I miss his comments. Any chance to get him to return?
(My first comment… I have been visiting the blog for about a year… I find the posts as well as discussion very interesting)
Bhimrao
2 years ago
Apple M1 is going to destroy intel, good thing Apple is not into selling chips.
First it was ARM, then Nvidia, then AMD and now Apple what is wrong with Intel? It is firmly on the trajectory of IBM.
One of my friends working as engineering salesman for scanning-tunneling-microscopes says they just chill out in South Korea and Taiwan for 5+ years trying to convince TSMC/Samsung to buy their $10 million a pop wafer-microscopes, his team does absolutely nothing at all for years! the tech they are selling today was made in late 2000s.
The point is American industry is full of false heroes. The dragon will slay them and feast on their bodies. And the dragon does not tolerate pundits.
Xi Jinping: “Researchers should reduce their participation in unnecessary social activities. Researchers should spend more time on scientific research, rather than unnecessary social activities, review and evaluation activities, & various formalist and bureaucratic activities.” https://twitter.com/KS1729/status/1398308847744393227
Today I found out PyTorch’s ‘creator’ is an Indian dude!!!! He has a Bachelors from Vellore and an MS NYU, nothing stellar, but look at what he has created.
Fuck me!! This proves there is just so much luck involved in life bhai!! This mofo is so young and kicking ass!
I knew OpenCV is full of Indians but building something this important from ground up is great. Also this is what makes America great, the opportunities it gives people.
Add to that we might have a Congress-Commie govt next time around. I see the 90s movement all over again, just rather than liberalization we will have public-ization.
In the 70s it was the banks , this time around it will we whatever private ownership there is left. And it will be championed by our lol-bertarians and New York based economists.
If commies come to power, even I might be tempted to leave India.
We are stuck between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand Modi ji will keep pulling off masterstrokes and on the other hand we have bona fide chutiyas like Rahul Gandhi. Then there’s also the question of who’ll succeed Modi in BJP.
Make money Prats Bhai, and employ me.
Haha. Abhi to I’m near broke after wrapping up my startup. Let’s see how the new job goes.
Reds have muslims as shock troops, other side has Orange Backward Castes.
I think return of soft socialism is inevitable. Indians are a lazy, fat, freebie-loving people. Maybe Gujarat, Maha, Goa, Andhra and Karnataka will hold out because they have tasted blood.
btw the daily laborer wage has risen to INR 700 per day in cities, idk who would want to work for MGNREGA.
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First time I was welcomed at JP Morgan Chase I thought they are going to swindle me (like the 2000s HDFC credit card people on steroids) because I was used to the PNB aunty ji playing solitaire while I stood under a tree as number eighth in a line of fifteen paying customers. Dhanya hain bharatiya banks, whenever anyone tells me their father works for SBI/PNB/BOI/… I instinctively think ‘Haramkhor’.
This is something I have been thinking for quite some time:
Space exploration is not as hard as American media portrays. Astronauts are just over glorified fighter pilots. China put a rover on Mars with ZERO American help.
This is the kind of self-adulatory bullshit British used to say about the railways. The fact is that Japanese cars are far superior to American cars, the fact is that Facebook (the social network bit), Twitter and large parts of American tech industry is dominant because of massive capital that backs them not some amazing piece of code (like say google, or MS), the fact is that Boeing is in the business of operations research not aircraft building. Americans and the west in general tries to demoralize the world with its enormous (historically ill gotten) wealth and whenever faced with a real challenge (from East Asians) they shit their pants.
Among other things we need courage to call their bluff. Make money Prats Bhai, and employ me.
The wastage of human resource in India is beyond tragic. Indian kids are some of the sharpest in the world and we straitjacket the shit out of them, i.e. when we aren’t starving them.
Soumith’s advisor Manuela is a great AI researcher. So he had top-notch guidance and he must have worked very hard to imbibe and put it to great use!
As per Indian sources, the ISI and MSS have formulated a joint “India Desk”. There are over a dozen separatist movements in India – that have been seeking help from China and Pakistan to get independence from Hindu fascist regime in Delhi
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Pakistani ‘geostrategists’ are like Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, both parties come up with newer and ever more convenient points every week. And here I am struggling to put together a scikit model for over a month.
My second favorite Pakistanis on twitter are the ‘weaponologists’ they are usually Pakistanis living in Europe who are experts on everything from SAR radars to EW pods to guns to best manufacturing practices… and the conclusion they draw no matter what the problem always remains them same, that India and Pakistan Army are sem-2-sem with advantage Pakistan.
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My Pakistani doppelganger has this to say on Israel:
” from 2000-2019 armaments supplied to Israel by the Western powers (US, UK, France, Spain, Germany) are documented at a hefty $9.6 billion. But within that 20-year period the same document shows this amount is dwarfed by arms sold by the same suppliers to Saudi Arabia ($29.3bn), UAE ($20.1bn), Egypt ($17.5bn), Iraq ($9.1bn), and Qatar ($6bn).” https://www.dawn.com/news/1626332/why-are-arabs-so-powerless
Thought it was common knowledge that these “Pakistanis on twitter” are being run by ISPR. All Pakistanis have wanted since Kargil is to keep giving Indians new itches to scratch. Seeing how Indians react tells me they are doing a good job.
“ MHA issued notice for any person belonging to minority community in Afghanistan, Bangladesh & Pakistan namely Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jain, Parsis & Christians residing in 13 districts of Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Haryana & Punjab to apply for Indian citizenship“
As I had said earlier there are “ Hindus “ and there are “ Hindus “. Once the Bengal election died down the bjp had to essentially choose between CAA( Bengal) or NRC ( Assam ). Good that they choose one in hand rather than two in the bush. This will end the chapter on CAA.
Interesting excerpts from the article on asset poor.
“The contrast between how the lives of the asset poor in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have changed over the decade is startling. In 2005-06, the bottom 20 per cent of the asset poor in Uttar Pradesh were slightly better off than their counterparts in Tamil Nadu and many other states. By 2015-16, the asset poor in Tamil Nadu were more than four times better off than the asset poor in Uttar Pradesh.”
“As a result of the little progress in terms of making a dent in asset poverty, the share of the five laggard states — Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh — in the all-India bottom 20 per cent asset poor increased to 64 per cent in 2015-16 from 48 per cent in 2005-06. The population share of these states in the all-India population, however, continues to be around 37 per cent, suggesting their over-representation in the overall asset poor.”
Ugra
2 years ago
Revisiting Narasimhan et al – Part 1
It has been a little over twenty months since the Rakhigarhi analysis and the paper on formation of human populations in South & Central Asia were published. The genome wide data from 523 individuals in Central Asia and northernmost South Asia (sic) were the basis for the conclusions. The Rakhigarhi woman was the only representative from “northernmost South Asia”. Consider that the 29th degree parallel north latitude is now serving as a proxy for the rest of the subcontinental bulk (75% of area below that line). It is what it is.
However it is a tribute to the researchers that the aDNA of the Rakhigarhi find was successfully retrieved – given the extreme climatic conditions of India and the seepage of agricultural chemicals – fertilizers and pesticides – into the stratigraphic layers. Since then, we have learnt that Sinauli could not be retrieved – to be confirmed officially, though. Only another find is singularly interesting as of date – at Konthagai (Vaigai Delta) from the 4th century BCE.
I have been reading these two articles repetitively to look at the importance provided to the social, historical and linguistic detailing . Some of the stated assumptions are quite pedantic – such as Brahmins being the “custodians of liturgy in Sanskrit”. My major grouse is that there is no leading Indian anthropologist, historian or linguist who could have checked the soundness of some of the assumptions. Vasant Shinde is quite the leading Indian archaeologist of today – but he is not part of the “Formation” paper. There are a couple of geneticists though – that’s the extent of Indian involvement.
Ugra
2 years ago
Revisiting Narasimhan et al – Part 2
Narasimhan’s conclusion is quite definitive – “….nevertheless, the fact that traditional custodians of liturgy in Sanskrit (Brahmins) tend to have more Steppe ancestry….for a Bronze Age Steppe origin for South Asia’s Indo-European languages.”
There are a couple of logical underpinnings to this conclusion – one he states and references quite clearly – the lack of a Steppes or Anatolian component in the Indus Periphery Cline from Rakhigarhi and the outliers at Gonur/Shahr-i-Sokta. Therefore it’s presence in the Modern Indian Cline has to be explained – especially where the Steppes component peaks in Tiwari Brahmins and Bhumihars. So through this small logical window, Narasimhan drives his AMT truck in.
