A chat with Chief Mentor of Infosys, Mr. Narayana Murthy (10th Sept 2007)

This is a transcript of a chat session with Chief Metor of Infosys, Mr. Narayanamurthy (10th Sept 2007) on Indiatimes Chat.

Infosys Technologies Limited (BSE: 500209, NASDAQ: INFY) is a multinational information technology services company headquartered in Bangalore, India. It operates nine development centers in India and has over 30 offices worldwide. Infosys’ annual revenues for the fiscal year 2006-2007 exceeded US$3.1 billion with a market capitalization of over US$30 billion. Infosys’ income was at Rs. 3,773 crore ($920 million) and net profit was at Rs. 1,079 crore ($263 million) for the quarter ended June 30, 2007. Infosys and its subsidiaries employ over 75,971 professionals (as of June 30, 2007) worldwide and it is one of India’s largest IT companies.

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Q : Respected Mr Murthy, during the end of the 90’s how did you market your software and services abroad? I assume during that time neither India nor Infosys was popular in the West as a reliable IT resource. What was the strategy that you adopted?

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  We kept in mind that we were starting out. So we did not have any big plans in mind. That is how we managed to keep it going

Q : Don’t you think we are taking China and other emerging nations too lightly as far as IT sector is concerned? Should we need to take steps that will continue to lure foreign companies to India?

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  I believe we should take every one of our competitors and potential competitors seriously. This we can do by enhancing our infrastructure including the education infrastructure and creating an environment of warmth for our customers and prospects.

Q: By recruiting talent who are not necessarily from IT background by attracting them with good salary packages, don’t you think the IT sector is weaning rest of the industry sectors from much required resource supply?

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  Yes, I agree with you. However, the solution is to produce more and more engineers in every sector of the economy so that there will be enough talent not just for IT, but all other branches of engineering

Q: Sir, I agree that, as a Software Service Provider like Infosys, you have compulsion with the clients you are working with for not to develop products competing with the clients. But, How long one can run a service company. Is it not a good idea to have a product which can be proudly labelled as “Made in India” or “Made by Infosys”. What is holding back you or any software services industry.

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  We already have Finacle. The no 1 banking product in India. This has been installed in 35 Plus countries. As we move forward, based on our preparedness, we will definitely look at your suggestions for products in other areas.

Q: Respected sir my question is that if someone is having enough knowledge of sales and marketing is it necessary having an MBA degree for having a job in a reputed form like Infosys..?

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  Not necessary. In fact, out of the 70,000 or so employees at Infosys, not more than 7,000 would be MBAs

Q: Hello Sir, Software majors like Infosys are recruiting thousands of people every year . Don’t you feel, with such a large workforce, there is a fear of stagnation as far as career of an individual is concerned. Also due to the number of people leaving the company every year , which is not ideal

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  We recruit people based on the market needs and our ability to sustain productive employment for these people for a certain number of years. While attrition is clearly an issue, I accept the dream and aspiration of every young man and woman to better their prospects wherever they want. every person that has been an Infoscion even for a short period will always remain our friend and is most welcome to come back or visit us for a lunch or a coffee.

Q: Hello Sir, Software major like Infosys are recruiting thousands of people every year . Don’t you feel, with such a large workforce, there is a fear of stagnation as far as career of an individual is concerned. Also due to the number of people leaving the company every year , which is not ideal

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  We recruit people based on the market needs and our ability to sustain productive employment for these people for a certain number of years. While attrition is clearly an issue, I accept the dream and aspiration of every young man and woman to better their prospects wherever they want. every person that has been an Infoscion even for a short period will always remain our friend.

Q: You took 26 years to built a company like Infosys what it now. What should I do to build a company like this in 8 to 10 years time.

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  Work harder, smarter and have solutions that have better business value to the customer than we did.

Q: Hello sir…I m student of textile engineering and want to switch 2 software…what d u advise me 2 do????

Ans : As long as you have algorithmic thinking and are strong in logic, you can always become a good software engineer.

Q : Which is your favourite author ? Any book you consider crucial in your success?

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  I read popular physics and popular mathematics for my recreational purposes. Clearly, Feynman lectures trilogy is my favourite book. I frankly can’t think of any book that I can point to as my business experience.

Q : Among new entrepreneurs who have impresses you

Ans : Certainly I think Sunil Mittal, then Kishore Biyani, the founders of Onmobile, have all impressed me.

Q : Respected sir, please define the vision of India for coming five years on economic front?

Ans : Our challenge will have to be to provide basic education, healthcare, nutrition and shelter to every Indian child.

Q: Dear Sir, I am a 4th year student at IIT Kanpur in the Computer Science Department. Many here believe Indian Industry requires only technicians and not IITians. DO you think Indian industry requires IITians? Where and as who?

Ans : In Infosys we believe that software engineering is extremely crucial to our success. Hence, IITians are very important for the success of this industry.

Q: Hi, I am the owner of a small technology firms, whets the best way to grow on in business when you have limited resources and maximum opportunities and how one can balance all of this to build a sustainable growth part.?

Ans : Focus on an idea that is simple in business value to the customer, create a team of complementary strengths and common value system and make sure that you work hard and smart.

Q : Dear Sir, What measure do you suggest to improve the quality of Software engineers (freshers)?.Since quite a few times it is said that the freshers are not upto the mark

Ans : Focus on algorithmic thinking, generic learnability, discipline and hard work

Q : Dear Mr Murthy, A lot has been written and said about the success of Infosys. I am sure there would have been incidents and obstacles, Infosys as a company and you as one of the founder members would have faced. Can you please share one such incident?

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  It took us more than a year to get a telephone connection in 1982 and we lost a huge project because of that.

