Horil Dev Rajak

Public Policy Researcher | Advisor, @AIGGPA

[Deedy @deedydas]

The reason India has terrible roads that break down during monsoon rains is explained phenomenally in this hidden blog by legendary civil engineer PS Kandhal.

The MoRTH/IRC highway specs includes 7 water-trapping bitumen mixes which don't last >1-2yrs. Construction contractors make way more on higher life cycle costs, recurring annual tenders with "fat" pothole repair budgets.

There are also tons of other reasons like a) cutting roads for utility lines without a rebuild b) poor auditing c) straight up using worse materials than the spec d) over-use of funds to visible public roads that causes budget issues, and e) contractors bribing the govt to secure contracts.

[Sakshi Narula @mssakshinarula]

"Sorry I'm a man and I am saying this"

Never before has a politician spoken about the incessant control the men of this country exercise on the lives of women in their own homes and how patriarchy has kept them out of any conversation. Prime Minister.

[Sam Dalrymple @SamDalrymple123]

Why is the Last Tomb of the Ottoman Empire lying abandoned in rural India?

[TheLiverDoc™ @theliverdoc]

But, dear Judges, what is the problem with MBBS doctors going on strike? India has other doctors too right? The Government and Law has given them doctor title and they diagnose and treat patients too - BAMS (Ayurveda), BHMS (Homeopathy), BUMS (Unani), BYNS (Naturopathy) - they can handle the patients right?

Because they are doctors, correct? If not, then why are they called doctors? And why are you asking MBBS and MD doctors avoid strike for their fundamental rights?

Fix the fcking system. MBBS doctors and residents are not the legal system's foot stool for them move them where you want to rest your feet. First decide, who the real doctors are and then take decisions.

The resident doctors strike must continue. IMA is useless here. It is a political organization that will maximum make you wear a black badge. Pathetic. It has to be doctors associations who should take this up and get on the streets to show the quacks their rightful place.

[Manisha Pande @MnshaP]

This Lallantop clip of a JPSC aspirant showing her agenda, time table, talking about how she keeps downloading apps to improve her communication skills is just painful to watch. ‘no plan b’. everything wrong with our ‘exam system’ - which is different from an education system - all at once

[Naveen Patnaik @Naveen_Odisha]

I am deeply anguished to know that the legendary colour of the Indian hockey team’s jersey has been changed to saffron. The iconic shade of blue of the Indian hockey team is not just a colour. It is an emotion associated with the nation’s sporting heritage.

For decades, this colour united us in hope, in victory, in defeat and in the pursuit of sporting excellence. We have cried, laughed, celebrated and stood proudly with our men and women in blue. Wearing the blue jersey our teams have won Olympic medals with the national anthem playing on the world stage. #Blue is derived from the blue chakra in our national flag. It is a symbol of our national pride and identity. The colour blue belongs to every Indian.

When the national hockey teams were struggling for sponsors, #Odisha created history by being the first and only state to support our national teams and our beloved game. Every Odia across the globe was proud of the state’s gift to national hockey. After 41 long years, our men’s team won an Olympic medal. Just because the government changed in Odisha, it should not change our national team colours. This is petty politics of the worst kind.

Our blue jersey is to us what the iconic stripes are to Argentina and the yellow jersey is to Brazil. It is etched in our collective memory. Any change in this colour, is a crass attempt to erase our priceless sporting legacy. National symbols are meant to unite us not divide.

I am given to understand that this step was taken under pressure from the BJP Government in Odisha. Those in authority may deny it, but the fact is that for the last two years, everybody in Odisha has seen the obsession of this government with changing colours of buildings, buses and even bridges. It is the only work that is happening in Odisha today. But now the same government has changed the colours of our national team. I strongly condemn this attempt by BJP Odisha to politicise a national game like hockey. It has deeply hurt the sentiments of lakhs of sports lovers across the country and the pride with which Odisha has supported the national hockey.

#Hockey
#MenInBlue
#WomenInBlue

[Chanakya @ChanakyaShah]

Dainik Bhaskar journalist went undercover as a laborer in a flour mill in UP and exposed a rotten system that's playing with people's health.

Operators in mills across Agra, Firozabad are mixing stone powder from Rajasthan into atta, increasing their earnings by 70–80 paise per kg i.e. 7k-8k extra per day. These adulterated flour, sold under brands like Maharaja Bhog Atta, is even reaching school mid-day meals. These calcium carbonate can clog intestines and damage the liver and kidneys.

