Yash Upase

PhD Scholar @IITHyderabad | MSc Physics @surathkal_nitk | Learning Physics behind the Climate | ML enthusiast | retweet=/!=endorsement.

[Mohammed Zubair @zoo_bear]

Student Protest me naare dekh kar Home Minister Amit Shah ko Nostalgia feel ho Raha hoga...

[Mohak Mangal @mohakmangal]

Who would have though that a bunch of students would bend the will of one of the most dominant governments in the world? More power to them. More power to democracy 🇮🇳

[Down To Earth @down2earthindia]

By Sorit Gupto

[Vimlendu Jha विमलेंदु झा @vimlendu]

I passed out of TISS(Tata Institute of Social Sciences) in 2003, and it had an RSS appointed Director then, Mr R R Singh. Such a gentleman and a great administrator. Versus, this Badri Narayan Tiwari, the current Director of TISS, who has taken upon himself to defend the govt in TV studios, with ZERO intellectual or administrative gravitas, is indicative of what has happened to most premier Institutions of this country. This government has SCREWED the institutions by appointing their bootlickers from RSS to head these institutions.
Changes in our educational institutions and its culture can ONLY happen when competent people head those institutions, judged by their intellect and academic prowess, than their gobar science understanding and khaki half pant allegiance.

[Jarshad NK @jarshadnk]

Sachin Tendulkar has finally spoken on the student protests, and I had to read his note twice: once as a fan and once as an editor. The fan was disappointed, but the editor realised that this was a textbook specimen of the kind of writing that George Orwell warned about in his essay “Politics and the English Language”.

The essay was written in 1946, but it might well have been written yesterday about this very statement. Orwell’s point was that when people want to hide something, they stop using plain words and reach instead for the passive voice, for fog, for phrases that sound like they mean something while meaning nothing at all.

Consider the line, where students are disappointed that “their hard work hasn’t been rewarded”. Rewarded by whom, and denied by whom? There was a paper leak, which means somebody leaked it, some institution failed to prevent it, and an official presides over that institution. Yet none of them appears in the statement, and neither does the leak itself. A crime with identifiable custodians has been turned into something that simply happened to lakhs of children through nobody's fault.

Then comes the list of those who must set things right: parents, teachers, friends, relatives, schools and administrators. If you read that list again slowly, you will notice it covers everyone in India except the people the students are actually protesting against, which is to say the NTA, the education ministry and the government. When everyone is responsible, nobody is, and that is not an accident of drafting. It was engineered to deflect blame.

There is also a quiet sentence buried in the middle. “A society which prioritises outcomes over effort will seek shortcuts over meritocracy” is a line about those who take shortcuts, meaning the cheat. So a note on protests around paper leaks ends up gently lecturing the leaked-upon about honesty. His father’s lovely lesson—that failure is okay but cheating is not—is again aimed squarely at individuals, while the scandal and protests right now are about institutions that failed them.

The rest of the statement is what Orwell called ready-made strips of words, glued together. Full of dreams and energy, fuel to our success, safeguard their aspirations. Nobody can disagree with any of it, which is precisely the point, for this is prose engineered so that no one in power will find a single sentence to object to.

What an actual position would have looked like is a single sentence in the active voice: The government must find and punish those who leaked the paper, and fix the system that allowed it. He wrote 160+ words to avoid writing that one.

Here’s Orwell’s full essay for those interested:
https://t.co/VlPoJdOcDG

[Abijit Ganguly @AbijitG]

