Seems that Finland has made it a legal right for every citizen to have access to broadband at 1 mbps and has promised to increase it to 100 mbps by 2015. In India we do not have the right to a continuous stable supply of electricity even though the price keeps increasing. In 1971 during the war in East Pakistan, what is now Bangladesh people in Calcutta were advised to place thick curtains on the windows and to switch off all lights if the warning siren sounded. This was called black out and was in fear of being bombed by Pakistanis. In the event the siren never sounded and we had our lights on throughout the war. Now we have black outs at any time of the day or night and completely without warning. However, it is not called black out but is euphemistically called ' load shedding.' The black out may last from a few minutes to 24 hours. Phoning the electricity department is of no use because the disconnect all phones and sit around happily drinking tea. Who cares if the food in your refrigerator spoils and you suffer financial loss? Who cares if a person with a broken leg has to wait for hours in agony because no XRay can be done? Shops selling frozen foods or ice cream cannot suffer the loss of throwing out their stock so they let the food thaw inside their freezers and refreeze when electric supply is resumed. This results in severe gastroenteritis in people, especially children who love eating ice cream in summer. Obviously poor people suffer much more because they go to cheaper places while the middle class select more expensive shops with power backup. If only we could gather all criminal politicians and thieving civil servants in one shed and leave them without any electricity for a month. Lovely thought.