Quick notes: Russia's real threat | Heat insurance...

• Why Russia's Biggest Threat is Actually China: The stronger China becomes, the greater the imbalance grows, and the more Beijing may prod Moscow to align its interests with China’s.




• EV dominance: Ford gets $9.2 Billion to help US catch up with China.



• Stop spam calls: WhatsApp announced a new feature, "Silence Unknown Callers", allowing users to automatically mute incoming calls if they are from an unknown number. When enabled, the app will silence all the signs of incoming calls from unknown numbers.



• The individual self is a myth: It is the process of thinking that creates the self, rather than there being a self having any independent existence separate from thought. The self is more like a verb than a noun. To take it a step further, the implication is that without thought, the self does not, in fact, exist. . . . . The 'self' here is the 'individual self' or 'separate self' or 'ego'. Not to be confused with Max Muller's 'Self', his word for Atma.



• Heat Insurance: Help for livelihood loss for outdoor workers due to extreme heat.
  Ahmedabad's Heat Action Plan: In addition to parametric insurance programs for outdoor workers, there are efforts in Ahmedabad to cover roofs with heat-reflective paint, implement early-warning systems and establish hospital heat wards in the city of more than 8.5 million people. The proactive approach has become a blueprint for other cities in developing countries who have accepted that record temperatures aren’t just freak weather: they’re the new reality as the planet continues to warm.

Quick notes: Brain-drain | Big fat churches...

• Brain-drain: A third of India's most sought after engineering graduates leave the country. Nine out of 10 top scorers in the annual joint entrance examination held nationally for admission to the IITs and other reputed engineering colleges have migrated. Up to 36% of the top 1,000 scorers, too, have taken this path.



• India to lose 6,500 millionaires in 2023: Dubai and Singapore remain preferred destinations for wealthy Indian families..‘Millionaires’ or ‘high-networth individuals’ (HNWIs) refer to those with investable wealth of $1 million or more.



• Germany's BIG FAT Churches: The two main churches have total assets worth about €300 billion with combined annual turnover of €150 billion. State payments are only a small part of church income in Germany, with taxes to the tune of €13 billion annually making up the bulk of it.
  
  In addition, there's a sizable amount of income from church assets about which the clergy keeps mum. The two churches are said to be the biggest landlords in Germany, owning forests, farmland and other real estate, as well as holding stakes in businesses such as publishing houses, breweries, banks and insurance companies.



• Biggest losers of AI boom are knowledge workers: The transformation will pile pressure on higher-wage knowledge workers whose activities “were previously considered to be relatively immune from automation,” according to McKinsey study.
  
  A few years ago, McKinsey had estimated that about half of worker hours worldwide were spent on tasks that could be automated. Now it’s raising the figure to as high as 60-70 per cent. Employees could find that their time is reallocated — or that their jobs disappear.



• EU Hits Google with Antitrust Charges: Google faces EU break-up order over anti-competitive adtech practices. Google may have to sell part of its adtech business.



• Chip slowdown: Top 10 foundries see revenue drop nearly 15% Year-over-Year.



• Nisargadatta: Change your world without trying to change others




• Organ donors: India has one of the world's lowest rates of organ donation. The current health system limits the health benefits of donated organs and allows private hospitals to profit without contributing much to the system.

Quick notes: Semi setback | EV juggernaut...

• Semi setback: Vedanta-Foxconn setback shows cracks in Modi's $24 bn manufacturing push... A $3 billion proposal that had Israeli foundry Tower Semiconductor Ltd. as a tech partner has also stalled, while a third plan is stuck because Singapore-based IGSS Ventures Pte wants to re-apply
  
  Stalled: Tower ISMC's India chip plan stalls after Tower-Intel deal in setback to Modi. . . "No country ever succeeded in launching a viable semiconductor industry without doing some research on its own". . . . . . busy in history research and debates.
  
  U.S. Semiconductor Fab Boom Kicks Off: Thanks to the CHIPS Act and electric vehicles.



• China’s EV Juggernaut Is a Warning for the West: China rocked the auto world twice this year. First, its electric vehicles stunned Western rivals at the Shanghai auto show with their quality, features and price. Then came reports that in the first quarter of 2023 it dethroned Japan as the world’s largest auto exporter.
  