But there is another unstated logical assumption – that he slips under the radar and leaves the reader to figure it out. It’s quite important – in fact it is the one that is most susceptible to falsification. Should we understand that the entire Steppes component in modern Brahmins was the sole result of a Bronze Age input (his implied assumption)? What about the other attested invasions of the Indian sub-continent – Yonas, Yavanas, Hunas, Kidarites, Sakas, Achaeminids – did they contribute nothing at all to the Indian gene pool in the medieval era? Under what attenuating circumstances should we consider a zero genetic influx from the Northwest of India after the Bronze Age? If one adds up all the incoming genetic components during the Iron Age and the Medieval – they may significantly subtract from the contribution during the Bronze Age.
Ugra
2 years ago
Revisiting Narasimhan et al – Part 3
A second source of misalignment reinforces my earlier point – “The strongest two signals were in Brahmin_Tiwari (Z = −7.9) and Bhumihar_Bihar (Z = −7.0).” Narasimhan fails to explain to the reader as to why Bhumihars and Tiwaris (among all castes of Brahmins) exhibit this peaking of the Steppes component. What historical episode caused this? A Western reader who doesn’t know the geographical and historical distribution of Brahmins might be inclined to fly with it.
The two states with the highest proportions of Brahmins as a percentage of their populations are Uttarakhand (22%) and Himachal Pradesh (18%). Within Hindu traditional stories, they are frequently referred to as Dev-Bhoomi (Land of the Gods). A logical expectation is a geographical convergence of the “Steppes-peak” castes and the distribution of Brahmin percentages within a region’s population. Remember, Uttarakhand is twice the area of Belgium!!
Instead the peak occurs in the Gangetic plains only – places that were the stomping grounds for some of the most gargantuan empires (Magadh) that the world has witnessed in any era. The Steppes component peaking in these two Gangetic castes (specific geographical area) indicates that there might have been another reinforcement mechanism at work. Perhaps the result of foreign elites assimilated into Empire or the digestion of mercenary army ranks from India’s northwest. I do not discount the fact of an influx during the Bronze Age – but it is upto the researcher to reflect on the coincidence of the geographical locus of past Indian Empires and the Steppes peak in modern Indians.
There is another dead giveaway – which should have caused Narasimhan et al to pause. Bhumihars were not even considered as Brahmins until the 19th century – they organized to get this status from the British!! In their own words – they do only secular duties like Niyogis – administrators, landlords, tax collectors and soldiering. Mangal Pandey – the soldier who sparked the 1857 War of Independence – was a Bhumihar. They are very clear on this – they do not accept alms and they do not memorise the rites. A “priest” who insists that the others call him a priest!
“Narasimhan fails to explain to the reader as to why Bhumihars and Tiwaris (among all castes of Brahmins) exhibit this peaking of the Steppes component.What historical episode caused this?”
Ugra, if G25 Vahaduo is correct – it has been hypothesized that the people in the Gangetic region who are Steppe enriched have Ror/Haryana Jat admixture who themselves have the highest Steppe in South Asia.
My source is a few users on the Anthrogenica Southern Asia forum.
Rors only have a community history stretching to the first millennium from Sindh. In that case, the time of admixture is very recent.
Ugra
2 years ago
Revisiting Narasimhan et al – Part 4
My second criticism of the Narasimhan paper is rooted in a linguistic explanation. Koenraad Elst frequently admonishes AIT opponents that they wrongly consider linguistics to be pseudoscience and do not apply the critical thinking that it deserves. This criticism of Narasimhan et al incorporates some of that thinking. How did linguists come to the conclusion that the Rgveda was composed in India? I mean anthropologists point to preservation of Rgvedic concepts in modern Indian lifestyles, philosophers trace the evolution of modern Hinduism’s core to the text, scientists look at place and river names, historians try to glean out references to climatic phenomena etc. But what do linguists do to pin-point the Rgveda in place?
They look at retroflexion!! Yes, this is the classic tell-tale “Apu-signature” that has convinced all linguistic schools to conclude that Rgveda could have been composed in India and India only. Add to it – the names of the rivers and places from the text – the evidence is both empirically and rationally complete. HH Hock (1996) summarizes this as the phonological contrast between dental and retroflex consonants.
There was a fascinating see-saw battle that occupied linguists for most of the 70s, 80s and 90s. There were two schools – the Convergence and the Subversion schools. The convergence school argued that the retroflexion in Sanskrit was a result of bi-directional exchange between Dravidian and IA groups of equal power and the whole process was achieved organically in an infinite amount of time. The subversion school argued that retroflexion was an outcome of a unidirectional exchange between unequal groups and it took place in a short amount of time. The scholars involved in these discussions were Hock, Emeneau, Thomason & Kaufman, Bloch and from an earlier century – Caldwell and Konow.
Ugra
2 years ago
Revisiting Narasimhan et al – Final part
One of the most fascinating features of the Rgveda is that it retains no memory of this linguistic mixing. All the way from the Old Books to the New Books – the density and spread of retroflexion heavy words are uniform. There is no significant uptrend from the Old to the New. Emeneau, the Oxford linguist, noted this specifically to comment that the Rgvedic composers were very comfortable and familiar with their retroflexion – they wore it like their skins! Therefore it must have been a convergence that caused the retroflexion in Sanskrit. HH Hock, earlier a subversionist, was won over by Emeneau’s reasoning and data. He became a convergence advocate.
These linguists, most of them, have passed on and did not live to see the impact of genetics. But we do and we can look at the data of Narasimhan’s.
If we try to figure out which South Asian Bronze Age genetic cline could have been the most fitting candidate for the composition of the Rgveda, it has to be the Indus Valley Cline – the Rakhigarhi woman plus the 11 outliers from Shahr-i-Sokta and Gonur. The magic ingredient is the Andamanese Hunter Gatherers (AHG) component – that must have provided retroflexion from a deep past. This is the only cline that presents a fit to the model of the Convergencers – all of them dead now.
One could always plead that the incoming Steppes cline who mixed with the IVC people composed the Rgveda at a later date. This scenario stretches the limits of parsimony. Almost all current Rgvedic scholars (Witzel, Jamison, Brereton) agree that the Ten Books were composed over a period of hundreds of years. Plus the Rgveda is solidly Bronze Age – it has no memories of iron, cotton or swords. If this is correct, then it would imply that the Steppes people started composing the Rgveda almost as soon as they arrived in India – anthropologically and linguistically unviable.
I am reasonably confident that the IVC cline were the composers of the Rgveda – heavy in their retroflexion and rooted in their homeland for thousands of years. I shall go as far as to make a bold prediction – that we will eventually find aDNA from BA individuals belonging to the IVC cline and possessing the R1a haplogroups sans any Steppes components. If that happens, then we shall revisit Narasimhan et al once more!
Saddest part is that Pakdefensoids defend this behavior. They even think evidence of Pakistani heavy welfare dependence and evidence of lowest per capita income in the UK is just because these men are all so “cool and gangsta.” They even say the gang rapists do this because they are handsome. I have seen photos of them lol. And their inbreeding shows on some of their faces…
The delusions run strong.
I am happy our resident Pakistani is more reasonable. He is not a Birdari ethnosupremacist. Racial hatred and supremacy drives a lot of the behavior of the more toxic types. Occasionally, Q can come off too biased towards Islam and some of his views are under the racialist S Asian paradigm, but he is far better than the usual suspect trolls…
\\Saddest part is that Pakdefensoids defend this behavior. They even think evidence of Pakistani heavy welfare dependence and evidence of lowest per capita income in the UK is just because these men are all so “cool and gangsta.” They even say the gang rapists do this because they are handsome. I have seen photos of them lol. And their inbreeding shows on some of their faces\\
can you link any discussion or thread where these rapists are being defended and the aforementioned assertions being made?
\\Just disgusting. Castrate the rapists and the Imams encouraging them. Ban 1st cousin marriage. Ban shariah law. Some basic steps\\
You really think these child-raping gangstas are the mosque going types? 1st cousin marriage and Shariah law got nothing to do with this.
For sure a lot of this is connected with racial hatred. But thats not just unique to Mirpuris in UK. You see a lot of that with other minority groups in other countries too.
Just disgusting. Castrate the rapists and the Imams encouraging them. Ban 1st cousin marriage. Ban shariah law. Some basic steps
“O Prophet! Lo! We have made lawful to you your wives to whom you have paid their dowries, and those whom your right hand possesses of those whom Allah hath given you as spoils of war” 33.50
Problem is not this is even written in a holy book. Many old holy books have bad stuff. Problem is that people today, even many so called “moderates” take it literally because they think the book is infallible.
Brown
2 years ago
lesson to modi, never argue with a bengali, especially bengali women!!
Didi punished Modi for his sexist campaign and rightly so. She showed women are not to be trifled with and set an example for others to follow. Good for her.
Punished is a strong word don’t u think. When the dust settles Didi is still the provincial leader and modi the national. Bit like all the hype around jayalalita.
