Facebook posts flagged as politically charged

This. http://www.tehelka.com/modi-epitomises-what-the-other-idea-of-india-could-look-like/?singlepage=1

The world grudges India its Mars mission. And it has good reasons. You only have to look at things from the perspective of the world. In recent times, the hypocrisy of our foreign policy has been simply astounding. Look at climate change. "Yes we have the resources to reduce greenhouse emissions. But we are still a developing country. Any commitments to reduce emissions would affect our development goals. There should be different rules for us 'poor' developing countries with large economies and the developed countries with even smaller economies than us." Look at nuclear proliferation and military spending. "Oo, we have evil neighbours with even higher spending and very ulterior motives. We are surrounded by Pakistan, China, Sri Lanka. We need 'em nukes and missiles and aircraft carriers". We want the world to control greenhouse gases and nukes, but we'll do nothing about it ourselves. We may no longer be dependent on global aid, but we flash the "poor country" card at the slightest provocation. Are we good global citizens? I don't think so. Not any more. The non-aligned days are long gone. We jump into bed with anyone who gives us the slightest benefit. Which is probably fine. Maybe its time we be selfish. But then don't expect the world to give you the love and encouragement you've become accustomed to. Maybe the American papers don't have the moral right to point fingers at other countries, given the sheer horror that is their own foreign policy. But the Europeans. Well why shouldn't they grudge your world beating science. You flash the "poor guy" card every time the world asks you to do some good.

Arvind Kejriwal walks so fast, he could race Mahatma Gandhi. If I'd joined the AAP campaign a month ago, I'd have had a great workout. Not to mention the emotional benefits of the positive energy that surrounds him. The love he is receiving from the public of Delhi is so heartening. Makes you feel good about India. #bunkingwork #solvedmyjiras

The wheels of democracy. AAP involving the residents of each constituency in selection of candidates. Contrast this to other parties that literally auction off the tickets from their high command in Delhi. AAP is bringing democracy back to India. I hope other parties copy it's methods, like they are copying its manifesto.

All over Delhi, BJP has put up banners saying Congress has increase power prices by 300%, we will bring them down by 30%. But BJP is pro-business. AAP has said that as soon as possible after the formation of their government, they will get independent third party audits done of the privatised (but monopolistic) power companies. They will also get faulty meters checked, and incorrect bills rectified. They estimate that with these actions, power bills will come down by 50% or more. But Arvind is a leftist/socialist. Note the wording. AAP will endeavour to bring power BILLS down by 50%. BJP will bring power PRICES down by 30%. The devil is in the details. Current students of IIT Delhi have contributed heavily to the AAP manifest. IIT Delhi guys all over the damn place at AAP (college crowd, too damn young and enthusiastic for my taste, start strumming the guitar in the middle of the day arbitrarily). They've done their due diligence, they've put in hard work, they've crunched the numbers of these power companies before spitting out this statement. Joydeep Sen Sarma, the nation wants an answer! Are you going to fall for cherry picked statements of the press? Or will you read the entire AAP manifesto and take an educated opinion? Go RTFM!

It is heartening to see the stress on sanitation and health in the AAP manifesto. Why don't other parties stress on these topics? Because there is no money to be made in such labour-oriented contracts any more. They want to build double-decker bridges, clean up the Yamuna - big ticket projects with big kickbacks. Which developing or developed country does not spend on cleaniness, sanitation and health? Can we do away with our janitors? People are upset that AAP is giving away 700 liters of water to people free. That is not true. It has proposed a slab system. Consumption up to 700 liters is free. If you consume above that, you pay for the entire volume, including the first 700 liters. If you consume more than 1,000 liters, you pay a higher amount. Most countries have a slab systems for water and electricity. What is strange in this? Water is a scarce resource in Delhi. This will encourage families to consume less. After all, the government should be less interested in making money off of water, more interested in equitable distribution of water. For a shared resource like water, is it fair to allow those who can pay purchase as much, and those who cannot get nothing? A slab system is a must. Water is key to the health and sanitation of the city. The AAP manifesto recognises that 10% of the people in even the poshest areas of Delhi live in slums. (the opinion hereon is mine and not in the manifesto). These people are dirt poor. But the entire middle class of Delhi depends on them. These are the cooks, cleaners, drivers and nannies who run our homes and offices for us. If we move them to distant places and clear out the slums, the rates of domestic labour will shoot through the roof. After all, the employers must defray the costs of these people commuting 20-30 km to work. A lot of lower middle class people will find it better to lose their low-paying jobs than to pay for domestic servants. A large part of this will be women, because our orthodox society will expect the womenfolk to replace the servants in maintaining the house (not to mention that womenfolks are usually lower paid thanks to our sexist workplaces, so rupee for rupee, makes more sense for the woman of the house to lose her job). So we cannot wish away the slums we so hate, because we depend on their residents. Now, these folks are so poor, they will not pay for water beyond the very basic needs of cooking and drinking. They will not pay for sanitation. They do not have money for healthcare. But they do carry germs, you know. They do get sick. Would it not make sense to offer them free water, free sanitation, free healthcare, free education, to ensure they stay healthy and their slums are mosquito free. Will that not improve the overall health of the city, including those 90% whose houses they work in? Just because the dumb idiots who currently run our country aren't able to think through simple things like this, doesn't mean the public has also lost its capacity to think. Please read the AAP manifesto. Few documents have made more sense to me in recent years. I've been walking the streets of Delhi for seven years now. Finding a place to take a piss is a nightmare. And this when I'm a guy and can use the stinky open-air pisspots the government currently passes off as toilets. Imagine what women go through. The AAP wants to build 2,00,000 toilets across Delhi. Who doesn't want these toilets? That improved sanitation, across roads, slums and parks, will tremendously improve the health and well being of society. (Says the guy who has suffered with typhoid twice in the last five years. Sanitation kills typhoid, because typhoid spreads through the doo-doo route. Public toilets ftw!) Reminds me of the harrowing time I and Namita once had in Palo Alto downtown, looking for a toilet. We didn't realise then that in the US, there aren't many public toilets. You just walk into a restaurant, make a sad face, and request for the key to the toilet.

I'll admit it. I love baiting Mahatma Gandhi. There is so much to question about the guy. I even question if Gandhi/INC really had anything much to do with the independence of India. We all know Britain was shattered after WW2. Gandhi/INC/Nehru did have quite a hand in not keeping India united. They let the partition happen. For all his ills (IMHO), you have to hand it to the man for totally knowing the Indian public. I mean, he really really understood Indians. No one after him has come close (at least in the public sphere). One of his greatest concepts that, unfortunately, remained only a concept, was that of ग्राम स्वराज। Dhanada handed me a copy of Swaraj by Arvind Kejriwal when AAP was launched. I never read it. The loss is entirely mine. AAP has completely lifted the idea of Swaraj from Gandhi. And I'm happy for it. I read somewhere recently that the greatest ideas in the world aren't necessarily original (for example, cloud = mainframe, only fuzzier). AAP talks of making मोहल्ला सभाs across Delhi. These सभाs will have a say in a variety of things, like where should new streetlights be installed, etc. They will work with the government by informing them which streetlights, traffic signals, sewage pipes and water pipes are not working. And they will monitor the performance of local schools and hospitals. Local Self Government, of the people, for the people, by the people, is finally coming to India.

The AAP manifesto says that they will spend any amount of money to make government schools and hospitals competitive with private schools and hospitals. Tell me, is that not a good goal for a government/country? Which developed country does not have good public schools and universal health coverage? In all his talk of development, has Modi talked of a measurable social development goal like "make government schools competitive with private schools in terms of teaching quality, facilities, infrastructure"? Face facts people, education matters. The AAP people are very well studied, very educated. In one year, they have built a better manifesto than any other party. And they are not even calling it a manifesto. It is not a घोषणा पत्र, it is a संकल्प पत्र। Do we not want educated people, who instead of aping this country's model or that country's model, are simply implementing good governance with clear, measurable goals? And where will the money for this largesse come from? By eliminating corruption, of course. See, they AAP estimates that thousands of crores is currently misappropriated from the Delhi budget every year. What better use of this money than to bring education, health, sanitation, cleanliness, water, for free or mostly free (in the case of water, for example), to the people of Delhi. (this isn't in the manifesto, its just me talking) How do you combat unemployment? Instead of wasting money on dumb things like CWG, employ people to clean. Even the West hasn't figured out how to automate janitors. Employ lots and lots of them. And make their performance measurable by the local self governments - मोहल्ला सभाs. I think all these things will fall in place once the AAP runs the city. Once you bring accountability and measurement in the governance process, you are no longer concerned about all these labour-grade government workers not actually working. Someone is monitoring them constantly. You and me, we are watching. The current government believes that contracting is a better way of getting things done, because you can bring in accountability. Why do you need a private party to ensure quality, when you can get the consumers, the public to do the accounting? Saves a ton of money for everyone, no?

These people call AAP and Congress populist, socialist, communist. Inko khud ko dekho.

Amazing to see so many people walking around with brooms in Delhi. AAP has brought respect to the profession of the cleaner/janitor/maid, so essential to a healthy society. The AAP cap has also become a statement. If you're campaigning, someone is sure to ask you for your topi every few streets. And the recipients wear it with pride. Yesterday I was with the kids at CP. Everywhere kids and adults were wearing the cap. My kids were so proud, "पापा आपको भी यह टोपी मिली ना?"

Everyone starts somewhere. The Indian National Congress didn't begin as a platform to demand freedom from the British. M K Gandhi didn't become the Mahatma in a day. A B Vajpayee didn't become PM overnight. Everyone lives and learns. Yes a lot of AAP candidates are rookies. We have had rookies in every legislature in every election. People who got elected the first time they tried. Because people thought they were awesome. Poeple believed in them. What mortifies detractors of AAP is that a set of rookie MLAs will actually get the government too. So what are they going to do? "Dear Delhites. You gave us victory with a vast majority. But we don't have any experience. We can't run the state. And we can't join hands with these other corrupt parties. So we are all going home now, the wusses that we are. We won't even try. Please don't kill us. Good bye." Nope. Not gonna happen. No one teaches governance, you learn on the job. Quite like entrepreneurship. You just stay true to your ideals, use your education and judgement, and have very good reasons for what you do. And you keep your team (your electoratw) in the loop at all times.

चक दे फट्टे! AAP's smashing performance has made my train journey so exciting. Keeping my fingers crossed. After all, it is still only leading. We need wins. Way to change the agenda of Indian politics, AAP. Let's root out corruption, and give people the basic facilities they need for a good life - health, sanitation, education, power, water, roads, streetlights. This win is a +1 for good governance.

'Sheila Ko haraya hai, Modi Ko harayange', shout AAP The celebrations at the AAP office are reaching fever pitch. Supporters are dancing to dhol drums waving brooms in the air and are shouting slogans, the most catching of which seems to be, "Sheila Ko haraya hai, Modi Ko harayange" ( We defeated Sheila, we will defeat Modi next). http://m.firstpost.com/politics/delhi-election-result-live-dikshit-resigns-aap-says-modi-is-next--1273079.html Dhanada भाई how could you miss all this and go back to Odisha? But then you have important work to do there. Such as being on TV :-P. And leading AAP to a landslide victory in the coming state elections. More power to you. विजय हमारी है!!!

People are sick of Congress. They need an alternative. Modi came first and captured their imagination. Arvind has only just started, but he will do for Delhi in one year what Modi couldn't do for Gujarat in eleven. तुसी देखते जाओ प्राजी। और नही करेगी AAP दिल्ली का भला तो जनता मालिक है। Center में भाजपा की सरकार चख के देख ले।

Dr. Dhanada Mishra more power to first movers like you, who showed faith in AAP and Arvind Kejriwal when everyone else was laughing at them and pointing fingers. It is your support, dedication, effort that has brought this victory to AAP. May AAP be saved from the opportunist and selfish who will now throng to the victorious. What we need are true patriots and sevaks to lead the nation, those who will serve not rule. If you were waiting and watching then you should continue to do just that - wait. Fortune favours the bold. That said, AAP now needs lakhs of us to come forward and build a nationwide cadre. Delhi is geographically tiny. India is huge. It lives in its villages. Who will go build grassroots support? Now that we have moved past the politics of जात and ख़ैरात, who will identify the real issues that affect the common man? Sign up now. Save the nation. Delhi everywhere!

Dr. Dhanada Mishra, more power to first movers like you who showed unflinching faith in AAP and Arvind Kejriwal when the world was laughing at them and pointing fingers. It is your support, dedication, energy that has brought them here, and will take them forward. May AAP be saved from the opportunist and selfish who will now throng to the victorious. Those who wait and watch should do just that - sit by the side and watch. Fortune favours the bold. That said, AAP needs lakhs of us to come forward and build a nationwide cadre. Those who will do the grassroots work, build ground up support. Delhi is geographically tiny. India is huge. It lives in its villages. Now that we've moved beyond the politics of जात और खैरात, who will go to each village and identify the real issues that affect common people? Who will motivate them to stand up to corruption and gunda raj? This is your moment, common people. Sign up to save the nation.

"In terms of vote share, BJP has just about retained its share from the last election. But AAP basically took all of the anti-Congress votes. This is ironic since Gadkari insisting the assembly elections are testimony to anti-Cong sentiment. If so, BJP has failed to capitalise on it in the one election where people had the option of NOT voting for the BJP." FirstPost says ki BJP ki jeet mein bhi uski haar hai. Modi should be very worried. AAP the nation is your oyster. Inko har jagah se ukhaad do.

Well before the elections, AAP very clearly enunciated that they would align with neither BJP nor Congress after the elections. Based on this and other promises, the electorate gave them a mandate. Now, based on the peculiarity of the mandate, AAP cannot break its promise. Why is this so hard for people to get? They dug a hole for themselves, if you will. Now they are taking a principled stand to stay in that hole. You have a problem with people with principles, Ankit Kakkar? People did not vote for the AAP candidates to form the government. They first and foremost voted for AAP candidates to be MLAs. There is no direct voting to the executive in India. You voted for your representatives to be principled and non-corrupt first. You got that. Whether they capture the executive or not, they will work through the mechanism of the legislative assembly to uphold the principles and promises they made to the electorate. Now get with it.

BJP leader, speaking about Hindu mythology, says “fiction is fiction". Wonderful. So can you forget about Ram Janmabhoomi, Krishna Janmabhoomi temple, etc etc and move on? Do you promise no action on those items just like you promise no action on 377? Or is your definition of mythology selective? http://www.telegraphindia.com/1131214/jsp/nation/story_17679913.jsp#.UqwXPIG6bqA

AAP settles down to bring big changes to Delhi. Meanwhile in Bangalore, Narendra Modi's men are busy playing the usual musical chairs (KJP rejoins BJP). Some people never learn. Both BJP and Congress are underestimating the AAP threat. Good riddance to these losers and their silly games.

I'm a socialist, pro-reservation guy who believes in smaller states and local self government. My views on Kashmir would be illegal to express. Therefore, I have no complaints with the AAP, yet. But I don't get people who are complaining about lack of clarity or ideology at AAP. I mean, really, where is the two party system taking India anyways? What AAP has demonstrated is that India is a true multiparty democracy. At this point you can: a) Whine about AAP's policies, expecting that a messiah like Modi will come and clean everything up with his magic wand (including Yeddy and friends in KA, I hope). b) Become a part of AAP, where there is no parivarik ideology to subscribe to or Sonia Mata to pay obeisance to. Different people have different opinions and they speak their mind freely, apologise openly after saying the wrong things, and generally try to evolve a sense of direction for themselves. Nope, no strong man with balls of steel to tell you exactly what to do - you have to figure things out for yourself as a family. c) Launch your own political movement with exactly the right ideology, garner support and, you know, actually practice politics and democracy and shit. Loksatta's been doing it long before AAP happened. You can do it too. So whiners, seriously, stop whining. No one is listening. Its like those placement or credit card calls I get. If you have the guts, involve yourself in politics, because now IT IS POSSIBLE. Stop aligning with some or the other stupid ideological shit because you've become accustomed to do that.

Arvind Kejriwal is a mad man. After giving new night shelters to all the homeless in Delhi, he slept open in the night on blankets. In the rain. What is it that is making him so mad? I believe it is anger against the 'establishment' for cheating us of our rights. The media believes it is hunger for power. Who would you gladly give power to in this country? A strongman who gives land for cheap to industrialists and builds beautiful roads? Or a strong man who legalises housing for the poor and builds roads in their colonies?

अरे यह क्या सोमनाथ के खिलाफ misconduct misconduct लगी रखा है? ज़रा कभी किसी सरकारी दफ्तर में जाकर अपना हक माँग कर देखो। कभी किसी auto चालक के खिलाफ complaint दर्ज़ कराई है? कभी किसी गरीब के लिए bank account खुलवाया है? सरकार की inaction और apathy देख कर आप भी खून खौलेगा। तब vigilante, misconduct, anarchy जैसे बड़े बड़े शब्द भूल जाओगे। गरीब दो वक्त की रोटी के लिए आपके कारखानों में काम करने के लिए पैदा नहीं हुए। उन्हें पहले इज्जत और अपना हक चाहिए। Economic development के नाम पर आपके घर के सामने की सड़क बन जाए, सस्ती ज़मीनों पर कारखाने बन जाएँ, share market के दाम आसमान छू जाएँ। ग़रीबों के labour Rights छीन कर मुँह पर दो रोटी मार दो। लो हो गई तरक्की। सोमनाथ, खिड़की गाँव के निवासी, यह तो सारे कमीने हैं। और यह Nigerians आपके सगे हैं। रामराज्य में होता होगा की परायों के कहे पर अपनी बीवी को घर से निकाल दो। America और Korea से सिर्फ economics नहीं, राज घर्म भी सीखो। अपने देश के लिए पूरी दुनिया को जला दें यह लोग। इस देश में बच्चा पैदा होकर घर आए इससे पहले हिजड़ों को खबर हो जाती है। ऐसे देश में prostitution और drugs का धंधा हो और Police को खबर ना हो, यह क्या मानने वाली बात है? नपुंसक कम से कम नाच गा के कमाते हैं। ऐसे पुलिसवालों को क्या कहें जो अपने area के crime से कमाते हैं? Human Rights और law and order की बात करते हैं। खुद झेलो तो पता चले।

Sushant खुश तो बहुत है तू आज? लो भई देख लो सारे के सारे। BJP apologists अपनी अपनी apologies सुबह तक सोच लो भाई। कोई जल्दी ना है post करने की। http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwA6TVoHcVw

Pour vous, Vinodh. http://m.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/kashmir-fewer-troops-more-peace/article5597916.ece/

Arvind Kejriwal had the idea of Swaraj. He raised seed funding. He raised a team. He raised more funding. He defeated the competition. He took care of branding and operations and what not. Now he is scaling up and giving the competition nightmares. And with the citizen actions committees in Delhi, he has started realising his dream too. Got to hand it to the guy for not caring about the naysayers and going after his dream with a vengeance.

http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-79493483/ As a China baiter, my first reaction to reading this news was "Hello China, here's your taste of what the rest of the world has been dealing with while you were busy developing." Then I spent an hour being disgusted with myself for thinking like this. That statement is wrong at so many levels. It also betrays that my jealousy for china's progress has turned into vengeance. Sad. And then I thought, "To be fair to China, it hasn't gone around promoting/exporting terrorism in any way. So it doesn't deserve this." Which made me wonder - does Pakistan 'deserve' the terrorism it is suffering with? Love thy neighbour, they said. It isn't easy I say. Somehow it doesn't come naturally :)

Aamir Khan is expending time, energy and emotion on TV, educating the nation on violence against women. Meanwhile, our 'leaders' are torturing the women in their own family. http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/stopacidattacks/ex-minister-s-daughter-in-law-receives-acid-attack-threat/article1-1191905.aspx Dear Dr. Dhanada Mishra, if Barsa Swony ever decides to contest elections on an AAP ticket, I commit to personally raise Rs. 10 lakhs donation for her election fund. The only way to fight these evil politicians is to make their worst nightmares come true. If Barsa could fight such a politically influential family from the inside, imagine what she can do for women's empowerment.

I don't see what all the senior BJP leaders are whining about. They decided to have a 'tough administrator' with the proven history and image of a lone warrior, lead them. In the greater interest of the party they sacrificed their own individual careers. What were they thinking, that Modi would suddenly walk the middle path and spare their candidatures? They should gracefully suck it up and move along, rather than create a public scene. Have some pride in what you did for your party.

Bangaloreans, low polling in spite of high voter turnout means ballot stuffing was less this time. Rejoice. And, drumroll, AAP 1, BadmaashParties 0.

Pure genius: http://qz.com/205367/the-real-reason-indian-intellectuals-are-flocking-to-modi/ A bit long, but honestly I wish it was longer. Neatly summarises the intellectual tragedy of our times.

One of the important contributions of AAP to national politics is the resurfacing of the booth capturing issue. I don't remember booth capturing being a point of discussion in the 2009 elections, even though the practice much have been as widespread back then. People thought booth capturing happens in the "backward" or "bimaru" areas. That the major parties such as INC and BJP do not indulge in electoral malpractices as much as the smaller or regional ones. These myths have been busted by AAP's efficient monitoring of the electoral process. It is now up to the public to create pressure on the EC to curb these practices. Until then, even actual poll results will be taken with as much skepticism as the exit poll results.

Seeing a lot of BJP supporters being ungraceful winners. Shape of things to come for our country? All this jeering... where is the 'culture', Indian or otherwise, that they keep harping about?

It must be strange to stand at Rameshwaram, peer over the sea at Mannar, and know that your own people are getting slaughtered and oppressed there every day. Within arm's reach, yet you can do nothing about it.

Its 2014, and people are still fighting for freedom from occupation and slavery sponsored by the West. From the article: The people of Gaza, he said, want an internationally backed commitment to ending Israel’s siege of Gaza and the targeted killings it carries out inside Gaza. They want an international airport, a seaport, an opening to the outside world. They don’t want the situation where they are “controlled by a few border crossings that turn Gaza into a huge prison, where no one can leave even for medical treatment or to work.” If Hamas is offered those things, or a good number of them, its leaders say they’ll stop firing at Israel. A growing number of people around the world don’t think those demands are unreasonable. http://m.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/why-hamas-is-winning-the-war/article19791458/

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-the-irom-lady-of-manipur-is-free-struggle-to-continue-2012185 How is she "free"? She isn't free from her feeding tube. She isn't free to protest the way she wants to. Her people aren't free from the tyranny of AFSPA.

Some wisdom from Chanakya: - While in office, a ruler must be advised by able and experienced ministers. - All things begin with counsel. - A ruler is a single wheel, and cannot guide the state well. His advisors form a second wheel to help move the chariot of the state forward. - Through ministerial eyes others' weaknesses are seen. Obviously all this wise counsel from a proven philosopher (remember the Mauryan empire he helped create) is lost on Modi. The right wing in India, that harps so much about preserving and furthering Indian culture and tradition, seeks pride in his lone warrior approach, rather than advising him to heed to the wisdom imparted in our ancient scriptures. But then, a selective reading of history is the hallmark of right wingers everywhere.

आज कल केंद्र सरकार को रोज़ किसी ना किसी बात पर जूते पड़ रहे हैं। Supreme Court is filling in for the lack of a serious opposition in the parliament.

Taxes (on fuel) are up. Social spending is down. Infrastructure spending is flat. What exactly is Modi saving up the extra money for? More foreign trips? Compensating old buddies for sponsoring his older trips?

http://www.livemint.com/Politics/reVGwwmsN6Y5AFMfJBKdYJ/Pakistan-to-appeal-against-bail-for-ZakiurRehman-Lakhvi.html This. So much noise in India and elsewhere about Pakistan releasing lakhvi. Not Pakistan the nation, but a court in Pakistan released him. One judge in one court, a common law court just like ours, released a suspect because they found evidence to be insufficient. One individual's judgment. And evidence had to be provided by India, not Pakistan government. Can someone with a legal background explain to me what Pakistan as a nation or government can do when a court issues an order? Only rearrest on some other pretext, like they have done now.

Be still, my beating heart! दिल्ली has restored its place of pride in India! 2,300 सालों के इतिहास में दिल्ली ने कई नायक देखे। बड़ी बड़ी हस्तियों नें दिल्ली पर राज किया। स्पर्धा दिल्ली की गद्दी की होती थी, मगर नतीजा हमेशा पूरे देश पर असर करता था। आज भी ऐसा ही हुआ है। दिल्ली नें पूरे देश को राह दिखाई है, पूरे देश की उम्मीद जगाई है। http://eciresults.nic.in/ - AAP leading in 66 of the 70 seats. What a sight, what a sight. यह नज़ारा मरते दम तक याद रहेगा। जनता की जीत का मंज़र! http://www.hindustantimes.com/newdelhi/battleground-delhi-why-kejriwal-won-how-modi-lost-and-what-does-this-mean/article1-1315321.aspx

AAP has broken every traditional division and barrier in Indian society: caste, religion, class, age, gender, income, education. South Delhi वाले हों या यमुना पार वाले। गाड़ी वाले और बस में चलने वाले। English speakers and हिंदी भाषी। Native Delhiites and "immigrants from the East". सब AAP के साथ हैं। सबकी पसंद निरमा।

आ गई BJP अपनी औकात पर। Using the IT department to settle political vendetta is so BJP's style. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/AAP-Congress-get-IT-notice-over-dodgy-donations/articleshow/46206168.cms IT department - get your shit together. These parties received money by cheque or bank transfer. They have covering letters and copies of PAN cards. What else should they do? Harass their donors for further verification? AAP has gone out of its way to publish the list of donors. They have put all information in the open for YOU to investigate. Move your lazy butts and go investigate. You plug into every transaction system in India, using PAN numbers to collect information. Here is information on a website. Why u no go investigate yourself? Why send notices to the recipients? It is a cakewalk to go get duplicate PAN cards made. People don't even need to forge the card. Your own issuing agencies issue multiple cards to the same individual with hardly any investigation. Get your own shit together. Make the PAN card system fool proof. Tomorrow someone receives donations through RTGS, what are they gonna do? Most NGOs have their banking information up online. Heck, a lot of vendors online have their banking info published. Anyone can just walk up and credit funds to an account. How does the recipient investigate? All they can do is to not receive cash. Which they didn't. Go make it hard to launder money. Go make life harder for those who launder money.

“Patriotism is the belief your country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it.” - George Bernard Shaw “Religious nationalism is the belief that your religion is superior to all other religions because you were born with it, and that everyone else in your country must follow rules/laws/traditions based on your religion.” -Moi

Till last year, India was still using an exploitative land acquisition act dating back to the colonial era (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Acquisition_Act_1894). From this year, the government has introduced an even more ambiguous and draconian act that benefits neither industries nor farmers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Right_to_Fair_Compensation_and_Transparency_in_Land_Acquisition,_Rehabilitation_and_Resettlement_Act,_2013). It does benefit the bureaucracy, politicians and other forms of government machinery, as they arbitrarily define all manner of things such as "public good" and the "fair value of land". Land is the single most important asset in India, and the single largest impediment to economic growth. Ham handedness in handling land acquisition is only going to increase acrimony between peasants and industrialists. Not content with dividing us over religion, caste and language, our "leaders" are now inventing newer ways of creating fissures in the social fabric of the nation; fissures they can exploit for decades to come. Mamata Banerjee has taught an important lesson to Indian politicians - land and water will do for you in the 21st century, what Hindu-Musalman did for you in the 20th. If you are in Delhi, please visit Jantar Mantar and extend full support to peoples' movements that are trying to have this matter resolved in the best way possible, before it becomes an issue dividing the landed and landless, the urban and rural, the agriculturist and the industrialist. In India and abroad, myriad excellent models exist for the optimal and amicable utilisation of land resources. Everyone wants development and jobs. No farmer wants to hold on to their farm land when it has the potential to generate 100x the output through industry. The chambers of commerce in India should unite with farmers' movements in helping define a just, inclusive and forward looking law. Otherwise the sarkari monkey will rejoice as the cats bicker over "equality" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Monkey_and_the_Cat).

India is shining again; for the rich. Meanwhile, some people are working tirelessly to ensure the poor have a say too; that there is the rule of law in this country. I can't imagine how hard that work is under the current regime.

So I heard the sting audio, and, for a change, I agree with Arvind Kejriwal on an issue. Why are we expected to make it work with people who stab us in the back, record our voices? Arvind firmly believes these people worked against the success of the party in the Delhi elections. What are they doing to allay his concerns? The onus is on the "rebels" to prove first and foremost that none of their actions impacted the AAP. If indeed these people indulged in anti party activities. If indeed the AAP candidates had to take countermeasures to handle these guys. Then where it the possibility of reconciliation? There is only the possibility of these guys issuing an unconditional apology and hoping for the best. See how angry Arvind is. And he has every right to be. Clearly he knows more than we do. Now these people want him to sit and explain to everyone what he knows. Provide evidence. Instead of focusing on governance. जो कांड करना है करो। फिर media और public में जा कर democracy democracy चिल्लाओ। Publicly slander the same people you attacked privately. The remarkable success of AAP has anyway created the need for a competitor. Let's these guys go make another party. What is stopping them? Seriously, this whole "we must make it work for the sake of X" thing is overrated. See how upset Arvind is. How can he possibly be expected to work with Yogendra etc in future? As he rightly says, if they are so desperate, let them keep the AAP name, Arvind will leave with his team and form a new party. I mean, how is this a sting? This is so pro Arvind it's amusing the "rebels" put it out. Clearly they are lost in their own hubris.

Our unfriendly neighbourhood CM insists on looking like a nutjob at all occasions. Sure, even I like walking around in a crushed shirt that's hanging loose. But no one invites me to fancy parades and makes me wear formal hats, do they? Sir, when the people who protect us honour you, have some decency and try to fit in. The commonest and poorest man would change his attire to accord respect to the fire service. Looking like the common man doesn't mean looking like you slept in the office and didn't get a chance to shower and change.

Favourite pass time of the urban Indian middle class - rediscovering what the rest of India always knew. "Dude, did you know that a majority of Indians eat beef?" "Stop Aryaning dude. How long will you harp about your tribal village trip?" "Ok, how about the fact that there's more than one version of the Ramayan. In fact, there are thousands. And most of them don't promote animal sacrifice like Valmiki's version." "F*** off"

Looks like competition is back in Indian politics. Rahul Gandhi seems to have returned revitalised and is hitting BJP where any right wing government hurts most - its elitism. The government worries about the stock market and vague things like India's international image, while treading all over the rights and needs of the poor. It is a sad day indeed for India that someone with credentials as poor as Rahul is leading the fight for the have-nots. AAP has completely given up on the national scene, and it's been a long time since anyone has had any hope from the left parties or the band-of-six.

Because the human race keeps forgetting history, it must be reminded periodically of its mistakes and misdeeds. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakba_Day The Western powers only celebrate their victories. If they had annually commemorated the day when 700,000 people were displaced by the Israelis, they would have thought twice before bringing "freedom and democracy" to more regions of the world. Millions of people live away from their homeland due to this man-made tragedy. They will never forget this day and what it has done to their lives. Every year, millions of people are displaced from their land, for no benefit of their own. People who speak of the right to private property and inheritance, have no respect for the land that others have inherited over centuries,

So I Googled, and the results are astounding: https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=pakistan+tourism Is the Indian Government going to be sponsoring everyone who needs to go to Pakistan? Will they take care of securing visas? I am all for SAARC tourism. What's next, BJP? If I say I need to slaughter some buffalos, will you be sponsoring a trip to Nepal too?

Ha ha ha. "Creating hatred atmosphere" it seems. I was involved in the screening of Raam Ke Naam Pe on the same campus. The current government would have convulsed in hatred if we did that today. How much of our rights have we lost in 15 years? We should converge on campus with portable projectors and play Black Friday all over the place. That'll teach the "Prime Minister" a lesson or two about democracy.

During World War II, America became the police state of the world. From dropping atomic bombs on Japan, to the Vietnam war, supporting Israel and the atrocities in South America, America spread violence through the world. Now that violence has turned inwards. America supplied guns to the Al Qaeda and many other terrorist groups; how can it tell the NRA that it's own citizens cannot bear arms. It taught violent techniques to the police in numerous dictatorships; now it's own police is brutal with its citizens. And who can forget that 1% of Americans are incarcerated? You reap what you sow. The tragedy, though, is that most of the reaping is being done by the poor and the minorities. The 1% rich and powerful shall die in the safety of their enclaves, just like Warren Anderson did. The rest of the 99% shall continue to do the bidding of the 1% - killing, abusing and incarcerating each other. And what about the few radical ones? The ones with original ideas. What about Neo? Ah well, let's hope Neo gets a nice app idea so our VC friends can invest in his startup.

This reminds me of an incident in March, when I transported an accident victim to Paras Hospital. The staff at Paras Hospital had every intention of treating us quite like the Britishers in this video. The only reason they could not act out their intentions was because in this situation, I too was a "Britisher" carrying an "Indian" victim. While they did not physically assault me, they did block my car from exiting the hospital after leaving the victim there. And of course, the victim received no treatment. A poor patient had no place in a hospital for the upwardly mobile. Are we truly independent? The halves of this country, the rich and the upper middle class, the English educated lot, live like the British sahibs. The have-nots - the poor, the dalits, the oppressed - they continue to be deprived of their rights in the real India. Leaders like Mahatma Gandhi warned us that merely removing the British from our country would not get us true independence. How right they were, and how accurately they foretold the future of our country.

When the veterans of a nation declare it's Independence Day a Black Day, it is indeed a Black Day for the nation. And that too for a demand that no one is yet to call unjustified. http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/modi-orop-speech-fails-to-mention-implementation-disappoints-ex-servicemen/1/458781.html

The Kashmiri youth want ISIS? Clearly they haven't thought through this. Sure, to be ruled by PDP and BJP must suck. But supporting ISIS is going to make them lose whatever sympathy they've garnered so far, especially on the world scene.

छियासठ का डॉलर, अस्सी का प्याज़ छप्पन इंची सीने की गुल है आवाज़?

So, why is the Gujarat police indulging in vandalism? I Googled but didn't find a motivation. I know that this is the hallowed police force that gave us the riots of 2002. But still, there must be a motive behind collective brutality of this sort.

http://www.vox.com/2015/8/31/9233243/israel-nabi-saleh-video The sad truth is that Israel and its supporters are rabidly justifying this brutalisation of a young child by a heavily armed soldier. What Israel doesn't realise is that it isn't just doing this to Palestinian children. It is doing this to their own children too. I see them everywhere - on the beaches of Goa, in the remote villages of Himachal, in the underground bars of Tokyo. The youth of Israel, fresh from their mandatory military service, trying to rediscover themselves. Trying to forget the brutality that they were made to enforce. Making peace with the hate that has been instilled inside them forever.

What is more worrying... that he is a cabinet minister now or that he was the head of our army earlier? He is either insensitive or racist. Either way, he shouldn't be in such positions.

पहले चाए पे चर्चा, फिर गाए पे चर्चा। अब काहे पे चर्चा? - Nityanand Jayaraman

From democracy to bovinocracy. Time was when the rich and well connected wielded power in this nation. Now any random cow hugger can call the shots.

Occasionally I find myself doing the despicable. Such as reading the Times of India or watching television news. At such times I marvel at the twisted priorities of the <expletives> who work at these news sources. At least 60,000 farmers have committed suicide in Maharashtra alone in 2015. Yet we waste reams of newsprint on the 13 Indians lost in 2015 while taking selfies. People have been falling off cliffs while taking photos, ever since we've had cameras. There is nothing new in this phenomenon. Give everyone a distraction in the palm of their hand, and some will distract themselves to death. Hardly surprising. But give people a farm and they'll farm themselves to death? Now that is noteworthy and newsworthy. Especially since we've been farming for millenia now. It's like we're back in the days depicted in Mother India. We got rid of the zamindars, but what has replaced them that is driving these farmers to debt and despair? Which news source is investigating this grave and pertinent issues from different angles? Nityanand Jayaraman, I believe you have a hand in creating the current generation of journalists. Do all of them end up working for tabloids? Meera Kri, how can concerned citizens like me support journalism that matters? It seems that society in general is hooked to the 'free' but meaningless news dished out online.

किसी ने तो मोदी को आइना दिखाया! Bravo.

The most ridiculous thing I've seen in a long time. Even Cuba was unfriendly with India, apparently, when it is well known that Castro considered Indira his sister. Completely discounts the non aligned movement and India's relationship with the developing world during the cold war. Pictures of our leaders groping other world leaders in public don't prove anything. Results do. When we had nothing, the world came to our rescue and we also gave with open hearts. Today our economy is huge, yet we can't find it in ourselves to help out the Nepalis or stand up for the Rohingya. Our involvement in Afghanistan is next to nothing. Almost every institution of repute in India owes allegiance to some or the other foreign nation. And India supported so many in Africa and Asia in their quest for knowledge and science. Is trade the only measure of a country's prowess? देश चला रहे हो या दुकानदारी कर रहे हो?

Sanghis hate JNU because JNU wallahs articulate well in English, and are independent minded. And the JNU girls are confident and so out of reach. This nationalism talk is all dikhava. The hate runs deep and has run since the beginning of (chaddi) time. (When you can't get sleep, make up meaningless shit.)

I see a lot of messages exhorting us to think about martyrs and their families when we talk of nationalism and patriotism. Let us realise one thing. Every time a soldier is martyred, whether it is at the border, or by terrorists or maoists, it is a failure of dialog. No family sends their child to be a martyred. But a country's leaders do send the army knowing fully well that some of those brave soldiers will die. And every time they send soldiers it is because they have failed to use other means to resolve the issue. So let us be very clear. When we take pride in our martyrs, we should hang our own heads in shame. Because it is our failure to resolve our problems peacefully that let to their death. For a soldier, there is pride in martyrdom. But there is no pride for a nation in it. When our leaders and governments fail to negotiate with our neighbours, or worse, our own people, it is our failure. India is a democracy, and we must take collective responsibility for selecting leaders who are unable to do their job properly, and resort to sending the armed forces to fix what they can't. So much so that the military has become a permanent fixture in some parts of our country. Governments come and go but the armed forces remain, alternatively winning and losing local public support. Kashmir. Naxalism. Farmer suicides. Dalit oppression. Communalism. Forest rights. Tribal rights. Land rights. Issue after issue has been left unresolved by government after government. I am proud of our soldiers in Siachen. But that feeling of pride is overwhelmed by my sense of shame for sending them on what is perhaps the most meaningless of all battles. And now, the government is resorting to the suppression of dialog even within our universities. Dispatching the police and the army at the slightest sign of trouble, is that the mark of a mature democracy? Every statement, every idea is seen only through the legal lens. Can the police and judiciary really resolve differences of opinion within a family? More dialog. More freedom of expression. Less police action. Giving space for our youth to express their angst. That is the only way to ensure the safety of our nation. We are a nation in the midst of an agrarian crisis. A banking crisis. In the midst of a rapid privatisation of resources. And worst of all, an unemployment crisis. That demographic dividend we like talking about - all of those untrained youth are going to be on our streets, sooner or later, demanding something or the other. Reservation. Education. Freedom. But what they'll really want is a livelihood. Jobs. Jobs that we won't have to give to them. So we better learn to talk to our youth. Because we won't have enough jails and courts and bullets to 'deal' with all of them.

If you are a Sikh/Punjabi and you're gleefully posting on your timeline how your community has never asked for reservation, you are right. You never asked for reservations. You just asked for an entire separate country. See how that hurts? The 'jaats' or the 'jaat community' are not demanding reservations. Some people, who purport to be leaders of the jaat community, and may or may not have the majority of the community behind them, are asking for reservation for jaats. In the name of all jaats. Dividing people on the basis of community is the job of politicians in this country. Please leave it to them. Even the new kids on the block, such as Aravind K, quickly pick up this skill. Please don't further their cause by forwarding how your community is more humble than others. Some or the other skeleton is bound to tumble out when that community closet is opened. Bhindaranwale did not represent all Sikhs. He is, for the most part, forgotten history, that morons like me useless rake up to rile others. Hardik Patel is already history, I am told. All he achieved was the targeting of all Patidars by the police in Gujarat. Do you even remember the name of the chap behind the Gujjar agitation? He was an ex army man, we were told. This jaat agitation will also be behind us soon. The weather is good, enjoy the unexpected holidays, and don't think too much into it. But before you move on, observe the pattern and regularity of these occurrences. By brutally repressing them, or by letting them grow out of hand, we give them the attention they don't deserve. And then who bears the wrath of the mobilisation that these movements have achieved? The community in whose name it was all done, of course. It would be best if the basic grievances of all people in this country - livelihood, and an adequate say in administration - was addressed in a timely manner by the government. But that would require true leadership.

“In India, Congress, communists, atheists and jihadists are one rogue power.” चलो भइया, atheists like me are now officially a threat to this nation. Official because a BJP leader said this.

What have the poor Americans done to deserve Donald Trump? Leftists beware. This is not an invitation to list out America's imperialist/capitalist crimes. Remember you are atheists and rationalists. You are not supposed to believe that the oppressed can impact America with their curses (ergo, the गरीब की बद्दुआ argument is invalid). Also, don't say stupid things like 'What have the poor Indians done to deserve Narendra Modi'. Trump is a likely possibility. Modi is already an unfortunate reality. (See how much I have learnt from TV debate anchors. Ask the question, overrule possible reasonable answers in advance, label debaters as Leftists or Sanghis, create unnecessary confusion by talking of unrelated events in a different geography, and generally hurl abuses around, even before we begin.)

After Russia, Turkey and India, a fascist rises to power in the US. Why is the world suddenly fascinated with national pride, 'lost glory' and an ugly display of power and hate?

Modi's 56" chest was supposed to bring back all our black money. After two years, all we get is a money laundering scheme where 56% of the money is retained by the perpetrators.

Government of India policy: yoga is not for Muslims. While Trump is only threatening to exclude Muslims from America, Modi's government is already doing it. What an unsavoury mix-up of culture, religion and Bhartiyata.

The Americans have demonstrated their collective idiocy by promoting Trump (and it really doesn't matter if he gets elected or not; the damage to America's reputation is done). The rest of the English speaking world should dissociate itself from them by petitioning them to rename whatever their language is to American. It is a win-win for both sides. When the Americans finally realise that they've been speaking a foreign language all this while, they'll be riled no end and rush to rename their language (because that fixes everything - like freedom fries did). Also, I guess it does matter if Trump gets elected. The entire planet is doomed. And the only organisations with decent Mars colonisation plans are all based in the US. We are, in fact, double doomed. I'm such a racist bigot myself :p

The states use unelected representatives in the Rajya Sabha to trip up proceedings in the Parliament. The center uses unelected Governors (and LGs) to enforce its will on the states. Is this federalism in India?

This is not a quiet revolution. Yet it is not being televised. It will change society and politics for ever. Society and polity in India are built on the back of the oppression of the lower castes. All of that is falling apart so fast that we are unable to fathom it. We live in interesting times :-)

Do these career politicians know any shame? Can the likes of Modi and Jayalalitha ever rise above using the government machinery for vendetta? No. As a democracy, Indian politicians derive their power from supporters in the public. But support in India is eponymous with sycophancy. So as long as the fan following of these netas are unwilling to question any of their actions, we are stuck.

Today is a proud day for the Roman Catholic Church. It is the culmination of a series of fortuitous events for the Church. First, on the 26th of August 1910, Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu chose to be born a catholic christian. Then, on 15 August 1928, she chose to become a catholic nun. On 10 September 1946, she chose to give up the duties that the convent had imposed upon her, and chart her own course in the service of humanity. After having founded the Missionaries of Charity on the 7 October 1950, with the kind permission of the vatican, she went on to serve humanity for the next 47 years, in ways that humanity had never seen before. Today, she has bestowed upon you the honour of canonising her. You are who you are because of the sacrifices, hard work and love of all the people who chose to serve humanity in your name. We wish you hadn't wasted so much of Father Brian Kolodiejchuk's time, making him write a 35,000 page tome to prove to you that Mother Teresa is worthy of you bestowing sainthood upon her. You realise, but choose to ignore, that she lived the last fifty years of her life questioning God as she worked amongst poverty, sickness and squalour. You are organised religion, and you must do what you do to stay relevant. One would have imagined that Mother Teresa's life would have convinced you to change focus from spirituality to humanity. That service to the needy would become more important than service to God, and the execution of miracles. Make no mistake - suffering in this world is only increasing. Disparity is only going up (Pope Francis has spoken about it). Mother Teresa's mission is more relevant today than when she started. I hope more people will aspire to become Mother Teresa through the service of mankind, than Saint Teresa through the service of God. Ha! Armchair activism is wonderful. I'm doing neither, yet pontificating from the comfort of my armchair. ;-)

This is so sad. The worst part is that because this was for "Kannada", she will receive free legal aid. What if this was for "Islam" or "Kashmir"? What are we teaching our youth? That it is OK to riot in the name of a language or state? Then why won't they riot in the name of a religion or another state tomorrow? The Kashmiri militants targeted Pandits in the 80s; these people are targeting Tamils today. Why is one sedition and the other not? Targeting and fighting another state is terrible in so many ways. It's almost like the American civil war. Also, we are having a war over water. Doomsday predictions have come true. I've trying to avoid bringing up Sri Lanka here, but, I mean, what the heck. This targeting of one community has to stop. The state and central governments need to send a very very strong message that this kind of targeting of one state's residents in another state will not be tolerated. Because it smacks of genocide. Meanwhile, the perp is a 22 year old poor, uneducated, woman. Uh. She probably had no political agenda, no personal grudge, no money to be made. It was just stupidity. And if we come down heavily on her, what purpose does that solve? This is one of my middle-of-the-night confused rants, but anyway. I suppose the solution lies in building bridges between communities, in education, in harmony.

It is ironic. I made this post about going to (or being at) war. And I've spent the last week watching Hearts and Minds. You cannot watch that movie in one go. It is too powerful. Towards the end, there is this boy who is crying over the coffin of a soldier. That boys wails will probably haunt me for a good many years. In my previous post I opined that India consider America's foreign policy. What is American foreign policy has been evident ever since they dropped the bomb at Hiroshima - dominance at all costs. That is not what we want for India. But, at the very least, we should be allowed to have our dignity and self respect. It is terrible, really, to see the futility of war, when portrayed so powerfully in a movie like this. And then to know that you are at war, pointlessly, with a neighbour.

Ha ha. This is so powerful yet so obvious. I'm ashamed I didn't think of this. Yes, I would gladly eat a bowl of poisoned Skittles if it saved the life of a thousand refugees. More than gladly. Pretty much any human being I know would do the same. I know the analogy is wrong, the statistics is wrong, you'd need to eat a roomful of skittles to find that one poisoned skittle. If it is even there. But who wouldn't sacrifice themselves for the greater good? Except Trump supporters, I suppose. And the kind of narrow, pathetic individuals who send children to fight in Vietnam and Afghanistan.

Will those who speak about swadeshi, speak up against the exploitation of our workers by foreign companies in the Gurgaon-Neemrana belt? Will Honda be boycotted? Given the advertising budget of these companies, even traditional media is not speaking about this. Suzuki, Honda, Daikin, the list of offenders just keeps growing.

Before you say 'Modi started this war', please be aware. Pakistan started this war. A proxy war, but war nevertheless. If you ask the Pakistanis, even the Kargil War never happened. All the fighters from the Pakistan side were mujahideen or whatever. Not Pakistani soldiers. No one likes war. But once war is declared, you have to fight back. We have replied in the same coin. They said militants attacked in Uri, Pakistan has no role. We said we attacked militants, that they were on Pakistani soil is not relevant. It took us two strikes, Pathankot and Uri, to strike once. And we struck militants. Protected our people. Let us not demean this action by calling it retaliation or revenge. I'd rather say that our boneheaded political establishment has allowed our army to do what it does best - defend us against external threats by identifying and annihilating them.

Where is the rule of law? All evidence must be shot dead, Amit Shah style. Will the courts take suo moto cognisance of these videos and ask tough questions?

Most of the crop burning is happening in Punjab, screwing things up for both Delhi and Lahore. With Punjab poll bound, no one has the guts to tell farmers there to be considerate of others. Least of all the CM of Delhi, who apart from looking after the interests of Delhi, must also look after the ambitions of his fledgling party. AAP is now as affected by realpolitik as any other party.

This isn't the first demonetisation India has seen. In 1978, all denominations higher than ₹100 were demonetised. Calling this a surgical strike demeans the excellent work our troops are doing at (and beyond) the border. http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/prime-minister-modi-surgical-strike-on-black-money-government-currency-revamp/1/805904.html When we put military terminology into daily use, we normalise war. When we politicise a military action, we take away from the hard work our troops do every day. When we call something that has happened repeatedly in various parts of the world, including our own country, a first - well that's just plain stupid. This is a good idea. It is timely. But it is not new or unique. Most of us in the salaried class are only going to be mildly inconvenienced by this move. We hardly have anything to hide. The real sufferers will be the poor. Small farmers, daily wage labourers and domestic workers - all of their savings are in cash. Please help them navigate this mess. There will be rumours. There will be "schemes". Those with large stashes of black money might try to use the poor to launder their money, getting them entrapped in the process. Give your help a day off so they can go to their bank and convert October's salary into usable currency. Extend small loans to daily wagers around you, so they don't have to lose a day's earnings for a trip to the bank. Most importantly, impart them financial literacy. Now is a good time to encourage the poor and semi literate to start using banks to store money.

A very well written article that shatters the myth of 'sacks of black money'. In discussions over the last couple of days, I've discovered that very few people actually understand the nature of black money. Some are naive enough to even declare all stacks of cash black money, and all cash transactions illegal. I think the government has actively promoted the simplistic view that people have simply stuffed ill gotten wealth into pillow cases, rather than deploy it in a parallel economy where it actively flows around. Anyway, this is the era of the naive and the knee jerk. If all Syrians can be terrorists, why should all cash not be ill gotten? What is unfamiliar to you is surely evil.

The 'simple minded folk' of America elected Trump. The simple minded folk of India believe that demonetisation is linked to unearthing black money. American friends, if you for a minute believe that Trump will be benevolent and presidential, you believe wrong. With absolute majority, he will be every bit as obnoxious as he can be. And his loyal followers will lap up every move, every speech, every betrayal of their dear leader.

Modi's beaming face showed up in the papers recently, declaring deposits up to ₹2.5 lakhs will not be investigated. This isn't out of the benevolence of his heart. It is the law of the land. Forget deposits - income up to ₹2.5 lakhs is simply not taxable. IANAL, but you usually don't even need to file tax returns for this much income. So why just ₹2.5 lakhs? If you are not a tax assessee, and were accumulating ₹2 lakhs of annual income for the last many years, you should be able to deposit all of that into your bank account without penalty or harassment. No law prevents you from earning or hoarding cash, as long as your income is not taxable. Hoarders are creepy, but they're not criminals. But harassment there will be. Because last time I checked, the bureaucracy of this country had scant regard for the law and due process. Which is because the ministers themselves have such poor understanding of the law and their rights and obligations. Look at this demonetisation. It can, should, and will be challenged in the courts. A number of laws were seemingly violated. And then, our courts are used to pulling up governments not just for illegality, but poor execution as well. But will admonition in court affect the government?

