ExplainX

This platform will bring you explainers on various interesting issues from past and present.

[Poonam Agarwal @poonamjourno]

Around 4,000 EVMs gutted as Bengal govt. building catches fire; Minister flags possibility of foul play.

These EVMs were used in at least 10 constituencies in Kolkata. https://t.co/7Zi8Q6QNRf

[Anjali Bhardwaj @AnjaliB_]

Dear lordships,
- 100+ RTI users have been killed for exposing corruption & thousands attacked and harassed- SC is silent.
- ⁠The Whistleblowers Protection Act passed in 2014 not implemented till date- SC is silent.
But every few days the SC berates RTI activists and calls them names- cockroaches, busy bodies, and today the Court is asking who are citizens to monitor public works! Perhaps your lordships need to be reminded that in a democracy citizens are sovereign and tax payers have a right to know how their money is spent. Courts should deal with individual cases on merit without passing derogatory remarks about those who hold power to account.

[Poonam Agarwal @poonamjourno]

I have filed a complaint against the service call manager in @AppleSupport . They have even shared the case ID with me.

@Apple is saying that they can replace ipad with additional cost. But till now I haven't got the figure. I'm waiting.

I will fight it till the end.

[Poonam Agarwal @poonamjourno]

Worst @AppleSupport service centre which is run by a bunch of liars. Four days ago one of the customer service senior employees assured replacement of the device & today he took a complete U turn by saying they will not replace it.

Never expected @Apple to be so pathetic.

[Poonam Agarwal @poonamjourno]

Warning: Never buy an iPad. My ipad, merely 4-5 years old got crashed, now @AppleSupport service centre is saying that the hardware is damaged. Now it is a trash coz they don't repair ipads. My data gone & ipad too
My ipad is scratch free, forget abt physical damage. @Apple

[Poonam Agarwal @poonamjourno]

10 Years After Election, Madras High Court Declares Defeated Candidate Winner; Raises Concerns Over Delay In E... https://t.co/j5pumA1NlD

[Rahul Gandhi @RahulGandhi]

I travelled through Great Nicobar today.

These are the most extraordinary forests I have ever seen in my life. Trees older than memory. Forests that took generations to grow.

The people on this island are equally beautiful - both the adivasi communities and the settlers - but they are being robbed of what is rightfully theirs.

The government calls what it is doing here a “Project.” What I have seen is not a project. It is millions of trees marked for the axe. It is 160 square kilometres of rainforest condemned to die. It is communities that have been ignored while their homes have been snatched away.

This is not development. This is destruction dressed in development’s language.

So I will say it plainly, and I will keep saying it: what is being done in Great Nicobar is one of the biggest scams and gravest crimes against this country’s natural and tribal heritage in our lifetime.

It must be stopped. And it can be stopped - if Indians choose to see what I have seen.

[Anjali Bhardwaj @AnjaliB_]

Election duty officers themselves not on the West Bengal SIR list! Two possibilities: either the Supreme Court is allowing wrongful deletion of voters on its watch OR the ECI is making ‘foreign nationals’ conduct Bengal elections. Totally bizarre!

[Anjali Bhardwaj @AnjaliB_]

The govt is using women’s reservation as a front for pushing its politically motivated agenda of delimitation. There are serious concerns about the disproportionate impact of delimitation on southern states. If the govt was serious about women’s reservation, the only change needed was to delink women’s reservation from census & delimitation and operationalise reservation at the current strength of Lok Sabha & Assemblies.

[Press Trust of India @PTI_News]

VIDEO | TMC MP Sagarika Ghose, on the transfer of the West Bengal DGP and Home Secretary, says, "The manner in which the Election Commission transferred the Bengal Home Secretary and Chief Secretary at 4 am in the dead of night is unacceptable. This is an elected government in Bengal led by Mamata Banerjee. The Election Commission has these powers at the moment, but it is misusing them to damage the elected government in Bengal. We have raised this matter in the House. Our leader Derek O’Brien also raised the issue, and in protest the All India Trinamool Congress has walked out of Parliament for the entire day."

(Full video available on PTI Videos - https://t.co/bIyFWTfmBd)

[ExplainX @ExplainXinfo]

@cromaretail No response yet.

[ExplainX @ExplainXinfo]

One of the worst services is provided by @cromaretail . I registered a AC service request on 11 March and till now technician has not visited me nor has anyone called me. I have called at least 5-6 times at service centre.

