Open Thread – 03/13/2021 – Brown Pundits

A long (paid) piece on Substack, They came, they saw, they left no trace…
except for all of Western Civilization. This is about the genetics of Italy.

My usual 7 PM PDT Friday night chat on Clubhouse will be about the genetics of Italy (Saturday morning India time). this link should work (if you are on an iPhone click it).

What Can Biden’s Plan Do for Poverty? Look to Bangladesh. The usual Nicholas Kristof thing. That being said it is interesting that when there is talk about Bangladesh’s economic success (relative), a fair number of Indians point out major issues (reliance on the single sector for export). This is all fine…but honestly, it feels l ike sour grapes. In 2020, a horrible year, Bangladesh was #3 in growth in the world (and the fastest large nation).

Going to do an interview with a linguist who studies Proto-Indo-European for my podcast. Interesting how his papers suggest Indo-Iranian and Balto-Slavic are a clade. R1a FTW!

Update: Someone on the Subreddit found the archives of the original BP site from 2011/2012 (I have the archives in MySQL but haven’t loaded them; we suffered intense hacks from Hindutva in 2012/2013 so moved to blogspot for a while).

Also, BP got a Clubhouse Club! So we’ll do chats there soon.

113 thoughts on “Open Thread – 03/13/2021 – Brown Pundits”

  1. It is sour grapes. I heard this somewhere, “West Bengal has the economists, and Bangladesh has the economy”.

      1. 10-20 years back most illegal migration was into WB and Assam because back then WB was relatively more prosperous than Bangladesh. Today, illegal migration is only a trickle and is mostly to cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyd, Pune, etc.

        There is another phenomenon. Landless Bangladeshis infiltrate and occupy forest land and coastal swamps (at least in Odisha). Odisha is not densely populated and we have a lot of unoccupied (Govt.) land. If you are landless and poor, you don’t care about the economy, and if there is land on offer you may just want to take the risk of an illegal crossing.

  2. Bangladesh should serve as an example to eastern India in general and West Bengal in particular. Since independence the socialist Bengali elite’s disdain for business has prevented the industrialization of the state and ensured it relative decline. West Bengal with its access to the sea, higher levels of industrialization at independence and with Kolkata being one of the richest cities in India should have been one of India’s richest states.
    Instead its GDP per capita is less than half that of other large states like Karnataka or Gujarat.

    1. India Today had a conversation with Bibek Debroy about West Bengal’s economy and steps to improve it – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hXn_BwpdSk

      TLDW: It doesn’t look good.

      Hoohgly city had some Ship building, Chemical industries which have now moved on to other states. Now you can’t have industry in Hoogly because the land is too costly. Other district aren’t very favorable either. Don’t know what can be done with West Bengal now.

      One low hanging fruit is closer integration with the Bangladeshi economy, opening more land-ports and serving as a gateway to goods from other parts.

  3. I think sheikh hasina is the closest thing to a south asian lee kuan yew we can get in real life

  7. Bangladesh can serve as a economic example to Eastern India – WB, Bihar, Orissa. The rest (West, South) – should be an exemplar to BD on what it should be doing next – climb the engineering ladder into an industrial goods manufacturer.

    1. BD as example to WB on industry? That’ll be irony of ironies. WB was the leading state till 60s, and now it has to look to BD

      1. It is an irony. Especially when Lee Kuan Yew expressed a desire in the 1950s that Singapore should become like Calcutta one day.

        The nincompoop Jyoti Basu and his sub-IQ gang threw away about 200 years of headstart in Asia.

  11. There is an Englishman in YouTube ‘survive the Jive’ who is sympathetic to pre Christian religions of Europe and talks quite a bit about IE religion, people, etc Razib can have a podcast with him

    1. Something about ‘Survive the Jive’ really ticks me the wrong way in some way. There’s definitely something fishy about these ‘Indo-European brotherhood’ types… at-least that’s the intuitive feeling I get from them.

      1. Imo Survive the jive borders on Nordic and British supremacy.

        Check out his videos on him reminiscing the British rule in India.

