New Browncast up. It’s about the ’71 genocide (if you haven’t, please subscribe on a podcast app). I haven’t talked up the Patreon in a while, but all the hosting/editing (we need more than the usual storage since sometimes there are 4-5 podcasts in a month!) is supported by that, so if you like what we’re doing, please chip in. I usually post episodes early for patrons.
My first steppe piece on Indo-Europeans is up at my Substack. It, and the subsequent steppe pieces are going to be paid.
Unherd will be posting a review of The Horde: How the Mongols Changed the World on Monday.
Also, I think it is high time I spotlight some work/projects of BP contributors: The Emissary and Meru Media.
Make sure to follow me on Clubhouse and the Brown Pundits Club. We’ve been doing a lot of impromptu discussions on the club, so once it opens up to Android you’ll want to join.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.indiatoday.in/amp/coronavirus-outbreak/vaccine-updates/story/zydus-cadila-covid-vaccine-close-to-getting-approved-in-india-says-md-sharvil-patel-1800132-2021-05-08
Zydus Cadila Covid vaccine close to getting approved in India, says MD Sharvil Patel
https://www.google.com/amp/s/theprint.in/economy/heres-what-more-rbi-can-do-to-help-indian-economy-as-covid-rages-on/653453/%3famp
Here’s what more RBI can do to help Indian economy as Covid rages on
A profile on Tamil Nadu’s incoming finmin:
https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chennai/m-k-stalin-tamil-nadu-finance-minister-palanivel-thiagarajan-7306450/
On the vaccine patent issue. Vivek Dehejia argues that it’s a red herring and the real question is scaling up production, which temporarily suspending IP would not affect as much as people would like to think. Maybe. I personally think overly zealous IP laws hamper innovation so I am in favour of suspending the IP, but even if that were to happen, people shouldn’t delude themselves that it will be a magic bullet.
The EU had a summit yesterday where the noises coming out where decidedly skeptical about suspension of IP, so we’re looking at months of negotiations on this issue at best. At any rate, we should not forget that the US and UK are the ones with de facto export controls. The EU has exported almost half of its vaccines produced. So the ball is in the Angloid corner.
Hindutva’s BIMARU problem – Part 1
In the absence of coherent and cogent political theories for the BJP’s Bengal debacle, there is an unreserved amount of glee and triumphalism in liberal quarters on behalf of Mamta and her Minions (Moitra, Derek, PK et al). It was quite clear that they had donned on their funeral whites and sombre faces (PK’s leaked clubhouse chat, Mamta’s xenophobic calls) – but quite unexpectedly in the end, the corpse woke up to their own surprise and delight. Exactly like “Shining India” more than 17 years ago, there is now a retconned brainboxing underway. But what if the underlying iceberg is bigger than anyone thinks?
I had commented in the past that the non-Mughal regions or the earliest Mughal regions in India to break away are/were the highest performing economic powerhouses today. Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamilnadu – even the industrial laggard Kerala possesses an HDI that is European-like. Bengal – another early ex-Mughal region to leave the fold – was the preeminent Asian dynamo of its age that caused even Lee Yuan Kew, the Singaporean reformer, to idolise it.
A Brown Pundit, Querishi, opposed this conjecture stating that the coastal regions are always well developed rather than their inland counterparts. This is clearly an excessive stretch. Chengdu, the IT/electronics giant of China is 1350 kms inland while Patna is barely 600 kms from the sea. Switzerland, which is landlocked, is by far the richest region compared to the sunny South European countries. Another Pundit, Prats, supposed that the Mughal regions suffered the curse of zamindari while the ex-Mughal regions had the ryotwari system implemented that gave land directly to cultivators. Both of these objections are ideal foils – but they do not completely detract/support the original proposition.
What if there is another societal multi-century phenomenon that is common to all these economic power houses of India?
Hindutva’s BIMARU problem – Part 2
It is well known and acknowledged in European political and economic theories that the Protestant Reformation had the single greatest impact on that continent. Long run economic success is intimately linked to Protestantism – the more Protestant a region is, the higher per capita income it possesses. The reasons proposed are many, from “work ethic” by Max Weber to “entrepreneurship”, “not believers in pre-destiny” by others. The term WASP uniquely captures this selfsame cultural phenomenon in the New World as well.
