t's been a good couple of Iissues for The Scholars' Avenue with our new focus on issues concerning the nation at large b e i n g w e l l r e c e i v e d . Encouraging people to think outside the boundaries of our campus walls is our objective and every mail we receive only encourages us more. It never is too late to know more about what 's happening in the country. With that in mind, we've focused on the nuclear deal in this issue.

As we head into the fag end of the semester, it seems appropriate to reflect on the changes engulfing this campus. It's been three months of ups, downs and tricky side turns; of disaffect ion, dissent and disbelief. The bar brawl incident of last semester brought us and the administration to the edge of a slippery slope; one that we tumbled down this semester, the only ones hurt being student freedom, our faith in authority a n d t h e t r a d i t i o n o f Illumination. The loss in faith and trust between the two bodies brooked no good for this campus and that is exactly what

THE SCHOLARS’ AVENUEIIT KHARAGPUROCTOBER 29 2008

happened.

Imposed to control alcohol consumption on campus, the sizeable number of people being caught in an inebriated state has o n l y c e m e n t e d t h e administration's belief that the 11 p.m. rule is necessary; a stand forcefully expressed in the recent open session. Those implicated in the bar brawl got away lightly, ostensibly because

of intervention by the VP, and the entire student community was subjected to the fallout of their actions. The Deputy Director did express his belief that it is a minority that causes such problems and that they should be restrained by the majority, but the authorities' prevailing attitude showcases complete duplicity. And the talk

1

on the edgeFrom the Editorial Board

b e e n f o r g o t t e n . M a k i n g mistakes is a part of growing up and it's best to make them now rather than later. It's how we grow up. In this light, to what l e n g t h s s h o u l d o u r representatives go to save us from the consequences of our actions? Should such a safety net be present at a l l? More importantly, should our parents blame us for our actions or is it the administration that deserves the blame?

Maybe it is time for us to stand up for ourselves and the decisions we make. Maybe it is time to throw away the safety net and take life as the dangerous little tightrope walking game it is. Maybe it is time for us to grow up. A rule is a rule is a rule. If we have the courage to break one, we must also have the courage to face the consequences and not look for a safety net. Recent shocking events have brought us to the edge of a similar slippery slope. At this juncture, it is all too easy to identify a solution in the form of more constraining rules. "Sir(s), let's step back. Please."

The Nuke deal - an in depth analysis

-Page4

Exclusive

“The idiocies of a few outweigh the rationalities of many."

- Vaibhhav Sinha

4th year UG

o f i m p r o v i n g s t u d e n t interaction and the promise of more open sessions doesn't wave it away when genuine hassles are explained away as arising due to the transient nature of the current situation.

To be fair, our parents aren't very forgiving and blame the administration outright (see the Deputy Director interview in this issue) for our transgressions.

Consequently, they implement measures so constraining so as to preclude any chances of such incidents occurring again. Allegorically, they baby-proof the campus thinking people can't do much wrong in such a campus. However, baby-proofing doesnt mean that its sub jects never get hurt , something that seems to have

goodbye illumination?

the ecstacy of victory.the agony of defeat.

2 THE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE ² WEDNESDAY , OCTOBER 29TH 2008N E W S A V E N U E

tête-à-têteThe Deputy Director speaks to The Scholars’ Avenue in the wake of recent events.

The Deputy Director Prof. Madhusudan Chakraborty conducted the open session recently which served as a p la t form to d iscuss our problems. We appreciate the endeavor and hope this is just the beginning of continued fruitful discussions with the authorities. We met the Deputy Director to follow up on some issues raised in the open session. Here's what he had to say:

TSA: The institute is receiving 97 crores for the Jubilee celebrations and a number of new buildings have been planned. How is this plan being carried out?

DD: A master plan for the entire institute's constructions is b e i n g d r a w n u p b y a professional Architect. We have plans to build a new library, new lecture halls and a new convention centre. We have appointed different contractors for different jobs so that work happens faster. The VP has submitted a proposal to form a committee consisting of student representatives, engineers etc. which will overlook the hall maintenance, and this is under consideration. In the end we all want to see concrete work done.

TSA: Sir, some of us feel that we

need better hostels first, before a new library.

DD: These two things are not related. We have enough money but need to utilize it properly. Get your Maintenance Secretary to write a complaint forwarded through the Warden and appropriate action shall be taken. I want the condition of the hostels to improve and I will ensure that this is done.