For modi Bengal is an expendable frontier which doesn’t augment much to his seat tally . He wins regardless of that state. For Didi Bengal was make or break.
Ummon
2 years ago
The modern latin alphabet is very suited for digital and print media thanks to the humanist return to Roman orthography designed for stone carvings (as opposed to the gothic scripts designed for handwritten penmanship). It’s unfortunate that Indians didn’t have a similar revival of Brahmi in place of Devanagari (and the various other Brahmi-descended scripts designed for penmanship).
After much speculation, we now have hard data showing that Bangladesh’s income per head is $2227. India’s FY 2020-21 numbers came out yesterday and confirmed the economy is now at $1963 per capita. The graph looks like this.
Folks were saying this was temporary, India would bounce back etc, but then the second wave crushed India starting in April, putting a dampener on FY 2021-22’s growth prospects. It would seem that Bangladesh’s advantage over India won’t dissipate any time soon and may even increase over the coming years. Hindu(tva) rate of growth?
– per capita income of BD is 13.4% higher than India.
– the Bangladeshi Taka is 13.8% cheaper than the INR.
– the PPP per capita income of India is 33% higher than BD’s.
I am actually a bit tired of BD takes bandied about like pot-fuelled wisdom. Sounds like most Brown Pundits are dunderheads when it comes to macro-economics.
Its all those rich Bangladeshis coming to India and providing employment to poor Indians 🙂 Next you will be telling us that Mexicans have a higher GDP (Gordo Dedo Pistola) than the US and thats why all the rich Mexicans cross the border to help Americans.
Sumit
2 years ago
India’s covid cases seem to be declining just as rapidly as they increased.
Vaccination rates still not very high. Anyone have insight on what is going on?
(Maybe) Almost everyone got infected and anyone who could have died has died. Also, old people are getting vaccinated well, no vaccine availability for younger people.
1) COVID moved to rural India, where numbers aren’t tracked accurately, either infection and death.
2) Indian urban centers rammed up after their facilities, after they initially lagged. Plus lockdowns whatever be their economic effect, it works on slowing down the pandemic.
I got vaccinated today and I can assure you that vaccines are not available in many states. The 22 crore figure is bogus since it counts first and second dose together. So far as the data suggests roughly 14 crore have received dose 1. And finally, Pvt hospitals are charging exorbitant rates for vaccination. The hospital i went to for the dose is charging ₹1100 per dose of Covieshield.
It’s mostly because of lockdown. At least in Delhi, people got really really spooked and have been staying in. We’ll see a rise now that lockdown is being phased out. It’ll be start-stop.
I generally don’t buy the herd immunity hypothesis (as applied to Indian cities right now) and am pretty sceptical of the representativeness of any sero-prevalence data.
Brown
2 years ago
the indian judiciary is crawling all over the place, pontifying. it will be fun to see, when someone musters enough courage and question these judges about their working ( pending cases et al) and ask them when they will deliver fast judgements. this has to happen as a court application.
Brown
2 years ago
cbse class 12 exams scrapped, by a committee headed by modi. this is start of real acche din. he will be emperor of india for next 100 years!!!
Very good Op-Ed. India’s simply too weak to seriously rival China. In 1990 it’s GDP per capita was almost equal to China, today is nearly 6X lower. In 2020, despite talks of ‘decoupling’, Chinese suppliers are increased their share on Apple’s supplier shortlist. Quality simply cannot be beaten.
At any rate, the cancelled EU-China investment deal was never in EU’s interests. The EU just pathetically got bullied into doing the US’ bidding (again).
I do hope he becomes PM though once. We can all welcome the grand socialist raj once more. To the joy of our twitter and new york based commie-but-free market wallah economists.
@thewarlock
Saurav had said it before that he thinks that Indians would need to experience socialist congress rule again to properly appreciate the bjp. The same thing is happening in Jharkhand right now, congress won by promising a lot of freebies but corruption has increased so much over there that a lot of people are regretting voting for them
They have already gotten the disasters of socialist Congress. Look at the fuck up Bengal has been since independence. Wth more do they need.
And I second the other point brought up below. I wish Congress was competent to push BJP to be even better. Sadly, they are basically a Gandhi family corrupt collective and truly good leaders like Sachin Pilot aren’t given opportunities.
Yeah looking at Bengal, and the fuck up, and what have the bengalis realized precisly? Zilch.They have only doubled down from commies to now ethno-commies and are proud of it. So yeah, i dont feel bad or sorry for them.
Pilot and co are just young-er commies, who win not because they are ‘competent’ but because they are from the right caste and background in their largely feudal fiefdom. Dont go by their suave looks or english interviews. At the end of the day, a more son-of-soil Ghelot chewed him for breakfast, so he is both politically as well as administratively naive.
Do you feel the emotional outrage about gross inequality that you are intended to when presented with a striking aerial drone photo of Mumbai slums next to more prosperous neighborhoods? Or do you, like me, see something moving and egalitarian about the urban poor and the middle class living so close together, voting in the same elections, and having to negotiate and come to terms on all sorts of things? Instead of outrage, are you pleased by the economic opportunities that proximity gives to the poor? Some pictures and reflections on “Inequality Obscured” here: https://naimisha_forest.silvrback.com/inequality-obscured
Scenes of very poor rural places untouched by modernity brings up sort of rustic, authentic culture vibes.
Scenes of secluded gated communities near mumbai like ‘aamby valley city’ brings up pleasant, picturesque vibes.
Scenes of Dharavi juxtaposed with different types of apartments, feels jarring.
But the reality is the mix and people of different socio-economic strata living shoulder to shoulder is more indicative of economic dynamism and growth. Poor people without access to modernity and rich people locking themselves away in a bubble ought to be more concerning.
> see something moving and egalitarian about the urban poor and the middle class living so close together
It is not an egalitarian thing. for e.g. the posh societies are a world unto themselves – they have gym, swimming pool, markets etc. etc. So people living there live a different life altogether.
However, living in close proximity gives one an idea of one immense privilege of being born in a wealthy household.
There are hardly any ‘rich’ people in India, tribals bicker that villagers are ‘well off’, villagers bicker towns-people are better off, town people bicker city people are better off and so on it goes… think of it like how everyone thinks Marwaris sleep on piles of cash and Brahmins are the reason India got colonized. It is just jealous bitching and convenient rationalization.
Compared to even American suburbia populated by blue collar plumbers and convenience store patels entire India sucks, even the ‘gated’ communities. In all but the very best of clubs, the amenities (pools, bar, snooker table, arcade,…) are much worse than recreation centers of 300th ranked American universities. The only convenience in which India shines out is in availability of cheap servants.
India’s rich (top .5%) would be comparable to maybe 60th percentile wealthy in the USA. There are not a lot of rich people in India, people tend to lower the bar (Iphone ownership= rich, car ownership = rich, having a 400 sqft apartment = rich, spending $200 total on a week long family vacation = rich…) to create the ‘rich’ class in India. And why are the apartment buildings even considered abodes of the rich? Where else are people supposed to live? It is just a 1 or 2 BHK home that couples have bought with maybe a 30 year loan. https://www.livemint.com/Money/HJkSWsigdz6Xvkg8wpr6jK/Where-are-you-in-Indias-wealth-distribution.html
”Rich” is a very subjective term.. most people living in developed countries today are – on paper – richer than kings and nobles of the past. Some Peter living in London may have better health care coverage flipping burgers during the day and driving taxi at night, access to better community centers, better education that most people in the past.. but I doubt he feels rich right now. If given a chance to swap places with some 18th century royalty, I bet he would grab it with both hands, assuming no social ties are keeping him tied. Debt slaves in the rat race are not rich, they just have the illusion of being so.
All I am saying is that the people living in high rises of Mumbai overlooking slums are not rich. We should not consider Indian IT people or government servants making 30 K a month as well off just because they can hire a domestic help or own a motorcycle or send their child to a ‘public’ school without any playground and with housewives for teachers.
Other than nutrition and health care facilities. I do not think that the poor in India feel all that different from the so called ‘rich’.
The somewhat related point I am making is this – ‘rich’ Indian people living in imaginary posh gated societies who are being contrasted with the poor in India (almost) do not exist. There are just poor people in 1bhk and poor people in slums.
