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How Government Officials Are Using Twitter for Hurricane Sandy

When Hurricane Irene roared up the East Coast in August 2011, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey delivered a strongly worded post on his Twitter account, @GovChrisChristie, telling people to “get the hell off the beach.” It worked. People left.

With Hurricane Sandy, Mr. Christie used Twitter and YouTube again, as did governors, mayors and emergency management officials from North Carolina to Massachusetts, cementing Twitter's role as an emergency broadcasting service. In the aftermath of this storm, as we report, Twitter and other social media tools are also proving vital to helping officials deliver important and timely updates.

More than 20 million tweets were sent about the storm between Saturday and Thursday, said Rachael Horwitz, a spokeswoman for Twitter. And that is probably a conservative estimate, she noted, because it reflects only those Twitter posts that included the terms “sandy,” “hurricane,” “#sandy” and “#hurricane.”

At 9 p.m. Monday, as floodwaters poured into New York City's low-lying areas and an explosion rocked a Con Edison substation, the number of Twitter users in the city who loaded their Twitter timeline from a mobile device peaked, more than doubling the number from the previous two days, Ms. Horwitz said.

Perhaps one reason is that top government officials and agencies had been delivering regular warnings and updates about the storm since late last week. They used Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and even Pinterest to get the word out before and after the storm..

The Bloomberg administration uses multiple Twitter accounts to post updates, including @NYCMayorsOffice, @MikeBloomberg and @NYCnotify.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York, whose @NYGovCuomo is managed by a team of close aides, led by Liisa O'Neill, has been delivering hundreds of rapid-fire updates since late last week, becoming a must-follow for anyone looking for information about the recovery efforts. It is on this account that Twitter users learned when tunnels were closed, bridges opened, commuter rails were shutting down and then this post on Thursday that was welcome news, especially to Long Island commuters.

U.S. Colleges Extend Early Admission Deadlines

Several U.S. universities are extending their early admission deadlines for all students, including those affected by Hurricane Sandy.

Image of the Day: Nov.2

A worker's hands covered with gunpowder while making  fire crackers at a factory in Kolkata, West Bengal, ahead of the festival of Diwali.Rupak De Chowdhuri/ReutersA worker's hands covered with gunpowder while making  fire crackers at a factory in Kolkata, West Bengal, ahead of the festival of Diwali.

At the Heart of a Political Brawl in India, Two Historic Newspapers

A screenshot of the masthead of Qaumi Awaz, an Urdu  newspaper started by Jawaharlal Nehru, that was shut down in 2008. Anindianmuslim.com blogA screenshot of the masthead of Qaumi Awaz, an Urdu  newspaper started by Jawaharlal Nehru, that was shut down in 2008. 

Subramanian Swamy, chief of the Janata Party, on Thursday accused Sonia Gandhi, the Congress Party president, and Rahul Gandhi, the Congress general secretary, of illegally purchasing a publishing company to gain ownership over land that it held.

Hours later, Mr. Gandhi, in a letter addressed to Mr. Swamy and circulated in the press, called Mr. Swamy's accusations “utterly false, entirely baseless and defamatory,” and threatened to sue. “We ar e committed to pursuing all legal actions against the scandalous abuse evident in your so-called ‘press conference,' ” the letter said. A suit against Mr. Swamy could be filed in the next few days, one adviser said.

At the heart of the acrimonious battle, just the latest between Mr. Swamy and the Gandhi family, is a company called Young Indian. Mr. Swamy claims it was established by Mrs. Gandhi and her son to do what he called a “stinking deal” aimed at acquiring a publicly listed publishing company, Associated Journals. Associated Journals owned property in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi worth, he said, $295 million.

Beyond Mr. Swamy's allegations, public information about Young Indian, Associated Journals or the alleged land deals is limited, but the company appears to be a not-for-profit formed to revive two historic newspapers.

From the Ministry of Corporate Affairs' Web site comes this list of “Section 25” companies, or those formed “for the sole purpose of promoting commerce, art, science, religion and charity or any other useful objects.” According to page 61, Young Indian was formed on Nov. 23, 2010, and lists its address as 5A, Herald House, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, in New Delhi.

Among other rules, Section 25 companies must apply any income or profits to promoting its objectives, and are forbidden to pay dividends to members.

Associated Journals stopped publication of two of its newspapers in 2008, long before Young Indian was formed. Quami Awaz, an Urdu newspaper founded by Mr. Gandhi's great-grandfather, Jawaharlal Nehru, and the English-language National Herald, which was edited by Mr. Nehru before he became prime minister, shut down in the spring of 2008.

At the time, loyal readers decried their closure, particularly because it came while Mr. Nehru's Congress Party was in power. “Sonia Gandhi's intervention would have saved the papers,” wrote the blogger An Indian Muslim at the time. “Forever I will miss the newspaper that was once largely circulated in entire North India.”

