Quick notes: EV opportunity, Divine powers...

• Waiting for policy clarity: Electric cars about to be profitable, says Mahindra. Biggest opportunity for decades - “We’re not looking for subsidies, we were just saying, ‘Tell us that’s the track you’re going to follow.’ If you’re going to do that, there’s money to be made, there’s going to be a return.”



• Danger signs: Businessmen are putting their money into speculative schemes instead of factories. Due to pressure from Chinese imports, micro, small, and medium enterprises are not able to generate satisfactory returns.



• Maybe a bit late?  Govt to create Rs 500-cr fund for R&D in 5G 



• Bengaluru to get public bike sharing: Bicycle riding facilities to be created with 6,000 bicycles.



• Ideal for India: 48-volt mild-hybrid feature a larger starter motor that can recover braking energy to recharge the battery and send some additional power to the driveline. Cost-effective solution to boost efficiency by cutting fuel consumption at idle.



• The Boy With Divine Powers :




• “Eat as little as possible”: The new food pyramid in Belgium sticks meat next to candy and pizza



• Europe’s two largest train makers: Siemens and Alstom to merge to counter China's CRRC, which is bigger than the train businesses of Siemens, Alstom and Bombardier combined. Competition from China has already been a factor in other big European mergers.

US-Russia Plan Lunar Station, India May Participate

NASA and Roskosmos, the space agencies of the USA and Russia, have signed an agreement to create a "Deep Space Gateway" - an orbital space station near the Moon, which will serve as a gateway for sending manned missions to the Moon, Mars, and farther out into deep space. BRICS countries including India may participate in this project.

From the Russian news agency:

http://tass.com/science/967781

The heads of the Russian and US space agencies have agreed on joint efforts to create what has been called a Deep Space Gateway (DSG) cislunar station, Roscosmos CEO Igor Komarov told the media at an International Astronautical Congress in Australia.
"We’ve agreed to jointly participate in the project for creating a new international lunar station Deep Space Gateway. In the first phase we will create the orbital component with a view to eventually use well-tested technologies on the surface of the Moon and, in the longer term, Mars. The first modules may be put in space in 2024-2026," Komarov said.
So far the participating countries have held a preliminary discussion on their likely contributions.
"We may provide one to three modules and the standards for a unified docking mechanism for all spacecraft that would be approaching the station. Also, Russia offers to use its future super-heavy space rocket, currently in the development phase, for taking parts and components to the Moon’s orbit," Komarov said. Roscosmos’s manned programs director, Sergey Krikalyov, said that alongside the airlock unit Russia might provide a residential module for a future station.
Komarov said individual countries’ technological contribution and the financial aspect of a future project would be the subject matter of the next phase of the talks.
"For now we’ve signed a joint statement on the intention to work on a lunar space station project and to eventually work on missions on the surfaces of the Moon and Mars. A future treaty will require fundamental research and examination at the inter-state level," Komarov said.
Participation of the BRICS member-states in this project was approved.
"Our initiative was taken into account of expanding the number of countries that might take part in discussing this project. It was decided that China, India and other BRICS countries would be involved in the joint work on the lunar station," Komarov said.

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-roscosmos-sign-joint-statement-on-researching-exploring-deep-space

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/russia-will-work-u-s-manned-lunar-spaceport-n805336

Quick notes:F-16 tech, Defence manufacturing...

• F-16 minus tech?  US firms would retain control over sensitive technology. Saab’s Gripen NG offer could be equally problematic since it, too, has American technology, including the GE F414 engine that powers it. Sweden and Saab can only part with non-American technology.



• F-16: Obsolete and exposed, says Bharat Karnad: “Upgraded avionics cannot make the F-16 fly and maneuver better than the version of the aircraft with the Pakistan Air Force. PAF long ago passed on an F-16 to China for its aircraft designers to study and to reverse engineer many of its technologies. So this plane is an open book for India’s two adversaries – a bad situation for any ‘frontline’ IAF aircraft to be in.”