Is there a similar dynamic in the powerhouse regions of India that we know of? Let us examine the evidence – take Karnataka and Tamilnadu – the earliest regions apart from the Nastika philosophies to remove or supplant the Vedas authority with the Agamic code. The Lingayats in Karnataka took the Nayanars’ (63 Saivite saints) teachings further to create a vachana-based social order that defied authority. Unlike Buddhism (Gangetic Reformation), these Saivite philosophies survived all the way into the 20th century as fecund political forces. While the Dravidian movement is infused with caste reformation, they and the Saivite movements have been fellow travelers for a part of the journey (no collaboration on linguistic aspects). Although there is a wider acceptance of the confluences, the Adheenamś (monasteries) have prevented any further digestion.
Similarly Maharashtra presents a higher and much more radical re-ordering of Hindu religion in the 19th century than any other region of India. Bustling with social and religious bodies – Satya Shodhak Samaj, Prarthana Samaj, Poona Sarvajanik Sabha – many of them led by non-Brahmins – Maharashtra set the tone for the profound changes that would emerge in the Indian independence movement. A lot of the festivals were democratized in public consciousness for the first time without the need for a presiding Brahmin clergy. Many of these were led by Chitpavan Brahmins like Govind Ranade and Savarkar.
A Hindu revival and reformation singularly marks its presence in most of the economically dynamic regions of India which also happen to be the earliest regions to free themselves or be freed from Mughal rule by Native or European intervention. This is remarkably similar to the Protestant flowering in Europe which not only disordered the polity but commerce as well.
Hindutva’s BIMARU problem – Conclusion
Coming to the present – we see the remarkable advent of Hindutva, originally from the Maratha strongholds, advance into the Gangetic Belt – the core ex-Mughal area. However only in the coming of Modi and Shah, we have seen a capture of the electoral and public consciousness of the BIMARU/ ex-Mughal regions with remarkable clarity.
The original Modi-Shah duo, while in Gujarat, were known for their panache and industriousness that was well appreciated within the richer and reformed states. But the electoral triumphs in UP, Bihar and MP are now causing a new association with the backward, stagnating societies of the Gangetic Belt.
Only a content and prosperous Hindu can be a better Hindu. Only such a body of Hindus can freely dabble in eclectic religious, intellectual and political pursuits. Only such Hindus will receive the admiration and praise of their fellowmen. The Gangetic societies – they have ceased to exhibit these qualities – they are the ritualized, static strongholds of tradition bereft of innovation – who are only Hindu in name – neither the intellectual spirit nor the economic sinews of strength.
In the Assembly Elections just concluded, Yogi Adityanath was called to campaign in Coimbatore for the BJP. My whatsapp groups were blanketed with memes and posts – about the frivolity of a leader from a backward region coming to a city that was by, magnitudes of order, more urbane, cosmopolitan and representing the dynamism of the New Hindus. Many of these dissenting voices were BJP supporters.
This brings us to the age-old dichotomy of political science and theories – should politics be normative or descriptive? If we apply this to BJP – then “should Hindutva demand that all Hindus be united?” or “should Hindutva respect the wisdom of the Successful Hindus?”
After all this is how societies modulate their behaviour – social and economic superiors demand and receive the supplication of their inferiors. The Gangetic societies have wasted away their appetite and capacity for change in the last few centuries – they have fossilized into a steady state of decay – while Hindutva promises to elevate their living standards – it is also being tarred as a BIMARU philosophy by the successful parts of Hindudom – guilt by association.
I believe this is what happened in Bengal – Mamta successfully invoked the lost glory of a dynamic Bengal. It is reported that in one of the rallies, she asked “Will the taxi-drivers rule us?” It is also happening in the other dynamic regions of India. Nobody wants to be ruled by a social inferior – this is the descriptive reality of politics. Normatively all are supposed to be equal – but it is not like that at all. Hindutva has a BIMARU problem.