Young Indian planned to revive the papers, the Press Trust of India reported on Oct. 9. The news agency, citing Registrar of Companies documents, said the former Indian Express editor Suman Dubey was the signatory to the company and that the papers would be “set up under the guidance of top leadership of Congress Party,” and that Sam Pitroda, a telecommunications industry entrepreneur, was also involved.

Rahul Gandhi's office had responded to the Press Trust of India's e-mail inquiries by saying that Young Indian “is a not-for-profit company and does not have commercial operations” and that it had “no intention of starting” any newspapers, and neither Mr. Dubey or Mr. Pitroda responded to questions.

However, Mr. Pitroda's official website, in his current capacity as adviser to the prime minister, displays a Hindustan Tim es article from May 2011 which reported that the Congress would soon be restarting the National Herald along with its Hindi edition, Navjeevan, and the Urdu edition, Quami Awaz.

Mr. Pitroda, the adviser to prime minister on public information, infrastructure and innovations, was roped in “to give a new look to the publications,” the Hindustan Times said.

On Thursday, Mr. Swamy also alleged that the All India Congress Committee had given Associated Journals an unsecured loan of over $16 million, which he said was illegal because a political party cannot give loans for commercial purposes under the Income Tax Act. He provided no documentation of the allegations.

Janardan Dwivedi, chairman, media department of the All India Congress Committee issued a statement Friday saying that the object of the Indian National Congress is the “well being and advancement” of the Indian people and that it has done its duty by supporting The Associated Journals “to h elp initiate a process to bring the newspaper back to health in compliance with the laws of the land”. The support, the statement says, was in the form of “interest free loans from which no commercial profit has accrued to the Indian National Congress.”

An income tax lawyer, who prefers to remain unnamed due to a conflict of interest, said that such a loan was illegal according to Section 13 A of the Income Tax Act, which speaks of special provisions made for the income of political parties. Income of political parties is exempted from taxation, he said, however the money thus exempted is not meant to be used for purposes other than those of the political party.

Phone calls to the Registrar of Companies went unanswered, as did calls to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, the Securities and Exchange Board of India and the offices of Mr. Gandhi and Mr. Pitroda.



A Conversation With: Lt. Gen.Baljit Singh Jaswal, Former Commander of Kashmir

After two decades of militancy, the Kashmir Valley has been relatively calm during the past two years. Tourists from India and around the world flooded into the scenic valley last summer, and the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah, has called for troop reductions and a repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act.

Lt. Gen.Baljit Singh Jaswal.Betwa SharmaLt. Gen.Baljit Singh Jaswal.

But military officials say the peace remains fragile and that the infiltration of militants from Pakistan continues, albeit in smaller numbers. The army has said that Kashmir isn't ready for any drastic dilution of security.

India Ink recently discussed the situation in Kashmir with Lt. Gen.Baljit Si ngh Jaswal, who from October 2009 to December 2010 led the Northern Command, which currently controls more than 300,000 troops in the state.  General Jaswal was in charge the last time violent protests swept the valley, in 2010.

 Decorated five times, General Jaswal has a family history of military service. His father was a British-commissioned officer who fought in North Africa and Burma during World War II. His brother was killed in the 1965 war with Pakistan. His son is currently serving in the Indian Army.

The retired general spent most of his career conducting counterinsurgency operations in Kashmir and the northeast. During a long conversation at the Assam Rifles Mess in Delhi Cantonment on Thursday, he discussed the challenges of guarding the Line of Control, the lingering threat from Pakistan, the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and the life of a soldier in Kashmir.

Q.

How much infiltration of militants from Pakistan is happening now?

A.

Infiltration has come down a hell of a lot. This year, it has come down to just about 50-odd people. Earlier, it used to be 700 to 800 people. In 2010, there were 110.

But you see, it's extremely, extremely difficult to stop. You have to be on ground to see how difficult it is.  To say that you can hermetically seal the borders â€" sorry, you can't. People sitting in Delhi say, “Why can't the army stop this?” You go and sit there, night after night, and see the psyche of a soldier. I mean, he is doing his best. But the strain is there. There is so much pressure on him. He will not like even the wind to go past him. It is very, very difficult.

We have now improved the fences, but you see what happens in the Gulmarg sector. There is 30 feet of snow. The fence gets covered. How do you then protect?

So the first thing we do is aerial rekkies [reconnaissance], or we see from the po st if there are any footprints. We know that if someone has crossed at night, the travel time would have been this much, so we carry out an assessment that he will be in an area. So we cordon off that area and take appropriate action. It's very difficult.

If you want to feel the heat, be in it. Then you will realize.

Q.

What threat do these militants still pose in Kashmir?