• Defence manufacturing mission: Manohar Parrikar had earlier set up a small defence firm supplying hydraulic systems and parts to a defence public sector unit. Under him, the ministry of defence drafted an out-of-the-box strategic partnership model by building on recommendations of several expert committees and groups.
  
  According to the model, for each of these SP (strategic partnership) verticals—single-engine fighter planes, helicopters, air independent propulsion submarines and armoured fighting vehicles/main battle tanks—the government will choose a few foreign OEM  partners as well as local Indian firms. Indian firms will then team up with foreign OEMs and bid for RFPs (request for proposals) under the strategic partnership policy on a competitive basis. The bid winner will manufacture the products and service them through the life cycle, locally—creating jobs, and building infrastructure and indigenous capabilities. 



• Tackling drones: Lockheed’s Laser Cannon Shoots Drones Out of the Sky, No Fuss




• Alt-E: India’s record-low Wind and Solar prices may not be sustainable. Some Chinese module suppliers are now reneging on price agreements,



• Carbon Pricing: Shell bashes bans on gasoline cars, proposes carbon pricing instead



• Beef: U.S. beef production roughly equals the annual emissions of 24 million cars



• After JLR: Tatas looking to buy another luxury auto brand. Maserati or Alfa Romeo possible.



• My Journey from Islam to Hinduism:

Nationalism vs TransNationalism: Trump's Speech to UN

US President Donald Trump makes a speech in front of the United Nations General Assembly, where he advocates the values of nationalism over those of trans-nationalism:





Many of the thoughts expressed here are congruent with what Indian nationalists seek. The constitutions and institutions of governance created within nations like India and the US were designed to balance them internally against domestic abuse of power - but they were never expressly designed to resist domination by foreign-linked transnationalist forces supplemented from abroad. However, India and the US place different emphasis on which rogue regimes are the most threatening.

India's Sushma Swaraj also gave her speech at the UN:

Pak Uses Fake Pic to Attack India at UN

Pak envoy Maleeha Lodhi used picture of a young girl to attack India at the UN for alleged atrocities in Kashmir - however, it turns out the girl in the picture was from the Gaza Strip, and had nothing to do with Kashmir:

Mass Grave of 28 Hindus Found in Myanmar

Myanmar security forces say they've found a mass grave containing the bodies of 28 Hindus killed by Rohingya militants:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/mass-grave-28-hindus-found-myanmar-army-144720035.html


Ata Ullah, the leader of the Rohingya insurgents was born and raised in Karachi, Pakistan and later Saudi Arabia:

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/09/24/asia-pacific/friend-foe-ata-ullah-man-behind-myanmars-deadly-rohingya-insurgency/#.WcgkL_OGO1s

Modi Promotes Co-Ops to Elevate Farmers

PM Modi has usefully highlighted the benefit of farming co-operatives to improve the lives of small farmers:

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/co-ops-should-help-farmers-double-their-income-modi/article19731969.ece


Given that farmers are a huge demographic in India, and so many of them eke out a miserable existence on tiny plots, the advantages of co-operatives are multifold, allowing them to pool their efforts and their bargaining power, shoring themselves up through joint efforts.

Oil Prices Set to Drop as Shale Technology Improves

Shale oil producers are improving at a pace which will see significant drops in oil prices:

http://zeihan.com/shale-gets-ready-to-run/

This will provide great benefits to oil-importing countries like China, India, Japan, etc.

Drug-Resistant 'Super-Malaria' Spreading

A new form of 'super-malaria' which is resistant to most drugs is now spreading in East Asia at an alarming rate:

https://globalnews.ca/news/3763036/super-malaria-asia-drugs/

Lefty Elites Combine with Deep State Hawks

Liberal elites from Hollywood are joining forces with anti-Russia hawks in calling for "war" on Russia, yet meanwhile they give China a free pass. Atlanticism makes for strange bedfellows.






