Quick notes: Bad loans, Foreign degree...

• Irretrievably lost: Indian banks have restructured over Rs6 lakh crore (over $93 billion) in bad loans in the last three years.  Nearly 30% of all bad loans in India may not be recovered—ever.



• India's non farm-loan debts could settle all distressed farm loans: 7.5% of all lending in India have become non-performing assets. Prior to 2014, the ratio typically remained below 4%. Much of the NPA problem arose when commercial banks lent aggressively, for long durations, to the non-priority sector in the early 2000s, when the economy reached a growth rate of over 9%.



• Banking scam has UPA era roots: “Advice” came from the UPA govt to all PSU banks to change over to Finacle. They obeyed in a herd, despite the high cost involved. Given the leakages that have taken place in the banking system, a ruthless examination by investigating agencies should be made of the UPA decision to change a well-functioning software with a much more expensive (and plainly inadequate) alternative.



• Finacle: Was PC behind the 25-fold procurement of Banking Software in PNBScam? Chief executive of PSU Bank most likely did not know what “benefits” he or she was getting from the new product.




• Unified Payments Interface: Google is beating the Indian govt at its own game.



• Trump is making India great again: For Indians rethinking college abroad, home has new degree of possibility. “Earlier the US was pretty much the only option for students, but now there are more options within India and in Asia.”



• J-20 Chengdu: China deploys J-20 stealth jet fighter, names India as threat 

Quick notes: Bhagwat is right, Avani Chaturvedi...

• Mohan Bhagwat is right: That the military is unprepared for war is no secret. The govt’s miserly defence allocations are not in sync with its tough posture and with a deteriorating security environment.



• Avani Chaturvedi: First Indian woman to fly a fighter aircraft solo
  
   



• Happiness research: Orthodox Christians were found to have the lowest happiness and life satisfaction rates.. . Divorce, drugs, drinking: Billy Graham’s children and their absent father.



• Rattled Cattlemen: The beef industry is rattled by Silicon Valley’s lab-grown meat startups



• Use nature to heal yourself: Natural settings prompt involuntary focus, wherein our vision and attention are open and relaxed, not jerked around from one potential danger to another as happens in urban environments.



• Gain ebike by Orbea: By hiding the battery in the down tube and fitting a rear hub motor, the Gain looks and handles like a traditional bike.




• Millennials, Gen Z drag down beer sales: The generation is also drinking less alcohol in general - in part because it doesn't think drinking is "cool" anymore.



• Britain's AIT: Ancient Britons replaced by newcomers about 4,500 years ago



• If you have a Disqus account, please report this Jesus freak -- he plants Church propaganda in unrelated discussions.

Quick notes: Foreign meddling, Trump towers...

• Who knew!! Not just Russia, the United States has a history of meddling in foreign elections.



• Trump Towers in India: Ads in Indian newspapers have been promising drinks and dinner with Trump Jr. if buyers make a down payment of 2.5 million rupees for an apartment. Other investors are financing the construction, while the Trump family is benefiting from licensing fees it charges to put the Trump name on the buildings.



• Get them addicted early: Facebook expands 'Messenger Kids' to Android despite outcry.  These are the sneaky ways apps like Instagram, Facebook, Tinder lure you in and get you addicted.



• Bloodbath: Amazon is wreaking havoc on American grocery industry



• Solid numbers: Tamil Nadu among the world’s leading renewable energy markets 



• Language policy: Calls for fight against Hindi imposition getting louder.



• Are we helpless?

Persons accused of big white collar crimes in India take safe refuge in UK or USA. Can a person accused in USA or UK take refuge in India?
We are not helpless. Our strength is in being united to bring these fugitives to justice system in India. No use in accusing each other.

— Ashok Khemka (@AshokKhemka_IAS) February 17, 2018




• Papaji: "Don't take I with you":

Quick notes: Vatican takes a deep bow, Paki reply...

• Vatican-Chini bhai-bhai: Pope genuflecting to China. ‘China is the best implementer of Catholic social doctrine,’ says senior Vatican bishop.



• A brutal Paki reply to Trump: “This is Pakistan giving a small taste of what it’s capable of”... The military-grade explosives, not widely available, used in recent Taliban and ISIS attacks in Afghanistan point to a state sponsor, likely Pak. 