TSA: When the campus got flooded this year due to a poor drainage system , a portion of the perimeter wall was broken to let the water out. This flooded the living houses behind the campus. What steps are being taken to ensure this doesn't happen again?

DD: We are working on a plan wherein all the drainage water shall be directed towards

a water body. A sewage plant will be setup nearby which will treat the water so that it can be recycled. The area around the water body can be developed into some kind of tourist place. Hopefully things will be in place before the next monsoon. Already a survey of the campus has been done and a new drainage system will be worked out for this purpose.

TSA: You talked about new contractors being appointed for cleaning the hostels. When will they start working, Sir?

DD: I read out the whole

the campus is expected to begin soon. According to Mr. T K Mukherjee, Superintending engineer, civil works, the tendering process is already over, although the name of the chosen company is yet to be officially declared. Apparently the company was short listed as early as the end of August.

The flyover begins near the State General Hospital on the other side of the crossings and takes a turn near the IIT gate, ending up on the perimeter road somewhere between RP and RK halls of residence. A branch also breaks off in between the two level crossings to connect to the road which branches in that area. The design was primarily developed by the Railways, they h a v i n g s h o w n m u c h enthusiasm in the project. It was

a p p r o v e d b y t h e c i v i l engineering department of IIT KGP. The detour to the perimeter road ensures that neither the present road nor the crossings are in any way hampered or blocked. The disruption during construction process is also expected to be kept to a minimum. The project, once begun, is expected to be completed in 18 to 20 months.

It is however inevitable that some of the locals will be evicted as their shops lie on the construction site. However all this land belongs to the Government and hence they have been informed to relocate. A few small shops opposite Chhedi's which lie on IIT land may also have to go.

Flyover dreams about to come true

plan in the open session. The work has started in all the halls.

TSA: The electricity bill is being made Rs. 800/semester. Any reasons for this change?

DD: Many halls were complaining about the uneven distribution of charges among other things. Hence we decided from next semester onwards, every student will pay a fixed sum of money. Thereafter we will adjust depending upon the consumption.

TSA: The issue of non-availability of doctors was raised in the open session. Any progress on this, Sir?

DD: Students have told me that they find it easier to consult the doctors in the hostel. Students enrolled in the School

o f M e d i c a l S c i e n c e a n d Technology have been assigned to hostels for duty. They are MBBS doctors and hence are competent enough. Students will be able to get medicines from the B.C.Roy Hospital with their prescriptions. They need to be available at their respective halls for a specified amount of time. I have already talked to the head of the B.C.Roy Hospital to ensure their presence.

TSA: Sir, would you like to give any message the students , e s p e c i a l l y i n v i e w o f t h e unfortunate incident of a student getting arrested recently?

DD: I get many calls from the press everyday asking for my reactions about this. Many parents have asked me about what is happening here. I want to now start giving feedback to your parents about what you do here on campus. Ours is a residential campus and unlike the Western Universities, we take your wellbeing as our responsibility. You have to go back and identify such errant people in your hostels. You will always have problems but that doesn't mean you should get frustrated. We need to identify the isolated students who are likely to get into such things and make sure they come out and join the mainstream.

You are in a transitional phase of your lives. This is the best period of your life and you need to make most of it. Enjoy your life. Go out and get things done. Don't just sit back and criticize everyone. Whatever you do, see how it will affect your parents when they know of it. Learn self-control. What do you think we get out of teaching you and working here? It's the satisfaction that our students have done extremely well. Recently, a graduate of the 02’ batch, Rajarshi Mukhopadhyay sent me a letter saying he has wo n t h e ' N e w F a c e s o f Engineering, 2008' award. I felt so proud when I received it. Use your opportunities well and make your parents and your teachers proud.

You have that important interview, you need to get to Kolkata, but you just missed the last train. Why? You were held up for more than half an hour at the level crossings. Kgpians have been awaiting a solution to this perennial problem, and finally, it's in sight!

After being in the pipeline for more than a year, the construction of the long awaited flyover to avoid the railway crossings on the way in or out of

Executive Editors ?