This is the same Rob Reiner who used to protest against war in Vietnam, early on in his career:

Quick notes: Driver-less tractor, Ahimsa milk...

• Mahindra showcases driver-less tractor: Developed in Chennai. Potential competitive edge in global markets such as the US and Japan



• Ahimsa Milk: The UK's first "slaughter-free" dairy farm moves to a permanent home... USA's First certified slaughter-free dairy in Gita Nagari Creamery in Pennsylvania... Gau Raksha goes global!



• HGH:  Fasting boosts Human Growth Hormone. No drugs, no supplements, simple fasting does the trick. For those interested in athletic performance, the benefits are even greater.



• Life from Light: Is it possible to live without food?
  



• Hindi out: Three-language formula in high schools may go in Karnataka 



• Uttarakhand’s Education Minister makes a fool  of  himself:

World’s Emptiest International Airport

Sri Lanka's second-largest airport is designed to handle a million passengers per year. It currently receives about a dozen passengers per day. It has annual revenues of roughly $300,000, but now it must repay China $23.6 million a year for the next eight years. To relieve its debt crisis, the Sri Lankan govt agreed to give China control of a deepwater port in exchange for writing off $1.1 billion of the island’s debt.  

“We always thought China’s investments would help our economy. But now there’s a sense that we’ve been maneuvered into selling some of the family jewels.” ..This will be the story of OBOR down the road.

NYTimes: What the World’s Emptiest International Airport Says About China’s Influence.


Forbes: China's Ghost Town Diplomacy: The Story Behind The World's Emptiest International Airport

"Owaisi is a friend of mine"

And his spin:

Fwd: Against Occidentalism: A Conversation with Alice Crary and Vishwa Adluri on The Nay Science

must read on how the not-so-innocent german indologists imposed their prejudices on us, just a their descendants like witzel and wendy and sheldon pollock are doing today.

bit heavy duty but extremely intriguing.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: kalyan <kalyan97@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, Sep 15, 2017 at 6:45 AM
Subject: Against Occidentalism: A Conversation with Alice Crary and Vishwa Adluri on The Nay Science
To:

Against Occidentalism: A Conversation with Alice Crary and Vishwa Adluri on The Nay Science

SEP

15

Against Occidentalism: A Conversation with Alice Crary and Vishwa Adluri on The Nay Science 

August 7, 2017

Against Occidentalism: A Conversation with Alice Crary and Vishwa Adluri on The Nay Science

How should we read and interpret texts? And how might the modes through which we read be informed, enriched and revised by our understanding of our cultures of interpretation? These questions have driven the work of Vishwa Adluri and Joydeep Bagchee, doctoral alumni of the Department of Philosophy at The New School for Social Research.

This winter, Anthem Press will publish their second book, Philology and Criticism: A Guide to Mahābhārata Textual Criticism. To mark the occasion, Research Matters presents excerpts of Adluri's conversation with Philosophy Professor Alice Crary. They talk about Adluri and Bagchee's first book, The Nay Science: A History of German Indology (Oxford University Press), the practice of reading and interpreting texts and a history of Indology.

Indology—the academic study of India—originated in Germany and served as a foundation for western academic interpretations of Indian texts and traditions. The Nay Science charts the history of German Indology to show how the nascent discipline was rooted in troubling philosophical assumptions that generated inaccurate readings of the culture it was studying. Against stubbornly persistent biases, Adluri and Bagchee write in favor of a more sincere reading of ancient and Eastern texts—a kind of "innocent reading" that goes beyond a postcolonial critique—that might enable us to meet texts outside the Western Christian tradition on their own terms.

Pressing beyond a critique of the specific history of Indology and its effects on our understanding and our modes of reading ancient texts, The Nay Science offers vital reflections on philosophical and social scientific methods. Adluri says that the book teaches us to, "read texts carefully but respectfully because, if you read them respectfully, they will talk to you."

