"The Ganga, it appears, can absorb unlimited quantities of sewage, heavy metals, partially burned corpses, and chemical effluent without her sentiments being hurt. It is specifically chicken biryani, consumed by Muslim men during Ramadan, that crosses the threshold".
Why is Modi “great” according to Trump? In an interview with Axios, Trump appears to answer that question himself. Playing to a domestic audience, he boasts about forcing India to the negotiating table and extracting concessions:
“Modi’s a great leader. And we do a lot of business with them [India], but now we do fair business. They used to really rip us off. I don’t blame them for that. You know, we had stupid politicians that allowed that to happen. But now we do a lot of business. They’re not that happy about it because they used to do a lot better. So Modi’s great.”
Viewed through Trump’s own telling, Modi’s greatness appears to derive from his purported willingness to accept terms that Trump portrays as a victory for the U.S.
That is often the hidden cost of Trump’s praise. When he flatters foreign leaders, it is usually to underscore not their triumphs but his own.
My view: The Ramayana is a mythological epic and literary work shaped by Valmiki and generations of storytellers, not a verifiable historical record. When myths are presented as unquestionable reality, they can discourage critical thinking and become tools of social and political influence. A healthy society should be able to respect its cultural stories while distinguishing faith from fact and mythology from history.
@rab9604 Amit Bhartia, the best thinker I have seen in decades, and I co-author this piece, inverting the entire chest beating over the impending collapse of our fertility rate, hence, demo dividend.
We argue that Demographic Buyback is the RIGHT way to look at TFR collapse, and that's how we will reach Middle Income in 75 years. There is no other way.
We hit ~$50,000 National EPS by 2100... that's $50k per Capita GDP.
We narrow the gap with US and China. We probably turn in a fiscal surplus.
Read it. It's all there.
A Demographic Buyback increases the nation's EPS, and economy's Free Cash Flow, as we postulate.
So, far from a death sentence, a population collapse is the solution: just like it is for China & others.
Point is Not whether the forecast is right or not.
Point is: only countries with declining populations will prosper in the coming decades. This is beyond debate.
Read. Reflect. Rotate and Share.
Final note: anybody using this concept will need to attribute to us. Otherwise I shall shame them with the call " Gali Gali mien shor hai, £¢¥~ Idea Chor hai".
After being beaten by Iran in a military skirmish, and by China in a technology and resources scramble, the US is now, most likely, moving to a new strategy
1) Ignore the middle-east and leave it to Iran
2) Let Israel fend for itself; let destiny take its route
3) Be friends with China to the extent possible
4) Don't overplay own hand in Pacific region
5) Gate own 'strategic competencies' (eg. AI)
6) Use India as required and extract whatever
7) Support Pakistan more
8) Dump Quad and Indo-Pacific notions
9) Sell energy & arms/weapons to the world pro-max
10) Be transactional and extractive wherever
Iran's rapid rise is now indisputable. China has risen. Pakistan is in their good books.
Since a large part of Indian industrial, political and bureaucratic elite are entirely compromised by the USA, expect zero resistance.
ANI coverage of PM Modi's foreign trips..
Step 1 PM says bye bye to everyone in India while boarding a plane. No sounds. Cinematic music and shots.
Step 2 Watches Indian dance music programme of women abroad. Make sure there are white people performing too. Look serious and interested
Step 3 Ask NRIs to say how much they love Modiji and how fortunate they are to see their bhagwaan from motherland who has done so much development in India.
Step 4 Make sure no one hears him speak. EVER.Never show the press asking him questions. Mute videos. Edit. Edit. Edit.
The End.
Indian elites want western aesthetics without western value systems.
Farmers' markets but no farmers. European-style parks and skateboarding arenas but restricted to residents of their gated communities. Western style protests but against Trump, not Modi. Rap music but with lyrics that have no angst about caste. Pride parade but with the KJo/Orry aesthetic.
You don't get a Paris or New York like this. You only get a Hiranandani or DLF.
How Nations Earn Respect
Because of power differentials, asymmetry is inherent in international negotiations. The parties are rarely equal in economic or military strength. Yet history shows that the stronger side does not necessarily prevail, whether on the battlefield or at the negotiating table. Outcomes between nations often depend less on material capabilities than on leadership, political will, national resilience, strategy and tactics.
In 1962, China, by launching a surprise war against an unprepared India, inflicted a humiliating defeat on an economically and militarily stronger adversary. More recently, the world’s most powerful military, the United States, has struggled to achieve decisive results against a much weaker Iran.
In 1999, China was no match for American power. Yet after the U.S. bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, which killed three Chinese nationals, Washington was compelled to pay $32.5 million in compensation for the damage and for those killed or wounded. The U.S. also issued repeated apologies for the bombing, with President Bill Clinton personally apologizing to help defuse the crisis.
In 1971, defying U.S. military pressure and nuclear blackmail, a relatively weak India helped Bangladesh secure independence in a swift 13-day military campaign that produced the largest number of prisoners of war (POWs) since the end of World War II. The operation succeeded despite President Nixon’s deployment of a nuclear-capable naval task force off the southern tip of India.
In 1998, an economically vulnerable India brushed aside U.S. sanctions threats and conducted a series of underground nuclear tests, declaring itself a nuclear-weapons state. The decision reflected a willingness to bear costs in pursuit of national objectives and ultimately became a defining moment in India's rise and strategic transformation.