Q : Do you think, by any means, that the corruption in India can be lowered down in near future?

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  Only if we have enhance transparency and if we our leaders lead by example.

Q : Mr Murthy, can you please write an article informing people how to raise kids? I want my daughter to be good in whatever she does but then your experience will be very valuable to raise her.

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  Probably, my wife should write it since she has been responsible for raising both the kids with a good value system.

Q : India is officially, centrally known as IT centre of world. Why doesn’t India invest in creative fields like MEMS, semiconductor which need good brains (which we already have) and which will add thousands of opportunities to upcoming talent in India.

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  I have discussed this issue with Dr Murli Manohar Joshi as well as with Dr Manmohan Singh. It is our PM who has to take this decision.

Q : Dear Sir. I am very happy to see you in the forum. You are the role module of young people. My question is “what are the steps do u taken to bring rural educated people to come main stream. They have all the quality except English. so what your steps to comedown this problem.

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  I am very happy that Karnataka government has started a finishing school for qualified candidates who are weak in English. Similarly, Infosys has conducted special camps for rural youngsters to help them with English. We have to scale this up.

Q : Dear NRN, 1. How do you see Infosys growing from where it is currently with the change in leadership? With a management structure in place along with business units across key vertical and IBUs, what do you see would be the role of the CEO, COO, CFO, CHRO

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  As we move forward, there will be more and more decentralisation of power and each IBU should be run as an independent unit with its own balance sheet and P

Q : what will be the next big revolution just as IT

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  I believe it will be clearly Bio-technology, nano-technology and embedded systems as applied to appliance computing.

Q : In Infosys, What do you do when you have to make a hard decision?

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  We sit, discuss and debate for a fixed amount of time and then the leader takes the decision after considering all points of view.

Q : what’s your opinion on e governance

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  E governance is extremely important for a poor country like India since it enhances transparency, reduced corruption, improves efficiency of governmental services.

Q : When compared to other industries why are It people paid more?

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  In the free market philosophy, whoever demand exceed supply, prices go up. That is the reason.

Q : CAN YOU PLEASE ANSWER MY QUESTION ON HOW YOU STARTED INFOSYS?

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  I have always wanted to be an entrepreneur ever since I spent some time in Europe. So, in December 1980, I decided to take a plunge and that is when one of my colleagues wanted to join me and I invited 5 other youngsters. That is how Infosys was born.

Q : Will opening offices in China by some Indian IT companies, affect the progress of India?

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  Not really, because, at this point of time, the market opportunity is enough to leverage the talent of both India and China.

Q : Respected Sir, in your opinion what was Infosys’s greatest moment till date?

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  There are many, like getting listed on NASDAQ as the first Indian company, our first customer, our first campus, initiating our stock option plan, etc.

Q : How can senior IT professionals , opting for VRS , contribute for upliftment of IT in India?

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  By participating in enhancing IT literacy in their own cities or towns, particularly for children from the poorer sections of society.

Q : Many of highly talented Indian engineers are going abroad for better jobs. What can be done to retain them in India?

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  First of all, I believe that a certain percentage of our youngsters must go abroad, contribute to those societies and conduct themselves as model citizens of those societies. This will enhance the image of India. On the issue of attracting them back, we have to create an environment where it is easy for them to commute to their offices. It is easy for them to send their children to good schools and it is easy for them to lead a decent quality of life.

Q : Was there any time in life when you felt that you will not be able to achieve your goal ??

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  There have been many times. For example, when we were refused loan to import a computer, when it would take us 12 to 14 days to get permission to travel abroad, when we could not get telephone lines even after a year and lost a huge project, etc.

Q : Mr. Narayan Murthy, when you along with a handful of your colleagues started work in one small house in Koramangla did you have any idea or confidence that one day you would attain and achieve what you have achieved today for yourself and the county.

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  Not really. However, right from day one, we focussed on receiving more and more respect from everyone of the stake holders. I believe that we are moving along reasonably well on that target.

Q : do you think that the demand for IT still remain for at least 20 years

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  I believe that the world is still in its early stage in leveraging the power of IT, particularly when you consider two thirds the population of this world (in the developing world) has not at all leveraged the power of IT.

Q : How would you explain the wide divide(in basic facilities available, like roads/education/electricity etc) that exists between urban and rural areas or even between states in India when if you see countries like US, even the smallest of village at least has basic amenities?

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  It is just that in a developing country like India, our resources are limited and we have used outdated ideas and shibboleths. The day our leaders realise the importance of entrepreneurship and creation of jobs, and the power of entrepreneurship in creating infrastructure, I believe we will sort this problem.

Q : what is your opinion on the sustainability of the GDP growth in India and what is the perceived contribution from IT Sector

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  I believe that we can continue to grow at 9 to 10 per cent for at least 20 years since China has done it for the last 20 years. At this point of time, the IT sector contributes about 4 to 5 per cent of the GDP. I believe that we can take it to about 10 per cent if we work hard.

Q : You took 26 years to built a company like Infosys what it now. What should I do to build a company like this in 8 to 10 years time. To make this possible I need more input (tips) from you sir.

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  Openness to new ideas, meritocracy, speed, imagination and excellence in execution will help you progress faster than Infosys.

Q : Do you hate people who make spelling mistakes

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  I do, however, I am not used to typing so fast.

Q : Driven by values is your slogan. What are these values????

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  Focus on the customer, leadership by example, integrity and transparency, fairness and excellence in execution.

Q : am a fresher……should I get experience to become an entrepreneur

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  If you have a clear idea which adds business value to the market, then you don’t need an experience because entrepreneurship is all about a powerful idea, a team with complementary strengths, an enduring value system, passion, commitment and sacrifice and finally a great dream.