Adluri also reflects on his training at The New School. On the practice of philosophy, he says: "You have to read every single thing, struggle your whole life to claim the life of an intellectual. If they are competent—perhaps competent is not the right word—if they can hang on and do the work, there is no greater reward than philosophy."

Alice Crary (AC): The occasion for this interview is your magnum opus, the 2014 monograph written with Joydeep Bagchee, The Nay Science: A History of German Indology. I want to sit with you and talk about its significance and implications. I thought we should get some background first—who you are and what you have done since your time at The New School for Social Research's (NSSR) Philosophy Department. Can you tell us a bit about your life and your intellectual work at NSSR and afterwards?

Vishwa Adluri‏ @VishwaAdluri  9h9 hours ago

I just uploaded 'Against Occidentalism' to @academia!

https://www.academia.edu/34568396/Against_Occidentalism

Against Occidentalism: A Conversation with Alice Crary and Vishwa Adluri... August 7, 2017 Against Occidentalism: A Conversation with Alice Crary and Vishwa Adluri on The Nay Science ...

Quick notes: Unsafe tracks, Diabetes reversal...

• Bibek Debroy: For 95% commuters, Bullet train means nothing.



• Financial viability: An IIM Ahmedabad study estimated the bullet train would have to ferry 88,000-118,000 passengers a day for the railways to keep it financially viable.



• Not made in India:

2/n Most countries that introduced BulletTrains did after developing own know-how to prove they'd arrived.Only India importing &yet boastful

— MadhuPurnima Kishwar (@madhukishwar) September 14, 2017




• Diabetes reversal hope: Reversal of diabetes is now "clearly attainable" for some, possibly many, but most patients and doctors remain oblivious to these developments



• Centre makes Rs 1.6 trillion (Rs 1.6 lakh crore) more on fuel: Additional excise duty imposed by the NDA government on petrol and diesel after coming to power.



• Preventing oil addiction: The Jaggi lists 10 reasons why high oil taxes are good for India.



• Is BJP losing support? RSS alerts the BJP to credible signs of a shift in the public mood over govt's failures -- economic slowdown, job losses and dismal job creation, the failure of demonetisation to throw up immediate results and unrest among farmers.



• Who funds anti-BJP newspapers? The BJP, who else.



• The Han solution: Man sentenced in China for teaching Quran online



• They understand hacking, they do it all the time: China Reportedly Has a Secure Quantum Communication Network

Bannon Seizes Narrative from Critics

Through his bold interview with 60 minutes, Steve Bannon has regained control of the narrative from his detractors:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/12/opinions/how-bannon-turned-the-tables-on-liberals-bauerlein/index.html

Likewise, leaders in the BJP and the RSS need to be able to undertake interviews to properly frame their ideas in context, and seize back the narrative from their critics.

Fwd: Ryan School run 186 schools, exempt from RTE and Christian Chamber of Commerce Award

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sanjeev Nayyar

Points 1. Ryan International School runs 186 schools in 18 States. Started in 1976. 2. Acc to Shantanu Bhagwat art he has recd foreign funding? 3. Avail of benefits of Art 29 and 30. Is this why benefits were granted to Christian Schools. 4. Schools are exempt from RTE. 5. This is business so why exempt from RTE. Their site https://www.ryaninternational.org/about-us.php

Dr Pinto "acknowledged God's constant guidance in building one of India largest chains of privately owned schools".  Which made me wonder how much of the "success" of such minority-institutions (in particular, Catholic-faith based schools and educational groups) is due to the relative "freedom" they enjoy from government interference and controls (e.g. minority-institutions are exempt from the recent RTE legislation), as well as the generous funding they receive from abroad? More questions.

