Flashbacks are tools for the fiction writer to add depth and interest to a story, as they can be a part of any piece of writing in any genre and type. Flashbacks are important for the drama in the story, because they bring the reader into the life of the characters on an emotional level and let him enter the characters’ thoughts, feelings, and expectations.

The main obligation of the flashback is to take the readers back in time when that time or place in the past matters greatly to the storyline and to the present and the future of the characters. By the same token, the flashback has to aid the reader’s grasp of the story. The reader’s grasp usually matches the writer’s understanding of his characters and their situations. If a writer has not fully fleshed out his characters in his mind, the flashbacks may run the risk of being irrelevant to the story.

Let’s say, in a very short story, a character named Mike eats a quart of ice-cream in one sitting and remembers, in flashback, his mother serving him ice-cream. Then Mike goes to his job with the CIA and discovers his best friend is a mole. After a few incidents, he proves who the mole is to his bosses. Here, the ice-cream incident and the flashback that come with it have nothing to do with the discovery of the mole, so it shouldn’t be included in Mike’s discovery-of-the-mole story, even if the writer may imagine it helps to bring out the soft side of this character.

One way to bring flashbacks to a story is to give them in total in the beginning as a prologue, an introduction, or an introductory chapter. The advantages of the total flashbacks are:

o Total flashbacks allow the telling of the story without stopping the action.

o They give the story a chronological order.

o During the storytelling, the critical backstory data serves to give depth to the story.

o Writing the total flashback is easy on the writer. After he is done with the backstory in flashback, telling the real story becomes uncomplicated.

The disadvantage of the total flashback in the beginning of a story is that it can bore the reader with the long past, instead of pulling him into the story’s action and the story’s present time.

Another way to insert flashbacks in a story is to give them in several large chunks inside the story. The film industry can use cut-aways for this; however, in writing straight fiction, large chunks work better only in slow-moving stories. If the writer is telling a fast-paced story in any genre, he needs to avoid the large chunks of flashbacks.

In addition, this type of flashback is best used by signaling its beginning and end in some way or possibly putting the flashback in italics. As to the dialogue in a large chunk of flashback, it can be summarized, if possible.

A third way of inserting the flashbacks in the story is to insert small pieces of flashback, possibly in one or two sentences wherever they are needed. The advantages of this technique are:

o The writer has flexibility in telling the story, as to how to tell it and how much he will let the reader know.

o The writer can weave in critical information and background material at any time he wishes.

o He can use it to increase suspense or to attract the reader’s curiosity

o He can create layered characters during the writing of the real story.

On the negative side, if not handled well by the writer, this technique may cause the reader to confuse the past with the present.

A few points to pay attention to while creating flashbacks are:

o The contents of the flashback should not be more exciting than the real story.

o A flashback works better if it follows a strong scene.

o The writer should orient the reader at the start of the flashback in time and space. If the transition of the flashback is not adequately written, past and present may become a jumble in the reader’s mind.

o During the revision process, it may be necessary to leave out the least important incidents in the flashbacks and trim down the existing ones.

o As to usage, the writer may want to make use of the verb tenses to signal a flashback’s beginning and ending. If the story is told in the present tense, the entire flashback can be in the past tense. If the story is told in past tense, the flashback may begin with past perfect to signal the change, then the flashback may continue with the past tense again, in order not to overuse the weighty past perfect. Then the ending of the flashback can be maneuvered into past perfect again before continuing the story with the past tense.

Some caveats concerning flashbacks are:

o The writer should not make the contents of the flashback more interesting or longer than the real story.

o The writer should not introduce the flashback as the first real scene in the story. This doesn’t always work.

o Flashbacks within flashbacks run the risk of confusing the story and the reader who is reading it, unless the writer is as highly experienced as John Updike.

o Too many and too long flashbacks tend to turn a story into an epic. If that is not the intention and there is a limit to word count, the writer must be careful with long flashbacks.

o It works better to use flashbacks sparingly and with discretion since they do tend to slow the pacing. An experienced writer will not use flashbacks past the three-quarters of the real story.

Taken movie review Monday, 23 March 2009 15:16 Jeremy Grauer May ’09 – May 12th, 2009 Neeson delivers hard hit to the world of DVD . Taken’s hard hitting, action packed sequences offers what every movie should. Great acting, suspense and lots of action keeping you glued to the TV.

