Ashank Garg

[Al Jazeera Breaking News @AJENews]

Indian police were filmed beating protesters of the Cockroach Janata Party movement ahead of a planned march to Parliament.

Protesters are calling for education reforms in one of the biggest public displays of dissent against Prime Minister Modi's government in recent years.

[Reuters @Reuters]

Police caned protesters in New Delhi as thousands gathered for a ‘Cockroach’ movement march on parliament demanding the resignation of education minister Dharmendra Pradhan https://t.co/21rvMs3Bad

[Shilpa Rao @shilparao11]

जय जवान, जय किसान, जय छात्र 🤘

[Saurav Das @SauravDassss]

🚨IMMEDIATE DEMAND: DHARMENDRA PRADHAN HAS TO BE SACKED IMMEDIATELY!

BALL IS IN GOVT’S COURT!

[Mandeep Punia @mandeeppunia1]

देखिए कैसे पुलिस वाले खुद बच्चों पर पथराव कर रहे हैं.

#संसद_मार्च

[kunal @kunalekmard]

Ho skta Dharmendra pradhan ko resignation letter likhne na atta ho

[Atul Khatri @one_by_two]

The Govt has purposely installed potholes on Indian roads so that the continuous shaking of the car helps blend Ethanol to Petrol ✨️

[Vijay Kedia @VijayKedia1]

If a factory accident = FIR on the promoter, then..
Train accident → FIR on the Railway Minister?
Air crash → FIR on aviation authorities?
Pothole death → FIR on the Municipal Commissioner?

Accountability must be consistent , not selective.

[Vinod Chendhil @vinodchendhil]

Customer: I will file case against you in consumer court.

Us: Why what happened.

Customer: You have not yet delivered to me its been 7 days.

Us: Sir sometimes it takes longer to deliver to tier 3, ur ordered is scheduled for tomorrow delivery.

Customer: ok.

With the advent of qcom customers want delivery quicker and faster than ever at the same time costs for same are very high.

Only solution is to communicate as much as possible this difference to consumers.

[Priyesh Sharma @Kenu73]

There are so many, so many dumb citizens in India, while forgetting our own internal issues. They have made it about fall of UAE, totally disregarding the fact that UAE is one of the India's Ally.

All this hate and jealousy is unbelievable. The country which has growingly become a strong partner and probably the strongest in Gulf is getting flake just because the world loves the place?

Hum toh develop honey se rahey, par jo developed h usko girte dkhne main maza ata h😬

[Priyesh Sharma @Kenu73]

Suddenly every one is a Dubai real estate expert today! Jinhe baju wali property ka rate nhi pata hoga aj UAE k analyst bane padey h.

[Ramesh Srivats @rameshsrivats]

Might as well rename the Narendra Modi Stadium to Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
Anyway it's getting all the blame.

[Kaushik Basu @kaushikcbasu]

The embarrassment caused by Galgotias University at Delhi’s AI meet is what happens when people instead of spending time doing science, maths, literature, spend their time showing that 5000 years ago their ancestors did science, maths, literature.

[Ramesh Srivats @rameshsrivats]

T20 World Cup starts today.
India vs USA.
India will have to win by more than 18% to account for tariffs.

[Ramesh Srivats @rameshsrivats]

I think India is 100% going to win the Artificial Intelligence race.
We'll leapfrog ahead of the US & China by investing Rs. 3,000 crores and building the world's tallest statue of AI.

[Snehil Saluja @mrsnhl]

A 1 crore earning techie's life has no value in Bengaluru.

And if you're not earning that much? Your life has even less.

My sister and her friend were driving home in my car. They stopped at a red light - the logical thing anyone does. A drunk driver in a mini-truck didn't feel the need to stop. He slammed into them instead.

I know he was drunk. She knows it. The highway police knows it. The truck owner knows it.

No arrest was made.

The truck driver never showed up at the station. The owner never showed up. Nobody cared. My sister and her friend - both injured, both terrified - kept going back to the station, back to the accident site, explaining what happened over and over, just trying to get a report filed.

I was in the US. All I could do was talk to them on calls, helpless.

Here's what the police told them:
"If nobody died, an FIR doesn't make sense."
"Just claim first party insurance."
"Third party insurance doesn't pay much anyway."

And then, quietly, one officer pulled them aside and told the truth: "These truck mafia bribe us. Nothing will happen."

Nothing happened.

The truck was KA04 AE6550. The police themselves said if they'd been on a two-wheeler, both would be dead.

We had 100% insurance from Reliance. Claim rejected. Reason? "Misrepresentation of facts." These two, even while injured, kept showing up to represent the facts. Reliance still found a way to deny them.

The law says if someone hits you from behind, the person behind is at fault. It was a red light. How does a truck driver not see that?

Trust me, this isn't about money. I'll manage the repairs and the medical bills. I have savings. And I have a decent credit score; I'll take a personal loan if I have to. That's not the point.

