KB Mehta 🇮🇳

Indian Navy Retd-Inquisitive-Observant-Learning. Difficult but trying to be unbiased. Interests: IR, Geo-Strategy, Economy.

[Venugopal Vengalil @vgmenon99]

In this article I analyse the ground realities on the status of Gwadar port as against the propaganda and hype surrounding it ? Is it a master stroke of the Chinese or will it be an unfulfilled dream of dragon ?? Do read https://t.co/suQQVKRUXU

[Malay Krishna @Malay4Product]

I taught JEE physics for years. That paper breaks strong kids in three hours.

This exam is five hours of theory and five hours of lab work, and these five did close to perfect scores on it.

Let me tell you what actually happened.

The International Physics Olympiad is the world championship of school physics. It was the 56th edition. Held in Bucaramanga, Colombia, from July 5 to 12.

381 students. More than 85 countries. Every one of them the best physics student their country could find.

India sent five kids.

All five came back with gold.

Their names are Kanishk Jain from Pune. Riddhesh Anant Bendale from Indore. Rishit Garg from Dwarka in Delhi. Shresth Suraiya from Mumbai. Svarit Joshi from Ahmedabad.

We know a hundred cricketers by their nickname and not one of these boys. :)

That clean sweep put India at joint World Number One. Tied with China, Russia, Kazakhstan, South Korea and Taiwan.

Those are countries that pour serious money and national pride into science education. We are standing level with them.

Now here is what the exam actually was.

Two papers. Each five hours long.

The theory paper had three problems. One on the thermodynamics of paramagnetic cooling. One on the photoionisation of ozone. One on the dynamics of electron positron pairs.

The experimental paper was another five hours in a lab, working through heat transfer and thermodynamic processes in fluids.

That means you get given equipment you have never seen, and you have to design your own experiment, take your own readings, handle the errors, and reach a real answer.

Not multiple choice. No shortcuts. No pattern recognition. You either understand physics or you sit there for five hours.

HBCSE says the Indian students were near perfect on theory and excellent on the practical too.

Now, this was India's 27th appearance at the IPhO.

Across all those years, about 44 percent of Indian students have won gold, 41 percent silver, 10 percent bronze.

In the last ten years, every single Indian student has come home with a medal. 62 percent gold, 38 percent silver.

Not one kid has gone and come back empty handed in a decade.

Five golds in one year has happened only twice. This year, and in 2018.

So who built this.

The programme is run by HBCSE, the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education. It sits under TIFR, which sits under the Department of Atomic Energy.

They run the whole funnel. A national exam, then a national olympiad, then a brutal selection and training camp, and out of everyone in the country, five kids get on a plane.

The team was led by Professor Anwesh Mazumdar of HBCSE-TIFR and Dr Leena Joshi from St Xavier's College, Mumbai.

The scientific observers were Professor Ananda Dasgupta from IISER Kolkata and Nisha Kelkar from Gogate-Joglekar College in Ratnagiri.

Yes. Ratnagiri. A college in a small coastal town in Maharashtra.

This is public education doing something the private coaching industry could never do on its own.

The coaching industry is very good at one thing. Teaching you to solve a known problem fast.

That is what JEE and NEET reward, and I say that with love because I was part of that world.

But an olympiad paper does not have a known type. There is no shortcut chapter. There is no formula sheet that saves you. You have to sit with a problem you have never seen and think.

That is a completely different muscle. And a government funded centre has been quietly building it in Indian teenagers for 27 years.

So yes, be proud. Loudly.

HBCSE also shared that around 64 percent of India's olympiad medallists go on to do a PhD.

But only about 32 percent of medallists end up settling in India.

I do not say that to spoil the moment. These kids owe the country nothing. They earned every option they have.

But it should tell us something. We are excellent at finding this talent. We are excellent at training it. We are still not great at giving it somewhere worth staying.

Congratulations Kanishk, Riddhesh, Rishit, Shresth and Svarit. This is one of the best things an Indian did this year and most of the country will never hear about it.

[D Prasanth Nair @DPrasanthNair]

On Wednesday morning Sinoj, who runs a lottery shop at Kochi developed severe chest pain while driving himself to a hospital. As traffic came to a standstill, he collapsed inside the car.

Two nurses - Anjali Baiju and Ardra Raj, who were travelling in a bus, noticed the commotion on the roadside. They immediately got off the bus, rushed to the car and began cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

A passer by Ranjith, took over the car and drove Sinoj to the hospital. The two nurses continued CPR inside the vehicle until Sinoj reached a hospital.

Doctors said he had regained signs of recovery by the time he arrived.

Respect to the two sisters. God bless
This truly made my day

[KB Mehta 🇮🇳 @mehta_kb]

@ambkcsingh @kayjay34350 @ECISVEEP That may resolve problem of armed forces personnel or may be all Govt pensioners, but what about common citizens?

[KB Mehta 🇮🇳 @mehta_kb]

@kayjay34350 Similar state:
-parents shifted in 1947 fm Pak Pb
-late mother’s record available in HR
-postal vote once in national election, 2ice during service in the Navy, post retirement voted in 3 state & 2 national elections
-EPIC no. available
-But-own-wife-both children no record now

[Ron Varghese @Curse0fMedusa]

Let me explain the Kashmir conflict using a direct American parallel:

Imagine if, after the Civil War, the US permanently split into 2 nations: the progressive, secular Union in the North (India), and a regressive, hostile society of slave owners in the South (Pakistan). (1/8)

[Navroop Singh @TheNavroopSingh]

The Reality of United States that no Indian should forget !!

