Hello, Bengaluru. I took the new airport train from Cantonment Station yesterday evening at 5:55 pm. On-board I met Rahul, a 27 year old aircraft maintanence engineer who had a flight at 8:30 pm to Chennai. He was the only passenger on the train who was going to the airport.

He was nervous along the way because the train was slower than schedule and there was confusion overall about the new route. The train reached the airport halt station at 7:12 pm, 1 hour and 17 minutes after it left Cantonment Station. (22 minutes slower than schedule).

After a quick ride in the free shuttle bus service, Rahul was at the airport by 7:30, an hour before his flight. But here's the best part - he paid Rs 10 for the journey! A cab fare would cost Rs 700+ and close to his flight ticket price, the bus fare from his home was Rs 270.

He avoided the rush hour evening traffic and reached the airport in time for his flight. He says the 20 minute delay is an issue that needs to be fixed.

Mohan, another commuter who regularly travels the route to Chikkaballapura, says that the rail line between Yehalanka and Devanahalli is a single track, which means that trains can only go once every 30 minutes in either direction. He says doubling work needs to be taken up here

Thread. Agriculture as shock absorber.

In all the discussions on Indian agriculture and farming, one aspect of this sector gets largely overlooked.

Its role as a social safety net.

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For the poor and the vulnerable, the agricultural and allied sectors are still the main safety net in times of crisis.

And it is much bigger and more effective than all the other safety nets - like MNREGA - that we currently have.

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Safety nets are most important in countries that have a lot of vulnerable people and have adopted a market-led growth strategy.

Markets are useful in driving higher growth over time, but are also much more vulnerable to many types of shocks.

Covid-19 is a good example.

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Vulnerable people do not have adequate savings to fall back on in times of such shocks.

Social safety nets are the only mechanism that can prevent them from life and health risks during these shocks.

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Think of the reverse migration that India experienced after the imposition of the first lockdown.

The only reason so many wage workers took such a risky decision was because they trusted the agricultural sector to save their lives. And arguably it did.

5/11

What 'they' will never tell you ...

Another Long Thread on ongoing ARHATIYA Middleman Fatcats & increasingly, Left & Oppsn sponsored Agitation nee Jamboree at Delhi's Borders!

Folks, patience solicited twitter restrictions force it!

Credit to @Harishekhawat83

Here goes ...

1
🚩UNTOLD STORY OF PUNJAB AND INSIDE STORY OF FARMER AGITATION

1. Punjabi Farmers take away approx. 55% of Country's Budget on MSP Proc. Country's budget on Food Grain procurement is not UNLIMITED! The Govt can procure only as much as it needs for PDS & buffer stock.

Contd

2
So while only 6% of the country's total farming population lives in Punjab, it is encashing 55% of entire country's budget meant for grain proc.
Thus a disproportionate share of income from Taxes collected by Govt from all other States is eff spent on Punjab Farmers.

Contd

3
What about farmers of other states?

Why should GOI not purchase proportionately from 94% Farmers of other states?!

If some 'Annadata' / 'I'm with Farmer' wants to say that Govt should incr MSP procurement from other states also, then he is conning you!

4
GOI can proc only ltd qty as per budget for PDS. Govt simply doesnt have the money to procure ALL grain prod in India.

The 'Im with farmer'/ 'Annadata' types must also agitat e asking Govt. to hugely incr Taxes & GST in order to raise money for making UNLTD proc at MSP.

I’ve finally managed to get through the Arnab Goswami Chatgate pdf. Everyone has already highlighted those portions that needed highlighting. I have a slightly different tack.

1. The messages tell me that news is a carefully constructed consumer product.

This is something we all already know but it’s nice to see confirmation. Events are presented in the high-decibel manner that has become the standard because the product is crying for attention.

2. These folks don’t care about what has actually happened and to whom. They’re

callous about it. Their eye is firmly on the ratings. There is no empathy in their conversation. The empathy on screen is constructed.

3. Overall the chats reveal varying degrees of competition between channels to get real close to those in office. One thing that stood out

is reference to the PMO asking who leaked a particular story. Even the state doesn’t have control over its disinformation. Power centers within the state seem to be disseminating different info to their preferred reporters or channels.

This was fully flagged in an old piece I had co-authored on Pulwama in 2019. How there was so much contradictory information about one singular incident.