Inam, Robin Anil, Sheekha Verma, Sreeja Nag, Suvrat Bafna

Editors ? Anup Bishnoi, Deepak Cherian, JS Deepthi , Mithun Madhusudan, Pranesh Chaudhary, Srinath Sinha, Vinayak Pathak

Asst. Editors ? AVN Murthy, Bharat Bhat, Dheeraj Golla, Mayank Kedia, Pallavi Jayannavar, Siddharth Prabhu, Siddharth Singh, Suyash Bire

Reporters ? Abhirajika A, Amiya

A d w i t i y a , A r v i n d S o w m y a n , Chidambaram A, Ratan J S, Tiyasa Mitra, Vijay, Sumeet Mohanty

Anuj Dayal, Arish

TEAM SCHOLSAVE

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“You are in a transitional phase of your lives. This is the best period of your life and you need to make most of it. Enjoy your life. Go out and get things done. Don't just sit back and criticize everyone.”

Culturals when the KGP Choreo team had the crowd bowled over and left the judges

s p e l l b o u n d b y t h e i r outstanding performance on t h e f e s t t h e m e o f 'Rejuvenation'. The very prestigious Reuben's Trophy was finally bagged by KGP after a lapse of more than 10 years. This trophy is awarded to the college with the most innovative and revolutionary sessional work, and provides a meeting ground for the b u d d i n g a r c h i t e c t s t o c o m p a r e a n d a n a l y z e t h e m s e l ve s w i t h t h e i r counterparts from different colleges. Furthermore, the major architectural design

event was also won by KGP. Even the final years took some time out from their job hunting and CAT preparations to fine tune the preparations, and some

THE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE ² WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 29TH 20083 N E W S A V E N U E

chitecture students of IIT AKGP made their presence felt at ZONASA yet again. The ZOnal convention of the N a t i o n a l A s s o c i a t i o n o f Students of Architecture, 2008 was hosted by the Department of Architecture, Jadavpur University, Kolkata. Spanning over three days 17th, 18th and 19th October, this intercollegiate fest amalgamated design and socio-cul tural aspects of architecture and served as a forum for the ten schools of architecture falling under the eastern zone to showcase their talents and compete with each o ther in three d i f f e rent categories of events - casual, informal and formal. This year a new approach to the conduct of casual and informal events was adopted where mixed teams comprising of contestants from different colleges were formed

to participate in these events in order to boost interaction amongst each other.

IIT KGP, being defending champions, packed a sizable contingency of 65 students. A m o n t h l o n g t o i l a n d perspiration fructified into a Gold in the much anticipated

also made it to the venue to cheer the team. The sheer energy and tempo displayed by them was evident in the very fact that most of them returned with a sore throat. Their "killer attitude" and "vibrant presence" was undisputedly felt by all, and also earned a special mention on stage at the time of the valedictory function.

In the overall run for the Zonasa Trophy, however, a n a r r o w m a r g i n p u s h e d Kharagpur to the second spot where ABIT, Cuttack emerged as the winners. But, this hasn't d a m p e n e d t h e z e a l a n d enthusiasm of the Archi folks at all, and they are confident about bringing home the trophy the coming year.

Here's wishing them the best of luck!

ZONASA ‘08 Archi students return triumphant

As the long drawn construction of Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law reaches the final stages, The Scholars' Avenue takes

UP CloSE : RGSOIPL

A Class in progressThe Moot Court Main Building

"It might not be a big HIT, but it will not be below

par. The hype about the crunch in the market is little

over rated by media. The affect may be seen in the

number of investment banking firms recruiting. So

this time we will find our real skill tested during

placement i.e. engineering The worst affected are the

students (especially finance) of MBA schools across

India and the outsourced software jobs searching

students. These jobs are not a huge chunk in IIT

placement.IIT will cushion the fall"

- Anupam Majhi

Campus placements are going to take a huge hit following the debacle in the investment banking scene.

“The meltdown being talked of here is now not

restricted to the financial sector alone. Its not

always whats on paper that does damage to the

industry and to the country as a whole. Companies

are now finding it hard to get capital to grow, banks

are jittery over long term lending, investors are

hoarding their cash reserves for better use later. This

sounds doom for a host of sectors and engineering or

'core' areas are not an exception. The onus now is on

the IIT brand equity to weather the storm.”

- Varun Jain

What’s the buzz on Minekey?

We need new fests in IITKGP.

Out with the old, in with the new,

and all that!

Atheism, in its own right is self-denunciatory being propagated and believed in by individuals who

want to deny reality.

The society, even in IITkgp

cannot completely accept women

as engineers.

KGP tends to internalize its competition to an unhealthy degree.

