acc

[Erik Solheim @ErikSolheim]

In defense of Indian 🇮🇳 democracy!

During Prime Minister Narendra Modi most successful visit to Norway a minor incident happened. A Norwegian journalist demanded that the prime minister starts holding press conferences. She claimed that Indian democracy is in bad shape.

May be its time to pause? May be its time to be a bit curious to the world’s largest democracy?

Two weeks ago five Indian states and territories held elections. The turn out in the battlefield state of West Bengal was 94%. In the last local election in Norway it was 62%, in many European local elections turn out is below 50%. Can voting in massive numbers be a signal Indians trust their democratic process?

In the same election BJP won big in Assam and West Bengal. It lost even bigger in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Can this diversity be a signal that Indian democracy is reflecting the will of the people?

The journalist referred to a democracy ranking putting India at 157 in the world, behind many dictatorships and deeply troubled states. When a ranking is so obviously contrary to common sense, why not ask critical questions to those making the ranking rather than demand that leaders shall comment on nonsense? I recommend Salvatore Babones book “Dharma democracy”. The book debunks convincingly the flawed methodology of these rankings.

It was referred to a ranking claiming it’s very dangerous to be a journalist in India. Reality is that it is more dangerous to be journalist in the US and far more dangerous in the vast majority of other nations in the world.

Let’s be real. India is not perfect. Of course there are incidents. India has a population the size of North America, South America and Europe combined. But India is much more peaceful than Europe or the Americas. That’s remarkable - given the ethnic, language and religious diversity of India and the many development challenges.

Unless we consider democracy a form of government only suited for some very small, peaceful and homogeneous Western European nations, may be we should commend Indian democracy?

India is the only major former UK colony which became and has remained a democracy. Its sometimes claimed that the Brits taught India democracy. If that was the case why isn’t Myanmar or Pakistan or the Gulf kingdoms democracies??? Reality is that Indian democracy is both homegrown and extraordinary successful.

[Wall Street Journal Opinion @WSJopinion]

Why should freedom favor proselytizing faiths over those that don’t seek converts? asks @avatans
https://t.co/cMICt1BAD1

[Vikas Vij @TheClubJunto]

Top Economists Flag the Blind Spot Holding India Back

1. CEA Nageswaran: Corporate profits up 31% pa; pvt investment to GDP @ 20-yr lows

2. Raghuram Rajan: Industry always chose rent-seeking over innovation; now it repeats the fatal error with refusal to invest in AI

INSIGHTS:

Why India’s Growth Faltered?

a. From FY21 to FY25, corporate net profits tripled to ₹7.1 lakh cr (FY25) as corporate taxes were reduced by one-third and strong government investments pushed GDP growth.

b. Corporate India retired its debt instead of investing profits in CapEx. Debt-to-Equity ratio for companies declined from 139% to 94%.

c. No Skin in the Game: Corporate cash reserves increased from ₹9L cr in FY21 to ₹16L cr in FY26. Private Investment to GDP ratio declined to a 20-year low from 16% during 2004-08 to 12% in FY23. FY26 investment halved from FY25.

Dr. V.A. Nageswaran

[May 2, 2026, Ashoka University Conference]

a. India’s Chief Economic Advisor Dr. Nageswaran has strongly criticized Indian industry for its reluctance to invest. He said it has contributed to demand uncertainty (broken consumption) in India.

b. Investment creates jobs and incomes. Nageswaran said: “Post-Covid, corporate profits of NSE 500 companies have grown at 30.8% annually. But investment has disappointed.”

c. Where are the Profits Going: CEA says promoters and their next generations are accumulating profits and setting up family offices elsewhere rather than investing in real assets (factories, technologies, R&D etc.)

d. With a weakened rupee, the gap between Indian and Chinese currencies (real effective exchange rate or REER) is closing. This is the moment when Indian industry can compete in the global markets at a level footing with China.

e. Recent Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) have also created a level-playing field for Indian exports. Yet, India’s FTA utilization record remains poor compared to other countries.

e. Developed countries achieved so much because their industry acted in national interest. Now they are aggressively securing supply chains, refusing technology transfers, while India is heavily exposed to risks.

