Mahatma Gandhi, the Missing Nobel Laureate & 5-Time Nominee

By Anupendra Sharma (’87 Eco Instru)

Indians have won five Nobel Prizes to date.  It should have been six.  Yet the most famous Indian, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948) never received a Nobel Prize, though he was nominated five times from 1937-1939 and 1947-1948. 

Alfred Nobel, in his will dated 27 November 1895, left the bulk of his considerable fortune to the Nobel Foundation. The peace prize was to go to the person "who had worked the most or the best for the fraternity among peoples and the abolition or reduction of permanent armies, as well as the establishment and promotion of peace congresses."  The Peace Prize is given by a small Norwegian Nobel Committee in consultation with an appointed advisor.

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IT Services in China – Opportunities & challenges.

Briefings from the Land of the Dragon: The Second in The Series

By Tirumala Rao Talasila (’84 Comp Sci)

China. China. China. We can’t seem to go through a single day without hearing about the new economic frontier in the East. From giant multi-billion dollar corporations to entrepreneurial outfits in Silicon Valley, they all want a slice of the profit pie. China’s put the “C” back in the big proverbial Cheese!

The world’s greatest industrial revolution is taking place in the shortest possible time in our lifetimes, and will never be repeated.  McKinsey & Co.’s worldwide managing director Ian Davis, in a conversation with Fortune Magazine, says that for Fortune 500 CEOs China’s “Absolutely center stage. ”    Goldman Sachs predicts that China’s economy will overtake the US by 2039.  A staggering amount of wealth is being created in every sphere, and it is key for Indian entrepreneurs to recognize this goldrush and try to exploit it. IT companies should ignore this this at their own peril.

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From Dilip’s CORNER    

Dilip D’Souza (’79 Computer Science)

Being in Srinagar is a strange feeling, or perhaps I should say a strange mix of feelings.

On the one hand, there's the very visible presence of the Army, or the alphabet of armed forces (CRPF, BSF, RR, whatever). You see soldiers everywhere, all with guns, you see barbed wire and bunkers with tiny slits (check the one on Court Road off Lal Chowk) and you see something I've not seen elsewhere -- armoured cars right out of Damnation Alley ('70s movie; you young sprouts, never mind), all with interesting names painted on the side. On the road out of the airport you pass a Maruti Gypsy rigged up as a machine-gun vehicle, with three or four men sitting on its ides and one standing, manning the gun. There do seem to be fewer soldiers about than I saw on my last (and first) visit, last April; perhaps that has something to do with elections that were on at that time. But still, there are enough visible even now that you wonder two things: one, what is it like to live under this constant armed presence? and two, what is it like to be a soldier in these circumstances?

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Making a difference

By Anuradha gupta (’86 MMS) with thanks to Raj Gilda

Philosophers (many of who are scientists too) muse over the purpose of life we live from day to day often, enjoying our personal ambitions, chugging along, getting through life. Some of us ask the question, “What is my purpose?” and some of us want to know, “What can I give back to my community, to society…”

If life were equal and socialist, it may have been dull but when it is so unequal that the GDP of 48 countries is less than the assets of 3 of the richest people in the world, it is no wonder that some of us are moved into thinking beyond our daily, mundane existence.

At least one child below the age of 5 has died in the world while you read this – of malnourishment – hunger, or diseases that could have been prevented by immunization.

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