  Ford CEO On EVs: "We see the Chinese as the main competitor, not GM or Toyota"
  
  Giga-factory in Gujarat: Tata Motors looking to increase localisation of EVs to 85%



• No to Huawei and ZTE: India has no plans of providing trusted source certificates to Chinese telecom equipment manufacturers



• India Pauses Plans To Add New Coal Plants: Indian govt will not consider any proposals for new coal plants for the next five years and focus on growing its renewables sector. “everything related to water, air pollution, resource management has been removed.



• India Cuts Periodic Table, Evolution from School Textbooks: “Everything related to water, air pollution, resource management has been removed”.



• Vital lessons for India: The real reason Egypt is moving its capital - Thwart anarchists. Watch from 7:30. . . . . . . . Remember Shaheen Bagh?




• Blow to East India Company: BBC ‘accepts’ it paid lower taxes in India



• Distrust: Backlash against weaponized dollar is growing across the world.



• Using Islam to make Kurds kill Kurds: Erdogan backs Kurdish Islamist party. “This is the women’s last vote. Maybe we will lose our voting rights.”



• "Vulgarity and violence": Utah primary schools ban Bible for 'vulgarity and violence'



• Jaali buildings are gaining popularity globally: Jaali’s cooling feature relies on the Venturi effect in a similar way to an air conditioning unit. "When air passes through holes, it picks up velocity and penetrates afar. Due to the small apertures, air gets compressed and when released it gets cooler".




• Could ultra-processed foods be harmful for us? Aimee, 24, has spent two weeks on an ultra-processed diet. Her identical twin, Nancy, was consuming raw or low-processed foods. Aimee gained nearly a kilo in weight - Nancy lost weight. Aimee's blood sugar levels also worsened and her blood fat levels - lipids - went up. "It's a bit scary isn't it after only two weeks to see those results."

Quick notes: Outbound travel | Comac C919...

• Outbound travel: Indians travelers are searching for international trips faster than travelers in any other market in the world. Last year, Indian travelers spent 20% more than the average Chinese customer on accommodations for their international travels. "Indians like to stay in four- or five-star accommodations, and at branded hotels with names that they are familiar with."



• India Chooses Arm's Neoverse for National Chip Design Push: C-DAC's Aum Arm accelerator promises 96 cores or Arm to beat even supercomputers.



• For a change, try a hard-headed China policy: Despite six decades of experience of Chinese behaviour, India has willfully suspended its disbelief and, by way of a default policy, accepted new sets of promises and commitments to maintain peace and harmony on the border. Beijing plays for time and tests India’s patience, straight facedly repeating the stock phrases about India, in effect, needing to move on and, by the by, to help the Chinese economy get back on its feet by accepting increased Chinese exports even if it means exacerbating the current trade deficit of some $70 billion!
  
  For starters, instead of tippy-toeing around the option, New Delhi has to begin actually applying the tourniquet on bilateral trade, gradually closing off market access, firstly, to Chinese light manufactures and capital consumer goods (mobile telephones of every description, MG cars, Haier household goods — airconditioners, washing machines, etc.) and, secondly, shutting the door on the Chinese teleecom giants — Huawei, ZTE, etc. Recently Vodafone chose the Chinese company ZTE’s 5-G transmission gear worth Rs 220 crore to upgrade its network.



• China's C919 passenger plane enters into service: The 164-seater still relies heavily on Western components, including engines and avionics.. State-owned AVIC Aircraft supplies structural components like wing boxes and flaps; Sichuan Chengfei Integration Technology provides parts and component; and advanced materials manufacturer Western Superconducting Technologies supplies titanium alloys.



• France bans short-haul flights: "On average, the plane emits 77 times more CO2 per passenger than the train on these routes, even though the train is cheaper and the time lost is limited to 40 minutes".



• Big apple is sinking: The ground under New York City is sinking partly due to the sheer mass of all its buildings – and it isn't the only coastal city to be suffering this fate.



• British loot: Greece recovers hundreds of looted artefacts, including bronze statue of Alexander the Great, from disgraced British art dealer Robin Symes



• Khalistan goons: Sikhs in London are scared

Quick notes: High consumption | Unsafe terror haven...

• The curious case of India’s high consumption: India seems to be consuming its way to growth. Spends on “Roti, Kapda and Makaan” actually grew at lower rates over the period 2012–13 to 2019–20. On the other hand, spends on alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotics grew rapidly, and so did spends on transportation, recreation and culture, and restaurants and hotels. “Entertainment, Entertainment, Entertainment”.