If the government so dislikes cash, why doesn't the BJP lead by example and stop accepting cash donations. Also, stop making cash payments. Do all your transactions in 'white', which in Modispeak means online or by cheque.

A cancer patient, queued up at 4am. This is her fourth day in the queue. Expects to return empty handed. Wishes to exchange her own hard earned money for her medicines. A woman whose four month old baby is running high fever. Needs to change her money to pay the doctor. A bank that can only cater to 100 transactions a day, serves an area where lakhs of working class citizens reside. They have been queueing up here, without food and water, for 12 hours or more every day. Most of them losing daily wages of around ₹300. Or leaving behind hungry children or sick, disabled family members at home. A government and its ardent followers who are blind to this mass tragedy. Who cannot empathise, could not plan and estimate. And are now unable to rise to the occasion. मेरा देश बदल रहा है दोस्तों

Ooh, let's take everybody's money. That sounds like a capital idea. What could possible go wrong? ... Ok, shit. We screwed up. People are dying everywhere. Everybody, quick, put on your belligerent face.

Received on WhatsApp from Virender Singh. Too true. पीटर और चीटर की कहानी दो दोस्त थे। पीटर और चीटर। दोनो की सालाना कमाई थी रू एक करोड़। दोनो का सालाना खर्चा था 50 लाख। पीटर टैक्स देता था एवं चीटर टैक्स चोरी करता था। तीन साल के बाद: पीटर और चीटर ने कमाये = तीन तीन करोड़ पीटर और चीटर ने खर्चा किये = डेढ़ डेढ़ करोड़ सरकार को टैक्स: पीटर ने दिये @30% = 90 लाख चीटर ने दिये = 0 शुद्ध लाभ: पीटर का = 3 करोड़ - 1.5 करोड़ - 90 लाख = 60 लाख चीटर का = 3 करोड़ - 1.5 करोड़ - 0 = 1.5 करोड़ अब मोदी की क्रांतिकारी 50% टैक्स स्कीम के बाद: पीटर का तीन साल का ईमानदारी से टैक्स भरने के बाद भी लाभ = 60 लाख चीटर का तीन साल के बाद टैक्स चोरी करने के बावजूद लाभ = 1.5 करोड़ का 50% = 75 लाख अब आप ही बताईये कि महान अर्थशास्त्री जेटली जी एवं क्रांतिकारी नेता मोदी जी की इस स्कीम से टैक्स भरने वाली जनता का क्या फ़ायदा? पीटर को या चीटर को?

Concise, precise, forceful writing. There are still people around who can teach rajdharma to Modi. Even though he has always been a reluctant student.

Can we turn the new cash deposit questionnaire into a referendum? Everyone deposit a token amount and give reasons like 'I trusted the prime minister'. Problems I foresee: A. The deposit lines are still quite long. Registering this protest takes too much time. B. Finding demonetised currency to deposit isn't easy. C. Fear of retaliation by the government. The central leadership is petty. D. Indians don't care enough to protest.

It's hard to post an article by Steve Forbes. After all, he is a vehement supporter of the repeal of ObamaCare. But in the case of demonetisation, he says it like it is.

सफ़दर जैसे लोग अपने कर्मों से मर कर भी अमर हो जाते हैं। हमें याद दिलाते हैं कि गलत सहना, डर जाना, सबसे बड़ा पाप है। वह डर पुलिस का हो या पैसे का, हमें उस डर को, और उसके पीछे खड़ी बुराई, को लड़ना होगा। मेहनत की लूट / पाश मेहनत की लूट सबसे ख़तरनाक नहीं होती पुलिस की मार सबसे ख़तरनाक नहीं होती गद्दारी, लोभ की मुट्ठी सबसे ख़तरनाक नहीं होती बैठे बिठाए पकड़े जाना बुरा तो है सहमी सी चुप्पी में जकड़े जाना बुरा तो है पर सबसे ख़तरनाक नहीं होती सबसे ख़तरनाक होता है मुर्दा शांति से भर जाना ना होना तड़प का सब कुछ सहन कर जाना घर से निकलना काम पर और काम से लौट कर घर आना सबसे ख़तरनाक होता है हमारे सपनों का मर जाना सबसे खतरनाक वो आँखें होती है जो सब कुछ देखती हुई भी जमी बर्फ होती है.. जिसकी नज़र दुनिया को मोहब्बत से चूमना भूल जाती है जो चीज़ों से उठती अन्धेपन कि भाप पर ढुलक जाती है जो रोज़मर्रा के क्रम को पीती हुई एक लक्ष्यहीन दुहराव के उलटफेर में खो जाती है सबसे ख़तरनाक वो दिशा होती है जिसमे आत्मा का सूरज डूब जाए और उसकी मुर्दा धूप का कोई टुकड़ा आपके ज़िस्म के पूरब में चुभ जाए

Wow! This happened. Can we start dancing in the streets yet, or is there a catch? Is this an end to the Modi, Mulayam, Mayawati style of politics?

Oh how lovely. Financial incentives for behaving like human beings. Does being a minister in India automatically damage some parts of your brain and soul?

BJP seems to care a lot about India's international image. Meet my Thai friend, @[1010934198:2048:Peerapong], who finds our current situation amusing/appaling. Our government doesn't care about its own citizens. Maybe it'll care about what foreigners are saying.

In a democracy, we deserve the leaders we choose. We deserve the issues we choose. Balaji Sampath highlights that 50% of grade 5 students in Tamil Nadu cannot read Tamil. Nityanand Jayaraman highlights that our Poromboke (commons), our lakes and creeks and tanks, are being eroded at a frenetic pace. Tamil politicians highlight that Tamil culture lies in our breed of cows, which is being eroded by a ban on bull fighting. Guess who the youth of Tamil Nadu chose to follow? They believe that our culture lies not in our language, land and water. Instead it lies in our cows. Whether it is at the center or the state, the holy cow transcends all other matters in our nation. Should we blame technology for this? Our young leaders are no longer reading books and debating to build opinions. Instead they just follow the latest trending topic on Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp. Where there is social media, there are also Quora and Google. We have no one but ourselves to blame for our ignorance, and our poor choice of issues and leaders.

I hear that Hillary was defeated because of her gender. It so then all the talk about the US being progressive compared to the "third world" is just a lot of hot air. Because Indira Gandhi and Benazir Bhutto. Before you say that Indira and Benazir were descendants of national leaders themselves, do remember who Hillary is married to. The privilege is equal, if not higher, in her case. India also has (had) Jayalalitha, Mamta and Mayawati, leading states over decades. They are (were) unrelated to any previous leader. (They had mentors, yes, but doesn't every successful person have mentors. In politics you usually join a preexisting political party, which has existing leaders and an ascension process.) The US does have female governors/leaders. I recall Sarah Palin, Condoleezza Rice, Nikki Haley and Madeleine Albright. But where are your Margaret Thatcher, Angela Merkel, Theresa May, Aung San Suu Kyi and Sheikh Hasina, USA? It's not like you don't have successful women. On the business front, especially in technology, you have a number of successful, self made women - Sheryl Sandberg, Ginni Rometty, Susan Wojcicki, Meg Whitman, Indra Nooyi, Mary Barra, Carly Fiorina, Oprah, Safra Catz, Marissa Mayer, Huffington, Mary Meeker. But sorry. No significant female political leaders. For the worst possible factor - a public gender bias. I'd be delighted to be proven wrong in the comments.

The guidelines say that those with mild intellectual disability “can be trained to understand and respect the national anthem.” I wonder. Can ministers with major intellectual disability be trained to understand and respect the citizens?

First we put Devanagari on banknotes, but the Tamils didn't respond. Then we raked up the Jallikattu issue. We gave space in our media for PETA spokespersons to utter insensitive things. Yet the Tamilians protested peacefully. Then the great benovalent leader promulgated an ordinance. This was the cue for all of you to fall at our feet. But you stupid people don't understand how things work. So now we are thrashing you. Call me a cynic. But anyone who doesn't see the unseen political hand behind all this is merely turning a blind eye to reality. Is there a coincidence that issue after issue is being raked up in TN ever since Jayalalitha fell ill and a power struggle began. Is it a coincidence that Tamil pride was suddenly so much at stake that students have to camp at the Marina for seven days?

I hear the leaders of our country are discussing donkeys in UP. Have all our problems been solved? Is there nothing better left to discuss?

Someone has been convicted in India of a thought crime. Not in medieval Europe, or in McCarthyist America. Business as usual, I suppose. Reading books can now lead to life imprisonment.

What is America doing to fix this? Apparently, nothing. They continue to safeguard themselves from "Muslim nations". But who safeguards these nations from the US? News outlets have replaced gruesome images of the dead with spiffy images of fighter planes; because, US planes, Syrian deaths. Let us be late night American television and make jokes about these tragedies: "Apart from freedom and Coke, America is now also exporting its other great invention - mass killings at schools"

If you're interested in international affairs, please do read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nayirah_(testimony) That article on atrocity propaganda will lead you to other articles such as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddam_Hussein%27s_alleged_shredder Yes, sarin gas was used to attack civilians in Khan Sheikhoun. There is no denying that. But who had the maximum to lose from a chemical weapons attack? Assad had. A man with 16+ years of dictatorial experience. You think he's that stupid or desperate? In fact he's pretty comfortable with the current stalemate in Syria. It is the rebels, ISIS, the world, maybe even Russia that is losing patience. As the US bombs Syria, I am reminded of Kong's manic grin as he rides the bomb in the climax of Dr. Strangelove.

TM Krishna touches on some wonderful points that even I have pondered on. How a dark skinned person is considered not just ugly in India, but also lower caste, poor, or even unkempt/unhygienic. How Indians don't befriend Africans. How we share food with the help in the US but would not do that in India. Help in the US will easily make themselves comfortable on the dining table. When was the last time you saw a domestic worker in India dining at a table? Or sitting on a chair? We show them their place, their plates and their toilets. They dare not use ours. But we are not racist.

With Trump's approval ratings in the toilet, he is picking on one "rogue" nation after another. Syria, Afghanistan, North Korea. The man is just raring for a fight. Thankfully, the BJP is doing well for itself.

With the exception of North East India, segregation of humans is commonplace across India. I've been ranting about it forever. The cleaners in fancy Bangalore offices must blend into the woodwork. The help in Gurgaon must use the service elevators (in this, they have lesser privileges than dogs). The maids in our homes can't sit on chairs and sofas. And if you speak up about it, you're the rabblerouser.

Uh oh. Looks like what is developing in Kashmir is a popular revolt against the establishment. There is no leader. There is only a common enemy - the police, paramilitary, the army. Perhaps even the Indian state.

Ah ha ha ha. As if everyone in Pakistan is sitting listening to this self-obsessed moron, shitting their pants everytime he accuses their country of something. He gives a migraine to anyone who bothers to listen to him. And that's definitely not the Pakistanis.

I have questions about this. Is this the same EVM as used by the EC or a lookalike? If it is the same machine, how did AAP get access to it? They are supposed to be secure and inaccessible to all. An EVM is a simple machine running on a microcontroller. To say that it cannot be tampered with has to be the joke of the century. The only way to ensure safety is by opening up the code, making the checksums public, then demonstrating that the code checksums match. That the EC would never do, for reasons best known to them. The other way to ensure safety is through obscurity. Inaccessibility. Clearly that hasn't worked if this is a real EVM in the hands of a political party.

Friends in India, there are good lessons here for our struggle with authoritarian rule. We have to be inclusive of the people who support those we abhor.

Heartbreaking. Lakhs of Israeli youth trudge through the dusty streets of India every year. Between their military service and the rest of their lives, they spend time here to heal. From the mountains to the beaches, wherever you go, you find them. Stop and speak to them. And you would forget forever the dark dream of modeling the Indian security establishment after the Israeli forces.

Bindi, sindoor, bangles exempt from GST. Sanitary napkins taxed at 18%, in spite of widespread protest. Is there a message here for women?

I'm up late working so I thought I'd catch up with the news. But there was nothing new to see in the news... The most weaponised society in the world continues to use its weapons irresponsibly, domestically and internationally: UPS shooting leaves four dead, including gunman, in San Francisco http://www.reuters.com/article/us-california-shooting-idUSKBN1952G3 Lawmaker Steve Scalise Injured In GOP Baseball Shooting; Suspect Dies After Shootout http://www.ndtv.com/world-news/lawmaker-steve-scalise-injured-in-congressional-baseball-shooting-suspect-dies-after-shootout-1712411 US Bombs Iranian Militia in Syria, As Fight For Raqqa Begins http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/06/06/u-s-bombs-iranian-militia-in-syria-as-fight-for-raqqa-begins/ The Indian government is still clueless how to govern, so it continues to Photoshop (not GIMP, mind you) governance into barren landscapes: Oops! It is Spain-Morocco road shown as floodlit Indian border http://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/oops-it-is-spain-morocco-road-shown-as-floodlit-indian-border-117061401102_1.html Absolute hilarity bubbling up from down under, with the pot calling the kettle black, and then the kettle just throwing the pot out on the street: DMK legislators evicted en masse from Assembly http://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/politics/150617/dmk-legislators-evicted-en-masse-from-assembly.html The RBI still needs a lifetime to disclose information that's right in front of it, such as "how many old notes did we recieve", or "what's in this list in my hand": 12 Defaulters Identified By RBI To Be Named Soon: Finance Ministry http://profit.ndtv.com/news/economy/article-12-defaulters-identified-by-rbi-to-be-named-soon-finance-ministry-1712383 Salman Khan, with a very straight face, continues to be the moral compass of our society: Salman Khan At Tubelight Promotions: Those Who Order Wars Should Go On Border And Fight http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/salman-khan-at-tubelight-promotions-those-who-order-wars-should-go-on-border-and-fight-1712381

Traders protesting against a steep hike on their products under the GST regime. AccheDin Sorry for the grainy pic. Shot from a moving vehicle.

Most Indian media is now owned by the same people who sponsor the BJP. NDTV was independent, now it has been muzzled. I know Scroll and The Wire are independent. What other news outlets still speak their own mind? Is The Hindu really independent? Kasturi and Sons has been around for over a century. I assume the family behind it has interests beyond The Hindu. Surely they would have been compromised by now?!

Seriously? It was disrespectful of Rahman to speak his own mothertongue? How sick are these idiots? The same set of people would share how the Chinese leaders and artists speak only Chinese - if their leaders speak their language, so should ours. Well, newsflash, Tamil is as much our language as Hindi. Celebrate, not hate, that he spoke on stage in an Indian language. The only language less Indian than any other language spoken in India is the one I'm writing in. English didn't even make it to the list of scheduled Indian languages - a schedule itself written in English, incidentally. Politics 😀

I carefully curate my feed. And yet horrid stuff like this creeps through. Do these people have no feelings? It has already been proven by the police that these people are from WB not Bangladesh. And so what if some of them were Bangladeshi? Is this how we treat the poorest of the poor? By razing their homes as retribution. Showing them their place? These jokers talk of Akhand Bharat, yet Bangladeshis are outsiders. And then they'll send our administration to grovel in front of Trump to allow immigration and keep the outsourcing business model running.

Submerging people in the name of development, without rehabilitation of any kind - this national shame has been going on for decades now. Where is our collective conscience?

The completely expected silence of BJP supporters right now is making some people livid. We have become so polarised that voters and supporters will not even question the leaders they elected when something so heinous and callous occurs.

If I claim to be unafraid of the right, I also must shed my fear of the far left. Thus, I share this. We cannot let mobs run our lives. Someone's right to occupation cannot be dependent on the mass's opinion of his opinions. A job is not an elected post.

This is a long post. As a fallout of the tragedy in Gorakhpur, some government officials will be made scapegoats. This is business as usual in India where those lower down the food chain are regularly thrown under the bus to protect those higher up. I have been working closely with the government for the last twelve years. My interaction has been with the Railways mostly, a relatively better run department of the government. With my experience of the system, I wish to state my case that there is no way that those doctors, or even the principal of that institution, could have arranged for oxygen. A lot of people are saying that the doctor in charge of the ward was responsible for the procurement of oxygen for the ward. The sheer ignorance of Indians about how their own government works is simultaneously hilarious and shocking. Except, in this case, at least 63 children have succumbed so far. There is no humour left in this situation. I meet senior officials of the Railways every now and then. Folks who are from the IRTS or a similar Indian Railways Central Service, with at least twenty years of experience behind them. Even such senior people do not have discretionary spending powers in excess of ₹2 lakhs. Yep. That's it. If they wanted to cut a cheque for this oxygen supplier, that is all they would have been able to do. But the dues were in excess of ₹50 lakhs, we hear. So how does the government buy anything? Well, there is a process. This process does not serve the interests of the end users (patients) or users (doctors/nurses). This process has been meticulously built over the years in order to serve the interests of vigilance and RTI. When the process is followed, any dealings by the officials executing the process are considered above board. We, as citizens, vendors and users, demand this transparency, unambiguity and impartiality from the process, from the system. My company sells all kinds of computers to the Railways. Most often our computers are used for ticketing. The commercial department of each railway zone is responsible for ticketing, apart from a zillion other things (scheduling of trains, cleanliness, blankets, food, and delivering diapers to families tweeting the railway minister). When the commercial folks needs more computers for ticketing, they raise a request for purchase. That request goes all the way up to the general manager of the zone, and often further up to the railway board. Yes, the highest officials of the railways (often) decide which zone buys how many computers for ticketing. These thirteen people also (always) decide what specifications of computers will be bought, how many years they must be used before being replaced, and a hundred other terms and conditions. What the board also decides, for all Railways purchases and contracts, is how the vendors will NOT get paid. There is literally an entire book on what conditions will lead to the vendor not being paid. Nowhere in this entire tome is a single line that says, "if all of the above is met, pay the poor sod." Once the board budgets for a purchase, the purchase department takes their own sweet time to follow the "process" of purchase. I spoke to a Deputy Chief Materials Manager recently. He told me, quite candidly, that his job absolutely does not require him to complete the process of procurement for an item. Like, literally. The Deputy Chief Commercial Manager calls him once in a while and is livid that his computers haven't been bought yet, and his staff are having to work with old and unreliable computers, and passengers are screaming at his staff. He said, "I just ignore the fellow." This guy could literally go through his entire career not approving a single purchase, and he would still have a career. However, any purchase that he does authorise, and any payments to vendors that do happen for purchases he makes, immediately make him the subject of scrutiny from vigilance, our competitors, the general public, and his bosses. When we asked for transparency and objectivity from the government in its procurements, we received it at the expense of efficiency. Yes, corruption is a serious issue. And yet, even though I work so much with the government, I rarely come face to face with it. One in hundreds of officials will ask you for a bribe. People find it hard to believe but I repeat it as often as I can - a private employee is more likely to ask me for a bribe in India than a public employee. Citizens are used to dealing with corrupt officials at RTOs etc. So they just assume that every government official is lazy, inept, or corrupt. That is seriously not the case. I deal with programmers, engineers, bureaucrats, managers, train drivers (loco pilots), guards, ticket sellers, and a myriad array of back office railways officials. They just come into office and do their job, often working over twelve hours a day to deliver services to the public. This country loves to laugh at the IRCTC website. Whatever that site may be, the people making and running it are not responsible for its design, it crazy rules, the lack of infrastructure that leads to its breaking down - all those decisions come right from the top. And they don't make a single rupee over and above their salary. Let's put it another way - they are not important enough for anyone to bribe them. They are not public facing like the ticket checkers, and they are not vendor facing like the purchase department. So this what most likely happened in that hospital. The doctor would have projected a utilisation of (say) 20 oxygen cylinders a day at his ward during the fiscal year 2017-2018, some time in 2016. His request would have gone up and down in Gorakhpur and Lucknow a few times, eventually being whittled down to 10 cylinders a day (swalpa adjust madhi doctor sahab). The hospital budgeted for 3,650 cylinders for 2017-2018, floated a rate contract tender, found a vendor who was the lowest bidder, and started consuming gas. Not being a revenue generating entity, it would be dependent entirely on the administration in Lucknow for its funds. The funds started coming, but less than the actual budgeted funds for the hospital. This is quite common. If an amount was budgeted for an organisation/ministry in the annual budget of the state, doesn't mean that amount will be transferred to that org in a timely manner. Tax revenues fall short. More often, the government in power concocts some pet project that starts sucking up funds from everywhere else. Oxygen was critical, so it was ordered, even with the coffers empty. Encephalitis was raging outside, which means the consumption must have quickly risen to 20 cylinder a day. And the vendor was getting paid for <10 cylinders a day, because <100% funds were coming in. Right? Wrong. The funds coming in were probably just enough to keep the salaries paid. This is a story that repeats itself over and over in India. Budgets are cut by politicians and those sitting at the secretariat level. And when a tragedy happens, corruption and the ineptitude of employees is blamed. Today I want to stand up for the doctors and engineers, programmers and accountants, drivers and guards and every other government employee, every professional that chose to serve their country by joining a government job. Why are they blamed when something goes wrong, and why do the politicians and higher officials take all the credit when something works well? I mean, how do the citizens even reconcile that in their heads? Somehow all these professionals who studied hard, passed myriad exams, and now toil at their workplaces everyday, are corrupt, inept, and responsible for all failures. And the matric-fail politicians, who rise to their posts through manipulation and hooliganism, are capable of making the best decisions and getting them executed to perfection, entirely on their own. We need change. We need the state's priorities to be fixed. Education and healthcare are important. More important than statues. Process and transparency are important, but so are efficiency, agility and speed. A hospital needs to be able to respond to an epidemic without the state taking months to send it fresh funds. People causing life threatening delays need to start biting the bullet, rather than those who struggle day in and day out to treat and heal.

This is a follow up to my post from last night. What I wrote almost as a rant seems to have struck a chord with some. This is perhaps because so many of us grew up as the children of middle class parents who worked for the government - as bankers, doctors, teachers, army officers, bureaucrats and what not. We are all tremendously proud of our parents. We know they were not corrupt. We know they went to work every morning wanting to serve, wanting to build their country. They tried hard, they rallied against the "system". They won small victories and brought about positive change. Therefore it hurts us when our own are painted as corrupt or inept with a broad brush. Yes, there is corruption. Yes, there is ineptitude and apathy and delay. Yes, we fight together against all of this. But it is hard for us to swallow that somehow, a middle level government official is always the one guilty of gross negligence. We see our parents' generation struggling to make ends meet with their pensions and savings, trying to navigate an inflationary economy that is rapidly putting healthcare and even basic necessities out of their reach. Where is all the dirty money these people were supposed to have stashed away? The Prime Minister of our country has called himself the pradhan sewak of the nation. By extension, everyone that works for the government or its myriad subsidiaries, from the sweepers to the cabinet secretaries, are sewaks of the nation. They are all there to serve. They have dedicated themselves to the nation. That I do not see eye to eye with the BJP is no secret. But my post yesterday, and this post, are completely apolitical. In fact, if there is anything that we are all confident of Mr. Modi delivering, it is a change to the apathetic government system. He has in fact delivered change in Gujarat, in certain departments. That there is a single window for investors who wish to build a business in Gujarat is very much the truth. A businessperson can take all their problems to a single official, who will resolve it all for them. He has achieved that. The hope from the government, therefore, is that the same miracle will be achieved in every field of governance. Ever so often, we hear the term "government machinery" ("सरकारी तंत्र"). A machine, an algorithm, by its very definition, works in a well defined manner. It takes predictable inputs and churns our predictable outputs. If an exception occurs - something that the designers of the machinery/process had not thought of - the behaviour of the machine is unexpected. Usually, the machine will simply ignore this unexpected input. A machine, by its very nature, is apathetic. If you watch war movies, they will make you believe that if a machine doesn't work for you, just give it a loud whack. This statement couldn't be further from reality. If you give a battle tank a loud whack, it will just stare back at you blankly. This is exactly how the citizens of our country feel when they go and bang their heads against our government's machinery. The government is supposed to work for the people. What the people expect of it is empathy. They want it to listen to them, understand their unique problems, and deliver prompt solutions. When you convert government officials to cogs in a system, you dehumanise them, you crush their empathy. You prevent them from paying vendors on time. Even as they stare at rapidly emptying oxygen tanks, they must wait for the process to catch up. If they go out of their way and procure oxygen tanks privately, they will not be reimbursed for those tanks. God forbid one of those tanks causes a problem, say, toxicity of some sort, the individual will be held solely responsible for the ensuing disaster. The government hates initiative. Everyone who joins the government system tends to grow in the ranks over time. Most people join the government as bright eyed young people, wanting to serve and shine. And yet, the ones who bubble to the top are always the ones who serve the process more than the people. Yes, drawing from my life experiences I would say that apathy in the government is self-perpetuating. And who is supposed to bring about a human face to this apathetic government? The politician, of course. The ministers. They waltz in right at the top, and make the government work for the people. I touched upon this in my previous post. If a Railways official were to delay a train for a few minutes in order to deliver medicine to a passenger, s/he would have to deal with a ton of paperwork. If a passenger tweets to the Railways minister, on the other hand, even diapers will be delivered with courtesy. Politicians across the political spectrum benefit from this. Look at Delhi. The AAP government has a janata durbar where they connect with the citizenry - the human face to the government. However, are they investing equal amounts of energy in humanising the entire government, and in making everyone work for the people? If they are, I don't hear of it as much. Every politician across the spectrum is party to the perpetuation of apathetic governance in India. But Mr. Modi is supposed to be different. Even those like me, his detractors, are confident that if someone can bring the bureaucracy in line, it is him. If someone can shake the complacence of Lutyen's Delhi, it is him. Which is why the witch hunt in Gorakhpur is doubly painful to watch.

Against my better judgement, I am wading into a social media spat between two people. Since I (somehow) care about both these people, here is my ramble: It all started with the Google memo. In our social media driven world, nothing is an opinion any more. There are only holy cows. One holy cow is the opposition to sexism. Another holy cow is free speech. On the topic of free speech, Evelyn Beatrice Hall, speaking for Voltaire, said "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it". On the same topic, Sir Karl Raimund Popper propounded the paradox of tolerance. He says that we must be tolerant to everything, except to intolerance. We also recently had Obama cueing Mandela, stating that all hate is acquired. Giving us hope that people can be taught to love. I haven't read the memo. I can't be bothered to, because it will make me upset. When we disagree with something it makes us angry to hear it being said. That is how we all are now. Intolerant on the inside, with a pretence of tolerance on the outside. A wrote a piece opposing the firing of the memo author. Again, I haven't read what A has said. You see, there is a problem with A. He is eloquent and witty. He will show up unexpectedly and say something that completely unsettles you. He questions your well established beliefs. And because he thinks fast and is excellent with words, he causes damage and is gone before you've thought of your comebacks. A also holds unpopular views and isn't afraid of stating them publicly. Without reading his piece, I can say confidently that he would said a lot of things that make me uncomfortable. But, it would also question my beliefs and I would have to do actual research to come up with data countering his postulates. That is like, actual work. Why bother, when I anyway agree with him. Yes, I disagree with the firing of the author. Oh dear. I've waded in too deep, haven't I? Will I first have to write my own defence of that idiot Damore now? The thing is, the world has seen remarkable social change in the last hundred years. Simply amazing amount of progress has been made in the fight against discrimination. We aren't even halfway there yet, but so much change, it makes the cockles of my heart. Nearly none of this change was achieved through belligerence. There was so much more possible with this guy than just firing him top down. For starters, everyone who disagreed with him should have boycotted him. In fact, now that I think of it, that act by itself would have rendered him useless to Google, and a good enough reason to later be let go by his immediate manager. Without collaboration one cannot survive in a tech job. By being fired top down, this man is now a hero to his ilk. Remember how Obama had Osama's body slipped into the sea, so there wouldn't be any monuments. The sexists now have a martyr. Anyway. A writes his defence on Quora. He then posts it on Facebook and B, another friend from IIT, gets into a spat with him. Free speech so far. Everyone's disagreeing, words are flying around. You would assume that hopefully, along with words, thoughts were also being built. That both parties, firmly in their trenches, were also thinking through what the other was stating. Collecting data to bolster their firmly held beliefs. Ha ha. Nope. Instead, B then takes the battle to her own page, and makes a post decrying A for being sexist. This is when things really go downhill because she describes an incident from fifteen years ago, where A allegedly discriminated against women. So now: a) You are dredging up the past. Two ways we can go with this: i) B is speaking the truth. This would mean Mandela is wrong, people who discriminate are born that way and will always stay that way. Sexism is innate and genetic, and no amount of experience or education or social change will make sexists impartial. If so, what the hell are we even fighting for? This would mean that no amount of education will change social opinions about women, and the only way out of the current mess is legislation. Thankfully, we know this to not be true. Even if A were sexist fifteen years ago, that has no bearing on his present self. ii) B is concocting this incident. It is, after all, a "he said she said" situation. And A hasn't even spoken yet. (I presume he is hurt and off social media for a while. Not everyone takes name calling lightly.) The truth, as so often happens in real life, except people don't want to see it that way, is that things are somewhere in the middle. B didn't concoct the incident, but if you asked A, his recollection of what happened would be entirely different from B's. So why even dredge up something that happened fifteen years ago, except, perhaps... b) Because you can't fight a guy like A with words, you are resorting to name calling. Yes, it isn't pleasant being called sexist. (Please pause for a moment and think about what I am doing here. I am publicly calling out a person for wrongly targeting people who speak against her. Which makes me the next possible target. Good job Saurabh, good job. You really had nothing better to do with your Saturday? And the point is, A isn't even such a good friend. The bugger regularly trolls me with his wit. God damn.) Things don't end with a post these days. There is the darn comments section. In the comments, B was quick to equate sexism with nazism. I questioned why. There hasn't been any response in over 24 hours. Godwin's law is no longer funny people, because there are actual nazis out on the streets, in the US and in India. There is a big difference between discrimination and intolerance. Discrimination is bad. Very bad. You want to understand discrimination, watch Kakkoos. Discrimination kills people every day. Sexism also kills people. But nazism and intolerance is a whole lot level different. I wish people would understand this and not bandy about the term nazi so casually. By equating sexism with nazism, you are not making the case that sexism is bad. You are making the case that nazism - the extermination of entire races of people - is somehow less abhorrent than it really is. Maybe ten years ago that was OK. But with half the planet ruled by fascists, belittling fascism is no longer funny or casual or just rhetoric. In another comment, I asked B what the purpose of her post was. How does "naming and shaming" people help anyone? That thread is still running and perhaps I will have a better understanding of the purpose of her post. Which brings me to the purpose of my post. There is none. I see something, I form an opinion, and I am just itching to blurt my opinion out. I have no consideration for the impact it has on two people's lives, or even just their Sundays. A and B are both more successful than me, and I am not even being modest. Here I am on social media taking potshots at two people, because it is possible. The medium allows me to. It gives me some sort of a high. Maybe I will garner some likes, and in my little echo chamber I will smile smugly for a moment, "look, I was right". But, it brings about zero social change. Zilch. My post only makes Facebook marginally richer, because somehow one man's venting is another man's business model. I should really be out on the streets protesting for equal rights for women. More funds for science education. Or, like Kiwoba or Ravishankar do, demand more funds for science education for girls. If social media were truly media, if it were the fourth estate, it would make its readers think. It would foster free speech, not online lynch mobs (cutely called trolls). Instead, you should go over to the comment thread where I question B on the purpose of her post. Benign questions, asked in a well meaning way. The questions themselves are being ridiculed. The comments, where other friends of mine ridicule my questions, or express their annoyance, are gathering likes. These are the echo chambers Google and Facebook have built for you. Where questioning the prevalent holy cows is bad. Modern society discourages me from expressing that which is within me. I can carry it all my life, and it would shape my personality, my trajectory, my whole existence. That is acceptable to people. Expressing it, and then expecting people to provide constructive feedback, is too much to ask. This post itself will get trolled badly. It is but expected. It has often happened with me on FB. I go and ask questions in the comments section. Sometimes, someone will actually explain things patiently to me. And in the end, I will apologise, or state that my opinion on the subject has now changed/evolved. You should see the surprise people express. No one expects you to actually form an opinion through discussion any more. Somehow, knowledge, and the process of gaining knowledge, has converted into the process of believing in dogma. Yes, even liberalism is dogma, unless you are prepared to be questioned about why you are liberal. "Why do you believe all people are born equal and have equal rights" is a very valid question. And it deserves a well thought out answer. And maybe some study and introspection. As Kanhaiya Kumar recently said, if you haven't read Marx but think you understand communism, if you haven't read Mein Kampf and think you understand Nazism, then you are only fooling yourself. If you ever visit Anand Bhavan, you will see entire rooms overflowing with books. These were the books that the people who shaped our nation, our freedom, our constitution - Gandhi and Nehru and Ambedkar - were reading. And there are an uncountable number of letters. Letters full of questions and answers - discussions. How does shutting people down help? How does shaming them help? The educated people - those really educated, with an ability to formulate opinions and then communicate them well - are fighting with each other. Instead they should be building bridges with each other. Meanwhile, the fascists are all in one line. They have agreed to agree with every horrid opinion and action of their chosen leader. I am not asking that we be like the fascists and become dogmatic. But at least we can be civil in our discourses.

From the BJP to the Congress to the AAP, the entire political spectrum panders to godmen and religious and community leaders. Little wonder then, that when the followers of these people riot, the government just stands by and watches. Where are the pellet guns, human shields and sedition charges? Lives are being lost, people's life's savings are being sent up in smoke, as the government mouths platitudes. The high court is screaming for intervention by the army; it is concerned for the safety of judges and common people. Last year Rohtak burned. This year Panchkula. The sad part is that this was wholly expected.

धरना at the LGs house to prevent Delhi from becoming Gorakhpur. Let us focus on public health.

The Emperor has no clothes #Demonetisation

Ambedkar: Hindu religion is like a multistoreyed building without stairs. You are born at a particular floor and must die there. No vertical movement is possible. Gandhi: The caste system (chaturvarna) forms the backbone of Hindu society and religion. Without caste there is no Hinduism. A Hindu must follow the profession of his caste, not choose by merit. A son must do what his father did. Yes, all shudras must only serve the other castes all their lives. Ambedkar: Then why are you, a trader by caste, now a leader? This is roughly how one exchange between the two was portrayed in the play I saw yesterday. India society and polity that we now live in, was created a hundred years ago. Without knowing our history, can we fix the present? If our understanding of history is limited to what was taught in NCERT/CBSE syllabus, then we are only toeing the line laid out by the dispensation in power when we went to school. What is more important? Freedom from foreign occupation? Freedom from social oppression and discrimination? Freedom from majoritarian rule? Or freedom from economic oppression? If you look at India’s political landscape, we still see political parties with these specific agendas. And yet, modern society increasingly views government from the lens of economic development. Some already consider it as purely a service provider, albeit monopolistic and bureaucratic.

The sad thing is that he will continue having a career after this. If only some liberals had considered suspending him from a Miami skyscraper while the hoax Irma invades. Except, Irma isn't a hoax, and American liberals aren't the murderous, America destroying hoards that conservatives make them out to be.

BJP man just "bought out" NDTV.

The combination of this large statue and this quote made me think of BJP and all the statues and bullet trains it is erecting. Let it go, Modi. Let it go.

I'm sorry if I come across as stupid. But I'm missing the point here. So, a company that was mostly dormant, did some large transactions in one particular fiscal, and the went dormant again. The transactions added up to ₹0.8 billion, which is a lot. But this is a trading company. What if it got a big trading deal to import equipment or seeds or whatever and supply it to some local buyer. Isn't that what traders and distributors do? Where is the smoking gun? That this was coincident with the promoters dad coming into power? But that dude's been in power, somewhere or the other, for 15 years now. Isn't a turnover of ₹80 crores small fry for a family like that? The only fishy thing so far is the BJP coming to the company's rescue. But the BJP has been Amit Shah's personal fiefdom for a long time anyways. I think this news is being given far too much importance. It isn't even news. It's literally just a distraction. I quite suspect nothing at all to come out of this molehill.

Hard to agree with the methods of this person. But he does expose the hatred inherent in orthodox Jewish Israelis.

Unlike normal bullets that may pass through a victim and merely incapacitate him/her, expanding bullets are designed to necessarily kill a victim in a single shot. Their use in warfare has been universally banned for over one and a half centuries. Britain developed expanding bullets to "stop the rush of fanatical tribesman". At the Hague Convention, Britain defended their use to put down "colonial unrest" by "savages" who attacked British invaders with bows, arrows, swords and spears. Colonialism, racism, fascism, apartheid. United by conceit.

Consider how badly we are placed as a nation. The Shiv Sena said yesterday that Rahul Gandhi is now an acceptable leader. And the reality of our pathetic existence as a nation came rushing to me. We are alternately choosing between the devil and the deep sea. UPA rule for the last two terms was so despicable that even a divisive leader like Modi was acceptable to voters. Now BJP rule has been so terrible that we are ready to accept Rahul. He is a nobody. Nobody would have accepted him as a leader till recently. And yet, in 2014, the Congress did not project a prime ministerial candidate. It knew the public would reject Rahul. And the public did. 2017 hasn't ended and already, Rahul is acceptable. Has he improved? I doubt it. Has Modi fallen off his high horse? Absolutely. In 2014, the Congress knew fully well that this would happen. Anti-incumbency is the inevitability of our political system. That is because there are no new ideas. Most of the current policies are renamed or rehashed versions of UPA policies. And much as the Congress would like to take credit for GST, it was first mooted by Vajpayee's government. Even back then, it was a globally accepted, well proven policy. I suppose the competition between the Congress and BJP was only as to who could take a good, proven, globally successful idea and do a worse job of implementing it. In that, the BJP has won hands down. The same story plays out in other major democracies. Other than Obama, the US has not had a remarkable president in my lifetime. It's as if the entire democratic world is on a carousel ride, moving round and round not forward. Meanwhile, the spectre of climate change, wealth and income disparity, mass extinction and joblessness looms large. Yet, whatever system of governance exists in places like China, is not a viable alternative to our cherished plutocracies.

Caste equations are lining up against the BJP in Gujarat. They may be against the BJP, but they're still with their caste. And they're all lining up for reservations or similar concessions along caste lines. There is just no joy in this country's politics.

Sharing an interesting comment I just read: Question: Then have the arabs contributed anything to this world besides destruction, murder, rape, torture, fear, and hatred? Answer: Arab civilization had a golden age [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Golden_Age] when math and science (especially astronomy) flourished. That came to an end in the 13th century for a number of reasons, but mostly because of the repercussions from political and military failure. The Mongols destroyed Baghdad, and almost reached Suez. The Spanish Reconquista was pushing the Moors out of Iberia. Then the Turks showed up. When civilizations are threatened with decline, they tend to become less tolerant, turn inward, and look for scapegoats ... which tends to accelerate decline. Finding parallels for this in the modern world is left as an exercise for the reader.

This Owaisi fellow is again talking sense and confusing me. He is openly communal. BJP is also communal. But now Congress is out to prove itself more communal than both 😂

You've got problems? Look at the last picture in this post. Compare the size of the Indian army base to what the Chinese have built in the last one year. There are soldiers at that base, maintaining vigil 24x7 against ridiculous odds. China says they won't do anything. Modi says nothing will happen. But it is the soldier's job to be prepared. The previous skirmish between Indian and Chinese troops involved stone pelting and pushing around. Look at the equipment available to the Chinese now. What goes through each soldier's mind every morning and every night? What levels of stress do they live with? These pictures give बोर्डर पर हमारे जवान a whole new meaning. As citizens, it is all the more important for us to hold our government accountable. For the sake of our soldiers. The government says China has retreated. This does not look like a retreat. We have not built up any presence at Doklam as compared to the Chinese. I'm no warmonger, but we can't have folks guarding our borders with sticks and stones. Death rates at the border have sky rocketed under the current regime. It is a failure of both diplomacy and preparedness. Blaming the last seventy years of misgovernance is pointless when Vajpayee personally oversaw Pokhran 2.

Trump supporters ask Native American lawmaker if he is in the US "legally". Why are Conservative leaders magnets for Stupid?

भई एक स्वाभिमानी चाय वाले ने दूसरों को पकोड़े वाला बनने का परामर्श दिया, तो इसमें हैरानी की कौनसी बात है। चाय और पकोड़े का गेहरा संबंध है। जब देश चायवाले चलायेंगे, तो अर्थव्यवस्था भी पकोड़ों पर ही चलेगी।

So Trump is selling off a lot of government owned large infrastructure, such as airports. Some thoughts I liked from a discussion about this: What brings costs down is competition. A lot of big pieces of infrastructure like airports do not have head-to-head competition. If you hate your local airport and need to fly cross country for business, are you going to take a train? If the major freeways around your home are privately owned, are you going to walk? I know that it is fashionable to pretend that government is bad at everything and private enterprise is better, but it is simply not true in the real world. What proponents of privatization often fail to account for is that large infrastructure projects don't lend themselves well to free market competition.

#Varrier is Malluland's attack on the Sangh on Valentine's eve. Tomorrow every young heart will seek love not lathi. Love how the mallus keep trolling the sangh, even unintentionally.

डरपोक योगी

I couldn't have said it better. I mean, of course I couldn't have said it better. I'm not a world renowned performer like Vir. But, exactly my thoughts. Political parties in India are nothing but election machines. They are busy subverting democratic processes at each stage.

People with weapons kill people. Remove off-the-shelf deadly weapons from the equation, and humans are just soft, fleshy and ineffectual. Not everyone has the build or training of a ninja, to kill with their bare hands. Not everyone has the mental resource to fashion deadly weapons out of commonly available materials. Guns do kill people. If guns don't kill people, America would not have supplied planeloads of them to everyone from the Contras to Osama Bin Laden.

Someone's scathing comment on Aadhar, corruption and Modi. The Hindutva types are perpetually obsessed with what the world thinks of India. This comment is what the world thinks of us. Groping half the world's leaders amounts to naught if you haven't set your own house in order first. Instead of making government work, the sarkar is tilting at all kinds of windmills. "Black money", for example. Isn't black money largely the end product of corruption? Why cure the symptom and ignore the disease? I couldn't even be bothered about what my next door neighbour thinks of me. Why are these right wingers so bothered about the opinion of others?

Most of the corruption in India revolves around tax evasion. This kind of corruption is pervasive. The salaried class, which pretends to be honest to goodness since they are taxpayers, regularly claim tax exemption for periodicals, drivers and car leases that they simply don't have. The much maligned business class has far more ingenious ways of evading tax. The HNIs, of course, are simply moving their wealth (and citizenships) abroad. Corporations also use complex instruments to evade tax. Then there is corruption where government owned assets are misappropriated - Adarsh Housing Society comes to mind. Government owned corporations such as Air India bleed public money all the time - oh wait, that isn't corruption, that's just business as usual. It is corruption when money changes hands in order for government contracts to get awarded, and the contractors to be paid. Public assets such as mines and oil fields are given away to corporations at throw away prices - KG basin and coal scam. Finally, public money kept with government owned banks is given away as loans and then turns into bad debts. You see what is common across all this? The government. Where there is the government, there is corruption. What the government touches, through taxes, contracts or loans, turns corrupt. It truly has the midas touch. The government is always telling us that we are corrupt and unethical. Coming after us with demonetisation and GST to turn us into better citizens. But hey, look into the mirror government. You can't even be a good custodian to public assets given to you for safekeeping - forests, rivers and coal fields. If we didn't have you, selling away our stuff to your cronies and then coming after us with the police when we protested, if we didn't have you and your force, we could protect our commons ourselves. The poor Bishnois. They turned to the government for protecting their cherished black buck from poachers. See how well that turned out.

I am a democrat because I believe that no man or group of men is good enough to be trusted with uncontrolled power over others. And the higher the pretensions of such power, the more dangerous I think it both to the rulers and to the subjects. Hence Theocracy is the worst of all governments. If we must have a tyrant a robber baron is far better than an inquisitor. The baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity at some point be sated, and since he dimly knows he is doing wrong he may possibly repent. But the inquisitor who mistakes his own cruelty and lust of power and fear for the voice of Heaven will torment us infinitely because he torments us with the approval of his own conscience and his better impulses appear to him as temptations. And since Theocracy is the worst, the nearer any government approaches to Theocracy the worse it will be. A metaphysic, held by the rulers with the force of a religion, is a bad sign. It forbids them, like the inquisitor, to admit any grain of truth or good in their opponents, it abrogates the ordinary rules of morality, and it gives a seemingly high, super-personal sanction to all the very ordinary human passions by which, like other men, the rulers will frequently be actuated. In other words, it forbids wholesome doubt... - C S Lewis (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._S._Lewis) This is my commentary on why we shouldn't mix religion with politics, why we shouldn't make babas ministers, and why babas should not be talking politics to their followers.

मंदिर मस्जिद मदरसे बहुत danger हो चले भाई। बच्चों को दूरीच रखें तो ठीक।

So much respect the world is having for India because of our 56" chested PM. My eyes well up with joy I tell you. All the world leaders are hugging and caressing him. GDPs are soaring and RG is boring and... oh wait, आ शुं छे

So, the Haryana government is forcing my children's school to share personal information. The school understands the issues involved and has been pushing back. But the Sanghi minded Haryana sarkar will have none of it. I wonder if this is a reasonable response to this situation. In this age of pollution, which occupation is not "unclean"? What does Unclean Occupation even mean? Would making a mockery of this unlawful data collection exercise be a reasonable exercise in civil disobedience? Or will I be endangering the future of my child? Need your thoughts. So far I have simply not responded to the form. However, that only puts the school in a bad position, for no fault of theirs. Your thoughts. This isn't a rhetorical post. I need genuine advice on how to proceed. When people think politics doesn't impact them, this happens. We all need to be proactive citizens and stall unwarranted profiling of people by the government, under any garb whatsoever.

Caste is no more an issue in India. We do not need reservation for dalits in order to bestow on them the dignity and equality that is their right. This incident also did not happen.

The video is cringy. But so are the times we live in. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I have met this man in the streets of Bangalore. He told me that my car could not be driven around unless it sported a poster of Dr. Rajkumar. He told me I would have to reply to him only in Kannada when he abused me. He tore the seats of my Tamil Nadu registered motorbike. He told me that I could not question why there was an entry charge of ₹200 for vehicles near the shrine of Tipu Sultan, because I was an outsider. This man must be defeated. Bangalore's, Karnataka's inclusiveness and warmth must be restored.

"This flyover was being constructed by Uttar Pradesh State Bridge Corporation. According to an eyewitness, the girder flipped from the crane while being adjusted on the pillars. There was no diversion on the road and no arrangement of services like ambulance and safety at the site." In response, Yogi man has set up a probe committee. I hope there were no good samaritans like Dr. Kafeel around to help. Otherwise they'll be in jail for making the government look bad. Because, you know, building a flyover like asses isn't bad enough.

Modi will interfere in the free market pricing of oil to win elections in 2018 ... ... because Jawaharlal Nehru's niece Nayantara Sehgal kissed him in 1955.

$1 = ₹68 1 litre petrol = ₹87 सिर्फ़ अच्छे ही नहीं, सबसे best दिन!

How does a 39 year old father of four risk his life over a protest? How terrible must things be for them? I'm a 38 year old father of two and I'm basically a coward now. I literally avoid flights and being on the road unless necessary, because "what happens to my kids if I die". And yet this man just walks up to the border put up by the occupying Israeli force and...

This is confusing. Didn't Amit Shah buy the Supreme Court? That is what we heard and said when the CJ dismissed the Loya petition. Loya bench: The Three Judge bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice D. Y. Chandrachud and Justice A. M. Khanwilkar. Karnataka bench: Justices A.K. Sikri, S.A. Bobde and Ashok Bhushan. The four dissenting Justices: Kurian Joseph, Jasti Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi and Madan Lokur. Above four dudes were excluded from the constitution bench hearing Aadhar. That bench is now CJI Dipak Misra and Justices A.K. Sikri, A.M. Khanwilkar, D.Y. Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan. So if were to paint the judges in polarised colour (which is how social media works), then Sikri, Bobde and Bhushan are somewhere in the middle - neither for or against the BJP. How discomfiting. So has this institution survived the onslaught of Taimur Shah or not? Very confusing. Anyway, nothing much to be celebrated about the judiciary till the collegium system, an open invitation to nepotism, is in place. Let's replace that with the pre 1981 system where politicians chose judges. Those same judges can then decide which lot of politicians can form the government. We are so screwed 😭

You can call a persevering person a fool a million times. That does not make them a fool. It only makes you a fool. If the person gives up on their mission because you ridiculed them, then you are a fool to have discouraged them. If the person continues on their chosen path despite your criticism, then too you look like a fool. I have never given in to the temptation to call Rahul Gandhi a fool. I've seen numerous edited videos of him, where he comes across as stupid. I never share them, even though I am no fan of the man. It is not my calling to ridicule others. In his recent videos, he comes across as smarter than ever. Talking sharp. Hurting his opponents where they hurt most. Telling Indians what they need to hear the most. People take time to mature into their roles, even if the role is offered to them on a silver platter. You and I may complain all we want about inheritances, but we too are part of the system. An Ambani inherits more from their parents than you and me, but we all still inherit wealth, social standing, professional networks, knowledge, and in some cases, positions, from them. Not all of us are undeserving of what we inherit. Especially if we invest ourselves in it and try to make the best of it. Nobody seems to complain about Mukesh Ambani's inheritance. Perhaps in a few years we won't complain about this guy's inheritance either. Or at least, he will cut those who make noise about his inheritance, to size. समय बड़ा बलवान है।

2013. Crude over $110. Petrol price in Mumbai never exceeded ₹82. 2018. Crude yet to cross $80. Mumbai petrol price already over ₹84. नहीं नहीं मोदीzee ने अच्छा किया! वो जो हमारी ले रहे हैं तो कुछ सोच कर ही ले रहे होंगे। आखिर border पर हमारे जवान... उनके सम्मान के लिए, कर्नाटका में MLA खरीदने हैं, अपनी सरकार बनानी है। उसका पैसा जनता ही तो देगी। हम भी जनता के ही तो सेवक हैं। जनता ना चाहे तो हम तो अपना Gucci का झोला ले कर...

