It is all getting embarrassing. In December a cricket match between India and South Africa was called off because smog made it impossible to see the ball. In January one the world’s top badminton players pulled out of the India Open in Delhi citing the bad air (and getting a $5,000 fine). Those who did play sent an official complaint to International Olympic Committee.
The Price of Intelligence is CollapsingOne developer with Claude Code can now do what took a team a month. The cost of Claude Pro or ChatGPT is $20 dollars a month, while a Max subscription is $200 dollars. The median US knowledge worker costs ~350-500 dollars a day fully loaded. An agent that handles even a fraction of their workflow a day at ~6-7 dollars is a 10-30x RoI not including improvement in intelligence.
The cost collapse is destroying the seat-based software model. There has been no bigger share shift than Microsoft’s seat-based Office 365. Most of the cash today still comes from Office. The core way of how a human interacts with a computer is about to change, and Microsoft sits at the center of the old paradigm.
Why does a company need to standardize Salesforce if an agent is just going to query data on leads on your behalf? Salesforce is a form and workflow wrapper, and the form and workflow can likely be scaffolded by AI into a database and then queried as needed.
AI fears wipe out $50 billion from Indian IT stocks. . . Software ate the world. AI is eating software.
Dr Vishal Sikka: At a time when there was no ChatGPT, Gemini, or self-driving cars, Vishal Sikka gave a presentation on AI before NITI Aayog at the PM’s request, where officials of 20 Union Ministries were gathered. . . India's risk-averse capitalism has no place people like him
"India Has a Great Opportunity in AI, Period" – Dr. Vishal Sikka (Ex-Infosys)
1. TCS has partnered with him to fight its existential crisis
2. PM & officials have met him multiple times
3. Oracle, GSK, BMW, Stanford have him on their Boards for AI
Existential threat: The EU should consider either an unprecedented 30% across-the-board tariff on Chinese goods or a 30% depreciation of the euro against the renminbi to counter a flood of cheap imports, according to a French govt strategy report.
China is depleting the world's oceans of fish. Estimates are between 200,000 - 800,000 fishing vessels, going as far as Argentina.
They account for ~half of the world's fishing catch and do not respect stewardship protocols to preserve ecosystems. This is not industrial… pic.twitter.com/BfbJoGTveM
DRDO's GaN technology breakthrough: Denied access to compound chip technology by foreign powers, Indian scientists, operating in tandem from Delhi and Hyderabad, crack the code to make Gallium Nitride (GaN) monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs).
+ How GaN is revolutionising key industries.
India is no longer dependent on foreign powers for these high-value, cutting-edge chips. Instead, it broke into a select group of six nations—the US, France, Russia, Germany, South Korea and China. . . . . Defense as well as commercial applications!
Major concession on Machinery/Electrical equipment. India already runs a $16 billion deficit with EU in it. 0% tariff means domestic mfg in this sector will likely never take off. One hopes that exports from labour intensive sectors go up enough to make up for it. https://t.co/Xl1ZozajOH
Foolish NRIs: The overconfidence of the Indian settler in the pre-MAGA days led to excesses. Such as the 90-foot-tall statue of Lord Hanuman, dubbed by some over-clever NRIs who installed it, as the “Statue of Union” in Sugar Land, Texas.
Besides being considered an eyesore by the enraged local Texans, it is a goad for the Christian Nationalists of the American south and southwest that make up the MAGA flock. So far they have restricted themselves to mocking the Monkey God, reviling Hindus as savages, Hinduism as satanic, and Hindu religious symbols as an affront to Christianity. Soon they may take a hammer to the statue, and run the Indians out of town.
The Nvidia deal says something important about the relationship between business and government under Trump. His regular intrusions into the boardroom—taking equity stakes, revenue slices or a “golden share”; prodding companies to lower prices or sell drugs through a federal website—are a sort of state capitalism, in which the state doesn’t necessarily own companies, but uses its leverage to steer their behavior.
Trump's biggest gift to CCP yet: Trump’s decision to let China have Nvidia chips is dangerous. . . China can accelerate science and engineering with the H200 better than any of the newer hardware from Nvidia.
Denaturalisation: Some naturalised Americans likely to lose citizenship
"De-Indianise" Call: "1 H-1B Worker Equals 10 Illegal Aliens". . . Brown MAGAs go into hiding.