Q : Sir, who thought of the name Infosys… and Why Infosys??

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  I must confess that I thought of the name Infosys. Infosys is the acronym for Information Systems, which is our business.

Q : Dear Sir, Your opinion on software professionals who are changing companies very often for better position/Increment in their salary/Higher role etc?

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  I believe that it is the right of every individual to choose the organisation that he or she wants to work for.

Q : Sir – Do you see any mergers/consolidations happening between the various Indian IT services and Solution companies in near future?

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  I do not have a crystal ball. However, it is difficult to imagine the big 3 coming together.

Q : Sir, what did you mean when you recently said that we need to boost productivity to cut the losses that IT companies are incurring because of the appreciating rupee?

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  What I meant was we have to enhance our work productivity, which means we have to increase our revenues with the same number of staff by doing more work in the same time period.

Q : What is your advice to women entrepreneurs in the IT industry?

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  I believe that we in India have to encourage women entrepreneurs much more than we have done. This requires policies that are beneficial to women and that help women become entrepreneurs while discharging important duties as mothers.

Q : How much of a threat is rupee appreciation vis-a-vis dollar in the long term for IT industry in India?

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  I do not believe in the Dollar Rupee exchange rate as a threat because this is a macroeconomic factor and no individual company can control it. Why worry about an issue over which we have no control, while we have hundreds of issues that we have to solve and over which we have control.

Q : What is your opinion on H1B visa limit for Indian candidates?

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  This is an issue on which only the US government and the citizens of US can comment. We, the Indian companies have to grow our businesses successfully while operating under whatever constraints exist in our market place.

Mr. Narayana Murthy:  Folks, it has been wonderful participating in this chat. I am extremely grateful to all of you and to my friend Mr Rajesh Kalra for this extraordinary opportunity. I will sign off now. Thank you.

CSS Rounded Corners without using Images

This post was not originally written my me… this is by my friend. Thanks to her. 

I was working on XHTML + CSS for few days and I really got fed up in using Images for rounded corners.The image size will be fixed and if I try to add more contents it will come out of the image.Or else two images should be used so that the content will fit to the image.But I was not satisfied in using two images.I referred a lot of tutorials but no where I got a solution in creating a rounded corners only using CSS without the help of Javascript and without using images.I tried,tried a lot and atlast got succeeded .The idea may be so simple(b’coz even I am a fresher).Anyway,here’s the code.

HTML Code
<div>
<b class="roundedcornerobj">
<b class="roundedcornerobj1"><b></b></b>
<b class="roundedcornerobj2"><b></b></b>
<b class="roundedcornerobj3"><b></b></b>
<b class="roundedcornerobj4"><b></b></b>
<b class="roundedcornerobj5"></b></b>
<div id="maindiv" class="roundedcornerobjbg">
Sample Rounded Corners<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
</div>
<b class="roundedcornerobj">
<b class="roundedcornerobj5"></b>
<b class="roundedcornerobj4"></b>
<b class="roundedcornerobj3"></b>
<b class="roundedcornerobj2"><b></b></b>
<b class="roundedcornerobj1"><b></b></b></b>
</div>

CSS

.roundedcornerobj *
{
display:block;
height:2px;
overflow:hidden;
font-size:.01em;
background:black
}
.roundedcornerobj1
{
margin-left:4px;
margin-right:4px;
padding-left:11px;
padding-right:11px;
border-left:1px solid aqua;
border-right:1px solid aqua;
background:aqua
}
.roundedcornerobj2
{
margin-left:2px;
margin-right:2px;
padding-right:5px;
padding-left:5px;
border-left:5px solid yellow;
border-right:5px solid yellow;
background:yellow
}
.roundedcornerobj3
{
margin-left:1px;
margin-right:1px;
border-left:5px solid orange;
border-right:5px solid orange;
}
.roundedcornerobj4
{
border-left:5px solid maroon;
border-right:5px solid maroon
}
.roundedcornerobj5
{
border-left:5px solid red;
border-right:5px solid red
}

.roundedcornerobjbg
{
background:pink
}

The above class denotes the “Center Part”.

As you all know <b> is used to display the text in bold.If we use any other tags like <p>
or <div> there will be a gap between one element and the other.We can avoid that but the
code will be more lengthy and confusing.Did you notice something in the HTML code?The <b>tags used next to the “main div” is in the reverse order(except the first <b> tag) of the <b> tag which is above the “maindiv”.You will be able to understand why that is done, by seeing the image below.In order to differentiate the usage of each <b> tag I have used multiple colors.The result will look like this.(Please view the full image)

Hope you understood now.But the color combination looks so stupid rite???Ok,let me give the same color for all.Then it will look like this.

Hope this tutorial gives you some idea on “How to make Rounded Corners without using Images”.Will come up with more tutorials in the upcoming blogs.

@Experts–Please pardon me if anything is wrong.Also share your views.

Google vs Sicko: PART 2

Finally an explanation… for this by Google Health Advertising Blog.

1. “Well, I’ve learned a few things since I posted on Friday. For one thing, even though this is a new blog, we have readers! That’s a good thing.” I could bet that almost 99% of the readers arrived at your blog not for any business interest, but to see for themselves whether its true that such a post actually exists.

2. Hey, its not company opinion, its a personal opinion. Well if it was supposed to be a personal blog, then you would naturally put up a disclaimer like this on your blog as put up by a Microsoft employee.

3. Moreover you dont create an official mail id (googlehealthadvertisingblog [at] google [dot] com) to send feedback for post if it was not an official one. You would have used a normal mail id like googlehealthadversitingblog@gmail.com or at the max, your personal mail id like Lauren.Turner [at] google [dot] com.