The point is this: my sister is afraid now. Afraid that anything can happen to her at any moment and there's no one - no system, no law, no institution - that will protect her.

But how do I tell her the world is supposed to be fair? How do I tell her to trust the system? How do I explain that the drunk driver walks free, the truck owner was never questioned, and the police pocketed their bribe and closed the file?

I can't say to any official, "What if this was your daughter? Your sister?" Because their daughters travel in cars with security escorts. They will never know what it feels like to be ordinary and unprotected.

So I'm saying it to you, an ordinary reader.

You're on the road. You stop at a red light. A drunk driver in a truck rear-ends your car. Your loved one is inside, terrified.

And then you learn: there is no recourse. None.

The truck owner pays off the cops. The insurance company rejects your claim. The system shrugs.

This is Bengaluru in 2025. This is India in 2025. This is what your life is worth here.

One more thing. The friend in the car? He's one of the smartest people I know. close to top 100 rank in IIT-JEE. AI engineer and one of the biggest data companies. At 23, he is valuable to be paid more annually than the cost of five such trucks, that too, in India. He's patriotic. He pays his taxes. He stays in India even though he constantly gets offers to move to the US.

This is the confidence our system gives to someone who is clearly an asset to this country. All this unfairness - for a drunk truck driver.

@blrcitytraffic @BlrCityPolice - tell me. I've always avoided raising fingers publicly. But what else can I do?

[Ramesh Srivats @rameshsrivats]

Sanju Samson seems to play much better when he is not in the team.

[TheLiverDoc™ @theliverdoc]

STAY WITH ME.

A few years ago, a patient was referred to me because he was diagnosed with complicated cirrhosis. He had an infection which led to a condition called hepatic encephalopathy (brain failure due to high ammonia levels). The treatment largely involved ammonia reducing therapies. One drug was central to this - Rifaximin - a non-absorbable antibiotic that reduced ammonia in the body. I prescribed him Rifaximin for 6 weeks and advised him follow-up.

He came back to me, not after six weeks, but in 4 weeks, this time, in liver coma (worst stage of brain failure - due to very high ammonia). He spent two days in the ICU and six days in total in the hospital. His hospital bill was close to INR 80,000. He had no insurance and his wife borrowed the money from neighbors and friends to clear hospital dues.

Upon questioning, I found that he was not taking the Rifaximin drug I had prescribed. He was only on the other two drugs (one, a syrup called lactulose for improving ammonia clearance in gut). I was furious, because the patient spent a whole week unecessarily in the ICU and wasted so much money that he never had - just because he was "not compliant" to my orders. I decided it was time for me to school him a bit.

But I was wrong. He was compliant. He had purchased Rifaximin and was on it. For 15 days. Thereafter, he could not afford it. He was an autorickshaw driver who shuttled school children every morning and evening. He could hardly make ends meet. He had two children of his own. The Rifaximin brand I prescribed him was 42 rupees per tablet. He had to consume two a day - which would mean 2520 rupees a month. He just did not have that money - so he skipped it - to not compromise on other important matters - childrens education and food.

He was confused and scared about opting for a cheaper version of Rifaximin because one, he was unsure about the quality of Rifaximin that was not prescribed by me and two, he was "scared" that I would scold him for buying a cheaper Rifaximin and if that got him into trouble.

I was confused and scared about prescribing a cheaper version of Rifaximin because one, I was unsure about the quality of Rifaximin that was not "a good promoted brand" and two, I was "scared" that his family would scold me for prescribing a cheaper Rifaximin and if that got him into trouble.

It is heartbreaking that many doctors still simply don’t trust generic medicines. Too often, they worry that these cheaper options are lower quality or might cause more problems than the big, famous brands. This fear leads them to prescribe expensive drugs instead, and the real tragedy is that it pushes vital healthcare out of reach for the ordinary people who need it most - like my patient.

This narrative, that generic drugs 'are never good' and that only big pharmaceutical marketed drugs are what works has been deeply ingrained into doctors and patients alike - I do not know by whom and since when. Looking back, these strong emotions were based on either opinions, testimonials or second- and third-hand information. Not evidence.

Like I said. Stay with me. This is life changing and will disrupt the drug market in India. Here are the results of The Citizens Generic vs. Brand Drugs Quality Project.
1/11

[Vishal Bhargava @VishalBhargava5]

Last week met a friend who's a promoter of conglomerate at his office. Asked him about "Ease of Doing Business"

His response: "Vishal. We are sitting here & having lemon tea. I'm sure right now we are breaking some rule. What rule: I have no idea. That's Ease of Doing Business"

[Ankit Sawant @SatanAtWink]

She's the hero Bangalore deserves, & also the one it needs right now.

She’s a silent guardian, a watchful protector, a dark knight against the society uncles who are going to learn the hard way what happens when they over reach their non-existent owner powers