Hit hard by Trump: Tata, Infosys and Cognizant to bear brunt of Trump’s $100,000 H-1B fee
Worst fears coming true: China may have reverse engineered EUV lithography tool in covert lab, report claims — employees given fake IDs to avoid secret project being detected, prototypes expected in 2028
India's Nuclear Power Push: Big goals, slow build. Nuclear energy share in total installed capacity remains limited, fluctuating between 1.9 per cent and 2.9 per cent from FY10 to FY24.
'Thar Desert Will Reach Delhi Soon': Around 90 percent of the Aravalli hills is in the height of 30 to 80 metres. Now they are in danger of perishing. . . BikAss Gando Thayo Che
The US Marine Corps is testing a Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System (LUCAS) as a long range suicide drone. The US reverse engineered the Iranian Shahed-136 drones!
Too bad for Iran. Not only lost against Israel, got the nuclear sites hit, but also lost drone tech. #TWZpic.twitter.com/LntStsg8vG
India needs its own 'Singapore' (outside India): As global scrutiny grows, Chinese firms look to call Singapore home. "The Singapore brand is trusted worldwide. Singapore is valued for its international flavour, neutrality, and is culturally easy for Chinese firms and their expats to adapt to,"
Cover up: The UK wants Apple and Google to install “Nudity-Blocking Software” on iPhones and Android phones
Aravallis: With one legal stroke, over 90% of the Aravalli range was erased on paper, handing it over to mining mafias, real-estate sharks & profiteers.
#SaveTheAravallis | Over 1.8 billion years old, the Aravalli Hills form a natural barrier protecting North India from desertification and severe air pollution. A recent Supreme Court definition has altered how the range is identified, leaving nearly 90 per cent of the hills… pic.twitter.com/DYmPteIXCn
Scale of Chinese Spying Overwhelms Western Governments: Beijing is conducting espionage activities on what Western governments say is an unprecedented scale, mobilizing security agencies, private companies and Chinese civilians in its quest to undermine rival states and bolster the country’s economy. Rarely does a week go by without a warning from a Western intelligence agency about the threat that China presents.
Grand F&O casino: Where 93% Indians lose Rs 1.8 trillion but keep returning & the ‘House’ always wins.. Individuals trading in India’s derivatives market made a cumulative loss of more than Rs 1.8 lakh crore with 93 percent of the traders making losses over the last 3 years... Foreign Portfolio Investors siphoning off retailer traders' savings.
- Why India’s giant options market is a worry for regulators.
- New measures tighten F&O trading
- A Bubble in Indian Markets?
Ten years of Make-in-India: Manufacturing growth has slowed to 5.5%, its GDP share remains stagnant at 15-17%, and employment in the sector has decreased
Modi sarkar's Make-in-China policy: India's finished steel imports from China hit 7-year high... Export iron ore to China, import finished steel.. ..
Maha govt raises salaries of madrasa teachers: "The state cabinet has decided to increase the capital of the Minorities Financial Corporation to Rs 1,000 crore".... No funds for Marathi-medium schools, though.
India's Pseudo-Satellite: Solar plane that can fly for 90 Days at a time. The National Aerospace Laboratories said the final version will have a wingspan which will be as wide as an Airbus 320, but weigh only as much as a regular motorcycle.
Oxfam network Of NGOs - acting on behalf of foreign powers? NGOs such as Samvad were chosen for funding as Affiliate NGOs on the condition that they would allow Oxfam India “complete freedom to plan the program and staffing in manner they want.”
AI Scraping: Big Tech wants to "digest" copyrighted works. Google is training its bots on millions of copyrighted works without permission. The company wants to change copyright laws so that it can grab any content it wants from the Internet, use it as training data for its AI products, and argue “fair use” if anyone objects to its plagiarism.
The Economic Losers in the New World Order: Giant subsidies and rising protectionism are upending decades of free trade. The world’s biggest economies are offering huge subsidies in a cutthroat race to win the industries of the future. The losers: all the countries that can’t pay up. Smaller countries, from the U.K. to Singapore, are getting left behind
India is a rising force in Southeast Asia: India is taking major strides to expand its influence in Southeast Asia, a move that will allow countries to counter China’s dominance in the region. “Since China hasn’t budged on the border issue, India now feels there has been no real return for its cautious attitude towards Southeast Asia”.