AN ACTION FOR THE AGES

Liam Neeson delivers a hard hitting performance that hasn’t been seen by him since his crusade as Rob Roy. This is not to say that he hasn’t been living up to his expectations since, but now he has proven once again why he is the star that he is. While Neeson is offering the action that all viewers desire, co-star Famke Janssen continues to play the luscious and seductive woman that we have learned to love and admire.

Taken is the story that any parent would dread to be apart of. Bryan Mills (Neeson), a former CIA agent, and ex-wife Lenore (Janssen) have agreed to send their daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) on a trip to Paris. With the paranoia of something bad happening to Kim haunting Mills the unfortunate arises.

Albanese gang members take Bryan’s teenage daughter as hostage they offer a ransom to the ex-US government employee. Fortunately for Mills this is his specialty. However, when it comes to his blood and family, kidnapping is unacceptable. When the ransom is made an unexpected twist comes from the words of Mills as he swears to find the kidnappers and kill them.

This is a PG-13 (PARENTAL GUIDANCE) recommended film. Please pick this one up at the rental video store this week, you might be in for a ride.

SAYINGS: “Don’t visit EUROPE before seeing ‘Taken”

Cooking was once seen as either a hobby or a chore. Up till now, it is regarded as a highly skilled line of work within a multi-billion industry. Students taking up culinary arts are equipped with different levels of skills and knowledge, but they all share the same thing and that is the passion for cooking. You will never go further and study culinary arts if, in the first place, you don’t have interest in cooking, now would you?

Food is the one thing that has always been and will continue to be a big part of our daily lives as a result of the family recipes that we carry with great care from many generations passed. For some, they learn new cuisines while others even go to culinary schools to perfect their skills and experience and obtain a degree in culinary arts. Knowing that everybody needs food is so much easy to understand, but aren’t you interested to know as to when and where do the different types of taste, presentations and features of the food started? If you are, then lets us discover the history of culinary arts.

The history of culinary can be traced back in the 1800s when the very first cooking school in Boston was teaching the art of American cooking along with preparing the students to pass on their knowledge to others. The first cookbook ever published was written by Fannie Merrit Farmer in 1896, who also attended the Boston cooking school and whose book is still widely used as a reference and it remains in print at present.

The next phase in the history of culinary arts was taken through the television where in 1946 James Beard, who is also recognized as father of the American cuisine, held regular cooking classes on the art of American cooking. On the other hand, the French cuisine was brought to life in the American society by Julia Child in 1960s when, through the power of the radios, she entered all the kitchens nationwide.

Later on the history of culinary, the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) was founded and was the first culinary school to hold career-based courses on the art of cooking. Its first location was in the campus of Yale University in Connecticut, which was later moved in 1972 to New York. But before the CIA was established, those who wanted a career in culinary arts normally had to go through apprenticeships under seasoned chefs to gain on-the-job training. This learning method was a traditional course in Europe, but rather a challenging arrangement as organized apprenticeships were a quite new concept in the history of culinary arts in the US. However today, apprenticeships continue to offer an excellent culinary experience to aspiring chefs.

Information security is a new term for an old concept. The need to safeguard data from misuse or accident has been around at least since the days of Julius Caesar in 50 B.C. He used the so-called “Caesar Cipher” (a very simple code) to encrypt his military messages, and then tattooed the message on the shaven heads of slaves, so that it was hidden from view when their hair grew back.

That was an example of safeguarding the confidentiality of information: preventing the leak of data to people who are not authorised to know it. The other two aspects of information security are integrity (preserving the data from accidental or deliberate alteration), and availability (ensuring that the data remains available to legitimate users). Together these are known as the “CIA triad”, the cornerstone of information security.

It is important to note that data security does not only involve computer-readable information. Hard-copy information (such as your firm’s internal telephone directory or printer output left on the printer) also requires protection. So do audio recordings on a voice recorder or old-style cassette tape. Taken to its logical extreme, information security can even aim to safeguard ideas that are held in people’s heads and not recorded in any form (though exactly how to safeguard these might be a difficult question!).