Dr. Raghuram Rajan

[6 May, 2026, The Indian Express]

a. India’s largest “AI hub” on a 600-acre site is coming up in Vishakhapatnam. LLM Models: Owned by Google; Chips: designed in California, fabricated in Taiwan; India’s Contribution: Land, Electricity, Construction, and Labour.

b. 30 years ago we celebrated IT labour services the same way. But we did not build the next layer of technology, did not invest in R&D and deep-tech, and did not develop manufacturing depth. Now the bill is coming due in the form of AI.

c. Worse than 30 Yrs Ago: This time the mistake India is making is with stronger lock-in to the foreign tech owners. For every inference running on a foreign LLM model from a server in Vizag, a small rent will go to California on infra built by Adani. Same game, worse rules.

d. India’s AI strategy can be summed up as follows: Acres of land, tons of concrete, and gigawatts of power for a foreign-owned data center. No industry investments in AI research, labs, and scientists.

e. India’s Attitude: Since we are not investing in frontier AI, we tell ourselves frontier AI does not matter. Since we are good at secondary work (AI diffusion or AI services), we tell ourselves diffusion is enough.

Endpiece

Between 2019 and 2025, the number of Indian billionaires grew by 77%, and their total wealth jumped by 227%. Now India has the world's highest number of billionaires per trillion dollars of GDP.

Meanwhile, for the middle and lower income populations, real wages stagnated in the last 10 years. No GDP growth happened in their households.

A bunch of self-serving oligarchs don’t make a developed economy.

@arabicatrader

[Imtiaz Mahmood @ImtiazMadmood]

Sapna Kolhi, a young girl from Ghotki district in Pakistan, was abducted from near Daharki and taken away from her family after , She was held captive for days and subjected to severe abuse before being abandoned on a roadside.

[Surya Kanegaonkar @suryakane]

Respect is earned through merit and character. Respect is lost when both fall short. People react in different ways with the latter. Where many have settled is the minimum respect accorded to the post of PM when discussing India on the international level. Never air dirty linen in public.

Mr. Modi’s report card speaks for itself - import dependence on China is at an all time high, and so is technology dependence on the US. Manufacturing as a share of GDP and merchandise as a share of exports both languish. Military indigenization is slow. Financial resources and innovation incentives have not been given for many critical projects at the right time, leading to delays and import dependence. Bureaucratic, judicial, police and land reforms are also absent. Corruption is endemic. Urban centers are the drivers of growth and innovation, yet they remain deeply neglected. Choking with pollution, waste and civic mismanagement, the cities are some of the worst in all of Asia.

Meanwhile, Mr. Modi has chosen a section of society as oppressors and turned merit into a bad word. India is on the path towards being an apartheid state. The “oppressor” class is ritually humiliated on a regular basis. Their taxes are spent on schemes which hardly benefit the target population. Public abuse of their religion, culture and background is emboldened. Worse, state-sanctioned grooming schemes targeting women of these “oppressor” communities is packaged as some kind of social justice.

The post of PM deserves respect because it is the mandate of the public that places an individual there. What that individual does with unbridled power determines whether he or she deserves respect from the public.

[Amy Mek @AmyMek]

I just had the most beautiful, heart-wrenching phone call with an incredible Hindu woman.

She poured out the raw horror of what Islam has done to her personally, to her family, to her entire community - and to the ancient lands they once called home, lands conquered, devastated, and ethnically cleansed of her people through centuries of violence, forced conversions, abductions, torture, massacres, and relentless persecution.

I listened. I felt every word. And now I need Hindus in America and all across the world to hear this from me directly: I know what you have been through. I have seen the attacks you face.

I have witnessed the deaths, the torture, the unimaginable suffering inflicted in the name of Islam.

Your pain is not invisible. Your stories are not forgotten. Your voices matter deeply to me.

To every Hindu who has lost loved ones, who has fled their homeland, who lives in fear of the next mob, the next abduction, the next temple desecration, or the next forced conversion: You are not alone.

Your resilience in the face of such evil is extraordinary.

Your courage inspires. And your voices will be amplified here.

With deepest respect and unwavering solidarity!

[Renee Lynn @Voice_For_India]

After the assassination of Gandhi, anyone with the surname Godse was murdered and entire villages were ethnically cleansed, like that of Kashmiri Pandits. I'm sorry but not sorry, Gandhi caused a lot of problems and set India back tremendously. Agree 💯

[acc @acc_1979]

@NITIAayog R.

[Ministry of Railways @RailMinIndia]

A lasting tribute to exemplary bravery!

Honouring a legacy of courage, NFR pays homage to Captain Sunil Kumar Choudhary, Sena Medal & Kirti Chakra (Posthumous) awardee, by naming a WDP4B locomotive at Siliguri Diesel Loco Shed, West Bengal, in his honour.