What alcohol does to a woman’s body: For a variety of reasons, women can’t metabolize alcohol as fast as men, meaning they have more of the toxic substance in their systems for longer.
Women have lower amounts of the enzyme, alcohol dehydrogenase, needed to break their drinks down, so they are left with higher levels of a substance that is toxic to organs like the liver. Moreover, women have less body water to dilute the alcohol they’ve consumed — the end result is that alcohol in their systems becomes more concentrated
Toxic pharma exports from India: A cold medication made in India and sold in Iraq is tainted with toxic chemicals. The Cold Out label indicates it was made by Fourrts (India) Pvt. Ltd., a Chennai-based exporter of medicines.
It’s the fifth time in a year that testing has found an Indian exporter’s drugs to contain excessive levels of ethylene glycol. Cases of Indian-made tainted cold syrups have been reported in Indonesia, Gambia, Uzbekistan and Cameroon, and have killed about 300 children in the past year.
Decouple: India bars makers of military drones from using Chinese parts. India relies on foreign manufacturers for both parts and entire systems as it lacks the know-how to make certain types of drones. "There has to be coherent national strategy to fill the technology gaps" to deliver commercially viable products.
Vanadium redox flow batteries: The U.S. made a breakthrough battery discovery — then gave the technology to China.. The Chinese company didn't steal this technology. It was given to them — by the U.S. Department of Energy.
Decoupling from China: The new Chips Act passed by the US Congress provides USD 52 billion in support for the semiconductor industry. However companies that are accepting the funding cannot expand their chip production capacity in China.
- Vehicles with China-sourced batteries ineligible for EV tax credit in the US in the future. . . China currently controls 81% of global cathode manufacturing capacity, 91% of global anode capacity, and 79% of global lithium-ion battery manufacturing capacity.
Dr Bharat Karnad: "The Modi regime has so far done little to punish China by way of cutting off Chinese access to the Indian market in the hope that this show of moderation will dissuade Beijing from resuming offensive military activity in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh".
"When this assumption is proved wrong. Modi will be forced to take conspicuously strong economic measures to severely restrict bilateral trade of nearly $126 billion in 2021 heavily favouring China".
Stop feeding the enemy: India seeks to block Chinese firms from sub-Rs 12,000 phone market. Exclusion from India's entry-level market would hurt Xiaomi and its peers, which in recent years have increasingly relied on India to drive growth
China Using Sri Lanka's Indebtedness to Show Military Muscle: China has refused Sri Lanka’s request to reschedule project loans amounting to nearly $10 billion that have fallen due. Without China's cooperation, Colombo would be unable to obtain IMF financing and sink deeper into a financial mire.
AI to help protect India's tigers: Uses the data collected by cameras and rangers, but in addition uses data gathered from satellites and information collected from the local population.
Plastic pollution: Birds all over the world are living in our rubbish
The purest food on Earth: "Ghee is the final and purest form of milk – the last extract. It was considered the purest offering to the gods and the medium by which prayers were carried to the heavens."
Space Laser Kalina: Russia is developing a new laser system that will disable foreign satellites.. Unlike anti-satellite weapons, the laser system is more of a blinding and disabling one, suppressing electro-optical systems of satellites using solid-state lasers... Gamechanger?
'Salami slicing' Indian territory': It was the biggest strategic blunder the Modi regime committed by agreeing to withdraw the Special Frontier Force unit from the heights in exchange for paltry returns -- the PLA's drawing back eastwards a bit from the terrain feature Finger 3 on Pangong Lake's northern shore.
Indian imports in trillions of rupees from China are growing by nearly 50% annually, and the repatriation of profits in billions of dollars in hard currency by Chinese companies is keeping pace. It is among the bright spots in the current Chinese economy and something Beijing would not like to disturb. Delhi percieves Chinese exports to India as negotiating leverage.
Europe’s Hypocrisy: After preaching Africa about the need to move away from fossil fuels, Europe suddenly wants Africa’s natural gas.
Fossil fuels are now 'green': EU parliament votes to officially move the goalposts on what constitutes green energy by simply changing the labeling of investments in gas and nuclear energy to 'green'.