However, fascinating as all this may be, information security is of more than academic interest. It can crucially impact on people’s lives, though in different ways depending on your situation. For example, a business owner or director has a duty to ensure that all the firm’s assets (including information assets) are protected, and that all relevant legislation is complied with (such as data protection regulations, or copyright laws). Failure to pay due regard to data security could result in prosecution, or termination of the business. In a business context, there is more emphasis on the policies and procedures involved in safeguarding data, and on proving that one is doing so, and this is often referred to as “information assurance” instead.

On the other hand, an agent of the state (whether in the civil service, the police or the military) may have access to a great deal of sensitive personal information on individual citizens, and has more potential to breach a person’s right to privacy. For this reason, the confidentiality aspect of information security should be taken very seriously in this situation, and breaches of confidentiality (such as the loss of an unencrypted laptop containing personal data) should not be tolerated.

From the point of view of a private individual, information security is more a case of ensuring the integrity and availability of your data. Perhaps the biggest data security threat for the home user is a major hard disk failure, which would certainly compromise the availability of the data (unless it has been backed up, of course!).

Even this quick look at information security has made it clear that the subject has several aspects, and is of major importance to everyone with access to data. It is a subject that can only grow in importance as the amount of data in the world increases exponentially, and for this reason at least it is important to gain a working understanding of what is involved in data security.

Julia Child; born in Pasadena, California as Julia Carolyn McWilliams August 15, 1912.

Julia Child spent her early years in California where she grew up and attended school. Julia Child’s first position out of college was with W. & J. Sloane as a copywriter in New York City. A few year in 1937 after her debut on Madison Avenue, Child’s moved back to California, where she continued to write and work in advertising.

Julia Child met her husband Paul Child, while serving with the OSS (Office of Strategic Services the forerunner of today’s CIA) in 1944.

Paul and Julia were married in 1946 and soon after he joined the US Foreign Service. Paul Child had a taste for fine food, probably due in part to living in Paris prior to meeting Julia. As a employee of the US Foreign Service, Paul was sent to Paris in 1948, where he introduced his new bride to sophisticated French Cuisine. Julia described her first meal in Rouen, France as “a culinary revelation”.

Paul’s work at the embassy would keep him away from Julia most of the day, creating a void and desire to offset her boredom. So, Julia began to enrolled in many different classes. Eventually she enrolled in the famous Le Cordon Bleu cooking school. It was no easy task at first, being in a school of only men at the time, she had to learn to love cooking as much as she loved eating.

Julia Child’s graduation from Le Cordon Bleu created an opportunity for her to meet the two women that would become co-authors of her first cookbook “Mastering The Art of French Cooking”; Simon Beck and Louisette Bertholle. The two had create a cookbook that featured French Cooking for Americans, but lacked the proper English translation. Julia was asked to join the women and added her own translation and special American slant to the manuscript.

Child’s kitchen was used as the training grounds for American women to learn French Cooking and the trio began teaching classes and testing recipes from the Paris kitchen. During this time Julia’s husband Paul, was transferred by the US Foreign Services to various locations throughout Europe. Julia moved with him, while continuing to write the book and test new recipes.

Although they spent most of their time in Europe, Paul and Julia would also spend summers in Maine. Julia made her first trip there in 1947, visiting Mount Desert, where Paul’s family owned a 20 acre parcel. She continued to test and write even while visiting Maine. And according to her Brother-in Law Charles Child’s book “Roots in the Rock”, she used a stove nicknamed “John Henry”, to cook her creative dishes.

It took Eight years to complete and in 1961, after it’s rejection from publisher Houghton Mifflin, Alfred A. Knopf finally published the book. The final cookbook titled “Mastering The Art Of French Cooking” was a total of 734 pages. It became a best seller and put Julia Child on the map.

Julia Child’s career blasted off from there, as she began to write columns for the larger newspapers along with TV guest appearances which lead to Julia Child’s first television show “The French Chef”. The show first aired in February 1963, there were other cooking shows on TV at the time, but Julia’s was a huge success right from the start. Eventually running for more than ten years.

Julia Child also wrote four more books: a second from the recipes she created on the TV show “The French Chef Cookbook”. The Third book “Mastering The Art of French Cooking; Volume II” came out in 1971, co-authored by Simone Beck (Louisette Bertholle was not asked to participate as the partner was dissolved). And a fourth book that featured Paul Child’s photographs of Julia’s kitchen and recipes.