[Rohit Singh | Mr. Chartist @Mr_Chartist]

All eyes on Hindus in Bangladesh!!

[Treeni @treeni]

Our voice is being suppressed. We have been shadowbanned on X.

If you can see this tweet, then please like and retweet. 🙏🏻

CC: @elonmusk @X @Support

[Frontalforce 🇮🇳 @FrontalForce]

This leftist double-faced woman has openly abused our soldiers. It is the duty of every patriot to send this woman behind bars... Please share this video with as many people as possible.

Hey @HDFC_Bank , is she still working with your organization ?

[Visegrád 24 @visegrad24]

BREAKING:

This illegal migrant and repeat offender, Yordanis Cobos-Martinez, just beheaded an Indian man in Texas with a machete.

The Cuban national with a lengthy prior criminal record, murdered 50-year-old Chandra Nagamallaiah in front of a motel in Dallas.

Yordanis was released from an ICE facility in January this year and should have been deported to Cuba.

However, Cuba refused to receive the deportation flight, arguing that Yordanis was a violent repeat offender that must stay in the USA.

A video shows Yordanis chasing Chandra across the motel's parking lot.

He repeatedly struck him with a machete. Chandra’s wife and 18-year-old son emerged from the motel to intervene but were pushed away by Yordanis and forced to watch their husband and father be decapitated by Yordanis.

He later kicked the severed head into the parking lot, picked it up and discarded it in a dumpster.

Sadly, thousands of repeat offenders, violent lunatics and criminal illegal migrants roam the streets of American cities, being a danger to anyone that runs into them, whether at a light rail system in Charlotte or a motel in Texas

🇺🇸🇮🇳🇨🇺

[Dilip Mandal @Profdilipmandal]

भारतीय महाशक्ति को तोड़ने की अंतरराष्ट्रीय साजिश और CSDS

🖊️दिलीप मंडल

फोर्ड फाउंडेशनल से फंड पोषित रहा, दिल्ली का थिंक टैंक CSDS पिछले कई दशक से हर चुनाव के बाद एक फर्जी आंकड़ा देता है कि किस जाति और धर्म के लोगों ने किस पार्टी को वोट दिया.

भारतीय समाज को खंड-खंड करने और जाति व धार्मिक समुदायों के बीच कटुता फैलाने का पिछले 75 साल का ये सबसे बड़ा अंतरराष्ट्रीय प्रोजेक्ट है.

इन आंकड़ों का सभी अखबार इस्तेमाल करते हैं. ये लेखों और किताबों तथा पीएचडी थीसिस में प्रयोग होता है.

अगले पांच साल तक राजनीतिक लेखों में ये आता रहता है किस जाति ने किसको वोट डाला. इस वजह से हर जाति वाला दूसरी जाति वाले को और हर धर्म के लोग दूसरे धर्म के लोगों को संदेह से देखते हैं.

CSDS के आंकड़ों के आधार पर ऐसे विश्लेषण आते हैं-

- जाटव, पासी और खटिक साथ वोट नहीं डालते
- यादव और कुर्मी अलग अलग तरीके से वोट डालते हैं
- निषाद वोट किसके पक्ष में गया
- ब्राह्मण वोट कैसे पलट गया
- ठाकुर और ब्राह्मणों ने अलग अलग पार्टियों को क्यों चुना
- भूमिहार किनको वोट डालते हैं.
- अति पिछड़ों ने किसको वोट दिया
- बनिए किस पार्टी के साथ गए
- मुसलमान किनको वोट देता है

आदि.

धर्म के आधार पर भी ऐसे गंदे विश्लेषण आते हैं. इन सबका कच्चा माल CSDS से आता है. हमारे जैसे लोगों के पास भी इनको इस्तेमाल करने के अलावा कोई उपाय नहीं होता. ये गलत है.

सीएसडीएस का सर्वे न आए तो ये लेख बंद हो जाएंगे.

इसका नतीजा ये भी होता है कि नेता उन जाति और धर्म के इलाको में काम नहीं करता, जिनके बारे में उसे इन तथाकथित सर्वे के जरिए बताया जाता है कि उसका वोट तो आपको मिला ही नहीं.

मैंने अजीम प्रेमजी यूनिवर्सिटी, बेंगलुरू में सीएसडीएस के संजय कुमार के साथ एक कार्यक्रम में वक्ता था.

