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...