+1
Well put mate, agree with large parts of it. I’d go one further and add that Hindutva has a BJP problem too in that the failures of this government and the strongman in charge will revese whatever successes Hindutva has enjoyed of late. Anecdotally I’m seeing the covid crisis and central incompetence + BIMARU guilt by association as you put it causing many middle class folk to look elsewhere politically – I know their votes don’t count for much yet but their money and support does.
The buck has to stop somewhere – and at the head of the PM it does. India needs a breather from BJP rule and all the negatives that have come with it. It’ll also allow Hindu movements to develop more organic grassroots regional linkages and re-evaluate it’s bonds with society away from the overtly political.
ugra, good post man. by and large i agree with your basic premise. the regions that have lived longer under a feudal order are the one least developed. feudalism has a way of sapping the vigor and enterprise of a people.
I will write more later.
Hindutva has a ‘Hindu’ problem. That will it follow the path of its inventors or will it follow the path of its followers.
@Razib
Is Eupedia right about average Indians/South Asians having predominantly non-West Eurasian admixture?
https://www.eupedia.com/europe/autosomal_admixture_frequencies_by_country.shtml
So is Wikipedia wrong to contain the info that South Asians have predominantly West Eurasian admixture?
@Rose
I am far from an expert but in the main heading it says mitochondrial dna, which we get from mothers (female line) . If that is the case then it makes sense because west eurasian would be more present in the male ancestry (It is in steppe and I guess it should be the same in ASI)
those numbers are low. did not take into account ASI had west eurasian ancestry. i would add 10% to those numbers at least?
@Razib Khan
Would it be this high for mt dna or am I misinterpreting and they are talking about total ancestry
i think the mtdna is like 80% ‘east eurasian’? deep M lineages
@Razib on a different note why did the Golden Horde tolerate Christians but kick out the Buddhists?
Even if you add 10%, North Kannadis are very non-West Eurasian(32.3% West Eurasian) and Bengalis are predominantly non-West Eurasian(49.2% West Eurasian) according to Eupedia.
@Rose
Tribal Indians are around 30% West Eurasian IIRC; North Kannadis — who are a SC group? — should have more. Bengalis East Eurasian has two different source thus its high, however their West Eurasian might be around 55%? India’s average also should be around 50-60% West Eurasian?
Razib said here( https://www.gnxp.com/WordPress/2018/07/09/the-main-interesting-thing-about-bangladeshi-genetics-is-how-east-asian-bangladeshis-are/ ):
“in the supp of this paper you get a fraction around 55% east eurasian for their bengali (bangladesh) samples.”
So may be Bengalis(specially Bangladeshis) are predominantly East Eurasian. Onge-fraction is said to be 42% in Bengalis. But I have also seen claims that Bangladeshis/Bengalis have only 30% AASI.
But what about non-upper caste average South Indians. Are they also predominantly East Eurasian(due to AASI)?
@Rose
I always interpreted Bengalis(especially Bangladeshis) as 30% AASI, 15% East Asian and 55% West Eurasian. Nonetheless, the precise number is not discernable perhaps due to the enigmatic nature of AASI?
Same goes with South Indian middle castes. However, I don’t know what you mean by non-upper caste as Reddy’s are considered a forward caste in Andhra. The Dravidians like Reddy or Velama should be 55-60% West Eurasian and 40-45% AASI?
https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/shiv-sena-slams-modi-government-says-india-surviving-on-systems-created-by-nehru-gandhi-family-2437661
“India Surviving Because Of Nehru-Gandhi” Family: Sena To Modi Government
I though Shiva sena would tread a path close to BJP. That is would have happend in bal thackery days. In the aslt 15 years SS is striking a path of it’s own. What do ppl from MH think about SS/BJP
SS hindutva was a sham anyways. It’s good that they have come out in the open. Less division of Hindu votes
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.indiatvnews.com/amp/news/india/noida-mahagun-moderne-apartments-50-bed-isolation-ward-oxygen-plant-covid19-patients-coronavirus-703285
Noida society begins 50-bed isolation ward with own oxygen plant
It amazes me that so little attention is paid to Pakistan, a country with a higher population than Brazil, constantly being on the brink of insolvency.