• Padmashree V Nannamal: At 97, yoga guru is India's oldest Padma Shri




• India needs more researchers: We need more public funding for research including the creation of a National Foundation for Research in Science, Technology, and Humanities with an annual non-lapsable grant of at least Rs 5000 crore to give research grants on a competitive non-discriminatory basis.



• Mobile video viewership: Indians addicted to mobile videos



• Teenagers no longer use Facebook: Less than half of American internet users between ages 12 and 17 will be using Facebook this year



• China leading here too: Electric Buses Will Take Over Half the World Fleet by 2025



• Cook Anywhere Under The Sun:

Quick notes: 5G network, Automotive liberation...

• A nationalized 5G network: Trump's national security team is looking at options to counter Chinese threat that include building a super-fast 5G wireless network. Beijing is pushing for a greater role in setting technical standards in the next-generation wireless arena. “What if China is so successful in a key 5G technology that the US military becomes reliant on it as a supplier?”.



• High Net worth Individuals: 7,000 ultra-rich Indians shifted overseas in 2017



• The Automotive Liberation of Paris: The city has waged a remarkably successful effort to get cars off its streets and reclaim walkable space. Driving within Paris city limits has dropped about 45% since 1990. Meanwhile, the share of cyclists has increased tenfold over the same period. Transit’s share has risen by 30%.



• Arara: A battery-free magnetically powered bicycle light.




• Super Wood! Simple processes can make wood stronger than steel, able to stop a speeding bullet



• China's got a Railgun?: Looks like China just installed a railgun on a warship, beating the U.S. Navy to the punch



• The battle against tech addiction: “Facebook appeals to your lizard brain — primarily fear and anger”. “It has never been easier to run away from ourselves.”



• Appropriating Indian knowledge base: Do read this whole thread. 

Naturally, the Jesuits had no qualms about amassing any astronomical & mathematical knowledge from the pagan lands they went to proselytize in. India was no exception. They were very active in Kerala, where they gained access to Yuktibhasa, the seminal manuscript of Calculus.

— Joseph T Noony (@JoeAgneya) October 19, 2017

Quick notes: Saras flight, R&D spending...

• Saras prototype: India's first civil plane Saras takes to the skies after nearly a decade In 2009, the second prototype of Saras on a test flight crashed on Bengaluru's outskirts, killing three IAF pilots and engineers. Since then, the project was in limbo. 



• India wants NRI scientists to come home: But won't spend on R&D. On the list of the top 2,500 global R&D spenders, India’s presence extends to a mere 26 companies, versus China’s 301. “Universities have students but need additional faculty support, while research institutes have qualified faculty but are starved of bright young students brimming with energy and ideas.”



• Price comparison: India is paying $115 million as the bare-bones cost of each Rafale fighter (with India-specific enhancements, spares, logistics and weapons all extra). In comparison, an F-35A (the air force version) cost just $94.6 million in February 2017. This is slated to become even cheaper.



• Modi govt has let down Indian soldiers: Defence budget is just 1.58% of GDP, the lowest since the 1962 war. The figure was 3.18% in 1988. In comparison China spends 2.1% and Pakistan 2.36%. Only 3.6% of our defence budget is available for modernisation.



• Pakistan’s nuclear black market: AQ Khan’s accomplices in nuclear sales were European engineers and ambitious businessmen out to get rich quick: “Urbane and educated, they stashed millions of dollars in secret bank accounts they also drove the business by always being on the lookout for promising new markets.”



• Musthafa's Vada:




• Govt wants to tackle pollution only near NCR: "Somehow the budget seemed to have treated the air pollution as a Delhi-NCR problem. They're not considering it through a national dimension, the national scale of the air pollution crisis."



• Are we stuck with plastic drinking straws? Despite a useful life of just minutes, traditional plastic straws cannot degrade once disposed of.



• Milk:

When it was said that Milk used to flow out of the Cows of Brindavan, when Lord Krishna played the flute. People called it a silly belief. Now when the foreigners provide us the video, we are amazed. pic.twitter.com/U5Zz1XY9fC

— Rishi Bagree 🇮🇳 (@rishibagree) February 1, 2018