Of Islamic VC Funds and Christian Chambers of Commerce by Shantanu Bhagwat 8.12.2012

https://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/reclaiming-india/of-islamic-vc-funds-and-christian-chambers-of-commerce/

t talked about an "Excellence Award" for 2012 that was bestowed upon Dr Augustine F Pinto (Chairman) and Grace Pinto (MD) of the Ryan Group of Institutions by the Governor of Rajasthan, Margaret Alva.

What was interesting was not the award but the body that was honouring Dr Pinto and Grace Pinto. This organisation was the Christian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Now, up until I was alerted to this news-item, I had never heard of the "Christian Chamber of Commerce and Industry" (nor the "Excellence Award"). But it did remind me of something else I had read more than a year back. Something which I had filed in the hope to dig further when I have more time.

That something was a conference that was held in May 2011 in New Delhi on "Prospects for Islamic Venture Capital Funds in India"

As with the "Christian Chamber of Commerce and Industry", I had never heard of "Islamic Venture Capital Funds" – either in India or elsewhere.

The news-report on the conference was largely innocuous but a few lines towards the end were revealing. They included (emphasis added):

"The fast and unhindered growth of economic disparities, regular occurrence of banking and financial crises, and stock market crashes, the world over, testify to the fact that the interest-based paradigm of banking and finance has grossly failed to ensure sustainable and inclusive economic growth."

The article made all the right noises about ""justly inclusive economic growth", about how the "right of doing business fairly and fearlessly" was a "humanist goal" and "social justice".  Words and phrases like "inclusive", "humanist" and "social justice" always make me sit up and take notice. They also make me a little nervous.

For most of the time, these are but a cloak for something else – usually some kind of redistribution, or other socialism-inspired ideas. Sometimes there is not even pretence of a cloak. But I digress.

Implicit in both these news-stories was the belief or the assumption that Muslims and Christians in India (which is neither Islamic nor Christian; nor Hindu, for that matter) may need some "special" treatment since they perhaps suffer discrimination living in a non-Islamic or non-Christian country – or get sidelined in some other manner.

The first question that came to my mind when I read about the Christian Chamber of Commerce (as well as the Islamic Venture Finance Conference) was this, "What is Christian about a Chamber of Commerce? And what exactly is Islamic about an "Islamic Venture Capital Fund"?

I wondered whether an Islamic Venture Capital Fund will only invest in companies founded by Muslims. If yes, how about companies founded by Muslims where the majority stake is actually owned by non-Muslims?

What about the Christian Chamber of Commerce? Would it welcome non-Christians? Would it charge more fees from them? Would it favour Christians over others?  Or none of these?

But the most important question – which also makes me most uncomfortable – is this, "Have things now come to such a pass that each identity-based group and each "minority" in India feels compelled to organise their own narrow lobbying groups to protect their "interests" and their identities?

Where does this stop? And what does this mean for the "Idea of India"?

Questions, questions and more questions…but few answers.

Jai Hind, Jai Bharat!

--

sent from samsung galaxy note3 neo, so please excuse brevity

Liberalizing India's Credit Markets

Here's an article on Lending Tree, and its benefit to consumer choice among borrowers:

http://fortune.com/2017/09/11/lendingtree-loans/

Indian Architecture's Ancient Natural Cooling Techniques

Indian architects have used older traditional cooling techniques to cool a modern factory:

http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/architects-india-natural-cooling-technique-dehli-art-installation

sanjeev nayyar in Conversation with Rajiv Malhotra on issue of DERAS

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sanjeev Nayyar

Namaste,

 

The conversation expands on my last Monday Rediff article on the issue of Deras. We speak about History of Punjab – Sikhism, How Deras came into existence, Different type of Deras, why conservative Sikhs dislike Deras, Reasons for downfall of Baba Ram Rahim, Drug problem in Punjab and so on.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vcVnuM95EI

 

Warm Regards

sanjeev

 

 

 

 

--

sent from samsung galaxy note3 neo, so please excuse brevity

Turning the Tables on China

What if Pak & North Korea elope with each other, leaving daddy China behind?