End of meritocracy…America is just going down hill. The article cites good evidence as to why anti SAT movement is bad. The SAT actually allows for more income mobility. Middle class growing up kids like me got a shot at the upper class in part because of objective measures like the SAT. Routinely Black Americans from Africa and even former slave descedents from the Carribean average better than American whites. The exam is not racist. Poor Asian Americand still do well. The exam is not classist. What it exposes is lack of scholastic acheivement in areas, such that students, teachers, and entire cultures of underachievements can be held accountable. It is a good predictor of college success and statistically has grown to be a better predictor over time. I despise American Leftists and ultra wokes. They will be the death of our nation. And yes I scored well. So call me biased or racist or sexist or whatever
So grading is better when schools have more uniform criteria. The US it is way too disparate between inflationary and non inflationary schools. But Canada is probably better with sustaining similar levels of good quality among its different schools. UK is too and has good system of A levels. Only the US is absolutely idiotic with all of the “Woke” shit always proclaiming that inequality in outcome can be 100% explained by inequality in opportunity, when in fact so many cultural factors come into play. The US is far behind other even anglophone first world nations in this regard.
There is a problem of grade inflation in Canada, also education to my knowledge is a provincial thing – there is no equivalent to the Department of Education.
Nonetheless, people from almost all races still mostly succeed in my opinion because of the nature of the immigration that favours more educated people than the US, so they may not feel as left behind as the Hispanics and African Americans do.
The problem with the US as you state is the culture. These band-aid solutions never touch the root of the problem and veer into socialistic territory.
Another great article. Goes into how if SAT scores were the only metric fewer rich kids would be at elite schools. That is elite kids are overrepresented at elite schools based on objective metrics alone. They game the system more with subjective criteria polishing. Great read
“The Markup and THE CITY do not have access to data on the students’ test scores, grades, attendance, or other academic measures used to assess their qualifications for admission in any given school, but the admission rates show clear racial trends.”
Just LMFAO. Thid article reads like a parody
“Shri Ram Stuti” is an aarti, written by Goswami Tulsidas in the sixteenth century. It is a beautiful call to Lord Rama.
Tried to share few stanzas with meaning”
Is he trying to angle 2wards BJP? Kannadiga folks, what does the grapevine say?
Is that why i subconciusly associated him as tamil? Now u say it, i think that might be the case.
I used to think it was because he played with Venkatpati Raju, and both their names sound similar so growing up i thought he was tamil as well. Later found out that even raju wasn;t tamil as well . LOL
Rajus are the Rajputs of Telugu land. There are a lot of them in the armed forces. Apparently they migrated from Rajasthan centuries ago.
They seem to be a proud people. My Raju friends tell me that in their villages people have SUVs with ‘Raju’ written on it like one might see in the north with Jats and Rajputs.
Prats, the origin story is dubious. There is a broader trend of neo-kshatriya pretensions and that often extends further into fabricating rajput associations. I don’t think the authors of these myths really even have an ethnographic grasp of what a rajput is, but rely on the word translating well as a concept. There are actual old Rajasthani diasporas in the south such as the lambani which was discussed on BP last week. There are also what seem to be fragments of actual rajput communties in pockets who came as mercenaries in the 18th century. What they have in common is ample evidence of northern origins. Rajputs themselves having an ethnogenesis no earlier than the 15th century, it would be unlilkely that all elements of their culture would be so utterly subsumed by coastal andhra culture in so few generations, specifically given how proud they are. Even the telugu speaking migrants to southern tamil nadu retain distinction, not to speak of thanjavur marathas and madurai saurashtrians.
Ah. Yes. I was trying to be tongue in cheek wrt the Rajput connection but it didn’t come off like that.
One of my Raju friends (an army kid) used to be pretty proud of her Rajput connection. I remember one time the two of us were travelling in Jodhpur. The local police apprehended us while we were sitting by a lake because they thought we were upto something shady behind the trees.
Then as is customary in India, they asked for our caste. I refused to tell mine but she quickly volunteered that she was Rajput. This was probably a bad idea as it seemed to have irked one of the police guys who might have been a Rajput himself. I guess he suspected a Rajput girl was having an affair with someone from another caste. Lol.
Anyway, we told them we were outsiders. Took some convincing but they let us go.
Gender gap in vaccine worse than India’s sex ratio: Only 867 women got Covid shot per 1,000 men
Bhimrao
2 years ago
The Malaysian government plans to issue a diplomatic protest against an “intrusion” by 16 Chinese military aircraft into its airspace, the foreign minister said.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.timesofindia.com/india/us-redirects-vaccine-manufacturing-supplies-allowing-india-to-make-additional-20-million-covid-vaccine-doses/amp_articleshow/83055356.cms
US redirects vaccine manufacturing supplies allowing India to make additional 20 million Covid vaccine doses
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.livemint.com/companies/news/zetwerk-forays-into-aerospace-defence-sectors/amp-11622109603810.html
Zetwerk forays into aerospace, defence sectors
https://theprint.in/ilanomics/modi-govt-needs-a-covid-cushion-rbi-must-transfer-more-of-its-surplus-funds/666853/
Modi govt needs a Covid cushion. RBI must transfer more of its surplus funds
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/mice-plague-hits-australia-farmers-pin-hope-on-banned-poison-from-india-101622278175412-amp.html
Mice plague hits Australia, farmers pin hope on banned poison from India
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/pak-threatens-hindu-american-body-for-exposing-1971-genocide-in-bangladesh-101622192580509-amp.html
As expected
Intercaste marriage rates by state
https://www.counterview.net/2018/05/hindu-antecedent-of-muslim-jinnah-his.html?m=1
Interesting read
https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaSpeaks/comments/nnquit/dr_monica_while_mahua_moitra_was_writing_columns/
Absolutely sickening. TMC is a genocidal gang of goons. Modi is a coward for not intervening
Without sacrifice there is no victory
https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/economy/covid-19-impact-offshore-accounting-jobs-are-coming-to-india-6958211.html/amp
COVID-19 impact? Offshore accounting jobs are coming to India
milan complained on my substack you guys drove him off this blog!
I miss his comments. Any chance to get him to return?
(My first comment… I have been visiting the blog for about a year… I find the posts as well as discussion very interesting)
Apple M1 is going to destroy intel, good thing Apple is not into selling chips.
First it was ARM, then Nvidia, then AMD and now Apple what is wrong with Intel? It is firmly on the trajectory of IBM.
One of my friends working as engineering salesman for scanning-tunneling-microscopes says they just chill out in South Korea and Taiwan for 5+ years trying to convince TSMC/Samsung to buy their $10 million a pop wafer-microscopes, his team does absolutely nothing at all for years! the tech they are selling today was made in late 2000s.
The point is American industry is full of false heroes. The dragon will slay them and feast on their bodies. And the dragon does not tolerate pundits.
Xi Jinping: “Researchers should reduce their participation in unnecessary social activities. Researchers should spend more time on scientific research, rather than unnecessary social activities, review and evaluation activities, & various formalist and bureaucratic activities.”
https://twitter.com/KS1729/status/1398308847744393227
Today I found out PyTorch’s ‘creator’ is an Indian dude!!!! He has a Bachelors from Vellore and an MS NYU, nothing stellar, but look at what he has created.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/soumith/
Fuck me!! This proves there is just so much luck involved in life bhai!! This mofo is so young and kicking ass!
I knew OpenCV is full of Indians but building something this important from ground up is great. Also this is what makes America great, the opportunities it gives people.
Brilliant work! So proud of him (being Indian).
I had always assumed Soumith was Indian-American. Didn’t know he studied at VIT.
The amount of human potential that India wastes is quite tragic.
Yup!
Had he stayed in India, he would be wasting away at Ola or Snapdeal making 30 lpa.
American capital packages their talent as
the next Tony Stark.
Bhai apna bohot chutiya kat raha hai. Na paisa, na ijjat, na future.
Yeh sale swadeshi morcha, baba ramdev, CPI, kisan andolan, unions… itne bhayankar chootiye bhare hain yahan… Koi hope nai hai idhar.
Add to that we might have a Congress-Commie govt next time around. I see the 90s movement all over again, just rather than liberalization we will have public-ization.
In the 70s it was the banks , this time around it will we whatever private ownership there is left. And it will be championed by our lol-bertarians and New York based economists.
If commies come to power, even I might be tempted to leave India.
We are stuck between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand Modi ji will keep pulling off masterstrokes and on the other hand we have bona fide chutiyas like Rahul Gandhi. Then there’s also the question of who’ll succeed Modi in BJP.
Make money Prats Bhai, and employ me.
Haha. Abhi to I’m near broke after wrapping up my startup. Let’s see how the new job goes.
The bout is Marwari banias vs Bengali baamans.
Adani vs Basu.
Reds have muslims as shock troops, other side has Orange Backward Castes.
I think return of soft socialism is inevitable. Indians are a lazy, fat, freebie-loving people. Maybe Gujarat, Maha, Goa, Andhra and Karnataka will hold out because they have tasted blood.
btw the daily laborer wage has risen to INR 700 per day in cities, idk who would want to work for MGNREGA.