• Ghar Mein Ghus ke Marenge: Khalistan Commando Force-Panjwar terrorist shot dead in Lahore. The killing is the latest instance of terror kingpins being targeted outside India. In February this year, Bashir Ahmad Peer, a self-styled commander of the terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Pakistan's Rawalpindi.
  
  Also in the same month, former commander of Pakistan-based terror outfit Al Badr, Syed Khalid Raza, was killed in a similar manner outside his residence in Karachi while Kashmir-born terrorist Aijaz Ahmad Ahanger alias Abu Usman Al-Kashmiri, who had joined the Islamic State( IS), was reportedly killed in Kunar province of Afghanistan.



• Dr. Radhika Desai: The signs of de-dollarization are everywhere.
  
  Rupee-ruble payment pact talks reportedly suspended.. Moscow is wary of a glut of Indian currency in its treasury, while a growing trade imbalance and double conversion worries New Delhi.
  
  Pakistan switching to yuan to buy Russian oil



• CPU Technology Nodes explained: What is wrong with 5nm, 3nm, 1nm.
Anastasi in tech



• Light pollution: The number of stars that people can see with the naked eye has reduced dramatically over the last decade. The cause is "Skyglow" from artificial lighting - the brightness of that glow has increased every year since 2011. "Our view of the stars is disappearing".



• Protein powders: Are they bad for your health? It's not some magic powder which will suddenly make you strong. You have to put the work in.



• Regenerative farming: Regenerative farming links soil health to human health. Decades of chemicals have ruined soils, making them less capable of providing nourishment for the crops, and lessening their nutritional value as a result. The United States has the lowest per capita spending on food of any industrialized nation in the world. Conversely, the US also has the highest per capita spending on healthcare of any industrialized nation in the world.



• Millet for Diabetes : Studies on millet nutrition: Is it a Healthy Grain?




• Second capital: China considers building its second capital in Xinjiang. 'It would end the historical concept that the region is the Uyghur people's motherland'.

Quick notes: Changing warfare | Industrial policy

• A war which changed the very nature of war itself: "In the First World War, we invented the machine gun on a tank, and that changed the nature of the war; in the Second World War, we invented aerial bombardment of enemy cities. Historians will look back at the war in Ukraine and realise how drones and autonomy started to take off, and that was a step that changed the nature of war. I think international regulation will eventually be introduced to stop the potential use of killer drones because these are ultimately going to be weapons of mass destruction”.


• Still clueless on manufacturing: Our industrial policy is based on a conceptually flawed approach of picking winning firms rather than sectors. This is the opposite of the successful approach adopted in East Asia, which did not select winning firms but adopted a combination of a horizontal, cross-sectoral industrial policy and a focus on some key sectors.
  
  Between 1979–2014, manufacturing remained at 16–18% of India’s Gross Value Added (GVA). Since 2015, it has declined and reached 13% by 2019, the lowest ever since 1960. . read more.



• CJI must come clean and apologise: For the Chief Justice to confuse gender with sex and claim there is no such thing as an absolute concept of a biological man, is not only anti-science, it is dangerous if applied to the fields of medicine and forensics.



• Caribbean nations want UK to pay reparations for slavery: Britain traded more slaves than nearly any other country, transporting 3.1 million Africans to its colonies in the Caribbean, as well as to North and South America.



• Misleading ads: How Bournvita lost the trust of its consumers



• Vidhushi Smt Malini Rajurkar: Tarana in Raag Shankara.




• K K Muhammad: Out of 200 Bateshwar Hindu temples in Madhya Pradesh, 80 got restored during Congress Govt and the remaining 120 temples could not, since BJP Govt didn't support.

Immensely liked the @TheLallantop interview of archeologist KK Mohammad

Mr Mohd was candid in saying that out of 200 Bateshwar Hindu temples in Madhya Pradesh , 80 got restored during Congress Govt and the remaining 120 temples could not , since @BJP4India Govt didn't support pic.twitter.com/SCeiYZXkN9

— Pawan Durani (@PawanDurani) April 18, 2023




pic.twitter.com/2bqb3L2eSm

— Tyrion Kumar Lannister (@KumarTyrion) April 19, 2023




True i was there last year terrible condition. pic.twitter.com/iXym0jLqRg

— Rishabh jajoo (@Rishabhjajoo2) April 19, 2023




• Wetlands are nature's shock absorbers: But India is losing them at an alarming rate