Bhagavatar: Jon B. Higgins accompanied by Trichy Sankaran.
Sober dates: More young people are dating without drinking. Drinking gets in the way of genuine connection
Switching off Netflix: "Netflix is losing numbers because it keeps pumping out endless shows without stopping to check if they're good".
I am back: Cheetahs to prowl India for first time in 70 years. It is the only large mammal to become extinct in the country since independence from British rule.
Flooding of Hampi monuments: Two unscientific bridges built downstream of the left bank canal of Tungabhadra dam are the cause of the flooding of the monuments in Hampi, with the number of inundations set to increase in the coming years as the silt further blocks the flow of water.
The water that is held back by the bridge is impounded and has put Hampi monuments in danger. Hampi is now being inundated multiple times a year even when the TB dam discharges just above 1 lakh cusecs of water. In fact, the government’s move to build a hanging bridge to connect Hampi-Anegundi had prompted the Unesco to put Hampi on the list of World Heritage Sites in Danger in 1999.
Shut down the civil aviation ministry: There is no reason for keeping an entire ministry with a total staff strength of 2,300, just for the oversight of a few aviation sector laws and regulatory bodies
Entitled MNCs: Visa Inc has complained to the U.S. govt that India's "informal and formal" promotion of domestic payments rival RuPay hurts the U.S. giant in a key market. In public Visa has downplayed concerns about the rise of RuPay. Mastercard has raised similar concerns privately with the USTR.
Princes to paupers: India's salesmen face ruin as tycoon Ambani targets mom-and-pop stores. Tiny shops account for 4/5ths of India's $900 bln retail sector
Manu Joseph: When Modi cancelled his most humane reform yet it was a triumph for rich north Indian farmers and the movement they handled. In the end the rich and the middle-class sabotaged reform for the poor. Same old story of India.
όμικρο: There is a possibility that we are seeing a more infectious and less virulent version of the virus, which would be one of those steps along a happier route to living with the virus”.
"Generally, high transmission with reduced disease severity is an evolutionary win for the virus and many viruses evolve to this state, existing in an equilibrium with the host".
The theory is that, if a less virulent strain becomes dominant, more people will become infected but fewer will be critically sick. The virus, while still a problem, also becomes part of the solution; every person who recovers from a mild case is left with greater immunity against future infections than any of the current vaccines provide.
At some point in the future, I hope a thriller movie will be made where COVID variants are the dark forces & are attacked by an ‘Avenger’ hero called Omicron who compels the evil variants to mutate into a docile flu. https://t.co/rpqesqBMMs
Displacing ARM: The world's first RISC-V phone might be just around the corner.. The first major step on porting Android to RISC-V was, unsurprisingly, authored by Alibaba, who produced the first working Android 10 port for the RISC-V ISA.
Homemade CPUs - China's Bid For Independence China's tech giants are striving for autonomy from U.S. chipsets. But true semiconductor independence will require China to develop its own extreme ultraviolet lithography machines, required to etch microscopic circuits on silicon. SMIC, China's main chip foundry, can't provide anything smaller than 14 nm.
SMIC claims to have mastered the 3nm chip process in the lab and is trying to buy the EUV lithography machines necessary for production from ASML, the Dutch company that currently has a monopoly on the critical equipment. But the United States is intent on blocking the sale.
The Chinese Academy of Sciences has an EUV lithography research team and Tsinghua University has developed a new type of particle accelerator light source, which could be used for EUV lithography. But getting that technology out of the lab and into a machine remains many years away.
Intel's plan-B? There is no way x86 can defend itself against ARM for a whole 5–10 years longer. Intel has started a new RISC-V development platform and invested in SiFive. RISC-V has inherent advantages which will allow Intel to compete in the opposite end of the market where they cannot compete at the moment with x86.. . . . . .
Chinese Hypersonic Missile ‘Overcame the Constraints of Physics: The July test featured “a technological advance that enabled it to fire a missile as it approached its target traveling at least five times the speed of sound—a capability no country has previously demonstrated.”
Anonymous trolls: Australia to introduce new laws to force media platforms to unmask online trolls. "The online world should not be a wild west where bots and bigots and trolls and others are anonymously going around and can harm people,"
India’s oral traditions need to be mainstreamed: The Haridasu was a singer, musician, storyteller, actor, stand-up comedian and salesperson, all rolled into one! The accompanists were talented players of the mridangam and the harmonium.