###
First time I was welcomed at JP Morgan Chase I thought they are going to swindle me (like the 2000s HDFC credit card people on steroids) because I was used to the PNB aunty ji playing solitaire while I stood under a tree as number eighth in a line of fifteen paying customers. Dhanya hain bharatiya banks, whenever anyone tells me their father works for SBI/PNB/BOI/… I instinctively think ‘Haramkhor’.
This is something I have been thinking for quite some time:
Space exploration is not as hard as American media portrays. Astronauts are just over glorified fighter pilots. China put a rover on Mars with ZERO American help.
This is the kind of self-adulatory bullshit British used to say about the railways. The fact is that Japanese cars are far superior to American cars, the fact is that Facebook (the social network bit), Twitter and large parts of American tech industry is dominant because of massive capital that backs them not some amazing piece of code (like say google, or MS), the fact is that Boeing is in the business of operations research not aircraft building. Americans and the west in general tries to demoralize the world with its enormous (historically ill gotten) wealth and whenever faced with a real challenge (from East Asians) they shit their pants.
Among other things we need courage to call their bluff. Make money Prats Bhai, and employ me.
@Prats
The wastage of human resource in India is beyond tragic. Indian kids are some of the sharpest in the world and we straitjacket the shit out of them, i.e. when we aren’t starving them.
Soumith’s advisor Manuela is a great AI researcher. So he had top-notch guidance and he must have worked very hard to imbibe and put it to great use!
https://www.change.org/p/facebook-twitter-include-sensitisation-material-on-abuse-of-tamil-brahmins-in-your-content-guidelines
Sign the petition to stop nazi-like propoganda targeting brahmins in Tamil Nadu
https://swarajyamag.com/amp/story/insta%2Findia-eyes-self-reliance-in-aero-engine-component-manufacturing-as-drdo-develops-critical-near-isothermal-forging-tech
India Eyes Self-Reliance In Aero-Engine Component Manufacturing As DRDO Develops Critical Near Isothermal Forging Tech
https://twitter.com/schaheid/status/1398941781841133570?s=21
As per Indian sources, the ISI and MSS have formulated a joint “India Desk”. There are over a dozen separatist movements in India – that have been seeking help from China and Pakistan to get independence from Hindu fascist regime in Delhi
?
Pakistani ‘geostrategists’ are like Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, both parties come up with newer and ever more convenient points every week. And here I am struggling to put together a scikit model for over a month.
My second favorite Pakistanis on twitter are the ‘weaponologists’ they are usually Pakistanis living in Europe who are experts on everything from SAR radars to EW pods to guns to best manufacturing practices… and the conclusion they draw no matter what the problem always remains them same, that India and Pakistan Army are sem-2-sem with advantage Pakistan.
###
My Pakistani doppelganger has this to say on Israel:
” from 2000-2019 armaments supplied to Israel by the Western powers (US, UK, France, Spain, Germany) are documented at a hefty $9.6 billion. But within that 20-year period the same document shows this amount is dwarfed by arms sold by the same suppliers to Saudi Arabia ($29.3bn), UAE ($20.1bn), Egypt ($17.5bn), Iraq ($9.1bn), and Qatar ($6bn).”
https://www.dawn.com/news/1626332/why-are-arabs-so-powerless
As shitty our babudom is and as delusional our national security folks are somehow Pakistani ones always find a way to equalize.
This gives me confidence.
Thought it was common knowledge that these “Pakistanis on twitter” are being run by ISPR. All Pakistanis have wanted since Kargil is to keep giving Indians new itches to scratch. Seeing how Indians react tells me they are doing a good job.
https://twitter.com/ani/status/1398474427088531456?s=21
“ MHA issued notice for any person belonging to minority community in Afghanistan, Bangladesh & Pakistan namely Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jain, Parsis & Christians residing in 13 districts of Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Haryana & Punjab to apply for Indian citizenship“
As I had said earlier there are “ Hindus “ and there are “ Hindus “. Once the Bengal election died down the bjp had to essentially choose between CAA( Bengal) or NRC ( Assam ). Good that they choose one in hand rather than two in the bush. This will end the chapter on CAA.
https://theprint.in/opinion/what-owning-bike-in-punjab-tamil-nadu-bihar-tells-us-about-india-asset-poverty/667419/
What owning a bike in Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Bihar tells us about India’s asset poverty
Interesting excerpts from the article on asset poor.
“The contrast between how the lives of the asset poor in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have changed over the decade is startling. In 2005-06, the bottom 20 per cent of the asset poor in Uttar Pradesh were slightly better off than their counterparts in Tamil Nadu and many other states. By 2015-16, the asset poor in Tamil Nadu were more than four times better off than the asset poor in Uttar Pradesh.”
“As a result of the little progress in terms of making a dent in asset poverty, the share of the five laggard states — Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh — in the all-India bottom 20 per cent asset poor increased to 64 per cent in 2015-16 from 48 per cent in 2005-06. The population share of these states in the all-India population, however, continues to be around 37 per cent, suggesting their over-representation in the overall asset poor.”
Revisiting Narasimhan et al – Part 1
It has been a little over twenty months since the Rakhigarhi analysis and the paper on formation of human populations in South & Central Asia were published. The genome wide data from 523 individuals in Central Asia and northernmost South Asia (sic) were the basis for the conclusions. The Rakhigarhi woman was the only representative from “northernmost South Asia”. Consider that the 29th degree parallel north latitude is now serving as a proxy for the rest of the subcontinental bulk (75% of area below that line). It is what it is.
However it is a tribute to the researchers that the aDNA of the Rakhigarhi find was successfully retrieved – given the extreme climatic conditions of India and the seepage of agricultural chemicals – fertilizers and pesticides – into the stratigraphic layers. Since then, we have learnt that Sinauli could not be retrieved – to be confirmed officially, though. Only another find is singularly interesting as of date – at Konthagai (Vaigai Delta) from the 4th century BCE.
I have been reading these two articles repetitively to look at the importance provided to the social, historical and linguistic detailing . Some of the stated assumptions are quite pedantic – such as Brahmins being the “custodians of liturgy in Sanskrit”. My major grouse is that there is no leading Indian anthropologist, historian or linguist who could have checked the soundness of some of the assumptions. Vasant Shinde is quite the leading Indian archaeologist of today – but he is not part of the “Formation” paper. There are a couple of geneticists though – that’s the extent of Indian involvement.
Revisiting Narasimhan et al – Part 2
Narasimhan’s conclusion is quite definitive – “….nevertheless, the fact that traditional custodians of liturgy in Sanskrit (Brahmins) tend to have more Steppe ancestry….for a Bronze Age Steppe origin for South Asia’s Indo-European languages.”
There are a couple of logical underpinnings to this conclusion – one he states and references quite clearly – the lack of a Steppes or Anatolian component in the Indus Periphery Cline from Rakhigarhi and the outliers at Gonur/Shahr-i-Sokta. Therefore it’s presence in the Modern Indian Cline has to be explained – especially where the Steppes component peaks in Tiwari Brahmins and Bhumihars. So through this small logical window, Narasimhan drives his AMT truck in.
But there is another unstated logical assumption – that he slips under the radar and leaves the reader to figure it out. It’s quite important – in fact it is the one that is most susceptible to falsification. Should we understand that the entire Steppes component in modern Brahmins was the sole result of a Bronze Age input (his implied assumption)? What about the other attested invasions of the Indian sub-continent – Yonas, Yavanas, Hunas, Kidarites, Sakas, Achaeminids – did they contribute nothing at all to the Indian gene pool in the medieval era? Under what attenuating circumstances should we consider a zero genetic influx from the Northwest of India after the Bronze Age? If one adds up all the incoming genetic components during the Iron Age and the Medieval – they may significantly subtract from the contribution during the Bronze Age.
Revisiting Narasimhan et al – Part 3
A second source of misalignment reinforces my earlier point – “The strongest two signals were in Brahmin_Tiwari (Z = −7.9) and Bhumihar_Bihar (Z = −7.0).” Narasimhan fails to explain to the reader as to why Bhumihars and Tiwaris (among all castes of Brahmins) exhibit this peaking of the Steppes component. What historical episode caused this? A Western reader who doesn’t know the geographical and historical distribution of Brahmins might be inclined to fly with it.
The two states with the highest proportions of Brahmins as a percentage of their populations are Uttarakhand (22%) and Himachal Pradesh (18%). Within Hindu traditional stories, they are frequently referred to as Dev-Bhoomi (Land of the Gods). A logical expectation is a geographical convergence of the “Steppes-peak” castes and the distribution of Brahmin percentages within a region’s population. Remember, Uttarakhand is twice the area of Belgium!!