        That said there are some good videos. But overall there’s a sense of pushing for Nordic and British supremacy.

        The comments section is full of people claiming the same.

      2. Imo Survive the jive is borderline racist. Check out his video reminiscing about British rule in India.

        It relies on theme of Nordic and British supremacy.

        If one would want invite an expert in this, a true expert would be Curwen who runs aryaakasha blog. (Apart from the great blog_supplement, I really wish he does a podcast)

        https://mobile.twitter.com/huntersrolinson

        I have posted another detailed comment about Curwen.

      3. I think StJ is on a spiritual quest to find European Adivasi religions. India should give moral support and help to all Adivasi religions in the world

        1. A dialogue is welcome, as long as Razib brings up the Sintashta were swarthy line in the podcast to counter Nordic supremacy theory.

          🙂

    2. I’m very familiar with his program! He has a fascist-look to him, but his science and mastery of population genetics should endear Razib to Survive the Jive.

      Both of these men opened my eyes to a lot of things that happened in Europe over the last thousands of years.

  16. The Violent Indian

    Thomas Blom Hansen’s new book studies the widening gap between the goals of those at the helm and the rights enshrined in the Constitution. The author in conversation with Ullekh NP

    This work is a sharp study of the widening gap between the goals of what Hansen calls the illiberal forces at the helm and the rights enshrined in the Constitution. His critique is also a blistering attack on the Government, which the Stanford University professor describes as “a regime of low-intensity terror”. “No. That is not an exaggeration. The attacks on Muslim neighbourhoods in Delhi in 2020, the incredibly violent harassment of Muslims in Uttar Pradesh by police and self-styled vigilantes and similar incidents show the active complicity of state authorities in creating a climate of fear among minority groups and an atmosphere of impunity among Hindu vigilantes,” the 63-year-old anthropologist tells Open.

    https://openthemagazine.com/lounge/books/the-violent-indian/

  17. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/boy-killed-over-friendship-with-girl-in-kburagi/articleshow/81264608.cms

    https://www.deccanherald.com/state/karnataka-boy-murdered-by-cutting-his-private-parts-956166.htm

    https://www.opindia.com/2021/03/14-year-old-hindu-boy-murdered-friendship-muslim-girl-family-kalaburgi-karnataka/

    Perpetrators tortured him by removing his teeth.

    Police identified the body with help of his family members. The boy’s nose and genitals were chopped off before he was murdered, police sources said.

    Only just heard about this. Fucking horrible.

  18. It was me who found the web archive of the old BP website. I was bored at work and was reading some of your older works. I was reading your GeneExpression blogs from 2002 through the web archive and following links! It was interesting to see how our understanding has evolved over the years. I felt humbled because it really put into perspective how long you have been researching and sharing in this field for. 🙂

  23. “Its a clear case of Hostage Population Theory propagated by Maulana Abdul Kalam stating that Pakistan should keep a hostage population of Hindus so that if Indian Muslims feel even a bit of inconvenience at the hands of “Hindu India”, then Hindus in Pakistan would face the brunt of it.

    After the demolition of Babri Masjid, many ancient Hindu temples of Pakistan were destroyed.

    I am not surprised that Pakistan is interfering in this and threatening her.

    Also Bhainsa is somewhat a Muslim majority area so the victims will mostly be Hindus.

    4 year old minor Hindu girl was r@ped by a Muslim while the Bhainsa Riots were going on and the police told the victim’s parents to hide the case because it may stir another “communal riot”.

    Meanwhile, BJP State president Bandi Sanjay Kumar slammed the police for advising the victim’s parents not to reveal the details of atrocity to anyone. “The police are trying to cover up the crime in the guise of possible exacerbation of tensions,” he said, adding that law is not equal for all.”

    1. Canadian Sikhs must realize that their percentage population in Canada is going to decline compared to other Indo-Canadians (read Hindus). 10-20 years more and they wouldn’t even be a big enough vote block to do what they are doing in Canadian politics. (Sikhs already punch above their weight in Canadian politics.)

