Sneha

[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.

[Dhruv Rathee @dhruv_rathee]

Prime Embarrassment of India

Can you believe some clowns still support Modi in 2026? 🤡

[Helle @Oyemisty]

Mr. Modi wants to watch dancing in India, and when he goes abroad, he wants to watch dancing there as well.

If Mr. Modi wanted, he could visit the schools in Australia. He could see what kind of quality education the government there is providing to children, and that too for free.

How children are being taught technology, what is being taught in their books that so many children from India go to study in Australia, while children from Australia never come to India to study.

But what do I care? Enjoy. Mr. Modi is watching girls dance. How shameful it is. He is clapping and enjoying it.

[Congress Kerala @INCKerala]

Setting an example for the nation, Kerala is leading the fight against drugs.

[Sneha @sneha_bula]

@rishibagree Dude using a cooked up ss and not linking anything. Liar sanghi gutter sanghi, shameless ram temple looter sanghi

[Congress Kerala @INCKerala]

What are they doing? Load testing?

[mangesh nisal @mangeshnisal]

@MahuaMoitra @kunalkamra88 Kunal Kamra That's true. BJP has completely ruined Maharashtra and West Bengal. One day, everything will be set right. Mahua ji sab aapke saath hai

[Mahua Moitra @MahuaMoitra]

You’re the best @kunalkamra88

[Congress Kerala @INCKerala]

The potholes on NH-66 between Mumbai and Goa are not road damage.

They are India’s most advanced fuel-mixing technology, designed to shake your tank and blend Ethanol, Water, and a little bit of Petrol for maximum engine performance.

Shaken, not stirred.

[Tarun Gautam @TARUNspeakss]

@LiveLawIndia I would suggest Justice Jamdar to avoid morning walks for sometime

[Amock_ @Amockx2022]

BIDEN : When you give toast with empty glass it should be in your left hand

MODI : Hihihi.... Hahahaha.. Hehehehe 😭

BIDEN : He thinks i am kidding, but i am not

MODI : Hehehehhe.. Hahahah 😭

IS IT THE MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT FOR ANY PRIME MINISTER?

[Jayant Bhandari @JayantBhandari5]

Indians live like cockroaches and die like cockroaches. They vote for bottom of the barrel cockroaches as rulers, who rightly treat them as cockroaches. As an Indian can invariably expect, the police car passed by and offered no help.

[Congress Kerala @INCKerala]

Dear Epstein Boy @HardeepSPuri,

The energy density Ethanol is 26.8 MJ/kg, whereas Petrol is 46.4 MJ/kg. Which means theoretically, you need 1.74 litres of Ethanol to travel the same distance as with one litre of Petrol. If you think that mileage is going to be same with Ethanol and Petrol, you are mathematically unfit to stay in your position as Petroleum Minister. A school kid will do a better job than you.

You said "There is room for electric vehicles, biofuel blended vehicles, hybrid and CNG vehicles."

But there is room for Petrol vehicles. Provide us pure unleaded Petrol which was available before the greedy and uneducated lot took over India in 2014.

Just provide us pure Petrol first instead of Gadkari's alcohol. It's our right.

[V D Satheesan @vdsatheesan]

The proposed investment of a 49% share in Adani Vizhinjam Port Private Ltd. by Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) was announced without prior consultation with or intimation to the Government of #Keralam. I have conveyed the State Government's strong displeasure to the management of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd. Any change in the concessionaire's shareholding structure requires government approval and will be examined strictly under the provisions of the concession agreement and applicable regulations. The Government remains committed to safeguarding Keralam's interests and strengthening Vizhinjam as a globally competitive transshipment hub. #VizhinjamPort #Keralam

[Pawan Khera 🇮🇳 ಪವನ್ ಖೇರಾ @Pawankhera]

Dear Dharmendra Uncle,
@dpradhanbjp

Happy Birthday. You turn 57 today. We couldn't even reach half your age.

Yours,
Late Ritik Mishra
Late Anshika Pandey
Late Bhagyashree
Late Umesh Mali
Late Riya Kumari Thapa
Late Anukeerthana
Late Rima Begum
Late Siddharth Hegde
Late Pradeep Meghwal
Late Shivani Yadav
Late Renu Meena
Late Akansha
Late Kahan Patel
Late Maithili Sonwane

[Binu Alex @badjourno]

I order Kerala mixture from a delivery App in Kochi.
It arrives from Sonepat.

Approximately two thousand kilometres from the nearest coconut tree.

This is not a complaint about Sonepat. Sonepat is doing its best. But there is something quietly absurd about opening an app, typing Kerala chips, and receiving a product produced two continents away.

Kerala has units. Many of them. Small manufacturers who have been frying, salting, and packing these things for generations. The murukku. The banana chips. The mixture with the correct ratio of things that should be in a Kerala mixture. These people exist. Their factories exist. Their products exist.

What does not seem to exist is their shelf space. They have been kept away at a safe distance.

@letsblinkit and @instamart_it have categories. One of them is South Indian snacks. Inside that category, if you look carefully, you will find North Indian industrial production wearing a Malayalam label.

The algorithm, presumably, has its reasons.

The procurement team, presumably, has its high margins even when transporting 2000 kilometres. The local manufacturer, presumably, has a lower price but lower margin.

I am not asking for a revolution. Though it needs one.

I am asking that when I type Kerala chips into a ten-minute delivery app, the chips have at some point been in Kerala. And where is the option for customers to choose from local manufacturers?

What is @invest_kerala doing beyond creating some hash tags like #KeralaIndustries #IndustrialGrowth #KeralaGrowth and KINFRA continues to build mega food parks. For whom?

Next time you order, turn the packet around.
Just check.

@vdsatheesan @deepigoyal @albinder

[Prashob D'Souza @prashob_d]

@CJP_for_India

[Narendra Modi @narendramodi]

Chaired a meeting of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister. Deliberated on a wide range of issues relating to India’s economic transformation and long-term development priorities. Also shared perspectives on adding more momentum to the reforms journey and ensuring ‘Ease of Living’ as well as ‘Ease of Doing Business.’

@EACtoPM

[Congress Kerala @INCKerala]

Gadkari invented E85 to kill your engines and profit from it. The greed of this man has no limits.

[Congress Kerala @INCKerala]

The most uneducated head of state.