Being in the D2C industry, I'm aware of many brands who do these kinds of things just to save margins and make more money. We keep calling them out, but this looks much bigger.

Government and FSSAI need to act and take control. Consumer health should never be compromised for profit.

[TheLiverDoc™ @theliverdoc]

Multiple students at an Ayurveda Medical College fell ill and they were shifted to a real hospital for diagnosis and treatment.
But these are the same practitioners who call themselves "doctors" and are even allowed to perform laparoscopic surgery in India after masters degree in Ayurveda. Who's playing whom? Govt. playing the students or Ayurveda "doctors" playing the public?

[Shankar Prakash @PhSoCr]

Vembu says a #Marxist teacher brainwashed him at 14. Then he tells us he stopped being a Marxist because he questioned it himself. That is the pedagogy working, not failing. Brainwashing is the thing that survives only by preventing the question. His didn't. The teaching did its job.

And credit where it's due. A "free (!?) govt aided school" took a 14 year old and turned out someone confident enough to challenge his own teacher to his face. That is the system succeeding. Strange thing to resent and stranger still to file under brainwashing decades later.

Notice what both he and Shefali Vaidya are really mourning. Not that the kids turned out unhappy or unkind. That they didn't inherit their #ideology. They're treating the household as a factory that's supposed to reproduce the parents' politics on schedule and calling it a crisis when it doesn't.

And note what school it was. Govt aided, open to a kid who couldn't pay. It did its job so well it produced the man now sneering at it from the top. The resentment isn't about one teacher. It's about a public system that teaches people to think for themselves instead of on command and that is exactly what #Hindutva cannot forgive.

[TheLiverDoc™ @theliverdoc]

Just want to pitch in here (again, sigh)

This is a long standing myth in South Asia when it comes to jaundice.

Jaundice is not a disease, it's the symptom of a disease. It can be liver related or non liver related.

Acute hepatitis leading to jaundice is the most common cause of jaundice in India. It's due to food and water borne viruses.
These are self limiting. Meaning it will go away in a few days to weeks and does not require treatment.

But it does require nutrition. Going on a bland diet, eating boiled food and sustaining on vegetables and avoiding oil is not how we treat jaundice of hepatitis.

Eat well, eat more...eat carbs, proteins and fats. Recovery will be quicker with good nutrition.

Stop believing in and celebrating, or promoting ancient traditional myths. It only increases food anxiety and prolongs disease course, and nothing else.

My patients recover quickly because I allow them everything during treatment period. Fried foods, whey proteins, thick fruit smoothies, lean meat and poultry and desserts. It's all fine.

[Sandeep Manudhane @sandeep_PT]

Nainital ... Kosi river ... School kids ... 5th largest economy ... Double Triple engine ... Viksit Bharat ... Danka.

[TheLiverDoc™ @theliverdoc]

This is a video from All India Institute of Ayurveda. This person is the head of department of Ayurvedic surgery.

The person who is interviewing him is a so-called Ayurvedic surgeon and a vile troll on Instagram.

Can anyone tell me what is Ayurvedic in what they are doing?

Can you see how insulting this is, to the tens of thousands of students who clear real medical entrance post graduate exams to become surgeons, spending time, money and their whole lives dedicated to the work...

...and these pseudoscience frauds with a side degree are allowed to sit at the same table as those hardworking surgeons across the country.

No other country dehumanizes and degrades it's doctor community like India does. So congratulations if you are a doctor in India. You are basically on the same page as quacks and frauds with a degree in ancient bullshittery, allowed to be glorified by the pseudoscience sympathizing government.

https://t.co/JRibMnnELl

[Satya Nadella @satyanadella]

https://t.co/xv6csf1SbV

[Shivam @ShivamMish78313]

British left because of the economic burden, Shitler, WW2, etc. Okay, let's consider your point.
But how they left was because of what Gandhi, his mass movement, and the INC did.

Remove Gandhi from the freedom struggle and there would've never been a successful transfer of power. The subcontinent would've been split into dozens of Bangladeshes and Myanmars, from Balochistan to Dhaka, fighting among themselves while being exploited for resources by France & Europe till date. His slogans were raised from the Royal Indian Navy Revolt to the INA Brigades, so you may not like it, but he was HUGE.