My time with my children is important. I try not to let work or personal struggles impede on that time. This evening my children, as usual, wanted my time, to tell me things, to show me things. Because of what happened in Tuticorin, I could not give them attention. I was distracted. Work and personal life is different. This, as I realised, is different. After some deliberation, I shared what happened with them. I reasoned that if these were black children growing up in in the America of the 60s. Or South African children of the 80s. Or dalit children in contemporary India. Then they would have been exposed to the politics of discrimination. Politics of violent police strength and torture. Because they could easily be at the receiving end, their awareness would be important. They would already have borne witness to such abuse to their community. Merely because they are not discriminated against themselves does not mean they should not be aware of, and empathetic to, the struggles of others. Perhaps I am wrong. Do tell me if you believe there are good reasons for (almost) 9 and 11 year old children to not know what is happening to others around the world. So we discussed. Kavin read the NDTV article and this conversation happened: Kavin: कुछ भी! Me: What? Kavin (quoting the article): Senior Tamil Nadu minister Jayakumar said that the police didn't have an option but to open fire since the protests had turned "extremely violent". Me: So? Kavin: They were the ones being extremely violent and they are calling the protestors extremely violent. Me: What, in your opinion, would be extreme violence by the protestors. Kavin: Them killing each other. I suppose that makes sense. If the protestors are not killing anyone, why are they being killed? Who fires into a crowd of protestors? An 8 year old gets it, TN police. Why do you not get this? Yeah, maybe children this age should be exposed to such news. Not like I stop them anyway when they pick up the newspaper and read. They have a very simple, logical approach to the situation.

I cannot read the Tamil caption but the picture speaks a thousand words. The imbalance of power that will come after you if you raise your voice against crony capitalism in this country. By the way, what has maunModi said about this?

BJP and Congress allowed to received foreign funding, in retrospect. Political parties allowed to receive undisclosed funds. And you thought there'd be no repercussions?

Is Israel an American stooge, or is America Israel's stooge? Or are they both run by the "Jewish lobby"? Apparently, criticising Israel will now be a worse crime in America than denying the holocaust. Hurray for free speech. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ds7c3gOf2_I

Be ruled by fascists, they said. It'll all be good, they said. The economy will do wonderfully, they said. Now we are being hunted in the streets by packs of hounds for demanding our right to live.

The popularity of this video proves, in my opinion, two things: 1. The public is fed up with communalism and Hindutva. They want to see someone, anyone stand up to these mobs. 2. Faith in the police is so low, that to see a policeman doing his job well is a sweet relief. Which is not to say that a majority of the police force isn't going about doing its job all the time. But this stands in deep contrast to the police atrocity videos coming out of Thoothukudi and many other places. Things are so bad that if someone posted a video of a traffic policeman efficiently managing traffic and not giving in to SUVs and shared autos with rude drivers, Gurgaon residents would make a beeline to his traffic post to felicitate him.

"Yes, how many deaths will it take till he knows That too many people have died?" Apparently, 13. That's the going rate, ladies and gents. Now you know. Instead of dying slowly every day from pollution and negligence, you just need 13 volunteers willing to be shot in the head. Then, and only then, can you have your unfriendly neighbourhood polluter removed. Why bother with years of suffering, painstaking data collection, public hearings, court cases, petitions, protests, mass mobilisation and the rest. The administration doesn't want any of that. It wants media attention. And the media wants blood. I'm so sad. This is a pyrrhic victory.

BJP's politics of hate has been countered with political and communal alignment. Reason to celebrate? What worries me is that in 2018 we still have Jat booths. Which means we still live in ghettos. Maybe ghetto is a strong word. But the jats still live only with the jats. We don't even mingle in the voting booths. Damn.

Is this man speaking the truth? Did BJP say in its manifesto that it wants full statehood for Delhi? If it did then what is stopping it? It now has full majority in both LS and RS to pass such a law. It doesn't need to be in power in Delhi to give Delhi full statehood. It only needs to be in power at the center. I should hunt down old BJP manifestos to see if statehood is a recent demand by the BJP, since the current Modi Shah cartel started running it.

Can't fathom this. The BJP is the self appointed saviour of Hinduism. Ganga is central to the Hindu religion. Protecting the river should be a key focus area for the Uttarakhand government. And yet it falls upon the HC to protect the Ganga. Every time you question a BJP government, it asks what the previous governments have done. If the BJP is incapable of making simple policies 1.5 years into being in control of the legislature and executive, why does it even bother calling itself a party that delivers? Such policies should in fact be ready and available with the party for implementation immediately after elections. In fact, even as an opposition party, it should have formulated a policy and pushed for its adoption through the legislative process. Instead of falling over itself to protect symbols of Hinduism, the BJP is falling behind. Unfathomable indeed. Good on the HC, of course. Step on the illicit revenue sources of the politicians and they'll spring into action.

Noam is always tedious to watch, the way he speaks. But this one is short and very topical, very relevant to the present times. In fact I draw a parallel between how Trump and Modi are both distractions in their respective countries. And how the BJP is wrecking institutions just like the Republicans are in the US. And most importantly, how the ultra rich are having a great time with the stock markets in both countries, while ordinary people suffer. Hatred is something that is being used to the hilt in both places to distract people and make them fight each other while profits are booked at the expense of the planet.

The lovely dovey cutie pie Israelis being victimised by Palestinian terrorists. If you doubt the events shown in the video, read https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khan_al-Ahmar, then read through the references at the bottom. The supreme court of Israel has asked for the demolition of a school, and relocating all of the residents of this village, a village inhabited for thousands of years, to a garbage dump. But of course, "both sides have a problem", if you believe the Israelis and radical Zionist Jews worldwide.

Bullshit. Will such people build a secular front? Secularism doesn't mean equal pandering of all religions. It means keeping religion and other imaginary friends out of the government. The government has no business running/maintaining religious institutions, or sending people to them.

Today is a very important day for Indian democracy. For freedom and civil liberties. The Supreme Court consented yesterday to the live streaming of important cases. I wish arguments in this case were being live streamed and I could watch them now. This case is all the more important if you find gay people "weird". If thinking about gay sex makes you "gross out". If you would not want "all this" to happen near you. You and I - we the people, and our government, have no business telling people how to lead their lives. What we consider against the order of nature is our personal problem. What our religion tells us is between ourselves and our imaginary friends. Our beliefs cannot become a tool for the police to harass ordinary people going about their lives. If people want to dress as the opposite gender, cohabit with the same gender, change their gender, or do anything they damn well please with their gender and their bodies, then that is them. And you are you. You are not them. And how you feel about them is not their problem. And definitely not the state or the police's problem. Recent judgements from the SC give me a lot of hope for today. The SC will teach us all the meaning of civil liberty and acceptance. Most urban Indians don't have even a rudimentary understanding of homosexuality. And yet the acceptance of homosexuality will be foisted upon them. Good. Sometimes society, with all its clinging on to traditions and religions, needs a little shoving into the deep end of the pool.

I don't understand what the writer is getting at. How does studying at IIT or an Ivy League university, or working for McKinsey, make you liberal? I've studied at IIT. We were not taught much liberal arts. And what little we were taught, most people didn't care about. The whole place was a hotbed for conservatives of all kinds, from undergrads to PhDs and from HoDs to the watchmen. Ask any woman who attended IIT, about the number of people who came and gave her their unsolicited opinion on how she should conduct herself. I could tag any number of former McKinsey employees here, who are apologists for either Trump or Modi. Harvard grads too, but they're usually too busy being apologists for the 1% and for trickle down economics. That said, I know many ivy leaguers and ex McKinsey folk, who are liberal and truly balanced in the way they conduct themselves. In short, our universities and workplaces, no matter how hallowed their names, are not really in the business of making us better people. They're making us successful people. Which isn't the same thing. If you send a liberal in, you get a liberal out. You send garbage like Jayant in, you get garbage out.

Poor Dr. BR has to contend with such idiots in the selection committee. "Your institute is good Saar. Only international perception is poor Saar." Modi sarkar is all about perceptions. And like classic right wingers, international perception to them is far more important than actual goddamn reality. We teach our kids, "What others think of you isn't important. Who you are is important. Stay true to yourself. Do your best. Be your own judge. In fact, don't even judge yourself." Someone teach that to these clowns.

आज के सियासी तमाशे के बारे में पढ़ कर चचा ग़ालिब का इक शेर याद आया - बाज़ीचा-ए-अतफ़ाल है दुनिया मिरे आगे होता है शब-ओ-रोज़ तमाशा मिरे आगे अब समझना यह है कि बच्चे वोह हैं जो यह तमाशा कर रहे थे। या बच्चा उन्होंने हमें समझ रखा है, जो देश की एहम समस्याओं को छोड़ कर उनके इस तमाशे पर बहस करते रेह जाएँगे। इन मसख़रों के हवाले है यह देश। इस १३० करोड़ कौम के यह ५०० रखवाले हैं।

Rahul Gandhi is a dynast. Modi's friend (boss?) Mukesh Ambani becoming Asia's richest man isn't dynasty? Anil Ambani getting the Rafael deal isn't dynasty? Shouting dynasty and Pappu all the time isn't going to stop him from hitting the BJP where it hurts the most.

This is very welcome news. Free speech is no excuse for spreading rumours. Whether the rumour leads to someone being lynched or a multinational company (that no one really has any love for?) being slandered, is immaterial. We need to stop this culture of rumour mongering. There is always the other - the outsider, the musalman, the untouchable or the multinational - who is the soft target of such abuse. If only the courts would extend these orders to TV news channels. Yesterday, TV news, a taboo in our household, was turned on, to determine the exact timing of the upcoming lunar eclipse. One channel had a scientist, a maulana, and two astrologers debating the eclipse. Oh hell, let's turn to another one. The next one had five ladies speaking, and one was saying something about the tidal waves. Excellent, I thought, till it quickly turned out that all five were astrologers. Really? We need to reign in this abuse of free speech to spread utter nonsense. Colgate toothpaste does not contain bones. Kurkure, although the definite future cause of death of at least one of my friends due to overconsumption, is not made of plastic. Coke dissolves teeth but so does a bunch of other food. Rice imported from China is not made of plastic. And if you think pregnant women should stay underground during a lunar eclipse, you are a lunatic. Anyone saying so should be tracked down and made answerable for spewing nonsense.

Been avoiding all Israeli goods for a long time now. And refusing to do business with Israeli companies. But yes, one needs to only boycott goods coming from the illegal settlements. How does one go about differentiating?

"People are frustrated that they're not getting jobs. There is angst which is spreading..." Well hell yeah, chief minister. Your party repeatedly promised the youth jobs and came to power at the center and state riding on that promise. Even the whole premise of development is that it creates jobs - trickle down economics. So hell yeah, the people are angry. And your party is misdirecting the angry youth into becoming cow vigilantes, instead of training them for the job market - whatever few jobs your crony capitalist friends are creating after lining their own pockets. Please do not blame overpopulation and do your damn job. Enforce law and order and do whatever you promised for the millions of unemployed youth in your state.

Indians who support both DACA and NRC, you do realise that keeping too many logical contradictions inside your head will eventually make it explode.

I've watched with consternation as an online mob has lynched R S Sharma and gone after him and his family. While I'm a trenchant critic of Aadhar, I have not joined in on this madness. My opposition to Aadhar has always been political, not technological. I am against the mass collection of biometric information by anybody. I'm against the enforced use of this information when dispensing public services. I do not trust the UIDAI with my data because it is a government body, and I do not trust the government. My opposition has been there since the inception of Aadhar, so this isn't a Congress vs BJP thing. This is a government versus the people thing. Any party in power wants access to such information. The TRAI has recently announced the world's strictest rules in favour of net neutrality. The person behind these rules - R S Sharma. On the basis of this, I jumped to the conclusion that he is a smart man. He may be a bureaucrat but he knows his chops. Most importantly, he is not a political appointee. As much as the IAS system has its flaws, it has always given us some serious talent, that has helped this country move forward. Many of them go on for further study after joining the services, and use that education in the service of the nation. What has happened to him could happen to anyone. The railways, for instance, publishes the personal mobile numbers of all its officials, along with email addresses, landline numbers, residential and official addresses, and sometimes even details of assets, online. Its ridiculous. I don't know how senior people carry on with their work while fielding calls and WhatsApp messages from irate passengers. So if you're a public servant, your attack surface is anyway quite high. A mob doesn't need his Aadhar number to gather information about him. That, and the general lack of privacy in India. Social engineering in this country is far too easy. Kudos to him for standing up to the world. And for letting us know that unlike the US SSN, the public disclosure of the Indian Aadhar number does no harm. I wish more people in the government sector took risks and led by example like him.

हिंदी में: http://thewirehindi.com/53257/punya-prasun-bajpai-abp-news-masterstroke-modi-govt-media/ Translated to English: Exclusive: Punya Prasun Bajpai Reveals the Story Behind His Exit From ABP News: https://thewire.in/media/punya-prasun-bajpai-abp-news-narendra-modi

What wonderful people BJP is sending to our legislative assemblies. These people will really achieve the development of our nation 😀

Narendra Modi is asking some very pertinent questions. The Prime Minister must answer.

कुछ भी Next Congress wasn't responsible for Blue Star or Emergency.

[Edit: Please see Sushant 's comments below. This post is bogus because a number of my claims are flat out wrong. Everyone that I claimed was arrested under Congress governments, was actually arrested under BJP governments.] When it comes to the persecution of rights activists, environmentalists and those who raise a voice against oppression, the Indian National Congress has written the playbook. The Bhartiya Janata Party is very humbly only following that playbook, with no innovations whatsoever. What it has done with UPA schemes, it is now doing with draconian UPA techniques - copy exactly. No one in the political establishment will raise their voice against what is happening. Never have, never will. Across the political spectrum, politicians know that when nothing else works, you just need to label someone. And once the label is attached, draconian laws can be applied and the person consigned to anda cells and forgotten. The horror of the anda cell will keep the others in check. The labels change over time. Terrorist, gangster, Pakistani, naxalite, maoist. As a society, we have accepted that once the criminal system has labeled someone one of these, the constitution can be thrown to the wind. We have celebrated encounter deaths. We have rejoiced when the process of law was subverted to consign someone to कारागार without trial. Justice was served in our eyes, the judicial system be damned. It is hopeless, and I am as much at fault as anyone else. The UPA did this with Prof. Saibaba, Soni Sori and Dr. Binayak Sen, among many others. I was content with simply resharing posts on Facebook. The NDA is now doing this at a grander scale, but will I get out on the streets and protest? You only really speak up when they come for you; by then it is too late.

The challenge with Make in India is that it only promotes manufacturing in India. It does not promote intellectual property - designs, software, branding, etc. - to be Indian. Therefore, a foreign company manufacturing in India accrues greater benefits than an Indian company designing products in and for India. It isn't a subtle difference, yet most people do not wish to appreciate this difference. Indian companies have never found manufacturing sexy (traditionally manufacturing has been hard to do and everyone wants to do as less of it as possible). They find localisation, cost optimisation and marketing more interesting. Manufacturing is universally about lower wages and high investments in capital. It isn't a lot about innovation. With labour prices rising in China and Southeast Asia, and India having a huge unemployed demographic dividend, we are bound to ace the manufacturing game very soon. We have done it in automotive already, so electronics isn't too far away. More manufacturing means more jobs for the labour class. Less innovation in India, and product development/ ownership/ branding moving out of India, leads to lesser white collar jobs in India. Having companies like Flipkart that were incorporated in Singapore and significantly powered by foreign funding, is a better situation than having entirely foreign firms bring in readymade designs for assembly in India. It's a typical class divide situation. My opinion is coloured by the fact that I am a white collared worker who has been employed in IP generation for my entire career. Maruti Suzuki continues to be a leader in its market segment because its entire innovation and product development happens on shore in India. It knows the pulse of the market and builds for the market, because everyone involved in the design process is middle class Indian - the target market. Globally, Suzuki is a leader in motorcycles, and isn't even know for its cars. Yet in India, the Suzuki motorcycle brand has continually floundered. The same hasn't been true for white goods and electronics. Doesn't mean it cannot happen. We are told to believe that everyone in the world needs the same white goods and electronics, so why should anyone innovate differently for India? But then, they say the same thing for cars - that cars are a global product. Maruti Suzuki proves them wrong. Fridges in India are designed with a unique situation in mind - a large part of the target segment do not consume eggs and meat, or at least do not store them at home. Washing machines sold in India are designed to start where they left off after a power failure. I was given an opportunity in 2001 to speak at The School, KFI, about my work with the indigenisation of the Linux user interface. I talked about how the GUI was designed with a specific culture in mind. Desktop. Recycle Bin. My Computer. These idioms and widgets represented real life objects that most children attending government schools in India had never seen. There was no recycling. Your computer was never your own, it was always shared. And the desktop, if there was a table at home, was shared with the whole family. Almost all Indians learnt about these objects through computers, rendering all the metaphors that the GUI was designed on meaningless. Computers also needed to be shut down properly. Since Indians do not have control on their power supply, they can also usually not shut down their computers. Even today, most Indian desktops turn off when the power department turns them off for everyone. The adoption of journaling file systems by all operating systems means that power offs without shutdowns aren't as disastrous as they used to be - but journaling was never designed with the Indian/African experience in mind. I strongly believe that a tremendous amount of localisation is possible with the smartphone market in India. We are not even scratching the surface by building app driven services like Swiggy. The entire hardware and software product has to be redesigned for India. And when it is ready, the product will muscle everything else out of the way. Cost is only a consideration in the buying process if you want it to be. The Chinese brands, and brands like Micromax selling rebranded Chinese products, want the market to be pricing driven. The only difference between their Android phones and higher end Google Pixel phones, is quality. There is hardly any feature difference. I will cite the cliched example of the Bullet. Everyone in India knows that if you want a durable motorbike, you buy a Royal Enfield. If you want a vehicle that survives rural Indian roads, you buy a Mahindra not a Maruti Suzuki. If you build a quality product that addresses people's unique needs, then they will cough up the money for it. Urban India is stuck in a four year upgrade cycle of Marutis and Hyundais, and a two year upgrade cycle of OnePlus' and Xiaomis. A savvy product designer can break that upgrade cycle for rural India, or for senior India, and charge a fat premium for it.

Scathing. But his hubris will prevent Modi from feeling the burn.

हमे पहले से कहीं ज़्यादा आज एक सशक्त विपक्ष की ज़रुरत है। आज अगर भाजपा विपक्ष में होती तो यह दिन नहीं देखना पड़ता। ना पेट्रोल 85 रूपये होता न डीजल 75 रूपये के आसपास होता न डॉलर 71 रूपये पार करता। सत्ता पक्ष को छट्टी का दूध याद दिला देती भाजपा। आज इतनी सारे विपक्षी दल मौन हैं और आम नागरिक को राहत दिलाने में असमर्थ हैं। धिक्कार है उनपर। अगले चुनाव में सोच समझकर वोट डालें कि किस दल को पक्ष और किसको विपक्ष में होना चाहिए। देशहित में जारी। ~Rahul Noronha

Arun Shourie ने कहा था, BJP = Congress + cow अब तो वह फ़र्क/दिखावा भी ना रहा अब चुन लो दोनों के बीच, यह आया 2019🤦🏽‍♂️

The dollar is now worth ₹72.59. This has gone beyond trolling Modi for his speeches about fuel hikes and rupee falls in the run up to 2014. First, there is a chilling effect on trade. Electronics vendors are only giving spot rates. No one wants to give quotes valid for two or more months - which are the kind of quotes that corporates and the government needs. If the rupee volatility (err, slide) continues, people will start giving quotes that are only valid till a certain price of the Rupee. While that doesn't make us Venezuela or Zimbabwe, it is still terrible when a nation our size starts mentioning the US dollar in domestic quotes. It leaves us only a step away from quotes being made in the US dollar, in which case, yes, we have a failed currency at our hands. Second, this is politically unfathomable. Why won't the BJP step up and fix this? This is a survival issue for the people now - the price of dollar and fuel. The people will make it a survival issue for the party, irrespective of what the party's core supporters say. If the BJP feels that it can declare a fuel tax (price) cut right before state/central elections and fool the people, then it is high time they went ahead and legalised pot in India. Why should the good stuff be only accessible to karyakartas in the swanky new BJP office? The USD is probably outside the control of the government. Which is terrible, but here we are. Last time something like this happened, we had P V Narasimha Rao at the helm. I don't think any living politician has the courage he had, but we can't even dig him up; no one even remembers where we buried the poor chap.

Never forget the murder of Allende and the installation of mass murderer Pinochet in Chile by the USA on 9-11.

I assure you that in spite of these revolutionary measures the AAP will only end up as a footnote in the upcoming elections. Because In India You do not cast your vote You vote your caste And AAP refuses to indulge in casteist politics.

Show this to Satyapal Singh. After seeing this he will be convinced that we evolved from monkeys.

I have been meaning to write this eulogy to Periyar. I was fortunate enough to be introduced to him thanks to the five years I spent in Chennai. But then I saw this video and realised that Periyar's life was in vain. South Indians are just as stupid as North Indians. A thousand Periyars cannot cure our idiocy.

French aircraft are being bought to drop bombs on our enemies. Before delivery could even begin, the French have bombed Race Course Road.

What kind of deal is this Rafale deal? The RFP was floated in 2007. The deal was struck in 2012. The government changed in 2014. A new deal was struck in 2015. And all hell broke loose in 2018. All these years, and absolutely nothing to show for it other than politicians jabbering. It took five years for the Indian government to finalise a deal. Typical. But what the hell kind of company is this Dassault? They had a deal in 2012. And they just sat and watched for two years till the government changed? Why didn't they begin execution? Why didn't they put their foot in the door, "look we have started now, you can't change things just because your government has changed". I've read through a few news articles to try and understand the delivery schedule of this deal. No mention. Everyone only speaks of the corruption angle. Strangest of all, it's been three years since the new deal was struck in 2015. In 2018, all these skeletons are falling out of cupboards and it is quite clear that something or the other is definitely amiss. And yet, curiously, for the last three years, Dassault, GoI and Reliance have all been sitting on their haunches. The French are notorious for being a tad too socialist. When they step out of office their phones turn off. I hear they barely ever work on Fridays. But six years and no movement? Are they even capitalist any more? Is Dassault even a private company? I'm beginning to feel that this deal itself is a big sham. A pipe dream, like the bullet train. We were never meant to receive any of these aircraft. Not under UPA, not under NDA. It's as if this is a meaningless drama to cover for something else.

I am going to be stating something rather obvious today. There is intense scrutiny of the lies being told by the central government. There is also intense scrutiny of murders - political or communal - taking place across the country. In response, BJP supporters have questioned whether Modi's government is the first government to have ever lied. They also claim that lynchings have not increased - the scrutiny of lynchings have increased. They are right. It is true. The world is rapidly changing and evolving, and connected cameras have become ubiquitous. You no longer need CCTVs installed or the media present in order to capture a crime in progress. If a crime is taking place in public, it will be recorded. It will be geo and time stamped. It will be shared. The resolution, the audio and video quality, will only improve with time. Moore's law has kicked into videography. If a lie is told in public, it will be scrutinised. We no longer need to wait for the newspapers to report on speeches. We no longer need to wait for the weekly or monthly magazines to scrutinise claims made by our leaders. All this takes place in real time, thanks to the Internet. What is not related to technology, and is a very heartening development, is that the public, and especially the youth, have become more politically involved. They have become - I could not find an equally meaningful English word - they have become jagruk. There is no turning back on these developments. People will capture more. Share more. Scrutinise more. Question more. This makes times tougher and tougher for politicians. The impunity they have enjoyed is getting washed away rather rapidly. UPA2 was harder for MMS than UPA1. NDA2 has been a lot harder for the BJP than UPA2 was for the Congress. The BJP made a lot of noise during UPA2. Now, the entire country is making noise against the BJP. Why? Because of the collective sense of dissatisfaction that the public has with BJP's model of governance. But also because of the three factors I stated above. What does this mean for the common public? It means that times only get better for us. We've turned the surveillance state on its head. The state is under constant surveillance and scrutiny by the public. Which is really what democracy needs in order to thrive. Good times for the people; tough times for politicos.

Why is Mediapart tearing Modi apart? Is it part of the tukde tukde gang?

Reminds me of all the social media vigilantism in India against poor women with a good looking or healthy child. Or, more accurately, a dalit looking woman with a savarna looking child. I wish I could link to such a post. But I actively weed out people who share such racist crap with me.

I might not be in the reckoning for the top 1,000 detractors of the BJP. Nevertheless, I'd jump at an opportunity to lampoon the BJP as much as the next guy. Even so, this "97 lawyers for Akbar" जुमला appears nonsensical to me. To the best of my knowledge, and Sushant please do weigh in on this, the vakalatnama lists all those who can possibly represent the client. Does not mean that they will actually physically be there in court on each hearing. Or any hearing. Law firms aren't a recognised thing, IMHO, so each lawyer needs to be listed along with their registration number. My reaction on seeing the vakalatnama in question was that the law firm doesn't care enough for its client, actually. "अकबर साहब, इन सत्तानवे लोगों में से कोई ना कोई तो चला ही जाएगा आपकी तारीख़ पड़ने पर।" The current council of ministers keep speaking for each other's ministries, creating utter confusion and taking the country backwards. I quite expect all these cooks to do the same thing to Akbar's broth - keep passing the buck from one to the other till the old man's case is screwed and he is left frothing at the mouth.

OMG Indian PM is promoting homegrown tech over global companies. OMG we global companies must lodge a protest with Donald "America First" Trump. What a bunch of sore losers. The global payments cartel is the worst kind of rent seeking ever. It's a tax everyone pays on every transaction and gets no protection from the payment companies in return. Firstpost: Mastercard lodged protest in US in June over Narendra Modi's promotion of homegrown card network RuPay. https://www.firstpost.com/business/mastercard-lodged-protest-in-us-in-june-over-narendra-modis-promotion-of-homegrown-card-network-rupay-5490781.html

मैं इनसे सहमत हूँ। बहुमत का सदुपयोग होना चाहिए। अधूरा काम कर के ना जाएँ। लोकमत द्वारा जनता ने जो ज़िम्मेदारी दी है उसे पूरा करें इसी शासन काल में।

No wonder the powers that be are busily keeping the nation engaged in discussions about names and ancestry. http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/tamil-nadu/2018/nov/15/tamil-nadu-nine-year-old-spends-half-a-decade-as-bonded-labourer-for-a-rs-2000-loan-1898662.html As a school student I learnt a set of pressing issues that our country and the world face. Bonded labour, child labour, lack of education, health and sanitation, lack of economic opportunity, the persecution of tribals and lower castes. All of what was in my civics book is still relevant... and that is tragic. All we seem to have talked about in the last two decades is economic growth, liberalisation, and mandir-masjid. That same civics book carried on its inside cover page, Gandhi's talisman (https://www.mkgandhi.org/gquots1.htm). How is all this talk of money making the lives of these children forced into slavery, better?

When urjit allowed BJP to demonetise - Urjit are the suck. When Urjit leaves - BJP are the suck. Can we decide once and for all if we like Urjit as RBI Gov or not?

We must thank and respect people like her, who battle through our legal system and get justice for genocide victims. If not for them, we would have more such "anti Sikh" riots, Godhras and Kandhamals. Such people not only get justice for the victims - they build a just society for all of us. A sad day indeed when another riot tainted man has become CM. The HC judgement has some excellent observations. Worth a read.

लगता है अभी अभी कहीं सरकार बदली है। इसीलिए कुछ दिन अपने हुक्मरानों की नहीं, जनता की सेवा कर रहे हैं सियासतदार। कुछ किसानों का कर्ज़ भी माफ़ किया गया। MNS ने अपने मालिकों की बुराई भी कर दी। लगता है अभी अभी कहीं चुनाव आने वाले हैं 😀

The frustration of living in Delhi/NCR and being ruled by all these callous idiots. Brought out so aptly by an आम आदमी।

खेतों में पराली जल कर ख़तम हो गई, मग़र अरविंद केजरीवाल के कलेजे में अब भी पराली जल रही है। यह जो आपके सीने में जलन है ना CM साहब, यह प्रदूषण का नतीजा है। यह तो हैं दिल्ली के CM। कोई पूछता तो है, यह जवाब तो देते हैं, उल्टा सीधा ही सही। हरयाणा और नोएडा के मुख्य मंत्रियों को तो ना प्रदूषण का होश है ना चिंता।

I'm appalled by how attacks on the media never make it to the front page of newspapers. One of your own is attacked in the line of duty, sometimes even killed, and you can't devote paper and ink to that? जो मीडिया वाले ख़ुद के ना हुए, वोह दूसरों के क्या होंगे? Quoting a news18 article: "As the news of the women entering the temple spread on Wednesday, protests erupted with right-wing activists blocking highways and forcing closure of shops and markets. Media personnel, reporting from outside the state secretariat, were allegedly attacked by BJP and Yuva Morcha activists. Among the journalists attacked were Asianet reporter Prakula, Deccan Chronicle photojournalist Peethambaran Payyeri, Mathrubhumi video-journalist Biju. Camera and equipment of channels like Mathrubhumi and Media One were also damaged."

Nehru was wrong. Institutes, large factories and dams are not the temples of modern India. The temples of modern India are the temples of ancient India. Nothing has changed after independence. Generations have passed but we haven't risen above temples, religion, caste.

Meanwhile, in spite of all the crazy recent events in India and the US, the AAP has been able to maintain a supply of high grade hashish to its supporters there and here. Therefore, we see posts like this.

Nonsense reporting. How can IAF pay HAL ₹1,40,00,00,00,000 in cash? Now RBI has stopped printing ₹2000 notes also. Do you know now many ₹500 notes IAF will need to hand over to HAL? Who will count? Is that what the defence forces are for? Modizee is building cashless economy and these bureaucratic PSUs want cash. IAF will not pay till HAL MD agrees to accept payment using RuPay debit card. Let them buy swipe machine.

ग़रीबों की सुनो, वो तुम्हारी सुनेगा ₹8 लाख की गरीबी रेखा के नीचे कर ख़तम करो

Wow! 50K+ people are apprehended every month at the US Mexico border. Clearly a wall will not stop them. Even more clearly, this is a problem. I'm not saying that the individuals coming in are a problem. They may not be terrorists and the economy may need them. But they're undocumented. Why even bother with the USCIS if thousands of people a day are going to scrape in through the border. If the US needs them or is legally obliged to have them (Geneva Convention) then the US government needs to clean up its immigration system. If they're not needed then the government has every right to stop them. Being divided about this issue isn't going to help. No real issue is resolved by polarisation.

Wondering why there is such apathy towards the miners trapped in Meghalaya? Look at their names: Omor Ali Mezamur Islam Mominul Islam Amir Hussain Munirul Islam Saiar Islam Shirapat Ali Mozid Sk Raziul Islam Md. Samsul Haque Chal Dkhar Iong Dkhar Nilam Dkharo Abdul Kalam SK Abdul Assh Bahadur Limbu

The hype about N Ram's editorial in The Hindu is almost surreal. When, in fact, if anything, the report seems to absolve Modi of much of the blame around cost escalation. The quantity of flyaway aircraft was increased from 18 to 36. Ok, maybe the IAF needs them urgently. Personally I'm sure it does. The quantity of built in India aircraft has gone from 108 to zero. But does this preclude India from buying them in future? We bought MIGs from Russia over decades. This engagement with Rafale is going to be long term. If the financial health of Rafale is a concern then the entire blame for that goes to the UPA - the blokes that originally selected this vendor without getting into the long term financial viability of the vendor. The NRE has gone down from €1.4 billion to 1.3, but is now amortised over 36 aircraft not 126. Therefore, per unit price has gone up by 41%. So? If it truly is non recurring, it is paid and done. It won't be applied over future purchases. Future crafts will come for €91 million a pop, no NRE applied thank you very much. The article fails to deliberate on this crucial point. So, the Eurofighter guys gave a revised offer. If you're gonna sit around in the market for a decade, literally, then offers will come and offers will go. Are we running an airforce or a commodities trading outfit? We can't keep holding out and changing vendors for the best offer perpetually. If the data in the report is all there is to go by, then this case is largely closed. I find it painful that N Ram could use the data he presented to arrive at the conclusions he presented. There is no correlation. I'm glad this guy doesn't have to make data based decisions for a large organisation. Oh wait...

This dame begins her speech with the right to clean water and air ❤️. I didn't even watch the video beyond 25 seconds. Americans can we borrow her for India. Because we got some serious water and air issues here and no one seems to care. Not one politician cares. People got shot point blank for demanding clean water and air in Thoothukudi so here in Delhi we didn't even bother to step out and protest.

तुम से पहले वो जो इक शख़्स यहाँ तख़्त-नशीं था उस को भी अपने ख़ुदा होने पे इतना ही यक़ीं था कोई ठहरा हो जो लोगों के मुक़ाबिल तो बताओ वो कहाँ हैं कि जिन्हें नाज़ बहुत अपने तईं था आज सोए हैं तह-ए-ख़ाक न जाने यहाँ कितने कोई शोला कोई शबनम कोई महताब-जबीं था अब वो फिरते हैं इसी शहर में तन्हा लिए दिल को इक ज़माने में मिज़ाज उन का सर-ए-अर्श-ए-बरीं था छोड़ना घर का हमें याद है 'जालिब' नहीं भूले था वतन ज़ेहन में अपने कोई ज़िंदाँ तो नहीं था ~हबीब जालिब (That person who was sitting on the throne here before you Was equally confident that he is God I've translated the first stanza for my non Urdu speaking friends. But the edge of the poem is lost in translation.)

Universal Basic Income isn't such a revolutionary concept for India. We already give out measly sums of money, typically ₹200 to ₹500 per month, to the elderly and disabled. These are often called "pensions". MNREGA gives you between ₹168 and ₹281, depending on your state, for a day's labour. Congress would be better off strengthening and funding MNREGA, rather than handing out ridiculously small sums of money. But it is election season so new schemes must be announced. That said, poverty is poverty. It is crushing. It debilitates you, prevents you from finding and doing work. I wouldn't be surprised if the poorest of the poor can't even do MNREGA work because they don't have the physical and mental strength for it - leave alone the resourcefulness required to navigate the government system and get the work. So, I don't think this is bad use of our money. It will especially benefit those who can't work - little children. But I hope this doesn't come at the expense of universal healthcare, education, sanitation, and most importantly, job creation.

Shourie: "BJP is Congress plus cow." Kamalnath: "Challenge accepted."

Why is the government considering closure of BSNL but not of Air India? Both are a drain of public money. Yes Air India service quality is far better than BSNL service quality. But BSNL also has better coverage than any other telco out there. Still I'm saying that as a developing nation we cannot afford either. Sell them, or burn them at the stake and sell the land they stand on. At least we will stop funding their losses and use that money to invest in better things like health, education and Railways.

Please read the entire thread. This is so hilarious, it fills me with joy. The entire lot of BJP ministers and office bearers have been demonstrated to be mindless idiots.

सौ चूहे खा के बिल्ली हज को चली For five years you squandered your mandate by serving corporates, and built a palatial party office for yourself. Now when corporate slavery is becoming too much for you, or they've tightened their purse strings, you remember the public. अब vote और पैसा दोनों वो जनता दे जिसकी जेब काटी पाँच साल

Who in the current government has the regard for security forces, has the shame and respect to take moral responsibility for the failures that led to this tragedy? 300 to 350 kg of explosives were smuggled in and used against our forces! Before you demand retribution from Pakistan, terrorists, or the Kashmiri youth, remember this - India has faced threats for the last 70 years. India has lived in the shadow of terrorism longer than any other country in the world. And yet, not in the last 30 years has such a large scale attack been allowed to occur. Pathankot, Pampore, Uri, Nagrota, Pulwama. The intensity and sophistication of the attacks kept increasing. But the men at the helm kept sleeping. The forces will do what they do. But the government should have the courage to take responsibility.

If you joined a terrorist network but didn't actively kill people, only "married soldiers" or "cooked and cleaned" for them, does that make you innocent? In my opinion every willing accessory to a terrorist is a terrorist, whether they made bombs or bread.

Some of us bay for blood and war. Others, take pride in our armed forces. We also remind ourselves that civilian populations that demand aggression lead nations down dangerous paths.

वो हमें हिंदू मुसलमान में बाँटते रहे। वो हमें हिंदी ऊर्दू में बाँटते रहे। वो यह भूल गए कि... देश प्रेमी हम हैं तो देश प्रेमी वो भी हैं। बहादुर हम हैं तो बहादुर वो भी हैं। Gentlemen हम हैं तो gentlemen वो भी हैं। आखिर बहत्तर सालों में ख़ून थोड़े ही बदल जाता है। फ़ौजी तो अपना काम बखूबी निभा रहे हैं। नेताओं से कहो, जवानों के कंधों पर रख कर बंदूक चलाना बंद करें। बैठें, बात करें, कोई हल निकालें। ख़ुद मेहनत करें, फ़ौजियों का ख़ून ना बहाएँ। #SayNoToWar

This is how the sacrifice of our soldiers is being used - to sell our nation wholesale. While you were busy with war news, Haryana, with the lowest forest cover of any state in India - 4% - decides to make a huge tract of forest land available for "development". Without breathable air, forests and mountains, I suppose we will all survive by eating bombs.

Seriously can we stop fawning over Imran Khan. Every time a good looking Pakistani man comes along, we Indians seem to lose our minds. Last time it was that fellow Fawad Khan. Yes, he is releasing a PoW. And we all want our hero back. But seriously, if Imran wanted to do something, if Pakistan was being run by him and not the army, then he would have done something about the terrorists. 2019 has barely begun and over a dozen of his own people have been killed in over half a dozen terrorist attacks. It is all very nice to sit in a plush office and pontificate and talk like a gentleman. It is another to get out and clean up your own country - and help your neighbourhood in the process. He is just another politician with a British education, who made his fame playing a British game. No wonder he is just like the British - sits around and talks suavely while everything around him falls apart, then casually cleaves a country into two or three parts and trots away. I have Googled a lot and found no news articles about concrete steps taken by this man against terrorists. He is an utter failure in this department - just like our own fantastic leader.

वो सब तो ठीक है मग़र केजरीवाल ने किसी के चरण धोए कि नहीं? Stupid person is solving problems with real solutions in election season.

What possible justification does the Haryana government for this misadventure? There is no public good to come out of this. Is the Haryana legislature not sworn to act in the interest of the public? The courts are opposing. The opposition is protesting. Mass protests are taking place in Gurgaon. Even students are petitioning the government. And yet the ruling party rallies on. First, the road through Aravalli Biodiversity Park. Then, the entire Aravallis. Is this democracy? Shame.

As a democracy, why do we allow this? I have no love for the Kocchars or Dhoots; prima facie they appear to have indulged in massive corruption. However, what is the need for a 4am search in such an old case? No one in law enforcement in India bothers to explain such behaviour. You are just creating harassment for all concerned. When the courts allow such unwarranted action in the middle of the night, it opens the door for the police to extort money from the accused. The powerful people in this case will likely approach the politicians above the ED to ease their 24x7 harassment, leading to more corruption. All this when searches could easily have been done from 9 to 5, without impacting the outcome of the investigation. The criminal justice system is broken and no one is invested in fixing it.

इमरान ने मेरी सुन ली! https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/masood-azhars-brother-and-son-detained/article26439211.ece भाइयों और बहनों, I take full credit for this action by Pakistan.

What does he mean by हम हिंदू हैं? Is AAP a party of only Hindu workers/leaders/supporters?

Boom 👊🏽 Suck this, Trump. Call it socialism. Hate it all you want. But monopolies, patents and healthcare do not mix. Healthcare and education need to be for public good. Can't remember if it was Gujral or Deve Gowda who set up the NPPA. Gujral was definitely a Nehruvian socialist. Deve Gowda - after having lived in Bangalore, I'm inclined to believe that the only politics he believed in was that of personal gain.

RSS ने चाय वाले को प्रधान मंत्री बना दिया। PM बन कर भी ग़रीबों के लिए कुछ ना कर पाया वह व्यक्ती, बेरोज़गारी और बढ़ा दी। तो इस आदमी ने अकेले ही प्रधानमंत्री को चौकीदार बनने पर मजबूर कर दिया। और वो कहते हैं यह पप्पू है 😂

I'm at a loss for words. To use a child as a shield and refuse to give him up. What moral high ground do these criminal militants claim? I hope this incident completely erodes "popular" support for militancy, if there is any left in the valley. There will always be those 20% extremists in a society - religious fundamentalists - who support militants. And the 20% who support an aggressive violent military response by the state. But the bulk of the population should now completely reject violence as a means to any resolution, or even as a means to maintain a status quo. The citizens are between a rock and a hard place, suffering from violence on both sides. Just what the tribals in maoist areas go through. Both sides accuse them of siding with the other, when all they want to do is live and let live.

If the government had any smarts, it would use this incident to bring about a change in the hearts and minds of people. But the government is full of jingoists, not true leaders.

ग़र हो सके तो अब कोई शम्मा जलाइए इस दौरे-ए-सियासत का अंधेरा मिटाइए जाइए, वोट देकर आइए। इन मनहूसों को खदेड़ भगाइए।

This judgement and NALSA should be sufficient to support gay marriage in India. The marriage laws required a "man" and a "woman" for marriage. The SC and HC allow any person to self determine their gender. What stops a gay couple from appearing before a registrar, and one of them claiming that they self identify as a woman and the other a man. It isn't the most elegant solution. Ideally the laws should be modified to remove the necessity of a "man" and a "woman" for marriage. But, you know, change takes time, and if people start subverting the law by using the NALSA judgement and render the law infructuous, perhaps the LS will be nudged into amending it.

This is what freedom of press and authoritative journalism looks like. Who in India can ask questions of the ruling party like this any more, without fear of retribution?

Please get off your lazy butts, go vote and defeat hate. Next time I'll get a manicure before I vote. Also wishing for election officials without motor control issues. Kthxbye

My 9 and 11 year old kids had a hearty laugh listening to this. "Did he just literally say that clouds will block radar waves?" This is why we send our kids to school and college. For an education. You consider the educational qualification of a candidate before hiring them. Doctors keep getting new certifications and fellowships throughout their career to upgrade their knowledge and give you confidence. Why then would you vote people with fake degrees into power? It has to be the most stupid, counterintuitive thing to do. Unless you were hiring them to do some sinister, dirty work of yours, it makes no sense.

American "intelligence" in 2003: Iraq has WMD. We must move in. The same lot in 2019: Iran is attacking Iraq. We must move out. 🙄

आज के युग के महान क्रांतिकारी https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/lok-sabha-elections-2019-pakoda-sellers-in-graduation-robes-detained-before-pms-chandigarh-rally-2037625

This thread makes me wonder what our military and para personnel go through. We have so many active deployments in Kashmir, Chattisgarh, etc. The threats are internal, so I'm sure they begin distrusting every civilian. And we don't even offer our jawans a college education. They aren't even serving to make a life - they're serving to make a living, to survive.

उम्मीद की किरण, In these dark times. अगर ख़िलाफ़ हैं होने दो जान थोड़ी है ये सब धुआँ है कोई आसमान थोड़ी है लगेगी आग तो आएँगे घर कई ज़द में यहाँ पे सिर्फ़ हमारा मकान थोड़ी है मैं जानता हूँ के दुश्मन भी कम नहीं लेकिन हमारी तरहा हथेली पे जान थोड़ी है हमारे मुँह से जो निकले वही सदाक़त है हमारे मुँह में तुम्हारी ज़ुबान थोड़ी है जो आज साहिबे मसनद हैं कल नहीं होंगे किराएदार हैं ज़ाती मकान थोड़ी है सभी का ख़ून है शामिल यहाँ की मिट्टी में किसी के बाप का हिन्दोस्तान थोड़ी है ~राहत इंदौरी

What if Kunal Kamra is fake? माने, what if he just saw this career opportunity in hating the sanghis. Watching his shows is now a mark of rebellion, solidarity. He is brand unModi. What if both the poles are imaginary. Like a circus. To keep us busy. Imagine there's no heaven It's easy if you try No hell below us Above us only sky What if we are in the matrix. Running the hamster wheel, paying more tax, consuming more, polluting more, hating more, while both poles stand hand in hand and cheer us on. What if I'm weary and just need to turn off and turn in to bed.

I have been completing this headline in my head since yesterday. "How would you feel if Amit Shah..." From hilarious to horrifying, हर रस मिलेगा आपको। आप भी इस पंक्ति को पूरा करने की कोशिश तो करिए। Remember, the completed sentence needs to be a credible threat to sitting MPs.

Parliament में इतना कचरा आता कहाँ से है? अब तो लगभग सारे BJP वाले ही हैं। खुद ही फैलाते हैं और खुद ही साफ करते हैं? Actually यह भी progress है। पहले फैलते यह थे और साफ कर्मचारी करते थे।

Adi Godrej Narayan Murthy Rajiv Bajaj Three people have spoken up against the government or intolerance. One has directly attacked Modi. लगता है भाजपा के ऊपर जिसका भी हाथ था वो उठ गया है 😂 After all, industry stalwarts aren't known to suddenly grow a pair. Even if industry is hurting really badly they keep shut and continue to suck up.

चलिएगा?

Ooo this is so awesome. I've never had to deal with an acid attack victim, thankfully, but I've helped many an accident victim. I want this law in Gurgaon. Twice I've taken accident victims to Paras Hospital. Each time they've turned away a bleeding, badly injured victim because they CAN. We need laws likes this to stick it up to heartless assholes like Paras who make millions every day by cheating domestic and international patients, yet won't spend any time or money stabilising a trauma victim. Paras isn't the only bad egg in Gurgaon. The civil hospital also does nothing for trauma victims, invariably referring them to AIIMS. Also, if you can't bring yourself to celebrate this announcement because of your political affiliations, then congratulations, you've turned into a cretin. Enjoy the rest of your pathetic existence on this planet. I hope a truck hits you and you die bleeding outside a private hospital that denies basic treatment to you, because the good samaritan who brought you there could not find your insurance card or contact your family in time.

Now that the stupidity of demonetisation is well and truly established, when can we have the 500 and 1000 ₹ notes back? Conducting even basic transactions in cash, which is the only medium of transaction in remote/rural places, has become a total pain.

If the brain isn't fully formed at 21, why let that brain posses assault weapons, stupid Republicans? Oh wait. Does that mean you'll also need to dismantle your military industrial complex that sends 17 year olds to other nations to kill and torture for you?

As I read more and more about the issue, I realised constitutional law is horribly complex. The Supreme Court has powers to interpret the constitution, and in the past it has done such things as interpret "temporary" to mean "special" or even "permanent". Yes, you read that right. Temporary can become permanent if the constitutional bench of the SC so wishes. They have the exclusive power to interpret the constitution. Owaisi was right. We need more constitutional lawyers fighting for what is right in the Supreme Court. Making sure the executive and the legislature don't get away with the murder of the democracy, of our constitution. Looks like in all of this, the only thing that really needs the consent of both the LS and the RS is the bifurcation of the state. And in all of this, the only thing that I agree with is that Ladakh be separated from the political and administrative mess that is J&K. The ideal situation would be for Ladakh to become a UT and the J&K state to continue as it is. Because that is really what the people of Ladakh also want.

Everyone's talking about what the parliament has done to Kashmir. But the Kashmiri opinion is unknown. There is still a statewide telecom outage. The Greater Kashmir website was last updated 21 hours ago, for example. I don't know why news channels aren't using satellite OB vans to get news out of the state. Have these also been banned?

The guns are out at the metro stations. The young men who carry them are no longer behind their thick iron facades. They're out in the open. Holding their guns in front of themselves. Poised for action. लगेगी आग तो आएँगे घर कई ज़द में यहाँ पे सिर्फ़ हमारा मकान थोड़ी है शायद हमारे हुक्मरानों ने यह गज़ल सुन ली है, और तैयारी कर ली है

Every once in a while, I've had to suffer fools who tell me how much the British "gave" Indians. "Oh they gave us the Railways and the English language and..." As if the British had Indian interests in mind as they went about building infrastructure to systematically pillage and oppress us. But a trip through Karnataka would open anyone's eyes to what the Mysore maharajas and people like M Visveswaraya, and many others, achieved without any help at all from the British thank you very much. India had 500+ riyasats at the time of independence. From Hyderabad to Baroda to Mysore, engineering marvels were built that have stood the test of time and tide. From dams that save us from floods to railway stations that just won't crumble. Literally all of the pre independence art adorning our museums also comes from the riyasats, because the British were busily carting away every last embroidered handkerchief they could lay their hands on for that greedy beast of a queen of theirs. It is unfortunate that educated people today cannot differentiate between foreign rulers who took our wealth to a different nation, and foreign invaders who made India their own and built wealth and culture within our boundaries. Such is our obsession with race and religion that English is good, Urdu is bad, and Tipu, who built temples and whooped white ass, is terrible, no good, very bad.

Will the third pillar of democracy save Kashmir? Or at least provide some relief? All the other three pillars have succumbed. Whatever little the fourth estate does want to do, is also held back by the communications lock down.

अगर आप Zee News देखते हैं तो आप वहीं सुनते हैं जो आप सुनना चाहते हैं, ना कि जो सच है। तो फिर आप ख़बरें सुनते ही क्यों हैं? इससे बेहतर आप अपने दिल पर हाथ रखिए और वो जो कहानी आपको सुनाना चाहे, सुनिए।

Every time I see Sandeep Pandey I feel like laughing. Perhaps I find him very pretentious. In any case, I can't tolerate him, and I'm glad I haven't had to speak to him in a decade. Perhaps I'm amused because eventually, I, the team I was on, won the debate. Focusing only on education, as Asha chose to do, does not solve India's problems. This nation is overrun with educated people without empathy. Who lack the ability to reason logically. Who lack the courage to listen to their minds, to follow their conscience, who prefer to stay within the confines of what they have been told to think, to say. Who cannot differentiate between fact and opinion. Who do not know how to tell a trusted source from a rumourmonger. Yes, it is the shortcoming of our education system that lead to such educated elite, who fill high offices but have narrow mindsets. But how long does one wait for the right kind of education to be universally available? Do we wait a century for all young minds to be enlightened? And does that school education cure the grown ups, who continue to vote and control power and money. No, we need to work on every issue simultaneously. And not just in schools. In the streets. In the papers. Xenophobia, fascism, sexism, casteism, and every other kind of discrimination, hate and injustice must be fought now. We cannot wait for नई तालीम to magically cure us of all our ills. Completely inappropriate of me to bring this up when he is under illegal arrest. But such is me.

इनका धर्म कहता है कि मुस्लमान के हाथ का मत खाओ। मतलब, यह छुआ छूत करते हैं। हमारा संविधान कहता है कि छुआ छूत मत करो। शायद इनको आज तक यह पता ही नहीं चला। वैसे भी यह धर्म पर चलते हैं, संविधान पर नहीं। मुश्क़िल वक़्त आया तो इन्होंने मुस्लमान के हाथ का खाना भी खाया, पानी भी पिया। मुस्लमान नेता की तारीफ़ भी की, सनातन धर्म के ठेकेदारों का तिरस्कार भी किया। कहते हैं कि किसी की तकलीफ में खुशी मत मनाओ। मगर मुझे खुशी है कि अपने मुश्किल वक़्त में इन्होंने अपने धर्म का पालन ना कर के, अपनी, अपने बच्चे और माँ की, अपने यहाँ आए शरणार्थियों की जान बचाई। और मानवता ही असली धर्म, यह पहचाना और माना। आप सभी को ईद की शुभकामनाएं।

भोपालीयों ने भी चुन के हीरा भेजा है लोक सभा में। This is in fact Bhopali sense of humour. To perform the worst possible, to end up last in an event and be proud about it. नीचे से फर्स्ट. Those who haven't lived there won't understand. Bhopalis invented "it's so bad its funny" before the Internet and memes were a thing.