The victorious ZONASA contingent

t was May 18, 1974. 27.095 degrees north and 71.752 degrees east was another piece of dry barren desert earth in the northwest of India. But 107 meters below this ground reposed Buddha. He had been brought here the day before hidden inside a thermos flask aboard an Indian Airlines airplane. He had been calm and unsmiling till now. Suddenly, at 8:05 in the morning, he woke up and blew a 94 meter wide hole in the desert. Upon witnessing this curious incident, an old man by the name Raja Ramanna, Director, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, ran Ito the nearest village, Pokhran, and, over an unsecured payphone line, called up Indira Gandhi. "Madam" he said, "the Buddha has smiled."

4 THE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE ² WEDNESDAY , OCTOBER 29TH 2008F E A T U R E A V E N U E

The Buddha Smiles:Perspectives on the Indo-American Nuclear Deal

Ending DiscreditsAfter the terms of the 123 agreement were concluded, it ran into stiff opposition in India from the communist allies of the ruling UPA but the

government survived a confidence vote in the parliament in the backdrop of defections from both camps to the opposite camps. When it comes to "global energy stability", Iran figures prominently as a continual thorn in Washington's side since its flaunting of the Security Council over nuclear testing, and India was keen on developing a 2600 km gas pipeline from Tehran. The US fears that the huge gas sales will reduce the West's economic leverage over Tehran that is necessary to persuade Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

Critics argue that the exception made for India will weaken the NPT regime and that Iran, Pakistan and North Korea, will now demand that they too be allowed to pursue nuclear commerce alluding to the exception that is granted to India. However, while Iran has been playing a game of deception with the IAEA, North Korea has been actively proliferating despite initially signing the NPT and Pakistan was the source of the infamous A.Q. Khan network. Unlike India, they knowingly and willingly violated terms of the NPT and cannot expect the same treatment from the global community.

The most concerned yet least backed voice belongs to those who contend that the Indo-US nuclear deal not only undermines the cause of non-proliferation, but actually bolsters Indian military might against a resurgent People's Republic of China (PRC) which could potentially spawn a subcontinental nuclear conflict. This may or may not have been on the minds of the Bush administration but India's diplomatic and strategic community makes it quite clear that they have do not share this goal despite their deep misgivings about the PRC's growing military capabilities and its future strategic intentions. New Delhi wishes to harbor benign bilateral ties with Beijing despite the circumstances of the genesis of India's nuclear story.

What's in it for the United States?

Energy is one. The growing energy demands of the Indian and Chinese economies have raised questions on the impact of global availability to conventional energy. An Indian shift toward nuclear energy is in the best interest for America to secure its energy needs of coal, crude oil, and natural gas. Such a deal could bring in $150 billion in the next decade from India's purchase nuclear power plant equipment, of which the U.S. wants a share. People in the Pentagon expect India to start purchasing as much as $5 billion worth of conventional military equipment.

But over and above these, what underlies American motivation to go through with a soft deal even when it held a strong hand is strategic: China. Those in India who marvel at how the American president could blithely walk away from 40 years of non-proliferation policy misunderstand the tectonic shift that is taking place in the bilateral relationship as a result of increasing fears in U.S. business and strategic circles about China. Giving India anything less, or insisting that it cap or scrap its nuclear weapons, is seen by Washington's neo-conservatives as tantamount to strengthening China in the emerging balance of power in Asia.

What's in it for India?

India has more than enough fissile material to supply its nuclear weapons program, even if it restricted production of weapon grade plutonium to 1/4 of the reactors. New Delhi thus has the capability to produce a gigantic nuclear arsenal while subsisting well within the lowest estimates of its known uranium reserves. However, because the amount of nuclear fuel required for the electricity generation sector is far greater than that required to maintain a nuclear weapons program, and since India's estimated reserve of uranium represents only 1% of the world's known uranium reserves, the NSG's uranium export restrictions before the waiver mainly affected Indian nuclear power generation capacity. Given the agreement with the US, India hopes to meet its goal of adding 25,000 MW of nuclear power capacity through imports of nuclear reactors and fuel by 2020.

Apart from the tangibles, India gains what could be called 'partial big power' clout with the very public American courting and the recognized inclusion in the non-proliferation regime without having to sign the NPT. The agreement also has potential to change the perception of a squabbler that the world has of India when hyphenated with Pakistan.

