We often need reminding that for every corruption scandal, human rights abuses and poverty stories that come out of India, there are an equal number of stories of good and ordinary people doing extraordinary things to bring about change.

One such story that inspired us today was that of Shukla Bose, who left behind a corporate career to start the Prikrma Humanity Foundation.

Powerful and inspiring.

Is India pulling a China?

Medianama is reporting that some ISPs in India have blocked Typepad, Mobango and Clickatell. From what we’re reading it is sporadic and happening in certain parts of India.

Also read their piece ‘How the Indian Government plans to regulate online content and blogs’

Excerpt:

So, what does this mean?

It means that given that the Indian government is unable to control content on the Internet, it is giving itself enough powers to control access of its citizens to that content, by controlling the ISPs. The process by which it can block sites is fairly bureaucratic, and it will be difficult for a request from a normal citizen to be entertained. But what is alarming is that the government itself has enough opportunity, given how vague the reasons for blocking are, to block anything it wants to block.

54 Prisoners of War are said to be languishing in Pakistani jails 40 years after India and Pakistan fought the 1971 war. 40 years of waiting and searching and asking and pleading for information about their loved ones. The cruel irony is that the 1971 war is considered the shortest war in history – India won the war that lasted just 13 days and resulted in the creation of the independent country of Bangladesh.

The Missing Defence Personals Relatives Association is now taking its case to the UN after the Indian Government has basically ignored them for 40 years.

Consider this in the context of the angry outbursts from Indian politicians in the case of a few students being fitted with electronic monitoring anklets in the Tri-Valley university scandal.

So students leaving India to make a foreign country their home are more important than defense personnel fighting for their beloved country? Is that the takeaway?

Using education to scam students of money and their future has got to be among the lowest order of deceit one can perpetrate on a fellow human being.

Seems more than 90% of the students at Tri-Valley were from the state of Andhra Pradesh in India. More on the story at Mercury News.

Let’s be clear: there are two Indias. One has a woman President, a woman leader of the party in power, a woman speaker of the house, thousands of women CEOs and entrepreneurs, and even more young women who will be leaders tomorrow.

In the other India 30 women are rounded up, lined up in the middle of a village and forced to drink potions to prove they are not witches.