Bengaluru scientists find potential treatment for autism: “However, this does not mean that there will be a sudden cure. There is a long and arduous process for drug discoveries to take place and could take about 12 years to complete. The molecule has to be tested for toxicity, its solubility pattern has to be worked out.”
Thanksgiving and the Myth of Native American ‘Savages’: The friendliness of the Wampanoag was extraordinary, because they had recently been ravaged by diseases caught from previous European explorers. Europeans had also killed, kidnapped and enslaved Native Americans in the region. The Plymouth settlers, during their desperate first year, had even stolen grain and other goods from the Wampanoag,
Mohan Bhagwat: A serious threat to BJP's election prospects
Every time I hear this Man, my respect for him dips at least by a few thousand miles. Nothing but contradiction & confusion!! https://t.co/oFbmfRX52o
Solar is now king: A group of materials called perovskites are being used to create the next generation of solar panels.
More coal plants have closed during President Trump’s first term than during the entire 8 years Obama was in office. Renewables will account for 80% of growth in global electricity generation.
No idea why some ppl in India take the US elections and the result there so personally. You can’t shape the outcome but you can hurt India’s interests by appearing to influence their elections. India has to and will work with whoever wins there. 1/2
Hybrid war: The PLA has been developing hybrid war strategies over a period of time. A Chinese data mining company
had been tracking 'big data' of over 10,000 Indian individuals. China will probably in due course make experimental attempts to target a few Indian networks as part of its cyber capability. North East India and the Red Corridor remain vulnerable to Chinese manipulation.
Harambee: The law of generosity that rules Kenya... Indian migrants working alongside Kenyans called on Hare, the divine potency of
God, and Ambe, the goddess of power, energy and invincibility. The
Kenyan workers often joined in, and soon, this combined Indian chant of “Hare” and “Ambe” became a uniquely Kenyan rallying call of unification.
Bengaluru needs a million wells: Precious rainwater that could recharge the aquifers instead flows down the buildings and tarred roads of the city as surface run-off, choking sewers and inundating low-lying areas. If the city can dig a million wells, 50-60% percolation of rainwater can be achieved and urban flooding avoided.
Vegan Fest: Thai company is getting rich by turning Jackfruit into meat.
I ask for a public campaign in India to seek reconstruction of the collapsed shikhara of the Konark Sun Temple. (The white part in the figure is collapsed.)
(Such reconstruction has been done elsewhere as in the world-famous Prambanan Temple in Indonesia). pic.twitter.com/2VekovlRyd
Not one Big Bang: The universe goes through cycles of death and rebirth. There have been multiple Big Bangs, with more on the way.. Black holes hold clues to the existence of previous universes.
Koe Knuffelen: With immense mental health benefits, the practice of embracing cows has growing global appeal.
Social media amplifying mass unrest: Extremists across the spectrum have mastered the use of social media to mobilize supporters. Radical Left and Islamists are seeding themselves within the overwhelmingly non-violent protesters.
Wherever you find a terrorist, just raise the tail of terrorists & you will see a stamp there.. Made in Pakistan🇵🇰
This is Urooj Rehman, a Pakistani student of American #JNU .. caught red handed throwing bottle bombs in public places. Bottles & bomb making stuff was enough in car pic.twitter.com/lp9Q3b3Af1
Kerala model?
Kin shun elderly returnees fearing COVID-19 infection. “Though it’s the
obligation of the children and relatives to take care of them, many are
trying to shirk their responsibilities. We get many calls seeking
institutional quarantine for returnees. Sadly, the family members are
not even considering their age,” said a health official.
Extra Salty: Scientists just built the best sodium battery ever.
Maithreem Bhajatha: 47 voices as ONE - Conceptualized by Sudha Ragunathan & S.Mahathi
Digested: Herb Benson studied Transcendental Meditation under Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and is now repackaging it as "Relaxation Response".
E-Bikes Are Having Their Moment: “I was convinced that e-bikes would completely change cities all over the world in the next 10 years, but it seems like because of this crisis, suddenly it’s all happening in the next three or four months”... In March, sales of e-bikes jumped 85% from a year earlier.