It's Teacher's Day today Modi can't remember any teacher. No teacher recalls Modi. Whatte sads.

Government locks down Kashmir for over a month. Radio silence. Nostrilamma says one thing against millennials. Twitter erupts in ridicule and fury.

तुम कुछ भी कर लो वोट तो हम हिन्दू मुसलमान शमशान कब्रिस्तान इन्हीं मुद्दों पर देंगे शिक्षा स्वास्थ्य से हमें क्या?

The posse of people that wants to put Greta down just keeps growing by the hour. There are the usual suspects - the upper class/caste/race who stand to benefit the most from climate denial. The world leaders, the industrialists, the barons. The latest to join the critics are the late-stage capitalism variety. The hard boiled socialists. They will tell you Greta is a tool of capitalism. She wants to solve climate change without addressing the underlying cause of ALL evil in the world - capitalism. There are the racial/caste/colonial equality lot, who don't want the formerly colonised, currently coloured, to be held responsible for any problem at all in the world. You know - the kind of people that will tell you that the genocide in Rwanda was also 100% a white people doing. The premise is that she can't be thinking on her own, and vested interests are propping her up. Well, screw you all. People find it so hard to believe that a child can talk sense. When the reality is that most children talk complete and utter sense most of the time. The only problem is - they have no filter. They tell the naked truth as it is, and that gets us adults in a pickle. If you tell a child to answer the phone and tell the caller that you aren't home, they will answer the phone and say "My Dad says to tell you he is not at home". That kind of honesty gets us adults. We hate it. So we tell kids to shut up. We gaslight them. In this century, not only do kids have sense, they also have agency over their lives. There is no stopping them. There is no shutting them up. There is no telling them that they have been brainwashed. They will do what they want to do and you... you just watch them do their thing. Either get with the program or get out of the way.

कई साल पहले, जब मैं कालिज में था, मुझे पूरा विश्वास था कि यह देश बदल सकता है। मैं बदलूँगा इस देश को। ज़रूर बदलेगा मेरा देश। मेरा वह विश्वास टूट चुका है। हम वहशी थे, वहशी ही रहेंगे। यह दोनों बच्चे, मेरे बच्चों की उमर के थे। १० और १२ साल के।

Proud to be a Haryana resident! Maharashtra has also cut the right wing down to size. Way to go! Show the right what's right.

Rahul Gandhi might be a pappu, but what do you call these morons who infest the party in power?

And here is the characterisation of Bill Gates that I have been meaning to do for years now. Please don't tell me how great billionaire philanthropists are. Becoming a billionaire is about exploiting gaps in the market to stifle competition and make consumers pay more for your product. Staying a billionaire is about exploiting gaps in our democracies to retain profits and accumulate wealth without giving society and your employees their fair share. Philanthropy is about using this accumulated wealth to exercise control over society and development agencies, rather than allowing them to choose their own development paths using democratic means. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-seattle/amazons-1-5-million-political-gambit-backfires-in-seattle-city-council-election-idUSKBN1XL09B - the world's richest man Bezos just tried to buy elections to reduce taxes, just like Gates is trying to do.

At every scenic spot in India there is a temple. Attached to the temple is a myth and a posse of pandits. Suckers who can't tell the difference between myth, history and reality, line up here to be anointed with vermilion. The geographical feature that the temple celebrates, is soon completely covered by the temple precincts. Concrete drips over the edges. Waste generated by this enterprise covers the hillsides, and flows into water bodies. Visitors to the temple create traffic jams, and as they honk impatiently for the jam to melt, roll down their windows and flick empty plastic bottles into rivers. Into this circus swaggers in a punk like me, who refuses to be touched by the pandits. If they sneak up on me while I'm busy minding the kids, I jump like they'd jump if they'd been touched by a janitor. I often tell people - I managed to graduate from IIT only because of cricket. While everyone was busy watching a dozen grown men lazily chase a small ball over a large field, I caught up on studies. Similarly, I am able to see as much as I see when I travel, because I avoid all religious places like the plague. Unless the place has some architectural or historical significance. Some apologists try to explain that holy places generate tourism. In that matter, one must look to our man Mohammed. He invents a religion that bans all idols, icons and relics. Then he identifies a relic in the middle of the Arabian desert, and sends all his followers from across the planet to the middle of nowhere, every year! How's that for promoting random travel? What? You thought I'd go quietly to bed on the eve of my 40th birthday, without ruffling a few feathers? Where's the fun in that! PS: The worst kind of priest to touch you is a Christian priest. Last one of them touched me, he was rapping me across the knuckles for being late to school. Whenever I think about that, I look at the silver lining - if I were a Christian kid, that bugger might have sodomised me. I'd take a rap on the knuckles with a wooden ruler any day over that.

जगन मोहन रेड्डी क्या मस्त आदमी निकला यार। पूरे विपक्ष की पतलून उतार दी इसने। तुम्हारे बच्चे पढ़ें अंग्रेज़ी, और ग़रीब का बच्चा बचाए तेलुगु भाषा का भविष्य? तेलुगु बचाने के लिए तेलुगु में भूगोल पढ़ाना ज़रूरी है? जब तक उस भाषा में साहित्य है तब तक लोगों की उसमें रुचि रहेगी। पासा ही पलट दो। ग़रीब को पढ़ाओ अंग्रेज़ी, और यह जितने "मेरिट" वाले प्राइवेट स्कूल में जाते हैं, यह तो बहुत होनहार हैं, इनको तेलुगु में पढ़ाओ, ताकि यह आगे चल कर अपनी बुद्धि से तेलुगु का और विकास करें।

This is America This is India This is the Congress This is the BJP Corporations continue to loot and pollute, while real wages fall and unemployment rises.

The passage of this bill, strongly contested by the community it purportedly serves, goes on to show how little our legislatures now care about minorities. The DMK was fighting a lonely battle for a select committee to look at the bill.

"When a movement is based on the premise that a woman must be believed simply because she is a woman, it carries the seeds of self-destruction." "But the latest developments again make it clear that the fiercest, newest methods of justice delivery cannot eschew the oldest tenets of ethics. Accusations must be proven before judgement is pronounced."

"In the past five years, analysts have estimated double-digit earnings growth year after year for companies in the Nifty index, but average earnings growth has been only around 5% in this period. As such, the story of hope in the Indian markets isn’t new; it’s just that the degree of hope has become greater lately." A question that many people have asked me lately - when the economy is doing badly, why are stocks rallying? Read through this article for a thorough analysis. Bottom-line - investors are still investing on hopes of reforms. Domestic investors are pumping money into large caps because mid and small caps have come too risky in the current scenario. Foreign investors are flush with cash and willing to take risks. For six years the government has run the economy into the ground while talking big. The market continues to stay afloat on hopes and promises. Either the economy will magically recover, or the market's bubble of cognitive dissonance will burst soon. If I had money to invest, I would short all large cap stocks other than Adani and Ambani.

Nobody: Pandit conducting marriage: These are the seven requests that the bride has from the groom. Bride: ? Pandit: (Says requests involving bulls and what not, completely irrelevant to an urban couple). The groom has accepted these requests. Groom: ? Me, channeling my inner Periyar: A brahmin is incapable of original thought. He will just utter what his father uttered before him, who was uttering what his own father had uttered, and so on. A brahmin does not believe that anyone else is capable of original thought either. That is why he speaks on behalf of the woman and man without bothering to check with them.

Me too Civil disobedience. Didn't get registered under Aadhar. Won't get registered under NRC.

कभी यह लोग कह्ते हैं cashless India बनायेंगे, digital India बनायेंगे। कभी यह लोग जनता का मुँह बंद करने के लिए Internet काट देते हैं। Internet काट दोगे तो इस cashless, digital India की online transactions क्या तुम्हारा बाप चलाएगा? फिर जब लोग cash रखेंगे घर में, cash में ही transaction करेंगे, तो उनको चोर बोलोगे, कहोगे इनका पैसा काला है।

This. This is how the "developed" world is collaborating to save human lives. Meanwhile, we are being busy killing each other over religion.

Yujan: free CAB protest, with Nilay translating Prashant Bhushan in real time for Seher: free Jashn-e-Rekhta: free Being told all day by a bunch of critters that I'm too large to fit into all manners of public transport: Hmm, never mind

CAB isn't the only legislation that discriminates by religion. So do personal laws, which are different for Hindus, Muslims, and the rest. Muslim and Christian dalits are not considered dalit by affirmative action laws, even though society actively discriminates against them. Temple endowment and Waqf laws also diverge. Personal laws don't just cover marriage. They also cover inheritance, which is a big deal. Different religions are being allowed to discriminate against different genders in different ways. We have permitted religions to dictate their theology into our law books. In the matter of citizenship, we want everyone to be equal in the eyes of the law. So in the matter of marriage and inheritance, trusts and endowments, affirmative action and atrocities, why should we not be equal before the law? In the current day and age, is marriage a social/legal contract or a religious contract? These differences have been shoehorned in the name of religious freedom. Only your relationship with your imaginary bearded old friend in the sky should be a matter of religious freedom. Your legal relationship on this Earth with another human being should be entirely under the purview of the constitution, not your favourite book of fables.

Rishabh Malhotra if you support these vandals you are no better than them and there political masters. The Delhi government is buying buses and building up public transport. The Central HM is having them burnt. In the seventeen years since 2002, a billion handheld cameras have been added in India. The Gujarat Model will fail remarkably in Delhi 2020.

Will there ever come a point in our democracy where one region stands up for the rights of another? The Internet shutdown in Assam is the same as the shutdown in Kashmir - it brands ever resident of the state a potential troublemaker. Will the Axomia people now realise that their right to protest is as sacred as the Kashmiri people's right to protest. आपका विरोध विरोध है उनका विरोध जिहाद?

Assam is a state with 3+ crore people. Of the ₹3.74 lakh crore GDP of the state, 49% comes from services. Imagine running those services without the Internet. Imagine being a student, a courier company, a bank, an Oyo hotel, a restaurant that only does deliveries. The government is literally shutting down all your work and entertainment and forcing you out on the streets. Assam lies in India's seismic zone 5, so no one is building heavy industries there. IOCL doesn't even refine Assam Oil's crude within the state. Services are the present and IT enabled services, the future. Last month, the government launched the North East BPO Promotion Scheme. 5,000 ITeS seats are to be created initially. Who will invest? Tell me who? You'd be surprised when I tell you that Kashmir had a burgeoning IT sector. Needless to say, it has been completely wiped out. Now imagine what this does to IT in the North East? Sitting in Delhi we imagine that all these states just grow apples, saffron and tea. Not true. We in the IT sector are used to the convenience of working from anywhere remotely. 4G has made it possible for me to set up my work desk in my caravan, anywhere in India. And these people can't even get Internet in their offices, for days at end? Can't make card payments, can't pay GST online, can't check exam results online, can't book cabs. During the jaat agitation I was concerned that Uber drivers were unable to work due to the Internet shutdown in parts of Haryana. As an industry, the IT sector did not get together and speak up then against Internet shutdowns. So this is the result now. (The fact that IP based communication is down is the elephant in the room that I am not addressing, because cutting communication lines was the motive of the government. I am pressing the point that the Internet serves a lot more than communication and media. It is rozi roti.)

सरहद पर हमारे जवान खड़े हैं... यहि नारा था ना इन चोरों का?

The Gurgaon border is sealed for cars, but I still made it to Delhi by metro. And then, metro stations closed, phones dead, I didn't know how to get to Lal Qila. Or maybe I didn't want to know. It would be very inconvenient if I got hurt or detained. Not concerned about myself - I've participated in enough protests to not really care. But concerned about others who depends on me. Isn't that what any government needs? Citizens who are too distracted, have too much riding on them, to behave like citizens. More power to those of you who made it. I hear the police is swamped and doesn't know who to detain and who to let go. Even 144 and the transport and communication blockades could not stop us. ✊🏽

The clean-up has begun! From today I have zero tolerance to canard that I receive over WhatsApp. I will engage and I Will Demolish! Family/school WhatsApp groups, here I come! I have already taken action on one message, tracing it from my relative to my own father back to some random uncle. A bunch of seniors are currently having to read Articles 28, 29 and 30 of the constitution. No, it is never "just a forward". No, don't trust a message just because it came from a friend. That friend would have done as much due diligence as you did before forwarding it - basically zero. To spread falsehood about minorities, and that too by deliberately misreading the very constitution that we are all struggling to protect and uphold. It's just too much. And a simple Google Search would have thrown up the articles. On that note, Sushant Sinha, whatte proud. Google for article 28 and Indian Kanoon shows up. First result, top of the page. Likewise for article 29 and article 30. You are the torch-bearer of the constitution man. Makes me so proud and happy.

AQI near my kids' school today. While we were busy dealing with unnecessary issues manufactured by the government, this happened. Ruchika Sethi, let's have a चाय पे चर्चा about this. हम बचेंगे तो देश को बचाएंगे ना। The government is also pushing the data bill through the parliament. And a set of other draconian legislations. इधर से संभालते हैं उधर बिखर जाता है 🙄

मतलब, fake skullcap क्या होता है? टोपी तो टोपी है। पहनने वाला नकली हो सकता है, सो असली करवाए देते हैं। इसमें क्या बड़ी बात है? जेल में एक मौलवी लगवा दीजिए। आयतें सिखवाइए। कलमा पढ़वाइए। और सबसे ज़रूरी, इन सभी का खतना करवाइए। नए नाम भी दिलवा दीजिए। आप सरकार हैं। आपकी गिरफ़्त में हैं। आप जो चाहे कीजिए। नाम और मज़हब क्या चीज़ है? जो एक बार आपके चक्कर में पड़ जाए, उसका तो आप वजूद ही बदल देते हैं।

चलो भाई बहुत अच्छा है एक पंथ दो काज सेंगर को सज़ा हुई और अब जब कोई भाजपाई मुँह खोले, उनका उन्हीं के लहजे में जवाब भी हाज़िर: What about Sengar?

Dyer की औलाद Bisht. Shame shame shame.

मैंने अभी अभी बचपन के एक दोस्त से दोस्ती तोड़ दी। Not only did I break friendship with him, I insulted him. He has always been perfectly nice to me. He is a humorous chap, and has helped me many a time when I have visited Bhopal. But in the 27 years that I have known him, he has never missed an opportunity to hurt and insult Muslims. The first time I saw him in 1993, he was on the football field of the Campion School, harassing a Muslim classmate. He was describing in graphic detail how Muslim women had been disfigured and murdered in Bhopal in the riots after the Babari Masjid. "This is what we do to Muslims" was his message, one thirteen year old to another. The latter has long since left the country, and I do not blame him for being disenchanted with India. My hands were shaking for a while after writing the comment I wrote. They are still shaking, and it is not the cold. 27 years is a long friendship. But for 27 years this person has caused me trauma - in person, in social situations, on social media. I have had to leave school WhatsApp groups because of his intolerable hate speech. I avoid reunions. We were "friends" by default because we were in the same class, same school. But of what worth is friendship with a school-yard bully who has refused to reform? And of what worth is the Hindu right, if this is the kind of deviants it fosters? I have blocked him on WhatsApp and Facebook. He has called me thrice and I have cut the call. I don't know what to do. What do I tell him? That I am sorry I retaliated to his cuss word and his threat of violence by hitting him where it hurts the most?

Suhasini Mulay 😍 what a bomb. Unstoppable. अखण्ड भारत चाहिए संधियों को। मग़र अखंड भारत के लोग पसंद नहीं, उनमें से सिर्फ़ हिन्दू चाहिएं। कश्मीर चाहिए संधियों को, मग़र कश्मीरी पसंद नहीं, उन्हें दबा के रखो। ज़मीन चाहिए, इंसान नहीं। क्या जलेबी दिमाग़ और सोच है। Total confusion.

Can someone explain to me which protestors Dr. Kaushiki Dwivedee is talking about? She says her post is only about those people who are committing violence, not every protestor. But I don't see that in the post. I believe her post is a thinly veiled attempt at blaming a certain community for violence. She demurs. Please go through the thread of comments in the original post. I'd like to be proven wrong. I wouldn't like a situation where a respected physician is an islamophobe. Also, if you believe I'm being aggressive, as she repeatedly keeps saying throughout the conversation, please let me know and I shall apologise to her.

मैं यह भूल गया था और @[612282072:2048:Nithya] की इस पोस्ट ने मुझे याद दिलाया: मैं, Nithya और @[586645405:2048:Pallavi] से पहली मर्तबा IIT मद्रास में, CLT के सामने वाले कमरे में मिला था। वह @[100000572637590:2048:Sumitra] अक्का के साथ आईं थीं। हमारी मुलाकात का मुद्दा था, सरदार सरोवर बाँध के खिलाफ़, नर्मदा बचाओ आंदोलन के परचम तले, मद्रास शहर में एक मोर्चा निकालना था। विरोध हर छात्र का हक़ है। यह उसकी शिक्षा का सही उपयोग है। आप शिक्षित सिर्फ़ इसलिए नहीं होते की आप बेहतर मुलाजिम बन पाएँ। शिक्षा से विवेक आता है। अगर वह विवेक देश और समाज को सही दिशा दिखाने का काम नहीं करे, सिर्फ़ निजी पैसा कमाने के काम आए, तो इस देश को आपको शिक्षित बना कर क्या फ़ायदा हुआ? जनतंत्र में ऐसा वक्त भी आता है जब विरोध आपका हक़ ना रह कर आपका कर्तव्य बन जाता है। हर छात्र, शिक्षित व्यक्ती, हर चेत व्यक्ती को तब सड़क पर उतर आना चाहिए। (मैंने Nithya का पोस्ट शेयर किया था मगर FB ने पोस्ट हटा कर यह लिंक छोड़ दिया। UX fail)

This. My grandfather who didn't like me opposing the SSP. "It's all politics. Everyone has a vested interest." My uncle who told me, "See how 1984 'fixed' the sardars. They don't raise their voice any more. Now 2002 has shown the mullahs their place." My cousin who wondered why I was spending time in college developing opinions and honing my social and computing skills, instead of improving my grades. Everybody who wanted me to attend the Art of Living courses so I would come back to the righteous path.

झारखंड के बाद अब तो दिल्लीवालों से एक ही उम्मीद है: अब की बार पूरे सत्तर!

No we do not need prayers. We need social and political change! India's GDP per capita per month is ₹12,000. Yes, if the income of the nation were distributed equally, तो इन बच्चों के नाम के भी ₹12,000 निकलते। फिर क्यों हैं यह भूखे? 73% of the wealth created in 2017 went to the richest 1% Indians. The rich (and their government) would have us believe that they deserve all this wealth. This wealth has not been created using the resources and people of this nation. It is entirely created by the "hard work" of the rich! People who can't think beyond tax, can't understand what the contribution to the economy of a non income tax paying person is. This person might work morning to night at an assembly line, building products for a company. The company makes a profit and pays income tax on it, and the consumer buying the product pays GST. This person spends all of his meagre income within the economy, buying goods and services made by others, himself paying GST. And yet, if is these very hard working poor - the labour and the farmhand - who live on the margins of society, one mishap or mistake away from malnutrition and death. The very foundation of our society and economy is dying while the rich get fatter.

Our government is so bad that I'm having to write nice things about big business 🙄 Have these people seen the size of the warehouses Amazon is building in India? Do they understand the difference between operational losses and capital investments? Amazon is investing a billion. Much of that goes into salary and infra. They are paying people to build out new business models. It isn't all going into funding discounts lost. Amazon is also amping up its global sourcing from India. Currently, if you make in India and sell on Amazon US, the experience is full of friction. Not only is Amazon fixing that issue, they are also looking to source more Amazon label products from India. घर आई लक्ष्मी को यह लोग लात मार रहे हैं 🤦‍♂️

Like any public event in India, this gathering too has its share of beggars, and people who pretend to be protesters and ask for money. As I observed earlier too, the residents of Shaheen Bagh appear fairly affluent to me, like most other South Delhi residents. Not the kind of Muslim that would get lynched for eating meat. But Muslim unabashedly, and therefore not out of the reach of the draconian NRC. They're obviously not doing it for money. But they're very much doing it क्योंकि ख़ुद पर बन आई है। Till the poor, lower caste Muslim was getting lynched in the hinterland, they were sitting pretty. Now there is a lot of talk of dalit and Muslim unity, कौमी एकता। ख़ैर। They're still doing much much more than me. Criticism is cheap.

Make no mistake. Shaheen Bagh is a radicalisation camp. Children are being encouraged to read. Copies of inflammatory literature like the Constitution of India are freely available. Children are free to express themselves through art, music, speech. Some are sketching still life, others are painting the flag. Boys and girls are sitting and creating together. The result of all this cannot be good.

While we were inside the tented area, this lady was speaking. She is quite evidently a nutjob, though not as bad as Subramaniam Swamy. The expression on the woman's face in the second pic shows how she was received. Yes, the protest is communal, to the extent that these are very Muslim women on dharna. But the law they are protesting is also communal. If you're going to discriminate against the Muslims, the Muslims are going to unite and fight back. A very non violent fight, mind you. With the paramilitary with their automatic rifles only a hundred feet away. Waiting.

देश बिक रहा है, पटरी पर। कभी देश बिकता है, बड़े बड़े होटलों के board rooms में। जल जंगल, किसान खदान, खेत खलिहान, सब बिक जाता है मंत्रियों के आकाओं को।

उधर संघर्ष चालू है इधर रोजी रोटी चालू है सब रोटी का ही तो मसला है। If food inflation had not been at a forty year high. If economic growth had not been at a twenty year low. Then we would not have needed the CAA.

Sushant Singh came on stage yesterday and read a poem about the fire tragedy that killed 42 labourers in Delhi recently. The poem talked about the last phone call from a musalman to his Hindu friend, about the corruption and greed that allowed this tragedy to happen, and then he linked it all to the protest. Neat. Kavin had read about the tragedy and the phone call, in two separate articles in the newspaper. He was able to understand what was being said. Super neat. Make your children read the papers. Ten year olds are old enough to read the newspaper. Eleven year old Bertrand Russell was reading the mathematics of Euler - all by himself.

भक्त इतने जले हुए हैं कि पूछो मत कोई चुनाव है जो राम के नाम पर नहीं, काम के नाम पर लड़ा जा रहा है

Scrolling through the laugh reacts on this random post, I noticed all of them are by upper caste Hindu men. Are these the only BJP supporters left in Delhi now?

Educational institutions in India have been reduced to trade schools. There only mandate is to churn out employable youth. Even at that, they fail miserably. The kind of education that Jiddu Krishnamurthy or Vivekananda talked about. The kind of opening of the mind that montessori and experiential education bring about. That is completely missing. Anything and everything we do, we first ask ourselves - will this get me into a fancier college? Will this fetch me a fatter pay package? Why are we not asking ourselves - will this broaden the horizons of my mind? When I visited Anand Bhavan in Allahabad, I saw every wall lined with books. My uncle observed that to achieve the kind of greatness that our leaders achieved, they had to be very well read. And yet, our young are not reading philosophy, history, politics and economics. The little they read, their teachers are forcing down their throats. In such an environment, to read an Ambedkar or Plato or Manto has in itself become a revolutionary act. To read and to educate is to agitate. Only when our children learn the patience to sit through a thought provoking book, absorbing it in whole and turning its contents around in their head till they've formed their own opinion, will this nation move beyond the scourge of WhatsApp University.

Who is this idiot? Franky, other than being the grandnephew of one of the most respected leaders in India, what has this person achieved? How is he any better than those other dynast scum, the Gandhis, who are simply mooch off of the glow of their ancestors? After being in the BJP for years, this fool suddenly woke up to the reality that his party isn't secular? Whether you agree or disagree with the politics of Netaji, he was a very sharp man. This character is particularly dull. Or opportunistic. Or both. Can we please relegate him to the dustbin already?

दिल्लीवालों, prepare to be labelled मुफ़्तखोर by the nationwide supporters of the viciously communal election campaign of the BJP in Delhi. Remember, irrespective of your reasons for reelecting the AAP, you will be told you voted for the freebies, and that you are all Hindu haters. अर्थात, welcome to my world 😊

ले लो, ले लो, कोई तो मेरा फटा ढोल ले लो The BJP didn't create this problem. But it should at least have the guts to solve it by just shutting the company down. 56" promised bold decisions after all.

Oh my gawd the cartoonists are out in full force today. Yes, use your vote, and teach the traitors of the nation and the constitution a lesson.

Fascist channel Republic talking of the "courage" of terrorist Rambhakt.

A tale of two interviews: https://www.thelallantop.com/videos/delhi-assembly-elections-2020-full-interview-of-delhi-bjp-president-manoj-tiwari-with-lallantop-editor-saurabh-dwivedi/ - where Manoj explains the benefits of demonetisation, and shares other gems of knowledge. Remember, he is the man that hundreds of BJP leaders are campaigning to make the new CM of Delhi. It is important to know him, because Modi isn't going to run Delhi, he is, if the BJP wins. https://www.indiatvnews.com/video/aap-ki-adalat/arvind-kejriwal-in-aap-ki-adalat-full-episode-585134 - where Arvind answers every question and accusation of the BJP with poise and data. If you are voting in the Delhi elections this year, then as a responsible citizen, you must make time to view these detailed interviews of the two main CM contenders. Both are on hostile or neutral territory, something so rare in contemporary Indian television.

Hindutva wants Muslims in India to "assimilate". The CAA mess has made the Indian Muslims emerge in full strength and assert their own unique identity. Quite the opposite of what the right wing wanted of them. Over this weekend I moved around a bit in Delhi. Shaheen Bagh is far from being the only protest site in Delhi. At Press Enclave Marg in Khirki Extension, and near the Hazrat Nizamudin Dargah under the Lodhi Road flyover, are just two sites where protestors have gathered in a manner that creates no disruption for commuters. At these sites, speeches are being made and ideas are being exchanged. Art is also being created. Shaheen Bagh has set some of the template for them. Not every person dressed in bhagwa is a hateful, violent loony with unresolved rage like Adityanath. Similarly, not every orthodox Muslim is stable. Occasionally, there is loony shit being said on stage at these protests, not unlike the kind of venom BJP campaigners are currently spewing in Delhi. Someone was praising the people who created Pakistan and Bangladesh as very sensible and forward thinking chaps, for example. To the average bloke like me, that is as unsettling as any RSS propaganda speech. To the folks who firmly believe that the "idea of India" is hogwash and we are a feudal oppressive state that only serves baaman-bania interests, it isn't. To them, whoever escaped this failed state of ours, either through partition or emigration, is lucky. Anyway. Pandora's box is currently wide open on the streets of Delhi. From one side scream the Hindutva loonies, from the other side the islamists (or whatever the Islamic equivalent of Hindutva is called). What was happening on the airwaves and the Internet is now out in the open. Little children are listening and learning. The protests are not about hate; they simply oppose the CAA. But at such unstructured gatherings, there is no way to filter out the junk. There is no screening of speeches. My very sensible friend Roomi recently spoke at Shaheen Bagh, but I've never seen him carry an "I am not a rabid loony" certificate. From my vantage point as a bystander on the street, I watch this situation develop with consternation. Much of our education system is quite broken - the average child will believe any voice of authority that pontificates loudly from a stage, for that is exactly what they've been taught to do at school. They will not question. They will believe. And we will have more Kapil Gujjars and Gopal Sharmas roaming the streets with guns in their hands, except now their muslim brothers will join them in this madness. We will no longer need Pakistan to send us terrorists. The protestors want people to question, debate and analyse for themselves. But with the current state of young minds in India, that is merely wishful thinking. (How do you deal with anxiety? Chai isn't helping me any more. Closing my eyes and ears doesn't help either.)

नेता हो, जनता के लिए काम करो साहब। फिर जनता का प्यार मिलता है। फिर ₹600 करोड़ के SPG कवर की ज़रूरत नहीं पड़ती। आप जनता का ख़याल रखो, जनता आपकी सुरक्षा का ख़याल रखेगी।

यह सब cartoonist लोग मोदीजी के विरोधी हैं। इनको सब को सजा होनी चाहिए।

देख लो इनकी काली करतूत। Shame on BJP and it's supporters. When they couldn't divide the voters on communal lines, they tried buying votes. थू है!

Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. In solidarity with friends in America, who have lost a battle against their chauvinist President. I share with you a song that has recently found new life on the streets of India. It was sung in 1986 by Pakistan's most celebrated singer, Iqbal Bano, to an audience of 50,000 people in a stadium. She wore a saree - a garment banned by the then dictator of Pakistan, Zia Ul Haq, for being unislamic. She sang this nazm (free verse) written by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, a poet banned by Zia. And as she sang, the crowds chanted (and you can hear them chant in the recording) - Inquilab Zindabad - Long Live the Revolution. Democracy, however tenuous, has been built on the revolutionary acts of individuals and groups. It has never been given; it has always been taken. You shall fight another day, and you shall win. Every ruler who has used hate to divide people has eventually been hunted down by the people and served justice. Translation of the song: We will see. We will see. It is inevitable (that) we too shall see. The day that has been promised. That is written in the book of destiny. When the mountains of oppression and cruelty Will float away like carded wool Underneath our feet – we the governed The ground will echo like a thumping heartbeat And the sky over the heads of the rulers Will echo with the sound of thunder. And only God’s name will remain. Who is both elusive and present. Who is the spectacle and the beholder. ‘I am the truth’ will be the acclamation. Which I am, and so are you. And then God’s own people will rule. We will see. We will see.

"These women protesting in their hijabs, covered head to toe in burqas, surely they are being controlled by their men. These women, who cannot even gain the freedom to wear what they want, what aazadi are they fighting for?" The Hindu, Jain and Sikh women‡ of this country, those of you who do not "get" these Muslim women - I anyway do not expect any solidarity from you towards other women. The woman who cooks in your house - you insist on serving her portions of food, never letting her serve herself lest she takes too much†. The woman who washes your utensils - she only drinks tea in the cup reserved for "others". The woman who cleans and dusts your furniture - but is never allowed to sit on the chair or sofa. Even when heavily pregnant or sick, you expect her to show up for work and clean - otherwise you cut her wages. When you give them tea and biscuits, you believe you have done more than enough! You think you are modern if you allow the woman who cleans your toilets to use that one toilet in your house which you have reserved for her (and which you yourself never, ever use). And if the woman who cleans your toilets is a jamadar or bhangan - then God forbid if she as much as touches anything in your house on her way in and out of the bathroom. And if she even suggests using your toilet before cleaning it, she can consider herself fired. And of course you will let the whole neighbourhood know of her audacity. "Oh but she is so filthy and unhygienic! It is not about her caste baba, it is her profession that is dirty." You must protect your cherubic children from her germs. Even the sight of her can infect the precious ones. Your every day, "casual" casteism. It is visible in all its nakedness. So please, spare me the lecture on the burqe-waali protestors. At least they are going to bring up children who are not casteist, racist, chauvinist, privileged little pricks. If you are a liberal and you don't understand how the country is so divided, how boys are comfortable objectifying women, and why your children look at those different from themselves with mistrust and fear - just see how you treat the "help" and you will know where they are learning from. And the worst of you are those who extend this tyranny into your workplaces, on the bidding of your corporate masters. Who sit in your plush offices and check the purses of ayahs for stolen spoons. That you can treat another woman with such contempt is a disgrace. Even there, your children are watching, observing, and learning. Sometimes, thankfully, learning what not to do, how not to be. †You are afraid that a woman with household income <10% of yours, and a net worth of basically zero, who is living one sickness or mishap away from abject poverty, is going to make you poorer by eating too much of your food. ‡And the English speaking, convent educated, not burkha wearing, Muslim-but-not-too-Muslim women [Yes, this rant targets women. It could just as easily have targeted men too but it doesn't. I am saving that for another day. Bite me?]

The hate campaign against Delhites for voting in the AAP has begun. Watch this cretin Sudhir go on a rant against Delhites starting at 7:15 in the video. https://youtu.be/N_PR6LnDLb8

Congress को 🔥 किया है अब BJP को 💩 करेंगे

Will the students and alumna of Gargi College also stand up against their daddies, mommies, uncles, aunties and grandparents who support the violent and extremist ideology of the BJP and the Sangh Parivar? You can't just fight the violent goons, without fighting the system that empowers them to ransack campus after campus. You can't stay quiet when the police canes women students in Jamia, and protest when the police does not cane goons in your own campus.

Elections are over, the results are out. So the Kalindi Kunj bridge has been thrown open for traffic from Noida to Delhi this afternoon. People who have voted for the BJP - see what this party is willing to do in order to manufacture sensitive communal issues. There was never any need to block Kalindi Kunj bridge. You suffered for two months so the BJP could have an issue to talk about. On Sunday night when I visited Shaheen Bagh, the police on the Jamia side of the Canal stopped me from walking up to the protest site. I spoke to the cops on both sides of the road divider. They asked me if I was a local resident. I said no. They said the residents of the area have blocked the road further ahead, and are only allowing local residents to pass. I told them I would like to go and check that for myself, but they refused to let me go and check, because of course they were lying. They asked me why I want to walk down G D Birla Marg. I said I am a citizen of this country and I want to walk on a public road, what further reason is needed? Then they asked for my details; I refused to give it to them unless they permit me to walk to the protest site. A few other people were returning from this point, dejected. I picked up one of them and gave them a ride till the Shaheen Bagh Jasola Metro Station. I parked my car there, and took the foot over bridge from the metro station to Shaheen Bagh. Then we walked through the neighbourhood to the protest site. The central government does not want you to attend the protests. They are scared. They are turning people away by harassing them, lying to them. Please visit Shaheen Bagh. Show your support. Debate with these people, talk to them, ask them why they are protesting. I can assure you, the protest site is one of the safest places you can be in India today. A lone woman can visit the place at 3am in the night and she will be 100% safe, and welcomed with warmth and affection. Please visit soon. Show your solidarity. Show your love for this country by having a dialogue over tea with dissenting citizens.

नफ़रत के सट्टेदारों को जूते मारो सारों को

https://www.facebook.com/AamAadmiParty/videos/619055095338995/ If BJP is Congress + 🐮 Then AAP is Congress + 🚸 🏥 Listen to this speech and decide for yourself if this is soft Hindutva or not. अभी बहुत काम बाकी है आज party कर के सो जाओ कल से काम चालू ⚒

Bisht campaigned in Maharashtra. BJP lost. Bisht campaigned in Jharkhand. BJP lost. Bisht campaigned in Delhi. BJP lost. Bisht wished the Indian under 19 men's cricket team for the World Cup finals. Even they lost. Saniya Sayed is right. बन्दा मनहूस है।

Some of you have wanted to donate large sums of money (> ₹50,000), or wire money from outside India, for the Delhi riot relief work. I have asked around and these are the organisations you should support. 1. SEWA Bharat and SEWA Delhi are supporting relief efforts that are being lead by our community and union leaders. Domestic and international donations are available through the link here: https://t.co/44JvFjy9tk (I have worked with SEWA in 2002 Gujarat riot relief work. They are genuine and very trustworthy. Multiple volunteers I spoke to, have seen their very real work on the ground in East Delhi after the riots. They have been present in these areas for years now, so their community connect is strong.) They have FEMA so can take foreign funds. They also have 80G. 2. Some activist friends are working with the IQRA Development Association Trust on the ground, to help families resettle again in their homes. I have not worked with IQRA, but very real and genuine work is being done by them. IQRA can't take foreign funds, but they have 80G. They had so far been helping victims of police brutality in UP. Now they are working in East Delhi also. I am not sharing IQRA's bank details here. The process is that you DM me if you want to donate, I connect you with my friends, they track when IQRA receives your money, trace what work was exactly done with "your" money, collect evidence like photographs and testimonies, send all these artefacts to you, and close the loop. If you have donated to organisations like CRY before, you would not be familiar with closing the loop. Large organisations are a pit where you throw in money and hope for the best. Small ground level organisations get you involved with their work, and may even put you directly in touch with the beneficiaries if both parties are willing. 3. The ICLU - Indian Civil Liberties Union - is putting up a legal fight on behalf of the victims. This is very important. In fact in the long term this is the most important work. We need to use whatever avenues the government provides us to take the perpetrators to task. Your best bet right now is to follow them on Twitter and see if they start a crowdfunding campaign. (When I asked one person how I could contribute to the ICLU, she sent me the bank details of the CPI-M. I am not sure how they are related. If that relationship makes you uncomfortable, you can figure out other ways to contribute to the legal teams finding suits on behalf of victims.) I will keep this posted updated from time to time...

Turns out the Bay Area is divided. Tech workers prefer Sanders and socialism (a worker's political party), tech employers want anyone but Bernie (so they can keep telling their employees to "do this work or we fire you and you lose your health insurance"). Here is a comment I really liked: "Here in Europe we have a (more or less) state provided health care plan, as well as a state pension. That's a nice balance: the soda and junk food eating people may work up a huge medical bill... and then they kick the bucket before enjoying the pension that they've paid into. They ran the numbers on this on several occasions (including a BBC documentary called "the cost of dying"), and it turns out that on average, it's the healthy tofu-eating workout types that end up costing society the most. They live long, and still end up with a big medical bill when their body finally starts packing in." At what point do human beings and human laws accept death the way the Bhutanese do - it is time for me to leave, let me go in peace, no hooking needles and beeping machines into me to prolong this.

Hindu bahujans killing Muslim bahujans. In the absence of strong bahujan leadership and unity, upper caste parties like the BJP continue to sow disunity and hate among the oppressed. One brother killing another. The rulers protect their own and manipulate those below them using the media.

Here you will find leftist feminist madam appropriating the struggle of the women of Shaheen Bagh. Yet another Indian feminist who is able to barely contain herself from stating that SB has evolved out of something she and her sisterhood did.

How long are we going to keep blaming this on the coronavirus? Every time you ask, you're told that "foreign investors are jittery". Bank after bank is keeling over. Index after index is falling. Let's admit that the investors are jittery about India, not some virus. It is the moronavirus that is causing all this economic pain - the educated idiots who have been supporting the nationalist fools running our economy into the ground.

In college we were content with screening राम के नाम पे and hoping that this would make the Hindutva monster would go away. How naive we were.

यह गोबर गोबर करते हैं पर होली नहीं मनाएंगे वो अल्लाह अल्लाह करते हैं पर मक्का अब ना जाएंगे वो जीसस जीसस कह्ते हैं पर holy water नहीं लगायेंगे All of the religions of the world are worse than my poetry. When it is a question of life and death, everyone runs to science. Please dump these morons and enlighten yourself.

Happy Women's Day. [ The last time I visited Shaheen Bagh was a month ago. And this woman in yellow made me cry. As my voice choked and my eyes welled up, I rushed to hide my face behind my camera. I and my friend had been talking about fear with each other when she had intervened: "कौन डर गया?" Me: "आप नहीं डरे बाजी। आप लोग कहाँ डरोगे। आप तो बहुत हिम्मत वाले हो। आप ने तो सारे मुल्क़ को हिम्मत दी है।" Then I expressed my frustration at the current situation: "उसको बच्चे नहीं हैं ना, इसलिए वो आपका दर्द समझ नहीं सकता। उसको यह जो बच्चे यहाँ बैठे हैं इनकी तक़लीफ़ नहीं दिखती।" She: "अल्लाह उसके दिल में रहमत देगा। अल्लाह उसके दिल में सभी के लिए प्यार देगा। हमको विश्वास है वो जल्द आएँगे हमारी बात सुनने, और हमारी तक़लीफ़ समझेंगे भी। और यह मुसीबत टल जाएगी।" It has been a month and I do not remember all the words. She has unflinching faith in her Allah turning the heart of he-who-shall-not-be-named, making him realise that love and not hate is the answer. And it is this faith that made me cry. Because I am a faithless man, and I do not know who to turn to in moments of deep despair. ]

1909. Women's Day first organised by the Socialist Party of America. 1910. Annual Women's Day first proposed at the International Socialist Woman's Conference. 1917. March 8 first made a national holiday in Soviet Russia. <yawning gap> 1967. International Women's Day first adopted by the feminist movement. 1977. IWD adopted by the UN. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Women%27s_Day My good friends from school, who I will not tag, struggle within their corporations to accord women the same rights and respect as men. Diversity, they say. Equality. The glass ceiling. Women's studies. Within which framework are they trying to accord women respect - capitalism. Who does capitalism serve - capital. What is the aim of capital - to multiply itself. Therefore, whose rights is capital interested in - the rights of its owners. Why would capital be interested in women's rights, when it can't even bothered with the basic human rightsof workers. Hello! We are talking about capitalism here - the same genius idea that has given us climate change and fascism. So, women struggle and try to shoehorn basic respect for themselves within capitalist institutions. And why wouldn't they? They exist, so they fight for their dignity. What they do not know is that this Women's Day that we all celebrate - when HR departments mouth platitudes and salons extend discounts - this day has its roots in communist struggles. So let us look at the rights of women in Soviet Russia: 1917: First major country to give full suffrage to women, as soon as it was created. 1918: Separated marriage from the church, allowed a couple to choose a surname, gave illegitimate children the same rights as legitimate children, gave rights to maternal entitlements, health and safety protections at work, and provided women with the right to a divorce on extended grounds. 1920: Legalized abortion. 1922: marital rape was made illegal. Women were given equal rights in regard to insurance in case of illness, eight-week paid maternity-leave, and a minimum wage standard that was set for both men and women. Where was all this coming from? All of these brilliant ideas, one after the other. You don't need fscking women's studies to tell you what women need. In a political system where women have real power, they just take what they always knew they needed. Did things always stay this good for women in Russia - no. Soviet Russia got screwed up pretty fast. But even then, it was a panacea for women compared to most contemporary democracies. It is 2020 and women in the USA are still fighting for abortion rights. We fight divided. Women fight for their own rights. Labour fights for its own rights. Environmentalists fight for the planet. Citizens fight fascists. The poor fight for social justice. Minorities fight for equal rights. But the enemy is common. Capitalism has managed to divide us into tiny armies. Every year we struggle and move a few inches forward in our respective battles. Yet every year, more wealth and power gets concentrated in the hands of the few. And even after all this, none of us have even half of what the socialists had back in 1920. As long as women believe their struggle is independent of the peasant, who stand apart from the factory workers, who believe that the programmer is a completely different species altogether - we will all be ruled together by the few who have too much and do too little.

One of the miracles of modern democracies is that we have taken key political issues and made them social issues. Women's rights is a political issue, but women's day is an event that HR departments celebrate. Seventy years of equal voting rights for women, but what is the representation of women in the legislatures? In Delhi the AAP is supposed to have come to power on the back of women voters, and even then the विधान सभा has only about 10% women. Political parties talk about reservation for women, because they are scared of giving equal representation to women. In a just political system, why would half the electorate need reservation to have themselves represented? What women need is a women's political party. Imagine if we could take half the votes in this country away from मंदिर मस्जिद सड़क बिजली पानी, and plough those votes into equal wages, sexual harassment, equal representation of women in public life (police judiciary bureaucracy army doctors engineers labour and farmers). The feminist movement exists because the women's political rights movement does not. Women are being educated about their rights and their equality for a hundred years, when what they need to do is come out on the streets and just wrestle that power out of the current polity's hands. [ continues in the comments section ]

There was a lot of noise about the SC allowing women to rise through the ranks in the Indian Army. First of all, the ignominy of women in fatigues having to appeal to a bunch of men in fancy coats for their right to be their badass selves. But the SC heard them out so due respect to them. Second, the executive saying that women can't serve on the frontline because women. To that, I say, imagine if all of our neighbours (who also conveniently serve as our enemies) were also forced by their women to have equal representation for women in the armed forces. Would Indian PoW women then not be treated with respect by Pakistani army women? Third, why stop at the army? If we had equal representation for women in the legislature, executive, bureaucracy, army - would we still be camping in Siachen then? Would we still be going to war so easily? Yes, Indira sent us to war over East Pakistan. Women can be strong decision makers too. But my experience with women tells me that if I had to convince a Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha half full of women to go all guns and tanks over Pakistan, they'd be like "Bitch please, we got hungry children to feed here first. Can't we just deal with Paki aggression in the UN. I'll write you a nice कड़ी निंदा speech." Fourth, and this will get me in trouble. Where is the army actually deployed? Kashmir and the North East. What is it repeatedly accused of there? Human rights violations, rape, misuse of AFSPA. What if half the deployment was women? Would that perhaps improve our relationship with our own citizens who we have jackboots over. Yes it'd be ideal to just send the army back to the barracks, but while we have it forward deployed in the homeland, wouldn't 50% women in the deployment dramatically improve things? And why stop at 50%? Would a Kunan Poshpora still have gone down with a female army? Again, I'm not claiming that women do not indulge in sexual abuse. I'm saying, do we expect a bunch of women to go over and rape an entire village just to let our their anger and frustration?

Recently I met with a parent at a coffee hour at the kids' school. She informed me that college for her son in the US is going to cost her ₹2 crores. I have two kids who will be in college 5 and 7 years from now. They are both in the IGCSE curriculum, and the current trend in their cohort is to finish undergrad abroad. In order to put them through college in the US, I need to save ₹3.5 lakhs per month for the next 10 years. This would be over and above my current monthly expenses, which include all of their school education expenses. In a job, this requires a surplus salary of ₹5.25 lakhs (assuming a tax rate of 33%). In a small business with 25 employees, this requires that I exploit all of them in a manner that they generate a surplus of ₹20,000 a month each. US college fees has increased by 25% in the last 10 years. The USD to INR rate has increased from ₹44 to ₹74 in the last 10 years. Extrapolated, this means I need an annualised growth of 7.5% on these savings, after tax. Which seems manageable. So here we are. We have built an education system where if the child wants to continue with the same standard of education in college that they receive in school, the per child savings required are almost 10x of what I spend today on their school education. Ashoka University costs about ₹30 lakhs over four years. JNU offers education that is competitive with these universities. Cost over four years is ₹1.25 lakhs at JNU, according to some sources (this was before the fees hike, and is based on a lower standard of living than what my kids might want to enjoy in college). All of this is a challenge only if the child wants to study something that cannot immediately be monetised in the economy - fine arts, humanities, etc. If they are studying engineering or medical science, then loans are easily available and also (relatively) easily payable once employed. Take a look at these ridiculous numbers and appreciate what it means to not have publicly funded higher education. What it means for the child, and what it means for the parent. And what it means for the workers that the child’s family must exploit, in order to save up this mountain of money and hand it over to universities. In comparison, Germany has abolished tuition fees in undergrad courses. Foreign students need only pay for their living expenses, which are about €1,000 a month, or ₹40 lakhs over four years.

शिवजी भक्त धर्म निरपेक्ष हैं। हनुमान भक्त भी धर्म निरपेक्ष हैं। सिर्फ़ मोदी भक्त ही सांप्रदायिक हैं। आप कृपया भ्रमित ना हों। और अपनी बुद्धी का प्रयोग तो कतई ना करें।

Yossarian Doabwala: Well, the Soviets had a lot of problems of their own, but a bunch of white slave owners claiming to be founding a country for "equality and equal opportunity" wasn't the kind of fraud they indulged in. Stalin was the son of a cobbler- in the Indian caste system, that would be the son of a chamar. [ When I moved to TN and first heard of MK Stalin, I wondered why someone would name their child after Joseph Stalin, so maligned was he in western literature. No one would ever credit him for defeating the Nazis. ] [ In case you're daft, that country of equality is USA; I had been talking about the American Dream with YD. ]

Now that we have confirmed COVID-19 cases of our own in India, we need a nationalist volunteer to help prove that cow dung and cow urine are in fact effective in warding off COVID-19 infections. This brave nationalist warrior should consume gaumutra, rub cowdung on himself, consume turmeric and other sundry remedies being floated on social media - and then he should volunteer in the NICUs helping COVID-19 patients heal. He should not follow any of the stupid prevention techniques that the WHO suggests - such as social distancing, hand washing, not touching his face - all that is for losers. This man would go about the hospital shouting Go Corona Go and providing other kinds of relief to patients. By not contracting the infection, he will prove the efficacy of our miraculous traditions to the modern science driven world.

Coronavirus highlights gap between socialist and capitalist responses March 9 — Mounting concern and panic over the global outbreak COVID-19 has gripped headlines as more countries grapple with its spread. Over 100,000 people worldwide have been confirmed positive for the virus, with many more cases surely going undetected. Italy has declared a travel ban in the entire country, and other countries are considering drastic responses. In China, thousands of recovered patients are going home and the number of new virus cases has fallen dramatically. The Western media focused for months on China’s response, often condemning it as authoritarian and downplaying its effectiveness. Yet it has become clear that China’s unprecedented quarantines, rapid construction of new hospitals, huge increase in testing capabilities and production of medical supplies, free testing and treatment, and mass mobilizations of medical workers, People’s Liberation Army soldiers and Communist Party members have succeeded in slowing the spread of the virus and reducing infections. China’s ability to take steps based on human need rather than by seeking to maximize profit has given it an advantage in combating the epidemic. Praise for China’s approach In a March 4 interview with the New York Times, Dr. Bruce Aylward, part of the WHO team that visited China in February, said, “A rapidly escalating outbreak has plateaued, and come down faster than would have been expected. Back of the envelope, it’s hundreds of thousands of people in China who did not get COVID-19 because of this aggressive response.” He added, “China is really good at keeping people alive. Its hospitals looked better than some I see here in Switzerland. We’d ask, ‘How many ventilators do you have?’ They’d say, ‘50.’ Wow! We’d say, ‘How many ECMOs?’ They’d say, ‘Five.’” (ECMOs are machines that circulate blood outside the body for oxygenation.) “The [Chinese] government made it clear: testing is free,” Aylward pointed out. He noted if you tested positive for COVID-19 when your insurance ended, the state picked up all costs, and that in the U.S., personal cost is a barrier to speedy treatment: “That’s what could wreak havoc. This is where universal health care coverage and security intersect.” Asked if China’s response was “possible only because China is an autocracy,” Dr. Aylward replied, “I talked to lots of people outside the system — in hotels, on trains, in the streets at night. They’re mobilized, like in a war, and it’s fear of the virus that was driving them. They really saw themselves as on the front lines of protecting the rest of China. And the world.” Sylvie Briand, director of Infectious Hazard Management at the WHO, told reporters, “Measures on movement restriction have delayed the dissemination of the outbreak two or three days within China and a few weeks outside China.” (cgtn.com, Feb. 19) High-cost response in the U.S. The U.S. response to growing numbers of COVID-19 cases contrasts with China’s. In a Feb. 26 press conference, Vice President Mike Pence, who has no medical training and was governor of Indiana during one of that state’s worst HIV outbreaks, was tapped by President Trump to direct the federal government’s response. During the press conference, Trump made several misleading and outright false claims that contradict the government’s own scientists. He claimed that cases are “going very substantially down, not up” and that the U.S. is “rapidly developing a vaccine” and “will essentially have a flu shot for this in a fairly quick manner.” The director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, however, stated that a vaccine won’t be ready for another 12 to 18 months. Health Secretary Alex Azar refused to say that a potential vaccine would be affordable for all. This mirrors other parts of the high-cost U.S. health care system. At the March 3 White House press conference, CNN correspondent Jim Acosta tweeted: “WH is allowing only still photos of this Coronavirus briefing. No audio or video permitted.” A week earlier the administration sought to lock down information about the outbreak, instructing scientists to coordinate all statements and public appearances with Pence. Federal agencies are wholly unprepared for an epidemic of this scale. There are nearly 700 vacancies at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention due to a freeze in hiring Trump initiated to cut costs. Public health agencies across the board have suffered from funding cuts for years. In 2018 Trump slashed 80 percent of the budget from the CDC program to prevent global disease outbreaks and disbanded the government’s global health security team created to lead the U.S. response in a pandemic. With nothing to back him up, Pence promised that the U.S. would be capable of performing over 1.5 million tests a week. The actual numbers are far lower. Washington state, which reported the most cases as of March 8, can perform a little over 1,000 tests a day. Oregon can only test 40 a day, while Arkansas can test just four or five. Earlier this week the CDC announced it would stop reporting how many tests it has performed. Statements about tests have omitted reporting that, in order to confirm a positive result, a person must be tested twice. A state conducting 1,000 tests a day can only test 500 people. The country’s true testing capability is unclear, leaving the public in the dark as to just how widespread the virus has become. The failure of capitalist health care The slow, botched and opaque response of the Trump administration contrasts with China’s rapid response that has slowed the spread of disease within its borders. The U.S., with a larger but completely capitalist economy, has failed to do what China has done on its road to socialism. U.S. government officials seem more concerned with how the stock market and quarterly profits will be affected than with public health. China’s quarantines and other measures negatively impacted its economy, yet China’s steps against the virus protected the health of millions of people — within China and around the world. The capitalist U.S. seemingly cannot, or will not, prioritize the health of even the people living within its borders. https://www.workers.org/2020/03/46803/

How would lock down work in India? What will happen to our crops? Our daily wages? Our livestock? Will the FCI suddenly open its godowns and give everyone food? And then who will answer for the lakhs who die every year from starvation, the crores that live with malnutrition? If we can afford to feed everyone, why haven't we been doing it? If we can afford to isolate all COVID-19 patients at state expense, why haven't we isolated the TB patients? (1,000 deaths a day from TB, Nilay read in the newspaper today and told me.) COVID-19 will raise a lot of questions. But where is the leadership to ask those questions? Will Mayawati, Kanshiram's protege and Dalit leader, ask? Will Laloo ask? Will you ask?