4. “Advertising is an effective medium for handling challenges that a company or industry might have. You could even argue that it’s especially appropriate for a public policy issue like healthcare. Whether the healthcare industry wants to rebut charges in Mr. Moore’s movie, or whether Mr. Moore wants to challenge the healthcare industry, advertising is a very democratic and effective way to participate in a public dialogue.”

Agreed!!! But ever tried putting up an advertisement for coffin in front of a home where a death just took place?

Google vs Sicko: The stepping over of ‘evil’ line

I had seen the latest documentry “SICKO” from Michael Moore a few days ago. Michael Moore showed something which every American knew. The real motive of American healthcare industry; which is to make profit and not to save life as it should be. Its the way Moore presented the fact with solid samples of common people like you and me that makes the film catchy. It makes every American realise that it could happen to them also.

With the pirated copies of the documentry readily available for download in torrent sites, it had already begun to shake the base of these industries. The health care companies knows that with the movies release it would do the same or more damage that it did to Bush administration with “Farenheit 911″. Lost and wondering what to do to avoid the upcoming storm, imagine who has come to the rescue of the healthcare industries!!! No its not the evil Microsoft as you call it, its the good old Google who is finding another oppurtunity to make profit out of this situation by helping the wrong side. After all who cares, its all about money.

Today morning I found this post on Slashdot which inturn linked to these Google Health Advertisement blog post by Lauren Turner; Account Planner for Health, Google Inc. In case the original one disappears, here is the complete post.

“As for Sicko, all I can say is — go easy on that buttered popcorn.” -The buttered popcorn wount be so tasty this time…

Microsoft and Google: Comparison by an ex-employee

The following has been making the rounds on just about every internal email list I belong to in Microsoft. Here it is to share a little insight with the rest of the world. Microsoft is an amazingly transparent company. Google is not. Any peek is a good peek. Read the original post here:

http://no2google.wordpress.com/2007/06/24/life-at-google-the-microsoftie-perspective/

Secondlife: Parody

If you have been in Secondlife, the virtual world even for a minute; you would get what this video is all about. Really funny.  

UK denies Visa… with funny reasons!!!

This report highlights some of the ridiculous, yet common, reasons for UK visa refusal — including ‘planning a holiday for no particular purpose other than sightseeing.’ The government goofballs who reject tourist visas for no good reason also delight in using confusing language to explain why tourist visas were rejected:

“The provenance of the funds depicted is not evidenced allied to other financial commitments. “

“You have failed to complete pivotal areas of Section 6. I can only assess your mutual knowledge in a subjective context.”

Others were turned down because they had never previously taken any foreign travel or could not speak English. The “ridiculous reasons” for rejecting visas were set out in a report by the independent monitor of UK visas.

Another woman was criticised for not researching the UK’s background when she said she wanted to spend her four-month visit to her fiance to “just live as a housewife”. “I suspect being a housewife for four months was all she wanted to do and the Immigration Rules allow that,” Mrs Costelloe Baker said. She said it was “a little naive to worry about a list of tourist sights” being outlined if applicants wanted to visit close friends.

An applicant in St Petersburg wrote: “I just want a holiday, my friends live near the seaside” to which the officer wrote “you have not named any places you will see”. Mrs Costelloe Baker said this was not the case – the applicant had named the “seaside”. In one case, a man was refused a visa because the officer thought it not credible that he was going to stay in a hotel in Cirencester “far from [his] friends in Surrey and Kent”. The hotel was in fact in London and the man had told the officer that he had not wanted to put a burden on his friends for his entire 28-day visit.

Source: BBC

US at War: A quick flashback from 1953-2007

1953: US overthrow Prime Minister Mossadeq of Iraq. US Installs Shah as dictator.

1954: US overthrows democratically elected President Arbenz of Guatemala. 2,00,000 civilians killed.

1963: US back assassination of South Vietnamese President Diem

1963-1975: American military kills 4 million people is Southern Asia

September 11, 1973: US stages coup in Chile. Democratically elected President Salvador Allende assassinated. Dictator Augusto Pinochet installed. 5,000 Chileans murdered.

1977: US back military rulers of El Salvador. 70,000 Salvadorans killed.

1980’s: US trains Osama bin Laden and fellow terrorists to kill Soviets. CIA gives then $3 billion.

1981: Reagan administration trains and funds “contras”. 30,000 Nicaraguans die.

1982: US provides billions in aid to Saddam Hussein for weapons to kill Iranians.

1983: White House secretly gives Iran weapons to kill Iraqis.

1989: CIA agent Manuel Noriega (also serving as President of Panama) disobeys orders from Washington. US invades Panama and removes Noriega. 3,000 Panamanian civilian causalities.

1990: Iraq invades Kuwait with weapons from US.

1991: US enters Iraq. Bush reinstates dictator of Kuwait.

1998: Clinton bombs “weapons factory” in Sudan. Factory turns out to be making aspirin.

1991 to present: American planes bomb Iraq on a weekly basis. UN estimates 5,00,000 Iraqi children die from bombing and sanctions.

2000-01: US gives Taliban ruled Afghanistan $245 million in “aid”.

September 11, 2001: Osama Bin Laden uses his expert CIA training and funding to murder 3,000 people at World Trade Centre

2001-Present: US occupy Afghanistan. Over 30,000 dead and counting…

2003-Present: US occupy Iraq. Over 60,000 dead and counting…

George W Bush: ‘War on Terror’ aka ‘War for Oil’

The Beginnning…

Arbusto Energy Arbusto Oil was a petroleum and energy company formed in Midland, Texas, in 1977, by George Walker Bush (that’s right, the current president of United States) and a group of investors which included Dorothy Bush, Lewis Lehrman, William Henry Draper III, Bill Gammell, and James R. Bath.

