Blackberry controversy-a different angle

A news that caught my eyeballs last week- Blackberry vs security concerns of various countries including India

Blackberry has encrypted mail and message services which are undecipherable by security agencies across the world.As many countries have raised a concrn over this issue, Blackberry has acquiesced to India's demand(other countries are still fighting) but only partially, to decompress the emails and voice mails but not enterprise mails. This hasnt made the Indian security agencies happy and the government has already warned that it may disallow blackberry services if RIM(Reseach In Motion) does not concede to its demand of complete data haccess.Cina had raised a similar concern a while ago and RIM is now ready to install a server in China (as per certain reports)for decoding the data.Indian government is looking for a similar action.

But we all know about the Chinese and how they have the get-the-job-done attitude.Be it arm-twisting 'Google' to give filtered results for all its searches, or banning Lonely Planets's china travel guide during Beizing Olympics because it showed China and Taiwan as seperate countries or in the RIM server provision.They are hard and tough when it comes to imposing themselves as a force.Every once in a while, the Chinese show their thou-shalt-bow-before-me attitude and that is why, not many individuals or organizations or even countries meddle in their affairs.

But its not what we in India do.Though governement seems to be very serious about the Blackberry issue but that is primarily because of the tumultuous years of threat that we have witnessed in the last UPA regime.Had it not been for the bombing of Ahmedabad, Pune, Delhi, Banaglore and for that matter, every bombable city in India and 26/11, we wouldnt have seen a stringent stance this time too.

When Google Ditu maps showed Arunachal Pradesh as part of China, we only afforded to be grumpy like a child but never faced it like a man.Result--the google application shows Arunachal as "South Tibet" in China and Arunachal as Arunachal in India.

We hear hundreds of peace-love faking world leaders advising us on Kashmir and fundamentalism and security but we only hear mute screams when it comes to Chinese issues like Xinjiang, freedom of press or human rights records.

Today we stand at a place where we have the power to shape our future.Its time India begins to impose itself on the world stage.We are a crucial cog in the wheel as far as world economy is concerned.We have a demographic advantage and are carrying the responsibility of being a super power in the near future.

We need to project ourselves as a no-nonsense, tough nation state and it has to be done now.The message should be loud and clear "This is what you ought to do or else.....".