From the days of Champaran, he pulled off a series of well-calculated moves that built the courage to disobey.
He knew about the possibility of Balkanization if we somehow overthrew the British by force, or ended up as a communist republic but without a Deng in the '70s.
From Mandela to MLK Jr., they all followed his methods and succeeded.

In no time, he made Indians follow him far more passionately than they ever did during his stay in South Africa.
He became the icon of Indian leaders who were not some random Toms, but extraordinary achievers. Those Indian leaders in the 1st half of the 20th century literally shaped democracy worldwide while supporting freedom movements in Egypt, Ireland, and later African countries.

Those shattered and poorly organized attacks (with due respect to the revolutionaries) were in no way enough to affect the same superpower that later fought the Nazis.
Gandhi wasn't desperate to end up in the Andamans only to write mercy petitions, he was simply the smarter politician. He was brave enough to confront the British, yet patient enough to understand the situation. His non-violence wasn't a choice, but a necessity against a superpower.

Britain and France didn't let their other colonies slip away easily, and many gained independence only after horrific casualties. Algeria alone suffered hundreds of thousands of deaths during its war of independence.

[Sandeep Manudhane @sandeep_PT]

There is a worrisome NITI report on school education.

Summary: A major shift in India’s school system is seen in last 11 years. Around 94,000 government schools were closed, and total student enrolment declined by 2.26 crore. Private schools expanded. Reasons may be falling birth rates, consolidation of low-enrolment schools, difficulties in retaining older students, and persistent learning gaps.

1) Government schools declined sharply: The number of government schools fell from 11.07 lakh in 2014–15 to 10.13 lakh in 2024–25. That is 25 closures per day. Total enrolment decreased from 26.95 crore students to 24.69 crore students during the decade.
2) Private schools continued to grow: The number of private schools increased from 2.88 lakh to 3.39 lakh. Children may stop attending when their neighbourhood govt. school closes and the alternative is farther away. 3) Dropout rates rise significantly at higher levels: The reported dropout rate was only 0.3% at the primary level, but rose to 3.5% in upper primary and 11.5% at the secondary level.
4) Fewer students are moving into secondary school: The transition rate from upper primary to secondary education declined from 91.58% to 86.6%.
5) Foundational learning gaps remain serious: Many Class IX students reportedly struggle not only with algebra and geometry but also with basic concepts such as fractions, percentages and ratios.

It seems that India is walking straight into a well-orchestrated demographic disaster of its own making now.

#SchoolEducation #India #DemographicDividend

[Fola @OFolaby]

Christopher Nolan explains why people think historical epics have to sound so formal, and why he completely broke that rule on THE Odyssey

Interviewer: The language is very modern. You say "Dad" rather than "Father." What's the thinking behind that?

Tom Holland: I wouldn't have said "Father" back then anyway; it would've been in Greek, so it's no less correct.

Christopher Nolan: People view the ancient world with cultural prejudice, elevating it just because it's old. But the original poem is actually very earthy, grounded, and accessible. In building the film, I wanted to do away with illogical assumptions, look at the actual archaeology, and make the world feel fresh, credible, and exciting for modern audiences.

[Horil Dev Rajak @Horil_DR]

Making homes what they are meant to be.

[Hedgeye @Hedgeye]

China's Real Estate Market has erased all gains from the last 20 years

[John Reed @JohnReedwrites]

India expels thousands of migrants in dead of night: "The 'push-ins' involve no formal repatriation process and many of those sent to Bangladesh have not lived there for decades, if at all." https://t.co/p4oYM3a5v0 @AndresSchipani @redwanxyz

[Horil Dev Rajak @Horil_DR]

Plastics frowning upon plastics

[Filmy Circuit @FilmyCircuit]

Imagine talking so rudely and with such entitlement to someone who’s literally providing you a service in 40 degree centigrade😭

The entitlement is unreal - it blinds them to basic respect and decency.

If you don’t plastic just go to the thela and buy it yourself and carry it in paper bags.

And then the same people act all polished and “real” on camera… what a joke.

[Richa Pinto @richapintoi]

Chembur tree crash which killed 11 year school boy: : READ THIS

Official internal communications by BMC showed that the civic garden department had issued at least two written notices to the roads department, cautioning that excavation around tree bases during road and storm-water drain works was damaging roots and could lead to trees toppling during the monsoons.