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2298879/china-reluctant-to-approve-6b-ml-i-loan
They essentially live hand-to-mouth, based off foreign loans. If the loans would dry up, the country would go bankrupt. Neither the Chinese nor the Americans want to deal with Pakistan but both realise it’s “too big to fail”.
https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaSpeaks/comments/n7txaa/i_said_my_son_will_never_support_the_bjp_again/
Murderous leftists
Modi and Shah are in a deep slumber.
TMC thugs are attacking the CPI(m) activists too. Don’t stick it on leftists.
https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-poisonous-tweets-you-have-seen-on-Twitter/answer/Deepak-Mishra-915?ch=10&share=475bdd78&srid=u6vS8
Very true. Radical haleem see COVID as an opening
https://trunicle.com/propaganda-machine-switched-on-after-akhlaq-was-killed-propaganda-machine-switched-off-after-bloodbath-in-bengal/
Hypocrisy is sickening but unsurprising
BJP’s cowardice is also sickening for its supporters.
“BJP’s cowardice is also sickening for its supporters.”
They may be stupid, but they have repeatedly proved that they are not cowards. Their inaction is best explained by the paralysis induced by their plight and inability to penetrate the establishment, something armchair critics don’t consider because they don’t want to. It doesn’t help that the incompetent IT cell is more of a liability than an asset in such trying times.
The vultures that have started circling India want to feast on all of our deadbodies, not just Modi’s. Many supposedly RW/Hindutva voices, including some of the BP commentators, have started amplifying the vultures.
As i have said earlier, people/communities who don’t vote for BJP expect more from the BJP then the party they vote, Also they think that they know more about the BJP/Hindutva then BJP supporters
You guys need to trust experience over ambition. Deccanis and dravidians have the track record of maintaining and expanding hindu rule. Sooner realized the better.
Let’s see. I won’t hold my breath though.
https://swarajyamag.com/news-brief/yogi-govt-proves-niti-aayogs-covid-projection-for-up-wrong-via-test-trace-treat-strategy
future PM
https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/05/07/china-bhutan-border-villages-security-forces/
CCP and radical islam are the greatest political threats to peace in our time. Very dangerous entities. Selfish radical leftists ally with both to obtain power.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.engadget.com/amp/india-stalls-china-wifi-device-approvals-190129225.html
India reportedly stalls China-made device launches in push for local production
https://m.timesofindia.com/india/modis-actions-in-attempting-to-stifle-criticism-during-crisis-inexcusable-lancet/amp_articleshow/82478567.cms
Stifle? The cremations are the top trending pics online…
Leftist penetration in academia is so obvious when even prestigious medical journals publish just politicized drivel
Bookmark or save the post. We will take a relook at the post on August 1 2021.
These people need to ‘exposed’. Their so called models and medical education need to be contested. I anticipate that when ‘caught’ red handed and convicted of ‘intellectual dishonesty’ and ‘intellectual prostitution’ these scientists will resort to same political reasoning like’ numbers are fudged’
We deserve to go extinct because we don’t call out this sort of bigotry. [Update: that was a response to Warlock’s comment]
Apparently it was a hitjob by our friends in the east-
https://twitter.com/JoeAgneya/status/1391364375076761601
https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.thewire.in/article/government/indias-covid-shambles-it-took-us-seventy-years-not-seven-to-get-here/amp
India’s COVID Shambles: It Took Us Seventy Years, Not Seven, To Get Here
https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.thewire.in/article/government/indias-covid-shambles-it-took-us-seventy-years-not-seven-to-get-here/amp
New Balti genetics paper:
https://academic.oup.com/mbe/article/38/4/1529/6025184
Tracing the Genetic Legacy of the Tibetan Empire in the Balti (Yang et al. 2021)
Abstract
The rise and expansion of Tibetan Empire in the 7th to 9th centuries AD affected the course of history across East Eurasia, but the genetic impact of Tibetans on surrounding populations remains undefined. We sequenced 60 genomes for four populations from Pakistan and Tajikistan to explore their demographic history. We showed that the genomes of Balti people from Baltistan comprised 22.6–26% Tibetan ancestry. We inferred a single admixture event and dated it to about 39–21 generations ago, a period that postdated the conquest of Baltistan by the ancient Tibetan Empire. The analyses of mitochondrial DNA, Y, and X chromosome data indicated that both ancient Tibetan males and females were involved in the male-biased dispersal. Given the fact that the Balti people adopted Tibetan language and culture in history, our study suggested the impact of Tibetan Empire on Baltistan involved dominant cultural and minor demic diffusion.