      On another note, Punjabs per capita GDP is now Rs. 1,15,882 as compared to Rs. 1,69,409 of Haryana. In fact it is less than the national average. Sadda Punjab isn’t even a rich state anymore.

      More details – https://niti.gov.in/sites/default/files/2021-01/IndiaInnovationReport2020Book.pdf

      1. @fragment_and_activities
        They wont have to worry about being behind haryana for too long now that they have implemented 75% quota ( khattar had said it won’t affect “technical” jobs and courts can stop it so not a given but still)

        1. I actually don’t mind the Haryana decision. This will shift industries towards Noida-GreaterNoida and in Eastern Rajasthan to Alwar. Both these states are poor and have a large labour pool.

          Besides, both these places are being connected by Expressways (Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Varanasi), Dedicated Freight Corridors (WDFC and EDFC) and High Speed Rail (again Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Varanasi).

          PS: Companies had already started moving away from Haryana after the Maruti strike fiasco – https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/honda-starts-production-at-new-rajasthan-plant/articleshow/30944522.cms

          1. you should be concerned with quotas, because it undermines the idea of a united and federal india where a citizen has the same rights everywhere. what makes you think it will stop here?

          2. > you should be concerned with quotas, because it undermines the idea of a united and federal india where a citizen has the same rights everywhere. what makes you think it will stop here?

            There is a lot of sub-nationalism in India. Honestly, if it means development of poorer states like UP/Rajasthan/MP(even Bihar/WB) at the cost of Haryana, I don’t mind.

            That Haryana is shooting itself in the foot should be Haryanas concern more than anyone elses’.

      2. I have never killed any one, but I have read some obituary notices with great satisfaction – Clarence Darrow

        1. LOL, is this for Punjab or Haryana? However, दूसरों के दु:ख से सुखी नहीं होना चाहिए।

          1. Sorry, it was a poor attempt at being sarcastic/ironic as I thought that was you felt about Punjabis.

  30. https://www.quora.com/What-did-your-countrys-soldiers-look-like-throughout-history/answer/Ahmad-Abubakr-%D8%A7%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D8%A8%D9%88%D8%A8%DA%A9%D8%B1?ch=99&share=cec3f593&srid=u6vS8

    Lmfao the “gangu” pajeet comments are great. Typical Indus Larp gang has more and more acceptors. Funny thing is that they don’t even know which regions were in the Indus Valley and how many Indians actually share more in common with the Indus cline for their lack of major steppe. But whatever lol. They can use their racial hatred of the gangetic plain to fuel their stupidity all day long. Also, unsurprising the name of the one Indian user who backs them up lmfao.

    1. Why should indian-americans attempt to be anything but better americans? It’ll be interesting to see what future hinduism has in the western diaspora, bereft of pilgrimages, folk culture, music and art. Will it fuse with new-age spirituality? Does it require a constant stream of fresh immigrants to reinvigorate it? I’m an indian-american hindu with observant parents who tried their best to pass things on to me. If my broader cohort of hindu friends had to organize a puja it would look like a comedy troupe tbh. sure many of us know gayatri mantra and hanuman chalisa, but not much more. On the other hand, a few of us have indian spouses (from the motherland), and they will save he day (while rolling their eyes).

      1. American Hinduism might turn more confessional. Certain branches like the Hare Krishna should become aggressively prosetylizing. The aim should be to have at least 5% of US population as Hindu by 2050 and probably 10% of Canada.

        I don’t think Hinduism has any significant role to play in new age spirituality. Back in the 70s, it was novel. Now it’s mainstream. New inspirations will come from hitherto unknown spiritual practices in places like Africa or Latin America.

        Hinduism has got to become more institutional to appeal to the westerners. None of that nebulous hokey-pokey hippy California stuff.

        1. trying to imagine what confessional hinduism looks like on the ground, a more literalist take on the ramayan and such?

          1. TL;DR – This response has turned into a lose stream of random thoughts.

            “a more literalist take on the ramayan and such?”

            The Bhagwad Gita would be a better candidate than Ramayana for such an endeavour. Ramayana etc can continue to be treated as metaphorical works. You can have multiple ‘churches’ with differing philosophies like with Protestant Christianity.