Amazon, Walmart and Specialized are sold out of most models.... "E-bikes kept me out of my car. Whenever I had a reason to go outside — like making a trip to the grocery store or dropping off baked goods at a friend’s — I preferred riding an e-bike".
1. 31 years ago, Beijing crushed dissents with tanks and guns. 31 years later, Beijing is ripping out our democratic aspiration with a tyrannical law. pic.twitter.com/Dx3xTmI5Vo
Love Jihad in Kerala: Church says 'Love Jihad is real', claims Christian women being lured into IS trap
Israeli team develops 'anti-diabetes drug': Zygosid-50 almost completely reduces insulin resistance. “If you take care of the insulin resistance, you take care of the symptoms”.
Taking on Islamists: India plans cuts to imports from Malaysia, Turkey over remarks on Kashmir. . . . . . . . India effectively "bans" imports of refined palm oil from Malaysia.
The enemy nextdoor: China makes fresh bid to raise Kashmir at UNSC, fails. . . . . Delhi asks Beijing to draw lesson . . . . . . China has been stonewalling India's efforts to become permanent member of UNSC.
Chinese threat: US may subsidize Huawei alternatives with proposed $1.25 billion fund
Weapon of the future: Israel unveils breakthrough laser to intercept missiles, aerial threats. Every interception will only cost a few dollars, as opposed to interceptor missiles that can run into the thousands.
Costly defenses no match for drones, cruise missiles: Billions of dollars spent by Saudi Arabia on cutting edge military hardware has proved no match for low-cost drones and cruise missiles used in a strike that crippled its giant oil industry. . . . Lesson for India
Chandrayaan 2, a failure of autonomy? There were significant deviations between proposed and actual orbits. Obviously, the system malfunctioned during the autonomous mode without taking any corrective measures.
Bangladesh Shining: Their GDP per-capita would "exceed India's by 2027".... India's numbers are actually worse than shown here.
Ban phosphate in detergents to save lakes: The rate of active ingredients in detergents in India is higher than prescribed. A complete ban on phosphate in detergents will simplify the process of sewage treatment.
I want to share with you two pictures of my hometown (Grenoble, France). The first one dates from the 1960s-1970s. The second is from last year.
The difference? The City Council was slowly voted out and replaced with those in favor of pedestrians, cyclists and the streetcar. pic.twitter.com/FF7aQ6FGPI
In Greek weddings we shower the couple with rice. Rice represents life and growth. In old times, people threw seeds to grow life on earth, so they throw them to bride for increased fertility. pic.twitter.com/wySJV6sDzd
Trump throws Kurds under the bus: Almost immediately after the decision to pullout American troops from Syria, Turkey masses troops near Kurdish-held town in northern Syria. Without U.S. soldiers as a buffer, the Kurds are now stuck between Turkey, Assad and ISIS
Staggering loot: Britain drained a total of nearly $45 trillion from India during the period 1765 to 1938. For perspective, $45 trillion is 17 times the total annual GDP of the UK today.
On A2 milk: Indian native breeds of cows and buffaloes are of A2 milk type and hence are a source for safe milk. The frequency of A2 allele was 100% in the five high-yielding milk breeds — Red Sindhi, Gir, Rathi, Shahiwal and Tharparkar, meaning that these breeds do not have A1 allele or A1A1/A1A2 genotype. In the remaining breeds, the availability of A2 allele was 94 per cent.
Christians Groups oppose Meditation, Yoga In Schools: The groups claim children in public schools across the U.S. are being “indoctrinated” by “Buddhist-based mindfulness methods in an “outright unconstitutional” practice.. Missouri megachurch pastor John Lindell similarly blasted yoga for its “demonic” Hindu roots in November. He added the “spiritually dangerous” practice was “ “diametrically opposed to Christianity.”
Draft EV Policy: Delhi "would like to" achieve 25% Electric Car penetration by 2023
Chinese colony: Uganda is adding compulsory Chinese lessons to its high school curriculum
Harvard Racial Bias: According to school policy, Asian-American males living in rural states need to score a 1370 on the PSAT to get a letter. White males, however, only need a 1310. "That's race discrimination plain and simple".