https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/first-batch-of-83-women-soldiers-inducted-into-indian-army-2437844?amp=1&akamai-rum=off
First Batch Of 83 Women Soldiers Inducted Into Indian Army
At least two burial urns with complete skeletal fragments found at the Konthagai excavation site on the banks of the River Vaigai. This dates to the 6th century BC. The skeletal remains will be analyzed by a joint Madurai Kamarajar Uni – David Reich Lab team.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MaI3bXcRdY
Ugra , don’t know whether you pay attention to Tamil phonetics. The Tamil news reader completely drops zh the liquid sound of Tamizh, and replaces with l for zh. Many ‘tamil’ speakers don’t get that liquid . Perhaps 50% don’t get it. Malayalam has that sound and I believe malayalis don’t have a problem. Centuries back Kannada and Telugu had that consonant
kannadigas generally take life easy, so they didnt take trouble continuing with tz sound. also some of them might have got their tongue struck in their throat saying this!!!
Not just Kannadigas, i would say rest of Indians have their tounge stuck at tz
@VijayVan
The news reader is a “Vandheri” 🙂 I was more concerned with the contents.
https://www.opindia.com/2021/05/tamil-nadu-hindu-procession-local-muslims-object-madras-high-court/amp/
‘Dominance of one religious group cannot prevent religious celebrations of other’, says Madras HC after local Muslims object to Hindu procession
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/worlds-most-vaccinated-country-is-witnessing-covid-19-surge-worse-than-india-101620481772947-amp.html
World’s most vaccinated country is witnessing Covid-19 surge worse than India. What does it mean?
https://auto.hindustantimes.com/auto/news/india-exported-more-cars-to-south-africa-than-any-other-country-in-2020/amp-41620449995362.html
India exported more cars to South Africa than any other country in 2020
https://twitter.com/HappymonJacob/status/1391389589017751552
“BJP will find it very hard to hold on to UP in 2022.
Anyone?”
Dravidians spend one day in the North, come up with the greatest hot takes.Somehow folks down the Vindhyas think that N-Indians dont get S-Indian poltics. Somehow that same thing does;t apply to them.
https://theprint.in/opinion/scientific-data-was-indias-strength-in-polio-leprosy-fight-in-covid-its-a-silent-victim/655224/
Scientific data was India’s strength in polio, leprosy fight. In Covid, it’s a silent victim
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/how-splitting-corona-vaccines-50-50-has-created-new-supply-bottlenecks-7308780/
“ With the opening up of vaccines sales for manufacturers, states and private healthcare entities may no longer enjoy the cost effectiveness they enjoyed as a result of economies of scale due to centralised procurement by the Union government. “
Every state wants de-centralization of the benefits and centralization of blame on to the centre.
I am interested in comparing the Indian and American experience with Covid. For now, I am thinking of Covid skepticism on the American right. Covid became another partisan issue in America, liberals associated with better-safe-than-sorry lockdowns and believing Science; conservatives associated with a desire to get back to normal, and suspicion towards the claims and motives of all authority figures.
From what I can see of India, there isn’t a major faction of opinion which dares to say that the crisis is exaggerated or nonexistent. Instead, the difference of opinion revolves around whether the BJP should be attacked for negligence in the past or present, or whether the central government is doing its best in a difficult situation. For example, the debate over lockdowns – should the center demand a national lockdown, or is it right to let the states decide…
@mitchell
There is a debate here about the extent of lockdown necessary. One group is suggesting that full lockdowns are elitist becuase common folk have neither wfh jobs nor digital wallets to shop and do groceries.. And there are alarmists who think we should have been locked down more restrictively and longer ago.