4. The real issue then is what about journalism. Is this even journalism or should we be calling it something else?

This time last year, 19 people part of the #antiCAA protests were killed in Uttar Pradesh. I'd travelled to various districts of the state which saw heightened violence, police brutality, and mass arrests. Here are some stories that tell the horror. Never forget.

Thread. 1/n

20-year-old UPSC aspirant Suleiman was shot dead in Bijnor, along with 21-year-old Anas whose son turned seven months old just a day after he was killed.

That's Anas' father, Arshad Hussain, standing next to the spot where his son was killed. The bloodstains were still fresh. 3/n

Photograph by: @PraveenJain2622

In Muzaffarnagar, mass arrests, vandalism of mosques and homes-- a crackdown so intense that residents said they didn't even feel such fear during 2013 riots.

Posters of ‘wanted’ men come up in Meerut where 5 killed in violence during CAA protests.

These posters soon came up in all other districts too.

@rajnathsingh @DrSJaishankar @3DArnab @AjitPawarSpeaks @PawarSpeaks @uddhavthackeray @sardesairajdeep @yadavakhilesh @NSAajitdovalind @_YogendraYadav @KapilSibal
# There can not be law for every thing....
Contract farming or farming done by taking agricultural land on rent

or group farming by making '" land banking " can be done efficiently only by convencing and educating people by co-operative movement ( sahakar movement)

# Government should concentrate only and only on creating grivence redressal machanism.... which can

be used to solve the dispute if arised between farmers and pvt. players.

# While creating law , which can help to solve the problems of farmers , one should make it clear that any case which is admitted in the courts, will be tested on certain laws like IPC/CRPC or civil laws

# Either law should be strong enough to protect the interests of farmers and should sufficient to solve the issue...... If not that law can be harmful.... previous law's maybe sufficient to adress all problems that may arise related to farmers bcoz agriculture is the

oldest profession known to human being.

# In the case of farming done by pvt. players by taking land on lease or on rent there should be income tax on income earned by the farmer.....as this is not a income from agricultural produce .

India produces over 60% of the total vaccines sold globally.

Free Universal Immunisation Programme was launched way back in 1985.

As Covid vaccination rolls out, let applause this great Indian success story, that must be handled with great care to ensure continued credibility

The vaccine production started in British times. Immediately after independence, a vast network of vaccine research and manufacturers was developed that made the success story possible

Expanded Programme of Immunisation was launched in 1978.

People of my age remember the extensive free vaccination in schools and all still have marks of vaccination on our arms.

Small pox to Polio have been eradicated.

free universal immunisation was expanded in 2005

This success story of vaccine development, manufacture and immunisation could happen because India laid a huge network of Research Institutes. A glance:

International Centre for Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology  (ICGEB),Delhi

National Institute of Immunology (NII), Delhi 5/n

New Delhi

National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune

National Aids Research Institute (NARI), Pune

National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED), Kolkata

Tuberculosis Research Centre (TRC), Chennai

Regional Medical Research Centre (BBSR), Bhuvaneshwar
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Not related to Kotak Mahindra Bank

The answer is of course Mr. Nana Patekar.
It was a hilarious option 🤣
Thread follows. (2/n)

Kotak Mahindra Bank

Introduction:
Today our topic of discussion is Kotak Mahindra Bank.
Here we shall watch this company's business model , financials and valuation.

History:
Let's start with the history.
History of this company is very interesting.
(3/n)

As you may know,Mr. Uday Kotak is the managing director and he started this company, his family hails from a business family trading into cotton and multiple other businesses too.
For a short span of time,Mr. Uday Kotak actually worked with them as well but (4/n)

he didn't enjoy it to work with a lot of people from own family.
He completed his studies,he decided to start a financial services company.
You might wonder why he wanted to start such a thing.
Mr. Uday Kotak used to visit a brokerage office in Mumbai stock exchange (5/n)

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Sardar Patel's letter to Jawaharlal Nehru.
On #China & #Tibet.

Stark contrast to the far-sightedness of Sardar Patel.

Doesn't also reflect well on the BJP leadership either, that chose to get fooled by China, and ignore both history & realities.

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"The Chinese Government has tried to delude us by professions of peaceful intention."

#SardarPatel #Nehru #China #Tibet

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"The tragedy of it is that the Tibetans put faith in us; they choose to be guided by us, and we have been unable to get them out of the meshes of Chinese diplomacy or Chinese malevolence."
#SardarPatel #Nehru #China #Tibet

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"Our Ambassador has been at great pains to find an explanation or justification for Chinese policy and actions."