We Indians are experts at fudging numbers. From senior bureaucrats cooking up economic growth, to the job seeking fresher cooking up marks, we seem to be at it all the time. Don't want the COVID-19 infected count to go up - simple, don't test sick people. No tests, no detections, no bad press. 400 deaths a day from road accidents. 1,000 deaths a day from TB. I am sure the government is banking on tens of thousand people just coughing themselves to death from COVID-19, before anyone even notices something is amiss. Edit: Looks like the US (Trump) might be suppressing numbers too: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/coronavirus-showed-america-wasnt-task/608023/

People are hurling the choicest of abuses on Gogoi. It is as if this is the first time that the judiciary has lost all respect. I repeat my old question: what has the BJP ever done that isn't straight out of the Congress playbook?

I think the big test for humanity will be - where does it put public money after COVID-19 is done and dusted. Does it invest in public health care and digital commons to enable people to continue working remotely, thus decongesting the planet. Or does it continue to prop up the wealthy by pumping money into every industry that COVID knocked over (such as airlines). Already the Indian government has spent $2 billion in keeping the USD to INR exchange rate stable, while increasing taxes on fuel. The US government has vowed to plough $1.5 trillion into the stock market.

The sensex has so far wiped out three years of gains. आज जितनी ही गिरावट कल भी रही तो sensex 19 मार्च 2015 के स्तर पर पहुंच जाएगा When Modi took over as PM, the sensex was at 25,000. Peak was at 42,000, just a month ago. Today, 30,500. 68% of the gains that his industrialist and investor friends made have been lost. The rest of the gains will also be lost in a week, at this rate.

Point: "Speaking as an American, So what? We invented a cure for Hepatitis C and it currently costs thirty thousand dollars so we aren't exactly in the business of eradicating disease. We live among healthcare insurers that routinely refuse even the most basic services with impunity and gouge for the rest. An ambulance ride costs as much as a used motorcycle. And this is to say nothing of the 44 million Americans who still, to this day, have no health insurance. This is a pandemic and the only acceptable cost for this vaccine if you want it to work, is going to be free. US Pharmaceutical companies actually fought recent relief legislation to ensure whatever curative is developed has to be priced at their "fair market" prices so its not likely you'll see anyone but wealthy boomers lining up for whatever drug we develop." Counterpoint: "I don't think your assessment is entirely fair. If you look at the cost (and financial risk) involved with researching a new kind of drug, getting it through lab tests, and getting it through several stages of clinical trials, then actually ramping up production to produce it at the scale you need, I can easily see the costs getting big enough to justify a pretty nasty price tag. Keep in mind that every stage of the process kills an absolutely huge percent of potential new drugs, so there is a LOT of risk involved with trying to bring something to market; if there's not enough financial incentive to offset that, you won't get the backing of big businesses to begin with and you're stuck developing in the proverbial stone age with access to almost nothing. You also have to remember that individuals aren't usually the ones paying the most of that $30k. In many cases, insurance will cover some or even all of the bill for a lot of drugs and procedures. This is a big part of the reason why health insurance is so expensive in the US: because medicine in the US is expensive to begin with. A big reason medicine is so much cheaper in other locations is because the research and development is being done in the US and businesses that develop these drugs can use the legal system here to ensure they're able to recoup costs (not just for one drug, but often for the development of many other similar drugs that didn't make it). Not every country respects US patents, trademarks, copyright, etc. That's why the US tends to produce a relatively high number of medical breakthroughs compared to those countries (it's one of the few things the US actually still does pretty well in). And countries that don't respect our legal systems are able to benefit by way of generic equivalents that cost orders of magnitude less. That actually seems a bit unfair to me, but then lives are at stake so of course it's not usually pursued too closely. Which of course brings us back to the original question: is the US in the business of eradicating disease? I think we're one of the only ones who really, really are. The problem is that the sky-high costs of doing exactly that are then offloaded to US citizens by way of increased healthcare premiums and still-high out of pocket costs. But I think it's a problem with more nuance than you give it credit for and I don't think there's any one easy solution that won't have its own share of negative consequences. And it's also why I think expecting Congress, of all people, to come up with a good solution is utterly insane. We need experts from all the involved fields involved in coming up with a working solution, not a bunch of popularity contest winners."

At 80%, Cuba has the highest life expectancy outside the developed world. With 11% of the GDP spent on health and 0.8% of the population working as physicians, Cuban humanitarian missions travel the world over, from countries suffering from Ebola to Wuhan. Cuban doctors were in Wuhan performing free eye surgeries when COVID-19 struck, and they stayed put and helped. If you don't know about the Cuban health miracle, it is your loss. Read up, because it isn't a miracle. It is a proven plan that works. In spite of very low nutrition rates, a crippling economic embargo, and a GDP not worth taking about, Cuba has shown how Healthcare should look like in a civilised world.

भाईसाहब, मेरे मोहल्ले में तो लोग 4:50 से ही थाली पीटना शुरू हो गए। जिन गरीबों के पास ना थाली है ना घर बैठे रोटी, उनका सोचो...

75 districts have been locked down. Known, tested cases have crossed 250. Why was any of this necessary? Why could we not close down inbound air services earlier? The government claims passengers were being screened in Feb, but we all know the case of these VIPs in Lucknow and Kolkata, traipsing around from party to party without being quarantined or tested, even though they came in after mid March when the alarm bells were already ringing. If all inbound flights had been closed and all inward passengers physically quarantined in government-paid hotels instead of being sent on home quarantine, none of this would have been necessary. Compare the cost of government sponsored quarantine of all passengers, versus the economic cost of a complete shutdown of all the metropolitan areas, and all industries and wholesale agricultural markets. But when I say all this, I will be told to stay positive. Demanding your government to act is being negative. And then they will start comparing India with Europe, where case load is higher. Is our inward international traffic per capita even comparable to South East Asia, forget Europe? It was so easy to have just sealed the country rather than seal district after district, state after state now. But expressing this reality will only make supporters upset with me, not the government. The fact is that the government is acting after people have started dropping dead. Till no one was dying, the borders were wide open, and the disease came in from multiple entry points and took multiple paths to various points in India. The bottom line is that most of the middle class will be unharmed, except those who flew in from abroad with the disease, or those who came in contact with such fliers. We will comfortably cocoon ourselves at home, while the poor buggers we just clapped for will secure our gates and sweep and disinfect our streets, collect our garbage, deliver our daily bread. We have no social net for the poor, a crumbling public health infrastructure, and now we are going to let the disease rage outside and take out slum after slum. COVID-19 will do what the slum clearance boards would have otherwise done. The only middle class people who will continue to serve are the doctors, emergency services and police, and we just clapped and told them to go sacrifice their lives in the line of fire. India has a democracy of the privileged, for the privileged, by the privileged. The rest are just cannon fodder.

When Modi screwed us over with demonetisation, he wept. When Modi screwed us over by not acting on time to stop the spread of COVID-19, he made us all clap and cheer. Both were dramas to "spread positivity". It is your job, as enlightened citizens, to look through the smokescreen and identify the failure that he is hiding with this drama.

"Support the jawans at the borders", the government kept saying, to hide blunder after blunder. And even as it asked us to support our troops, it allowed Pulwama and Pathankot to happen, and till date a culprit has not been identified or tried. "Support the doctors and emergency services", the government is now saying, to hide its blunder of not implementing strict border control even as China was forthcoming with all information related to COVID-19. Stop talking "positivity" and look through the smoke screen. I know you have enough rations for one month, but do you have enough for six? If the poor die, what will the rich feed off of? Demand that each and every state government extend indefinite and unqualified financial and medical support to each and every citizen. The stock market and all other castles you have built, exist only on the backs of the working class. If the workers perish, where will you go? Even foreign shores will not accept you in such times. The poor will not die without a revolt. And they won't even need to pick up their pitchforks. They only need to break open your door and sneeze on your face, and you will be done for.

"Ministry of Labour and Employment Government of India has advised the Employers of Public/Private Establishments not to terminate/reduce wages of employees, particularly casual or contractual workers. If the place of employment becomes non operational due to COVID - 19, the employees of that unit will be considered to be on duty." This is how the great Indian government runs small businesses into the ground. It makes paying wages the employer's problem. Do you really think the construction sites and restaurants will obey? And the factories that are made to obey, with no financial support from the government, will just shut down in a month. Most small businesses in India live from hand to mouth. With no revenue or margin in March, where will the cash flow to pay wages come from? The government's job is to just create a mess. Now if a worker is laid off, their only option is to go to labour court and sue. Which will lead to prolonged litigation. What's worse, if a worker is laid off due to non performance in the next few weeks, it will still be deemed a COVID layoff and contested. So firing is frozen. Enjoy. Meanwhile, factories in China and Korea, at the epicenter of the pandemic, run at full steam. How? Are we learning from them and adopting best practices? No, we are panicking and shutting down. Consumer driven businesses are only too happy to shut down because their markets are also gone. But what about B2B businesses? The decimation of Indian industry and a takeover of the market by Chinese manufacturers is at the maximum a quarter away. No public health, no wage support for employees, no capacity building of manufacturers - just shut down is the Indian policy. Keep sucking wages in the name of ESIC, but when a pandemic strikes the ESIC hospitals capitulate in a matter of days. बजाओ आप थाली बजाओ। I'll be here all day ranting. Drop by any time.

If there is one thing you can do in these times, it is support @[303025137197193:274:Saket Gokhale]. As soon as the news of CoSara cornering the market for COVID-19 testing broke, he filed RTIs to question the government. The ministry hastily convened a press conference to state that FDA approval would not be required for COVID-19 testing. The impact this would have on the health outcomes of millions of potential patients of this disease in India, and its spread, is hard to imagine. Please support him and his work with your money: https://www.ourdemocracy.in/Campaign/FightAgainstHate See https://www.facebook.com/saurabh.ja/posts/10157932604402040 for context

Let us impose a curfew and then start destroying all dissent against the government. First we destroy the protest sites that has already been vacated. Then we start painting over art. Then the contractors you for this work contract COVID-19. Win!

There is something very symbolic about painting over this graffiti. The Hindi words, painted in Latin script, are "bol ke labh aazad hain tere" (बोल के लभ आज़ाद हैं तेरे) Speak, for your lips are free (liberated). The government of India has imposed a COVID-19 curfew in Delhi, and is using the opportunity to paint over slogans promoting freedom of speech. These slogans had been painted by protestors, in order to voice their right to criticise the government.

Demonetisation: Your money is useless. Now feed your kids. Lockdown: You can't step out to earn. Now feed your kids. In both scenarios, the (central) government made no attempt to provide relief or foodgrains to the poor impacted the most by these tragedies.

What the world needs right now - an end to wars, and a drastic reduction in defence spending. Pakistan is so poor, it cannot even declare a lockdown. But it still has soldiers up in Siachen, and so do we. Why can't the two countries back off from our borders, at least for the rest of 2020? The UN should force all countries to declare an unconditional moratorium on war. Defence purchases should be cut back (weapon manufacturers and their workers can find some other work to do). Soldiers should be mostly redeployed for humanitarian work. If at this point in time, the terrorist and maoist organisations of this world, whatever their ideology and whatever causes they may be fighting for, cannot put down their arms, then their supporters should really question their support for such people. The world is reeling under an unparalleled humanitarian crisis, and supreme leaders are still stroking their nuclear missiles. Shame. Everything we have should be directed towards food, medicine, shelter, aid, not maintaining and expanding these arsenals.

A good start. I don't see this adding up to ₹1.7 lakh crore, and I don't see this benefiting everyone. A universal benefit would have been better. Right now, for receiving any benefit, you need to be a pre registered beneficiary - a pensioner, widow, farmer, construction worker, MNREGA worker, etc. A lot of people will still get left out. NGOs could now shift focus from distributing rations to helping people register for these benefits. This would have both short term and long term benefits for the person registering. Hope the government will not restrict benefits to those registered before 26 March 2020, and allow new registrations. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/nirmala-sitharaman-announces-rs-170-lakh-crore-package-for-poor/article31170718.ece?homepage=true

What has the government done? With so many months of advance notice of impending doom, this is what the leaders of the nation came up with! Forget being socially distant - these people are actively exchanging any infection they carry with each other - taking them to all the towns and villages they cross - and beyond to their own districts.

When I said earlier that individuals and the government are not doing enough to protect against coronavirus, I was told I'm fear mongering. Now when the government is scrambling like fools, I am not allowed to call out their folly because we must stay positive. Exactly at which point in a sequence of disastrous events are we supposed to hold our elected representatives to account?

Our own Marie Antoinette: people are walking hundreds of miles, carrying all their belongings and children on their shoulders, so they can have a vacation. We are not a nation. We are a Colony. The poor and working classes of this country have been colonised by people like him. A hundred years ago Britishers were talking in the same tone about Indians. What has changed?

These people built all the ivory towers across Gurgaon, Noida and Delhi. Much of this "inventory" of houses lies empty or unfinished. If we were one, these houses would have been flung open for their constructors right now. Their makers would not have been living in slums or ghettos. They would not have been forced out of their dwellings and on to the long march home, out of a fear of hunger, disease and the inability to pay rent. We are not one. Out nation is not doing fine. We, the middle class, are fine. They, the poor lower castes, have been left out to die. I am getting groceries door delivered. My team members who live in poor areas are being lathi charged when they step out to buy groceries. Recognising and admitting that our society is broken, is the first step to fixing it. Till we live in collective denial and keep mouthing platitudes, no progress can be made.

Opposition को पप्पू बोलते रहो, देश द्रोही बोलते रहो। और कांड पर कांड करते रहो, public ताली बजाती रहेगी इस देश की, तुम नहीं बजवाओगे तो खुद ही बजा लेगी। Educated folks who find it in themselves to attack the critics of demonetisation, even after every single economist has called it a disaster, even after all the so called black money came back to the RBI, even after not a single stated objective was met - such people are the strength of these idiots currently in power, who give them the impunity to repeatedly get away with murder.

एक demonetisation body count था अब एक lockdown body count होगा जैसे कोई कीमत ही ना हो इंसानी ज़िंदगी की People ask me what the government could have done better. One of course was to lock down the airports a lot sooner, and quarantine absolutely everybody who came in since January. Yet, even an airport shutdown could not have absolutely safeguarded us. So step two would be to announce the lockdown in January itself. Tell everyone to travel wherever they wanted to, in buses and trains, and settle down for the long haul, before the virus came to India. A planned, gradual shutdown of the entire country, where everyone gets to go to their villages and hometowns, and state governments organise community kitchens, before the curfew is imposed, would have been so much better. Third, the master orator spectacularly failed at calming the nerves of the poor. So the government should have spent money and launched a large campaign to educate people about staying put and not migrating back to villages. And spent actual money paying rents for them and sending ration home to them. This is the part the can still do. Start communicating, start spending money. Hindsight isn't 20/20. Any half idiot would have planned it like this. In fact people with administrative experience would have come up with even better plans than these. They clearly weren't allowed to.

Open the Godowns Now! Don't feed the pigeons even as people go hungry. The image cited is pre-print. A copy of the article is available at https://kractivist.org/india-open-the-godowns-now/. I quote: "Emergency lines have to be put in place right away — within a few days, not a few weeks. Horrendous stories have already started pouring in of people going hungry, notably among migrant workers who are marooned all over the place. This is not the time to ask for their ration card or Aadhaar number — they must receive immediate, unconditional public assistance." The rest of the article discusses the ₹1.7 lakh crore government aid recently announced - how it really isn't even 1 lakh crore, and how it will not reach the intended recipients fast enough. Jean Drèze usually knows more than the North Block and the South Block put together - because he actually lives among the poor frequently.

Religion allows you to hoard wealth created by men, in the service of an imaginary God. That wealth exists, yet starvation exists in parallel. Of what use is religion and God if not in the service of the poorest? Padmanabhaswamy - $20 billion. Tirupati - $0.5 billion just in gold. These are reserves - revenues are separate. Who controls this wealth, and who creates this wealth?

For those of you who've been missing Amit Shah - this is what he has been up to. Not governing. Just scheming underground.

1. Government under-reports coronavirus cases.† 2. Government finds large Islamic gathering.‡ 3. Government blames Jihadivirus as a spate of latent cases explode across the country. 4. BJP, AAP, Congress, your islamophobic uncle, everybody wins!

Let us all start speaking truth to power. The UP CM attended a public religious event in Ayodhya on the 25th of March. This is a fact. It is the truth. We will not be silenced from speaking the truth.

When they see death approaching fast, they see no wrong in going full communist, treating everything as public property to be utilised for the greater good. But they impose a slow creeping death, a meaningless existence, upon millions and millions of poor. Private houses lie vacant while people are homeless. Godowns are stuffed with food while children sleep hungry. Single parents work three jobs to keep their families afloat, yet they come and repossess cars. The full might of the state stands behind hoarders of private property. Modern economies are a slow, creeping, debilitating crisis for the masses. It is worse than feudalism, in that the landlords have no face, and no incentive to keep those they subjugate alive. They tell us that the poor are lazy. With their inherited wealth, their alumni quota ivy league education, their trust funds, from their yachts and mansions and glitzy hotels and resorts, they tell us that the working classes are lazy and the inheritors of wealth and merit are deserving. And we listen. Like fools we listen and we believe. We sing songs, clap hands and light candles, as they sell public infrastructure and enterprises, destroy our forests and privatise education. The fat get fatter on public money, while bad debt is nationalised and poor decisions are bought out by public sector companies.

मोदीजी के भक्तों ने चुप कराया है तो कुछ सोच कर ही कराया होगा

चिल्ला चिल्ला के थक जाएगा यह आदमी, और P Sainath, और कई और आदमी और औरतें। सरकार के कान पर जूँ ना रेंगेगी। What is the fear of the government in releasing these foodgrains? हमारे ही तो हैं, जनता के, यह अनाज। दे दो ना फिर जनता को। एक महामारी में दुकानदार कम कमा लेंगे, तो कम सही। इसे निकालोगे गोदाम से तो रबी की फ़सल की जगह बनेगी ना।

तुम बिल्कुल हम जैसे निकले अब तक कहाँ छुपे थे भाई वो मूरखता वो घामड़-पन जिस में हम ने सदी गँवाई आख़िर पहुँची द्वार तुहारे अरे बधाई बहुत बधाई प्रीत धर्म का नाच रहा है क़ाएम हिन्दू राज करोगे सारे उल्टे काज करोगे अपना चमन ताराज करोगे तुम भी बैठे करोगे सोचा पूरी है वैसी तय्यारी कौन है हिन्दू कौन नहीं है तुम भी करोगे फ़तवा जारी होगा कठिन यहाँ भी जीना दाँतों आ जाएगा पसीना जैसी-तैसी कटा करेगी यहाँ भी सब की साँस घुटेगी भाड़ में जाए शिक्षा-विक्षा अब जाहिल-पन के गन गाना आगे गढ़ा है ये मत देखो वापस लाओ गया ज़माना मश्क़ करो तुम आ जाएगा उल्टे पाँव चलते जाना ध्यान न दूजा मन में आए बस पीछे ही नज़र जमाना एक जाप सा करते जाओ बारम-बार यही दोहराओ कैसा वीर महान था भारत कितना आली-शान था भारत फिर तुम लोग पहुँच जाओगे बस परलोक पहुँच जाओगे हम तो हैं पहले से वहाँ पर तुम भी समय निकालते रहना अब जिस नर्क में जाओ वहाँ से चिट्ठी-विट्ठी डालते रहना ~फ़हमीदा रियाज़, पाकिस्तानी शायरा

Communists are horrible, evil, godless people. Socialists are freeloaders.

Capitalism: Free Healthcare, education, subsidised housing, minimum wage, social security are terrible ideas. The poor are lazy and just don't deserve help from my tax money. Meanwhile, here are the things capitalists are perfectly comfortable with: 1. Rent seeking. Deriving passive income from assets without doing any real work. Even the asset management to be done by others. No wealth tax. 2. Inheritance. Then living off passive income from the inheritance. Unlimited inheritance, no inheritance tax. 3. Children inheriting leadership roles in their parent's companies. Even publicly listed companies. In other words, free income from assets you did nothing to create, is honourable. The state supporting those living in poverty, and helping them reach a situation where they can earn again, is evil. Most assets are not acquired through hard work, but through speculation, inheritance or marriage. Once you're rich, might is right, you don't need to work, and everyone else who can't work is lazy.

तुस्सी की सोचेया? उहा मंदिराँ बनाऊँना लाई सिर्फ़ मस्जिदाँ नु तोर देनाँगे? उहा त्वाड्डे हर सपने नु तोड़ देनाँगे।

हमारे साथ धोखा हुआ है या यूँ कहें कि इस देश के साथ मोशा हुआ है

I've ranted many times before how GST has delivered a deathly blow to domestic businesses. See for yourself, graphically. Customs duty is at a historical low, compared to taxes on domestic manufacturing and services. Can any of the admirers of this government be bothered to ask the government why this is so? Why citizens are paying more and more income and services taxes while importers and corporates have it easy? (No don't ask me. Don't argue with me. Ask the government. See if it cares enough to listen to you. See if you have the guts to engage with them.)

Everybody is out to delegitimise grassroots people's uprisings. Each party claims the other organised it. They do not want to admit the truth - that the public can organise on its own, against all parties, all rulers. In these times when every party supports either the oppression of minorities or the building of the temple in Ayodhya, the dissenting public has refused to align with any party. We are on our own, and the political class and their media chamchas are running scared.

Bread and circus आजकल रोटी भी बंद है। करोड़ों बेरोज़गार हैं। तो सिर्फ़ तमाशे पर ही देश और सरकार टिके हैं। रोज़ हज़ारों लोग मरते हैं। भूख, लाचारी, बीमारी से। किसान आत्महत्या करते हैं। कोई नहीं गिनता। एक अभिनेता मर गया, देश विदेश व्याकुल है। रोज़ समाज सेवी जेल जाते हैं, कुछ कहने पर, कुछ करने पर। NSA लग जाता है। या गोली से उड़ा दिए जाते हैं। कश्मीरी जवानी में जेल जाते हैं, तो बुढ़ापे में निर्दोष पाए जाते हैं। सब चलता है। एक बूढ़े आदमी पर मुकदमा हो गया, जनता दिवानी हुई जा रही है। सुशांत और प्रशांत, दोनों मुझे पसंद हैं। मैं दोनों का मुरीद हूँ। मग़र क्या अब न्यायालय मेरे शौक़ के लिए चलेंगे? न्याय सबके लिए चाहिए, और वक़्त पर चाहिए। न्याय न्याय है, मनोरंजन नहीं।

Communism has more forks than the Debian project. An entire army of academicians have lived off of splitting hairs over the different forms, and then criticising each form. The only people who care about these nuances are big binda Leftists and झोला वाला JNU types. The average commie like me is very happy with the plain vanilla kind of communism. Give everybody food, shelter, clothing, education, respect, social stature, acceptance, and a satisfying way of participating in the economy. For example, if you want to spend your life counselling people, then so it shall be, and you should focus on your art and science, without worrying about where your next meal will come from or how your child will attend college. If you can build a better machine to test for COVID-19, you should get immediate access to the best labs, equipment and expertise in the world, without artificial boundaries or the need for private sponsorship getting in your way. Yet today we live in a world where countries are vying to get exclusive access to the means of production of vaccines, such as the Serum Institute in Pune. If only the Leftist in India hadn't done such a shit job of being communists, Indians would have a better appreciation of what they're missing out on. And Kerala wouldn't appear to be some sort of magic state where everything goes right most of the time and people cooperate to save each other. Seventy years after independence, a party wouldn't be winning Delhi state elections repeatedly on the most basic poll plank of delivering Healthcare and education to all. Sigh. Neither is the average commie like me looking forward to revolution, massacre or dictatorship. If everyone could have their basic needs fulfilled by the state in a peaceful and democratic manner, while I sit at home sipping my tea, I'd only be too happy. http://indpaedia.com/ind/index.php/Household_expenditures:_India says that the average monthly expenditure of a poor Indian is about ₹2,000 a month. Half of this is on food, the rest is on fuel/conveyance, clothing, education and health, in that order. So, for 130 crore Indians, we need 26 lakh crore rupees for the state to completely take over all their basic expenditure in an year. Or 13 lakh crore just to take care of food - 10% of our GDP. Capitalists will tell you that if the state takes care of the poor, they will stop working. But our GDP is already five times what it needs to be, to meet everyone's basic needs. Which means people are interested in earning a lot more than what it takes to just meet basic needs. Do we really need to have 19 crore hungry people in India, just to create a workforce full of desperation? For reference, 31 lakh crore is the expenditure figure of the national budget (the state and municipal budgets are separate). And 3 lakh crore is the (much talked about) net worth of Mukesh Ambani. People think it is impossible to provide a decent life to everybody. It is actually quite easy, once you want to do it. It will lead to true democracy, freedom and self determination, through the collapse of wage slavery. Imagine what a nation of decently fed and educated 130,00,00,000 people could do!

Average GDP per capita of the world: $18,000 Average wealth per capita of the world: $70,000 Median wealth per capita of the world: $7,000 Notice the disparity? Most people in the world are really poor, even though the world has tremendous wealth. The basic tenet of capitalism is that the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few people leads to the greater good of everybody. See how that worked out 👆🏽 The basic tenet of communism is that the wealth of the world must serve all humans - provide them food, shelter, education, healthcare and fulfilling work. The world has spent the last few centuries trying to convert ideas, inventions and discoveries into financial wealth. If instead of money, we had tried to create human and environmental growth, the world would be a much better place today. I see all these countries competing for COVID-19 vaccines, trying to corner as much of the dosage as possible, and I see that as a global society, we have miserably failed.

By god की कसम if I hear one more sappy ode to how प्रशांत is like the महात्मा ना, I'mma burst. इस देश के लिए एक ही महात्मा काफ़ी था। And the RSS shot him dead. Now let's not create another one. It just betrays that we will cry buckets for a "senior" "respected" lawyer from a privileged family background being put on trial in court. While activists from far less privileged background put their lives at risk by working on the ground every day. Hundreds of them have been rotting in jail. Many are shot dead every month. Some spend their entire lives in jail or being chased (by cops or courts). I met Medha Patkar ताई at a district court in Delhi once. Carrying bulky files that she wouldn't let me carry for her. Some stupid case against her. चक्कर काटing. Does anyone care for people who fight for tribals? So many have been charged with UAPA and NSA, when there isn't even any proof against them. With fabricated letters, or the mere possession of printed book of a certain kind, they are interred never to be seen again. अगर आपका दिल प्रशांत के लिए रोता है मग़र जो पहले से ही jail में हैं उनके लिए नहीं, तो कृपया अपने हृदय की जांच करवा लें। शायद वक़्त रहते उसके दोगलेपन का इलाज हो जाए।

🤦🏽‍♂️ I'm usually not someone to romanticise religion. But I believe the idea of pilgrimage in Hinduism involves some struggle, some distance to be covered by foot, some appreciation of the journey and not just the destination. By destroying nature on the way to create an easy path for everyone, we have given focus to the piousness of the specific spots and eliminated the concept of yatra completely. There really is no magic in a temple. If there was any magic, it was in the journey. That will be gone now. The temples of the mountains will be like the temples of the plains - overcrowded, and surrounded in heaps of garbage. People from India's cow belt form a bulk of the pilgrim population, and to put it bluntly, they don't have a modicum of civic sense. They throw trash in the open. Bathe in rivers in flimsy underwear. Loooove plastic, and love leaving their plastic trash behind. They can't be bothered to clean up a toilet after using it. And now bazillions of them are going to land up in the far reaches of verdant Uttarakhand. I cry.

The Indian National Army did not have caste/region/religion based regiments like the then British Indian Army. What about the Indian Army today? Has it done away with the Gurkha, Maratha, Rajput and what not regiments it inherited at the time of independence. तुम कह्ते हो तो मान लिया कि राहुल गाँधी अच्छा लड़का है। उसके पापा बुरे थे, नानी कुछ ज़्यादा बुरी थीं, मगर नेहरू और गाँधी तो अच्छे थे। बस एक के नाम के आगे पंडित लगा था, दूसरे के महात्मा, मग़र दोनों जातिवादी नहीं थे। उन्होंने देश आज़ाद होते ही सारा जातिवाद और ब्राह्मणवाद जड़ से मिटा दिया था। उन्होंने कभी अम्बेडकर, सुभाष चंद्र या भगत सिंह का विरोध नहीं किया। ब्राह्मणवाद तो इस देश में सिर्फ़ और सिर्फ़ RSS ने फैलाया है, मोदी ने फैलाया है।

Tamil Nadu - reservation in education - highest - 69% Performance in education - best - has the most number of high ranking institutions. Tell me again how reservation is detrimental to educational attainment. Also, guess which state I went to college in 😎 (Highest reservation correlates with highest ranking colleges. Now imagine if we had reservation in jobs.)

Rajnath Singh has admitted in Parliament today that China is squatting on 38,000 sqkm of Indian territory just in the UT of Ladakh. This is 26 times the land area of the NCT of Delhi. The area of Delhi is so big that in the map of India, Delhi isn't just a dot, it appears as a little circle or patch. But the Union Territory of Ladakh is itself 59,000 sqkm. Which means that what Rajnath has done, in classic BJP style, is to obfuscate the past and the present. China was already squatting on Aksai Chin and other parts of Ladakh before 2014/2019. So he has very deviously failed to inform the public, even on the fourth day of Parliament, how much additional territory China has usurped in 2020. Two days ago he said there has been no infiltration on the India China border in the Ladakh sector. This is again meaningless information because armies don't infiltrate, terrorists do. And China (small mercies) isn't sending any terrorists or infiltrators into India, it is sending its uniformed army. This is the same misinformation that BJP spread at the time of the Doklam standoff. Eventually we came off with egg on our face. I would not say we lost territory because the territory belongs to Bhutan. But Bhutan told us to stay out of its boundary disputes, and China is now permanently positioned on high ground at Doklam. Add to this China kidnapping our citizens with impunity in Arunachal. Things seem to be getting worse by the day. Modi had said मैं देश नहीं बिकने दूँगा, but we are borrowing from Chinese or China dominated banks, and being dominated by China at the border. Our imports from China haven't ebbed one bit, because as yet no clear policy has been announced that benefits local manufacturing or demerits imports (other than some work on smartphones, where again, no one is talking of total value addition in India). At what point do "nationalists" join citizens in demanding that the government at least, at the very least, keep things together at the border.

Me: Yea, school's over, we should hang out. Kids: Cool. Me: Do you know what a strike is? Kids: Yes. Me: Hmm. I wasn't expecting that. So, the Parliament passed a law this morning which requires all workers to give a sixty day notice before going on strike. Kids: (start laughing loudly) Nilay: (sobering up) That's not possible. Me: https://www.timesnownews.com/india/article/lok-sabha-passes-three-labour-code-bills-what-do-they-mean-for-indias-employers-and-workers/656759 Kavin starts laughing even more hysterically. Now he's basically laughing at himself laughing. We all cuddle and laugh for some time, then gradually disperse. This was weird, yes. But, see, we weren't laughing at the plight of the workers. We were laughing at the insanity of our legislatures. And perhaps, laughing at ourselves. At this point we are all just sitting ducks. Whose rights get shot when, nobody knows.

https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/indian-media-modi-time-100-list_in_5f6c4a82c5b674713cc7aaee "Indian Media Says Modi On Time 100 List, But Too Scared To Say Why" अरे वो डरपोक हैं तो हम थोड़े ही हैं, लीजिए पढ़िए मोदीजी की तारीफ़: The key to democracy is not, in fact, free elections. Those only tell who got the most votes. More important is the rights of those who did not vote for the winner. India has been the world’s largest democracy for more than seven decades. Its population of 1.3 billion includes Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and other religious sects. All have abided in India, which the Dalai Lama (who has spent most of his life in refuge there) has lauded as “an example of harmony and stability.” Narendra Modi has brought all that into doubt. Though almost all of India’s Prime Ministers have come from the nearly 80% of the population that is Hindu, only Modi has governed as if no one else matters. First elected on a populist promise of empowerment, his Hindu-­nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party rejected not only elitism but also pluralism, specifically targeting India’s Muslims. The crucible of the pandemic became a pretense for stifling dissent. And the world’s most vibrant democracy fell deeper into shadow.

Left: India doesn't have real democracy. We need a revolution. Also Left: The recent events in the Rajya Sabha are a murder of democracy. Me: How do you murder what was never there? 🤔 Jokes apart, the left has been at the forefront of farmer and worker rights in India, from the time of Bhagat Singh. A lot of the current protest against farming bills is being led by them. If only they were willing to understand as much about caste justice as they understand about class and gender justice.

The Swaminathan Commission Report https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/what-is-swaminathan-report-that-has-kept-farmers-vs-govt-battle-alive-for-12-years-1247810-2018-06-01 was tabled in Parliament from 2004 to 2006. The UPA did nothing with it for ten years. The NDA hasn't touched it in six years. It doesn't just define a formula for MSP calculation that is fair. It calls for prevention of diversion of agri land for corporate use. It asks for redistribution of land. It says tribals should have the right to use forest land for traditional purposes. And a lot more... Both the Congress and the BJP are beholden to corporates. Just like the Democrats and Republicans in the US, they are supposed to offer alternatives, but other than the fact that one isn't openly fascist and the other is, there is really not much difference when it comes to their commitment to the rich capitalist takeover of our economies. Which is why, it is very important to listen today. The entire opposition is out on the streets. See which one of them is really talking sense, and which one is merely protesting for the sake of politics. Of course, one measure is to see which party is committed to implementing the Swaminathan recommendations in their entirety.

Two shocking news have come out of UP today. These two are the events that made it to public attention. 32 more crimes against SCs would have been registered today (statistically). A lot more would have been committed (the victim who was burnt this morning - even her case hasn't been considered a crime against an SC yet). The total number of crimes, in a state more populous than any European country (including Russia), is shocking. The total number of overall administrative issues is mind boggling. Most districts in UP have more residents than most countries in Europe. Allahabad district has more citizens than Denmark or Finland. Did you know UP has 20 crore people. Who really believes they can all be governed from one city by one government? Now comes the eternal question? How many pieces of UP should be made, so that it is well governed? 2, 4, 6, 8? If I look at it purely from a middle class gaze, you need at least 4-5 high courts for a population and landmass this large. If we go by our old language formula to draw boundaries, there are at least seven distinct languages spoken in UP - from Khari Boli to Bagheli. Anyone shooting for just a Purvanchal is low balling. You need 6-8 new states for the UP region to be well administered and therefore, prosperous.

I've never shamed anyone for not posting/tweeting about a certain issue. But it's very enlightening today, to go through my feed. Looking for familiar names that post regularly about women's rights. Four Thakur men violently attack a dalit girl. It is a caste crime first, a rape later. If you don't understand that, maybe see Patal Lok again. It's how the jungle that is rural India works. So many people only talking of rape. No mention of caste. No mention of strangulation, attempt to murder. So many people not talking of the Hathras case at all. Absolute silence. Shame on such people who look at the caste of a victim, or the party in power in the state, and then decide whether to speak or not. Mahua Moitra, it isn't just the emperor who is naked. इस हमाम में काफ़ी लोग नंगे हैं।

Feminism in India is just another upper caste दुकान। You can clearly see the bias against taking up her cause because she was a dalit, rural woman. Social media, the media, women's rights activists, the NCW, and the UP government - nobody responded.

Rahul Gandhi is such a nawab, that even if the police yanks him by his hand, everybody loses their shit. The media, the public, everybody is sorry for him. Every political leader of every hue gets roughed up. It's part of their job. They all have to walk under the sun. In all these years, he has not been able to shake off this image. He appears to live a simple life and care about the poor, but his perception management is a failure. In fact, he has not been able to successfully change or manage the public's opinion on any issue. He warned the government about corona in February. When you're the opposition you don't issue warnings. You rouse the public. You strike terror in the heart of the government, force them to act. He is just another Joe Biden.

I'm going to lose a few friends today. Perhaps if you read till the end before responding... The urban middle class has very few violent crimes to worry about when they step out of home. When I, a man, step out of my gated community, at most times of the day, at most places, I know I won't even get mugged. In fact, my biggest concern is getting harassed by the police. But when it comes to women and children, we worry constantly about sexual assault. Their safety is a genuine concern that completely alters our behaviour and plans all the time. It can seemingly happen anywhere, by anyone. Rape is a problem. If you look at the recent assaults on dalit women in UP, there was an attempt to murder every victim. No matter your feelings about rape, murder is a bigger crime. Now, if you go and look at statistics on crimes against dalits in any major Indian state, the numbers are scary. 25% of the crimes reported in UP are against dalits. Only 15% of the victims are women. If you are a rural dalit man and four Thakur men choose to make you an example, choose you to assert their caste dominance, you die. They attack to kill. You might escape with grievous hurt. If you are a rural dalit woman, you also get raped. That rape happens for very different reasons than the rape we worry about. It is an assertion of caste dominance. "We can do whatever we want to the dalits, wherever whenever we want". "Stop tilling the fields and go back to cleaning our shit". Katju said unemployment causes rape. I firmly disagree. Yet I'm sticking my neck out like an ass and saying something equally thorny. If you eliminate caste dominance in rural India, you eliminate a lot of rape, and a whole lot of other violence. Or, the other way round, if you start punishing the violence and it plummets, you wipe out a lot of caste dominance with it. Not to mention, by eliminating caste hierarchy, we give a majority of our people dignity, opportunity, and many other good things. So, when a dalit is raped by a higher caste, if we said less of "men are the problem" and more of "caste is the problem", or we simply said both, that would really help. In feminism it is called intersectionality.

The courts have low Diversity. The courts are in no hurry. The courts have the power to fix the police and the administration. The courts have a huge backlog of cases. Stop demanding fast track courts for the 0.01% crimes that make it to public attention. The courts need reform. Or at the very least, a whole lot more money, Diversity, and sensitisation. Empower the courts. Get judges that are representative of the victim castes, classes, genders. Half our problems will melt away. A majority of people in jails are undertrials. Just the resulting decongestion of jails will pay for a lot of this.

जो rape के नाम पर वोट की भीख मांगते हैं उनसे बड़ा भिकारी कौन होगा?

Imagine if, in the middle of a pandemic, all sanitation work ground to a halt. Nationwide. We think we can crush the dalits by imprisoning one family within their own homes? For thousands of years, no one else has ever cleaned a street or a sewer in this country. Garbage will pile up. We will be sitting ducks. Who you think you have crushed by relegating them to a menial, low paying job of only one kind. Even they weild power over you. Covid taught you to wash your own dishes and mop your own floors. A Valmiki strike is gonna teach you a lot more.

He gets free top quality post covid care in AIIMS, twice. He gets to fly to NYC for further care, free. He gets a fancy VVIP airplane, a cavalcade of imported cars, a bungalow, a new parliament building to sit in, a tax free salary and pension. He gives India CAA and mayhem. The friendly lady from the local government dispensary who used to call me every now and then when I had Covid - even she doesn't care about my post covid problems. I don't even get a dispensary visit. I give India taxes and employment. Who says colonialism has ended? Is this a democracy or a colony?

Nirbhaya and coalgate brought down the UPA. Hathras and LAC might well bring down the NDA. You see, no major political party has any interest in going hard on crime by investing in faster courts and cleaner cops. This would simply mean that half their MLAs and MPs end up behind bars within their 5 year tenure, and their government collapses. Now, the crime has occurred, and very little can be done. Even that little bit, the government cannot do, because its hands are tied. Instead it is indulging in one cover up after another. The political and caste equations are such. The UP CM protected Sengar and Chinmayanand, and now he must protect his Thakurs. You would wish that the bahujan vote consolidates against the BJP, Congress and AAP. We could then have a coalition of bahujan parties, like the VP Singh government. They might implement social reforms like the Sachar and Swaminathan reports. They might invest in universal healthcare, education and strong law and order. Here I am, an urban upper caste middle class vulture, hoping to see political reform from a heinous crime. अभी तो चिता के फूल भी नहीं बहे...

पुलिस को लाठी किसने दी? Who permitted these terrible PVC lathis? When they caned people during covid lockdown, you laughed. When they caned CAA protestors, you laughed. Now they are caning those asking for justice for rape victims? Are you still laughing? Or are you terrified enough to ask questions?

Courts must meet out the harshest punishment to Hathras DM and SP. The law does provide for criminal action for destruction of evidence, issuing threats, etc. Officials must know that they're between a rock and a hard place. Disobeying their political masters will lead to bad postings. Disobeying the law will lead to jail and termination. Might as well disobey the politicians and serve the people.

Sumeet Samos says: The most vulnerable community against the Caste supremacists of this country. Valmiki community on streets, not to clean your shit but to revolt against your supremacy and violence. If this is not a revolutionary moment then what else !!!

You need to counterbalance executive power with people power. Otherwise they will keep burning bodies and denying rape.

Thanks to the sheer brilliance of Modiji, we have gone from owning 126 Rafale MRCAs to just 4. The cash and aircraft strapped IAF is now buying MIG aircraft of 1980s vintage. Literally, these MiG-29 airframes were abandoned in the 1980s when Russia stopped building these aircraft. Moscow will now stuff avionics into these vintage airframes that have never flown before, and we will all hope for the best for our brave Air Force pilots. In the computer hardware industry, this is known as buying stock lots. Say a large corporation orders 3,764 PCs with five years warranty. The manufacturer makes 4,000 units, keeping in mind spares, damage, etc. After 5-6 years, they put the balance, say 123 units, on the market. Outdated technology, no warranty, no spares. Traders in Mumbai are notorious for buying such stock lots from warehouses in Hong Kong, then pushing these in India as new computers. Looks like our Gujarati brethren in Delhi have been learning from our Marwari brethren in Mumbai.

जिन्होंने इस घिनौनी सरकार को वोट देकर हम पर थोपा है, अगर हिम्मत हो तो सुनें अपनी सरकार की काली करतूतें

Hear hear. When I was half my current age, I used to wonder where Supreme Court judges come from. I know now that they come from the collegium system - a self perpetuating system where the top 5 SC judges decide on appointments, transfers and promotions of all SC and HC judges. This great system has ensured that more than half the SC judges in independent India have been Brahmins, even though they constitute only 4% of India's population. We have never had a tribal SC judge. We haven't had a dalit SC judge in the last ten years, since the last one was thrown into jail by his peers. PS: If you disagree with my views on the reservation system, the current state of casteism in India, and my criticism of casteism... excellent. I encourage you to go educate yourself, rather than come to me in private DMs and argue with me (unless you're someone I already know and care about). I'm sorry, but I'm not your unpaid educator. If you respectfully ask me for links to resources where you can educate yourself further, basically primary sources that I've read in order to formulate my views, I might oblige. But if you're just gonna slide in to tell me that casteism doesn't exist, reservation is the suck, Hinduism is the best way of life and I have no right to criticise it, etc etc, then please keep your views to yourself. Someone ten times smarter than you wrote the constitution and gave me the fundamental right to formulate my opinions and then air them. So don't tell me what I have and don't have the right to speak about.

Sati was neither created, nor was it's usage expanded, as a response to Muslim invaders: https://www.britannica.com/topic/suttee There is plenty of historical evidence to demonstrate that sati was pretty common in the 4th century BC: http://crossasia-repository.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/4023/1/The%20Antiquity%20of%20the%20custom%20of%20sati.pdf Archeological evidence of sati exists in the form of sati stones, which exist from the 5th century onwards. They are mostly found in the north west, but the Cholas were doing it too down south. Sati stones became very common in Rajasthan from the 11th century onwards; the "Islamic" invasion of India began in the 12th century. You can't keep randomly blaming the Muslims for every horrible practice that Hindus invented - from casteism to sati. You can't keep believing in all the nonsense that WhatsApp and the RSS dishes out. Facts are facts. Hathras happened because dominant caste Hindus are endemically casteist, and have always considered women disposable. Maybe fix our own culture rather than persistently blaming foreign invaders and foreign conspiracies.

One of the cutest beliefs you come across when speaking to Hindutva supporters, is that the caste system evolved as a response to Islamic invaders coming into India around the 12th century. And it is even more amusing to see Jains believing in this utter nonsense. (It is comical to see Jains believing in much of the Hindutva nonsense, given what their own faith preaches. But this caste business is the silliest of all.) One of the key points of Vardhaman Mahavira's teachings, when compared to his 23 predecessor Tirthankaras, is his insistence on karma as a determinant of your varna. He repeatedly says that your birth is not a determinant of your life's outcome - your karma is. But, In any case, Mahavira's beliefs on the caste system aren't important here. I only brought them up because any self respecting person born a Jain tends to know about them. There is a lesser known text, that most urban Jains haven't gone through. It is called the Kalpa Sutra. This text, a biography of Mahavira (among others), demonstrates that even though Jainism was not created with a caste or even varna system baked in, caste by birth very much existed in the times when Jainism was being founded (Mahavira was born in the 6th century BC). Multiple texts mention that it is "suitable" for Jain tirthankaras to be born in the kshatriya caste. All 24 tirthankaras (from the current cycle) were born kshatriyas. Except, as per the Kalpa Sutra, Mahavira wasn't conceived a kshatriya. His garbha took place in the womb of a Brahmin woman through immaculate conception. Indra, when he noticed this mistake, quickly fixed it by transplanting (or rather exchanging) the embryos in the wombs of Devananda and Trisala. Trisala, wife of Siddhartha, was a respectable Kshatriya of the royal Ikshvaku family. Now, the Ikshvaku family that Mahavira was born into, already practised Jainism before his birth. Mahavira is supposed to have cleaned up their casteism with his preachings, insisting on caste not being assigned on birth. I am, unfortunately, unable to find any original texts related to these preachings online. --- Now, those of you who aren't Jains, must be wondering what Indra is doing in Jain texts. Aren't Jains supposed to believe in an endless cycle of birth and death drive by karma. And those who live the righteous life get nirvana and escape this endless cycle. And then Jains make idols of these people, who are in a state of nirvana, and pray to them. Which means they are essentially praying to people/gods who cannot listen to them any more. Which is why, technically, Jains are atheists, because they don't have any omnipotent God(s) that can grant wishes or change the course of time. Jains also do not have a creation myth. So anyway, what happened is that the teachings of the 24 tirthankaras and teachers after them, were transmitted through the oral tradition (because, why not). And around 350 BCE there was a major famine and a lot of monks were lost. Most of the oral traditions were therefore lost. Around the first century AD, one sect of the Jains, the Shvetambaras, decided that it would be a good idea to write all this stuff down. I mean, what with famines and pandemics, this oral tradition was becoming risky business. And so they wrote down the Agamas, the (Jain) vedas, and a bunch of other stuff. Which... absolutely does not explain what Indra was doing in a Jain text. But thank you for staying with me thus far. I mean, writing down a historical event after 700 years, with famines wiping out most of your oral traditional carrying monks - a little bit of garnishing of stories after such a long time cannot be faulted, can it? In any case, Jain cosmology provides for an Urdhva Loka consisting of many Devlokas. You could call this heaven, because heavenly beings like Indra reside here. --- Those of you who are Jains must be wondering what this Kalpa Sutra is. You see, I was always a bit of the rotten egg of the family, hanging out with the Shvetambar Jains, first in West Delhi and then in Chennai. The Kalpa Sutra is a Shvetambar text, and since we Digambars 100% disagree with everything that the Shvets do... Anyway, the point is that we Digs got around to writing our texts down only in the 11th century AD or so. The Digs were really flourishing in KA and TN in the time between 1 Century AD and 11 Century AD. But then the Bhakti movement started and spoilt our party, with the kings of the time no longer so hot about being Jains any more. Meanwhile, in North West India, the Svets were having a bad time (remember this is the 11th Century, so Islamic invasions were yet to begin - think hard about who was giving the Jains a hard time then). The Kankali Tila archaeological dig, which demonstrates that Jains were flourishing in Mathura from the 1 Century CE, abruptly stops around the 11 Century CE. With all this trouble up north and down south, the Digs got down to documenting their stuff. But, they only have 10% of the literature that the Svets have, because they started 1,700 years too late. Which is why, while the Svets have 15 different versions of the Ramayana, the Digs only have one, the Padmapurana. Even that version could be called a derivate version of the Shvetambars' Paumchariya (but I am not saying that because I do not want to lose the three Dig "friends" I have left). Incidentally, Vimalsuri who wrote Paumchariya heavily criticised Valmiki for filling the Ramayan with false stories. Hmm. Lots of medieval scandal going on here. Shakes up the entire notion that Ram is a Hindu god, doesn't it. Consider now that even though the ASI found evidence of a temple under the Babri Masjid, the only idol it ever found was a 4th century terracotta figure of Rishabhanatha (who, if you haven't kept track, was the first tirthankara). The ASI has also gone on record to say that while it can confirm that a structure existed under the Babri Masjid, it cannot confirm what religion the temple belonged to. --- And this was my middle of the night, completely rambling brain fart. If you read this far, you are welcome to curse me in the comments, because you, my friend, have gained nothing from reading this. Nothing at all.