            But you need one or two to take the lead. ISKCON seems the best placed to do so at the moment.

            Hinduism depends a lot on local gurus, babas, seers etc. These have scaling limits and single points of failures. They are also often painted as ‘cults’. Ex – Dera Sacha Sauda is reeling from what happened to Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insaan or what is happening to Asaram.

            Instead we need a more corporate franchise model in north America. I know there are temples in the US that have Sunday school kind of thing. How effective is it? Considering most second gen folks turn woke, certainly not much. Can it be made more effective? Could regions with significant Indian populations also involve the greater community of the area and slowly suck them into the church? Do temples in different areas liaise with each other? How strong is this network?

            We need to learn from Jews and Sikhs.

            My family became friends with some Swami Narayan folks when we lived in Gujarat. So whenever my dad goes to the US for work, he usually ends up with some person from the network who shows him around or helps with boarding/lodging in some cases. They were even quite helpful when my brother went for his internship to Kansas a few years ago.

            Considering how rich the Indian-American community is, these networks can be strengthened enough that the benefits community members derive from it outweigh whatever clout they gain from becoming woke and from public self-flagellation. You guys would know better what can be done – scholarships, free boarding and lodging, free food, mental health camps etc.

            I know traditionalists will balk at this. But America is the most powerful country in the world and we need to establish influence there even to fight future battles in India. For instance, any attempt by the Indian government to suppress fraudulent evangelical activity in India will receive push back from the US. The only way to counter that is by having a strong Hindu lobby in the US Congress.

            “Why should indian-americans attempt to be anything but better americans?”

            Isn’t it a really American thing to safeguard one’s religion and propagate it?
            Also, I do think that the Hindu focus on family values, vegetarianism, dispassionate action, oneness of the universe etc are very useful in a modern world fraught with anxiety, depression, animal cruelty, racism etc. So being good Americans can entail brining these values to the larger society.

          2. neo-vedanta fits the bill in some ways. but some interesting ideas there on building institutions that could survive outside our “holy land”. Unsurprisingly there could be lessons from american reform judaism on how to adapt, and running with that thought, would hindus need their own prestige theological seminary to strike lasting roots in american soil? Instead of sponsoring india chairs and sanskrit studies at universities, just create a hindu seminary, without stringent monastic requirements, open to serious scholars of all backgrounds, but stewardship would be in the hands of trustees and rectors with dedication to the flourishing of religious inquiry in the hindu tradition.
            The examples of hindu resilience in the diaspora communities in west indies, fiji, and malaysia will be worth examining. Malaysia in particular seems like a place where the dislocation has not impacted the authenticity of customs whatsoever.

          3. A seminary should be a good idea.

            Fiji, Malaysia etc all had critical mass of Hindus. In America, they seem too dispersed.

            Is there any region that Hindus are specifically concentrated in? Maybe New Jersey.

            If there’s a critical mass, it might be possible to run your own schools. American institutions seem to have a bias against Asians anyway. Better to invest your capital in a place where your kids are treated as individuals. These schools can also turn into high quality feeders for universities or probably things like Y-combinator, which seem to be the future of higher education.

            I was also thinking if Brigham-Young University can be a good inspiration. Mormons seem to have turned Utah into some sort of a mini-Silicon Valley.

  36. Do people here sometimes think that social media makes them worry about stuff that isn’t very important?

    I was away from Twitter for a few months. Logged in recently and have found myself getting dragged into stupid debates about Hindu ‘genocide’ or the whole Cisco caste issue.

    A lot of the commentatry on these topics is ignorant and often times malicious. So there’s an urge to correct someone and then you end up deep in the dirt wrestling with pigs. Even if you resist the urge to comment, you still keep thinking about it more than you should.

    I wish there was a way to engage with thoughtful people on Twitter without crap ultimately leaking into your experience.

    I sometimes see Warlock posting so many shit links. Makes me wonder how one can handle so much crap. I feel I am too old for this now. Reminds me of the South Park episode ‘Growin’ Up’.

