" Good Friday ".....God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son

         The Friday before Easter is the most solemn day for Christians - it is the day on which Jesus Christ died on the cross. This day is known as Good Friday, Holy Friday, Great Friday or Black Friday. As such, Good Friday is a day of mourning, and all the ceremonies and rituals of the day are centered on the feeling of sorrow, at the pain and humiliation that Jesus underwent for the cause of goodness and humanity. The message of Good Friday is that the dictum of "an eye for an eye" cannot work. The way to conquer evil is through good. Similarly, violence can be overcome only by non-violence and hatred by love.
      Good Friday is devoted to fasting and prayer, as a way of following the example of Jesus, who stressed the role of prayer in the struggle to conquer evil. The service consists of prayers and readings from the Bible. In many churches, a piece of wood in the shape of the cross is kept. People pray before the cross and kiss it. Jesus is believed to have died on the Cross at three in the afternoon. Therefore, the traditional service lasts for three hours from noon. Some churches concentrate less on prayers, and instead, encourage people to become involved in charitable deeds.
          In some churches, mourners wear black and enact the Passion of Christ - scenes of Christ's crucifixion and burial. Many churches cover the cross and the altar with mourning black, and do not light any candles. At other churches, candles are lit, but they are extinguished one by one, with the last one being put out at the moment denoting Jesus' death. The church bells are not rung on Good Friday. Catholic churches follow the tradition of the Stations of the Cross. People pass before paintings depicting the important scenes of the last hours of Jesus' life, reciting prayers and singing hymns.

Earth Day 2011

     Earth Day is a day that is intended to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's natural environment. Earth Day was founded by United States Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in first held on April 22, 1970. While this first Earth Day was focused on the United States, an organization launched by Denis Hayes, who was the original national coordinator in 1970, took it international in 1990 and organized events in 141 nations. Earth Day is now coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network, and is celebrated in more than 175 countries every year. Numerous communities celebrate Earth Week, an entire week of activities focused on environmental issues. In 2009, the United Nations designated April 22 International Mother Earth Day.
       Earth Day is a reminder about the importance of environmental protection and sustainability. Most importantly, it reminds us that we can a make a difference when it comes to our planet.
        The Earth Day Network reports more than 1 billion people participate annually in Earth Day activities, making it the largest civic observance in the world. The Earth Day Network works with over 22,000 partners in 192 countries to spread its green message.

This year’s theme is “A Billion Acts of Green” and the goal is to generate a billion acts of environmental service and advocacy before the global Earth Summit 2012 in Rio.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (1st rank)....The 2011 TIME's 100 Most Influential People In The World

          In April, when India won its first Cricket World Cup in 28 years, it felt as if the entire population of 1.21 billion had spilled out into the streets to party. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, 29, the Indian captain, finished the final game by flamboyantly hitting the ball into the stands, cementing his country's dominance of the world's second most popular sport. Dhoni is now universally acknowledged as India's best captain ever. He's also its most likable, exuding both cool confidence and down-to-earth humility. As astonishing as Dhoni's talent is his background. Indian success stories are usually associated with pedigree, connections and power. Dhoni, from a small-town family of modest means, had none of these, but he's shown India that you can make it with only one thing: excellence. Dhoni doesn't just lead a cricket team; he's also India's captain of hope. And he didn't just win India the World Cup; he also taught India how to win.

Will Facebook Censor for a Shot at the Chinese Market?

       The story is headlined “Facebook Seeking Friends in the Beltway,” but one quote seemed destined to make the social-networking giant a few enemies. In a story today about Facebook's efforts to expand its lobbying efforts in Washington, the Wall Street Journal quotes a lobbyist saying the company may censor some content overseas:

"Maybe we will block content in some countries, but not others," Adam Conner, a Facebook lobbyist, told the Journal. "We are occasionally held in uncomfortable positions because now we're allowing too much, maybe, free speech in countries that haven't experienced it before," he said.

Facebook has been blocked in China since 2009, but after founder Mark Zuckerberg visited Beijing last year there has been widespread expectations that the company will eventually make a deal to re-enter the Chinese market. The Conner quote, while not specifically referring to China, is a hint at what steps the company might take to appease the Chinese government's fears about the spread of dissent online. Given the concerns of some members of Congress about U.S. tech companies abetting censorship, Conner's remarks seem impolitic to say the least. Five years ago representatives of Cisco, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo faced tough questions from Congress about their dealings in China. Since then Google publicly reversed its previous policy of submitting to Chinese censorship, and now directs mainland users to its uncensored Hong Kong site.