I love it when something like the Tanishq ad happens. I live surrounded by urban, sophisticated Hindutva believers. They love Modi and the BJP, hate Muslims and the lower castes, and detest communal harmony. Even so, something like this ad is too sophisticated, too genteel for them to rant about. But it hurts their sensibilities just as much as the rabid twitter trolls. I wish it weren't Covid times, and people were still visiting. I would figure out a way to play this ad every time the "हिन्दू खतरे में हैं" crowd visited. Such discomfort. Much wow.

Difference between government procurement and private procurement. सुन लें और समझ लें। आज यह हाल है तो BJP के काले कानूनों के बाद तो क्या ही होगा।

The Kaithi script was used to write the Angika, Awadhi, Bhojpuri, Magahi, Maithili and Nagpuri languages. When you kill languages, you also kill scripts. The cost of Hindi imposition is too high. Some day in the future, we will need to travel to Fiji to hear real Bhojpuri (Google for Fiji Baat and Girmitiya if that intrigues you). Edit: A number of states in India were formed on linguistic lines. These states make an effort to preserve their (dominant) language. What is called the Hindi belt or cow belt, also has a number of native languages, like the ones listed above. While civic efforts like People's Archive of Rural India are working to preserve these languages, there is no effort at all by the government. This is because the government is run entirely by urban middle class Hindi speakers, who have already mastered the Hindi language. They don't understand these other languages, which they derisively call dialects. They'd rather everyone just spoke Hindi so governance was easier. Its linguistic colonisation. The Haryana government spends zero rupees on the preservation or promotion of Haryanvi language or literature. It has only now begun to promote the creation of movies in Haryanvi, after movies like Dangal turned out successful. The only serious effort it makes to preserve Haryanvi is in folk music and dance.

These are the people playing politics over someone's dead body. Yet Yogi is arresting Kerala journalists on charges of conspiracy. This is the conspiracy - shameless political opportunism.

Environmental destruction is not the exclusive domain of capitalism, colonialism, or neoliberalism. Communist Russia was no less a destroyer of natural habitats. It didn't hold back when it came to nuclear pollution. It oppressed ethnic minorities in quite the same manner that China does today. Our only hope lies in indigenous communities. Which is why Morales and his team of indigenous leaders coming back to rule in Bolivia is so important. The more political power rests with people who live in symbiosis with nature, the less it rests with people like you and me who live disconnected from nature in cities, the better it is for the planet. From the Chipko andolan to Niyamgiri, it is the adivasis, farmers (those who may not be forest dwellers but are equally dependent on the forests) and fisherfolk who have led major environmental movements in India. Imagine what greater political power to such people would do for the preservation of our natural heritage. Indigenous lifestyle defeats the familiar white environmentalist bogie that the world is overpopulated. Indeed the world has too many people - at the top of the wealth pyramid - each generating pollution and consuming natural resources equivalent to thousands of people at the bottom. Yet, when the white man talks, he is signalling at "overpopulated" poor nations. He is not signalling at overconsuming nations. Environmentalists who were dead against the controlled burning of forests in California, have grudgingly admitted that the Native American tribes did a much better job of managing the forests with their systematic burning of dead growth. In a sense, these tribes had net negative carbon footprints thanks to their side job managing California's forests. The nation of Bhutan has net negative carbon emissions. Similarly, the tribe of Gonds must have a net negative carbon footprint, thanks to their management of the forests in Bastar. Somehow these people don't seem to fit into the grand scheme of colonial environmentalism. You see, when you grow up in a consumption driven lifestyle, you can only think of "less people, less consumption, less pollution". The urban mind simply can't comprehend the concept of "more people, sustainable consumption, no pollution, conservation driven lifestyle." [The world rewards Amazon and Jeff Bezos with tremendous, untold wealth. For what? Driving consumption, flooding the world with packages, shipping individual packages over long distances by air, and driving workers into poverty. All in all, causing trillions of dollars worth of environmental destruction. Bezos then commits billions of dollars towards climate change philanthropy. Somehow, that is the kind of environmentalist that appeals to urban environmentalists. Gravy from that billion dollar philanthropy trickles down to environmental organisations in a way that wealth has never trickled down to the poor in capitalism.]

Today a neighbourhood couple came home to insist that my parents participate in a group activity they organise. They said they follow all of Modiji's advice - wearing a mask and maintaining distance. I replied, "I am sorry but here we follow the doctor's advice, not Modi's advice. My parents are high risk. They're being polite so I'll tell you - they won't be joining." Nice people continue to be duped by this uneducated charlatan into conducting super spreader yoga events. "But Modiji says yoga and pranayam are improve our immunity." How can the breathing of AQI 300 air in an open ground be good? How can the synchronised exhalation of air by a few dozen people separated by a few feet do any good while a pandemic rages?

This man has sold vendetta and media trial for a living. Now he'll know what vendetta looks like. I can see all his victims grinning from ear to ear.

This whole farce going on in France is such a ... farce. The French are Islamophobes. They are all out racist. Any brown person who has had the misfortune of transiting through CDG will tell you as much (I myself am exhibit 1). A few French people are not racist. A few Muslims are terrorists. Islam has a problem with its followers turning into walking bombs. All major religions have problems with violence†. The Bible sanctions a crusade as much as the Quran sanctions a jihaad. And so these people (Europeans and Turks/Arabs) have been fighting each other since medieval times, sanctioning their squabbles by (selectively) reading passages from medieval books. Nobody cares about the latest edition of this squabble. Least of all the Saudis. All these Arabs were fighting each other like cats and dogs before oil started spurting out of their lands. Now they continue to fight among themselves, but with bigger weapons. Is that how good Muslims are supposed to conduct themselves? Poor Muslims are dying all over the world and the Saudis are busy decking themselves in gold rather than giving away their wealth in zakat or sadqah. And then these stupid wealthy elite in Saudi and Turkey want to teach Islam to the rest of the world. The worst of all are the elite Muslim clowns in India, busy pasting photos of Macron on roads. After all, Muslims are no longer the poorest and least educated demographic in India any more, so Muslim leaders must now worry about France instead of India. The cartoons by Charlie Hebdo are in poor taste. When something is gaudy, you just ignore it. And this whole ban on the visual representation of Muhammad is such a farce. The Persians have always had, and still have, pictorial representations of Muhammad in their books. There is a statue of Muhammad on the NYPL in NYC. Opposition to someone drawing Muhammad is as hypocritical as women who wax eloquently in support of the hijab. Which brings me to French liberalism. They will hunt down women wearing the hijab and remove it, because freedom. They will hunt down women in distasteful burkinis on beaches and make them strip, literally, because freedom. Who imposes freedom of expression and clothing through the police? And now they are militantly supporting the right of some cartoonists to be gaudy. So much for French aesthetics. It's as if the world has run out of disease and poverty. We must now go back and solve medieval problems, because modern life is utopia. † The Geeta is an entire book where a god incarnate convinces a doubtful prince to slaughter his own cousins in a righteous war. The Ramayana begins with Rama protecting brahmins who are slaughtering animals in havans. The asurs, who I can only imagine were indigenous tribals, were rather sensibly opposing this barbaric ritual. Holy war is as recurring a concept in Hindu literature as it is elsewhere. Later on Hinduism mooched off the concept of non violence and vegetarianism from Buddhism and Jainism, conveniently forgetting that Buddha and the Tirthankaras came up with non violence because they were so pissed with how the Brahmins were conducting themselves. The most badass Hindu rulers ever, the Cholas, didn't exactly conquer Cambodia and spread Hinduism there by sailing over and cuddling the Cambodians.

https://scroll.in/latest/977164/twitter-removes-former-malaysian-pm-mahathir-mohamads-post-justifying-attack-in-france Incensed by current events, Mahathir has dredged up the not too distant past, when colonialists slaughtered millions to spread fear and further their exploitation. They now sit upon this wealth, loaning it back to the former colonies through the IMF. Do you think the colonialists will pay repatriations, or return this stolen wealth, without a massacre. Without war. Disagree with Mahathir's logic on current affairs. But completely see where he is coming from, when he says the French have it coming. Which citizen of a former colony has not felt the agony that Mahathir feels when he talks of France's mass murders? (There is a follow up to this post here: https://www.facebook.com/saurabh.ja/posts/10158638784682040)

Farmers in Punjab are still protesting the farm bills. They are blocking toll plazas on national highways, draining the central government's revenue. But the highways themselves are not blocked; traffic flows faster than before because the snarling queues at the toll plazas are gone. What fun. Langar is served every day. Once a week the Muslims of the area serve langar. Once a week some other community. Some people go on hunger protest. These Punjabis go on protest and feed everybody. बताओ! If Adani builds godowns in Punjab, the farmers promise to burn them down. Meanwhile, here in Haryana, the farmers are लीन in भक्ति। How long before they wake up to impending doom? I have a mental picture of a bunch of Punjabi farmers marching on Antilia. That would be something. Beauty takes on the beast and his ghastly castle.

The BJP that imprisoned dozens of journalists just in UP, that too poor struggling journalists reporting from the ground, is now crying crocodile tears for journalism and freedom of speech. कितने घटिया और नीच लोग।

Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida receive कद्दू 🎃 from this grant. Faridabad and Ghaziabad are the only NCR cities receiving funds. Not that the other cities in this list aren't hellishly polluted. But the toppers in the most polluted list getting ₹0 is sad. Clear bias on the part of the central government, to make the AAP in Delhi look bad. And we citizens are collateral damage in this political game. The cities are polluted due to private vehicles. But the government is hooked onto excise collection from vehicle and fuel sales, and the profits from state owned oil companies. Politicians make money from fuel and auto dealerships, and kickbacks from road contracts. They keep spending on roads and bridges, but in the absence of buses and cycles, those roads are perpetually congested no matter how wide they are.

When your "leader" tells you who your enemies are, who you should hate, look behind their backs and find out who they are hiding. This. These are your enemies, eating away at your nation's wealth like termites. Muslims, dalits, tribals, communists, social workers, farmers, CAA protestors, journalists, progressive women, the poor - these are not your enemies.

For Americans, this is a contest between Dumb and Dumber. For the rest of the world, it's a contest between the Devil and the Deep Sea. (Bernie would have been an interesting president. Joe and Kamala are just the status quo - and the status quo in America is a low bar. Trump rattled his saber a lot but started no new wars. Obama's list is long, including Syria, Libya, and an exponential rise in drone attacks. Like his predecessors, everywhere he went, he left behind a failed state.) J & K will take Obama's legacy forward. Brace yourself, planet. Freedom Drones incoming!

Sharjeel Imam will perpetually be in jail, for suggesting that protestors block the Siliguri highway and choke the chicken's neck. Meanwhile, protestors across Punjab have been blocking train tracks and highways for months. No action has been taken by Central forces like the CRPF or RPF. In संघी राष्ट्र, if you want to protest, be a सरदार not a मुल्ला। Nothing scares the nationalist upper castes more than a gaggle of Sikhs with ladles in hand serving langar. Just look at the sheer amount of force used against the Sikhs in operation Bluestar, or the brutality of 1984. Actually, there is one guy who scares the ruling class more than the sardars. Laloo Yadav. He kicked Advani's Rath Yatra out of Bihar, and since then the collective cries of Jungle Raj haven't subsided. (Neither supporting nor opposing Sharjeel's speech in this post, because that isn't the point of the post. The point is who scares us the most.)

Farmers keep marching onto Delhi and nobody, nobody cares. Now we even prevent them from marching in, military style, and nobody cares. People care more about the militarisation of the police in the US, and the treatment of BLM protestors in the US, than they care about the treatment of protesting farmers in India. People like P Sainath keep talking about rural distress and nobody cares. Somewhere inside of our small minds, we have concluded that one day all of India will have large Texas style mechanised farms growing potatoes for Pepsico. And all these men and women working the farms will gladly become mechanical turks in our factories and homes. Until then, and after then, सब चंगा सी।

दिल्ली पर उत्तर पश्चिम कि दिशा से यह कौन हमलावर आए हैं? काँटों वाली तार पानी की तोप रेत के ढ़ेर आँसू गैस खाई इन सब तरीकों से हमारे जवान किन से हमारी रक्षा कर रहे हैं? क्या वे हमलावर हमें मार देंगे? लूट लेंगे? हमारे बीच में मज़हबी फूट डाल देंगे? हमारे शहर में तोड़ फोड़ करेंगे? हम में से किन लोगों को इनसे ख़तरा है?

किसानों का स्वागत गोले बारूद की आवाज़ों वाली आँसू गैस की बंदूकों से किया गया जो हरियाणा सरकार सालों तक सड़क के गड्ढे ना भर पाई, उन्हें यह मिट्टी से भरे dumper ट्रक कौन दे रहा है?

On the NH8 border between Gurgaon and Delhi this morning, there was heavy barricading and police presence, leading to a jam. If the farmers have been permitted to enter Delhi, then who were these barricades stopping. This government. All our governments, ever. They have always been ineffectual in giving safety to the common man. They don't even have money to provide the right ordinances to jawans at high altitudes. I just marvel at the resources at the disposal of this government today. So many policemen. Reserve police by the thousands. Cement barricades and structures, and cranes to lift them. Steel barricades. Dumper trucks laden with sand. Containers. Machines to dig up roads. Vajra trucks with water canons. Unlimited amounts of fresh water for these canons. Riot gear for the police. Barbed wire. Razor sharp barbed wire of the highest quality. A road near our house on Sohna Road, in Gurgaon, wasn't built for a decade. Nobody knew who the road belonged to - panchayat, city, state? Files and petitions went round and round while people were inconvenienced, and often even hurt. The government didn't have the staff, didn't have the money. It just didn't have the will, I suppose. Because when it has the will, look at the terrifying amount of resources it can marshall at a moment's notice.

https://m.hindustantimes.com/india-news/riding-tractor-trolleys-farmers-from-4-states-to-join-protest-in-delhi/story-98diw5fLjUc74L663ZPfzM.html https://citytoday.news/karnataka-farmers-travel-over-2000-kilometres-to-delhi-to-resist-controversial-farm-laws/ https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10160948964742715&id=22704527714&sfnsn=wiwspmo It is a nationwide protest with farmers from all states converging in Delhi. I wonder what makes the government think that they can defy crores of citizens just to satisfy their corporate masters.

There are many people who, of course, believe in the invisible hand of the market. There are a million ways in which the free market is subverted. That OPEC is a cartel, and so are India's state owned oil marketing companies, somehow never perturbs economists. You never hear about it in seminars or talks. Editorials aren't written about it. The market, when it works, only works under ideal conditions. When supply is long and lumpy, while demand is even across the year, the market starts getting wonky. Now make the primary sellers and the primary consumers really poor, incapable of stocking any worthwhile quantities. Also run both buyer and seller into debt. In fact make the seller so poor that they must sell their entire crop to repay debts related to farm inputs - and then make them come back to the market the rest of the year to buy the same grain that they only months ago sold. Dirt poor. Into this market introduce entities with tremendous capital. The government. ITC. Bania trading families that have been hoarding for centuries. In a perfect market, every harvest season the price of the commodities harvested would crash. There is excess supply, because demand is year round. Introduce traders, who will stock the goods and sell slowly over the year, and the price begins to rise somewhat. Farmer has no capital, needs his money back immediately to pay creditors and school fees. Trader has all the time in the world, because his downstream buyer has spread demand over 12 months of the year. This kind of a market is very very easy to manipulate with capital. It's not like there exists any commodity market, stock market, or any other market, that can't be manipulated with large capital. But farming - too easy. Are we really prepared for mass fluctuations in a sector that economically engages 50% of our population, while literally feeding 100% of it. The only way to move people from farming into other forms of employment is to generate other forms of employment. There is literally no romance in farming. There is no romance if your monthly household income hovers around ₹6,500 average. People want out. If villages can provide other forms of employment, they will be out at almost the same incomes. If you make them move to cities, they will want to be paid more, because cities are expensive. So at ₹6,500 a month you can happily employ farm labour in other jobs in a village. They would love to not be small entrepreneurs any more, with all their money stuck in something dependent on rains, locusts and all other stupid vagaries. (I'm not going to explain how setting a floor price through MSP prevents manipulations in the market by capitalists. This is left as an exercise for the reader, who may refer to my old posts on the subject.) Here is a bonus post, because these days no conversation is complete without talking about air pollution :-D https://www.facebook.com/saurabh.ja/posts/10158724890907040

Why are MSP and PDS important? MSP is a minimum support price for farm produce. It is a floor price that the government sets through the public procurement of foodgrains for PDS. PDS is the public distribution system. Ration. PDS is easy. PDS is about food security. In a respectable country, everyone who lives in it should have adequate food, good education, and healthcare. If you don't believe that the state should provide these basic necessities to all people, you are uninformed. More importantly, you are not humane. You believe that little children should go hungry or sick just because they were born poor (or people of any age). And that they should never have the opportunity to better their own lot through education. You also might believe that education is only about jobs and economic opportunity, not about living a more fulfilling and meaningful life. All kinds of research also says that providing these basic necessities leads to development. Look over the fence at China or Vietnam. The PDS system, if fully implemented, would require 1% of our GDP. Yep, that's it. That's all it takes to feed people. Healthcare take a whole lot more. So does education. But food is cheap (and still feeds 100% of the people while employing 50% of them). To feed the PDS system you need public procurement. Public procurement is done at MSP. What the farmers now demand is that the MSP be set as a floor price for all transactions of a crop, nationwide. The government need not support the MSP through public buying - it can just disallow trading below that price. Just like MRP caps the maximum price of a retail product, or the GST anti profiteering rule caps the maximum margin someone can make on a manufactured good, this manipulates the market in the favour of producers. But manipulating the market is horrible, isn't it? Anti consumer too. Allow me to segue into my fourth post... https://www.facebook.com/saurabh.ja/posts/10158724829042040

The central government has been unable to explain what experts were consulted when these three great farm laws were drafted. Farming is under great distress in India. There are a number of reasons for that and I'm not going to get into it. Look for any recent speech by P Sainath and you will know the causes and effects. (Or look for an old speech, it doesn't matter, because nothing really changes.) So, since the causes and effects are well known, remedies for these problems should also be well studied. Indeed they are. A report called the Swaminathan Committee report was presented in the parliament and buried a long time back. Here are some of the key recommendations in this report: - Distribute ceiling-surplus and waste lands; Prevent diversion of prime agricultural land and forest to corporate sector for non-agricultural purposes. - Ensure grazing rights and seasonal access to forests to tribals and pastoralists, and access to common property resources. - Set up a mechanism to regulate the sale of agricultural land, based on quantum of land, nature of proposed use and category of buyer. - Get farmers sustainable irrigation water by investing heavily in it. - Huge public investment in irrigation, drainage, water conservation and groundwater recharge, agri research, roads, etc. - Give farmers loans at 4% simple interest. - Expand the outreach of the formal credit system to reach the really poor and needy. - Implement a universal public distribution system. - Crop insurance, health insurance. - Develop labour intensive industries that can employ people, so dependence on agriculture for employment reduces. These are just the ones I like. There were 201 recommendations in all. The most important ones, as far as farmers are concerned, were related to MSP. The SCR wants MSP expanded to crops other than wheat and paddy. They also want millets and other nutritious cereals included in the PDS. The government implemented none of these recommendations in these three laws. Won't the farmers protest? OK, time to segue into my next post, which is about why the MSP and PDS are so important. https://www.facebook.com/saurabh.ja/posts/10158724808767040

What can you do to support the farmers? I hope you've realised that speaking on social media is of no consequence. You can consume news and videos from the site of the protests; Videos on the left or the right of the spectrum, as your leaning may be. But that's about it. You can make yourself more aware; You can't possibly change the opinions of others, because you're already in your cozy little echo chamber. You should go to the protest sites, because real politics, real democracy, real change happens on the streets. But definitely leave your daflis behind. If you try to hijack the protests, because protesting is your खानदानी धंधा, then the real protestors will whoop your ass. (I have no idea how YY made it into the inner circle of protest leaders, but the day isn't far when he will be ejected and will land hard on his sweet talking ass.) So do what my friend does at the protest sites. Go and sit with the protestors, with your mask securely on, and talk. Listen. Understand. And spend all of your life's savings on buying supplies for them. Because it might seem like the protestors brought trolly loads of food, cooking gas and supplies. Some leaders have claimed that they have four months of rations. But the protestors wouldn't be on the street protesting and camping, if they're weren't really hard up economically. Just because they're putting up a brave face doesn't mean they couldn't use your help and solidarity. So, solidarity. Without the selfies and self aggrandisement. And put your money where your mouth is. Let's begin there.

A popular criticism of the MSP, as it is currently implemented, is that it only benefits paddy and wheat farmers in Punjab, Haryana and Western UP. It encourages ground water depletion, stubble burning and the excessive use of fertilizers. Dr. Swaminathan and his bunch of boring experts have already recommended many ways to fix this. The most important is to expand MSP. Yep, you heard that right. Expand it, and it fixes itself. Let MSP cover all food grains, not just paddy and wheat. Pulses are important for our diet. So are millets. Cover those. Expand also the states providing MSP. Let every Indian state provide MSP, not just Punjab, Haryana, UP. Finally, expand what MSP stands for. From a minimum support price offered by the government for its own purchase, let it become a floor price for each agri commodity. You do all this, and you will immediately see multi cropping. You do this well, and combine it with good credit, and you might even see the political demand for input subsidies - free power and cheap fertilizer - going away. Farmers would rather have a guaranteed price for their produce than cheaper cost of inputs - if they could only have one of the two. (If you're reading this post, please also read https://www.facebook.com/saurabh.ja/posts/10158724753042040, https://www.facebook.com/saurabh.ja/posts/10158724778137040, https://www.facebook.com/saurabh.ja/posts/10158724808767040 and https://www.facebook.com/saurabh.ja/posts/10158724829042040. This post was the last in a series of five posts, and a sixth one is in my drafts.)

Meanwhile Modi: मैं चाय वाला हूँ। मैं ग़रीब हूँ। मैं मज़दूर हूँ। मैं किसानों का दर्द समझता हूँ।

This is intense. North Bay's messed up traffic just got buggered by a protest caravan passing through SF and the Bay Bridge. People standing on truck beds, hanging out of windows, honking. All kinds of violations but the cops can do nothing (maybe they'll mail tickets). The Indian government doesn't want the international community to comment on the protests. And the Indian protestors just had a solidarity protest causing serious disruption half a planet away. Now what else can the California governor do but comment? All of the Bay Area now knows about the black laws in India. Way to go, Bakersfield and Fresno bros. Another thread here: https://mobile.twitter.com/OGCulcasi/status/1335339791349473280

Five years on and they are still above the law. For all the BJP cries about Congressi corruption, not one person went to jail. Raids are only conducted from time to time as a means of political suppression. On the other hands, hundreds of dissenters and social workers, hated by both the Congress and the BJP for exposing ground realities, have been thrown into jail by the BJP. This is over and above those who had already been targeted by the UPA. All hot air. Nothing changes on the ground.

Are our troops still in Ladakh? Yes. Is China still occupying Indian land in Ladakh that it didn't occupy in 2019. Yes, thousands of square kilometres of it. Then can someone please explain to me what the hell our defence minister was blabbering today? Such an incompetent bunch of nincompoops, this lot in Delhi, putting our young men at risk. It's -16°C in Ladakh near where the troops are deployed. Wind speeds of 16 kmph with RH of only 3%. Basically, cold dry wind piercing through you like needles. And they can't always be indoors. This will go till -40°C before it comes down.

Salaries of contract workers had not been paid for three to four months. This is coming from the world's richest company - Apple. The company that manufacturers Apple's money spinning iPhones can't pay workers. Wow! Wistron talks of losses due to the damage. The cops have arrested 128 people. Who will arrest the people at Wistron and Apple responsible for not paying poor workers for many months. Filthy exploitation. Another article about the issue https://m.timesofindia.com/city/bengaluru/violence-breaks-out-at-wistron-corps-iphone-manufacturing-plant-near-bengaluru/articleshow/79691511.cms says that engineers were being paid ₹12,000 a month, technicians ₹8,000. After deductions, many workers who did get paid, were paid just ₹500 for the month. It was when workers started discussing their paychecks and the realisation dawned that this ₹500 payment was widespread, did the rioting begin on the shop floor. All well deserved. Shame on those employees in accounting who agreed to disburse ₹500 as monthly salary to employees. They should have rioted before labour. The Modi government was tomtoming their achievement of bringing iPhone manufacturing to India. Like this? Through slave labour? Shame. Shame on the center, on the Karnataka government, Bangalore police, Wistron and Apple.

I've been wondering aloud where the government is finding the money for all this बंदोबस्त। Turns out it isn't spending any money. From 00:30 to 3:30 in this video, you see that dumper drivers are being forced to place their loaded vehicles in the line of fire for free. This is the rule of law of Haryana government, where it's police can force anyone to do anything.

There is a thought I've carried in my head about the cold, protests, pizzas and capital. I just haven't been able to express it in words. Let me take a stab at it today. We all heard about the protesting farmers being served pizza in a langar. We heard too much about it, in fact. Which makes me wonder. Why is pizza elite food and दाल रॊटी सबज़ी not? Do people even realise that there should be no price difference between pizzas and regular Indian food? Pizzas are made on a wheat flour base, and have cheese and vegetables on top. How does that make it very different from roti, which is also made from wheat and baked in a tandoor, and served with paneer and vegetables. If you do buy into the logic that pizzas should be more expensive, more elite§, than roti and sabzi, then you have fallen for the marketing techniques of big business - ovens > tandoors, pizzas > roti. Things that are made with the same inputs, effort, skill and machines, should be priced differently based on how fancy their names sound. Marketing is all that the new farm bills are about. Access to market - how does the farmer's produce reach your kitchen. The farmer wants the government to set a minimum price for farm produce on a cost-plus model. The government wants large businesses to purchase the produce at market determined rates and then sell them to us after value addition. How much value are corporations adding to farm produce? Look around you, and you will see that everything around you comes out of the earth - it is either grown, mined, or drilled out. Governments and corporations have already figured out how to appropriate land for mines and petroleum wells. People who have lived on that land for millennia, are not made shareholders or stakeholders in the mining corporations. They get a pittance for their land, and menial, dangerous jobs in the mines, power plants and refineries. The wealth that is generated, is split between corporate profits and government taxes. And who controls the corporations and the government. Who controls the profits and the taxes? Who, in other words, is flying around in personal jets in India today? In India, the government has not been able to turn farms over to corporations. Farmland is eaten up for building cities, dams and factories. But the farmers have not allowed large private entities to own and run farms. The corporations now want the next best thing - control the market that the farmers sell in, and consumers buy from. But do corporations control markets, or is the free market run by the invisible hand that enables free trade and optimum prices? Farmers own the land that farming is done on. At least, that is how farmers are defined in India; landless labourers are not considered farmers. Into the land, farmers add farming inputs - seeds, fertiliser, pesticides, etc. The farmer also provides labour, machinery and transport. Even though they own the most important resource for farming - land - they do not have enough capital to purchase the inputs, or even feed their own families that labour on the farms through the season to generate saleable produce. Since independence we have made halfhearted attempts at solving the problem of credit to farmers. Yet dozens of farmers commit suicide every day due to unpaid debt. Farming in India is rain-fed and therefore risk prone. Besides, with the price of farm produce largely determined by the international market now, prices can suddenly drop and the farmers forced to sell below their cost price. And yet, we have models like Amul, where farmers have come together to build a brand, own it as a cooperative, and control the marketing and profits of their own produce. In spite of the remarkable success of dairy marketing cooperatives in India, which have resulted in even Nestle keeping out of the Indian dairy market till recently, we do not see farmers coming together to market their agricultural produce in a similar manner. And so we see the farmers perpetually in a trap. They do not have the money to invest in their next crop. They borrow money for inputs and pour it into the land. Whatever is generated is sold at very low margins. And yet the prices that I pay for food have only gone up in recent times. Take mustard oil. Commodity exchanges trade it at about ₹105 per kg. The cheapest bulk rate of branded mustard oil is ₹143 per liter, or ₹156 per kg. MRP is between ₹180 and ₹200 a liter. What value are corporations like Adani, which owns the Fortune brand of mustard oil, adding to a commodity like mustard oil, for the price to increase by this much? Primarily, they are adding capital. They are providing the money that feeds the entire supply side, from farmer to private mandi to oil extraction. They also feed the demand side by providing their produce to distributors and stores on credit. And where is Adani's capital coming from? Profits, and loans from banks. Your money in your banks, available at favourable rates to Adani because he has creditworthiness. The farmer is not creditworthy, even though s/he owns land. Anil Ambani was, till earlier this year, creditworthy, even though just one of his businesses had defaulted on loans worth close to ₹100,000 crores. It's rambling, of course, this post. And so is my thought process in this mind numbing cold. While I am uncomfortable inside a sealed concrete building, with a razai and a heater, there are farmers out in the open, protesting by the thousands, dying by the dozens in this biting cold. Are they stupid? Are they greedy? Are they naive? Are they hired protestors? Or can they simply see through the stupidity of the middle class, which is happy to pay 10x for pizza over roti? Can they see through the marketing of the government, the Adanis and the Nestles? §Why farmers, who produce all the ingredients that go into all food, should not be offered elite food at a protest/langar, is of course, beyond me. What makes the elite, elite? What makes them more deserving of elite food? When you are enjoying an ice cream outside Nirulas and a begger child approaches you, why do you have to tell them to buy roti and not ice cream with the ₹10 you gave them?

Why is Koregaon important? Because the dalits find it important. It is a source of strength and pride to them. Not everything can be looked at in binaries. The British rule was evil, but it wasn't the greatest evil to have befallen India. Caste was and is the greatest of all evil, and Koregaon was an important milestone in western India's anti caste journey. The dominant political force today, the Sangh, has always maintained that the "Muslim invasions" of India were the greatest tragedy to have befallen India. A tragedy that is being "righted" by the building of the Ram temple. They take everything that isn't Abrahamic in India and label it Hindu. So the tribals of the Narmada Valley and Dantewada are Hindu. But the rivers and forests that the tribals worship, can be dammed, destroyed and mined. They are not to be protected. Anything that anyone has ever done to counter the twisted logic of the savarnas should be celebrated. And those celebrating it don't need your approval either. A series of events have led us to the Indian Constitution, and the freedoms we collectively enjoy today. Imagine where we would be, as a society, were it not for all these invaders and rulers pounding away at the edifice of caste over centuries.

In India, protestors are taking the largest corporates head on, because of laws they know will benefit corporates over the poor. In the US, citizens have stormed the state capital (and the Capitol). I don't agree with them, but at least they're taking matters into their own hands. In China, Jack Ma disappeared two months ago and the public hasn't let out a squeak. I have no love for this billionaire, even though Alibaba.com has allowed me to conduct millions of USD of business with China without ever stepping foot in the country. Late stage capitalism is characterised by the people taking on the government. Late stage communism is characterised by the people's voice being completed crushed, silenced, muted - even though it all began with a revolution far more massive than anything India and the US are seeing. Or perhaps the public in China has simply become apathetic. काफ़ी confusion.

The British: Indians can't run their own country. Upper Caste India: Forget running their own mines, tribals can't even get white collar jobs in them. Spot the difference between these colonies?

TIL that a university in Aurangabad is named after Babasaheb. And a memorial to the dalit brothers who lost their lives protesting for the university to be renamed after him, exists in Nagpur. Up yours, RSS. Bang in your territory, this nation's youth upturned your casteist agenda. One day Bhima Koregaon will also be celebrated with glory. And you will hunker in your headquarters and shiver.

Very clear explanation of what the farmers are talking to the government about. Purchase at MSP must be expanded beyond two crops to 23 crops, so that farmers beyond Punjab Haryana WestUP can also benefit. This demand is being pressed upon by farmers.

When I was studying in college, there were two long running organisations on campus. One was called the Vivekananda Study Circle. The other was called, from what I recall, the Ambedkar Study Circle. The latter is now on FB - Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle, IIT Madras. One of the coordinators of the VSC was in my department, perhaps an year or two junior to me. He hosted the VSC micro site on our department web server. I wasn't much interested in Vivekananda, because I wasn't much interested in yoga, meditation, Hinduism or spirituality. So I never looked at his site. I was one of the sysads of my department, and a classmate of mine was another. The other sysad was incensed by the right wing lies that this junior was persistently putting up. The usual RSS propaganda, what he published back then is commonplace on WhatsApp now. But twenty years ago, publicly expressing hate against muslims and dalits, and supporting it with manufactured lies, was looked down upon. As a north Indian private school educated kid, my reading was limited to textbooks and foreign fiction in English. My co-sysad had been (largely) educated in government schools in Kerala. The kind of Malayalam literature that this fellow considered light reading, was well beyond my comprehension. After all, when I first witnessed Vaikom Muhammad Basheer's Moonshine and Skytoffee staged at the Alliance Francaise in Chennai, I simply couldn't fathom how someone could take complex social issues and make light of them in such an entertaining way. When fellow sysad decided to take down junior Sanghi's page, I let out the usual liberal squeals about freedom of speech. I don't think fellow sysad invested much time in explaining to me that hate speech isn't covered by my fragrant concepts of freedom. He did what he had to do and moved on. Anyway, this got me interested in Vivekananda. So far my understanding of this person was based on textbook descriptions of him, and books that the Ramakrishna Mission and Vedanta Society sold about him at the Ice House and his memorial at Kanyakumari. The Internet was relatively new. But already scholars had put the medium to good use, putting up the truth about Vivekananda. Google was very new. I was incensed that the good name of this seer was being used by the RSS to spread their hate within campus. As I searched for him, I read articles, original speeches and quotes by Vivekananda. He, more than even Gandhi, was betrothed to casteism (known sometimes by the flowery name of varnashrama). Gandhi projected casteism as some sort of necessary evil. He wanted the shudras to continue to serve (suffer) without compliant. Vivekananda projected caste as an ideal of successful society. He wanted shudras to evolve and "become like Brahmins". The Brahmin was the ideal human to Vivekananda. He became one, leaving behind his kayastha roots, and he wanted other shudras to follow. This hero worship of the Brahmins, after all they had done to subjugate the other castes for millennia, is beyond me. But Vivekananda went on. He believed India had not become a world super power only because people were moving away from caste. A casteist society was the ideal society. By then I had enough of an understanding of the RSS to know that they had nothing to do with Hinduism, and everything to do with Brahminism. Another way to put it, of course, is that there is no Hinduism without Brahminism, and so caste superiority is really what the GSB run RSS promotes. And so, you know, who better a veil for the Sangh than Vivekananda? All his life, the Brahmins fought him tooth and nail, and after his death, they promptly appropriated his legacy. How typically upper caste, eh. Speaking of Vivekananda's death, it is well documented that he suffered from 31 ailments and died at the age of 39. For a man who spent his entire life selling yoga, meditation, fitness and a healthy lifestyle, that's an awkward truth that all books hide. Of course, the RM version is that "he didn't die; he obtained mahasamadhi". Yeah, right.

From class 6 to 8, I studied ancient, medieval and modern Indian history through NCERT books written by Romila Thapar. Her insipid style of writing was only partially responsible for me losing interest in history. Most of the damage was really done in grades 9 and 10. A recurring theme in Romila's books were peasants. Nobody seems to have cared much for them, throughout history. Nevertheless, their happiness seems to be very important to historians. A king that kept his peasants happy was a good king. A lot of the protests carried out by the INC were triggered by peasant suffering, starting from the Champaran protest. Throughout grade 8, we learnt that the British were constantly exploiting the peasants. And before them the Mughals had often been rather mean to peasants, leading to revolutions such as the one by Dulla Bhatti. So, peasants are important. And occasionally, powerful. But peasants is just a fancy term for poor, marginal farmers. If we apply that term in the contemporary context, the farmers committing suicides are peasants. Those protesting in Delhi, are mostly peasants. Between ten and twenty thousand farmers have been killing themselves each year, due to unpaid debt. If we have read our history well, that level of distress in the peasantry cannot bode well for the ruling class. More importantly, it is an unequivocal sign of bad governance, first by the UPA, and now the NDA. Those who choose to ignore farm distress and the farmers' protest, do so at their own peril.

Me, visibly annoyed by smoker near me. Kavin: Why doesn't the government ban smoking? Me: The Supreme Court has banned smoking in public. And ten years ago we had this active health minister, Anbumani Ramadoss, who went about zealously implementing the ban. Kavin: Then what happened? Me: Not sure. Somehow he got kicked out. Anyway, the government itself owns 10% of ITC. Stupid conflict of interest. Nilay: That must be worth arabs. Me: A lot, lot more than that. Nilay: Billions? Me: Yeah, billions of dollars. Kavin: So the government can sell that and spend the money on government schools. Me: When it comes to funding public education, the issue is never of lack of money. Its about intent. Does the government want the wider public educated? Kavin: Then what is the government spending on? Me: Flyovers. Opening dozens of new IITs. Nilay: Building parliaments. Me: As long as middle class, upper caste people run the government, we spend money on what we need. Not what the poor need. Kavin: Dad, are you a communist? Me: I'm not sure. But I'm definitely a socialist. Kavin: What if there was no money, and the government gave everybody whatever they need. Me: Now that's ideal communism. Kavin: So then shall we eliminate money? Then the rich won't be rich any more. So if you wanted a Lamborghini, you couldn't go and buy it with money. You'd have to go to government and ask for it. Me: There wouldn't be Lamborghinis in a communist world. Because the government would only be interested in meeting people's needs, not luxuries. But anyway, what you want is not to eliminate money, but to nationalise wealth. Because if you just made money valueless, the rich would still have their assets, and their investments abroad. Nilay : Do you think we could have something like the French revolution in India? Kavin: What's that? Nilay: They killed all the rich people. And two-thirds of the clergy. Me: What's happening on the borders of Delhi could be the beginning of something like that. Kavin: What's happening at the borders. Nilay: The farmer protests. Kavin: What's that? Me and Nilay give Kavin this incredulous look. Ignoramus.

No wing of the government had the guts to oppose the farmer's march. None. The trenches, water cannons and barriers that were put up to block the progress of the farmers through Haryana in December, were torn asunder. The farmers mean business and everyone knows it now. But BJP being BJP, it continues to be petty by denying diesel to tractors throughout Haryana and UP. कुछ बड़ा करने की औकात नहीं है। तो अपनी छोटी औकात ही दिखा लो 😂 Meanwhile, paid media keeps up its barking cacophony. And people continue to demonstrate their imbecility by subscribing to these channels and whatsapp university.

All the media outlets eagerly reporting that Partho took bribes from that cretin Arnab should know - those reports are also based on a confessional statement with no evidential value. Such statements are extracted by the cops to generate media hype. By hyping them, media is complicit in the torture and harassment of undertrials. Partho's lawyer has already rejected the statement in court. https://www.livelaw.in/amp/news-updates/umar-khalid-media-trial-delhi-court-slams-news-without-verifying-all-facts-riots-case-168832

The same people who are objecting to the Sikh nishan being hoisted under the tricolour at Red Fort, did not object to: The PM of our nation performing the inauguration of a temple on a disputed site. The PM of our nation performing brahminical prayers on the site of the new parliament - literally the body/building that houses the secular nature of our republic. The UP state tableau in the official republic day parade being that of the upcoming ram mandir in ayodhya. Every single public construction, by every single political party, being started with a bhumi pujan. How come this republic can pay for, and perform, Hindu pujas as part of public works. But another religion, which was also born in India and has a majority of its adherents living in India, cannot mount their flag on the ramparts of a disused fort? I'm indulging in whataboutery. And calling out your hypocrisy. If the left, right and center are all silent on bhumi pujans, and involvement of the PM in the Ram Mandir construction at Ayodhya, then they might as well stay shut about the Nishan Saheb.

In the same day, the same person's comments on two posts: "Do you know how the word secular got added to the constitution?" "Sikhs mounting the nishan saheb outside the Red Fort is communal." So you don't want a secular nation. But you want everyone living in it to behave in a secular manner. बना के दिखाओ यहाँ हिन्दू राष्ट्र। You've been challenging the notion of a secular nation, with the PM doing the भूमि पूजन of a disputed temple. Now the Sikhs have thrown the gauntlet back at you.

Religions created in India as a response/counter to brahminism: Jainism Buddhism Lingayatism Sikhism Out of these, the religion that didn't get subsumed as just another subordinate caste: Sikhism. Sikhs continue to assert their identity, much to the chagrin of Hindutva. Meanwhile, most Jains are a confused lot because they simultaneously support Hindutva (and therefore the superiority of Brahmins) while also being very proud of Jain traditions (which have always been critical of brahminism).

मैं इस देश का नागरिक हूँ लाल क़िला भी मेरा दिल्ली की सड़कें भी मेरी तिरंगा भी मेरा निशान साहेब भी मेरा संविधान भी मेरा दिल्ली पुलिस भी मेरी तुम कौन हो बे?

हनूज़ दिल्ली दूर अस्त (दिल्ली अभी दूर है) फ़ारसी के इन शब्दों से हज़रत निजामुद्दीन औलिया ने आमिर खुसरो को हौसला दिया था। मग़र सच तो यह है कि दिल्ली कभी भी दूर नहीं थी। दिल्ली के तख़्त पर बैठ जाने से आप ख़ुदा नहीं हो जाते। अगर आप घीयासुद्दीन तुगलक जैसे फ़रमान जारी करेंगे, तो आपका हश्र भी उसी के जैसे होगा।

थोड़ी सी भगदड़ से डर गए दिल्ली? जब जब दिल्ली में बैठे हुक्मरानों ने अराजकता फैलाई है, तब तब दिल्ली पर चढ़ाई हुई है। किसानों पर उँगली उठाने की जगह, ज़रा अपनी सरकार पर उँगली उठाने की हिम्मत रखो।

The Sikhs, and Punjab, have a long history with the Mughals and the Red Fort. कभी मौका लगे तो, visit the Chandni Chowk area. Visit the Sis Ganj Sahab gurdwara. Learn the history of how that gurudwara came about. Today, the Muslim community is a soft target for Hindutva politics. It has become routine for the Muslims to first be targeted by mobs, and then arrested for the crime of being harassed. Arrests and denial of bail without cause have become commonplace. But not every minority is going to take your mixing of politics and religion, lying down. You assert, they'll assert. With a touch of history that you never bothered to learn and appreciate. Because you were busy reading the Nagpur version of history. This is an image from Delhi. Not even an year has passed. No action was taken. What message did the government send out by tacitly condoning this violence?

तिल तिल कर मरते लोग तुम्हें दिखते नहीं। दिखते हैं तो बस झंडे। एक किसान को गोली मार दी। ट्रैक्टर पलट दिए। सैंकड़ों को लाठियों से मारा। वो चलेगा। बस कोई अपने धर्म का झंडा ना फहराए भाई। उससे हमारी Liberalism को ठेस पहुँचती है।

WSB has exposed the lie that Wall Street is a free market that creates wealth for everybody, not just the rich. The moment hedge funds like Melvin and Citron started losing money, all hell broke lose. MSNBC and CNN are basically just lying about what's going on with GME, AMC and other stocks shorted by these hedge fund scum. The stock exchanges have come out in force to protect these rich funds from individual investors. The free market be damned. Most brokers are no longer allowing the small guy to buy these stocks, while the big funds mop up these stocks to clear their short positions. Meanwhile, every media outlet, and some government agencies, are busy demonising the small investors as scamsters and mobsters. These hedge funds were allowed to short stock in excess of the float available. Which is insane. And they indulged in this insanity because they knew every powerful person would stand behind them if something went wrong. Just like they did in 2008. And Joe Biden, of all people, is absolutely the kind of establishment guy who will back these criminals to the hilt. Wall Street is not a free and fair market. It is rigged in favour of the rich. Not the nouveau rich who have made their money through entrepreneurship, but those born into privileged wealthy families. Why do I care? A, it hurts me when the sensex keeps rising while the Indian economy tanks, small businesses are hurting and individuals are driven to penury. Stock markets exist in a bubble of the rich, disconnected from the reality of the overall economy and the suffering of the people. B, a recurring trope of mine. Much of the excess money or capital that exists today, was made through colonialism. This money was then multiplied through the exploitation of labour in industries. Today, any business that wishes to succeed and grow, must depend on this blood capital, offered in the form of VC and PE money. IPOs and small investors are a sham - most of the stock market is just the rich getting richer. And when it is time for the poor to get rich, they bite back hard.

The more time I spend on social media, the more I realise how naive I am. Who used the buses as barriers? The police. Why use buses? Don't they know that whatever barriers they put in the way of the protesters, the protestors will remove. The police (which really means the HM) wanted the buses destroyed. It creates terrific visuals on TV. And idiots like me sitting at home go हाय देखो सरदारों ने बस जला दी। We are not shrewd like them. So our emotions are easily manipulated. Which is why we need to follow people on social media who can think like these politicians. Who can tell us the story behind the veneer.

राकेश टिकैत ने आज तक एक भी चुनाव नहीं जीता। दो बार चुनाव में खड़ा ज़रूर हुआ है। फिर यह कैसा नेता है जिसके एक आंसूं से, एक ललकार से लाखों किसान दिल्ली की तरफ़ कूच कर गए? सुना है सरकारी लोग इसे गिरफ़्तार करने आए थे। पर फिर कुछ ही देर बाद इसी से फ़ोन पर माफ़ी माँगते देखे गए। यह कौन है जिसने UP पुलिस के लश्कर को पलटा दिया? तुम्हें अगर इन सवालों का जवाब नहीं पता तो ढूंढो। समझो। यही इस देश की राजनीति है। मुझे भी यह सब क्या हुआ कुछ समझ नहीं आया। समझ आये तो मुझे भी समझाना। ऐसे कई नेता हैं इस देश में, जिन्हें अपनी इलाके का, समुदाय का, या अपने ही व्यवसाय वाले लोगों का, संपूर्ण समर्थन रहता है। यह खुद चुनाव जितें लड़ें या नहीं, लोग इनके बगैर चुनाव नहीं जीत सकते। और जीत भी जाएं तो बड़े फ़ैसले, बड़े कानून pass नहीं करा सकते।

Next time a despot locates his palace, he better worry about the kind of people he is tractorable distance from. If they're warm blooded people, like West UP and Haryana farmers... yeah... naah.

लो भई अब तो देश के सारे किसान एक तरफ़ हो लिए। मतलब हरियाणा पंजाब वेस्ट यू पी का तो कोई किसान अब आंदोलन के बाहर नहीं रहा। तुम अपना लाल क़िला भी रख लो और अपना राम मंदिर भी रख लो। यह दोनों इमारतें तुम्हें प्यारी, इन्हीं के लिए तुम्हारा दिल रोता है। भाई तुम यह दोनों रख लो पूरे के पूरे तुम्हारे। और हम किसानों के साथ हैं, वो पूरे के पूरे हमारे और हम पूरे उनके। हमें इंसानों से प्यार है तुम्हें मकानों से, दोनों अपनी जगह ठीक हैं।

यह सब क्यों हुआ? Because RSS and BJP were eager to "teach farmers a lesson". They're always so eager for violence, for retribution. मग़र टिकैत टिक गया इनकी violence के खिलाफ़, और पासा पलट गया।

गुड़गाँव में इन्टरनेट बंद है। Landlines पर भी। बनाओ तुम डिजिटल इंडिया, 5 trillion economy. यहाँ we have orders to process and we can't even access email or ERP. Over the years we have become so dependent on connectivity that even production doesn't work without it. Don't know what will happen tomorrow. More wasted days, like the unplanned lockdown. During lockdown we paid demurrage to the government for customs shipments that they themselves banned us from collecting. Now we will pay late delivery charges to the government for their orders, that they prevented us from manufacturing. कर लो इस देश में काम।

Look at these protesting Sikh farmers destroying public property again. Shameless.

I wish to humbly submit to our armed forces that China has never had moral authority. It is a dictatorial regime with no moral authority whatsoever, within or without their boundaries. China may have had its roots in socialism and communism, but the current regime is nothing but a bunch of corrupt power hungry pigs.

When the United Hindu Front is supporting farm laws that have nothing to do with religion... Then you know that a strange game is afoot.

I've seen many interviews of Mandeep Punia since he was released. There hasn't been a single interview where he hasn't brought up the continued incarceration of Siddique Kappan, or called for the release of all jailed journalists. One interview was as short as two minutes. And yet he brought up these points. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=264314571732503&id=100044618850974

Precisely my point. Disha Ravi actually opened a doc and edited it. She actually spoke against the government. Spoke in favour of the climate. She did do something. But children have been killed in this country merely for being adivasi. Our society allows any adivasi to be passed off as maoist. And maoist body counts win medals. And let me not even speak about the states where AFSPA exists. You let all that happen. And now you worry about a five day judicial custody.

Please explain to me how you can fight climate change without fighting capitalism? The global spin machinery will tell you that you are responsible for the emissions from your car's tail pipe. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Saudi Aramco makes all the profit from the fuel you burn. The government soaks up huge taxes. And you're paying for it all while still holding the guilt. And then waltzes in the richest man in the world, who capitalise on this guilt to sell you an alternative to Aramco's profits. This time Adani's electricity plants make the profits, while moving the pollution from your rear end to a far off district. Meanwhile, Wall Street pumps billions of dollars into startups in India that pay a pittance to delivery drivers, while burning billions of dollars of fuel to deliver you food and products in an instant. Fight large industry that can pollute with impunity. Large governments that can build up polluting militaries and border standoffs with impunity. Fight greed and the accumulation of wealth. Climate change and pollution will (largely) melt away on its own.

A 21/22 year old woman is not a child. She is at least three years over the age of majority. Climate change activists are not holy cows. A student at MCC Bangalore cannot be naive. I happen to have known many MCC students; they are aware, self confident individuals. At the age of 21, delivery "boys" work 15 hours a day for obscenely funded "startups" to scrounge together ₹10,000 a month in a city. When one of these boys knocks someone over in their hurry to deliver food before their deadline, they are not portrayed as children. Adorable pics of these boys are not posted on social media because they're not liberal, english speaking children with the privilege of being activists or students. They are breadwinners driving a bike, and are treated like criminals by the police and the public. Speaking of children, if a 16 year old boy is accused of rape in this country, he is treated and tried like an adult. Lodged in a jail not a juvie till declared innocent. POCSO is even more draconian. Boys under the age of 10 are being picked up by the cops for sexual harassment. So stop infantalising Disha. She spoke up in a fascist country. Like many others before her. She knew exactly what she was doing. She has been treated far better than most others. The ones I'm really watching right now are those who were ambiguous about CAA/NRC, but their heart bleeds for climate activists. Heck, I was an environmental activist at 21, volunteering for Greenpeace and the NBA. It's all connected. We are all connected. Fascism, Neo colonialism, hyper capitalism, the climate. You can't be ok with detention camps and not ok with carbon emissions. Let's fix the climate of this society first, which survives on systemic violence against certain castes, religions, genders, ethnicities. The climate of this planet can wait. Not sure if I'm ranting because I'm in physical pain from all the exercise I've put in since yesterday. Or your hypocrisy gives me pain. In a country where lakhs of Sikh, Tamil, adivasi, Dalit, Muslim boys have been crushed to death by the administration, how did you not see this coming?