#SardarPatel #Nehru #China #Tibet

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"This feeling, if genuinely entertained by the Chinese in spite of your [Nehru's] direct approaches to them, indicates that even though we regard ourselves as friends of China, the Chinese do not regard us as their friends."

#SardarPatel #Nehru #China #Tibet

Times when Rajnikanth stood with bjp:

Caa ✅
NPR ✅
NRC ✅
Tuticorin ✅
Thiest politics ✅
Surgical strike ✅
Against protest ✅
No elegible leader in TN✅
Against periyar/Dravidam✅
Don't cares about rajiv murderers release ✅

Videos of these speech ? Here you go, thread👇

Rajinikanth:

NPR- Essential and is just population ✅
NRC- To know the people inside ✅
CAA- CAA is not against Muslims ✅

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Rajinikanth:

Tuticorin shootout:- Tuticorin riot done by anti-nationals. ✅

3/n

Rajinikanth:

Thiest politics- Dravidian party is anti-religion, but we are for all✅

4/n

Rajinikanth:

Surgical strike:- Surgical strike and 370 abolishment is right and now everyone knows that Amit shah is the boss✅

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🛑𝑻𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝑫𝒆𝒍𝒉𝒊 𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒕𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏🛑

Since 2014 he misused the central machinery to threaten and bully @AIADMKOfficial after breaking them into two. It's almost 6 years and he has not delivered what he had promised to the centre.

@RatanSharda55
@DrMohanBhagwat

@
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He is still experimenting. He tried to bring in Ganga jal; @rajinikanth but Rajini figured out he is highly venomous and escaped.

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Failures after failure, yet there are people at the centre who believe him to deliver the goods. It makes me wonder, what kind of Idiots who could buy his stories.

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Failing yet again after @rajinikanth walked out, he threatened @AIADMKOfficial by telling them that @BJP4India wouldn't mind joining with Sasikala, whom he addressed as sewage water.

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Which saw @EPSTamilNadu run to Delhi & succumb to BJP demands, knowing for sure that anyone joining with @BJP4TamilNadu will give victory to @arivalayam in a platter!

5/8

India has not only the 4th largest military in the world but also the most advanced weapons. Here is the list of 10 weapons possessed by the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force that are among the best in the world.

10.PINAKA

Combat proven in the cold and high altitude regions during the Kargil conflict in 1999, Pinaka can fire up to 12 missiles/rockets in 44 seconds with a reload time as short as 4 minutes.

9.T-90S BhiSHMA

Bhishma is the Indian name for the Russian-made T-90s tanks.

An amalgam of T-80U and T-72B, the T-90S have superior fire control system and mobility.

8.INS VIKRAMADITYA

By far the biggest and the most expensive aircraft carrier in the Indian Navy, this 45,000-kilo sea monster can carry up to 24 MiG-29K fighters and 6 ASW/AEW helicopters.

7.NAG MISSILE AND NAMICA (NAG MISSILE CARRIER)

Often reckoned as world’s only anti-tank missile which has a complete fiberglass structure, NAG weighs 42 kg, and can engage targets at ranges 4–5 km at a flight speed of 230 metres per second using infrared imaging system.

10 QUESTIONS OVER #ArnabChatGate – What the Opposition wants to know?

‘Can Centre explain who leaked military secrets to Arnab Goswami in the aftermath of Pulwama attack?’

10 QUESTIONS OVER #ArnabChatGate – What the Opposition wants to know?

‘Opposition asks who are the officials in the Centre named in the Arnab Goswami leaked WhatsApp conversations?’

10 QUESTIONS OVER #ArnabChatGate – What the Opposition wants to know?

‘How was it that Arnab Goswami knew about Centre’s move to dilute the provisions of Article 370 even before Opposition was informed?’

10 QUESTIONS OVER #ArnabChatGate – What the Opposition wants to know?

‘Will the Centre institute an inquiry under the official secrets act to determine the source of the military secrets leak to Arnab Goswami?’

10 QUESTIONS OVER #ArnabChatGate – What the Opposition wants to know?

‘Opposition asks Centre to name officials mentioned in PMO by Arnab Goswami in his WhatsApp chats to ex-BARC chief Partho Dasgupta?’