In 2026, by contrast, an India widely regarded as a rising power but seemingly lacking comparable political resolve responded fecklessly to the killing of three unarmed Indian merchant mariners by the U.S. Navy, demanding neither an American apology nor compensation for the victims’ families.
These episodes differed in circumstance and scale, but they shared a common lesson: nations earn respect not merely through economic or military power, but through leadership, resolve and a willingness to defend their interests.
Respect is earned, not bestowed. Power alone does not command respect; leadership and resolve do. Without them, even a rising power may find itself unable to defend its interests, uphold its dignity or secure justice for its own citizens.
THIS 18-YEAR-OLD DID NOT BLINK 🔥
RAJDEEP: CBSE says TCS quoted around ₹951 crore, Coempt Edutech around ₹384 crore. Lowest bidder wins, so rules were followed.
SARTHAK 🎯: My question is not whether CBSE followed the rules. My question is why CBSE changed the rules.
RAJDEEP: People say you are batting for the opposition.
SARTHAK 🔥: In a democracy, opposition parties are pressure groups. If someone supports me, I am thankful. If someone ignores me, I do not care.
Time for a strict law:
No elected minister can send their children to study abroad or in elite private schools. All of them MUST send their kids to Indian Government schools and colleges. Only when their own children study in the same system will they fix it. The coaching mafia will die on its own. If they can’t put their kids through the same struggle, how can they lead the nation? Hypocrisy must end. Real education reform starts now.#NEETScam #DharmendraPradhanMustResign #EducationReform #IndiaFirst #NoMoreHypocrisyTag your MP. Share until it reaches the PMO.
@SauravDassss
Education is the ONLY honest route available to Indians to improve their economic status. Exams are life & death situations for millions. The casual zamindar style attitude displayed by the PM is his lowest moment in his 12 year rule.
PM Modi's #MannKiBaat came & went without a mention of the NEET, CBSE & CUET mess.
Let's not pretend this is beneath the Prime Minister's attention. We have seen the full communication apparatus mobilised over far smaller matters. Photo ops, speeches, tweets & inaugurations for projects of purely local significance.
When millions of students are affected, however, the country is expected to accept silence.
Strange priorities for a nation that calls its youth its greatest asset.
Vedant Srivastava - 17 yrs old
Took to social media and exposed discrepancies in CBSE's OSM marking system.
Nisarga Adhikary- 19 yrs old
Hacked CBSE website and informed them (and us) that it is vulnerable and can be hacked.
Sarthak Sidhant- 17 yrs old
Exposed how CBSE bent rules to award the OSM tender to COEMPT.
These 3 kids need to be lauded. They have given us a glimmer of hope. They have shown us, not all is lost.
We still have a future to salvage.
A Middle Class Tax Paying Citizen visits a local Honda Showroom to Buy a 110 CC Honda Activa Standard Model. Their First Vehicle.
He has already paid proper Income Tax and only then gets Salary.
He gets a quotation of ₹97456 + extra for Accessories.
He asks for Breakup.
He sees that the Basic Price of the Vehicle is only ₹66337.
GST (18%) comes to ₹11940 (9% to State & 9% to Central)
Then Road Tax + Registration + Smart Card etc comes to ₹13279.
Insurance is ₹5000 + ₹900 GST.
So basically he pays ₹66337 to Honda & ₹26089 in the form of GST & Road Tax & other charges.
For accessories, he has to pay additionally ₹4000 to ₹5000 which also includes GST.
He closes his eyes and imagines the Road on which they will be riding in the Monsoon which will come now. He imagines riding on the roads filled with water logging. He knows that the roads are not upto the mark. He wishes his Road Tax was fully utilized on High Quality Pothole Free Roads.
He feels bad for paying Road Tax for Roads which have potholes in the city. He knows that his Health will go down. But he has no choice. He cannot take a Car because he would be stuck for hours in a jam.
He feels that he has paid Income Tax, but has to pay 18% GST for a basic 2 wheeler. He has to pay 18% GST on Vehicle Insurance. On Accessories.
Then he looks at his family. He sees the joy on their faces as they purchase their first vehicle. He takes his phone out.
He makes the payment using Digital India UPI & takes the vehicle home !!! His family is happy. He goes to work next day.
Story of Middle Class.
#FI
This 17 year old from Jharkhand did more journalism sitting at his home than the entire Indian Media combined did in 12+ years.
This is inspiring stuff, Sarthak may have fixed CBSE forever.
Legendary stuff, Must Watch 👏
CBSE’s May 2025 tender required answer sheets to be scanned with automatic robotic scanners, spines preserved, at a minimum of 300 DPI.
The tender re-issued in August quietly removed all of it. “Scanners” became generic. Resolution dropped to 200 DPI.
Now we know what that meant in practice. It has been exposed that COEMPT scanned the answer sheets using mobile phones.
The blurred copies, the missing pages, the unscanned books - they are not “errors.” They are the predictable outcome of a contract written to fit a vendor.
This is fraud. And every child whose marks were wrongly evaluated is a victim of it.
This morning, the Prime Minister had time to speak about mangoes. He has not had time to speak about 18.5 lakh children whose answer sheets were scanned with phones.
Dharmendra Pradhan ji still sits in office.
Modi ji’s silence is no longer indifference. It is complicity.