Who was James R. Bath?

James Reynolds Bath was a former director of Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), and part owner of Arbusto Energy with George W. Bush, with whom Bath served as a member of the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War. Like Bush, Bath was suspended from flying status in 1972 for failing to accomplish his annual medical examination. Bath got his start in real estate in 1973 by forming a partnership with Lloyd Bentsen’s son, Lan, in Bath Bentsen Interests. It has been reported that, in 1976, George H. W. Bush recruited Bath into the CIA, a claim that Bath denied in 1991 in an article published in Time magazine.

Bush’s good friend James Bath was hired by the bin Laden family to manage their money in Texas and invest in businesses. And James Bath himself, in turn, invested in George W. Bush. In 1976 Bath purchased the Houston Gulf Airport on behalf of Salem bin Laden, a Saudi sheik.

Who was Salem bin Laden?

Salem bin Laden was Osama bin Laden’s older half-brother. You heard it right… Osama Bin Laden, the so called mastermind of 9/11 attack who planned and financed the attack. That year, Bath became the bin Laden family’s representative in North America. In 1990, a Saudi banker named Khalid bin Mahfouz procured a loan of $1.4 million for Bath, allowing him to buy a stake in the airport. When Salem bin Laden died in 1988, his interest in the airfield passed to Mahfouz. It was later revealed that Bath made an investment of $50,000 while representing Salem bin Laden of the Saudi Binladin Group. This fact became controversial after the September 11, 2001 attacks due to Salem bin Laden being an older, half-brother of Osama bin Laden, who has claimed responsibility for the planning and financing of the attacks.

Arbustro Oil to Bush Exploration

In 1982, Arbusto became known as Bush Exploration, a year after George H. W. Bush became Vice President. A friend of the Bush family, Philip Uzielli, invested $1 million in 1982 in exchange for a 10% stake in the company, at a time when the whole company was valued at less than $400,000. As it neared financial collapse again in September 1984, Bush Exploration merged with Spectrum 7 Energy Corp., a company owned by William DeWitt and Mercer Reynolds. Bush became Chairman and CEO of Spectrum 7.

In 1985 Spectrum 7 reported a net loss of $1.5 million and was bought in 1986 for $2.2 million by Harken Energy, with Bush joining the Harken board of directors and finance audit committee.

In 1987 the Saudi investor Abdullah Taha Bakhsh bought most of Union Bank of Switzerland’s shares in Harken becoming its third largest investor owning 17% of the company. He was represented on the board by Talat M. Othman. Another investor was Ghaith R. Pharaon, a partner of Bakhsh’s, who would later be involved in the Bank of Credit and Commerce International scandal, and is currently the target of an international dragnet.

Points to Ponder

1.
Now will you ever buy an Oil comapany very very good at drilling holes from which nothing came out. That too a company values less that $400,000 nearing financial collapse??? You would if it was owned by the son of then Vice President of United States, George H Bush. Thats exactly what Spectrum 7 did.

2.
Harken energey was kind enough not only to buy Spectrum 7, but also give George W Bush a position in board of directors and finance audit committee.

3.
Why would a company in Saudi who had all the oil in the world invest in a company half way around the globe and almost getting bankrupt? Hey, you got the President’s son in Board of directors… that’s a good reason to invest!

Harken Controversy

In January 1990 with the company in the same state as its previous incarnations, it was awarded a contract to drill for crude oil off the coast of Bahrain, a move that shocked industry insiders as Harken had no previous experience outside of the US or of drilling offshore.

In June 1990 Bush sold most shares in Harken to a Los Angeles broker named Ralph D. Smith. One week later Harken announced an overall loss of $23.2 million triggering an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) into the sale. The SEC concluded that the company Board Member Bush checked with inside and outside company executives, fellow directors and legal experts on the sale of his stock. There are also questions about when federal regulators were informed of the sale, and whether Mr. Bush tried to hide this information. Newspapers and internet pundits have alleged that though the law requires prompt disclosure of insider sales, and Mr. Bush neglected to inform the SEC about this transaction until 34 weeks had passed, even though he had broken the law, no charges were filed. The SEC report read “In light of the facts uncovered, it would be difficult to establish that, even assuming (Mr.)Bush possessed material nonpublic information, he acted with scienter or intent to defraud”. Oh yes, it’s always difficult to establish fraud against the son of a then President George H Bush.

How did Bush escape?

I leave that part for you to guess. Here are two clues:

1.
His father George H Bush was President of United states from 1989-1993

2.
Robert Jordan

Who was Robert Jordan?

Just look at three key attorneys who were at the center of the SEC investigation and who, in theory, were on different sides of the issue. They included SEC Chairman Richard Breeden, SEC general counsel James Doty, and Dallas attorney Robert Jordan, who represented both Harken and Bush during the “voluntary” inquiry. To suggest the three lawyers enjoyed a close working relationship with one another, as well as with Bush, would be an understatement. Before becoming SEC chairman, Breeden spent time working in the Washington office of the influential Texas law firm, Baker Botts, home of James Baker, who served as secretary of state for Bush senior. A founding partner in the firm’s Dallas office was Robert Jordan, who represented Bush during the SEC investigation. Did Jordan and Breeden ever discuss the investigation? Because it appears that during one crucial juncture of the SEC’s inquiry, Jordan was able to receive special treatment from the agency. That came in October 1993, when the SEC, in an unusual move, wrote Jordan a letter confirming that the commission had looked into the matter and decided not to prosecute. Three weeks later Bush announced he was running for governor of Texas.