Julia Child’s mastery was viewed by millions on the TV shows of the 70’s and 80′, but didn’t stop there. She also produce a video series in 1989 called “The Way To Cook”. Julia Child’s cooking, experimentation, openness to new ideas and tools (the microwave, food processor…) and her love of cooking, inspired many of today’s fine chef’s and TV cooking shows. Her love for cooking as well as eating shone through her many cooking programs.

You may recall Julia flipping an omelet that ended up on the counter, only to pick it up and place it back in the pan stating ” just put it back in the pan if no one’s around, they’ll never know, just pat it down…”

OSS stands for Office of Strategic Services. This was an agency similar to the CIA, which was created during World War II.

Cold Steel’s OSS knife has an 8.25″ blade that is sharpened on both sides. This knife has been one of the best sellers in Cold Steel’s lineup over the past several years.

Here are my thoughts.

What I like about the knife:

1. Double edge means double cutting power. Having two sharp edges in your hand is always more useful than just one.

Double edge also means double the chance for you to cut yourself. This is exactly why Cold Steel has used a hilt and sub-hilt that give your fingers maximum protection.

2. The Cold Steel OSS is made with a full tang. This means that the blade goes all the way to the end of the handle. This will protect you from having the blade separate from the handle under extreme conditions.

3. The OSS comes with a rugged Secure-Ex sheath. The sheath is made from hard plastic material, which will stand up to even the toughest situations. The sheath also has a belt loop, which allows for everyday carry.

4. Cold Steel’s OSS is hollow ground on both edges. This means that the blade tapers down to a RAZOR thin edge. You will be able to make very precise cuts because of this.

What I don’t like:

The OSS has a VERY thin tip. This is a great feature for puncturing or penetrating, but leaves the knife somewhat vulnerable to breaking or bending.

Overall:

The OSS by Cold Steel is a perfect choice for everyday use. It is built rock solid and well worth every penny of the asking price.

Something very mysterious is going on when an intricate mixture of nanites is found at an underwater crash site in Chris Shockowitz’ new sci-fi thriller, Silent Invasion. Jeff Smith, a CIA agent, is surprised when he learns of the discovery since he thought nanites were only theoretical. He’s more surprised when the scientists working with him explain that these nanites, which resemble metal, cannot be cut, and when they are reshaped, they return to their original form without any distortion. In fact, they seem able to think for themselves, and most astonishing, they are spherical in form-such spherical shapes are impossible to manufacture on earth and can only be created in outer space. In other words, the nanites come from another planet.

Jeff tries to tell his superior about this discovery, but his boss won’t believe him, and irritated by his persistence, he reassigns Jeff to a new case-to follow daring reporter Amber van Hosteen who is reporting on a story in Africa. Jeff goes unwillingly, little suspecting he will find answers to his questions about the nanites while pursuing a wily reporter.

Amber and Jeff have a past. She formerly tried to report on a story he blocked her from getting information on. She would not be amused if she knew he was following her, but when she finds herself in a dangerous situation and he comes to her rescue, she is admittedly relieved. At first, Amber remains somewhat hostile to Jeff, but when she explains to him that the population of an entire village has vanished and that a mysterious factory is operating in the area, he begins to listen to her and soon accompanies her to the factory.

The factory turns out to be more like a laboratory where experiments are being conducted. Jeff and Amber pose as doctors so they can explore the facility until another doctor questions them. This doctor reveals he is working for people whose identity he doesn’t even know, but he doesn’t care because he is able to carry on scientific experiments of extreme importance-at the cost of human life. What Amber and Jeff discover in the factory is gruesome and shocking. Ultimately, it’s nothing short of being part of a worldwide plot to kill billions of humans. Soon Jeff and Amber discover a secret organization, the Hidden Hand, is behind these factories, and it has bribed or brainwashed countless high government officials from numerous countries, including the United States, China, France, and Russia, and built several other factories around the globe, to carry out its nefarious schemes.

Jeff and Amber no longer know who to trust, especially when Jeff’s French and African allies, who were investigating the situation with him, are told by their superiors to cease the investigation. When Jeff is also told to return home, he refuses, saying it is a matter of national security. He is then fired, and before long, he learns there is a bounty on his head.