I oppose Disha Ravi's arrest and detention. I also oppose the use of following terms in posts condemning her arrest: Just 21 years old. Just a girl. Just a child. Just a student. Just an activist. A climate change activist, not a Khalistani. Vegan. Just for editing a document. Just for adding two lines to a document. It is just a toolkit. The toolkit only talks of advocacy through social media. Do I support the protection of national symbols through the law? My personal opinion is, no. Would I get very perturbed if a national symbol was desecrated in my presence? Yes. I'm very patriotic, in an old fashioned way. I wish I wasn't, but I am. Depending on what you say or do about the flag/emblem/constitution, I might even lose my temper with you. Editing a document can be dangerous enough. Two lines can be violent enough. An innocent looking person can sometimes make the unfortunate mistake of saying something terrible. As much as I dislike the current government's abuse of law and power, and misuse of the UAPA, we cannot comment anything without seeing the lines or the toolkit document. And I haven't seen either. Have you? Were the protestors of Shaheen Bagh, and the farmers at Delhi borders, justified in blocking roads. My personal opinion is that they are/were. They are not blockading a city/area. They are merely causing inconvenience, proportional to the inconvenience society (through the government and its laws) is causing them. Was Sharjeel justified in calling for a blockade of the north east? Now, like I haven't seen the toolkit, I also haven't heard his entire speech. Neither do I care about the context provided by his speech(es). I believe in the sources that reported that he called for a blockade of Chicken's Neck. I wish what he said wasn't punishable under the law, but it is. What he said was very very obnoxious and anti-social. If I knew him personally, I'd call him, give him a piece of my mind, publicly denounce him on social media, then block him from my life. I'd expect people to stare at him if he ate at the table next to them, and not entertain him at their businesses. The people of the North East have done nothing for them to be collectively punished because the central government passed a bad law. India blockaded Nepal recently and it was disgusting. I will not have one section of society blockade another section, for any reason. Words do carry power. A single line can call for anarchy. I'm not at all saying that Disha has called for violence or anarchy. After all, I don't even know what she said. What I'm saying is, by you saying that it was just a line or a doc, you sound unconvincing, especially when you don't cite her lines as evidence that they aren't offending. Sometimes, when you don't know enough about an event, it is better to stay silent till more facts are known. For now, feel free to demand to see the transit warrant. Question the absence of a counsel during her remand hearing. And ask to see the facts presented to the magistrate who sent her to judicial custody. And for heaven's sake stop calling her a child. We are all someone's child - even the orphans among us were born to human parents. (I'm sorry if I upset you. My purpose in posting this is not to preach. I just want to express what I feel. That way people who know better can come and correct me, help me improve my thinking. That is what standing on a soap box used to be about.) (Edit: I've finally found an article where someone has read the toolkit and found it to not be an incitement to violence. So I redact everything I've said about we not knowing about the contents of the document. https://www.facebook.com/421878521234688/posts/3821889314566908/)

You know why the average BJP supporter cares so much about India's international image. Because they knew very well that once the Modi government really gets going, that image is going to get the battering of a lifetime.

The present government is seeking to decriminalise the act of cheque dishonour (cheque bounce). I don't believe any of the current set of ministers have ever done a job, or run an honest business. Therefore they just do not understand the pain of MSMEs. In the low trust, David (small business) versus Goliath (large corporate) world of Indian business, the provision for arrest of those Goliaths who issue cheques that subsequently bounce, had given Davids the confidence to begin accepting post dated cheques as payment. Now the small and medium enterprises will be back to working on "cash" terms with large enterprises, which means they will want their full payment credited in their bank account before delivering goods/services. Who loses? Of course the small guy. Its not like the large companies will en mass move to a TREDS platform to allow for electronic validation and discounting of invoices. Instead, they will fall back to introducing an "empanelled vendor" in the transaction, who will buy from MSMEs in cash, and offer the large fish the credit terms they are used to. The 5% or more margin of the vendor will be borne entirely by the small guy. (If you don't understand all this, I'm actually happy for you. The summary is that courts in India take too much time to settle disputes. This negatively impacts the trust environment of businesses. Companies have devised ways to grease the wheels of business and make money and goods move, but the expense of greasing the wheels always falls on the little guys in the transaction. Arrest in cheque bounce cases had improved the trust environment, but that will soon go away. Large corporate 1, MSME 0.)

// The Confederation of Indian Industry has repeatedly urged New Delhi to permit private entities to purchase vaccines and administer them to their employees, families of staff and members of surrounding communities, following the government’s protocols on priority groups. Even as the inoculation campaign limps along, the Serum Institute is exporting millions of doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine to the rest of the world. “We have a vaccine manufacturer that is prevented from supplying to India freely but can export freely. You have the bizarre situation of millions of doses ready; you have people who want the vaccine, you have people willing to administer them, and the only thing stopping that from happening is the existing government process.” // I am all for state funded Education and healthcare. But when your public health system has been severely underfunded for decades, and the current administration can't even competently run a coordination app, then they might as well open things up to competition. I mean, I don't even understand the mindset and logic. The Ayushman Bharat scheme is geared towards government paying for the treatment of the poor in private hospitals. But private labs making vaccines in India cannot sell in the private market - that is government controlled. Between Bharat Biotech and SII, India claims to be able to make 50 crore shots a month. And we want to administer 60 crore shots by August. But we haven't even administered 1 crore shots over the last one month. The biggest hurdle to uptake is hesitance to take Covaxin. Today the government has eliminated that - now all beneficiaries can choose between the two vaccines. This is classic BJP governance. Rush in, then improvise by changing rules every third day. That's what happened with demonetisation and the lockdown. I understand that the government wants to vaccinate all citizens for free. Very noble thought. So do direct benefit transfer. You guys love the idea, don't you? What about Aadhar, another pet idea. Let everyone above 50 prove their age using Aadhar and then be allowed a (paid) shot. We have to build a better system because two shots anyway don't give you lifelong immunity. This is ongoing. I had full blown covid and my free immunity pass ends at the end of February. So the longest a manmade vaccine can protect you would also be the same - six months. (Yes yes, if you're 50+ you're getting two injections every six months for the foreseeable future. Just learn to live with that, OK.)

The frequency and consistency with which Dalits and Bahujans are brutalised in UP under BJP rule, is not unexpected or unprecedented. The same was their condition under Congress rule. This is the significance of Mayawati and the BSP. Hate her all you want. Call her corrupt. But she was solidly delivering the most basic function of government - law and order FOR ALL. (We know where the hate and the charges of corruption come from. Nobody has the guts to call the BJP corrupt, even though they're on a property buying and construction spree. Nobody has the guts to call BJP nepotistic even though Jay Shah.)

15 years since an SC ruling on the subject. 8 years since a central law was passed. But to the government (and private) officials who regularly employ manual scavengers, all of this falls on deaf ears. They have made it their duty to regularly rob people of their dignity and lives.

It is unfortunate that all the credit for this video is being given to Raveesh, when he obviously wasn't the one risking his life and making videos during a riot. This is what beat journalists like Mandeep Punia do - risk their lives to gather evidence in violent situations. One half of the battle is being won, thanks to the judiciary. The false police cases against the victims are falling apart. The other half of the battle is to punish the actual perpetrators. But the police hasn't even investigated that aspect. I'd met a few legal aid teams in East Delhi after the riots. They were largely focused on compensation, I felt. Is anyone even filing complaints in court on behalf of the victims?

Saket eating fascists for lunch, at their own dinner table.

This. If Nodeep got the same coverage Disha did, she would be on bail and those who have tortured her in custody would be in trouble. But, we are a caste free liberal society without any discrimination.

I don't know why people think that capitalists start new businesses to create jobs. Capitalism is about creating wealth from wealth. Job creation is incidental. Most people simply invest their money in deposits, property, shares, gold. Those who start businesses are the ones who want even more returns than what these mediums offer. If the stock market could grow your money without there being any underlying businesses or assets to trade in, it would merrily do that. When people don't even want to run a business, why would they want to go through the hassle of hiring, training, employing people? As an engineer, I create new products. But most of my work is really centred around automating things. I automate things at the production line, so we can eliminate mundane repetitive work. But that repetitive work was someone's job. Net net, we are able to manufacture computers much faster and with much greater reliability than we could a decade ago, because of all the automation we have built in. Which means that the man hours of work that go into each unit of production are much lower today. The same goes with my work in the cloud. I automate repetitive administrative tasks. In 2015 I helped write this large script that automated the upgrade of CentOS servers. What a person or two used to do manually, one by one, taking perhaps half an hour to an hour to accomplish, was now a minute worth of work. Even that minute, we outsourced from the Bay Area to Bangalore, because the skill required to run the script was a lot lower than doing the upgrade manually. Any business with spare cash is going to be invest it in finding more "efficient", less labour intensive ways of doing things. Automation is civilizational progress. What can be done in an automated manner should not be done manually. But, just know that when someone says they will come to your district and invest X million dollars and generate N jobs, there is no guarantee how long those N jobs will stay. Because that X is fighting to reduce and eliminate that N.

A Hindu conservative government should be jumping at this opportunity to differentiate India from the rest of the world by reversing this colonial vestige of hatred towards LGBTs. But the BJP has to consistently put itself at the wrong side of history.

यह लड़ाई लंबी है। यह लड़ाई लड़ेंगे। जैसे ज़मींदारों से संघर्ष किया था। ✊🏽

Rahul Gandhi has the six packs, the physical stamina, the martial arts training, and all the sophistication of privileged upbringing and expensive education. Is that enough? Can he compete with Manmohan on the intelligence or education front? Can he compete with VP Singh on an understanding of social justice? Why compare him with Modi? That is who we don't want. Compare him with the kind of leaders we do want.

What he isn't telling you is that the people of East Delhi spat all over his bigoted face for his role in the riots last year. That is the one seat AAP lost, and of course they won't talk about it. If you're an AAP supporter, you're just another Indian variety liberal — as twisted as the NRI who supports the BJP in India and the Democrats in the US.

Here are our inherent biases that make us believe the woman more than the man in this story: - She is middle class, he is "working class". - She is English medium educated, he is not. - She is upper caste, he is not. - She is like us, he is not. In recent years, another category has been added to our list of biases: - She is a woman, he is not. We have recently learnt to unconditionally believe woman survivors. As more and more unscrupulous women start misusing this benefit that society has begun extending to womankind, it's going to come back and bite honest victims.

यह मेरे देश की intelligensia. Everybody and their grandmother who is a BJP supporter, fell over themselves to prove the efficacy of this method of Covid भगाओ। अब बताओ, भागा?

Gormint doing some good work in Haryana, for a change. While BJP leaders in Kerala are lamenting the high education levels there, the BJP sarkar in Haryana is rounding up kids not going to school and enrolling them. India is not called a complex country for nothing.

So, in future, when traveling in a train, a person needs to have all documents and a correct purpose? What if I'm traveling for no purpose at all? Can the railways deboard me? In fact I'd like to know the legal situation here - can a transport company refuse to carry me if I'm traveling for an incorrect purpose. And who defined what purpose is correct or incorrect? And are passengers allowed to demand the verification of a copassenger, if said copassenger has created no nuisance within the compartment. Is it the TT's job to check if the name on the ticket matches the identify of the person. Or can any Joe Random now hold an inquisition within a train? It's bad enough that religions are turning impressionable young people into nuns, sadhvis and what not before they can tell right from wrong. But now the Hindutva brigade will also harass these young people in public places. Wah.

The government wants to privatise banks. Meanwhile, many government departments still do not accept payments through private banks. See https://www.cbic.gov.in/htdocs-cbec/bankslst-cs-epay - in order to pay customs duty online, one must maintain an account in a nationalised bank. As these public sector banks merge, your choice for who to bank with if you frequently import stuff, gets more and more limited. Does one arm of the government ever know what the other is doing or planning?

https://c19early.com/ is the most fascinating site about Covid that I have seen in a while. Hydroxychloroquine is the most studied drug for treating Covid. 229 studies on 200K patients determined that it only shows an improvement in 28% of the cases. Since it was in the ICMR manual while I was admitted for Covid, I was also administered HCQ, even though it was widely discredited† by then. Ivermectin is the next most widely studied drug, and shows a solid 72% improvement. Next up is Vitamin D, which shows a 62% improvement. Vit C and Remdesivir and pretty worthless. There are other drugs that show up to a 92% improvement. But these only have 2-3 studies covering them so far. Rest assured that while the world rushes to vaccinate against the disease, health workers are making remarkable progress in treating the disease and improving outcomes. Even as cases are rising, the seven day average mortality rate in India is 0.5% right now. Officially the government only publishes cumulative figures since the beginning of the pandemic - that figure is 1.4% for India. So clearly, the ICMR is ploughing global research back into saving lives in India, and getting results. Of course, none of this works if hospitals fill up, which is what has begun to happen in Maharashtra. Hospitals have been asked to turn away asymptomatic Covid patients. Soon, there will only be space for those with serious symptoms. We can win this. But in order to keep winning this, in order to keep the mortality rate low, we need to keep the hospitalisation rates manageable. Which means we are going to have to behave ourselves through all of 2021. At the current rate, we would have fully (two shots) vaccinated 30 crore Indians by the new year - which compares favourably with the 25 crores urban adult population. † Like everything else when it comes to uneducated leaders like Trump and Modi, HCQ is a worthless drug made temporarily important due to their squabbling. (Worthless with respect to Covid. HCQ does treat other diseases well.) Disclaimer: This is not medical advice. I am not a doctor. I am excited by science and maths and that is what this post is about. If you are getting medical advice, or taking any life decisions, based on social media posts, you have serious problems coming your way.

It is unsafe to open schools. It is safe to have election rallies and kumbh melas. Our priorities, as a society. The problems we invest our collective energies in solving.

This is a national shame. Black marketing and hoarding of a life saving drug during a pandemic. The lack of morality of the drug trading community is shameful. Since drug trade is largely controlled by urban, middle class, upper caste people, we need to take a long hard look at ourselves in the mirror. Have those in the drug trade not made enough money already in this pandemic? Did they really have to resort to this? Every tragedy seems to translate into an opportunity for someone or the other in power to exploit the rest. How long can we carry on as a nation like this? No political or economic system can survive if those in control are full of greed. When the lives of others have no meaning to them. Our social system needs to change first. As a society we are fractured and adversarial, instead of being driven by सौहार्द. (Article is self contradictory. Gilead says Remdesivir should be administered in the early stage of the disease, before onset of breathing discomfort. Government says there is indiscriminate use of Remdesivir. Well, duh, the studies are effectively saying that lets give this drug to every Covid positive person with symptoms and sickness, before they get too sick. So where is the overuse?)

Residents of Uttarakhand, across party lines, are begging the government to stop. The save government that brutalised migrants when there were no cases, is brutalising an entire state when we have a world record number of cases.

Let's blame the current public health crisis entirely on the BJP, just because Rahul is suddenly able to come up with smart retorts. Let us forget that for thousands of years our investment in public health has been close to zero. The colonial rulers introduced hospitals to Indians 150 years ago, but we chose to not run with the idea after 1947. Instead, we did the same dubious thing we always do. The urban upper castes/classes study in private schools and then go to heavily funded government institutions of higher learning. Similarly, we depended on private hospitals, except when things got out of hand, for which we built AIIMS. The private hospitals allow the privileged to get richer. They also provide dramatically better health outcomes for those who already have greater social and economic capital. And then a pandemic struck. And our health now depends on everybody else's health. But we don't have public health infrastructure to speak of.

अखबारों ने सच बोलना शुरू कर दिया है। अब मोदी तेरा क्या होगा?

MK Gandhi got us independence. BR Ambedkar gave us the constitution. This is what they teach us in school. This is how they trivialise the stature of the greatest leader in Indian history. The constitution was one of Babasaheb's smaller contributions to this country. The rest of his work is carefully hidden. Why is the Dandi March known to everyone but the Mahad Satyagraha known only to a select few? Vaikom Satyagraha, Kalaram Temple movement - why is Dalit history of struggle unknown? Every condescending quote that Gandhi made on casteism is carefully memorised in school. But the works, actions and quotes of Phule, Periyar, Ambedkar are brushed under the carpet. Imagine being a dalit in the Indian school system, having to learn everything about your own history from your family, not the education system.

Those touting the Gujarat model seven years ago are busy manipulating data now. But the all round death is there for everyone to see.

Most important, we will remember those friends and neighbours, who continue to support this government's ego trips through this massacre, this नरसंहार.

अगले हफ़्ते यह शख्स फिर फावड़ा ले कर गढ़े मुर्दे खोदने निकल पड़ेगा। This is what happens when you allow your elected leaders to lord over you, instead of you asking them difficult questions about non delivery of essential functions.

The whole world was busy building ventilators last year. And somehow we Indians didn't even sort out our oxygen supply. Till a month ago I didn't even know it was possible to fall behind on oxygen production. I didn't know where the medical oxygen that kept me alive during my hospitalisation came from. It seemed like a trivial thing. And here we are now. Dying from lack of oxygen. Smuggling cylinders. I know the Gorakhpur hospital ran out of oxygen because Bisht's men couldn't be bothered to pay the vendor for it. Not because there was limited production. This is so pathetic. And yet, I'm so drained from an year of being in constant crisis and fire fighting mode, that I can't even bring myself to googling how medical oxygen is made, and seeing if I can help in any way.

पढ़ लो भैया The world has finally realised that healthcare is a public good. If you leave it to private entities, they only build capacity for usual demand. For unusual demand such as a pandemic, only the government can fund and maintain excess capacity. Only the government can build medical oxygen plants far in excess of typical consumption, because there is no profit motive, no investors to answer to. Only the government can fund moonshots like mRNA research. What does the private market do? When crisis strikes, oxygen cylinders and Remdesivir are hoarded and sold in black. The profit motive, driven by the selfish greed of individuals, can only lead to social chaos and catastrophe. The same applies to education. The only response to poor outcomes in public education is to invest even more money and effort into public education. When the same publicly funded education can lead to amazing outcomes at AIIMS, why can't it produce good outcomes at the schools in Ansari Nagar?

The persistent messaging from the government was that all is well. When the leadership is campaigning all over the country without masks, what else will the janata do? The BJP even rewarded the PM for vanquishing Covid. Now why should we not hold the leadership responsible for misleading the public and mismanaging the crisis.

It should be fairly obvious to anyone with a brain and a conscience, that the MoHFW was lying through its teeth. Every state government other than Maharashtra has been lying about Covid case numbers throughout 2021. The surge that we are seeing all over India, did not happen overnight. Covid did not simply get exported nationwide from Mumbai. It was building up in each city, but CM after CM is guilty of ignoring all the signs. Next time you elect a government, elect one that isn't scared of data, that doesn't actively suppress or falsify data.

Over the last 70+ years the ruling class was content with building a parallel private health and education infrastructure, then ghettoising around them in big cities. We learnt to live with the situation that if we met with a road accident, or fell sick while traveling in a rural area, we would likely die in a neglected public hospital, or die reaching an urban private hospital. Now a pandemic has taught us that even private hospitals depend on public infrastructure such as oxygen plants. That private beds are horribly limited, and when they run out we must depend on the even more constrained public health infra. If you go through the comments in @[100044176249338:2048:Atul]'s post, you'll see how steely the resolve for change is. Now that we have personally suffered what the oppressed have been suffering for millennia, see how quickly change will come. Will future generations of poor Indians thank this pandemic for fixing systemic iniquities?

Tired of watching Indian news anchors who don't have the guts to question our government? Watch this interview where, when asked by the reporter why political rallies and elections are still continuing in Bengal, a senior BJP official replied "You're speaking like a politician not a reporter". Regarding the Kumbh Mela, we have been informed by this dude that this is a millennia old tradition where people gather in large numbers every twelve years. What does this have to do with the pandemic? India is a large and complex country and the reporter does not understand that gatherings and rallies do not have the same impact everywhere. Interesting. Very interesting. The kind of nonsense that the BJP stooges utter on social media - their leaders take the same hubris and dump it on global platforms also. Slow clap.

Manmohan Singh became CEA in 1972. But it was only after VP Singh's government fell (after giving the people a taste of what is possible on the social justice front) and Narasimha Rao took over as PM and made Manmohan FM, that he doubled down on cutting our public health and education spending. In India, there have been no real heroes. The AAP touted its hospitals no end, but they are now nowhere to be seen as Delhi becomes India's covid epicenter. It has been decades of spending next to nothing on public health. Neglecting the villages and slums, buildings some palaces (AIIMS). The result is for all of us to behold and suffer.

जिस चीज़ का असल मूल्य और महत्व जितना कम हो, उसका उतना ही प्रचंड प्रचार होता है। जैसे कि पेप्सी कोला। अब बताइए, मोदी में क्या पेप्सी की बोतल से कम हवा भरी है? तो फिर प्रचार उससे कम कैसे हो?

मेरा CM. RSS शाखा में डंडा बजाने के इलावा कोई काम नहीं किया। नतीजा खुद सुनिए, "महामारी है किसी को पता थोड़े ही था"। मतलब डेढ़ साल से यह सो रहे थे। यह भी सुनिए, "मौतें कम हैं कि ज़्यादा इसमें क्यों पड़ना है।"

Last year the Delhi government pioneered the concept of Covid treatment at home. They sent patients medicines and oximeters. Doctors consulted online. The health department followed up. The model worked so well that it is now the nationwide model for Covid treatment. Kejru even sent oxygen home to those struggling, so hospitals won't be overloaded. Which is why it is hard to believe that an efficient administrator like him could not see the impending oxygen crisis if another wave struck. Today the AAP is duelling with the BJP about the late commissioning of oxygen generation plants in hospitals. But these captive concentrators wouldn't had met the demand for oxygen cylinders at home. AAP must have known that an oxygen crisis will loom over us in another wave. It knew that Delhi does not produce any oxygen of its own. And it did precious little. It is one thing to be callous and ignorant, and disdainful of data, like a majority of the शाखा trained BJP ministers. It is another to have the faculties to perceive a tsunami coming, and not prepare. Remember this when you go to vote next time, janata.

"Minimum age limit for booking 45+" I registered on Co-WIN and every single vaccination center in Gurgaon has this status. I am assuming this is nationwide. Elect monkeys, expect a circus. Why did I even bother trying.

What kind of civil disobedience can we citizens launch against the government, to retaliate against its shocking non performance and mishandling of Covid-19. What are my constitutional rights? Can I refuse to pay my taxes, if the government did not give me life saving medical oxygen when I needed it? How can citizens retaliate, when governments lie on death certificates, and do not indicate Covid-19 as the cause of death.

But when Kerala was devastated by floods, they did not let the state government receive aid from the Middle East and other nations. What explanation do the rats of BJP have for this sudden change of heart? Aid can be accepted if the disaster is Modi-made?

Some people have been saying this for decades. When the privileged accept shoddy delivery of services from the government, it is to the detriment of everybody, including themselves. And it isn't just a financial loss. The absence of public infrastructure, and a general attitude of callousness towards work in the government system, leads to utter collapse when disaster strikes and we need these systems to deliver. Private hospitals are screaming that they manage everything themselves, including power and water. All they depend on the government for, is oxygen, and that too isn't being delivered. The premier institutions such as AIIMS, which privileged people patronise, are able to deliver better. So patronage of the powerful helps. We need to occupy every sphere of governance, from the courts to the garbage dumps, and force the government to deliver well. High quality, in time delivery of the appropriate quantity of service, without excuses and exceptions, with disaster recovery plans. Nothing less will do.

I just congratulated a lady that her husband got hospitalised this morning, at some nondescript hospital in Gurgaon that I've never even heard of before. Last night I was helping them set up an oxygen concentrator at their home, over a WhatsApp video call. So this is better, this hospitalisation, than being at home and struggling and gasping. But indeed. Modi hai to mumkin hai. We rejoice at hospitalisations now.

The new US Labor Secretary, a former union member, said yesterday that most gig works should be classified instead as employees, and be paid related benefits. This led to stocks of Uber, Lyft, Doordash and Grubhub falling 8%, 12%, 9% and 3.3%. Investors in these companies, upon learning that the workers whose labour these companies are built on, will now be treated as humans, realised that this reversal of their decade long abuse will lead to an erosion of profits, and factored that erosion into the stock price. Note that in spite of this exploitation, all of these companies are still losing billions and millions of USD every year. The entire premise of these companies - the expectation of future profits - is based on being able to drive their gig workers towards a race to the bottom in terms of hourly rates. What does this say about our own Ola, Swiggy and Zomato? Every time drivers in a city unionise, or a state government intervenes, they withdraw services in the region as an arm-twisting tactic, and implore their users to reach out to the government.

May day May day May day (Modi - turning festivals into funerals for two decades now)

This. ₹2,500 के Remdesivir injection ₹31,000 के बिके। मेरे भाई ने खरीदे। दर्द होता है देख कर। एक तो महामारी ऊपर से काला बाज़ारी। और सरकार कुछ भी नहीं कर रही, क्योंकि सबका हिस्सा बटा हुआ है पहले से ही।

Last night I was speaking to a former colleague† in the US. Like many others, he wants to send an oxygen concentrator to his family in India, not to handle an active infection/sickness, but as preparation for when‡ they get sick. Thanks to its financial muscle, the Indian diaspora has quickly vacuumed up the entire global surplus stock of oxygen concentrators. Large NGOs/groups that have raised money to purchase 5,000 or 10,000 concentrators, without checking the global production capacity of this equipment or the purpose for which these are intended§, are adding to a sharp spike in price (because, hello, supply and demand) and a long delay in shipments. But where are the individually bought and shipped machines going? They are just going to park in urban middle class Indian households as insurance. Now, of course, it is par for the course for Indians with caste and class privilege to soak up precious life saving resources and park them in their drawing rooms⁑ for a rainy day. We have all done it for so long that we don't even see it. On the other hand, look at my neighbourhood. People pooled in money - a few lakh rupees. They bought two concentrators, before the prices shot up like wild and supply vanished⁕. They loan these concentrators for three hours at a time, free of cost, to anybody struggling with an SpO2 under 90. It helps the old lady in her late 80s with an SpO2 in the 60s and 70s. It also helps the lady in her 60s with an SpO2 in the late 80s. It isn't fair. It isn't perfect. But it is a much better situation than absolute haves and have-nots, where people whose relatives abroad scrambled and bought and shipped those machines early have everything, and others have nothing. And I am not even talking about the poor yet. What we need are systems in place to share this precious resource. You purchase this fantastic machine that is only second to dexamethosone and methylprednisolone in saving lives, and you go through the cost and trauma of shipping it to India. Then you add this to a pool of machines where we work them 24x7. They help your rich neighbours, they also help the poor. But when it is time for the machine to serve your family, it is pulled out of circulation and delivered to you within one hour of you asking for it. And you can use it without restrictions on what the SpO2 or the need of the patient is. Because heck, it IS your own machine. Some people are donating the machines to hospitals, which is best. Some are donating to organisations like Hemkunt Foundation, where you can drive up and consume oxygen. Again, great. But everything else is going into homes. And home care⁜ is where the battle is, because we wanna keep patients at home as much as possible. Now this isn't an engineering, maths, logistics or process problem. It is a humans-being-bros problem, which, honestly, I am not good at solving. But there are people who solve such resource sharing problems every day. Can we make them aware of this issue and ask for potential solutions? Because once we have a good solution, blokes like Vinodh will put together a crack team and hammer out an app and a site to implement the solution before you can blink. Now comes the tougher problem of how do we make access to concentrators equitable. How do people without caste and class privilege, without money, also get an equal chance at saving the lives of their loved ones. Not just in the long term, but in the immediate term. Saikat Datta, since you work with the district administration on this, I'd love to hear your thoughts. † Well he probably joined BloomReach after I had left the company. Hard to remember. But BR is one big happy family. ‡ For this new strain, I am no longer using the term "if". "As and when" an uninfected individual gets infected. § Most concentrators are not intended for life threatening situations like Covid. They are meant to improve the quality of life of seniors, helping them have the mobility that their unassisted lungs can no longer afford them. ⁑ Indian households are full of such symbols of love from their children abroad, that many parents don't even understand the purpose of, leave alone actually using. ⁕ You can still purchase the 2 liter and 5 liter toys, but the 24x7 rated machines that one needs for life support are all but gone. ⁜ The right amount of oxygen, administered at the right time, can prevent most people from slipping into a worse condition. It is obvious statement, worthy of being repeated again and again. The doctor(s) treating me last year believed firmly that oxygen should only be given when SpO2 falls to 90 or below, and even then, oxygen should not be used to take the SpO2 above 92 or 93. Which meant that if my SpO2 floated above 93 while on nasal, the nurse would come and dial my oxygen flow down. Evil, but it also forced my lungs to do work and heal, not just collapse under the pleasant flow of oxygen.

💩 💩 💩 यह लो भाजपा वालों। 🐮 गाय का है। अपने शरीर पर मल लो। फिर तुम्हें कोरोना नहीं होगा। और हम बाकियों को पता रहेगा कि तुम कौन कौन हो, हम भी तुम्हारे पास नहीं फटकेंगे।

What is private wealth, but a means of imposing resource reservation on this planet? You take something, and make it available for your exclusive use. Some people are buying cylinders with oxygen. Even after the oxygen is used, the cylinder belongs to them. If they need more oxygen, they refill the cylinder. If they don't need more oxygen, they can choose to abandon the cylinder. But it is still abandoned within their private space. They are not using it, but it is not back in the public pool of resources to be used by other sick and needy people. We hoard medicines that are in short supply. We hold on to them, in case an emergency strikes our loved ones. Meanwhile, sick people in need of the medicine, even those capable of paying for it but unable to buy because it is not in stock, die. Yesterday I said that we are tending towards hoarding oxygen concentrators. We feel guilty when we hoard essential items. Or when are able to afford items like food that the poorest are unable to afford. As you climb up the wealth ladder, the amount of guilt and shame you have seems to reduce. Ambani has left Antilla and settled in Jamnagar, in an isolated house. He has doctors, ICUs, an entire paraphernalia at his beck and call. He did not educate these doctors and nurses. He is merely paying for their time. He took these professionals that society educated, and reserved them for his exclusive use, because he believes he is more important than those dying outside. Wealth, capitalism, democracy allows him to do this, legally and morally. I know many people who are feeling guilty that when they use their contacts, influence or money to secure someone a hospital or ICU bed, some other person who needed those facilities just as much, gets to die. Literally, die. It has come to a point where I have started telling people that I will no longer help them with their needs for medicine, beds, or oxygen. I am working on creating new oxygen concentrators, so I can increase the overall pool of oxygen available, not just fight within a finite pool of resources for people I know/love. Even securing new machines from an existing factory in China or Taiwan is not increasing the pool of machines, it is merely resource allocation at source. I asked this in a post many years ago. What is wealth? What wealth do we, as individuals, have. And how far does that wealth take us in such a time of crisis?

Wise men before us have observed that all the national parties are making a fool of us, by maintaining the status quo and keeping the nation behind. This election result has shown that the public has also seen the truth in what Kanshi Ram Ji had to say. Now LDF, DMK and TMC have to pull their respective states out of the current health crisis, and save our souls. It is a huge responsibility, especially given the adversarial attitude of the Union government. More power to them, and I wish them all the best.

Yaar what is the union government doing? Why is it arguing about how much oxygen Delhi needs? Court says give Delhi 700MT. Centre says Delhi only needs 490MT. And then it consistently delivers much less than that, day after day after excruciating day. People are dying. Oxygen is landing at IGIA and not being rushed to hospitals. Concentrators are landing at IGIA but are held in customs for weeks. Malice? Incompetence? Apathy? Till they have their merry band of "lets spread positivity" and "system is at fault" apologists, this lot of bandits will simply not deliver. It is time all citizens united as one and held the government accountable for abject non performance of the most basic, basic need in a crisis. When will you wake up, sheeple? When will you raise your voice? किस काम कि ऐसी भक्ती जो अपनों की ही साँस घोट दे।

I want to meet the man who takes their swab samples 💪🏽 Our entire population of Asiatic Lions are in Gir forest, thanks to Modi's ego. If you don't know about this issue, Google it up. For decades now, he has prevented any effort towards derisking their population by spreading them over multiple forests in India.

Please repeat after me: Modern medicine works against Covid. Vaccines work against Covid. --- The death rate due to Covid is under 2% because modern medicine has drugs like concentrated oxygen, methylprednisolone, budesonide, dexamethasone that inject new life into a patient. You can see the relief on the patient's face. You can see the results in the outcomes of the patient. Long Covid is real. Long Covid is not the fault of your treatment plan. The virus screws up your body. Your pulmonologist, cardiologist and orthopedic doctor are well prepared to help you deal with Long Covid. Do not let people cast aspertions on modern medicine and clinical trials. The scientific method has never worked more beautifully, especially in the face of fascist bozos like Trump, Modi and Bolsonaro running (ruining?) the world right now. If you know someone sick with Covid, tell them to have unflinching faith in their doctor, their pharmacist, and the ICMR SOP that the doctor follows. It is bringing results. The deaths you see are because of a severe shortage of drugs like oxygen. The bed shortages you see are because distraught patients are clamouring to the miracle of modern medicine. We need to invest more and more and more in science and medicine, not less. [ Your alternative medicine may also be working. But unless each of your medicines passes multiple double blind clinical trials with thousands of patients, it will not be accepted. Chinese oxygen concentrator manufacturers are currently selling a machine that generates two parts Hydrogen and one part Oxygen. Yes, the machine emits a literal gas bomb. There are multiple scientific studies in China that prove the efficacy of this method. Not one hospital outside of China has had the courage of making their sick patients inhale a bomb, so we can know if it works or not. Maybe the Chinese are right, maybe they are wrong. Perhaps we will never know. But the scientific method of clinical trials depends on other healthcare workers taking the risk of trying out your drug over thousands of their own patients and conducting a study. And yes, "scientific studies" coming out of authoritarian countries like China and India where the government "controls" science, and where paid publishing is rampant, is treated with doubt. Often this research might be good and genuine. Such is life. Fix your country first, then complain about bias. ]

I'm not crying. You're crying. This is the kind of leadership we could have had. Nationwide. If some morons didn't want a mandir.

Idiots like me, who believed the spin machine of the AAP for five years, while hating on Sheila Dikshit... what can I say about the likes of us. Clearly the Congress government that preceded the AAP had a better healthcare plan than the AAP. An idea that sounds good might not actually be good at all. Administration is hard, marketing is easy.

The oppressors are already united. They are one and the same. Why then should the oppressed not be united in their solidarity. We have nothing to lose but our oppression.

Have you considered the possibility that the only reason capitalist USA went to space was because socialist Russia was already all over it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVJfjDOa3TI We owe a lot of NASA's exploration, and a lot of other science that colonial countries carried out, to the single minded focus on science that communist countries had (and still have). China's rover that deployed today on Mars, makes China the third country to land a rover on Mars. The first, of course, was the USSR. Followed by the USA.

Yesterday, while we unloaded our first shipment of 20 oxygen concentrators from China, one of our team members quipped, "China is responsible for this pandemic, yet China is profiting off of this Pandemic." For eighty years China invested in the education and health of its people, and in science and technology. It tried to build an egalitarian society. It made many mistakes, at the expense of its people. Today, those very people are reaping the benefits of an organised, educated, industrialised society. India, in spite of its freedom and democracy, and the so called rule of the poor man's vote, did not invest in broad based education and healthcare. Today, our public health and industrial base is so small that it cannot even support the elite during a crisis, forget the masses. We are being massacred because we abandoned whatever little social investment we were making, in pursuit of capitalist growth. So why lament China's profits now? At least it made the investments that produce the medicine and machines that are keeping us alive. China is far from perfect. But what right do we illiterate street-shitting riverbed-body-buriers have to complain about it?

हरियाणा BJP की इतनी फटी पड़ी है कि औरतों पर, बूढ़ी औरतों पर डंडे बरसवाए

Nothing hurts a bunch of RSS chaddis more than being called chaddis. So I spent the afternoon repeatedly calling a bunch of chaddis, chaddis. It was the most useless exercise of my life.

First Pinarayi took the health ministry from Shailaja. Now he wants a physical swearing in ceremony with 500 attendees. Does thumping electoral success give leaders brain damage?

I get really annoyed when some people go "Oh you went to IIT, you must be really smart." I will now point them to exhibit 1, Arvind Kejriwal. An IIT degree proves nothing about your intelligence, competence, sanity or pettiness.

Finally got around to watching Karnan. A very accurate portrayal of how the police in India exists mainly as a means of oppression, not an agency providing justice. We worry how the nation will progress. When the ruling class is busy keeping the majority oppressed, and relishing that oppression, then where is the scope for progress? Youth are simply looking for the next Muslim or Dalit or transgender to lynch, the next bit of trouble to create. (Mandela and now Karnan. Only Tamil cinema make sense any more...)

Karnan and Cinema Bandi are a study in contrast. Both movies are about a village coming together for a common cause, and a protagonist who wants to lift his village out of its miseries. While Karnan relies on self empowerment, Cinema Bandi's message of empowerment is hobbled by a middle class urban saviour woman waltzing in at the last minute. She isn't even required by the story curve; she just hams in at the end because "oh wait, how can a bunch of villagers achieve something on their own". Or perhaps she was deliberately made to stick out like a sore thumb. As someone trying to appropriate the limelight with her benevolence. A representative of our savarna media and jholawala activists, who believe that nothing moves in this nation without their intervention.

So the orange monkey is getting Saffron coloured shrouds removed from dead bodies. The BJP is literally reducing the amount of saffron visible from the skies. Who would have thought?

Consider how arbitrary this is. Is this not as arbitrary as the magistrate who sent Benix to police custody without examining his wounds? Are we to receive judgements and orders from the courts, or oral pronouncements of this kind? Growing up we learnt the phrase "grave as a judge". If the SC Justice does not see the urgency in the petition, they may refuse to hear it. But why let it be known that the courts actually punish the accused by keeping them in custody. Custody is not punishment or justice. Justice comes from timely judgements.

मायावती का मज़ाक बनाते हैं। हिम्मत होती तो फूलन देवी का बना कर दिखाते, आमने सामने।

यह जी मेरे मुख्यमंत्री की देखो सूझ बूझ https://mobile.twitter.com/ANI/status/1399057284177690628

IL-6 का एक एक टेस्ट मैंने ₹3,500 में करवाया। और यकीन मानिये, अप्रैल-मई में हालात इतने ख़राब थे कि मैं शुक्रगुज़ार था कि कोई घर आ कर blood sample ले तो जाता है, और test report दे तो देता है। अब जब second wave ख़तम हो चुकी हरियाणा में, तब प्रशासन जाग गया है, और rate set हो गए हैं। अब ज़रूरत टीके की है। मैंने आज अपना पहला vaccination कराया। Medanta ने ₹1,150 लिए मुझसे, मात्र दो सेकंड के काम के। इस वक़्त भी, हालात इतने ख़राब हैं कि मैं शुक्रगुज़ार हूँ, कि चलो टीकाकरण तो हुआ। 150 का टीका लगवाने के 1,000 देकर भी मैं संतुष्ट हूँ, जबकी इसके rate इसी साल set भी हुए थे और फिर unset भी हो लिए। भाजपा के काम करने का यही तरीका है। हालात हमेशा इतने ख़राब रखो, कि आदमी चौगुना पैसा दे कर भी शुक्रगुज़ार रहे।

Anil (फोन पर): Vaccine कहाँ लगवाई आपने? Me: हाथ में Anil (गहरी साँस लेकर 🙄): मतलब vaccination कहाँ हुआ? Me: यहीं, घर के पास। Medanta वाले आए थे। Anil: मैं भी लगवा लेता। Me: 1150 लिए। Anil: 😳 बस जी, मैं 850 में लगवा लूँगा। Me: बीमारी का खर्चा और नुक़सान इतना ज़्यादा है कि मैंने टीके की तो कीमत ही नहीं देखी। Anil: और क्या। लूटो, लूटो, दो हाथ से लूटो BJP और उसके उद्योगपति मित्रों। हम सब अपनी लगवाने बैठे हैं।

Leopold II, whose acts in the Congo led to the term "crimes against humanity" being coined. His brutal murder of 10 million Congolese, and the amputation of as many for not meeting rubber growth targets, is still not recognised as genocide. Reparations are a far cry when Belgium is still busy proving how good colonisation was for the Congo.

How many women drive tanks in the US Army? We don't know, because they only became eligible in 2016. How many women drive tanks in the Indian Army? Ha ha ha. They can't even drive trucks here. Since when were women driving tanks in Soviet Russia? Since as long as they had tanks and women. Tell me again how your capitalist democracy will trickle down equality and prosperity to everybody eventually. (The USSR didn't just take a woman and place her on a tank and get a photo-op. These women were getting credited for kills and winning medals. That doesn't happen overnight. A woman needs to grow up in an environment where she has the confidence and education to become a tank commander. The men around her need to grow up in an environment where they know that a woman's place is in the driving seat of a tank, not the kitchen. They had that in 1942. Meanwhile you're still upset because your housemaid didn't show up.)

Modi's speech was an insult to the wo/men and NGOs putting their own existence at risk to save lives.

Read through the comments to see how everybody is crediting the SC for this volte-face. Our courts weild tremendous power. And yet so rarely do they choose to challenge the government in power. Are they then not complicit in the state our nation is in?

Of course totalitarian regimes like China do it all the time, with incidents such as Tiananmen Square. What is amazing is to see Trump and Modi pull this off in democracies. That's what's scary about the present times.

आपका PM तो झूठा था ही, आपके सभी CM भी झूठे हैं। अगर आपके प्रदेश में Covid का सच रिपोर्ट हुआ है, तो इस सच्चाई के लिए अपने CM को अगले election में दाद दीजियेगा।

It would have been nice if Uber was simply a platform to connect cab drivers to passengers. A ride hailing service in its true form. Instead it built its business on price manipulation - raised billions of dollars and then gave much of it away as discounts to customers, undercutting taxis. They said they would "change consumer behaviour". I think we should leave behavioural change to the experts - psychologists and sociologists. Capitalists think they can change people by throwing cash at them, destabilising the livelihoods of millions in the process. Zomato is going to IPO soon. A company that isn't expected to make profit before 2025, and began by rating restaurants, is today in the food delivery race to the bottom. I've seen it in my office - people don't change. When the offers and discounts stop, our young software workers go back from delivery to cafes within our office block. I don't see why more startups don't focus on actual value creation. Alibaba and AliExpress are good examples of value creation - take MSMEs and expose them to the world, remove impediments (lack of trust) between buyer and seller. A rambling rant this is. So many problems to solve in this world, and somehow big capital seems to pick the worst ones to go after.

Did the Taliban kill Danish, or did he cause his own death by choosing to be in a conflict zone? Moreover, he chose to include himself within a posse of combatants. How was the other side to know that he is a press person? Weren't both sides blowing up entire vehicles? Of course the Taliban are no good; they're already looking for 15 year old girls to wed their fighters. But weren't we jeering at the USSR and the US, both of whom lost in Afghanistan and had to retreat. Who "defeated" these losers, if not the Talib? The US occupied Afghanistan for two decades. Isn't the Afghan National Army propped up by the same occupying forces led by the US? Are they the good guys then? Would it then be more appropriate for us to say that Danish was killed while covering the Afghan civil war. Although I don't know what is civil about a war? I've seen so many photographs taken by Danish in the last two days. Most, I'd seen before, not really recognising the man behind the lens. As a budding photographer, I admire his courage and his composition. He was always neutral, I feel, like old world news readers. "Here is something I saw and documented. Interpret it as you will." Then why are we so desperate to politically interpret his death? It is a fact. It happened. We have lost him, and the body of work he would have created. Does it really matter who killed him in a conflict zone? (Just some unresolved questions moving about my head since yesterday. Can you help me resolve them? Also help me think through this - the US were the bad guys in Afghanistan. But for twenty years they kept the Taliban at bay - even as Afghanistan paid a heavy price for it. What happens now? Is it really just the CIA responsible for creating the ISIS and Taliban? And what happens when colonial powers stop fighting them?)

40 people gathered around a well to watch a rescue operation. The well wall caved in, all of them fell in. 10 died. The eleventh to die was the original fellow being rescued. Now the PM is giving ₹2 lakh for each person who died. And the CM is giving ₹5 lakhs. So we are rewarding bad, stupid behaviour with public money now? Each person injured gets 50K. State sponsors treatment. Why doesn't the state sponsor the treatment of so many people injured in the line of duty? I think politicians throw public money to garner fame, whenever an incident gets into the news. Being benevolent with someone else's money is easy.

You might think this is a small incident... But the point highlighted is very significant... It is about federalism, linguistic autonomy of states, the sanctity of the eighth schedule - and by extension the sanctity of the entire constitution. The only way forward is to have strong regional parties. And strong parties representing the marginalised and oppressed sections. DMK, a regional party, is upholding the respect for Tamil, which would otherwise become a marginalised language at the union level.

https://thewire.in/media/pegasus-project-spyware-indian-journalists Sometimes you learn about the past lives of your friends accidentally. Such as while reading an article on the hacking of journalists' phones by the current Indian union government. Looking at this resume https://www.orfonline.org/people-expert/saikat-datta/ of his that I just dug up, the @[570112285:2048:Saikat Datta] I know might well be in a witness protection program. (I have known programmers who quit the tech life to become farmers. Now I know an editor who quit journalism to train in martial arts. Also, protagonist quitting day job to train in martial arts is sounding like the plotline of any number of revenge action movies.)

"यह welfare state है हमारा? मुफ़्त vaccine, मुफ़्त ration के इतने बड़े विज्ञापन - मग़र यह सब उसी ग़रीब का तो है जिसे मुफ़्त कह कर दे रहे हो।" "Right to health की बात क्यों नहीं करते हम? Right to work को constitutionally guarantee करना चाहिए। तभी तो Right to life होगा।"

I have often learned more from Internet forum discussions, than from books. I am yet to find a book author who isn't biased - which is why discussions are great because you hear multiple opinions simultaneously from different people and different societies/economies. I am copying here, this delicious thread I just came across: Comment 1: To be honest, when taking a look at how stupid vast parts of humanity have been acting through this pandemic out of spite, IF the pandemic does not manage to weed out considerable parts of that stupid, I don't think some kind of notable collapse is that unrealistic within this century. Response: We learned our lesson so much after engaging in one World War, that we engaged in another one. 100 years ago, the second wave of the Spanish Flu was the most deadly not because the threat had actually subsided, but because humans were tired of dealing with lockdowns and silly masks. The 2008 financial crisis was apparently so bad that we did nothing to prevent it from happening again. Not sure what in the fuck makes you think we humans get smarter over time, or that another global pandemic would educate. We can't even wise up enough to stop repeating the worst of our history. And a reply to that response: To be slightly more optimistic... While we had a second World War, we have not had a third one. Of course there's fighting all the time, which is horrific, but overall much better. You can sum all of the fatalities since World War II from all the wars and still have a lower number than World War II, despite total population increasing three fold. It seems we have learned our lesson. While the same stupid behavior was seen in the Spanish Flu, COVID is in the neighborhood of 10% of the total deaths despite being a worse disease, meaning that our medical science has offset the same bad behaviors of humanity at large. Comment 2: Communism is one of those things that can look great on paper, but never works in reality. Why? Human greed and lust for power. Any system of government or system of society for that matter that has any sort of hierarchical structure to it sooner or later falls prey to someone with power getting corrupted by it. The United States system of government tries to prevent that by making our elected representatives accountable to their constituents, but even then over time it's become incrementally corrupted to the point that so many people in these United States feel that their votes don't mean anything and that the so-called 'powers that be' will just do whatever they want regardless of what The People want. If you want a system of society or government that prevents all that corruption then come up with something that is so completely and fundamentally decentralized that no one person or no group of people have any real power, yet you can effectively govern 350,000,000 citizens in a nation with a GDP of 21 trillion dollars and that is a world military power.

Follow @[100077784489631:2048:Mad Mughal Memes]. Coz meme induced laugher is good for you, and your sacrilegious appreciation of the mughals is bad for your sanghi fraaands.

Does this work? This giving of rewards after the achievement. Will this largesse create enough of a "supply" of athletes? Most of our good performers are from "remote" areas. Tribals and such who haven't lived off a diet of sugar and maida like you and me. Who will "invest" in more such upcoming athletes? I understand it doesn't just take blood and sweat to train for the Olympics - usually it takes a ton of money too. Unless we create an ecosystem where there are more organisations like GoSports investing in upcoming athletes... To me the awards seem like showbazi. We invest nothing in athletes. All the facilities are in urban areas where the elites and upper caste/class live. All the jocks are in the देहात. Only Haryana seems to be creating a wide network of sports facilities.

So, what did I miss? How did the BJP give OBC reservation so easily? Is there a catch? How does this relate to the issues NEET aspirants are facing in TN? Does this solve those issues? I Googled these questions before asking them here. No dice. Useless, our media and reporting.

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/taliban-verified-danish-siddiquis-identity-then-executed-him-says-report-2498121 I had earlier raised doubts about "the politicisation" of Danish's death. I had stated that he was himself responsible for his death by serving in a war zone. Investigations have now revealed that the Taliban actively sought him out, identified him, then brutally executed him. I am so sorry. For his death. And for raising doubts about who was responsible for it.

The future is social justice. सामाजिक न्याय. The future is not free electricity. Read the writing on the wall, political parties. (Also, the future is widespread public transport, not private electric vehicles and private space travel.)

Received on a WhatsApp group of Delhi/NCR based entrepreneurs that I am a part of. The tax paying bourgeois want to control government spending. As if there isn't enough bourgeois representation in the legislatures, executive, judiciary, media and bureaucracy. People who make the most income in the country, who pay the highest income tax, or say those companies that file the highest GST returns, will have the greatest vote in government spending. When I was twelve I came up with the diabolical idea that we should take the poor and put them on work-for-food programs to reforest the country. "We" being those who wield real power. The idea that those with privilege have agency over the poor and oppressed, came naturally to pre-teen me and my friends, who were brainstorming ways to improve our country. But this idea, proposed by adults, is even more horrifying.