One year later, when the letter became public, Jordan told the Dallas Morning News, “George was getting ready to run for governor and wanted to be sure there was nothing out there that could be of concern.” But the paper described the SEC’s move to essentially provide cover for Bush with a written letter as “a rare action by the agency.”

Robert Jordan was appointed Ambassador to Saudi Arabia when Bush became President of United States. Hope you got the answer to previous question now.

The Carlyle Group

Bush’s dad’s friends got him a seat in Board of Directors of Carlyle group. Carlyle owned United Defence Industries, which was developing the Crusader artillery project. They were one of the biggest defence contractors in United States defence. That makes it clear who was eventually benefited by the Sept 11 attack. The Saudi Arabian relatives of Osama bin Laden were also investors in Carlyle until October 2001 when the family sold its $2.02 million investment back to the firm in light of the public controversy surrounding bin Laden’s family after the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. The bin Laden family has publicly disowned the al-Qaeda leader.[citation needed] Osama bin Laden has no economic interest in Saudi Binladin Group (SBG), whose investments were in part managed by the Carlyle Group until the arrangement was terminated by mutual consent.

Believe it or not…

On the morning of September 11, 2001, Carlyle Group was conducting its investment conference at Ritz Carlton, Washington DC where the prominent members and investors of Carlyle Group: Geroge H Bush (father of Gerorge W Bush, former president of United States. He was not present at the conference when the attract took place), James Baker III (former United States Secretary of State under George H. W. Bush, Staff member under Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, Carlyle Senior Counselor, served in this capacity from 1993 to 2005), John Major (former British Prime Minister, Chairman, Carlyle Europe from 2002 until 2005) and not to miss out, the celebrity, man of the day, Shafiq bin Laden, half brother of the terrorist were present and watching as the planes crashed into the World Trade Centre.

Moving on to UNOCAL

Union Oil Company of California was one of the key players in the CentGas consortium, an attempt to build the Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline to run from the Caspian area, through Afghanistan and probably Pakistan, to the Indian Ocean. UNOCAL, was in controversy for being in bed with the Taliban, along with the U.S. government in a major, continuing effort to construct pipelines through Afghanistan from the petroleum-rich Caspian Basin in Central Asia. Beneath their burkas, UNOCAL is being exposed for giving the five star treatment to Taliban Mullahs in the Lone Star State in 1997. The “evil-ones” were also invited to meet with U.S. government officials in Washington, D.C. Bush administration held negotiations with the Taliban regarding this very project prior to the attacks. American petroleum giant Unocal very much wanted this project for years, but it was stymied in 1998 after bin Laden blew up two American embassies in Africa, causing the Taliban to be diplomatically isolated. There are a number of reports that describe a reinvigoration of this pipeline plan after Bush took office, and further describe the Bush administration’s negotiations with the Taliban including threats of war if the project was not allowed to pass through Afghanistan.

On Sept 11, 2001 the WTC attack took place. Shortly thereafter, the US invaded Afghanistan, removing Taliban control from Afghanistan and making moot the question of their remuneration. Finally the pipeline was built. Unocal is now the third largest member of the recently completed and opened Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean Sea.

But didn’t the new Afghan Government oppose the pipeline???

Hamid Karzai became President of Afganistan in December, 2001. What you dont know is that Hamid Karzai was an advisor for Unocal. The appointment by the Bush Administration of Zalmay Khalilzad as special envoy to Afghanistan which was announced on December 31, 2001, only nine days after the U.S.-backed interim government of Hamid Karzai took office in Kabul. Simply put, Khalilzad’s appointment means oil. Oil for the United States. Oil for Unocal. Zalmay Khalilzad was an advisor for Unocal. In the mid 1990s, while working for the Cambridge Energy Research Associates, Khalilzad conducted risk analyses for Unocal at the time it had signed letters of approval from the Taliban. The analyses were for a proposed 890-mile, $2-billion, 1.9-billion-cubic-feet-per-day natural gas

pipeline project which would have extended from Turkmenistan to Pakistan. In December 1997, Khalilzad joined Unocal officials at a reception for an invited Taliban delegation to Texas.

Zalmay Khalilzad was later appointed the Ambassador to Iraq. That makes sense, doesn’t it?

Conclusion

Now you know why the war at Afghanistan and Iraq really took place. What was the reason cited for the war? September 11^th attack on World Trade Centre in which 3000 American Civilians were killed. Now if Osama Bin Laden was the mastermind for the war, has he ever been caught? Why not? Its actually very simple but hard to believe. The families of Osama Bin Laden were flown out of US hours after the Sept 11 attack by Bush Administration in a special plane when all civilian planes were grounded. When the Afghan war was started, the army was not authorised to attack the place where Osama Bin Laden was suspected to be hiding until 2 months later.

If you really feel fishy about the whole stuff, let me suggest two documentaries for you to watch. The first one is “Loose Change 2“. It provides solid proof of who really masterminded the attack. I think you have already guessed it after reading through the article; it’s the US Government itself!!! The next one is “Farenheit 911” by Michael Moore, which also talks about some of the stuff told above. You must be wondering why there is no investigation going on against Bush regarding this matter? Would it do any good against a person who came clean out of SEC investigation when his father was only Vice-President and won the US election in the first case to become President allegedly though fraud in election at Florida? (Refer internet & Fahrenheit 911)

One of the FBI’s leading counter terrorism agents, John O’Neill, resigned in 2001 in protest over the Bush Administration’s alleged obstruction of his investigation into bin Laden. A similar complaint has been filed on behalf of another unidentified FBI Agent by the conservative Judicial Watch public interest group. Supposedly the Bush Administration had been meeting since January 2001 with the Taliban, and was also reluctant to offend Saudi Arabians who O’Neill had linked to bin Laden. Mr. O’Neill, after leaving the FBI, assumed the position of security director at the World Trade Center, where he was killed in the 911 attacks. Refer here to know more about the man who knew too much about Bush links with the terrorists.