Jeff and Amber are now forced to go into hiding. Through Jeff’s cleverness and skill, they are able to stay alive, despite the hitmen pursuing them, while they try to find someone they can trust to listen to and help them. Meanwhile, Amber anonymously writes several news stories revealing the cover-ups being made about the factories and other questionable actions happening within the US and other governments. She sends these out to various news organizations to expose the international conspiracy that threatens to destroy the human race.

Chris Shockowitz’ story is a true nail-biter on every page. Amber and Jeff are likeable and have a magical chemistry that makes the reader enjoy the added bit of romance to what would otherwise be a terrifying plot. The Hidden Hand’s actions are sickening, and the motivations behind them are stunning. Even more mind-blowing is the ultimate discovery of who is behind the Hidden Hand. In addition, Shockowitz knows how to work scientific theories like nanites and cloaking devices into a plot so that both the novice and the experienced science fiction reader will understand them and they add to the novel’s suspense and enjoyment. In short, Silent Invasion is science fiction at its finest. It reminded me of the classic sci-fi TV show The Invaders, mixed in with all the suspense of a John Grisham novel and the action of a James Bond film.

Before Jeff and Amber’s adventure is over, a deadly ultimatum will be made that will leave the reader desperately wanting to know how it will all turn out. Fortunately, Silent Invasion is only the first book in the Zalthuras Trilogy. The second book, Earth’s Zero Hour, is coming out soon.

Any lover of science fiction, horror, or spy thrillers will be delighted with Silent Invasion. I can’t wait for the sequels.

The author of this dark chronicle Roger Stone is a political strategist who had a key role in the elections of Ronald Regan, Richard Nixon, and George H.W. Bush. He also is known for his personal style writing a column for the Huffington Post and his annual “Ten Best & Worst Dressed Men & Women in the World.”

How & Why

Stone gets into the why and how of the JFK assassination and picks apart the other conspiracy theories to the bone. The other theories had no motive but LBJ had the biggest motive of all to become President and help his supporters in Bell helicopter get rich.

Lays Out the Case

LBJ not only cowboy-ed his way into the White House he was also avoiding up close and personal destruction at the hands of John and Bobby Kennedy. Stone points the finger at LBJ who scattered eight other murders to cover up his role along the way to seize power in a coup de tat unprecedented in modern times.

Richard Nixon Knew

Nixon was absolutely convinced that LBJ was the mastermind in this bloody episode of American history because he recognized Jack Ruby as LBJ’s hired help committing yet another Johnson directed murder when Oswald was gunned down.

Stone Indicts

Roger Stone indicts J. Edgar Hoover, Gerald Ford, Arlen Specter for their roles in the cover-up. He also goes into great detail about why George H.W. Bush lied about being in the CIA and said he was not in Dallas the day JFK was blown away when the truth is he was!

Many Avenues Investigated

Roger Stone’s excellent insight into LBJ the man, why he was called Landslide Lyndon, and his fixated hate for Bobby & Jack Kennedy is beyond reproach. He delves into the Kennedy curse, their hated enemy LBJ, the role J. Edgar Hoover plays in the rubber stamped cover-up, and the road to Watergate who was involved and why. He even fingers the man who had the kill shot at point blank range with an American made dumb dumb bullet.

Conclusion

This detailed book into who knew what when, the people involved in the bloody coup, and why LBJ had the most to gain if Kennedy was killed points the finger at the CIA, the Chicago & Dixie mob, LBJ’s henchmen, and J. Edgar Hoover big-time. Stone weaves a pattern of betrayal and deceit among the elite bringing us to the realization the powers that be will do anything to advance their agenda at any cost the nation be damned. Stone does a good job at showing who the linchpin is in this massive betrayal of presidential trust and what they stood to gain.

I believe the cover-up continued for these many years because the elite did not want the public to know it was a Democrat that murdered another Democrat just to advance his own agenda. This is sad but very revealing about human nature, why people do what they do to gain fame and power at any cost. Stone puts the hammer down leaving nothing to the imagination. This is an insight into the war mongers that existed then and now in the military industrial complex that will not be happy until the whole world worships at its feet.

The CIA’s motto is “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” That is hard to swallow to say the least.