[KB Mehta 🇮🇳 @mehta_kb]

@cvkrishnan @addheeraj Trying to educate self-proclaimed illiterates is a waste of time

[KB Mehta 🇮🇳 @mehta_kb]

@TheWand68425335 Ignorance is a bliss

[KB Mehta 🇮🇳 @mehta_kb]

@vgmenon99 Most importantly, the island chain makes a strong case for the second integrated Maritime Command.

[KB Mehta 🇮🇳 @mehta_kb]

@vgmenon99 String of Pearls & bases in countries in region can be put to serious test at relatively low expense if we use A&N thoughtfully. Huge economic benefits can incur by using small portions of the territory. Sitting on top of critical logistic chain is added advantage & a deterrence.

[KB Mehta 🇮🇳 @mehta_kb]

@vgmenon99 Your paper is certainly comprehensive sir when looked from the POV of chosen topic.

[Think Tank @corn_kt]

नेमार का शानदार किक, लियोन मेसी सिर्फ देखता रह गया असंभव सा गोल खा लिए।

यह गोल नहीं देखा तो #FIFA फुटबॉल का जलवा नहीं देखा ।

नेमार जब लय में हो तब क्या रोनाल्डो,क्या मेसी कोई नही टिकता सामने इस ब्राजील फुटबॉल के तूफान के सामने। 👁️⚽🥅

[Gurmeet Chadha @connectgurmeet]

We built Delhi metro -271 stations with 8 million daily riders ( amongst top 10 globally) for just $8Bn

Our moon mission costed us just $75 Million

Built Largest biometric system in world for 1.4 Bn people -aadhar built with just $1bn

Worlds tallest railway bridge Chenab for $175 Mn

Codeveloped BrahMos missile-unique in the global arms market, combining a high top speed (Mach3)multi-platform launch versatility (air, ship, sub, land), and supersonic cruising, which sets it apart from both legacy subsonic cruise missiles and newer, more expensive hypersonic weapons for $4 million.

Our precision engineering, technology usage and frugality is unmatched.

Foreign media & brokerages claiming India has no technology, precision engineering play are biased and spreading propaganda…

[anand mahindra @anandmahindra]

Winning against the Chinese. In China.

At the Asian Relay Championships.

Srabani, Sudeshna, Sneha & Tamanna in the 4x100 relay.

Power. Speed. Grace. Commitment.

But above all, teamwork.

This clip has it all.

I’m watching it on loop.

More of this please. 🇮🇳

[Prof. Krishnamurthy V Subramanian @SubramanianKri]

Ian Botham (no, I will not call him “Sir”) says India’s financial dominance in cricket is a “problem” and the wealth should be “distributed more fairly.”
Let me get this straight.
Britain ruled India for nearly 200 years. Drained an estimated $45 trillion from the subcontinent. Engineered famines that killed millions. Systematically dismantled industries so Indian textiles couldn’t compete with Lancashire mills. Extracted timber, cotton, opium, indigo, and called it civilisation.
Not once did Botham’s Britain worry about “fair distribution.”
India then rebuilt itself from near-zero. Created the IPL, which is the most valuable cricket property on the planet. Built the audiences, the passion, the broadcast revenues that turned cricket from a colonial gentleman’s sport into a global business worth billions.
Every rupee India earns in cricket was built. Not extracted. Built.
Now that the money flows toward India rather than away from it, this man is suddenly concerned about equity.
And West Indies players choosing IPL contracts over Cricket West Indies? That’s called the market. The same free market Britain championed for two centuries when it worked in Britain’s favour.
Colonialism is the greatest redistribution story in history. It just went the wrong way.
India doesn’t owe cricket the world a rebate on its own success.
The hypocrisy isn’t subtle. It isn’t even dressed up well. It’s just bare, brazen, and entirely unsurprised by itself.
@virender_swag @virendersehwag @sachin_rt @imVkohli @GautamGambhir @BeefyBotham @MichaelVaughan

[Prof. Krishnamurthy V Subramanian @SubramanianKri]

Hockey is the best example of colonialism in sport:
India won eight Olympic gold medals in field hockey. Eight. On natural grass, with a style of play built on individual brilliance, close control, and improvisation that no other nation could match.
Then came artificial turf, which was introduced at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Overnight, the classical Indian game was rendered obsolete. The dribble was neutralized. Power and stamina replaced skill and artistry. European and Australian teams, better suited to the faster, harder surface, rose. India fell.
Coincidence? Perhaps. But the pattern is too familiar to ignore: when India dominates under one set of rules, the rules change.
The IPL is India rewriting the rules for once. On our terms. With our audiences. And our money.
You adjust now @BeefyBotham @MichaelVaughan.

[Katyayani Shukla @aibytekat]

A woman got the dreaded red banner: "Your Google Storage is Full." She could no longer send or receive emails.

She deleted hundreds of photos. Emptied her spam. The warning wouldn't go away.

She pulled out her credit card, ready to pay the $100/year Google One subscription.

Her IT friend grabbed her phone: "Before you pay Google a monthly tax for the rest of your life, let me show you something."

He opened her Google account and shook his head.

"There are 8 hidden data hogs filling up your free 15GB. Google hides them so you are forced to upgrade. Let's fix this."

Here's what he showed her in the next 8 minutes. 🧵