    (PS – I do not mind talking to people I disagree with. Actually enjoy it. Just don’t like ignorance and malice. Sometimes blatant lies.)

    1. Do people here sometimes think that social media makes them worry about stuff that isn’t very important?

      Yep. Remove the word “social” and the answer’s still in the affirmative.

    2. @Prats

      I saw a chat show clip where someone is saying that porn is dehumanising. The other guy jumps in to say, “Then you are watching the wrong kind of porn!!”. 🙂

      What you consume on social media drives your mood. I follow a lot of technical discussions with policy handles. That balances some of the political/tribal commentary.

  37. I am generally optimistic about India’s economic future, especially after pli, labour laws etc but this article gives a good summary of the problems we face and gave a reality check that there is still a lot to fix

    https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thequint.com/amp/story/voices/opinion/latest-data-shows-india-has-recovered-to-chronic-slowdown

    … So, if factory output was at 100 in January 2018, it has risen to just 101 in three years. On the other hand, if our population was 100 in January 2018, it has risen to nearly 103 in the same period. In effect, per person availability of manufactured goods has dropped by 2 percent in three years.

    … India’s economy has no appetite. We have had a serious shortage of demand for the past several years. If people don’t buy what factories are producing, then at first inventories will build up. Factories will stop running regular shifts and cut down output significantly to get rid of the stock in their godowns. After a while, the manufacturing sector will settle into a rhythm of lower output to match lower demand.

    ….. This tells us that consumer goods used by the more affluent have grown reasonably well, while those consumed by the less well-off have performed badly.

    For instance, the production of water heaters and geysers has increased by 60 percent, electric cooking appliances grew by 43 percent, output of computers increased by 39 percent, electric heaters by 38 percent, washing machines by 31 percent, TV sets by 29 percent, air conditioners by 14 percent, refrigerators by 12 percent and passenger cars by 4 percent. All of these are likely to have been bought by the top 10 percent of Indian households.

    On the other hand, gas stove production dropped by 83 percent, plastic tarpaulin output was down 46 percent, aluminium utensils dropped by 40 percent, stainless steel utensil output fell by 27 percent, air cooler production dropped by 12 percent, toothpaste fell by 6 percent, atta by 17 percent, dal by 8 percent, besan and sooji by 7 percent, regular watches by 27 percent, ready-made garments by 34 percent, quilts by 23 percent and even bidi by 6 percent.

    1. We need labour intensive growth to create a larger middle class. No way around it. We’ve started taking baby steps in that direction but it’ll need to be sustained for another 5-10 years before we can see cruise mode.

      That makes it crucial that whoever wins 2024 doesn’t screw things up. Also hope Akhilesh doesn’t win UP next year.

  38. Had been away for a while. Things have gone really interesting @clubhouse and stuff

    Also

    https://www.cnbctv18.com/views/whatever-be-the-assembly-poll-result-a-bengal-model-of-hindutva-may-be-emerging-8601511.htm

    “There is indeed an element of Bengali exceptionalism here. It isn’t what is referred to by this name in a clichéd sense, meaning Bengal’s cultural distinctiveness from other states. Rather, the model of Hindutva that Bengal is bringing up is bottom-up. Hindutva here is more popular among the Dalits and Adivasis than among the cosmopolitan Bhadralok, whose huge material and educational edge over Dalits and tribals had made Bengali culture synonymous with Bhadralok culture in the eyes of people outside Bengal.

    Unlike a deep and thick sense of distinctive Tamil identity among the non-Brahmin majority in Tamil Nadu, the Bhadralok sense of Bengali identity largely reflects a view from the upper crust of society.

    If the BJP indeed wins or even comes a close second, the notion of Bengali exceptionalism may bite the dust, and Bengal may appear much more similar to north India than is generally thought.”

    Lets see which category does Bengal fall, More OR Less Hindu region.