The Fatimids and the Assassins seem to have made deals at the upper echelon of their society with many of their supposed enemies. The same was true of the Farsi and Pharisee lot who were highly regarded throughout the Roman and Parthian Empires before the Crusades. In the crusades they made their deals with the Knights and earlier times saw them dealing with Pythagoreans or a more direct relationship with the BEES or Berbers of the Stuart continuum from Mil or Mile, whenever and if ever he actually existed. That would go all the way back to 20,000 years ago according to Niven Sinclair who is one of their historians. Even at the start of the First World War the gentry of opposing sides still conducted soirees and other parties with each other. It has been such fun for them – I guess. You hear how the plebs are cannon and sword fodder throughout history and it seems we are when war is not happening as well.

The Kelts had free medicine for the poor and an educational system that lasted for 25 years. They were dangerous and had to be eliminated! They fought for Ariadne on Crete and others before her. They are the Hyksos (‘foreigners’) of Phoenician Sea People. They are the people who were eradicated on Easter Island and New Zealand under the watchful eye of a Romano-British plot that needs to be exposed! Even the bounty on the Beothuk is connected to this horror show that history has covered up for far too many years. If I sound upset, you can assume I have red hair like my nieces and nephews. I’m tired of war! How about you? Ogham was their language and the Britannica echoes the words of academics who deny it exists all over America by calling it scrapes from farm implements or the like. Right! Let us begin to hear the truth before we actually believe anyone. If they can’t tell us what they’ve done or why these things happen how can we TRUST? I don’t believe in death but that doesn’t mean I want humanity to end. If life is only counting score on the societal success ladder that allows such inhumane acts by insecure deviates then I don’t believe in that kind of life, either. In my recent book The Worldwide Prehistoric Import of the GREAT LAKES!, I have included numerous other illustrations and cited the words of experts.

One such expert was Edward Lanning who wrote Peru Before the Incas. This Columbia University researcher who spent 20 years in the field brought me artifactual proof in Lima, which confirms the ancient drug trade and the token/coded handshake as well as a description of Kelts just like that of Caesar in the Gallic Wars. If any academic read Caesar’s words of description regarding the Keltic fleet he met in Brittany, they would know the Kelts were in America a long time before Aristotle (or his student) said so in Strange Things Heard. These secrets and secret spying agencies have been our demise and they do not advantage us any as a whole society.

Certainly mankind has been the victim of far too many hoaxes and plots against the common good. That too must end! JFK was right to try to disband the CIA and Napoleon was not only an Emperor of France. Read why he wore the BEE symbol of the House of Mallia and the Merovingians. Then you’ll understand what has been going on. I assure you the words of Julius Caesar (Written by Hirtius his propagandist.) were very prolific and well perused as well as being rather one-sided. What has happened to man throughout history is less a matter of chance than it has been a plan. That plan has not been what Teilhard de Chardin called for when he said we need – “A CONSPIRACY OF LOVE!” Things are not single disciplinary or purely historical or archaeologic; we need to integrate all knowledge and develop wisdom or common sense. If we don’t become this informed as consumers, we are doomed. The Métis are likely remnants of Europeans who came to America through the millennium or two after Caesar and his kind subjugated freedom in Europe. They say:

“Principles of freedom included: The Coureurs de Bois above all cherished the principle of

‘FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT’.

The Indians had exposed these first Frenchmen to the Principle

‘FREE TRADE’.

The Indians also challenged the French Principle of

‘One King, One Church’

with a new

DEMOCRATIC PROCESS.

What did the fathers of the Métis see in the New World:”

This quote from http://www.agt.net/public/dgarneau/metis-a.htm is well worth considering as we go forward to meet the challenges of space and a universe where people are not limited any more than the God that exists within all lifeforms. And when we are certain about what lies off the coast of Cuba at the 2200′ depth under the Gulf of Mexico will anyone take notice that each of us needs to re-evaluate all the laws and morals we accept from those ‘experts’ who are often quite wrong. Just ask quantum physicists about how much flak truth can generate!

Market Opportunity

India is the second largest country behind China, with an estimated population at more than 1.14 billion. Ranked by the exchange rate of the United States Dollar, the Indian economy is the twelfth largest in the world. India’s vast and growing market presents itself as a huge competitor in the global market.

