, but the ruthlessness of these leaders surpass all in human history. One man’s hero is another man’s tyrant, a popular maxim goes. No matter how a historian tries to spin it, ordering a tower to be constructed out of live men stacked and cemented together with bricks and mortar is downright brutal. Here are some of the brutal leaders of past time.

Attila the Hun, after killing his brother, Attila became the leader of the Hunnic Empire, centered in Hungary. He expanded the empire to Germany, Russia, Ukraine, and the Balkans. There, where I have passed, the grass will never grow gain, he remarked on his reign. Genghis Khan, he had spent his time as a slave during his teenage years before he united the Mongol Tribes and went on to conquer a huge part of Central Asia and China. His style is characterized as Brutal and historians say he slaughtered civilians.

Timur led military campaigns through a large part of western Asia including modern Iran and Syria. In Afghanistan he ordered the construction of a tower made out of living men, one stacked on top of another and cemented together. He also ordered a massacre to punish a rebellion and had 70,000 heads built up into minarets. Joseph Stalin, forced quick industrialization and collectivization in the 1930s that coincided with mass starvation, the imprisonment of millions of people in labor camps, and the ‘Great Purge’ of the intelligentsia, the government and the armed forces.

Queen Mary I, the only child of the King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, Mary I became queen of England in 1553 and soon reinstalled Catholicism as the main religion and married Philip II of Spain. Over the next few years, hundreds of Protestants were burned at the stake and for that she earned the nickname ‘Bloody Mary’. Vladimir Lenin, in 1917 he led the October revolution to overturn the provisional government that had overthrown the czar. During this period of revolution, war and famine, Lenin demonstrated a chilling disregard for the sufferings of his fellow countrymen and mercilessly crushed any opposition.

Adolf Hitler, German third Reich Empire included almost every country in Europe plus a large part of North Africa. He devised a plan to create his ideal ‘master race’ by eliminating Jews, Slavs, gypsies, homosexuals, and political opponents by forcefully sending them to concentration camps, where they were tortured to death. Nazis killed about 11 Million people under Hitler’s regime. Mao Zedong, under the communist leader, industry and agriculture was put under state control in China. Any opposition was swiftly suppressed. Mao’s supporters point out that he modernized China. Others point out that his policies led to the deaths of 40 Million people through starvation, forced labor and executions.

Idi Amin overthrew an elected government in Uganda via a military coup and declared himself as president. He then ruthlessly ruled for eight years, during which an estimated 300,000 civilians were massacred. He also drove out Uganda Asian population and spent large amounts on the Military, both of which led to the country economic decline. Augusto Pinochet overthrew Chile’s government in 1973 with the help of a US backed coup. Numerous people disappeared under the regime and 35,000 were tortured. Pinochet died before he could stand trial on accusations of human rights abuses. All people in article are rulers prior to 1980. No living figures are included.

Eight Technical Moguls without a Degree

In India, parents and most children give top priority to education. However, what the world of tech entrepreneurs has taught us is that one always need not have the best of education to become a millionaire. There have been numerous examples in the field of technology where geeks have managed to develop something new and taken the world by storm.

The best examples are Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg who never finished their education and dropped out of the best universities to start their companies to make not just Millions, but Billions of Dollars. Here are eight tech heads who are doing exceptionally well without a degree. Steve Jobs, dropping out at the age of 19, he made what Apple is today. Sadly cancer got the best of him, but then never stopped him to create the iPod and then the iPhone, till finally he gave up to the illness.

Bill Gates, the richest man in the world dropped out of college at the age of 20 and made Microsoft a leading PC and laptop OS brand. Michael Dell, left college at the age of 19 and worked his way to make a brand, which has supplied everything from Desktops to servers to the world. Evan Williams, left education when he was just 20 and worked hard to make billions of dollars, and a web social platform (Twitter) loved by all.

Travis Kalanick, Uber founder dropped out of college at the age of 21. Uber is not just a concept available in USA. Countries like India and Australia also have Uber. People do not call for a taxi or cab now; they call for an Uber and Travis. Larry Ellison shifted his focus from education to work when he was just 20. He successfully runs Oracle and also is as billionaire. Jan Koum dropped out of college at the age of 21 and founded Whatsapp. Mark Zuckerberg, the billionaire dropped out of college at the age of 21 and made the biggest social network in the form of Facebook.