Quick notes: ID theft, Policy confusion...

• SSN scare: Your Social Security Number now looks like a time bomb. It Is.  (lesson for India). 



• Memo to Nitin Gadkari: Shift to e-vehicles won’t happen at gun point, govt needs to handhold auto firms



• Fossil Fuel Deadline: China developing timetable to end sales of fossil fuel cars. 



• Govt confusing automakers: After 18 months of sudden rule changes (like tax increase for hybrid cars), carmakers ask govt to set clear, stable policies.



• Dr. Appachanda Thimmaiah: Helping the entire country of Bhutan go organic 



• Land encroachment in Western Ghats: Approximately 1,65,796 acres of forest land, including 1,04,497 acres in the ecologically sensitive zone of Western Ghats, has been encroached upon. Christist land grab caused pogroms on tribals.



• Pakistan’s population surges: “The prophet Muhammad asked believers to marry and produce children.” 



• Extreme weather: As of now, only 2% of India's population is exposed to extreme weather, but by 2100, about 70% of the people will suffer. 

60 Minutes Interviews Steve Bannon

Charlie Rose of 60 Minutes interviews Steve Bannon - who gives excellent insights into his ideological views on US politics and international affairs:

https://www.cbsnews.com/videos/steve-bannon/

Rose gives no quarter to Bannon - but Bannon gives good replies from his side. What's worth paying attention to are his attitudes towards the American Deep State, as well as towards China.

Bannon also gives more of his views on various topics:

https://www.cbsnews.com/60-minutes/overtime/

Quick notes: Deglobalization, Indian Hercules...

• Vernacular remains resilient: English-based Internet helped globalize the world economy in the last two decades; now, with the reverse trend of deglobalization, regional languages are replacing English as means of digital communication. 



• Putin: “Leader in artificial intelligence will rule the world. Future wars will be fought by drones, and when one party’s drones are destroyed by drones of another, it will have no other choice but to surrender.”



• Gripen vs F-16: Saab links up with Adani to bid to build fighter jets in India 



• Country's first Hyperloop in AP: Amaravati to Vijayawada in 5 minutes. AP govt signs MoU; feasibility study to start in October



• No white elephants here: London is now awash with bike-sharing schemes



• Kodi Rammoorthy Naidu: The Indian Hercules Was A Vegetarian Body Builder.
  
  Rammoorthy often performed a stunt where he would hold back a motorcar from driving away, with his own strength. One of their performances was attended by Lord Minto – the then Viceroy and Governor-general of India. Minto, amazed by what he saw, is reported to have asked Rammoorthy to perform a stunt with him in the driver’s seat. Minto got into his car, while Rammoorthy attached himself by a pair of chains to the back. True to his name, even with Minto flooring the throttle, Rammoorthy held the car back.



• Welcoming Rohingyas:

Rohingyas & I were persecuted & expelled from our countries. But why do Indian Muslims want to deport me but welcome Rohingyas?

— taslima nasreen (@taslimanasreen) September 5, 2017




• Karnataka is reviving Indira Gandhi era socialism: The Indira Canteens will do nothing for the poor, will hurt legitimate businesses, and will be a waste of resources... Not sparing children's playgrounds even.



• Bacteria getting resistant to antibiotics in poultry farms : A bacterium is said to have developed multi-drug resistance if it fails to respond to three or more antibiotic drugs. About 40 per cent of E.coli and 30 per cent of K. pneumoniae isolates were resistant to at least 10 out of 13 antibiotics against which these bacteria were tested for.