As Facebook contemplates what course to pursue in China, the prospect that it will follow Google's earlier path of censorship will undoubtedly lead to complaints that it is compromising its integrity. Earlier this year Chinese media commentator Michael Anti denounced Facebook for deleting his profile because he didn't use his legal name, Zhao Jing. Today he updated his Twitter bio, calling himself “the guy whom Facebook first killed right before they kiss China.” It's a small taste of the censure the company can expect if it bends to China's restrictions on information for a shot at the mainland market.

Prevent IAS steel from becoming bamboo

     Is it possible to run a 21st century economy, galvanized by 22nd century ideas and social networks, with a 20th century bureaucracy, interpreting 19th century laws? One of the few institutions created by the British, which has survived the test of time in more ways than one, and yet had some notable failures is the Indian Administrative Service (IAS). 
         Despite prodigious reforms, the IAS has seen limited change. This is a cause for concern. The classic Westminster model, on which the IAS is founded, postulated that while politicians would debate and legislate policy, the civil service would execute it. This has, over the years, been turned on its head. Politicians have found it profitable to get into every aspect of execution and indulge in rampant corruption, while the civil service is left to write something that passes off as policy. Add to this the increasing criminalization of civil servants' political masters and the influence of money power within the system. The IAS urgently needs reform if it is not to become increasingly irrelevant to development or be co-opted by the corrupt.
         What must be done? First, the IAS must not be a lifetime appointment. Initial appointment should be for 15 years. After that, every officer's performance should be evaluated by a constitutional authority such as the UPSC. The evaluation should be based on a 360-degree kind of appraisal, which is considered superior to traditional forms of assessment. Inputs should be sought from everyone — superiors, peers, subordinates and clients. The World Bank and the UK's bureaucracy successfully follow this system.
    Those who do not make the grade after the evaluation and an interview should be 'put out to pasture'. They could stay on at the same level, pay and position for three years, after which the commission would evaluate them again. Alternately, they could collect a pension proportionate to their years of service and move on.
       If the officer does make the grade, he can be hired through a competitive process on sevenyear contracts, with specific performance targets. For example, if a new airport needs to be designed and implemented, or if a Right to Food Act needs to be drafted, the respective ministries must advertise and recruit IAS officers competitively, based on their experience, aptitude and education. The terms of the contract should incentivize performance. Their accountability should be to the result, not just to the process. Further, they should be given the freedom to pick their own teams and to reward or punish them.
           Second, there must be quick and visible punishment for deviant officers. The IAS, which mirrors Indian society, has its share of people who shoplift, are corrupt, access internet porn or harass people sexually. They must be punished and removed from the service after a fair and speedy trial. This will have a salutary effect on those who join the IAS for the wrong reasons. Recently, Himachal Pradesh removed two officers ; Tamil Nadu did so too a few years ago after they were convicted of corruption.
         Third, promotions in the IAS continue to be based on a mix of seniority and merit and the latter is evaluated in a very subjective way. In an era of intense scrutiny by the media, CAG, CVC, CBI and the judiciary, the natural incentive for an honest officer is to shun initiative and try not to make decisions, to sign every file only after 20 others have signed it. In contrast, E Sreedharan broke with procedure to give Delhi a world-class Metro. There are several CAG reports on his violations but had he not taken the initiative to violate procedure, the Metro would not have been completed in time and under budget. Unless the honest within the IAS are protected, unless the all-India conduct rules and their implementation become more nuanced and less mechanical, initiative will be stifled and officers will be prevented from leaving the system to learn modern tools, gather rich global experience and return. Officers will become frogs in the well rather than eagles in the sky.
           In what is considered to be one of the most rigorous contests in the world, 500,000 of the brightest in India write a year-long, multistage examination, competing for just 80 seats in the IAS—half of which are reserved. The percentage of success is just 0.02%, roughly the same as the IIT entrance exam. Yet, something goes wrong and it needs to be urgently addressed. Countless IAS officers work selflessly every single day in difficult circumstances. I challenge any corporate CEO in India to report to a Mayawati or a Pappu Yadav rather than a Ratan Tata or a Narayana Murthy and still turn out a market-friendly performance. The IAS is merely one subsect of Indian society and reflects both the bright sparks and its problems. 