A friend of mine (slightly older squash buddy) recently faced an issue where BMC drain water got into their drinking and common water pipeline. His entire family was hospitalised and of course several people in his building. Mind you, this is a high rice fancy expensive Powai lake facing society where the houses must be 5-6 cr + if not more. He was feeling throughly disgusted with the system and kept saying what's even the point of living in this country, why am I paying so much taxes, I should just try to leave. Incidentally, that same friend is a hardcore Modi supporter.
Yesterday that same friend was having an argument with me regarding the protests. There were the usual anti-national CIA deepstate angles thrown by him, but I kept getting back to the demand of resignation of Pradhan and how it that a wrong demand? To which his notion was what'll be obtained from removing him. I tried to explain to him that it's all about accountability. If one is held accountable, then it creates an impact on others. Even if you want BJP to stay in power, at least there should be some accountability to ensure you do your job well. At least there should be a thought before screwing up or colluding with corrupt officers. I tried to even remind that wouldn't he want some accountability from the official incharge of the screw up in his building. At this point he got little thoughtful but ofcourse after a minute of 'that's a different thing' he was back to his usual stance.
But it shows me a fascinating thing. That the well-off Modi supporter would rather leave the country than think of changing things or improving the country. They have more or less accepted that things are bad and have placed that on the people themselves. Earlier most of the rich believed in making a silo around them so that country's issues don't bother them, but now that the issues are so much that it's managed to seep through those silos, they'd happily leave the country than even think of casting an aspersion on their beloved leader. Fascinating.

[vir sanghvi @virsanghvi]

This is far more than the Delhi
Police have done to their constables & officers who beat up young people and disrespected women

[Devamritasya Putra - देवामृतस्य पुत्र: 🇮🇳 @whiffofreshair]

The IIT Hyderabad campus, born from a 2007 Shinzo Abe pledge and shaped by Japanese experts from the University of Tokyo’s Institute of Industrial Science (with Nihon Sekkei & APL Design Workshop), under JICA’s technical cooperation.

They designed six landmark complexes - the Knowledge Center (that soaring multi-level library with its valley-like central void for panoramic knowledge views), Sports & Cultural Complex (India’s largest reinforced-concrete folded-plate roof spanning 49 m without supports), International Guest House, Convention Center, Research Centers Complex, and Technology Incubation Park, adapting Japanese intermediate indoor-outdoor spaces, stone/concrete over scarce timber, and climate-smart sustainability to the Deccan plateau. Backed by a ₹1,500-crore (JPY 23 bn) ODA loan that delivered ~21 buildings, it was inaugurated by PM Modi in 2024.

The pics? That breathtaking Knowledge Center library interior, plus the bold geometric Chemical Engineering block, the braced-glass Civil Engineering facade, and the Chemistry/Chemical Engineering cluster - pure modernist drama in concrete and light.

Simply fabulous. Just back from the 15th Convocation there!

[Abhijit Majumder @abhijit_MLab]

After last year’s paper leak, HE was silent.
After this year’s paper leak, HE was silent.
Finally, HE speaks.

This is called people’s power which forced him to speak on this issue, at last at least.

I’m talking about Salman Khan.

[Shashi Tharoor @ShashiTharoor]

Bulldozing 38 out of 40 buildings of Mohd Ali Jauhar University, in a state with a dearth of quality institutions of higher education, is a perverse decision. If construction was illegal, find other punishments — fines, other punitive measures, even government takeover — but do not destroy a functioning University that UP needs!

[Vir Das @thevirdas]

Asking for a friend. Does this include comedy videos?

[Abhijit Majumder @abhijit_MLab]

Don’t drag us into these petty matters.

We need to check some school textbooks if someone has written something against us at the margin.

[Mohak Mangal @mohakmangal]

In 1997, this man was the ABVP National Secretary and was just about to join the Bharatiya Janata Party. There was a paper leak in Odisha and there was a major protest. This man participated in them. He was beaten by the police.

"We staged a protest against the Odisha government, in front of the secretariat. Around 1,500 students joined us there. While the protest was peaceful, the police charged against the activists. He was badly beaten up at that time. He had a few fractures too."

Who is he? Mr Dharmendra Pradhan. Imagine that Dharmendra Pradhan was protesting against paper leaks in 1997 and was beaten!

There is an amazing Indian Express article about him. Linked below. The irony? One of the interviewees says:

"under Pradhan's regime, the students will have more scope for dissent. "It is natural for students to be anti-establishment."