Did you know that India's Mukesh Ambani family has "generously donated to the Clinton Foundation"? India's super-rich donate millions to U.S. institutions that are already flush with funds, while ignoring needy institutions in their home country. https://t.co/uE8QcEe8nM
Only 10% of farmers gain from loan waivers: Some farmers know when elections are due. Before that, they take loans. They then ask their farmer unions for loan waivers and the political party who shouts first about a loan waiver (gets the votes).
Farm-loan waivers - waste of time and money: “The percentage of farmers availing bank loans is not even 50%. So, you are spending lakhs and crores of rupees and not even half of the farmers are benefiting. In some of the states, not even 25% of farmers avail institutional credit”.
Shared Mobility Is Cheaper: The car you just bought might be the last one you’ll own. Folks living in urban and suburban centers are already shifting away from buying a second car in order to get around.
MIPS Goes Open Source: Allows users to access “the most recent versions of the 32-bit and 64-bit MIPS ISA free of charge — with no licensing or royalty fees.”
What should India do about #huawei? My piece in @Openthemag suggests a) they are a major threat in 5G b) India must step up its electronics game c) trump is bullying China using its own tactics and they don't know how to respond 😁. This is a watershed https://t.co/padpbedMwH
Plants don’t like being touched: A plant can’t flee threats, unlike mobile organisms. Instead, they have a highly sensitive threat-response system—like a plant’s version of an immune system
Courting trouble on the Rafale: The detailed configuration of weapon systems on the Rafale needs to be a
closely guarded secret. Giving out the details of pricing will surely
help our adversaries to guess the configuration and take
countermeasures......... A small piece of advice to the legal
fraternity. Now that you have entered the dangerous terrain of security
policy making, educate yourself by at least reading these two books -- Arms and Influence and Strategy of Conflict.
A market for straw: Ikea wants to turn rice straw into household wares in a move that could end up reducing a major source of pollution in India.
Dieselgate: NGT directs Volkswagen's India unit to deposit Rs 1 bn in emission case
Rocket woman: How to cook curry and get a spacecraft into Mars orbit.. Can you guide a spacecraft into orbit around Mars and cook for eight people morning and night? Yes, if you get up at 5am, and your name is BP Dakshayani. Here the former head of flight dynamics and space navigation for the Indian space agency explains how she did it - and the housework too. They became known as the Rocket Women or the Women from Mars.
Four years ago, the picture of a group of women in saris celebrating as an Indian spacecraft successfully entered Mars orbit shone a light on the role played by women in the country's space programme - among them BP Dakshayani.
Machines Are Coming for India’s Unwanted Factory Jobs: The trouble is finding jobs that Indians actually want. The country’s workers would rather drive for food-delivery services on the breezy, albeit steamy, roads of Mumbai and work in hotels than in factories. Fair enough. Who would want to work in a yarn mill, which needs to maintain a temperature of 33 degrees Celsius? Conditions on other industrial factory floors are likely worse... India's youth unemployment rate (ages 15-24) is one of the highest among large, global economies.
Growth creates fewer jobs than it used to: Between 2013 and 2015, total employment actually shrank by seven million. Since 2015 there has also been an absolute decline in job growth.
Temple land grab: “After acquiring lands from the people in the name of SEZ, and without paying compensation in time to the owners, the State govt allots them to various companies indiscriminately and that the latter do not set up industries on such lands, and all these activities show that there is some big conspiracy behind it. To acquire lands belonging to the temples the govt first resorts to annulling the existing temple boards and appoints persons in-charge in their place to cooperate with it for the purpose.”
HamSoham: Seattle Raga Labs with Ganesh Rajagopalan
China Pries Technology From U.S. Companies: An audit this year convinced an employee at one foreign auto maker there was “clear evidence of collusion” between the audit team and Chinese auto makers. When the audit began, the person says, inspectors asked for only the blueprints of the electric-vehicle components the foreign company was striving to protect from its Chinese joint-venture partner. “Somehow they knew exactly the areas to look at,” the person says. “There wasn’t a single question about any of the other very complex systems on the vehicle.”
Islam's True Colors: Chechnya starts concentration camps for gay men, first time after Hitler
One trick Hindu’s need to learn is the art of ignoring. Half of the drama, ex. Gita burning, is done by losers trying to gain significance. Pick your battle, ask before you respond why is this person doing what s/he is doing? Only respond if it furthers our strength.