Instead the peak occurs in the Gangetic plains only – places that were the stomping grounds for some of the most gargantuan empires (Magadh) that the world has witnessed in any era. The Steppes component peaking in these two Gangetic castes (specific geographical area) indicates that there might have been another reinforcement mechanism at work. Perhaps the result of foreign elites assimilated into Empire or the digestion of mercenary army ranks from India’s northwest. I do not discount the fact of an influx during the Bronze Age – but it is upto the researcher to reflect on the coincidence of the geographical locus of past Indian Empires and the Steppes peak in modern Indians.
There is another dead giveaway – which should have caused Narasimhan et al to pause. Bhumihars were not even considered as Brahmins until the 19th century – they organized to get this status from the British!! In their own words – they do only secular duties like Niyogis – administrators, landlords, tax collectors and soldiering. Mangal Pandey – the soldier who sparked the 1857 War of Independence – was a Bhumihar. They are very clear on this – they do not accept alms and they do not memorise the rites. A “priest” who insists that the others call him a priest!
“Narasimhan fails to explain to the reader as to why Bhumihars and Tiwaris (among all castes of Brahmins) exhibit this peaking of the Steppes component.What historical episode caused this?”
Ugra, if G25 Vahaduo is correct – it has been hypothesized that the people in the Gangetic region who are Steppe enriched have Ror/Haryana Jat admixture who themselves have the highest Steppe in South Asia.
My source is a few users on the Anthrogenica Southern Asia forum.
@Jezza
Rors only have a community history stretching to the first millennium from Sindh. In that case, the time of admixture is very recent.
Revisiting Narasimhan et al – Part 4
My second criticism of the Narasimhan paper is rooted in a linguistic explanation. Koenraad Elst frequently admonishes AIT opponents that they wrongly consider linguistics to be pseudoscience and do not apply the critical thinking that it deserves. This criticism of Narasimhan et al incorporates some of that thinking. How did linguists come to the conclusion that the Rgveda was composed in India? I mean anthropologists point to preservation of Rgvedic concepts in modern Indian lifestyles, philosophers trace the evolution of modern Hinduism’s core to the text, scientists look at place and river names, historians try to glean out references to climatic phenomena etc. But what do linguists do to pin-point the Rgveda in place?
They look at retroflexion!! Yes, this is the classic tell-tale “Apu-signature” that has convinced all linguistic schools to conclude that Rgveda could have been composed in India and India only. Add to it – the names of the rivers and places from the text – the evidence is both empirically and rationally complete. HH Hock (1996) summarizes this as the phonological contrast between dental and retroflex consonants.
There was a fascinating see-saw battle that occupied linguists for most of the 70s, 80s and 90s. There were two schools – the Convergence and the Subversion schools. The convergence school argued that the retroflexion in Sanskrit was a result of bi-directional exchange between Dravidian and IA groups of equal power and the whole process was achieved organically in an infinite amount of time. The subversion school argued that retroflexion was an outcome of a unidirectional exchange between unequal groups and it took place in a short amount of time. The scholars involved in these discussions were Hock, Emeneau, Thomason & Kaufman, Bloch and from an earlier century – Caldwell and Konow.
Revisiting Narasimhan et al – Final part
One of the most fascinating features of the Rgveda is that it retains no memory of this linguistic mixing. All the way from the Old Books to the New Books – the density and spread of retroflexion heavy words are uniform. There is no significant uptrend from the Old to the New. Emeneau, the Oxford linguist, noted this specifically to comment that the Rgvedic composers were very comfortable and familiar with their retroflexion – they wore it like their skins! Therefore it must have been a convergence that caused the retroflexion in Sanskrit. HH Hock, earlier a subversionist, was won over by Emeneau’s reasoning and data. He became a convergence advocate.
These linguists, most of them, have passed on and did not live to see the impact of genetics. But we do and we can look at the data of Narasimhan’s.
If we try to figure out which South Asian Bronze Age genetic cline could have been the most fitting candidate for the composition of the Rgveda, it has to be the Indus Valley Cline – the Rakhigarhi woman plus the 11 outliers from Shahr-i-Sokta and Gonur. The magic ingredient is the Andamanese Hunter Gatherers (AHG) component – that must have provided retroflexion from a deep past. This is the only cline that presents a fit to the model of the Convergencers – all of them dead now.
One could always plead that the incoming Steppes cline who mixed with the IVC people composed the Rgveda at a later date. This scenario stretches the limits of parsimony. Almost all current Rgvedic scholars (Witzel, Jamison, Brereton) agree that the Ten Books were composed over a period of hundreds of years. Plus the Rgveda is solidly Bronze Age – it has no memories of iron, cotton or swords. If this is correct, then it would imply that the Steppes people started composing the Rgveda almost as soon as they arrived in India – anthropologically and linguistically unviable.
I am reasonably confident that the IVC cline were the composers of the Rgveda – heavy in their retroflexion and rooted in their homeland for thousands of years. I shall go as far as to make a bold prediction – that we will eventually find aDNA from BA individuals belonging to the IVC cline and possessing the R1a haplogroups sans any Steppes components. If that happens, then we shall revisit Narasimhan et al once more!
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thesun.co.uk/news/15092073/grooming-gang-victims-failed-police/amp/
Saddest part is that Pakdefensoids defend this behavior. They even think evidence of Pakistani heavy welfare dependence and evidence of lowest per capita income in the UK is just because these men are all so “cool and gangsta.” They even say the gang rapists do this because they are handsome. I have seen photos of them lol. And their inbreeding shows on some of their faces…
The delusions run strong.
I am happy our resident Pakistani is more reasonable. He is not a Birdari ethnosupremacist. Racial hatred and supremacy drives a lot of the behavior of the more toxic types. Occasionally, Q can come off too biased towards Islam and some of his views are under the racialist S Asian paradigm, but he is far better than the usual suspect trolls…
\\Saddest part is that Pakdefensoids defend this behavior. They even think evidence of Pakistani heavy welfare dependence and evidence of lowest per capita income in the UK is just because these men are all so “cool and gangsta.” They even say the gang rapists do this because they are handsome. I have seen photos of them lol. And their inbreeding shows on some of their faces\\
can you link any discussion or thread where these rapists are being defended and the aforementioned assertions being made?
\\Just disgusting. Castrate the rapists and the Imams encouraging them. Ban 1st cousin marriage. Ban shariah law. Some basic steps\\
You really think these child-raping gangstas are the mosque going types? 1st cousin marriage and Shariah law got nothing to do with this.
For sure a lot of this is connected with racial hatred. But thats not just unique to Mirpuris in UK. You see a lot of that with other minority groups in other countries too.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thesun.co.uk/news/15092073/grooming-gang-victims-failed-police/amp/
Just disgusting. Castrate the rapists and the Imams encouraging them. Ban 1st cousin marriage. Ban shariah law. Some basic steps
“O Prophet! Lo! We have made lawful to you your wives to whom you have paid their dowries, and those whom your right hand possesses of those whom Allah hath given you as spoils of war” 33.50
Problem is not this is even written in a holy book. Many old holy books have bad stuff. Problem is that people today, even many so called “moderates” take it literally because they think the book is infallible.
lesson to modi, never argue with a bengali, especially bengali women!!
Didi punished Modi for his sexist campaign and rightly so. She showed women are not to be trifled with and set an example for others to follow. Good for her.
Punished is a strong word don’t u think. When the dust settles Didi is still the provincial leader and modi the national. Bit like all the hype around jayalalita.
For modi Bengal is an expendable frontier which doesn’t augment much to his seat tally . He wins regardless of that state. For Didi Bengal was make or break.
The modern latin alphabet is very suited for digital and print media thanks to the humanist return to Roman orthography designed for stone carvings (as opposed to the gothic scripts designed for handwritten penmanship). It’s unfortunate that Indians didn’t have a similar revival of Brahmi in place of Devanagari (and the various other Brahmi-descended scripts designed for penmanship).
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/30/kumbh-mela-how-a-superspreader-festival-seeded-covid-across-india
Selective reporting of super spreader events to malign only Hindus. Typical of the Guardian. Side note, one of the authors’ name is an oxymoron.
Saagar Enjeti and Krystal Ball leave the Hill’s ‘ Rising’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dg0dpH10ERg
Disgusting. More rape jihad
https://www.opindia.com/2021/05/lucknow-love-jihad-grooming-abid-poses-as-inspector-aditya-blackmails-hindu-woman-rape-extortion-forced-conversion/
After much speculation, we now have hard data showing that Bangladesh’s income per head is $2227. India’s FY 2020-21 numbers came out yesterday and confirmed the economy is now at $1963 per capita. The graph looks like this.
Folks were saying this was temporary, India would bounce back etc, but then the second wave crushed India starting in April, putting a dampener on FY 2021-22’s growth prospects. It would seem that Bangladesh’s advantage over India won’t dissipate any time soon and may even increase over the coming years. Hindu(tva) rate of growth?