[ExplainX @ExplainXinfo]

@cromaretail Here are the service details

[ExplainX @ExplainXinfo]

@cromaretail I'm unable to DM

[ExplainX @ExplainXinfo]

There AC product is equally bad.

[. @babeharman]

BREAKING 📌

Iranian President Masoud Bezheshkian rejects Indian PM Narendra Modi's request to allow Indian ships through the Strait of Hormuz.

[ExplainX @ExplainXinfo]

https://t.co/rKxfmSLRSw

[ParanjoyGuhaThakurta @paranjoygt]

From NewsLaundry/NewsMinute:

Why Arnab Goswami is suddenly questioning the Modi government

Arnab Goswami’s sudden rediscovery of the art of questioning the Modi government has set tongues wagging in newsrooms and on social media alike. Supporters are hailing it as a long-awaited return to form; critics are looking for a hidden motive. So what really changed?
We had conversations with nearly a dozen people who know how Arnab Goswami works, and most were equally puzzled. But all of them suggested this is less a political awakening and more a calculated business pivot. 
The trigger, insiders say, was the Indigo crisis. As we reported earlier, the decision to go all out on the issue was driven by a simple assessment: public anger was high, and no one on television was owning the story. Republic did, slammed the TDP, and the gamble paid off. TRP numbers jumped sharply that week, offering proof that confrontational journalism, even when directed at the ruling establishment, still sells.
What followed was a familiar playbook. Arnab took on the Modi government over Delhi’s toxic air, turned the spotlight on alleged destruction in the Aravalli mountain range, and even zeroed in on a Madhya Pradesh BJP leader accused of spending Rs 70 lakh on firecrackers at his son’s wedding. And this has created a buzz among viewers. Whether appreciating or questioning Goswami, the point is that he has become a topic of discussion. 
The Aravallis coverage, insiders insist, is not just about ratings. It also carried a distinct corporate subtext.
Not long ago, Arnab had been one of the Adani Group’s fiercest public defenders, especially during the fallout from the Hindenburg report. Today, that equation has changed. With Adani’s acquisition of NDTV, the group has emerged as a direct competitor. NDTV, now flush with resources, has been aggressively poaching talent from rival newsrooms, including Republic’s and offering advertising packages that undercut the market.
“The Adani-NDTV machine is hurting us commercially,” said a senior executive from Republic. “So when Arnab appears to be attacking the government over the Aravallis, he’s actually going after Adani.”
Inside the Republic newsroom, however, these strategic calculations remain largely unspoken. Even senior journalists say there has been no formal announcement of an editorial course correction. “Nothing has been discussed explicitly in edit meetings,” one reporter said. 
What has openly been discussed is the data. Clips of Goswami grilling the government are going viral. TRPs are climbing. Ad rates have nudged upward. For a channel built on high-decibel relevance, that feedback loop is hard to ignore and even harder to abandon.
As for the Modi government, those familiar with the arrangement describe it as an unspoken truce. Occasional criticism is permissible, even useful. But on core ideological terrain, the red lines remain firmly in place. And this is where the real crux of the matter lies. What position will Arnab take on issues like communalism? 
Let’s also not forget that around the same time these clips on Indigo and Aravallis were going viral, Arnab interviewed RSS ideologue Gurumurthy over the Thiruparankundram deepam row and slammed the opposition for asking for impeachment of Justice GR Swaminathan. 
In prime-time television, it seems, dissent can be flexible but loyalty, like business sense, knows its limits.

[Rajdeep Sardesai @sardesairajdeep]

Terrible news to start a Sunday: at least 23 killed in fire in a nightclub in Arpora. Thoughts and prayers with victims families but also questions over accountability in India’s premier tourism state which has been corroded by a deadly cocktail of crime and corruption Murders in shacks, money laundering charges in casinos, drug deaths, taxi mafias and now this. Goa’s tourism needs a total overhaul to make it truly world class. 🙏

[Rajdeep Sardesai @sardesairajdeep]

Story that caught the eye: NO invite for Rahul Gandhi or Malikarjun Kharge for Presidential banquet for Putin but Shashi Tharoor is a prominent invitee. As politics gets pettier and polarised, one would have thought Rashtrapati Bhavan would be above it. https://t.co/lUpW1xRgKg