The objective of building a suppliers of nuclear equipment days later, President Bush signed fearsome weapon is singular: to came together to form the Nuclear the bill into the United States-India transcend, and the name of the Suppliers Group. Nations already Nuclear Cooperation Approval weapon ought to reflect that. signatories of the Nuclear Non- a n d N o n - p r o l i f e r a t i o n Armament nomenclature luckily Proliferation Treaty, signed in 1968, Enhancement Act. Intense narrows down the choice to either saw the need to further limit the l o b b y i n g s a w t h e B u s h the phallic or the divine; bigger export of nuclear technology. India Government get the deal through men or gods, cross border had found the NPT discriminatory, before America votes in a new marauders or benevolent deities. It arguing that the NPT creates a club administration. The very same is sometimes reflective of the of "nuclear haves" and a larger efficient diplomatic machinery national policy too. The'Smiling group of "nuclear have-nots" by that engineered India's exclusion Buddha' was the codename for the restricting the legal possession of from the global nuclear market Peaceful Nuclear Explosive nuclear weapons to those states came into action to build developed by India and tested that that tested them before 1967 consensus amongst the 45 member morning in the Thar. India had lost without providing any ethical states of the Nuclear Suppliers a war with China in 1962 and the grounds for such a distinction, and Group to make an exception for Chinese had tested a nuclear bomb along with Pakistan and Israel had India couched under i ts at Lop Nor in 1964. Buddhism is refused to be party to it. North impeccable credentials as far non-the largest organized faith in Korea had initially acceded to the proliferation goes. India is now the China. India, evidently, had sensed treaty, violated it, and later only non signatory of the NPT impending danger to its status as a withdrew. India, now, found itself allowed to indulge in nuclear trade sovereign state from its inscrutable in the wilderness of nuclear trade globally. neighbor. and collaboration. The natural questions arise.

The worldwide reaction to an Now, 34 years later, the smile Why India? What is in it for independent fledgling state with has over arched into a full circle. On America? Amidst strong denial socialist tendencies testing a home October 1, 2008, the US senate from both camps, one of the most made nuclear weapon was approved a revolutionary bilateral important factors, ironically, is the immediate. By 1974 US-led major agreement with India and seven land of the Smiling Buddha.

What's the Big Deal?

The Hyde Act of 2006 is the U.S. domestic law that modifes the requirements of Section 123 of the U.S. Atomic Energy Act particularly to negotiate a 123 Agreement that defines the terms and conditions for bilateral civilian nuclear cooperation. The most important two amongst these are : it lets the US make a one-time exception for India to keep its nuclear weapons without signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and overturns a 30-year-old US ban on supplying India with nuclear fuel and technology. In return, India has to payback by agreeing to separate its civilian and military nuclear facilities, and submit 14 out of 22 of India's nuclear reactors to inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

"Working in AIESEC allows you to travel, absorb different cultural

values and implement new ideas. It also instills positive leadership

qualities in you. I will return home a much different person."

- Anja, Germany

FEATURES A V E N U ETHE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE ² WEDNESDAY , OCTOBER 29TH 2008 5

AIESEC - In and outIn Kharagpur, AIESEC is best AIESEC Kharagpur i s organization in the world today. reach the desired fruits. There

known for those lucrative offers presently under the umbrella of are responsibilities you must of foreign internships that its mother-society AIESEC assume – from organizing dwelled on the notice boards in K o l k a t a . F o l l o w i n g t w o events and managing the those early months of this introductory sessions, the newly reception and stay of foreign semester. Unknown to most, it found s ibl ing made pi ts interns to delivering talks and holds a far broader vision than presence felt with the AIESEC conducting seminars on AIESEC just providing internship Summit (see box). It has a range of – rising in positions gradually, opportunities to third years. events planned up. Stay tuned before you are selected! Three

for more!internships in the bag and you It aims at a better world to are an alumnus of AIESEC.AIESEC is an international

live in but how does it attempt to organization managed by achieve it? What better way to students. It aims at providing an bridge two nations than to saw international platform for young off their cultural differences? Its people to discover and develop ob jec t ive to "expand th e their potential so as to have a understanding of a nation by positive impact on society. It expanding the understanding of the holds conferences in any of its individuals, changing the world one 105 member nations and person at a time" has scripted its p r o v i d e s l e a d e r s h i p course with this adopted elixir of opportunities to the organizing cultural interaction.teams. But what is highlighted