India gdp figure was negative 7 percent last year. I think it was good considering the negative 22 percent we suffered in the first quarter 2020-2021.
Don’t see any quarters being that bad this year. So expect us to climb back in 2022 when 2021-2022 figures come around.
@principia
Will give you something to chew on.
– per capita income of BD is 13.4% higher than India.
– the Bangladeshi Taka is 13.8% cheaper than the INR.
– the PPP per capita income of India is 33% higher than BD’s.
I am actually a bit tired of BD takes bandied about like pot-fuelled wisdom. Sounds like most Brown Pundits are dunderheads when it comes to macro-economics.
Well Brown pandits is still better than the trash peddled in Indian express and the Hindu when it comes to macroeconomics.
@Ugra
PPP = Poor People’s Points. Rest of your comment is nonsense as usual.
@principia
You know sarcasm in addition to junk economics. Whatta pleasant surprise!! The highest outflow of remittances from India is to Bangladesh.
https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/why-bangladesh-leads-in-remittance-outflow-from-india-116010601138_1.html
Its all those rich Bangladeshis coming to India and providing employment to poor Indians 🙂 Next you will be telling us that Mexicans have a higher GDP (Gordo Dedo Pistola) than the US and thats why all the rich Mexicans cross the border to help Americans.
India’s covid cases seem to be declining just as rapidly as they increased.
Vaccination rates still not very high. Anyone have insight on what is going on?
(Maybe) Almost everyone got infected and anyone who could have died has died. Also, old people are getting vaccinated well, no vaccine availability for younger people.
2 scenarios.
1) COVID moved to rural India, where numbers aren’t tracked accurately, either infection and death.
2) Indian urban centers rammed up after their facilities, after they initially lagged. Plus lockdowns whatever be their economic effect, it works on slowing down the pandemic.
I got vaccinated today and I can assure you that vaccines are not available in many states. The 22 crore figure is bogus since it counts first and second dose together. So far as the data suggests roughly 14 crore have received dose 1. And finally, Pvt hospitals are charging exorbitant rates for vaccination. The hospital i went to for the dose is charging ₹1100 per dose of Covieshield.
It’s mostly because of lockdown. At least in Delhi, people got really really spooked and have been staying in. We’ll see a rise now that lockdown is being phased out. It’ll be start-stop.
I generally don’t buy the herd immunity hypothesis (as applied to Indian cities right now) and am pretty sceptical of the representativeness of any sero-prevalence data.
the indian judiciary is crawling all over the place, pontifying. it will be fun to see, when someone musters enough courage and question these judges about their working ( pending cases et al) and ask them when they will deliver fast judgements. this has to happen as a court application.
cbse class 12 exams scrapped, by a committee headed by modi. this is start of real acche din. he will be emperor of india for next 100 years!!!
https://thediplomat.com/2021/06/a-european-fta-with-india-is-not-a-counterweight-to-china/
A European FTA With India Is Not a Counterweight to China
Very good Op-Ed. India’s simply too weak to seriously rival China. In 1990 it’s GDP per capita was almost equal to China, today is nearly 6X lower. In 2020, despite talks of ‘decoupling’, Chinese suppliers are increased their share on Apple’s supplier shortlist. Quality simply cannot be beaten.
At any rate, the cancelled EU-China investment deal was never in EU’s interests. The EU just pathetically got bullied into doing the US’ bidding (again).
https://www.livelaw.in/top-stories/supreme-court-muslim-league-centres-notification-allowing-minorities-of-afghanistan-pakistan-bangladesh-to-apply-for-indian-citizenship-175003
There is already a homeland…
https://www.google.com/amp/s/theprint.in/india/modis-approval-rating-falls-in-2nd-wave-but-still-highest-among-world-leaders-survey-says/669767/%3famp
Because they know…Pappu can’t govern any better sala
I do hope he becomes PM though once. We can all welcome the grand socialist raj once more. To the joy of our twitter and new york based commie-but-free market wallah economists.
Why do you wish the nation suffers more? I don’t get it.
Without sacrifice… There can be no victory.
You always say this. Please be more specific.
@thewarlock
Saurav had said it before that he thinks that Indians would need to experience socialist congress rule again to properly appreciate the bjp. The same thing is happening in Jharkhand right now, congress won by promising a lot of freebies but corruption has increased so much over there that a lot of people are regretting voting for them
Narsingh, a man after my own heart 😛
They have already gotten the disasters of socialist Congress. Look at the fuck up Bengal has been since independence. Wth more do they need.
And I second the other point brought up below. I wish Congress was competent to push BJP to be even better. Sadly, they are basically a Gandhi family corrupt collective and truly good leaders like Sachin Pilot aren’t given opportunities.
Yeah looking at Bengal, and the fuck up, and what have the bengalis realized precisly? Zilch.They have only doubled down from commies to now ethno-commies and are proud of it. So yeah, i dont feel bad or sorry for them.
Pilot and co are just young-er commies, who win not because they are ‘competent’ but because they are from the right caste and background in their largely feudal fiefdom. Dont go by their suave looks or english interviews. At the end of the day, a more son-of-soil Ghelot chewed him for breakfast, so he is both politically as well as administratively naive.
It’s unfortunate that the gross ineptitude of Congress results in a lack of pressure on the BJP to improve itself and avoid falling into mediocrity.
Do you feel the emotional outrage about gross inequality that you are intended to when presented with a striking aerial drone photo of Mumbai slums next to more prosperous neighborhoods? Or do you, like me, see something moving and egalitarian about the urban poor and the middle class living so close together, voting in the same elections, and having to negotiate and come to terms on all sorts of things? Instead of outrage, are you pleased by the economic opportunities that proximity gives to the poor? Some pictures and reflections on “Inequality Obscured” here: https://naimisha_forest.silvrback.com/inequality-obscured
This a good point, for me…
Scenes of very poor rural places untouched by modernity brings up sort of rustic, authentic culture vibes.
Scenes of secluded gated communities near mumbai like ‘aamby valley city’ brings up pleasant, picturesque vibes.
Scenes of Dharavi juxtaposed with different types of apartments, feels jarring.
But the reality is the mix and people of different socio-economic strata living shoulder to shoulder is more indicative of economic dynamism and growth. Poor people without access to modernity and rich people locking themselves away in a bubble ought to be more concerning.
> see something moving and egalitarian about the urban poor and the middle class living so close together
It is not an egalitarian thing. for e.g. the posh societies are a world unto themselves – they have gym, swimming pool, markets etc. etc. So people living there live a different life altogether.
However, living in close proximity gives one an idea of one immense privilege of being born in a wealthy household.
There are hardly any ‘rich’ people in India, tribals bicker that villagers are ‘well off’, villagers bicker towns-people are better off, town people bicker city people are better off and so on it goes… think of it like how everyone thinks Marwaris sleep on piles of cash and Brahmins are the reason India got colonized. It is just jealous bitching and convenient rationalization.
Compared to even American suburbia populated by blue collar plumbers and convenience store patels entire India sucks, even the ‘gated’ communities. In all but the very best of clubs, the amenities (pools, bar, snooker table, arcade,…) are much worse than recreation centers of 300th ranked American universities. The only convenience in which India shines out is in availability of cheap servants.
India’s rich (top .5%) would be comparable to maybe 60th percentile wealthy in the USA. There are not a lot of rich people in India, people tend to lower the bar (Iphone ownership= rich, car ownership = rich, having a 400 sqft apartment = rich, spending $200 total on a week long family vacation = rich…) to create the ‘rich’ class in India. And why are the apartment buildings even considered abodes of the rich? Where else are people supposed to live? It is just a 1 or 2 BHK home that couples have bought with maybe a 30 year loan.
https://www.livemint.com/Money/HJkSWsigdz6Xvkg8wpr6jK/Where-are-you-in-Indias-wealth-distribution.html
”Rich” is a very subjective term.. most people living in developed countries today are – on paper – richer than kings and nobles of the past. Some Peter living in London may have better health care coverage flipping burgers during the day and driving taxi at night, access to better community centers, better education that most people in the past.. but I doubt he feels rich right now. If given a chance to swap places with some 18th century royalty, I bet he would grab it with both hands, assuming no social ties are keeping him tied. Debt slaves in the rat race are not rich, they just have the illusion of being so.
All I am saying is that the people living in high rises of Mumbai overlooking slums are not rich. We should not consider Indian IT people or government servants making 30 K a month as well off just because they can hire a domestic help or own a motorcycle or send their child to a ‘public’ school without any playground and with housewives for teachers.
Other than nutrition and health care facilities. I do not think that the poor in India feel all that different from the so called ‘rich’.