President Of India vs President Of United States

Sinciere apologies to Honourable President Of India, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam for having compared him with George W Bush, the _________. <Note: Please fill up the blank space according to what you feel about him. Do leave it in the comments space>

  

Birth

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam: Dr. Kalam was born on October 15, 1931. He was born into a middle-class Tamil family in the island town of Rameswaram in Madras state. His father, Jainulabdeen, possessed neither much formal education nor much wealth; despite these disadvantages, he possessed great innate wisdom and a true generosity of spirit. He had an ideal helpmate in my mother, Ashiamma. His mother fed more outsiders everyday that his family members ate. He lived in our ancestral house, which was built in the middle of the 19th century. It was a fairly large pucca house, made of limestone and brick, on the Mosque Street of Rameswaram. His father used to avoid all inessential comforts and luxuries.

George W. Bush: Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Bush was the first child of George H. W. Bush and Barbara Bush. Bush was raised in Midland and Houston, Texas, with his four siblings, Jeb, Neil, Marvin, and Dorothy. Another younger sister, Robin, died in 1953 at the age of three from leukemia. Bush’s grandfather, Prescott Bush, was a U.S. Senator from Connecticut, and his father served as U.S. President from 1989 to 1993.

  

College

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam:After studying in a primary school in Ramaeswaran, Dr. Kalam went to Schwartz High School at Ramanathpuram from where he went to Tiruchchirapalli for his higher studies. Dr. Kalam wrote : “By the time I completed my education at Schwartz, I was a self-confident boy with the determination to be successful. The decision to go in for further education was taken without a second thought. To us, in those days, the awarness of the possibilities for a professional education did not exist; higher education simply meant going to college. The nearest college was at Tiruchchirapalli, spelled Trichinopoly those days, and called Trichi for short. “ After completing his BSc from St. Joseph’s college he joined the Madras Institute of Technology (MIT), for studying aeronautical engineering.

George H. W. Bush: Bush attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts where he played baseball but “mostly made his mark as a cheerleader for the teams.” Following in his father’s footsteps, Bush attended Yale University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history in 1968. As a college senior, Bush became a member of the secretive Skull and Bones society. By his own characterization, Bush was an average student.

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam: Abdul Kalam went for his interview at the Air Force Selection Board, but the opportunity slipped through his fingers. Deeply disappointed  and having failed his along cherished desire to fly, he joined aeronautical engineering at Madras Institute Of Technology (MIT).

George H. W. Bush: In May of 1968, at the height of the ongoing Vietnam War, Bush was accepted into the Texas Air National Guard despite there being a national waiting list of over 100,000 for the N.G. and only scoring 25 percent on the pilot’s aptitude test, which was the lowest acceptable passing grade. After training, he was assigned to duty in Houston, flying Convair F-102s out of Ellington Air Force Base. Critics have alleged that Bush was favorably treated during his time of service due to his father’s political standing and that he was irregular in attendance. Bush took a transfer to the Alabama Air National Guard in 1972 to work on a Republican senate campaign, and in 1974 he obtained permission to end his six-year service obligation six months early to attend Harvard Business School.

Instances

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam:As young Abdul Kalam would look towards the large group of people round the (Rameshwaram) temple, reciting prayers with a sense of respect towards God, whom they (Muslims) treat as the formless Almighty, Abdul believed without a doubt, that the prayers in the temple reached the same God, as the ones offered in the mosque. He is a vegetarian and while studying at the Madras Institute of Technology, he used to head the vegetarian mess.

George H. W. Bush: There are a number of accounts of substance abuse and otherwise disorderly conduct by Bush from this time. Bush has admitted to drinking “too much” in those years and described this period of his life as his “nomadic” period of “irresponsible youth”. On September 4, 1976, at the age of 30, Bush was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol near his family’s summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine. He pleaded guilty, was fined $150, and had his driver’s license suspended until 1978 in Maine.

  

Before Presidency

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam:He initially worked in DRDO in 1958 and then joined ISRO in 1963. Dr. Kalam has made significant contribution to Indian satellite and launch vehicles of ISRO and also in the missile programme of DRDO. As project Director, SLV-III, he contributed for the design, development and management of India’s first indigenous Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-III) to inject Rohini satellite in the near earth orbit. He was responsible for the evolution of ISRO’s launch vehicles programme and configurations. He rejoined DRDO in 1982 and conceived the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) for indigenous missiles.

He was Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister and Secretary, Department of Defence Research & Development from July 1992 to December 1999.

As Chairman, Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC), he generated the Technology Vision 2020 documents – a road map for transforming India from Developing India to Developed India. He provided overall guidance to a number of Homegrown Technology Projects and major technology missions such as Sugar, Advanced Composites and Fly Ash utilization.

Dr. Kalam has served as the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India, in the rank of Cabinet Minister, from November 1999 to November 2001. He was primarily responsible for evolving policies, strategies and missions for generation of innovations and support systems for multiple applications. Also, generating science and technology task in strategic, economic and social sectors in partnership with Government departments, institutions and industry. Dr. Kalam was also the Chairman, Ex-officio, of the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet (SAC-C).

Dr. Kalam took up academic pursuit as Professor, Technology & Societal Transformation at Anna University, Chennai and involved in teaching and research tasks. Above all he is on his mission to ignite the young minds for national development by meeting high school students across the country.