मैंने उनसे पूछा कि ये आंकड़ा उनको कौन देता है. मैंने इतने इलेक्शन देखे, लेकिन वोट डालने के बाद मतदाता अपनी जाति और किसको वोट दिया, दोनों बता दे, ये संभव नहीं है. गांव में तो ऐसी दुश्मनी कौन लेगा और शहर वाले आसानी से अपनी जाति बताते नहीं हैं.

फिर वहीं, यूनिवर्सिटी के प्रोफेसर्स और स्कॉलर्स के साथ उसी हॉल में मैंने 30 मिनट का एक सर्वे किया.

मैंने सबके बीच एक पर्चियां बंटवाई, जिसमें लोगों को सिर्फ अपनी जाति लिखनी थी. इसके अलावा कुछ भी नहीं. फिर उसे बंद करके दे देना था. पहचान पूरी तरह गुप्त थी.

इसके बावजूद, लगभग 300 लोगों में से 50 लोगों ने भी पर्ची नहीं दी.

जिस देश में आदमी गुप्त तरीके से अपनी जाति नहीं बताता, वहां वह कौन सा सर्वे करने वाला है, जिसे पूरे देश में लोग अपनी जाति और वोट करने वाली पार्टी का नाम बताते हैं.

अब सवाल की फोर्ड फाउंडेशन या किसी भी ग्लोबल संस्था को इससे क्या फायदा. वो क्यों पैसे देती है इन कामों के लिए?

दरअसल भारत दुनिया की उभरती महाशक्ति है. इससे आगे चलकर अन्य महाशक्तियों को चुनौती मिलनी है. इसलिए पर्यावरण से लेकर LGBTQ और जाति विमर्श से लेकर धार्मिक सवालों से जुड़े मसलों पर फॉरेन फंडिंग आती है.

चुनाव आयोग को इस तरह के जाति और धर्म केंद्रित सर्वे पर रोक लगा देनी चाहिए.

सहमत हैं तो रिट्वीट करें. @ECISVEEP

[RVAIDYA2000 🕉️ @rvaidya2000]

Laloo is not an accused but a convicted criminal out on bail due to " health " reasons--he is going to campaign in Bihar //Can there be anything more shameful than this?? RT

[Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury @salah_shoaib]

🚨 URGENT CALL TO INTERNATIONAL MEDIA: PLEASE SEND YOUR REPRESENTATIVES, REPORT FROM THE GROUND, AND CARRY THIS IMPORTANT STORY OF ONGOING PERSECUTION BEYOND BORDERS!

Since the creation of Pakistan on Aug 14, 1947, minorities, especially Hindus, in present-day Bangladesh have endured unimaginable persecution. Fifty‑four years after Bangladesh’s independence, a coalition of minority students and professionals is convening the 'National Minority Conference 2025' to bring this record to light - featuring a documentary on the 8% - dwindling and persecuted - minority community.

Date: Fri, Aug 22, 2025, 10:00 AM
Venue: Bangladesh Krishibid Institution, Dhaka

Your presence can help ensure these testimonies are seen, heard, and acted upon worldwide.

@usembassydhaka @UKinBangladesh @CanHCBangladesh @AusHCBangladesh @GermanEmbassyBD @GerAmbBD @FRauBangladesh @SwedeninBD @NorwayAmbBD @ihcdhaka @amnestysasia @hrw @USCIRF @CNNnews18 @DDIndialive @republic @BanglaRepublic @Tv9_Bangla @ZeeNews @NetworkItv @ITGGlobal @Network18Group @TV9Bharatvarsh @ANI @ians_india @ABPNews @eOrganiser @OpIndia_com

[Megh Updates 🚨™ @MeghUpdates]

Pakistan Army Chief Was in US, Threatening Nuclear War, from MY Air Force Base in Tampa. WHY? I guess Bin Laden couldn't Make it? - Americans are PISSED.

Next time you do this - Trump you have lost Florida forever. Your CRYPTO love has made you mad!

[Zeenat Dar @zeedee93]

Chinese build China
Indians help build America!

[Sameer @BesuraTaansane]

Real life #KeralaStory narrated by the person who herself went through hell and came back

Make this viral mitroon, it has to reach every WA number in Bharat

Talk to your kids about Dharma else we are doomed 🙏🏻

[Anand Ranganathan @ARanganathan72]

Naseeruddin Shah claims to miss the India of old. In reality, he misses it because in that India the Hindus suffered discrimination but did not speak up.

Here I expose him for what he is, a real life Gulfam Hassan – a traitor to the cause of justice, equality, and fraternity.