    1. \the Bhadralok sense of Bengali identity largely reflects a view from the upper crust of society.\
      This is true of other states as well ; an influential class , usually an emergent middle class , sets the tone for what it is to be Tamil or Maharastrian or Bihari

    1. warlock, kerala, TN and sri lanka do overperform in the sprints at the south asian games and are often the only south asians to qualify for the olympics in the sub-800m distances. lately, some great sprinting talent coming out of orissa as well, and hima das is from assam. lots of folks only look at medals and would prefer a bronze medal for india in shooting over a strong showing in the heats of the 4x400m or something. I’ll be super excited when an indian guy legit comes close to the 10 sec barrier in the 100m. I don’t think its farfetched, and yes, by that time it may not place them in the world top 25 even, but its a great milestone.

  41. Brutal New Ad Launched Against Manchin, Featuring Vanita Gupta, DOJ Nominee’s Alleged Ties to Cartel Heroin

    The Judicial Crisis Network has launched a new ad targeting West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin as he considers voting for the confirmation of Vanita Gupta, who has been nominated by President Joe Biden to become the next associate attorney general at the Department of Justice.

    West Virginia has the highest overdose rate in the United States and Gupta owns millions of dollars worth of stock in a company accused of making a key heroin ingredient for Mexican cartels.

    Vanita Gupta owns between $11 and $55 million dollars in stock in Avantor, a company that manufactures an essential ingredient used to make heroin and meth.

    Gupta’s father is also the chairman of the board of Avantor.

    https://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2021/03/16/brutal-new-ad-launched-against-manchin-featuring-doj-nominees-alleged-ties-to-mexican-heroin-n2586329

    1. This is a good interview, I wanted another one with Tigmanshu Dhulia (I think same interviewer) and that was interesting as well.

      1. The Slow Interview with Neelesh Misra is a pretty good show. The episode with Anurag Kashyap is also nice.

        Re: Tigmanshu Dhulia

        I had met him once back in the day. Very interesting character with a point of view on almost everything.
        He had come to our college for a screening of Paan Singh Tomar. This was soon after Gangs of Wasseypur had released. So he was quite popular at the time.
        Post the show, he got shit drunk with a bunch of us students. Some spicy insider Bollywood gossip was revealed that might be too scandalous for this forum. I also seem to recall him expressing strong opinions on 1857 and Nehru.

        This was before the era of Modi and #MeToo. Twitter wasn’t too big in India either. I remember helping him use the Twitter app so he could tweet about the event.

        I wonder if public personalities will be this candid with random strangers anymore.

        1. LOL.. the Bollywood scandal can remain buried..

          But I am really interested in hearing about his opinions on 1857 and Nehru..

          2. I don’t remember exactly what he said about Nehru.

            Wrt 1857, he still seemed a bit disappointed it didn’t work out. He blamed Sikhs and Rajputs for not helping overthrow the British calling their respective opposition and neutrality as ‘betrayal’.

        2. Tigmanshu could have been next big Bollywood villian after Amresh Puri. But he seems to be content being 2nd grade Anruag Kashyap.

  51. Part 1

    A stalk of wheat shakes the mainstream IE family tree

    Wheat is both a staple and a cash crop throughout the world today. Originally domesticated in the fertile crescent perhaps around 10000 yBP, wheat today has several cultivars in agricultural production. The most important cultivar in India, cultivated historically until the modern era, is Triticum Sphaerococcum or one of its hybrid varieties.

    This article is an examination of the empirical evidence of wheat in the Indian subcontinent combined with the philological and textual evidence. We are going to witness how wheat falsifies the theory of a Aryan migration into India in the second millennium. I also want to add that it is equally unfavourable to OIT. But the greatest damage is inflicted upon the dime-a-dozen IE language family trees that purport to show the spread of IE languages from the homeland.

    First the facts – wheat grains have been archaeologically attested at Mehrgarh in the period 7000 yBP. The finds were discrete enough for researchers to confirm the exact cultivar (T. Monococcum, T. Diococcum and several others). Within the interior of India, it is first attested in Bihar (Chirand) in 5500 yBP. From there it is next found at Ter and Inamgaon in Maharashtra by 4500 yBP. We can infer from the evidence that wheat is well established throughout India – beginning somewhere in the Northwestern part in the Neolithic and ending in the South by the Early Chalcolithic. For a more detailed reading of the cultivar history in India, I recommend the 1985 VP Kulshreshtha paper, “History and ethnobotany of wheat in India”.

