Inconsistencies and Contradictions

One way to model it:-  India and Pakistan actually agreed to detailed security checks for the meeting, but India never made it public (strategic as it could have been politically uncomfortable and would have made future outcry impossible) Why security checks?  Most likely Kulbushan Jadhav is a spy. But noway India can agree to this fact. Since meeting is the only possible contact, India would try to communicate with Jadhav, in whatever manner possible. Pakistan knows it and India knows that Pakistan knows (like complete knowledge in Game theory). In fact, both countries know that real game is to agree to security checks and even then try to breach them when it is in one's interest.  Pakistan lost the PR battle when they didn't make public the agreed security checks right when agreement took place.  India tried some communication, which rightfully got caught (not unexpected) (But may be some signal would have still reached to Kulbhushan Jadhav, we don't know yet...

NYT has run this myth peddling piece on India. It certainly reeks of very shallow journalism and even hints at some prejudiced position. I am not saying that the story is a lie, far from that. But to represent the worrisome situation, a wrong counterfactual has been provided.               The news is about ‘Christmas celebrations in India’ which are marred by fear. The news tries to capture environment of fear by developing a suggestive narrative about how Hindu right groups have been interrupting the Christmas celebrations that used to happen hitherto without any trouble. I agree with this part. There is a quasi-state apparatus functional in India for which every individual act is open for scrutiny, remedy and punishment and this apparatus serves as in independent regulatory institution, without any check from the state. In fact, current rulers owe a lot to this apparatus and hence they pretend to check this apparat...

Many of us have read about Air-conditioned local train that has been plied on western railway from 25-12-2017. The journey from local train is expensive. One time ticket from Churchgate to Borivali is ₹ 165. Another interesting feature is this AC local train will not run on weekends. (For now, this has been announced.) This new service and operation of suburban railway is general, has lot of interesting questions. -- Case of Injustice for better revenue: looks obvious  AC local trains has not been given extra trips. Some of the trips from non-AC local trains have been changed to AC train. Since AC train is expensive and ticket checking is likely to be stringent in AC local train, those who travel from non-AC trains are less likely to travel from AC trains. Considering this, the commuters whose non-AC train trip has been replaced by AC local, on average, are likely to be worse off. ( Commuter have expressed the same. This is a news in Marathi about their complaint. )  ...

    EU court of justice has ruled on 20-12-2017 that Uber is not an intermediary but a transportation service and hence state can regulate it as per transportation policy. ( Here is media release) The matter of contention was Uber service in Spain where even non-professional driver can register vehicle on Uber and then transport a passenger who has booked through app. The taxi union has objected the competition stemming from 'non-professional' drivers.      Uber has portrayed itself as an app that connects two parties, one which has a demand for transport and other which can supply this transport. Uber emphasizes the operation of 'connecting demand with supply' and that's how they define the product or platform they are providing. In Uber's point of view. Uber sells platform service to both, buyer and seller.      The way court ruling has defined Uber is 'provider of non-public transport service which uses intermediation through app'. The cour...

My expectation was BJP maintaining its seat-tally of previous election which was 117. What I see on Election commission website (7.30 pm of 18-12-2017) is 99 seats (lead+win) for BJP and 77 for Congress. So BJP has lost 18 seats, from 117 to 99 and Congress has gained 18, from 59 to 77. BJP has won the election, but sheen is lost. year BJP Seat change from Previous election Major Opposition (congress and/or other regional party explicitly in opposition of BJP) Result 2014 Maharashtra +76 -61 BJP rule Incumbent lost 2014 Haryana +43 -37 Incumbent lost 2014 J&K +14 -18 Incumbent lost 2014 Jharkhand +19 -2 Incumbent lost 2015 Delhi -29 (from 2014 election) +39 (from 2014 ele...

महाराष्ट्र शासन आणि केंद्र शासन ह्या दोन्ही पातळीवर इयत्ता आठवीपर्यंत विद्यार्थ्यांना अनुत्तीर्ण न करण्याच्या धोरणाचा फेरविचार चालू आहे. ह्या प्रस्तावित आणि लवकरच प्रत्यक्षात येणाऱ्या बदलाबाबत 'हा बदल मुद्दलात का चूक आहे' आणि 'ह्या धोरणबदलाने काय परिणाम व्हायची शक्यता आहे' ह्याची चर्चा करणारा माझा लेख 'बिगुल' ह्या पोर्टलवर ७-८-२०१७ रोजी प्रकाशित झालेला आहे. http://www.bigul.co.in/bigul/1329/sec/8/real%20failure 'बिगुल' वरील लेखापेक्षा स्वरुपात थोडा वेगळा असा मूळ लेख इथे देत आहे. -- शालेय विद्यार्थ्यांना इयत्ता आठवीपर्यंत अनुत्तीर्ण न करण्याचे २०११ पासून राबवण्यात आलेले धोरण आता बदलण्यात येत आहे. नव्या धोरणानुसार आठवीच्या अगोदर विद्यार्थ्याला अनुत्तीर्ण करता येईल आणि त्यानंतर त्याला फेरपरीक्षा द्यावी लागेल. जर विद्यार्थी ह्या फेरपरीक्षेत अनुत्तीर्ण झाला तर त्याला आधीच्याच इयत्तेत रहावे लागेल. ह्या धोरणाचा पुरस्कार करणाऱ्यांच्या मांडणीनुसार विद्यार्थ्यांना अनुत्तीर्ण न करण्याच्या धोरणाने शैक्षणिक गुणवत्तेचा दर्जा ढासळलेला आहे. अनेक विद्यार्थ्यांना ते ज्य...