[Manu Bhaker🇮🇳 @realmanubhaker]

At this point, it’s about the lives of the future of our nation. It’s about us.

I am a student, and at one point, we all were students. Every child deserves access to education, safety, and a fair chance at life. These are not privileges—they are fundamental rights.

The students and children who lost their lives were meant to be the future of our country. Their dreams, their potential, and their futures should have been protected.

This is not about promoting or opposing any political party. It is about speaking up for what truly matters—education, the environment, safety, and accountability. These issues affect every one of us, regardless of our beliefs.

I take immense pride in representing my country. That is why it is deeply heartbreaking to see the students suffer like this. We owe them more. We owe every child a future where they can learn, grow, and dream without fear.

[Vir Das @thevirdas]

Simple tests. Take a simple test in America. See if it’s leaked twice. Ask if the dude who runs that department still has a job. Another simple test. See if their top leaders directly address the deaths of students. Final test, what kind of idiot asks American citizens questions about India instead of asking the Indian govt questions as a citizen?

[Sujit Nair @sujitnair90]

Sonam Wangchuk should end his fast. Not because his cause is any less important, but because fasting works only when society possesses a living conscience.

No activist, however committed, can fight alone. The strength of a protest does not lie only in the resolve of the person fasting. It lies in the willingness of the people to stand up for the cause

No democracy can outsource its conscience to one individual.

[ravish kumar @ravish_journo]

विपक्ष को तोड़ कर चुनौती जनता को दी जा रही है कि आपकी कोई औक़ात नहीं है। ऐसा कर लोकतंत्र का उत्साह ख़त्म किया जा रहा है। अगर कोर्ट केस माफ़ कराने के लिए सांसद पार्टी छोड़ रहे हैं तो सवाल उठेगा कि क्या कोर्ट ने ED की जगह ले ली है? अदालत की साख को दाँव पर लगाने से नुक़सान भरोसे का होगा। वकील प्रतिस्पर्धा में निखरते हैं।उनके पेशे को AI से ज़्यादा ख़तरा न्याय व्यवस्था को पार्टी व्यवस्था में बदल देने से होगा। इसके बाद क्या बचेगा? हताशा का लंबा दौर और नतीजा? एक शब्द में - दुर्दशा। हताशा से केवल दुर्दशा पैदा होती है। राष्ट्र के लोक जीवन का उत्साह ख़त्म हो जाता है। उसकी आर्थिक प्रगति भी कुंठित हो जाती है। अभी सत्ता के दम पर कुछ भी कर लीजिए लेकिन सबके सामने सांसदों को गुलाम की तरह पेश कर राजनीति के महत्व को भी समाप्त किया जा रहा है। अगर यह जीत है तो बीजेपी जश्न क्यों नहीं मना रही? क्या इस देश में किसी को पार्टी चलाने नहीं आती? फिर जब सारा बहुमत आ ही गया तब चुनाव बंद कर दीजिए।

[The Indian Express @IndianExpress]

The Maharashtra government on May 13 exempted an iron ore mining and processing project in Gadchiroli from wildlife clearance by claiming — incorrectly — it was not located in any tiger corridor.

The project proposal involves diverting 9.4 sq km of forest land in Gadchiroli for iron ore extraction and processing by Lloyds Metals & Energy.

It received forest clearance on April 15 and environment clearance on May 12, a day before it was exempted from obtaining wildlife clearance.

According to the project site map submitted by Lloyds to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, the area falls in forest compartments 196, 197, 273, 274, 275, 276, 298, 300 and 301.

All but one (300) of these compartments are identified as part of the Tadoba-Indravati tiger corridor in the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA)-approved Tiger Conservation Plan (TCP) of the Tadoba Andhari tiger reserve.

[वरुण 🇮🇳 @varungrover]

And it becomes amply clear why the IAS lobby wants to get rid of RTI.

It’s not the politicians but the bureaucrats who stand to gain the most by the watering down or removal of acts like RTI - a full carte blanche to go back to 1980s style corruption with no checks or inquiry.