A.

Even if there are five terrorists, well, they can do something - kill the chief minister, kill a cabinet minister. That itself is hell of a lot.

They have the potential. There are about 450 to 500 terrorists in the whole of Jammu and Kashmir, and a group of five, they can do anything.  A fedayeen [militant] attack can take place anywhere. It could be a fedayeen attack on the Jammu and Kashmir assembly.

Q.

What is your assessment of the recent murders of the sarpanches, or village heads, in Kashmir?< /p>

A.

The assembly elections were held in 2007 and about 56 percent of voters turned out. In the 2008 general elections, 66 percent turned out. And now the Jammu and Kashmir government has decided to empower the panchayats [village councils] so that people have more power. In 2011 elections, 73 percent of people voted.

Now this does not auger well to Pakistan. For Pakistan, if governance is coming back again, well, their whole aim has been defeated. The sarpanches who were trying to once again to  revamp the state and make it surge forward, the best way to stop this is to go and kill them or threaten them so that the Panchayati Raj endeavor of the state is totally decimated. That's why the killings took place.

There are about 30,000 sarpanches in the whole of Jammu and Kashmir. You can't provide security to everyone. So the answer is that we should have village defense committees, which have been formed in a number of villages, and ar m them.

There are ex-servicemen all over in Jammu and Kashmir. Otherwise, there are villagers â€"  train them. They will provide protection to the sarpanches.

Q.

When you say Pakistan - do you mean the government or the Inter Services Intelligence, the I.S.I.?

A.

If I'm a general and something goes wrong in the Northern Command, I'm responsible. Similarly, if something is wrong in Pakistan, the government is to be blamed.

Its tools are the I.S.I. Whether they are all-pervasive over the Pakistan government or otherwise â€" they call the shots, we all know it. But the ultimate responsibility is that of the Pakistan government.

Why are they not being able to rein in the I.S.I?  Why are they so scared of the army?  Democracies don't get scared of the army. Why are they so scared? It's a democratic country. You can't have the army dictating terms to the government.

Q.

What do you see happening after the U.S. troops withdraw from Afghanistan? Will Pakistan turn its attention to Kashmir again?

A.

The first thing for Pakistan is to be able to have a major role to play in Afghanistan and that's the reason they are not keen for India to come in, except for commercial ventures. And that too they object.

At one point in time, people were saying that Pakistan will turn Al Qaeda and some of these people from that area towards Kashmir. There were views that Al Qaeda people were operating in Srinagar and the valley. To my knowledge, there are none.

Initially, a lot of Afghans came in to Kashmir. The majority were Pakistanis who were trained in Afghanistan and they used to call themselves Afghans. That has died down for the time being.

But should Pakistan, in the long term, be able to have a hold on Afghanistan, they're going to ready a kitty of insurgents available to them who can come down to Kashmi r and carry on the job of fifth columnist in times of war.

Q.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is calling for a phased withdrawal of troops from Kashmir as well as the repealing the A.F.S.P.A. [the Armed Forces Special Powers Act]. But the army says it's too early. Is Kashmir ready for these changes?

A.

I'm the first proponent of saying that A.F.S.P.A. should not be removed.  Firstly, why are the terrorists not being able to operate? Because we've been able to provide ideal troop-to-ground density and restricted their space of operations.

Why did A.F.S.P.A. come in? It was because of the intent of Pakistan. Has the intent of Pakistan changed? If it has not changed, why change the provision?

Let the military realize where the situation is slightly improving, we could thin out troops from there, but a certain amount of troops will be there. The demonstration of the troops on the roads, that can be reduced a nd can be taken over slowly by the police and the paramilitary forces.

If you repeal A.F.S.P.A., for it to come back…you know, it's an act of Parliament. You know the kind of difficulty which is there to pass in Parliament.

I have a lot of respect for Mr. Omar. He is a personal friend and we have a lot of professional respect for each other. I mean in his wisdom he has to make political statements, but I do hope he sees the ramifications.

Q.

The state government has made its position quite clear about the removal of A.F.S.P.A. and reduction in troops. Are the central government and the army divided on this?

A.

No way. The Ministry of Defense is totally with us.

I remember a discussion with Mr. Chidambaram [the former home minister]. I said that if you  remove troops from here, you are creating voids. It will provide space for terrorists to be able to regroup once again.

And wisdom did pr evail. And the Ministry of Defense just put its foot down.

Q.

Can militancy be eliminated entirely?

A.

We are confusing the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. My wisdom as an army commander is to always say the situation in J. and K. is due to the non-resolution of the Kashmir issue. If the Kashmir issue is resolved at the diplomatic level and political level, insurgency will automatically come down.

