Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Quick notes: Chinese trap, Prosperity gospel...

  • Avoiding Chinese Debt Trap: Nepal scraps hydropower deal with Chinese firm. This month, India began the construction of a 900 MW hydro-power project in east Nepal.... Some nations have begun to realize the futility of taking loans from China


  • Silverpuram: In a village 3 Km from Sterlite plant, every other house has a cancer patient... From the archives of this blog: Taking away good, fertile, agricultural land for industrial gas-belchers is a bad idea


  • "Ancient Indian Mathematics" by mathematician David H. Bailey:


  • Prosperity Gospel: Padre with three planes wants followers to pay for a $54 million private jet



  • How Japan dealt with the Christian Threat: When Christians were captured they would be made to renounce their faith and live their lives as Buddhists. The state “wants not martyrs, but apostates. Apostates better than martyrs attest the impotence of a religion, especially when those apostates had been apostles of the faith and priests.” After they renounced their faith, priests were forced to take wives as part of their new lives and were constantly monitored by the authorities. If renunciation was not forthcoming through torture, however, the final act would be execution.


  • Unfair competition and predatory pricing: Indian trader group objects to Walmart-Flipkart deal 


  • Ask for something in return:

Friday, May 25, 2018

Quick notes: China border, Tariff battle...

  • India-China border: China is digging for gold right next to its disputed border with India. “Extensive power lines and communication networks have been established, while construction is under way on an airport that can handle passenger jets.” 


  • Tariff battle: In a retaliatory move, India proposes to raise duties by up to 100% on 20 products such as almonds, apple and specific motorcycles imported from the US


  • Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft: Tamil Nadu to build India’s next generation defence aircraft


  • George Sudarshan: A Lifelong Pursuit Of Science And Vedanta. Even non-Hindus will come back to Vedanta if they are sincere in their quest for Truth.


  • Punyakoti - First Sanskrit Animated Movie:



  • Dear #googletranslate, please add Sanskrit:


Saturday, May 19, 2018

Quick notes: Horse domestication, Karnataka bungle...

  • DNA Study Pokes Holes in Horse Domestication Theory:  “A lot of what we’ve published [on horse breeding and Eurasian population shifts] is probably going to be thrown out.”.


  • In 're-education' program, China incarcerates thousands of Muslims: The program forces captives to renounce their religious and ethnic ties in favor of broad nationalism


  • Karnataka bungle: “Once Modi and Shah left, the leaders here went into sleeping mode. The induction of former CM S M Krishna was not used for the benefit of the party. If the party had issued a ticket to Krishna’s daughter Shambhavi from Maddur, a better show would have been possible”.


  • Caste math: A profile of the new Karnataka assembly


  • Battery powered: Ola to add electric three-wheelers to fleet.... Honda may set up electric car battery plant in India.... Electric bicycle and motorcycle sales soar in Europe.


  • NASA satellites reveal freshwater decline: In northern India, groundwater extraction for irrigation of crops such as wheat and rice have caused a rapid decline in available water, despite rainfall being normal throughout the period studied. The fact that extractions already exceed recharge during normal precipitation does not bode well for the availability of groundwater during future droughts.


  • Diabetes type 2: Beans in diet could prevent high blood sugar.... Early time-restricted feeding improves blood sugar control and blood pressure.


Thursday, May 10, 2018

Quick notes: Foreign rifles, Pashtun movement...

  • Foreign rifles trump 'Make in India': Army closing indigenous high-tech project to save money for imported guns


  • Pashtun movement: A new nonviolent mass movement has swept through Pakistan in recent months, demanding an end to Pakistan military’s oppression and extrajudicial killings of minority ethnic Pashtuns. This grassroots movement has rattled Pakistan’s deep state, primarily the notorious spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence.


  • Flipkart deal: Is that really good news for India? For India as a country, the falling of Flipkart into foreign hands is a serious setback to Modi’s ‘Make in India’ dreams. The entire e-commerce battle is now America versus America.


  • Indian trader, farmer groups decry Flipkart deal: Traders say they are most concerned about predatory pricing and steep discounting by e-commerce firms with deep pockets thanks to foreign funding that could edge out smaller rivals. . “Whoever is protesting also has a story to tell. If you look at our history as a country, there was a history of colonialism. And there is always a fear that you start with trade and then it becomes control”.


  • We need a level playing field, say retailers: "While we have been telling that there is no level playing field, they are still not being taken care of. The real war is not about online and offline; our belief is that the real issue is about FDI in multi-brand retail is allowed or not".


  • Santana Dharmahas always existed and will always exist:


Friday, May 4, 2018

Quick notes: Flipkart, Wafer fabs...