    डॉक्टरांना चिडलेल्या जमावाने मारहाण करण्याची , हॉस्पिटलांचे नुकसान करण्याच्या घटना काही आत्ताच घडू लागलेल्या नाहीत . मी पहिल्यांदा अशा घटनेबाबत ऐकलं ते आनंद दिघे ह्यांच्या अपघाती मृत्यूनंतर सिंघनिया   हॉस्पिटलची नासधूस झाली तेव्हा . ही नासधूस करणाऱ्यांना काय शासन झाले हे मला माहिती नाही , पण झाले असावे असे वाटत नाही . पोलीस , राजकीय पक्ष आणि हॉस्पिटल ह्यांनी आउट ऑफ कोर्ट amicable settlement ने हा प्रश्न (?) सोडवला असण्याची शक्यता जास्त आहे . मागच्या आठवड्यात धुळे येथे डॉ . रोहन म्हा मु णकर ह्यांना झालेली मारहाण आणि त्यानंतर अशाच स्वरूपाच्या अजून काही घटना ह्यामुळे सरकारी डॉक्टरांनी वैयक्तिक स्तरावर संप पुकारला आहे . ह्या पार्श्वभूमीवर अशा घटना का होतात आणि त्यांच्यावर नियंत्रण ठेवणे हे का कठीण असणार आहे ह्याचा विचार ह्या लेखात आहे . -- ह्या घटनांचा विचार करण्यासाठी महत्वाचा प्रश्न आहे कि अशी मारहाण करणारे कोण असतात ? मारहाणीच्या घटना ह्या गंभीर असल्या तरी प्रतिदिन डॉक...

        Long back before UP elections I have read some FB page which was titled as 'Yogi Adityanath as UP CM'. I guess he was no doubt a strong contender for the post, given his organizing skills. We cannot judge organizing skills when situation was tailor-made for BJP. Adityanath has been winning in his constituency from 1998, that too a Loksabha constituency, and it includes a patch of years when things were not so easy for BJP in UP. So clearly he has better leadership skills than other BJP leaders which are basically boats that have risen on strong tide. So seen from the criteria of choosing a leader with proven leadership mantle, he is a good choice. The discomfort one feels for this choice is when one considers what will be the priorities of him, seen in the light of intentions that his past reveals. Please note that I am not saying 'spiritual personality shouldn't be politically active', what I am saying is when CM of any state seems to have some disputable ...

उत्तर प्रदेशमधील निकालावर ज्या काही थोड्या अर्थपूर्ण टिपण्या सोशल मिडीयावर वाचण्यात आल्या त्यातल्या एका टिपणीचा सूर होता कि ' नोटाबंदीचा लोकांना त्रास झाला असता तर त्यांनी नोटाबंदी करणाऱ्यांना मतदान केले नसते . इंग्रजीत्त ज्याला witty असं म्हणतात अशा ह्या संक्षिप्त टिपणीत लिहिणाऱ्याला असं म्हणायचं होतं: ‘ नोटाबंदीचा त्रास होऊ शकतो असे अनेक लोक उत्तर प्रदेशातील मतदार आहेत . एखाद्या राजकीय पक्षाच्या निर्णयाने मतदाराला त्रास झाला तर तो त्या पक्षाला मतदान करणार नाही. ज्याअर्थी ह्या (ज्यांना त्रास झालेला असायला हवा) अनेक मतदारांनी भाजपला मतदान केलेले आहे ह्याचाच अर्थ नोटाबंदीचा लोकांना त्रास झालेला नाही .' त्यातील दोन मुद्द्यांबाबत मी थोडा अधिक विचार करण्याचा प्रयत्न करतो आहे . ते मुद्दे पुढीलप्रमाणे   १ . नोटाबंदीचा जर खरोखर लोकांवर परिणाम झाला असता तर त्यांनी नोटाबंदी करणाऱ्यांना मतदान केले नसते. २. नोटाबंदीचा लोकांना खरोखर त्रास झाला आहे का आणि झालेला त्रास हि कितपत उपद्रवकारी आहे ? ' नोटाबंदीचा जर खरोखर लोकांवर परिणाम झाला असता तर त्यांनी नोटाबंदी करणाऱ्यांना...