Practically, AIESEC provides the most is its student exchange global internship opportunities programme – where it offers with leading organizations from internships to students and the corporate, development, recent graduates in other student and education sector in countries, thus rendering their four a reas : Management services to cultural interaction Tr a i n e e s h i p , Te c h n i c a l between nations. With its Traineeship, Development incept ion in 1948 as an Traineeship (open to all social international fraternity society e n t r e p r e n e u r s a n d amidst the sudden surge of e n v i r o n m e n t a l i s t s ) a n d global peace cries in the Educational Traineeship (for aftermath of the Second World budding teachers). Bagging War, it now stands as one of the such internships is however not few which have avoided as simple as joining the society. oblivion for sixty long years and You've got to climb a ladder to is instead the largest youth

The interns posing in front of Insti

ndless rows of dusty Library a swanky new look. All sessions. These measures are at the Suggestion Box at the Ehardbound faded books in Halls are well-lit with bright slated to be in effect starting Library entrance. There are plans forgotten musty Halls that overhead lights, and the new November. Extended working to have a bigger new Library required a map to reach – a polished flooring accentuates this. hours, laptops with Wi-Fi complex in the near future. He familiar memory to most students T h e s h e l v e s h a v e b e e n connectivity, and a cozy also invites students to approach – our library, a little more than a strategically relocated to give the atmosphere are definitely factors the Library directly for the year ago. The freshman awe of the Library a spacious look, without that will drastically increase requisition of books not related to 'largest Tech library in Asia' soon affecting the ease of access to Library usage, which even now is any technical courses in IIT, and is f aded away wi th added books required. In the Digital rising fast. The only other thing confident that the requests can be inconveniences like personal Library, now a special ly that a student could possibly want comfortably met from within book restrictions, unsuitable redesigned and re-furnished for a quiet and peaceful working Library funds itself. He believes working hours, long lines at the room, the computers are now environment would perhaps be a that the best way to improve the check-out counter, and a general plenty in number, and all boasting coffee machine. On this, however, library is by interaction with the lack of a s tudy-fr iendly top-end configurations for a Dr. Sutradhar remains skeptical, users, and hence welcomes atmosphere. A lot has changed surprisingly enjoyable Internet and says he will consider suggestions and problems from since then, and overseeing these experience. The main Hall and the installing one if he sees a the users, i.e. students. changes is the Librarian, Dr. B. Gallery, with their cozy furniture significant increase in night-time Within less than a year, the Sutradhar, under the Chariman, is now undoubtedly a popular activity in the Library. The Wi-Fi Library has transformed from an Central Library, Prof. S. Sahu.. hangout between classes. connection is not always ageing relic to a swanky modern

It might be surprising to some automatic and a stepwise facility that leaves very little that the Central Library held a In response to proposals procedure for getting connected wanting. We as students should vacancy for the 'Librarian' post for suggested by the student body, will be put up in different sections laud not only the new product, nearly 16 years. The librarian students will now be allowed to of the library soon. but also the people who make this would expedite efficient working take in 2 books and bound Xerox The Librarian said that all possible – the staff at the Central o f the l ibrary and keen materials at any time of the day, in development work in the Library Library. The simplest way to show management of the allocated addition to laptops. Also, the is fueled by student need, so them our appreciation would be budget. Since his appointment to working hours of the Library will anyone having suggestions for to help them improve what the post, many modifications and be extended to midnight improvements, should contact they've started out on. facelifts have truly given the throughout the academic him directly, or at least drop a note Put suggestions in the Box!

AIESEC SUMMIT

The AIESEC Summit saw 13 international interns from Russia, Poland, Greece, Tunisia, Columbia, Turkey and Germany visit the Institute on a one-day sojourn. The Scholars' Avenue had an opportunity to interact with these interns and this is what we learnt. They are in Kolkata for a three month long stay as a part of the Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) Global Entrepreneurship Program. Alongside training, these students are working for different companies like ABC India, Anthroplace, Mani group, TCS and Thulsi.

"At NSHM we do general presentations concerning cultural issues and discussions. At PwC we focus more on business matters and case studies."

- Babis Makrinikolas (intern from Greece)

referring to their work at the National School of Hostel Management (NSHM)

The AIESEC Summit included brief presentations on a few Kgp start-ups and one on AIESEC by the senior members of its Kolkata team. A few words from the interns, the Poles with their national anthem and presentation of promotional videos by the Columbian and the Tunisian visitor sums up the rest of the session. AIESEC Kharagpur called it curtains with a performance in Classical Hindustani Music. The Summit gave the students at Kharagpur an opportunity to appreciate the way of life beyond the oceans thus, vitalizing us with the realization that we all hail from one global village. The Scholars' Avenue wishes the very best to AIESEC and hopes to witness a blooming functional society in days to come.