World Bank should focus on poor

Seeking efforts aimed at increasing additional investment flows to developing countries, India has said the need to positively impact the lives of the poor should be the mantra that should permeate the thinking of the World Bank.

"Be it sectoral or regional strategies; be it design of new instruments or products; be it modernisation or governance reform; the goal should, at all times be, ensuring that all these changes improve the lives and prospects of the poor, wherever they may be," R Gopalan, Secretary at Department of Economic Affairs, said in his address to the Development Committee meeting of the World Bank.

Gopalan said while development challenges remain in large pockets, some countries are facing prospects of reduced Bank flows due to investment limits.

"Several measures are required to sustain Bank investment flows in such cases. We feel that, apart from short and medium term measures, efforts should also aim at increasing 'additional investment flows' through the Bank in these countries," he said.

The current spike in prices has serious ramifications coming as happened in the immediate aftermath of two earlier crises from which the world is yet to fully recover, making it much more difficult to garner resources to reduce its effects, Gopalan said.

"On the other hand, we have a tremendous amount of experience and knowledge on which to base our responses. Price volatility appears to be on the way to becoming a long-term phenomenon. We need to look closely at disaggregated

statistics on the contribution of different factors to food price volatility in order to understand and respond through policy reform," he said.

While linking farms to markets is a thematic area of the World Bank's policy - rather than working in thematic silos, it would be important to integrate programmes across sectors.

"We are yet to see this happening in a big way. The Food Crisis Response Programme has been effective in producing some short term results," Gopalan said.

"However, agricultural investment by the Bank remains small in relative terms and needs to be scaled up if we want to see longer term results on the ground," he said.

The Bank would need to partner with think tanks, research institutions, other multilateral institutions with greater experience in the area and institutions within countries themselves which have done major work in the field to pool

available knowledge and to design effective strategies, Gopalan said.

Referring to the situation in the Middle East, the Indian official said that this has brought with it certain concerns not only for the countries facing unrest but for the world as a whole.

"The prospect of inflation is looming over these countries and elsewhere. Fiscal deficits are expected to grow. Oil production is projected to decline. The international community needs to help during the period of transition. Mandates and capacities need to be strengthened and widened by building up greater transparency and accountability. The World Bank Group can play a role with its vast experience in managing transitions," he said.

Accept change, but with wisdom and grace

       When I grew up in a large family in a small house, the underlying theme of our existence was one of sacrifice. Apart from my family circumstances, those were truly trying times for everyone and self-denial and self-abnegation were the hallmarks of family life everywhere. Parents routinely sacrificed their dreams and desires for their children and elder brothers and sisters put their ambitions on hold for their younger siblings. There were other small things which went with that way of life; everything that was bought was shared around by everyone — whether it was a packet of biscuits or a bar of chocolate. The entire family would gather around one television set — or one radiogram — and watch one programme or listen to one artiste. There was a togetherness all around in everything one did. You did not have to be a Gandhian to lead such a simple life, such things came naturally to everyone across society. 

           Those times are truly different as I see that the current lot of youngsters everywhere are more comfortable with freely expressing their needs and desires. They do not believe in holding anything back, certainly not their wants; it is what I call the I, Me and My generation. It is the age exemplified by the iPod and the iPad — where each person listens to his brand of music and is lost in the virtual world, all alone — even when in a crowd.

In contrast to my times where it was an effort to be alone, aloneness is available today for the asking. And it is this aloneness which gets you and segregates you from society. It leaves you cold and indifferent to your surroundings and it has also led to a erosion of the good old-fashioned values such as sharing... and caring.

There are other values that are gradually fading from our consciousness: attitudes of genteelness and civility. In these days of high-pitched marketing, the threshold of receptivity has gone up many times. Few people are patient, or have an attitude, to persevere at what they are doing and wait for the results to reflect the merit of their work. Instead, many resort to high-pitched drum-beating to hype their rather meagre endeavours. As an artiste having worked over a quarter century in the film industry, I see the change happening around me all the time This article is not just about griping over a way of life that is slipping away; it is about how such changing attitudes have impacted our psyche and our approach to life.

Change is indeed a way of life; yet change must not be accepted for the sake of change. Every aspect of change need not be progressive; some aspects can be regressive. So while changing, it is important to grasp the kernel of the matter and decide if the change is for the better or otherwise. We cannot lose out on eternal truths, values and virtues on the altar of progress. As the saying goes, we must hasten... but slowly.

                                                                    -ANUPAM KHER