US Has No Option But to Confront China

Faced with a de facto North Korean nuclear deterrent, the United States has no option but to confront China:

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/04/china-says-trumps-trade-threat-over-n-korea-unacceptable-242304

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-perspec-north-korea-china-goldberg-0904-story.html

Graphene for Water Desalination

Japanese researchers have found a way to make desalination membranes in a very scalable way, out of graphene, the famous monomolecular carbon sheet:

https://www.mri.psu.edu/mri/news/toward-smart-graphene-membrane-desalinate-water

Such developments are positive news for water-challenged countries like India.

India Gets First Woman Defense Minister

Nirmala Sitharaman is India's first female defense minister, taking office at a time of increased border confrontation:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-03/india-gets-full-time-defense-minister-in-modi-cabinet-reshuffle

North Korea May Have Tested H-Bomb

North Korea has apparently conducted another nuclear test explosion, even as it claims to have developed a miniaturised thermonuclear warhead that can be delivered by ICBM:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/north-korea-apparently-conducts-another-nuclear-test-south-korea-says/2017/09/03/7bce3ff6-905b-11e7-8df5-c2e5cf46c1e2_story.html

Apparently the seismic tremor registered at 6.3 - the most violent ever recorded following a North Korean test.

If North Korea has indeed developed a working hydrogen bomb weapon, I'd be worried that it could end up in Pakistan's hands down the road.

Flood Control and Water Management

In the aftermath of the hurricane disaster in Texas, USA, tech companies are getting involved in relief work:

https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/29/tech-companies-harvey-houston-fundraising/


Various countries around the world have implemented innovative solutions for flood control and water management:

https://www.thoughtco.com/how-engineers-stop-floods-177699


Given its annual monsoon flooding, India likewise needs to pay more attention on how to deal with these perennial problems. Given Japan's recent shift towards investing in India, we should leverage their know-how for water management infrastructure.

Japan's Mindset

A feature from Caspian Report on Japan's mindset and foreign policy motivations:

Quick notes: Bhutanese view, Reviving Chabahar...

• In Kaangress era: India never intervened or even raised its voice in the past, about numerous Chinese incursions into the Bhutanese side, including the more serious road-building activities. This is because they did not affect Indian security, unlike Doklam.



• Indian role in Afghanistan: An India-Japan-South Korea consortium (with the US as an absent partner) could revive the Chabahar route to Afghanistan and, perhaps, manage the crucial supply chain to support US operations in the region.



• Induced seismicity: A 2010 study by the China Earthquake Administration found that Three Gorges Dam had triggered about 3,400 earthquakes from mid-2003 to the end of 2009, as well as numerous landslides, representing a 30-fold increase in seismicity. Human induced earthquakes



• Nano EV: Nano not to be phased out; Tata Motors to re-position it as electric vehicle 



• David Shulman: The notion that there was a pure Tamil that had no Sanksrit in it is a complete fantasy. There are Prakrit and Sanskrit words in the earliest Tamil Brahmi inscriptions we have. The Tamil Brahmi script has some features peculiar to it, but it’s deeply interwoven with the Sanskrit system.”



• Padma Shri Aruna Sairam:  Darbar Music Festival




• Greece, China's colony in Europe: “While the Europeans are acting towards Greece like medieval leeches, the Chinese keep bringing money”
  
  “Unlike democratic nations that change politicians every few years, the Chinese have a long and steady strategic view. They know what they want”.
  
  Last summer, Greece helped stop the EU from issuing a unified statement against Chinese aggression in the South China Sea. This June, Athens prevented the bloc from condemning China’s human rights record. Days later it opposed tougher screening of Chinese investments in Europe
  
  As Greece struggles through record joblessness, Chinese companies use subcontractors on short-term contracts at wages far below what unionized Greek dockworkers are paid.



• Missionary schools will grab lakhs of poor students from Dera run schools:

Missionary schools will grab lakhs of poor students from Dera run schools. Anyone thinking of issues beyond one man's scandal?

— Rajiv Malhotra (@RajivMessage) August 28, 2017




• Jayanthi Sampathkumar, manager at Microsoft:.Ran a marathon in a saree to promote handloom.