Dr. Kalam was conferred with the Degree of Doctor of Science (D.Sc. Honoris Causa) by 30 universities/academic institutions. He is recipient of several awards including the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration 1997.

Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has been awarded Padma Bhushan in 1981, Padma Vibhushan in 1990 and BHARAT RATNA in 1997.

George H. W. Bush: After obtaining an MBA from Harvard University, Bush entered the oil industry in Texas. In 1977, he was introduced by friends to Laura Welch, a schoolteacher and librarian. They married and settled in Midland, Texas. Bush left his family’s Episcopal Church to join his wife’s United Methodist Church. In 1978, Bush ran for the U.S. House of Representatives from the 19th Congressional District of Texas. His opponent Kent Hance portrayed Bush as being out of touch with rural Texans; Bush lost by 6,000 votes. Bush returned to the oil industry, becoming a senior partner or chief executive officer of several ventures, such as Arbusto Energy, Spectrum 7, and, later, Harken Energy. These ventures suffered from the general decline of oil prices in the 1980s that had affected the industry and the regional economy. Additionally, questions of possible insider trading involving Harken have arisen, though the SEC’s investigation of Bush concluded that he did not have enough insider information before his stock sale to warrant a case.Bush moved with his family to Washington, D.C. in 1988, to work on his father’s campaign for the U.S. presidency. 

Returning to Texas, Bush purchased a share in the Texas Rangers baseball franchise in April 1989, where he served as managing general partner for five years. Bush presided over the trading away of Sammy Sosa, who would go on to be a popular and prodigious home run hitter for the Chicago Cubs. Bush actively led the team’s projects and regularly attended its games, often choosing to sit in the open stands with fans. The sale of Bush’s share in the Rangers brought him over $15 million from his initial $800,000 investment.

  

Connection With Terrorist

Thats weired!!! A president that keeps relation with terrorist???

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam: <Bad joke >

George H. W. Bush: Has business relation with Saudi Arabian royal family that support Al-Quida and also with family of Osama Bin Laden. MOved the family of Osama Bin Laden out of USA hours after the 9/11 attack. The instances are countless, please refer other facts. Farenheit 911 is a good one, if you call that crap, do look at the evidence. And if you call the evidence also crap, they you are just another blind guy.

  

At War

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam: India has never attacked any country ever since the rule of kings 1000s of years ago.

George H. W. Bush: On October 7, 2001, U.S. and British forces initiated bombing campaigns that led to the November 13, arrival of Northern Alliance troops in Kabul.

Beginning with his January 29, 2002 State of the Union address, President Bush began publicly focusing attention on Iraq, which he labeled as part of an “axis of evil” allied with terrorists and posing “a grave and growing danger” to U.S. interests through possession of “weapons of mass destruction”. In the latter half of 2002, Central Intelligence Agency reports requested by the Administration contained conflicting assertions on whether Saddam Hussein was intent on reconstituting nuclear weapons programs, had not properly accounted for Iraqi biological and chemical weapons, and that some Iraqi missiles had a range greater than allowed by the UN sanctions.

Consequence

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam:Peace

George H. W. Bush: Beginning with his January 29, 2002 State of the Union address, President Bush began publicly focusing attention on Iraq, which he labeled as part of an “axis of evil” allied with terrorists and posing “a grave and growing danger” to U.S. interests through possession of “weapons of mass destruction”. In the latter half of 2002, Central Intelligence Agency reports requested by the Administration contained conflicting assertions on whether Saddam Hussein was intent on reconstituting nuclear weapons programs, had not properly accounted for Iraqi biological and chemical weapons, and that some Iraqi missiles had a range greater than allowed by the UN sanctions.

The war continues with thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians being brutally murdered everyday.

  

Assassination attempt

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam: None

George H. W. Bush: On May 10, 2005, while Bush was giving a speech in the Freedom Square in Tbilisi, Georgia, a live hand grenade was thrown by Vladimir Arutinian towards the podium where he and Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili were seated. It landed in the crowd about 65 feet from the podium after hitting a girl; it did not detonate. Arutinian was arrested in July 2005, confessed, and was convicted in January 2006 and given a life sentence.

  

Controversies
 

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam: None

George H. W. Bush: Unlimited. WordPress provides only 50mb storage space for the blog and I dont want to fill that up. So please visit here for more. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_George_W._Bush

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Oh so you are saying that that in India the real executive authority vested in the Council of Ministers, headed by the Prime Minister? Alright then, below is the career profile of current Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh. Feel free to have a look.

• First Class Honours degree in Economics, University of Cambridge, (1957)
• Punjab University, Chandigarh, India
  • Senior Lecturer, Economics (1957-1959)
  • Professor of International Trade (1969-1971)
  • Reader (1959-1963)
  • Professor (1963-1965)
• D. Phil in Economics, Nuffield College at Oxford University, (1962)
• Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi
  • Honorary Professor (1996)
• Chief, Financing for Trade Section, UNCTAD, United Nations Secretariat, New York
  • 1966 : Economic Affairs Officer 1966
• Economic Advisor, Ministry of Foreign Trade, India (1971-1972)
• Chief Economic Advisor, Ministry of Finance, India, (1972-1976)
• Honorary Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi (1976)
• Director, Reserve Bank of India (1976-1980)
• Director, Industrial Development Bank of India (1976-1980)
• Secretary, Ministry of Finance (Department of Economic Affairs), Government of India, (1977-1980)
• Governor, Reserve Bank of India (1982-1985)
• Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission of India, (1985-1987)
• Advisor to Prime Minister of India on Economic Affairs (1990-1991)
• Finance Minister of India, (June 21, 1991 – May 15, 1996)
• Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha (1998-2004)
• Prime Minister of India (May 22, 2004 – Present)