Mahatma Gandhi and RMS

The other day I was talking to a small group of people about free software movement. I was describing RMS and how he started the GNU movement and how he always insists on having a separate identity than the Open source movement. In the flow of talking I compared RMS with Mahatma Gandhi. Both fought for freedom. And I was happy that I came up with a nice point. But then I came across this interview with RMS where he takes objection to comparing him with Gandhi. I respect him even more now for being modest. Read the answer to the last question. That explains why he is considered to be an extremist despite being correct most of the times.

I spent most of the time today reading most of the links on this page and RMS' travel blog here and most links on this page. I suggest you also go through the links to see if the topics like software freedom and copyright issues interests you.

Dance bars and freedom
There has been debates on Maharashtra's Home Minister's decision to ban all the dance bars in Maharashtra. Most of the people seem to support the decision since it is said that many families have been ruined due to the addiction of going to dance bars. People opposing the decision argue what would the bar-dependents will do for their earning.

I, do not agree with both the views.

Personally I am against the ban. I feel like this is an invasion on my freedom. It is not governments job to decide what is moral and what is not. An adult who is considered mature enough to drive, to vote and to marry should be considered mature enough to take other decisions. Unless an act is affecting the freedom of other people, there is no reason to ban any act. For example I do support ban on smoking in the public places and I think ban on Gutkha should be limited to ban on spitting in the public places.
This drive to decide good and bad for the citizens can be seen in other so called advanced countries also. just consider following issues.

• Same sex relations
• Right to suicide
• Right for abortions
• Relations between consenting adults (Prostitution?)
  

The list can be longer.

Besides legaly prohibiting something popular is not the solution. We have witnessed what happened to the prohibition on alcohol or more recently the "Gutkha". People find innovative ways to circumvent the ban. The purpose is not solved. Ofcourse, ineffective execution of a good concepts should always be supported but I don't think it is good to ban such things. What the concern should be to watch for minors and the ones forced against their will in such activities.

The demand to provide alternate jobs to the bar-girls is also baseless. The girls wont get so much money so easily in any other job. Most of them can still find an alternate job without anyone's assistance but it wont match the income.

This made me wonder, what should be the job of the Government?
Any Ideas?

Problem with ICICIdirect.com
Long ago when I opened an account with the icicidirect for online trading (this dates back to somewhere July 2004) I faced a problem while changing my password for the site. you can read about it at http://www.geocities.com/aseemrane/firefox.html Since then I was just wondering what to do with it. Recently while attending a seminar by icicidirect.com I met with a guy who offered some help. I explained him the problem. Unfortunately nobody belives the problem or thinks that the problem is with FireFox and not with the portal.
The guy was afraid to reveal his identity and did not gave me his name or contact number. The only way I can contact him is thru this blog. I have given him link for my blog. I hope the person reads this and takes further action.
Friend, if you are reading this, I would like to tell you that the problem still persists. I am ready to help in any way possible. For your information, I communicated with Ms. Sasi Kumari. Following is extract from her last reply. After this I was so shocked I couldn't dare mail to her.

Kindly note that on the Change Password Page :

1. User Id and your old Password are save and secured by 128-bit encryption.

2. The Security warning reflecting on the page is for the new Password which you would like to hold.

This new password will not have any security for very few seconds that is the time taken from your system (when you place the password) to us when www.icicidirect.com accepts your password and enables it.

In this time, even if someone views your password it does not help them out as the password alone cannot help.

I would appreciate if anybody reading this help solve this problem. There are many vulnerable people out there changing their passwords thinking that they are making it safe.

Gender Equality?
This Saturday I attended a free seminar conducted by ICICIdirect.com on derivatives. Out of the 150 odd attendies, only 3-4 were females. I have a similar experience while attending Linux meets also. Out of 30-40 people, hardly one or none are females. The similar will be the case for other off-the-highway meetings.
What does this low attendance of ladies indicate? Is there lack of awareness about such things? Are women only concentrating on the things, which are a must know for their daily work and not bothering about other things? Are they so hard pressed against managing the work and home that they do not have time and/or energy to do any such activities? Or is it sheer ignorance?
Is gender equality even in the todays urban life a myth?