@Mitchell Porter
There are both civilizational and political differences in the way India has approached Covid.
Manu Joseph wrote a fine article on it in Livemint. Indians favour informality over a systems approach to pandemics. Informality puts people first, while systems put processes first.
The political parties in India are not obsessed with principles. They reinvent themselves on the fly. You can see it on BP as well. Three months ago, Numinous posted that India overreacted to Corona – exactly similar to what Rahul Gandhi and Rajiv Bajaj were uttering. Now in May, every Thambi, Digvijay and Hari is saying that the government did not do enough!!
This is India in a nutshell.
https://theprint.in/opinion/politically-correct/for-a-change-bjp-lawmakers-are-asking-questions-from-their-leadership/655461/?amp
For a change, BJP lawmakers are asking questions from their leadership
Ignore such articles. They add zero value to you since these stupid media outlets are obsessed with BJP. Policy critics are welcomed but seeing the track record of “The Print” platform, you can ignore such things also.
M.K.Stalin , recently elected DMK CM of tamilnadu, gets Brahmins blessing at home in Sasnkrit
https://www.facebook.com/1221294625/videos/10218942268847318/
Stalin covers all blessings brahminical or otherwise, Sanskrit or otherwise, to make sure he is on the right side of gods
LOL, small mercies.
UP seems to be struggling with the pandemic.
Though i am overall happy on TN results. Too much resources being spent to keep the AIADMK alive, with negligible ROI.
Good timing for this podcast episode. As the Indian RW grows ever more hateful of Bengal and its people, a reminder of what this hatred can lead to will hopefully have a chilling effect.
Leftists and radical islamists are slaughtering people in cold blood and committing gang rapes like no tomorrow. They are the target of contempt. Not Bengalis as a whole.
BJP workers being killed by TMC goons are also Bengalis. It is also very likely and plausible that the majority of Hindu Bengalis voted for the BJP (I’m sure we will get some good data on this soon). The right doesn’t hate Bengalis – it is a trope used by TMC and the Leftists to beat back a political challenge. Shame on you folks for sowing division like this for your political ends.
Finally, the BJP hate is led by the old Bengali elite – upper class, upper caste people protecting their privileges against a groundswell of Bahujan (OBC, SC etc) awakening finding a vehicle through the BJP. Bengal is dirt poor and the elite is to blame for digging a leadeing industrial state into the ground. Bengali pride etc are just a way to suppress the aspirations of the poor.Shame on the lefits/seculars for their hypocrisy of protecting old privileges while talking up the cause of the poor. Bengali elite using the North Indian scare tactic and Bengali pride in ways very analogous to how Pakistani elite uses Islam to keep the majority pacified and controlled, with very similar results – elite success, and the remaining 80% forever suppressed.
Shameful yes, surprising no.
Accurate analysis of BJP electorate. India has seen, and I suppose, the entire world has seen the majority submission by a small minority. Since we are talking about West Bengal, a fun fact I discovered, The Senas who ruled West Bengal from 10th to mid 13th century had “Kannadiga origin”. History repeats itself in first have of 18th century when “Murshid quli Khan” who was a “Kannadiga” by birth established the independent kingdom of Bengal 500 years later. The elite of West Bengal has , not all, but most owe their origin to the South of Vindhyas.
@Shashank:
Interesting – didn’t know about the Kannadiga origins of the Senas. Most Bhadraloks, especially, Brahmins are UPites who settled in Bengal around 1000AD. Anyways, distant origins don’t matter – they are Bengali as anyone else. What does matter is that this 10-15% elite has used Bengali pride, culture etc to perpetually extend their cultural and economic privileges at the expense of the majority Bahujans – OBCs, SCs of Bengal. Very similar to Muslim Ashraf elites in pre independence India, and the Paki elite even now. The Bahujan have risen with the BJP just being a vehicle – it will be interesting to see how things evolve going forward.