During one of the greatest recessions this world has experienced, India is weathering the economic storm to post robust growth numbers in all sectors leading to impressive growth in its GDP. According to the CIA Factbook, India had a GDP of US $1.237 trillion in 2008, achieving 6.6% GDP growth. The per capita income of India is 4,542 US Dollars in the context of Purchasing Power Parity. Data from the Ministry of Finance shows Indian exports grew by 7.3% in dollar terms during April-February 2008-09 while its imports increased by 19.1% in April-February 2008-09. Unemployment rate currently stands at 6.8% from 7.2% in 2007 with an inflation rate of 7.8%.

The Indian economy has been stable and reliable in recent times, while in the last few years it’s experienced a positive upward growth trend. It has consistently produced 8-9% annual growth rate which is supported by a huge inflow of foreign funds, growing reserves in the foreign exchange sector, both an IT and real estate boom, and a thriving capital market.

Based on statistics from the Department of State, there is a large and growing middle class of more than 50 million Indians with disposable income ranging from 200,000 to 1,000,000 rupees per year (4166-20,833 USD). Because of the weakening of the US dollar for the last two years, Indian Rupee has steadily appreciated vis-à-vis US dollar with 0.020837 USD equal to 1 Indian Rupee (x-rates.com).

Best Industry Segments

The economy of India is as diverse as it is large, with a number of major sectors including manufacturing industries, agriculture, textiles and handicrafts, and services. Data shows from economywatch.com that agriculture is a major component of the Indian economy, as over 66% of the Indian population earns its livelihood from this area. As reported by CIA Factbook, major imports are textiles and ready-made garments, Internet-enabled services, agricultural and related products, gems and jewelry, leather products, and chemicals.

Furthermore, the Indian speaking population in India is growing by the day, which means that India has become the center of outsourcing activities for some of the major economies of the world including the United Kingdom and the United States. Outsourcing to India has been primarily in the areas of technical support and customer services.

Regulatory and Tariff Landscape

Tariff spikes in sensitive categories, including agriculture, and incremental progress on economic reforms still hinder foreign access to India’s vast and growing market. According to export.gov, on April 1, 2007, India lowered the tariff applied to most non-agricultural goods from 12.5 to 10 percent. It also lowered the tariff on medical equipment from 12.5 to 7.5 percent. Since India’s economy thrives on agriculture, there are many laws that govern the food processing sector. The food laws in India are enforced by the Director General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India (GOI). The Prevention of Food Adulteration Act (PFA), 1954 focuses primarily on the establishment of regulatory standards for primary food products.

Online Marketing

Signaling a gradual growth, the total Internet population of India for the year 2008 stands strongly at 81 million Internet users estimates internetworldstats.com, placing 4th place globally after the United States, China, and Japan. Over the span of the past 8 years (2000-2008), India has experienced a 1,520% growth rate. Yet, the penetration of Internet is only 7.1%, notably lower compared to the other top twenty countries.

Many of India’s biggest companies are flourishing in the global IT market, and its executives are becoming increasingly influential. India, it would seem, is well placed to become a major force in the online world. Still, as reported by BBC News, compared to the mobile phone market, where some 350 million people are using wireless handsets, and it is clear that the online market has a long way to go before it reaches saturation.

Online Language Preferences

Although there are fifteen official languages in India, Hindi is the most widely spoken and primary tongue of 41% of the population. Hindustani is a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu spoken widely throughout northern India but is not an official language. English is used extensively in business and administration and holds the status of a subsidiary official language; those able to speak English usually received higher education.

JuxtConsult reports users of vernacular language websites have increase to 34% from last year’s 12%. English is the most preferred language of reading for only 28% of Internet users, which indicates the potential for vernacular language content. With English rapidly gaining popularity in India, we can expect to see an increase usage of English-based websites by the Indian population.

Search Engine Profile

Data from a recent comScore release shows Google India (Google.co.in) reigns as the top search engine among online Indians. Google follows at second spot with Yahoo, Ask.com, and Rediff ranked 3rd, 4th, and 5th.

Summary

One of the major challenges before the Indian economy is to remove the economic inequalities. Although poverty still poses an issue, these levels have dropped considerably in recent years. However, with growth and advances in its economy, services, and technology, India is gradually emerging as a world leader. All of these positive changes have resulted in establishing the Indian economy as one of the largest and fastest growing in the world.Based on the current and future potential of the market, Princeton Consulting International ranks India as a Tier I market for global online market opportunity.