LIBRARY - THE RESURRECTION

6 T E C H A V E N U E THE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE ² WEDNESDAY , OCTOBER 29TH 2008

igital Rights Management D(DRM) is a collective term for technologies that ensure that any digital media you buy is used w i t h o u t a n y c o p y r i g h t infringement. With increasing piracy chewing away at producer's revenue, DRM was brought in to lessen the blow. In order to decide whether it is a change for the better let us have a look at how DRM is likely to affect you.

In order to understand what DRM means we must first understand the agreement we enter into when we purchase any digital media (movies, music, games, software etc. ). This agreement, called the End User License Agreement, stipulates what rights we have to the digital media purchased so that we do not infringe on copyrights held by the producers. DRM technologies merely enforce that agreement. This would be fine if the DRM systems were perfect, but this is not the case. Producers however can not wait around for that technological break through and deploy imperfect DRM systems. Heres how one of these works.

Advanced Access Content Systems(AACS) is a rather

prevalent DRM system. The digital media (primarily of HD-DVD and Blu-Ray disks) is encrypted and uses special players to decrypt and play it. AACS uses broadcast encryption to assign unique decryption keys to each individual player. This makes it possible to block any particular player that has been used for piracy. Another component of AACS is Managed

the industry decides a new standard. Currently DRM technologies are anything but lay-user friendly. Songs from Yahoo Music (enabled with Windows Media DRM format) will not work on an iPod (which only works with songs under a Fairplay format). One is not permitted to back up one's ebook collection. One may not, even with much application and perseverance, transfer legally bought data to a newly upgraded computer. If your graphics card manufacturer was late in getting a driver patch signed, your system won't be able to play a HD film. Some DRM technologies such as Sony's XCP(Extended Copy Protection) have been flagged for violation of privacy and even creating security vulnerabilities. To sneak in customer-surveillance in the guise of managing our 'rights' is just the kind of Orwellian concept we need to denounce.

outcome of AACS now is that law-abiding customers will be inconvenienced by the unnecessary hassle of making sure that any media they buy is compatible with the current version of their players. Interoperability takes a massive blow

with the introduction of such proprietary formats which is one of the reasons people turn to pirated

So... Why should I care?While the Copyright Act (1957) and societies like Phonographic

Performance Ltd. (PPL) have served to check unlicensed public

broadcasting in clubs, exhibitions, etc., India is still not ready to

tackle file-sharing. However, it pays to know how our overseas

counterparts are faring. Several P2P file-sharing networks in the

USA (Michigan Technological U. and Princeton U. To name a

few) have been exposed and severely dealt with by the RIAA.

Some attempted fines are eye-popping figures like the $97bn.

imposed on a single MTU student.

Copy - a system by which users can make a certain number of legal copies of their media with remote authorization from the producers server. The system is however flawed and can rather easily be circumvented. BackupHD-DVD which was released about a year back automates this process and makes a DRM-free copy of any digital media. The only real

media. Do you see the vicious cycle forming?

The primary concern about DRM is that the imperfect systems currently available are doing little to stop hardcore pirates while simultaneously pushing legitimate users towards piracy in the hope of enjoying a movie hassle free without having to constantly upgrade their systems as and when

Browser Wars 3.0Clarke's Third Law: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

n 1874, Alexandar Graham Bell Icame up with a scheme for two people living far apart to be able to talk to each other in real time. The idea that it was possible to communicate from a distance caused a major upsurge of innovations, and now, we are in a time where a person can not only talk to people living far away, but also SuperPoke them, read their blogs, beat them in TypeRacer and call them a cutie. What's even more exciting that very soon we'll be able to do all of these without even making our browsers crash. This very noticeable similarity with magic is going to be the result of a very recent upsurge of innovations - something, that we like to call the Browser War 3.0 - a war to make the fastest browser on the planet.

Wars have been a regular feature in the world of browsers. In the primitive no-AJAX days, Browser War 1.0 was more about acquiring a lot of Market Share than anything else. IE emerged as a clear winner marking the e x t i n c t i o n o f N e t s c a p e Communicator.