Like I said, even if five terrorists are operating, well, they can create any strife anywhere. It happened in Bombay [Mumbai, in 2008].  The nation almost went to war. So the intent of Pakistan has to be decimated. And that can only be decimated when the Kashmir resolution takes place.

It has to be at the government level. We are just tools. We are controlling the situation, we are managing the situation, but to ultimately decimate the situation it has to be dealt with at the government level.

Q.

Has the number of troops in Kashmir decreased?

A.

I wouldn't like to give the figure because they are outside the public domain. Some troops have moved out.  It is not a continuous process.

Q.

In Srinagar, a lot of people express resentment when they see security forces posted on almost every street corner. How do you think the army has done in terms of winning the hearts and minds of the people?

A.

We have an operation called Sadbhavna, and the Americans have copied us in Afghanistan. They are doing the same. It is empowerment of the women, providing education, integration of the population with India, providing goodwill schools.

I, in Northern Command, started a new venture providing free Service Selection Board coaching to anyone and everyone who wanted to join the army. In the first packet, 23 people got through. It's a great achievement. In the valley some girls also wanted to come. There is a girl from Ladakh who is becoming an officer. So we are integrating them.

We have 51 goodwill schools there, providing free education. You go and ask any parents of these students, they will swear by the Indian Army.

Q.

Is it easier for a soldier to serve in Kashmir now that the situation is relatively peaceful?

A.

No, the operations are still on. He still goes for his ambushes. He still goes for his convoys. He still guards the fence. Operationally, he actually in a week gets two nights to sleep on his bed. He still gets two nights of full sleep. And he has to go out with patrols.

You're patrolling not just for the sake of measuring the length and breadth of the ground but you should be expecting an encounter. So the whole drill is the same.

(This interview has been lightly edited and condensed.)



A Curry Club in Uptown Manhattan

The Chicken Tikka Masala dish served at Curry Club.Courtesy of Jones Wood FoundryThe Chicken Tikka Masala dish served at Curry Club.

While studying in London for a semester while I was in college, I spent quite a bit of my downtime at pubs, where along with the obligatory pint, I would usually order the Indian curry, which was available on every menu.

The slightly sweet, pungent and often creamy renditions packed in flavor but were light on spiciness and were accompanied by sides like nut and plain rices, sugary mango chutneys and even toasted baguettes. They were nothing like the Indian food I knew, and later, when I returned to the United States and had cravings for this pub dish, I learned these curries were a uniquely British phenomenon.

In New York, British expats' complaints about how much they missed this Anglo-Indian staple inspired the creation of the Curry Club, which will start at Jones Food Foundry, an Upper East Side restaurant and pub, in November. (The restaurant, like much of upper Manhattan, remains fully functional after this week's storm).

Saira Malhotra, a 36-year-old food writer and cooking teacher from the Hounslow area in London, came up with the idea for the Curry Club and approached Jason Hicks, the chef and co-owner of Jones Food Foundry, with her proposal. Mr. Hicks, who is from Birmingham, England, said he was immediately interested.

“I grew up on British curry back home, and I challenge you to find a Brit who has never had Indian food,” said Mr. Hicks, 40. “I've always wanted to bring an authentic cultural experience to this neighborhood, and this is it.”

Ms. Malhotra will create a different c urry every Monday night in November for $23. After the month is over, Mr. Hicks plans on integrating them into the permanent menu.

The Goan Shrimp dish served at Curry Club.Courtesy of Jones Wood FoundryThe Goan Shrimp dish served at Curry Club.

During a late September visit to Ms. Malhotra's apartment in New York, she was trying out recipes for the club, including a lamb bhuna, with pine nut pilaf and parmesan paratha, and Goan shrimp with saffron pilaf, a sliced baguette and mango salsa.

The British touches stood out: the lamb, for example, got a sear before going into the curry, and a hint of coconut milk was added for richness. “I gave the meat a Western treatment because searing it gives it a nice cru st and adds a depth of flavor,” she said.

The coconut milk addition was also unusual for a non-Goan dish. The shrimp, meanwhile, had string beans in it, which is also very un-Indian. With the exception of potatoes, vegetables usually aren't incorporated into nonvegetarian cuisine.

Curry was introduced in Britain through the East India Company and came to broadly mean any saucy or spicy Indian dish, and has little to do with authentic Indian food. “British curry does not necessarily reflect the rich and nuanced spice mixture and sauces from the vast regions of South Asia,” said Sarah K. Khan, a food and culture ethnobotanist.

Pub curry must be paired with beer, and so for the Curry Club, Mr. Hicks plans on offering a few brands of Indian pale ale, a beer that was first brewed in England in the 19th century, as well as Indian wines like a shiraz by Sula.

The Curry Club will be held on Nov. 5, 12, 19 and 26. Jones Wood Foundry is located at 401 E. 76th Street, between First and York, 212-249-2700.



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