  52. Part 2

    A stalk of wheat shakes the mainstream IE family tree

    A single glance at the different words for wheat in various IE languages will tell you that it is an adopted child. In other words, the PIE homeland did not know wheat. Or at least, wheat was not in vogue when the last branch left the PIE homeland. This also rules out the possibility of the Fertile Crescent being a candidate for the homeland.

    Latin – Triticum
    German – Weizen
    Dutch – Tarwe
    Greek – Sitos/Sitari
    Russian – Pshenitsa
    Sanskrit – Godhuma

    If you look at the Dravidian words for wheat, they also tell a story

    Kannada – Godhi
    Telugu – Godhuma
    Tamil – Godhumai
    Malayalam – Gothambu

    One could argue in the AMT fashion that Dravidian was the substrate of Chalcolithic India and the incoming Aryans borrowed “that word” from them. But textual tradition gives it away – the exact root and the components that come together to form this word are given by Panini in the Unadi Sutras. The sandhi rules are equally described. And the word is attested in several texts – the Yajurveda, Mahabharata, Ramayana and the Samhitas. On the contrary, it is missing in the Dravidian textual tradition with no evidence of provenance. Clearly it is an adopted child in the tongues of South India.

    A parsimonious explanation covering all the three areas of archaeology, ethnobotany and philology is very much at hand. The earliest cultivators of wheat in India were the north-western IE speaking peoples beginning in the late Neolithic (5000 BCE). It then spread to the Gangetic Basin by 3500 BCE. From there, the crop spread to South India carrying along with it the loan of the Sanskrit word.

  60. https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3125702/australia-tensions-between-sikhs-and-modi-supporting

    Yup painting Hindus as the only offenders in terms of intimidation tactics here. What a biased article. Khalistanis literally attempted to murder a Sikh media personality in New Zealand who was pro-farm laws. Regardless, the fault lines are showing. This once again is a rentier class extended agitation. The tribal nature of the groups involved will make this drawn out and painful. But common sense, free markets, individual rights, and smaller government will prevail in the long term. Attempting to hold the nation hostage by choking off vital roads to the capital can only work for so long.

    1. BJP govt in UP acts against the Idea of India by doing this reservation for locals. India is a place where there is fre movement of people for jobs or pleasure or living and free movement of capital; that is One country, One market ; that was the India concieved in 1947/1950. Even DMK or CPM in their worst moments never thought of this. If Yogi has intentions of strengthening India, he is going about it in the wrong way. BJP loses it’s right to claim as upholder of Indian nationalism and against parochialism

      1. Absolutely. Disaster.

        India needs its own Interstate Commerce Act that also covers these employment issues. This is not federalism anymore. This is becoming a confederacy.

  63. ‘This is not my Ashoka’: Angry students ask university to bring back Pratap Bhanu Mehta

    The resignation of the prominent political scholar from India’s leading private liberal arts university has created shockwaves.

    A critic of the Narendra Modi government whose sharp op-eds appear frequently in The Indian Express, Mehta resigned from the private university in Sonepat on Tuesday. His decision came less than two years after he stepped down as the vice-chancellor of the university.

    His resignation has caused widespread discontent and anger among students and faculty members at Ashoka University, which describes itself on its website as “a pioneer in its focus on providing a liberal education at par with the best in the world”.

    “We had deep optimism that this is a place in India with intellectual freedom and where a high amount of good standard research would take place,” said the student. “Now my optimism has turned to deep pessimism.”

    https://scroll.in/article/989892/this-is-not-my-ashoka-angry-students-ask-university-to-bring-back-pratap-bhanu-mehta

  66. Man , clubhouse has become the comment section of Borwn pundits with all HIndu-muslim stuff .LOL

    1. Lol. How many folks are there on the BP Clubhouse chat?

      My phone doesn’t support the app and it won’t even after the Android version is released because I use a 7 year old phone. Hope I am not missing out on much.

      In a way, I am glad I don’t have another social platform to manage.

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