Ten years later, that is, in early

2000, Mozilla Firefox entered the battlefield and very quickly became a major challenger to Microsoft's IE (5/6). Firefox improved the browsing experience with its plethora of community developed extensions. Over the next few years, Firefox ate away 1/5th of IE's market share (then 96%) and thus emerged an undisputed winner. This marked the end of the Browser War 2.0.

Five more years down the line, the average internet experience went beyond static HTML pages or flash banners. People started using processor in tens ive web applications such as Gmail, Gtalk gadget, the Orkut scrapbook that allowed users to scrap 10 people without reload and so on. The browsers, incapable of handling such enormous complexity kept hanging every now and then, leaving users high and dry. That was when the developers went back to the drawing board to reinvent browser technology, thus

marking the advent of Browser War 3.0. The IE8 team pioneered a feature called process isolation, which ensured that if one browser window crashed, it wouldn't affect other tabs you had opened. Apple created the world's fastest HTML rendering engine and released it in

their browser, the Safari. They also released its code under an open-source project called WebKit. A professor of UC, Irvine and his

team boosted JavaScript execution speed using a method called tracing. They donated their code to Firefox and the new engine is now being dubbed Tracemonkey. The Opera team rewrote their code and brought forth a fast, compliant browser, the Opera "Kestral". But Google's engineers topped it all. They took the process isolation idea from IE, the WebKit rendering code and a Virtual Machine for JavaScript called V8 to create one of the slickest and fastest browsers, the Google Chrome.

This move by Google

prompted other developers to put themselves on steroids. Within two weeks of Chrome's release, the WebKit (Apple Safari) developers came back improving their Squirrelfish JS engine. Dubbed the Squirrelfish Extreme, the new engine outperforms Chrome in most JS benchmarks. A week after that, WebKit became the first browser to pass a complex rendering test suite called the ACID3 test.

The browser war 3.0 continues. This time there are no casualties. It is a victory for all net-citizens regardless of the outcome. Firefox is going to get a speed boost with the inclusion of Tracemonkey in Firefox 3.1. Chrome recently added functionality for extensions ala Firefox. Squirrelfish Extreme and WebKit will power the Safari 4 on both the Mac and the iPhone. With the IE team churning out innovative browsing experiences like accelerators, the web is surely going to be an enjoyable place for the average Joe. With web surfing moving towards mobile devices, a faster browser will lead to desktop like experiences on them as well.

A look at DRM

7 BHAAT A V E N U E

Dear Sir,

SUBJECT: application for summer training project under your halloed tutelage

I sincerely hope my 965th attempt to obtain your invaluable guidance in a summer project will not go unanswered. I am indeed in much appreciation of your latest research project and aspire to have

some contribution to it. You may be assured of my expertise in the subject, Sir. The person who copied my answer script scored the batch highest in a related course, my poor grade being a result of righteous selflessness. I assure you that if you find me lacking in any skill, I will try my best to acquire it, failing which I will surely convince you of the futility of the same. I consider it my true destiny to be linked with your project and to be at the receiving end of your halloed tutelage.

...

I take this opportunity to bring forward my achievements in related topics. The most mention worthy of these was being placed third among my peers in a science meet when in standard 2.I have also been a finalist in my class quiz in standard 5 and once I scored 99 in maths in when in grade 3. You may thus put aside any doubts about my innovative and retentive skills.

Sir/Madam I would like to assist you in your invaluable research in any way you find appropriate. A meagre stipend of $20,000 will suffice for my needs. I will be ever grateful to you if you allow me to chase my dream project. I request you to consider my application,and reconsider it if necessary until you find me essential to your project. I am eagerly waiting for your positive reply, preferably before I send 1000 mails.

-yours sicerely,

SNEHA G.FIRST YEAR UndergradMining Engg. (but DepCing toAerospace next year)

Dear Dudette,

Seriously, what’s up with dishing research positions out to them coloured folk? I haven’t read your research work. I have no command over Matlab, Windows, and AutoCad. Heck! I barely know how to use Paint. I don't care two hoots about Eunux programming. I don’t know anything about Genetic Algorithms. I was high in all of my Soft Computing classes. I still think that F = ma was some equation written by the apple dude when he was feeling naughty. Basically, I’m your average white guy.

But the fact remains that I ought to get the research position in your lab. Whaddya say?

*DELETE*

Meanwhile, lurking in a lonely corner of one Dourojit Dotto’s e-mail inbox...

THE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE ² WEDNESDAY , OCTOBER 29TH 2008

THE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE ² WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 29TH 20088 AD A V E N U E