We have come to a stage where a male police officer is incapable of stopping a woman from committing a crime in full public view, because he is afraid that he can be accused (of molestation or worse). It is not that custodial rape has ended in India. Nevertheless, CrPC 46(4) does not prevent a policeman from taking immediate action against a female perpetrator. For the law and order machinery to crumble so completely at the altar of gender is a serious matter that society must debate and resolve. In an ideal world, action would be taken against the cop for dereliction of duty. But here the situation is that even his superiors are afraid of arresting the woman. Of course, CrPC 41 and 41A when read with Arnesh Kumar imply that the police have hardly any ground for arresting the woman. But then how did they keep the man under arrest for over 24 hours, and that too hilariously under IPC 151 - unlawful assembly. I mean, the man didn't even want to be present at the scene of the crime. The woman has been booked under 427 (for breaking his phone) and 394 (for hurting him while stealing his money). So, if she hadn't caused any theft or damage to property, would the police not lodge an FIR against her for assaulting a man 22 times? Indeed, they wouldn't. And that is a very serious matter. We need course correction now.

We depend on these farmers, soldiers, sportspersons for our food, security, pride. And yet we ignore, suppress, vilify them every time they raise their voice.

I bought a book called मंटो की कहानियाँ from Amazon. The first story is Toba Tek Singh. As I was reading it just now, things got curiouser and curiouser. Finally, on the third page, I see a sentence begin with 'यद्यपि'! Now, I'm no Manto or Urdu literature expert, but I was confident that Manto would never have begun a sentence with यद्यपि। So I scour the first few pages and the back cover of the book. Nowhere does it say that the book is translated. It is संकलित, which isn't the same as अनुवादित। So I hunted till I found https://www.rekhta.org/stories/toba-tek-singh-saadat-hasan-manto-stories?lang=hi. Sure enough, 'गो' has been quietly, silently translated to 'यद्यपि'। The book has been published by Diamond Pocket Books. Having worked for them thirty years ago, I know them to be scoundrels. But this level of skullduggery is simply unparalleled. Yes, there are losers like me who understand Urdu but cannot read Nastaliq. Instead of simply publishing Manto's words in Devanagari for us, you had to go and translate? As if Manto would be inaccessible to someone who grew up in Delhi and Bhopal? At least mention somewhere on the book that this is an अनुवाद not a संकलन। @[590608054:2048:Anannya Dasgupta], you speak in Haiku. I rant verbose. [Edit: The story is about the partition. And my rant too ended up being about the partition of Hindustani into Persian Urdu and Sanskritised Hindi. Ashrafs on one side and their counterparts on the other side took a language and tore it apart for everybody. They didn't even spare the scripts. Those too were partitioned into two - Nastaliq for Urdu and Devanagari for Hindi. Sigh.]

Right now the US evacuation of the Kabul embassy is looking as bad as 1975, when the yanks were picking people off the rooftops of Saigon in Hueys. But have the neocolonialists learnt their lesson this time? How many months before the US is involved in yet another fruitless regime change misadventure? The Military Industrial Complex stole $50,000 from each US citizen over twenty years. First, to find and kill Osama. Then, to keep Afghan girls in school. Well if the 'bad' Afghans are going to rape underage girls in the garb of marriage, and the 'good' Afghans are going to let it happen, then can you fix that problem with the heel of your boots? Looks like the answer is a resounding No. Let's see which region will be the next victim in the industrial complex's greed for an additional $100+ billion an year in military spending.

US spokesperson: "This is not Siagon. Don't say Siagon." Meanwhile, pictures coming in from the Kabul: "Oh but it is, exactly, Siagon." Hasty withdrawals that abandon too many local collaborators at the mercy of the enemy - that's official US policy.

First, the US created the Taliban to fight the Russians in Afghanistan. This group, bound together by religious fundamentalism, has stood the test of time. Later, the US created the ANF to fight the Taliban. This group fell apart like a pack of cards. What were the bonds? Salary. Uniform. An opportunity to serve the country (patriotism) by protecting democracy and freedom. Fascism works. Patriotism is harder to make work. It requires huge investments in education and in the enlightenment of the masses. You need thought leaders. Religion has stood the test of time. Democracy has frequently failed. That's a lesson for those fighting conservatives and nationalists - euphemisms for fascists - in their own countries. The fight isn't easy 😕 🤷🏽‍♂️

A man of brilliant intelligence, resourcefulness and wit, Periyar birthed the Dravidian movement. A Kannadiga who defined the politics of Tamil Nadu state for generations to come.

यहाँ गोवा में पणजी के Fontainhas में मैं कुछ ऐसे खानदानी अमीर लोगों से मिला, जो कई पुश्तों से ईसाई हैं। मग़र फिर भी वह हर ऐरे गैरे को मिलने पर यह ज़रूर बताते हैं कि ईसाई धर्म अपनाने के पहले उनका परिवार गौर सारस्वत ब्राह्मण था। मतलब धर्म चला गया परन्तु जाति नहीं गई। ऐसे लोगों के बनाए हुए RSS और BJP से आप उम्मीद करते हैं कि वो दलितों को आगे बढ़ने देंगे, मुख्यमंत्री बनाएंगे? दलित सिर्फ़ राष्ट्रपति जैसे आलंकारिक पदों पर ठीक लगते हैं इन्हें। भाजपा नेता उनके पैर धो लेंगे, उनके साथ भोजन कर लेंगे, मग़र अधिकार और शक्ति कभी नहीं देंगे। कॉंग्रेस की तरह दिखावे के लिए भी नहीं।

On Sep 11, Union minister of health and family welfare Mansukh Mandaviya announced that Goa is a 100% vaccinated state. Yesterday, at an event, the Goa Chief Minister said, "When we announce that we are a 100 percent safe vaccinated state, then national and international tourists will come here. We will complete 100 per cent vaccination by October 31.” Has BJP redefined the meaning of 100%?

UPSC के परिणाम बहुत चाव से देखे सबने। यह बनोगे UPSC देकर? सरकारी हैवान! सत्ता की चापलूसी में कुछ भी करोगे? IAS officer and former Karnal DM Ayush Sinha is a free and well protected man, even after unconstitutionally and illegally ordering for the murder of protesting farmers. I suppose this is the impunity that UPSC candidates are lusting for.

सर्वोच्च न्यायालय तक हरियाणा के इस शेर का यह बयान पहुँचना चाहिए। तब न्यायालय को समझ आएगा की किसान सड़कें क्यों रोके बैठे हैं। आज किसान ने घेराबंदी की है, कल से हरियाणा और पंजाब में फ़सल की खरीद शुरू। लातों की भूत है अडानी की यह सरकार, इसे न्यायालय में हुई बातें समझ नहीं आतीं।

उत्तर प्रदेश में अजय बिष्ट मुख्यमंत्री। केंद्रीय मंत्री अजय मिश्र का बयान आता है। उपमुख्यमंत्री केशव प्रसाद उनके गाँव पहुंचते हैं। फिर इनमें से किसी के सुपुत्र ज़िला लखीमपुर खेरी में आंदोलन कर रहे किसानों पर गाड़ी चढ़ा देते हैं। अब DGP मुकुल गोयल कहते हैं कि किसानों ने ख़ुद को ही ज़ख्मी कर लिया। यह है मोहनदास की देन, जिनका जन्म आप कल मना रहे थे। इन सब के नाम ध्यान से पढ़ लीजिए। दो-चार जाती विशेष ने, कुल मिला कर देश के दस प्रतिशत से कम लोगों ने, मतलब हम और आप ने, इस देश पर कब्ज़ा कर रखा है। अपना प्रभुत्व बना रखा है। सन सत्तावन में अंग्रेज़ी व्यापारियों, नौकरशाहों, अफ़सरों को वापिस भेज के उनकी जगह हमने ले ली। अब हम हर जगह अपनी जकड़ बनाए हुए हैं। जैसे Rwanda में Tutsi, ऐसे हिन्दुस्तान में हम। नौकरी - व्यापार, न्याय - राजनीति, परीक्षा - परिणाम, घर - ज़मीन, हर चीज़ हमारी मुट्ठी में। मोहनदास करमचंद गाँधी। एक नस्लवादी, जातिवादी व्यक्तित्व। Poona Pact के रचयिता। आधुनिक भारत और उसके सख्त पदानुक्रम के निर्माता।

पीछे से वार तो संधियों के चहेते राम ने भी किया था। यह हिन्दू धर्म + हिन्दुत्व की पुरानी परम्परा है। हमें भी सिखाने की कोशिश की गई थी यही सही आचरण है। स्कूल में भी सिखाया था, और B R चोपणा ने TV पर भी दर्शाया था।

Somehow this Gandhi brother-sister duo are able to extract political mileage out of every tragedy in this country. The loss of eight lives in Lakhimpur, instead of furthering the cause of the farmer's protest, is furthering the fortunes of every kind of moron in the UP elections. And look at these fools Channi and Baghel. Instead of running their own states, they are running around in UP and also spending their state's money on compensating the farmers. I'm all for the families being financially taken care of, but why should another state pay for the crimes of the BJP and the UP government?

Judges brahmin Complainants brahmin Judgement will be on the future of the oppressed castes No election, reservation or proportional representation in the judiciary. This is the result.

Didn't Modiji establish peace in Kashmir? Didn't he vanquish all terrorism? Who are these anti nationals killing Hindus and Sikhs in Modiji's ram rajya wala Kashmir?

Of the important Indian leaders that we urban savarnas know the least about, Kanshiram leads the pack. Others who we should know more about: Jyotirao Phule Fatima Sheikh Savitribai Phule Periyar Mayawati Phoolan Devi It isn't just Ambedkar who wrote books like the Annihilation of Caste. Each of these great thinkers and doers have written books. The sooner we read and understand them, the closer we will be to the present and future of Indian politics and leadership.

Bhakts: We have a problem with AMU because they have Jinnah's portrait up on the wall. Me: Let me introduce you to the Pandora's box that is AMU's genesis. (Because just yesterday I saw some Aligs celebrating this man.)

Two sets of my friends are in two different camps over the recent murder of dalit sikh Lakhbir by Nihangs at the Singhu border.† Meanwhile every Sanghi knows exactly how to feel and what to say about the incident - which is whatever high command wants them to feel and say. And I'm not even dismayed. Because, if we didn't disagree and argue, if we didn't think for ourselves, if we all towed the party line and obeyed orders - then wouldn't we be conservative, right wing, religious nutcases like the rest of them? In the past I've heeded the call that all liberals in India, all opposition to the right wing, must be united. So we all say and do what Kavita Krishnan (or whoever else has self appointed themselves as the wokest kid on the block this week) wants us to say and do. Nope. Cholbe na. I'd rather we argue and debate and stay fractured than we all become lemmings. †One camp believes this is a crime motivated by Lakhbir's dalit caste. The other camp believes... okay I'm not sure entirely what the other side believes but it's broadly that this wasn't a caste crime; it was just a violent act done to protect sacred Sikh texts from blasphemy.

Jai Bhim is easily the most well made and powerful movie that I have seen in a decade. In fact, not since Kannathil Muthamital has a movie moved me as much. (The connection of the movie to its title is vague at best. But that is a debate I won't get into. The real life Chandru was quite inspired by Babasaheb, so let's leave it at that.) Jai Bhim is about police brutality. And more so, the brutality that Indian society metes out to Tribals and Dalits. In the bare depiction of this horror, it cuts no corners. This is no pansy movie like Article 15; it will leave you vexed. Do not watch this movie with your children. If you think the real life events depicted in this movie are old, and people no longer vanish into Tamil Nadu jails, you only need to look at our friend Piyush Manush. If you think people aren't tortured to death in lockup, look at Jayaraj and Bennix. If you think the Irula, or any other so called criminal tribe in India, have land rights now, you'd be quite far from the truth. The message of the movie is that the only thing that can save the oppressed is education. And in that respect, we are largely where we were at the time of independence. Education, and by extension the rights that the constitution guarantees them, have yet to reach the lowest in the caste system. If you are an Indian who cares about Black Lives Matter, or systematic police brutality in the US (the George Floyd protests), then Jai Bhim will inform you how far, far, way far behind India is when it comes to racial (caste) justice and the prevalence of police brutality. In India as in the US, the police is the tool to enforce racism, and keep the SC/STs in check. https://app.primevideo.com/detail?gti=amzn1.dv.gti.fbf03970-02ad-4c3f-acc7-50fa6956121b

https://m.economictimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/marxism-helped-me-understand-ambedkar-better-justice-retd-k-chandru-real-life-hero-of-jai-bhim/articleshow/87600520.cms A very interesting reading. Views of Justice Chandru on how the left movements haven't addressed the caste issue, our indifference to unconstitutional police action in J&K, abuse of UAPA and sedition, the horror of custodial torture, the absurdity of the collegium system, and, above all, the towering relevance of Ambedkarite thought.

Three upper caste Hindu men on stage to celebrate tribal pride day. The indigenous people of India are not represented. On this stage. In the executive. In the judiciary. In media. In business. In any powerful sphere of life. Their attire is appropriated from time to time by their self appointed "leaders" (oppressors). (There is some representation in legislatures. And in titular roles like governor. But there is no real power. They are under the whip of whatever party's ticket they fought elections on. And those parties are invariably dominated by upper caste Hindu men. The occasional independent tribal MLA/MP are notable exceptions.)

Rakesh Tikait is the national spokesperson of the Bharatiya Kisan Union. The BKU is the largest farmer union in India. It was founded by former Prime Minister Charan Singh. It famously organised the Boat Club Rally in the '80s and won numerous fights for farmers during the early days of economic liberalisation. Almost the entire credit for the repealing of the farm laws goes to the BKU, who made it a significant political issue in Western UP, Punjab and Haryana, even as the BKU itself remains a non partisan union. Inspite of all this, Gupta and Vardarajan of The Wire, India's Left-Liberal poster child, call Tikait a "Jat leader". What does a man have to do to rise above the identity foisted upon him by casteist savarna Leftists? Leading a farm union founded by a prime minister, that has achieved numerous national level concessions in the past, has just won a national level fight, and continues to fight for MSP for all farmers in the nation, is evidently not enough. Mayawati and Azad are Dalit leaders. Tikait is a Jat leader. But Rahul Gandhi is not a Brahmin leader. Modi, Shah and Kejriwal are not merely Bania leaders. Mamata is not "that Brahmin leader in Bengal". And The Wire is not just another Brahmin rag. The messaging is very clear. If you are born of privilege, you automatically rise above your caste and region and become national leaders. But if you are lower in the caste heirarchy, that is what your identity will always remain.

BJP passed the farm laws without debate. BJP repealed the farm laws without debate. Congress will restore democracy by bringing back parliamentary debate. But can a party without any internal democracy, affirmative action or meritocracy restore these values in India?

What is Priyanka's understanding of intersectionality? She is talking of fielding 40% women candidates in UP elections. Savarna women, or women educated abroad and working and living in large cities - how will they relate to dalit-bahujan-adivasi women? Who is more oppressed? A savarna woman or a dalit woman? And what is the greater cause of oppression of a dalit woman - her dalit identity or her female identity. Then how does flying in women from outside to represent all of UP's womanhood make any sense?

A lot of people are very concerned about the farmer's demand for MSP. The farmer's did not ask for the new farm laws. They came out of you-know-where without any consultation with the farmers; the farmers simply opposed something that deeply impacted their lives. Similarly, the MSP formula that the farmer's now demand was not created by them. It was proposed in the Swaminathan Report sponsored by the Indian Parliament. All political parties have repeatedly promised in their manifestos to implement all recommendations of this report. You can read the salient points here: https://prsindia.org/policy/report-summaries/swaminathan-report-national-commission-farmers "Arrangements for MSP need to be put in place for crops other than paddy and wheat. MSP should be at least 50% more than the weighted average cost of production." The farmer unions like BKU did not come up with this formula. This was recommended by an expert committee. It ushers in a new kind of economics that is not covered by capitalism, socialism or communism. What it says is, if in an year it costs ₹100 per kg to grow toor dal, then toor dal must sell for a minimum of ₹150 per kg in the country that year. Nationwide. In mandi or in retail. Whether domestic dal or imported dal. It eliminates a portion of market dynamics. If there is a domestic or global shortage of toor dal, then the retail price of the dal for the consumer can rise (demand high, supply low). But if there is a glut in production, if there is too much dal in a particular year/season, then the price cannot fall below the MSP (₹150/kg in our example). It is strange no. Very counter-intuitive. Won't the farmers now grow whatever has the highest cost of production? Also, why should only farmers have the luxury of getting assured returns on in their "business"? I also want to manufacture a computer for ₹10,000 and control the market so it only sells for ₹15,000 or more. First we had to give Minimum Wages to workers, now we also have to give Minimum Price to farmers? All these questions have answers. It is not that the MSS Commission was foolish. It is not that the farmers are fools - that they have very well proven in the last one year. It is also not that the farmers think that they can fool everybody else. We have to find the answers. We have to read. We spend so many hours a day cooking, eating, pooping food. We survive on food. Maybe being a little bit more aware of the economics and challenges of the food production and distribution industry will help us all. Please comment with links to informative articles, videos and posts on the economics of farming. [ Already the farmers are opposing the privatisation of nationalised banks. Once cost+ kicks in, the farmers will no longer want subsidised fertiliser and power. So will all these industries that run on subsidy no longer be getting huge cheques from the government? PDS will expand with millets in it. But the biggest thing - 13 crore families with less than 2 hectares of land will suddenly have better income. Imagine how it will change the socio-economic landscape of India. Change is coming. ]

A number of negative comments have been made about General Rawat on his demise. These comments, and the people who are making them, have been widely criticised. To pass disparaging comments on someone's passing, and that too an armyman killed while on duty (thought not on combat duty) is hard to take. But do we as a society introspect on why people are criticising sacred institutions like the armed forces and the judiciary, and army men and judges? Is everyone who is criticising, an enemy of the state? An undesirable? Or is the rapid politicisation of the armed forces and judiciary a cause for real concern? And even without politicisation, if the bureaucracy, soldiers and judiciary are going to keep blindly doing the bidding of the executive, if incidents like what happened in Nagaland keep happening, then what is left sacred? When all the institutions are together working to colonise our own Tribals, the indigenous people of India, then can they be sacred? Perhaps they have been kept out of bounds for criticism only to grant them the impunity to do the bidding of the state, while maintaining a veneer of decency.

https://thefederal.com/states/south/puducherry/trouble-brewing-in-tranquil-town-of-auroville-its-not-just-over-felling-trees/ The article rather thoroughly covers the ongoing issue in Auroville. The NGT hearing is tomorrow. Let's hope right wing goons are not able to bulldoze another cherished institution. It's interesting how India works. When you begin reading about the issue, you get to know that the dispute is between the Auroville Foundation and some Aurovillians. It is only later that you realise that the Foundation is filled with right wing people hand picked by the union government, and has no representation from Aurovillians, or the local or state governments. A set of outsiders have been airdropped to rule over the place, in typical Sanghi style.

Most of us in urban India spend our lives living under a rock. So I forgive you if you haven't followed the most important news of December 2021. A bunch of upper caste kids refused to eat food cooked by a lower caste cook at a government school. The entitled mommies and daddies of these kids went and had the cook changed to an upper caste woman. Of course this is grossly discriminatory and illegal. But the machinations of the upper castes are not new. We are too familiar with them. We are so tired of them that they don't even make news. The exciting thing is that dalit students of the school, in an act of solidarity with the dalit cook, refused to eat the food cooked by the new upper caste cook. Dalit जाग चुका है इस देश का। And the students will not be ignored either. In the past, a bunch of dalit kids going hungry would be boring, old news that nobody cared about. But the protest of these kids has made waves. Of course the so called liberals, opportunists of the Congress and AAP, have come scurrying to curry favour. They are to be ignored. And these children, who know the power of their voice, need to be heard. For too long the minority upper castes have dominated this nation by occupying the courts, the board rooms and the corridors of power. But the numbers of the oppressed shall speak, soon. They are already speaking.

I hope the EC postpones the elections in Goa. I'd love to see all the money Mamata has spent plastering her face all over this beautiful state, go to utter waste. The BJP is frantically working to do in five months, all the development that they didn't do in five years. I'd want them to get a few months grace period to finish all this work, or at least inaugurate it and take all the bloody credit or whatever they need to just let us start using the roads that are already fully built and ready. Meanwhile Kejriwal has gone from distributing freebies to saying inane things like Bodol Zai and Ek Chance Kejriwalak. Which reminds me of India in 1993, when even after destroying the Babri masjid, the BJP was going around painting banal things like सबको परखा हमको परखें on public walls. Some people just don't know what to do with the hate that they've whipped up. As more time passes, I want the AAP to completely unravel and for Goans to see that Kejri has no real plan at all. And most definitely no intent to reverse the hate and tensions and polarisation that the BJP has created here in the last decade.

Happy birthday behen Mayawati. (The meme is self explanatory. But for those without context.... The lady with the big red binda on her forehead represents urban savarna feminists, who cannot accept a dalit woman as the true leader of the people. All their liberation and equality is reserved for upper caste, rich, urban women like themselves who speak fluent English. Oh, but they have no problem in cornering all of the foreign and government funding in the name of bahujan women - women they detest and have no real connect with. Then with all those funds, they take daflis and sing songs in the streets, because singing songs brings change. If they stood in elections like behenji, they wouldn't even get back their deposits.)

Are y'all seriously expending your energy making fun of a teleprompter failure? Are you really trying to prove that Modi is a bad orator. That he can't speak extempore when the situation demands? It's some stupid official speech. Nobody speaks extempore at UN type places. I'd legit die of boredom if I had to cook up a UN speech. Shoot the message. Attack his lies. His ideology. His actions and inactions. Don't try to prove he's something he is not. That is not how you're going to effectively fight fascism. Rahul is such an idiot to try and prove that Modi can't speak. He can speak. Its what comes out of his mouth that's the problem. Both when he is speaking extempore or from a prepared speech.

Here. You can't fight the malice of the BJP with the incompetence of the Congress. Rahul has come out of this episode looking stupid. Which is what he is. Quod erat demonstrandum. Find real heroes.

Every time an American or European tells you that their country fought the Nazis to save the Jews, please tell them to stop lying. These slavers and imperialists stopped at no cruelty in Africa, Asia and the Americas. In the Congo, Belgium turned severed hands into a currency, while every other "civilised" nation looked away. These countries are so shameless that they don't even teach their children their own history. British children still believe that the British did the world a favour through the Empire. When they read articles like https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/father-hand-belgian-congo-1904/ they call it fake news. The Americans and British fought the Nazis because the Germans were getting too powerful and would take over their colonies and imperialist economies. The Russians, on the other hand, fought the Germans to survive. Capitalism gave us imperialism and neocolonialism. Now it gives us climate change (by giving us a hundred different types of shampoo, all made by just three global megacorps that pollute the earth and fill the oceans with plastic garbage).

Two pieces of news, from two corners of the world. Rajasthan state in India is so backward, that even today if a dalit groom rides a horse to his wedding, he is killed or severely injured by dominant caste goons. In Boondi district this has changed, because the DM and SP are both not savarnas. Thanks to reservation, we have officers belonging to the majority, who have ensured that the majority can celebrate their weddings in peace without the upper caste minorities threatening them. Meanwhile in the US, the Hindu American Foundation has its knickers in a twist, because the Cal State University system has decided to protect students against caste discrimination by faculty. A majority of the South Asian faculty in the US are savarna, and it is an open secret how they favour savarna students in admissions. Now these people are claiming that Hindus are being targeted. Well, maybe you shouldn't have created the only religion in the world that openly discriminates between it's own followers on the basis of caste. Some brahmin academicians who openly talked about the superiority of brahmin genes are suddenly concerned about discrimination. Slow clap.

The hijab and बुर्का are a bad things to wear. So are the जनेऊ, gopichandanam, चुटिया. The former are symbols of being oppressed. The latter are symbols of being oppressors. The first time I saw a woman wear a chuda and heavy, heavy sindoor was while waiting outside LSR to meet a friend. Can we also ban that from educational institutions while we are at it. Why should college students wear symbols of being someone else's property? And, just so I'm clear, we are talking of removing religious symbols from institutions that were built after a भूमि पूजन. And that regularly host विश्वकर्मा and सरस्वती पूजा. मतलब, I know, islam is a religion and Hinduism is a way of life. I got the memo from my हिन्दुत्ववादी friends two decades ago.

The hijab must go. It does not belong to this century. But a lot of other things must go with it.

Here is the person who sent me an unsolicited gift right before the elections. He is the TMC candidate for my area now. What wonderful, law abiding citizens Mamta is fielding in Goa. I encourage everyone who can vote in Calangute constituency to vote for this definitely not corrupt gentleman. See https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10159654820482040&id=536762039

Had a one hour face to face discussion today with somebody on the hijab issue. Here are some things I learnt: - No discussion on the topic can be had without first criticising the right wing boys who are heckling the girls. Never mind the fact that right wing girls are also harassing the Muslim girl students. - The Muslim girls are the victims in this situation. Therefore we cannot address them at all. We cannot address the information asymmetry which is leading them to believe that they are bad Muslims for not wearing the hijab. This is notwithstanding the fact that the hijab and other symbols of Muslim identity have been deliberately and systemically forced upon Muslim girls for the last one hundred years. - We must not acknowledge that just as their is a right wing Hindu project running out of Nagpur, there is also a right wing Muslim project. Since Muslims are a minority in India, we must assume that Pakistan just dropped out of thin air and there was no movement by upper caste Muslims to misguide pasmanda Muslims and use them as pawns in a political game. The bahujan Muslim is a victim only of right wing hindu politics, not also of right wing muslim politics. - Since Muslims are currently the victims, we cannot address the slide in their own community till the right wing hindu project has been completely dismantled and the BJP thrown out of power from everywhere. - Since I'm not born a Muslim, I have no right to talk about Islam, or address Muslims. This is notwithstanding the fact that Ambedkar has written extensively about Muslims. What was the crux of my argument? That these girls are victims from both sides. Their own families, elders, community leaders, religious leaders, have fed them misinformation about Islamic attire. From Hindus and Muslims being indistinguishable in most parts of India fifty years ago, we have come to a stage where Muslim women can easily be identified (and targeted) in public. We must speak to these school (diploma college) girls and correct the information asymmetry they are facing about their own religion. I'm not saying that we should all become homogenous as a nation, with one diet, attire and language. But wearing a uniform and looking all the same, in the army, in a hospital, or at a school, isn't such a big deal no. Why must we always react to every provocation of the Hindutva lobby by confronting them. Why are the girls being made to say that they'd rather leave their education than leave the hijab. The best possible outcome of this situation is that all religious and caste symbols are cast out of schools and colleges. And no more prayers of any kind, even in schools run by religious organisations. Let religion and God wait outside the school. (And equating the hijab row with the CAA is just utter nonsense. There is orders of magnitude difference between the CAA and the hijab issue.)

अगर आप हिन्दी पढ़ पाते हैं तो यह लेख पढ़िए. https://hindi.theprint.in/opinion/chauri-chaura-was-a-bahujan-revolt-which-also-scared-mahatma-gandhi/43741/ गांधी से सिर्फ सावरकर वालों को नफ़रत नहीं. ऐसे भी बहुत लोग हैं जिनकी देशभक्ति का गांधी ने तिरस्कार किया. अब तो गए हुए कई साल हो चुके. अब तो हिन्दुस्तानी गांधी के जातिवाद और भेद भाव के बारे में बोलेंगे. चौरी चौरा से मोतिहारी की दूरी ही कितनी है? Edit: मेरे कहने का मतलब यह है कि नफ़रत का माहौल तब भी था और अब भी है. ख़ुद को महात्मा कह लेने से कोई व्यक्ती महात्मा नहीं हो जाता. आपके कर्मों में निचली जातियों और अफ़्रीकी लोगों के प्रति आपकी नफ़रत दिखती है. जो बोया, किसी दिन तो कटेगा. अफ्रीका में तो कई मूर्ति गांधी की हटा दी गईं. कोई तो कारण होगा? या वहाँ भी भाजपा ने नफ़रत फैला दी थी?

Goa is a place where the "well heeled" use public infrastructure. This lady takes the bus. I visit Asilo instead of Vision Hospital, every opportunity I can. People step out for a walk in public spaces in the morning, rather than stay within their gated communities. In the evenings they gather at the neighbourhood manos. The reason Indian public universities are monumentally better than public schools, is because abandoning public schools became a sign of affluence. I regularly meet people who hide the fact that their early education happened at a government school. The day we go back to government schools is the day we will have solid early education for everybody. And only then will the rural-urban, poor-rich, divide be bridged. But we are not headed in that direction. The government wants more privatisation. It is promoting NEET so Indians can pay ₹1.5cr and buy a medical degree.

आज महाड सत्याग्रह का दिन है. आपको इसके बारे में नहीं पता? तो पूछिए उनसे जिन्होंने आपको इतिहास सिखाया. लोगों को मुग़लों का इतिहास पढ़ने में तकलीफ़ है. वो नया इतिहास लिखना चाहते हैं. क्या उस नई इतिहास की किताब में 20 मार्च 1927 के महान दिन को जगह मिलेगी? क्या उसमें हिन्दू धर्म के सत्य को जगह मिलेगी? या हर चीज़ की तरह जातिवाद को भी मुस्लमान शासकों की देन बताया जाएगा?

I've never met an American who doesn't believe in taxing the rich more (and I know some folks who've done very well for themselves - so, like, they're rich themselves.) And yet everybody knows that legislations like https://www.businessinsider.in/policy/economy/news/bernie-sanders-wants-a-95-tax-on-big-corporations-pandemic-era-profits-to-bring-down-rising-prices/articleshow/90450414.cms will not get passed. So how come we say that Russia is a failed democracy and has oligarchs, but say that America has freedom and entrepreneurs. Clearly the rich are controlling law making there, as they are in India. I mean, no Indian believes in the honest hard work or the well deserved wealth of the Ambanis or Adani.

Interesting opinion on how the economic collapse of Sri Lanka is linked to the political and moral decline of the nation. The strong leader who "solved the Tamil question" with an "iron hand", is using the same iron hand against the Sinhala majority now. And all other institutions like the legislature, media and judiciary, were long ago poisoned, so they cannot come to the people's rescue. Lessons for our great "Hindu nation" in this...

For a nation to be Non Aligned, to walk the middle path, takes tremendous nuance. Nuance isn't something the BJP is known for. Modi's foreign policy is to cuddle up to (I mean hug) whoever is the wannabe despot of the season - Trump, Bolsonaro, Putin. Evidence coming out of Bucha is rather uncomfortably conclusive. The Russians brutalised civilians. Not after the Imperial Japanese Army has the occupying force of a large country behaved in this manner. It would have been one thing for Modi to not align with the US/NATO in this war. It is another to be eagerly buying cheap Russian fuel. The situation has terrible optics, and yet we did not even buy any noteworthy amount of oil or gas. And finally, the government chose not to drum up domestic support. You can't be buying cheap fuel on the one hand, and increasing consumer prices on the other. Anyway. Here is a depressing video from Bucha. Satellite imagery confirms that civilian corpses littered Bucha for a month, and weren't just placed by the Ukrainian forces after the Russians scooted.

Contemporary Jains, 364 days an year: अयोध्या. राम मंदिर. Caste. गोत्र. गौमूत्र. बाबाजी का दर्शन. यह मुल्ले! Vegetarians are better humans. ज्योतिष. पंचांग. पूजा की थाली. पंडितजी का आशिर्वाद. गीता पाठ. पैसा. वेदों में लिखा है कि... Jains on Mahavir Jayanti: Le ahimsa is best. महावीर जी ने कितना अच्छा पाठ पढ़ाया. सब follow करें तो दुनिया स्वर्ग हो जाए.

Babasaheb: The very soul of Hinduism is inequality. If Hindu Raj does become a fact, it will, no doubt, be the greatest calamity for this country. BJ pee, an upper caste Hindu majortarian capitalist party: Hold my beer while I appropriate Ambedkar.

We are currently a 3 trillion dollar economy. With 1.4 billion people. This translates to ₹13,500 per person per month in earning. Think about it. Averaged out, every man, woman and child already makes ₹13,500/mo. And yet, 190 million of us sleep hungry. Because of this man. And other billionaires like him. Who each soak up billions of dollars of earning out of our $3 trillion GDP. Adani is already worth $90 billion. That's 3% of our GDP. What Adani is saying is - only when the entire country makes $30 trillion per year, and he is given $1 trillion out of it, will his greed be satiated and he will allow every Indian to have two square meals a day. 190 million hungry in India. Adani worth $90 billion. Distribute his wealth, and each of these persons gets ₹3,000 a month for an year. Hunger solved, already. Next year we move to the next billionaire.

Growing up as a Jain I was told that Jain scriptures used to be in Prakrit and then in Hindi because Jainism wants all Jains to be aware of the religion and for the religion to not be controlled by a priestly class. Thirty years on, the generation that taught me the religion is dead, and the next in line are reading translated Sanskrit texts like the vedas and gita and believing in them. This decline in Jain beliefs is evident from a recent survey https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/06/29/religion-in-india-tolerance-and-segregation/ where 99% of Jains said they believed in God. A cursory study of the religion will tell you that Jains, like Buddhists, are atheists, or at best agnostic. There is no creation myth in Jainism, there is no creator. 54% of Jains even believe that there is one god with many manifestations. Then these same fellows will read the Nirvankand on Diwali night in Hindi. How they reconcile the niravana of Mahavira with the Abrahamic or even Hindu concept of a god, I cannot tell. Anyway. The reason I dug up the research is because 60%+ of Jains polled said that inter-caste marriage must be stopped. That puts them up there with the Hindus and Muslims. It of course does not matter that Jainism has no caste system, because neither do Islam or Sikhism. The only religions that believe in inter-caste marriage in India are Christianity and Buddhism; in other words, followers of these religions do not practice casteism. Fun facts. Jains are least likely to want to live with a neighbour who is not a Hindu or a Jain. They are also the strongest supporters of the BJP - 50% more than Hindus themselves. And most Jain pilgrimage sites will still try to convince you that the earth is flat. Which is why I am not surprised when the survey states that one-third of people who grew up Jain no longer identify with the religion any more.

Imagine a leadership so pathetic that they have to answer "is China occupying Indian land" with “Aurangzeb built a mosque on a temple 500 years ago".

In April 2006, Kannada film superstar Dr. Rajkumar passed away. Bangalore was forcibly shut down by his fans. I had planned a trip to Chikmangalur at this time. I was advised to paste a poster of Dr. Rajkumar on my car's windshield, to ensure safe passage on the roads. I was expected to show fake respect for a person who I barely knew. To protect myself from people who loved him. But such things are very common in India. This month, millions of people will show fake respect to a flag whose origins they don't acknowledge. They will exhibit allegiance to a constitution they don't respect. They will swear to protect our territorial integrity, while ignoring that China is persistently gnawing away our land. And people like me, who actually care about the ideals and principles that this nation was founded on, will not change their social media profiles. To stay away from the mob that is appropriating the symbols of this nation. And they will know that I'm not one of them by just looking at my profile. It is a curious, meaningless drama of symbolism that both sides are playing with élan. Instead of staying awake and thinking, I should just go to sleep. Like the rest of us. Ignorance, after all, is bliss.

हिन्दू ख़तरे में हैं ऐसा मैं नहीं कहता, हमारे देश के नेता कहते हैं Hinduism को ख़तरा किसी और से है या खुद Hinduism से है? Video देखिए, ख़बर पढ़िए, और बूझिए https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/family-fined-60-000-after-dalit-boy-touches-idol-in-kolar-8-booked-101663783836990.html

Indian Railways on even days: #NayeBharatKiRail #NayiPatriNayiRaftar #NayeBharatKaNayaStation On odd days: In actuality befores the Modizees also there was trains in India “You were asked only to bend, but you crawled.” ~ L K Advani

Not all laws are moral. Similarly, what is legal may not always be moral. And just because the right wing confronted hijab wearing girls with violence, doesn't make the religious freedom argument of the Liberals and Islamists any good.

तो आज Serendipity Arts Festival में Suraj Yengde को सुनने का सौभाग्य प्राप्त हुआ. Towards the end of the talk my kids showed up (because the free cruise they'd been dreaming of taking was booked out). And along with them came a classmate of theirs. At the end of the talk this classmate fellow pipes up and asks a question. I can't remember exactly what the smart alec asked - something about whether white people in South Africa have privilege or not. अब भाई सामने वाला African Studies का PhD. वो तो शुरू हो गया. That too in very academic terms. कुछ समझ ही ना आए. Ten minutes he must have talked. I think broadly what he said was that there are heirarchies within heirarchies. A white South African may still be discriminated against and may feel slighted in the US. And it is not just by your skin colour but also your accent and mannerisms that your location and position are identified. Anyway. So after the event I went up and spoke to him and asked him कि "भई बताओ इन बच्चों का क्या करूँ? They know about gender equality. They understand LGBT rights and preferred pronouns. Race पे इनसे thesis लिखवा लो. But they cannot see the elephant in their own room - caste. They have no understanding of their own privilege. और यह तो उस आदमी के बच्चों का हाल है जो रोज़ caste की बात करता है." So Suraj said that the last chapter of his book Caste Matters discusses this. But he is unaware of a ten page presentation or pamphlet that children (who do not intrinsically understand caste from their lived experience because they are upper caste or otherwise privileged) can read to understand caste. And then one of the kids showed up and said "I don't practice caste. So Caste is no longer an issue." And I said to Suraj कि अब देख लो. Will they say the same thing about gender or race? That I'm not sexist so there is no sexism. But they say that about caste. And then I further said कि लोग कहते हैं कि किताबें rewrite कर दीं Right wing ने. But what was Romila Thapar teaching me in the early 90s? She projected Ambedkar as one among many Congress leaders. And all the caste reform work she said was being done by Gandhi with his harijan whatever. These were the so called Liberals teaching us. So now what is to be expected from school education? And whatever little they do learn is countered by propaganda such as "reservation in government jobs is about livelihood not proportional representation". So basically I accosted a man of global fame who I've never met before, and start haranguing him with my parenting worries. बताओ. कोई sense है इस बात का? Anyway. At least Suraj and I agreed that if there is someone who can do anything about this, and produce resource material that kids can use, it is Prashant Nema

The government has some control over the broadcast of BBC's documentary, but seemingly no control over the Hindenburg report. A & A have spent a fortune buying out Indian media. The middle class is anyway beholden to them, thanks to the fantastic gains of their large cap shares. But looks like the FIIs have a mind of their own. The only way out of this conundrum seems to be to whip up the news cycle. Wondering what big shocking news over the weekend will divert attention from the bloodbath on the bourses on Monday morning.

On Ambedkar Jayanti I was having a meal with a friend. I said You know I travel a lot in India. I see a lot of statues of Babasaheb. Been seeing them since childhood. Some statues of Gandhi. The rare Nehru. But no statues of Savarkar. None. Never seen one in the wild. Babasaheb's statues might need protection. Which is sad. But at least he has followers Who publicly love him All over India.

A smear across the face of South India has been removed. Welcome back, KA.

Not a good day to be an occupier. (And as good a day as any to remind people of my unpopular and unsavoury beliefs)

मोदीजी के स्टेडियम में हुआ है तो कुछ सोच कर ही हुआ होगा.

French president बुलाया हमने, Macaroon. State guest बनाया. वो निजामुद्दीन दरगाह चला गया. अयोध्या जाना था उसे. भावनाएँ ही नहीं समझता.

Finally someone talking sense. So sick of the usual brigade of upper caste, rich to middle class, underemployed women and men dominating the narrative in every neighbourhood when it comes to stray dog management. These dog moms who can't have enough of their streety babies. Seriously, the world has bigger problems. Dogs and cats are artificially bred by humans, just like cows. We created them, and now they're one of the leading cause of destruction of natural fauna (wildlife). The world can't expend unlimited resources in feeding the literally hundreds of millions of stray dogs just in India. The right wing loonies have their stray cows. The liberals loonies have their stray dogs and cats. Meanwhile humans continue to suffer and starve, while food is diverted to feed billions of stray animals. Its just a classic example of how evil the people in control of our society are. That they can't see the suffering of starving children on the streets in India and abroad, but can see the suffering of animals. And, like, what exactly goes on inside the walnut sized brains of so called animal lovers who kill one human farmed species - chicken and fish - to feed another human created species - dogs and cats. Speciesism is a thing people. Read it up. And seriously divert your compassion towards the well being of children, their nutrition, health and education. If you create a better human society, the compassion towards animals will also rise. (I have been looking in bewilderment as Faye has recently been targeted by the so called animal loving gang for reporting the truth. Yet now I'm putting out flame bait myself. Sheesh.)

Every few years the scientific community (and the Internet) erupts into an argument over the morality of the Lena image. Now the IEEE has banned Lena from image processing journals. IYKYK. The reality is that we abandoned actual morality many decades ago. A world and a scientific community that silently watches genocide after genocide in Asia and Africa and does nothing, can only bicker over whether using the Lena image makes science an unsafe place for women. The elephant in the room that they don't want to address is, how is their work - with or without Lena - helping build bombs that can better identify little children and maim and kill them.

Angrez comedian has message for Indian politician spreading hate against Muslims out of fear of losing elections.

Every generation of youth in Murica must go to jail protesting some or the other stupid war that their country is financially or militarily involved in. The previous generation didn't do a good job protesting the Iraq war. So this one must bear the brunt of a complacent administration where the liberal and the conservative sides, both are sold to zionism and the military industrial complex.

I don't understand how these right wing ganwaars take each other seriously. Kuch bhi chal raha hai. I suppose they have stratification among themselves - the complete loonies and the slightly loony.

Petition to start a GoFundMe for citizens to contribute and buy Nitish. Why should Adani & Shah have all the fun? Since the politicians are on sale, the proletariat might as well unite and trade in them.

Had a nice chat this morning with a friend in Bangalore about the new reservation policy in Karnataka. Of course the new law is designed to fail and has been taken out only for political showmanship. However, there are still some points I would like to make: 1. This kind of law brings a bad name to reservation and affirmative action. Reservation works and is necessary. It has completely transformed the lives of millions of highly deserving Indians who had every right to the benefits they received. Reservation works because the funnel begins at the education level. If the Karnataka government had first reserved 75% seats in educational institutions in Karnataka for those having Karnataka domicile, it would create a supply of good candidates for jobs. However, private education is a business run largely by politicians, and they would never jeopardise their own profit making in order to do the right thing. 2. Karnataka residents have every right to benefit from the meteoric rise of Bangalore. Yes, a number of things have gone right for Bangalore to achieve the kind of success it has achieved in multiple fields such as software, hardware, aerospace and high tech. But why should the rest of the state not benefit from the economic windfall of a part of their state? They have every right to employment from within their state. This law might not be the answer, but answers should be found. 3. Jobs at the bottom end of the market - for those with low skill and education levels - are rapidly being lost to workers from outside the state. One of the reasons I see is that even long time residents of Bangalore are not comfortable speaking Kannada. Even rich Kannadigas growing up in Bangalore pride themselves for being able to converse in only one language - English. However, a majority of Kannadigas can only converse comfortably and confidently in one language - Kannada. When the "job creators" stoutly refuse to converse in that language, the prospective employees are either forced to learn Hindi or English, or lose their job opportunities to those already fluent in Hindi or English. 4. It is reasonable to expect anybody staying in a place for more than two years to learn the local language. When Indians go abroad, they quickly learn the lingua franca of their neighbourhood, otherwise they face racism for being "outsiders". Within our country, however, we have no respect for the language or culture of regions other than our own. I stayed in Bangalore for about three years, and didn't learn Kannada much. Been in Goa three years, don't speak Konkani much. But I did learn Tamil when I stayed in Chennai for five years, and could converse with workers from all strata of society. So if states need to take a tough line, like Tamil Nadu has in the past, in order to make migrants like me make the local residents feel more comfortable within their own state, so be it. If the Karnataka government legislates that those staying within the state for more than X years must demonstrate a certain proficiency in Kannada, and enforces this through a properly formulated certification process, I am all for it. Let the Kannada speakers feel at home in their own damn state man.

Cricket ka dhanda Shah ka beta chala raha hai. Olympics par Ambani ki biwi ne haq jama liya. Magar desh chalena wala phir bhi ek faqeer hai.

What a tragic time this is for the BJP. Not one person connected to the laddoo controversy is muslim. The TTD, the former CM, the current CM, the adulterated ghee supplier, not even Rahul Gandhi. Talk about a missed opportunity to create mayhem. And this on the heels of the event in Bengal. Not one person connected to the event was Muslim. The BJP just can't catch a break these days.

Everybody seems to agree that Adani is a thief. Everybody except the Indian government and its strongest supporters. In weak democracies, the leaders are owned by billionaires. See Musk and Trump. In strong dictatorships, it is the leader owning the billionaires. See Russia and China. Somehow these places are less of an oligarchy than democracies.

The (American) Internet has erupted in joy at the killing of a health insurance company CEO. Only the mass media seems to mourn him. Every corner of social media is celebrating in myriad ways. If you work for, or in other ways serve, a corporation or industry that thrives off of the exploitation of others, then this should be a wake up call for you. Tobacco. Oil and coal companies that cause climate change. Wall Street types. Those health insurance and pharma/healthcare businesses that exploit their customers. Or any such business that controls the market. Their work is hated. Your work for them is hated. People just aren't saying it out loud to you. 20 odd years ago, every consumer hated on Microsoft for how they exploited Windows and Office customers. Do you remember how widely despised Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer were back then? Bill Gates has spent 20 years doing community work, trying to fix his image. If your work causes harm to humanity or the planet, then you are not successful or respectable. You may be making money or climbing the corporate ladder, but you're just another Brian Thompson.

Every artist, every song talked about the end of colonialism, fascism and capitalist oppression. Rasta is about peace, love, brotherhood. And yet some Israelis whined about a woman wearing a Palestine flag.

DT has made India and China unite. And the left and right in India unite behind the PM and EAM, in support of their foreign policy. For this, he really does deserve a peace prize.

Suddenly the thousands of crores that the government was burning every year on Air India doesn't seem all that bad. Because what good is tax money, if it can't even keep the well heeled well flown? Trains are horribly late all the time, and buses are literally driving into ravines. But that's okay, because "we" don't use those. In a country where the majority still struggle to fill their stomachs before they sleep, baas, hamari ek aur inconvenience na badhe.

Trump's invasion of Venezuela is all kinds of illegal, immoral and bad. And exactly along the lines of how imperialist America has always behaved. Maduro was a dictator. No single party or leader can hold a mandate for decades in a functioning democracy. Even Modi resorted to SIR in spite of his popularity, and Indira resorted to the emergency. ​​​​​​ If you're a respectable democratic leader you would yourself step down after two terms. The American system gets this right. Term limits. Putin, Stalin, Xi, Kim, none of these people are/were popular. One can't admire them just because they claim to subscribe to socialism. Trump and Maduro can both be simultaneously bad. It's a thing. And the victims as always are the American and Venezuelan public, none of whom want to be owned by American corporations and billionaires.

When I was a student, I attended only one meeting of the @[100069592860868:2048:Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle, IIT Madras]. I volunteered with AID India, TNSF, CRY, Greenpeace, NSS - the whole shebang. But not the APSC. I was simply not sophisticated enough to "get" the APSC. A product of the Indian education system, I was unidimensional in my understanding of the world. I read what was presented to me, understood it, formulated opinions based on my readings†, and then defended those opinions like my life depended on it. Which is why when @[650243272:2048:Miguel Ángel Vázquez Gómez] told Nilay that it isn't a school's job to "cover" the entire syllabus, I was bewildered. I was simultaneously appreciative of this unboxing of the school beyond the contours of the NCERT textbook. And concerned because this wasn't how things had been done for a hundred generations before me. In The Big Lebowski, The Dude says, "Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion, man"‡. And that is all that an opinion is worth. Why then must we Indians defend our opinions like our lives depended on it? When presented with new information, why do we start debating? Why must we die on every hill? Where most folks of other races would simply say, "that's interesting, I'mma read up about that", and move on, we choose to dig in. Our education system is not a product of Macaulay. It is a product of Brahminism. We take great pride in having memorised texts and then reproduced them verbatim, generation over generation, with no addition or subtraction, because the ancients already knew what was best. The very idea of new knowledge or better knowledge, is antithetic to our belief that the older some piece of knowledge is, the better it must be. The Indian approach to knowledge is akin to the Scot's approach to alcohol. A thousand years ago Al-Biruni observed that the Brahmin takes the greatest care not to share his knowledge with men of another caste, and shares nothing at all with the foreigner. He is foolishly vain and self conceited. While even the arabs had their Golden Age, we have never really discovered the process of generating new knowledge, testing it and disseminating it. https://www.instagram.com/reels/DIW3wAoSSwR/ - if this reel sounds unsophisticated and not enlightening to you, then you are a victim of the same system as me. †Since Romila Thapar did not do a good enough job of explaining Periyar to me, and did not even begin to scratch the surface of the genius that was Babasaheb, I was condemned to never understanding them for the rest of my life.

The USA is experiencing what the USA has always brought upon other nations. Americans, your exceptionalism and dominance is built with gun and boot, not soft diplomacy. Are you shocked that ICE can be this brutal? But your armed forces have always been this brutal. ​From the Trail of Years to slavery, from water cure in the Phillipines to My Lai, Abu Ghraib and the killing fields of Afghanistan and Gaza. Just one American man, Kissinger, wrecked havoc from Cambodia to Chile. When it is in your system to murder leaders like Allende and install murderous dictators, are you surprised now that your own leaders want to be dictators for life? I've often told folks privately, about a conversation I had shortly after my first trip to the US. Someone I'd met in the US called to inform me about 9/11. "I'm not surprised," I said. "These people are oblivious to the strife they bring to the world. Someone was gonna wake them up and tell them how much people outside hate them." The average American is a very nice person. But collectively, all you've ever done is to control the world. Where you can't kill you've used the World Bank or the WTO to dispossess people. And now it's all coming back to you. Because you let it happen. The last people that the billionaires of American can loot and oppress are its own people. Like the white people of Europe, so far you've enjoyed the wealth that your colonial leaders loot from the world and bring to the USA. Now you are being dispossessed in your own country.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ You went to war over slavery, but never quite finished the job. High time you went to war over neo colonialism.

If you've ever been curious about the North Sentinelese, this is a very good read: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAnthropology/comments/1tgnana/have_the_sentinelese_intermingled_with_the_other/ Rarely, very rarely, the Indian government will listen to the demand of the first peoples, the forest peoples of India. The Andaman Trunk Road is now protected by the police, so leering travelers cannot harass Jarawa women. Also see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adivasi_Will_Not_Dance:_Stories, if you haven't already. The point is that there are so many adivasi people who WANT to tell their stories. Who are desperate to be heard, because unlike the Jarawas and the Sentinelese, we will NOT leave them alone. There are protests in Nuapada against mining, and the honourable courts have ordered adivasi and dalit protesters to clean police stations. For the same police that is actively brutalising them. Anthropologists and social scientists have a responsibility towards the people they make their "subjects". The Amazonian Pirahã have contacted the outside world, only to inform "us" that they are deeply disturbed by the fact that they are being studied and "talked about". Not only do they want to be left alone, they do not even want to be talked about by the outside world. What if we collectively set aside our morbid curiousity with those who do not want to be seen or "assimilated", and instead spoke to all the first peoples who continue to suffer because they are unheard.