Bangladesh is lucky to have not had either type of elite – Ashraf, Paki feudal type or Bhadralok (or the Muslim equivalent) in any big numbers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3RVlr7_FPc&ab_channel=CittiMedia
Hindu Americans don’t articulate their needs; need unity & harmonised advocacy | Vishal Ganesan
Same issue which face less-Hindu regions.
https://www.news18.com/news/india/six-persons-from-delhis-tikri-farmers-protest-site-booked-for-gang-rape-of-activist-3722966.html
Very sad
https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/asian-woman-dating-racism-130000996.html
People have brought this stuff up forever. Appreciate her honesty
https://swarajyamag.com/news-brief/explained-supreme-court-judgement-that-only-centre-not-states-can-grant-backward-class-status-to-groups
Yup. This will make it harder for asset wealthy agricultural groups who form the plurality or majority population of some states to bully the state legislatures into submission via rioting, in order to secure affirmative action benefits meant for dalits (eg. Patel, Maratha, and Jat type agitations).
https://www.yahoo.com/news/racial-equity-important-doesnt-trump-071509724.html
Death of meritocracy in front of our eyes
https://www.google.com/amp/s/indianexpress.com/article/trending/trending-globally/om-namah-shivay-isrealis-show-solidarity-with-india-amid-raging-second-wave-7308133/lite/
‘Om Namah Shivay’: Israelis show solidarity with India amid raging Covid wave
https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaSpeaks/comments/n9c3vx/why_are_non_muslims_in_general_so_self_critical/
Interesting discussion
covid numbers have started to fall in india.
if 13 crores are vaccinated (at least one dose) and 3 crores are infected and cured, that makes at least 16 crores ‘safe’ on records. as the ‘experts’ say if the number of undetected cases is 4 times, then 13+(3×4)=25 crores are safe.
this is how the second peak will flatten.
am i correct?
further, as some westerners say if we are under reporting by 10 times, we are further safe.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.businesstoday.in/lite/story/moodys-revises-india-fy22-gdp-forecast-to-93/1/438816.html
Moody’s revises India’s FY22 GDP forecast to 9.3%
I have a feeling that the Covid pandemic is going to stay around and we’ll play a global game of whack-a-mole as new variants keep arising in different parts of the world.
Not sure if even a 100% vaccination coverage will help. The immunity will fade over time or some variant will achieve immunity escape.
Shubh Shubh bolo bhai.
How are you?
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/11/nyregion/nj-hindu-temple-india-baps.html?referringSource=articleShare
Abhorrent if true
What does the law say about specialized skillset workers brought to the US temporarily for specific jobs? Regardless paying them $1/hour is just bad.
It also seems that the lawyer, Sawant, is playing up the caste/Dalit angle. There is on caste angle here – if they are being exploited it is because they are poor – not because of their caste. I am 100% sure that not all of these laborers are Dalits. But caste plays well – and Hindus will be beaten up using caste by all the usual suspects. That’s how it is now in the US.
“The organization has strong ties with Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, and his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Mr. Modi has said that Pramukh Swami Maharaj, the spiritual head who built BAPS into the largest Hindu sect in the United States before dying in 2016, was his mentor. Mr. Modi gave a eulogy at his funeral and laid the foundation stone for a temple that BAPS is building in Abu Dhabi.”
To me its more intresting is how any Hindu orgs worth its salt, anywHere in the world over, the only ties it has is with BJP/RSS. Even the ones who are non politcal.
So much for this whole idea of non -poltical, grass root Hindu orgs, non RSS ones taking root, as many here on BP dream of .LOL.
I’m very impressed with the new Tamil Nadu finmin.
He doesn’t promise the moon, but has a clear nuts and bolts understanding of the fiscal issue in TN (the state has lost almost 30% of its revenue as a percentage of GDP). I think TN will continue to outperform the rest of India.
https://twitter.com/CNBCTV18News/status/1392099790310105088
Seems so much better than Nirmala Sitharaman.
Tweets with ‘Let that sink in’ get -5 points
Razib: One of my comments from yesterday seems to be stuck in moderation or spam. Normally I wouldn’t care, but it was a response to Hoju’s tarring of the BJP which deserves a counter 🙂