> There are hardly any ‘rich’ people in India
Dude, talk about missing the point!!
I did veer off, apologies.
The somewhat related point I am making is this – ‘rich’ Indian people living in imaginary posh gated societies who are being contrasted with the poor in India (almost) do not exist. There are just poor people in 1bhk and poor people in slums.
https://www.indiatoday.in/amp/india/story/amartya-sen-bharat-ratna-free-air-travel-rti-1809489-2021-06-01
RTI exclusive: Amartya Sen only Bharat Ratna awardee to avail free air travel, flew 21 times in 4 years
indiatoday.in/cities/delhi/story/cleric-rapes-minor-year-old-girl-gone-fetch-water-delhi-mosque-arrested-1809861-2021-06-02
Terrible
Absolutly trash!
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/standardized-tests-increased-minority-admissions-in-california-but-state-universities-dropped-them-anyway-11622641540?siteid=yhoof2
End of meritocracy…America is just going down hill. The article cites good evidence as to why anti SAT movement is bad. The SAT actually allows for more income mobility. Middle class growing up kids like me got a shot at the upper class in part because of objective measures like the SAT. Routinely Black Americans from Africa and even former slave descedents from the Carribean average better than American whites. The exam is not racist. Poor Asian Americand still do well. The exam is not classist. What it exposes is lack of scholastic acheivement in areas, such that students, teachers, and entire cultures of underachievements can be held accountable. It is a good predictor of college success and statistically has grown to be a better predictor over time. I despise American Leftists and ultra wokes. They will be the death of our nation. And yes I scored well. So call me biased or racist or sexist or whatever
Canada only uses grades for university entrance and it’s more of meritocracy than America.
So grading is better when schools have more uniform criteria. The US it is way too disparate between inflationary and non inflationary schools. But Canada is probably better with sustaining similar levels of good quality among its different schools. UK is too and has good system of A levels. Only the US is absolutely idiotic with all of the “Woke” shit always proclaiming that inequality in outcome can be 100% explained by inequality in opportunity, when in fact so many cultural factors come into play. The US is far behind other even anglophone first world nations in this regard.
There is a problem of grade inflation in Canada, also education to my knowledge is a provincial thing – there is no equivalent to the Department of Education.
Nonetheless, people from almost all races still mostly succeed in my opinion because of the nature of the immigration that favours more educated people than the US, so they may not feel as left behind as the Hispanics and African Americans do.
The problem with the US as you state is the culture. These band-aid solutions never touch the root of the problem and veer into socialistic territory.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nationalreview.com/2021/05/abandoning-the-sat-wont-help-disadvantaged-students/amp/
Another great article. Goes into how if SAT scores were the only metric fewer rich kids would be at elite schools. That is elite kids are overrepresented at elite schools based on objective metrics alone. They game the system more with subjective criteria polishing. Great read
https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2021/06/no-sat-no-act-no-problem
Another good one
“The Markup and THE CITY do not have access to data on the students’ test scores, grades, attendance, or other academic measures used to assess their qualifications for admission in any given school, but the admission rates show clear racial trends.”
Just LMFAO. Thid article reads like a parody
https://www.yahoo.com/news/algorithms-cementing-school-segregation-america-100100131.html
https://twitter.com/venkateshprasad/status/1400091008432365568
“Shri Ram Stuti” is an aarti, written by Goswami Tulsidas in the sixteenth century. It is a beautiful call to Lord Rama.
Tried to share few stanzas with meaning”
Is he trying to angle 2wards BJP? Kannadiga folks, what does the grapevine say?
Also for the longest time i thought he was tamil.
@Saurav
Haven’t anything about him entering politics. Might be more of a mid-life crisis ? devotionalism per se wouldn’t be a bjp thing down here.
I get that devotional need not mean BJP down south, but even the comments made on his tweet seem to belive that its about BJP
In 2021, u actually cant be seen doing anything remotely Hindu, and not be associated with the BJP. That;s the power of Hindutva.
“Also for the longest time i thought he was tamil.”
Does anyone else here think Venkatesh Prasad looks a lot like CV Raman? (from his old portraits)
Is that why i subconciusly associated him as tamil? Now u say it, i think that might be the case.
I used to think it was because he played with Venkatpati Raju, and both their names sound similar so growing up i thought he was tamil as well. Later found out that even raju wasn;t tamil as well . LOL
Rajus are the Rajputs of Telugu land. There are a lot of them in the armed forces. Apparently they migrated from Rajasthan centuries ago.
They seem to be a proud people. My Raju friends tell me that in their villages people have SUVs with ‘Raju’ written on it like one might see in the north with Jats and Rajputs.
Prats, the origin story is dubious. There is a broader trend of neo-kshatriya pretensions and that often extends further into fabricating rajput associations. I don’t think the authors of these myths really even have an ethnographic grasp of what a rajput is, but rely on the word translating well as a concept. There are actual old Rajasthani diasporas in the south such as the lambani which was discussed on BP last week. There are also what seem to be fragments of actual rajput communties in pockets who came as mercenaries in the 18th century. What they have in common is ample evidence of northern origins. Rajputs themselves having an ethnogenesis no earlier than the 15th century, it would be unlilkely that all elements of their culture would be so utterly subsumed by coastal andhra culture in so few generations, specifically given how proud they are. Even the telugu speaking migrants to southern tamil nadu retain distinction, not to speak of thanjavur marathas and madurai saurashtrians.
Courts have made those idiotic tribal signs illegal in places
In the North, someone named Raju would never be remotely asscoaited with anything martial.
“Rajus are the Rajputs of Telugu land. There are a lot of them in the armed forces. Apparently they migrated from Rajasthan centuries ago.”
LOL the Marathas of Telugu land. Every damn community…..
Soon enough our Tamil Dravidians might claim ancestory from Rajputs. Or better, claim Rajputs orginated from Dravida . LOL.
the origin story is dubious.
Ah. Yes. I was trying to be tongue in cheek wrt the Rajput connection but it didn’t come off like that.
One of my Raju friends (an army kid) used to be pretty proud of her Rajput connection. I remember one time the two of us were travelling in Jodhpur. The local police apprehended us while we were sitting by a lake because they thought we were upto something shady behind the trees.
Then as is customary in India, they asked for our caste. I refused to tell mine but she quickly volunteered that she was Rajput. This was probably a bad idea as it seemed to have irked one of the police guys who might have been a Rajput himself. I guess he suspected a Rajput girl was having an affair with someone from another caste. Lol.
Anyway, we told them we were outsiders. Took some convincing but they let us go.
In the North, someone named Raju would never be remotely asscoaited with anything martial.
What are you even talking about, buddy?
Every colony has some Raju or Vicky bhaiyya who has the coolest Pulsar bike and who bursts the manliest crackers every Diwali.
Raju bhaiya is most times the lacky of Vicky Bhaiya, and brings milk from side wala dukan as soon as Mom shows up. 😛
Dont know, i just cant put a face on a don named Raju. Even Venkatpati raju bowled slow left arm, like really slow.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/31-May-2021/ispr-set-to-launch-pakistan-s-biggest-military-reality-show-video
ISPR set to launch Pakistan’s biggest military reality show (VIDEO)
https://www.instagram.com/p/CPgrJlNH7FN/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=589e6f2a-c8f0-4feb-b91d-5485b9f66578
The video ☝
https://www.livemint.com/companies/news/ril-tata-adani-suzuki-jv-to-tap-pli-plan-for-li-ion-business/amp-11622659504117.html
RIL, Tata, Adani, Suzuki JV to tap PLI plan for Li-ion business
https://theprint.in/health/gender-gap-in-vaccine-worse-than-indias-sex-ratio-only-867-women-got-covid-shot-per-1000-men/670340/
Gender gap in vaccine worse than India’s sex ratio: Only 867 women got Covid shot per 1,000 men
The Malaysian government plans to issue a diplomatic protest against an “intrusion” by 16 Chinese military aircraft into its airspace, the foreign minister said.
https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2021/06/03/2003758510
Thoughts? How long before the Cèfēng tǐzhì returns?
Terrorist scum
https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/bjp-councillor-shot-dead-by-terrorists-at-home-in-j-ks-pulwama-2455033
https://www.firstpost.com/world/us-suspends-punitive-tariffs-on-uk-india-four-european-nations-in-step-towards-resolving-digital-tax-dispute-9679521.html
US suspends punitive tariffs on UK, India, four European nations in step towards resolving digital tax dispute
https://www.opindia.com/2021/06/noorpur-aligarh-aimim-leader-threat/amp/
Namaz will happen, won’t let them (Hindus) have wedding procession without permission’: AIMIM leader Syed Nazim Ali on Noorpur Dalit violence