The risk of anything new.

"A new generation of small nuclear reactors is up an running - or nearly so - in the United States," The milestone made possible by billions in private and government funding, was on display in the middle of the Idaho desert." These small modular reactors (SMRs) are "compact enough that one was transported to the site by a pickup truck." "SMRs promise cheaper, after to build nuclear power that can go almost anywhere," and is "positioning itself as a tool for American influence abroad." ET. SMRs "are advanced nuclear reactors that have a power capacity of up to 300 MW(e) per unit, about one-third of the generating capacity of traditional nuclear power reactors." "SMRs offer savings in cost and construction time, and they can be deployed incrementally to match increasing energy demand." iaea.org. "Even as $2.3 trillion in market value was erased from tech's elite 'Magnificent Seven' stocks last month," "the Semiconductor sector has experienced a historic surge. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index has rallied more than 90% this year, tacking on another 6% gain just this month." TOI. Last year, Google let off two "firebombs", wrote Nilesh Jasani. the first was Google's generative AI Gemini which it integrated with its "existing services to sustain its dominance over a sprawling billion-user ecosystem."  The second was "its latest Ironwood Tensor Processing Unit" which "boasts 4,614 T-flops of peak compute power and 192GB of high-bandwidth memory, showing Google's ability to engineer hardware optimized exclusively for its models." Companies in the US spend vast sums of money on innovating new products, often encouraged by the US government, which puts them ahead in new technologies while the rest of the world tries to play catch-up. Sadly, R&D figures in India have fallen from "an already modest 0.83% of GDP in 2009-10 to 0.64% in 2020-21." Until the liberalisation of the 1990s, high customs barriers protected Indian companies from competition with foreign companies. "Today, the culture of rent seeking is perpetuated - despite the relative openness to the world inherited from the reforms of the 1990s - by the influence of industrialists close to the government, known as oligarchs or 'cronies', who succeed in owning or having the governments they finance raise customs barriers (often non-tariff barriers) that hinder the entry of foreign competitors into the Indian market," wrote Prof Christophe Jaffrelot. The Indian government has set aside Rs 10 billion ($120) for its AI mission. "One Nvidia H100 GPU, which is essential for modern AI, costs about $30,000 to $40,000." "What's even more surprising is that out of the meager Rs 20 billion set aside for FY26, only about Rs 8 billion was actually used - a 40% utilisation rate," wrote Arindam Goswami. "Operating under the department of atomic energy, which is headed by the Prime Minister, Indian Rare Earths Ltd (IREL) is today 75 years old." It should be producing rare earth magnets but "India's ecosystem lacks the technology to make rare earth magnets. And entrepreneurs are absent, too," wrote T Surender. Indian businessmen are averse to risks that innovation brings. Ironically, the CEO of Google is Sundar Pichai who is of Indian origin. wikipedia. Indians can do things. But, not in India. 

Well done Sri Lanka.

"Sri Lanka has regained upper middle-income status just three years after a severe economic crisis brought the country to the brink of collapse in 2022." The World Bank reclassified it "from the lower-middle-income category after the economy expanded by 5% in 2025, supported by broad-based recovery across industries and growth in tourism and financial services." TNIE. In May 2022, "Sri Lanka has defaulted on its debt for the first time in its history as the country struggles with its worst financial crisis in more than 70 years." "Sri Lanka is seeking to restructure debts of more than $50 billion it owes to foreign creditors, to make it more manageable to pay." BBC. India's Real GDP, or GDP at Constant Prices, grew at 7.7%, while Nominal GDP, or GDP at Current Prices, grew at 8.9% in 2025-26. pib.giv.in. Although it has fallen from an all-time high of $728.494 billion, India's foreign exchange reserves were at $666.933 billion during the week ended 26 June. CNBC TV18. And yet, "India remains in the lower-middle-income category," while The Philippines, Vietnam and Jordan have also been upgraded. India Today. "India is facing an acute jobs and wages crisis. Young people have disproportionately felt the impact. Just 7% of the population is now prosperous enough to pay I-T (income tax), and no young person entering the job market, even with professional or postgraduate qualifications, is paid enough to be in even the lowest tax bracket," wrote Rathin Roy. Jobs have to be created and for that India needs to offer goods and services that people will want. Patent filings have rocketed to 60,000 in 2023 from 40,000 in 2013, but "Patents are not subjected to blind peer review by experts," and "There is no measure of intrinsic quality, impact or scientific merit. Since the legal test is all that must be met, a surge in filings need not reflect a wave of genuine innovation." Universities have increased their patent filings to 42% of all filings in 2023 from 20% in 2013, which helps for advertising, wrote Mihir Mahajan & Arindam Goswami. "The Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE) of 2025 counts 79.2 million unincorporated non-agricultural establishments in India." "The Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) 2023-24, reports that the average registered factory employs 73 workers, ASUSE shows the average unincorporated establishment employs only 1.6. This is near solo work." Because, "When the modern sector does not create enough stable, productive wage jobs, self-employment becomes the default option rather than entrepreneurial choice," wrote Prof Saumitra Bhaduri & Shubham Anand. Even our laws are aganst the unincorporated sector. The law says that "buyers are legally obligated to settle vendor bills within 45 days if a written contract exists, or 15 days in its absence. The statue mandates a penalty and compound interest liability for non-compliance." And yet, "Large private entities and government bodies routinely stretch payment cycles to 90,120,or 180 days." The government may not pay on time but it wants its cut straight away. GST must be paid by the 20th of the next month from when the invoice is generated, regardless of whether the bill has been settled, wrote Ajit Ranade. The government and its cronies blatantly break the rules. No wonder Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Jordan have climbed higher than us. We are down there with Pakistan. World Bank. Siamese twins.        

Optimistic Indians.

"Morgan Stanley yesterday assigned a 25% probability to the BSE Sensex hitting 100,000 by June 2027. It said the bull case scenario was based on assumptions including oil prices staying below $80 a barrel, reflation policies beginning to deliver results and earnings growth compounding at 19% annually over FY 2026-29." BT. A 25% probability means a 75% against and no one can predict the price of oil. "Reflation is a policy response to economic slowdowns that aims to boost spending and counter deflation." "Reflation aims to stop deflation - the general decline in prices for goods and services that occurs when inflation falls below 0%." Investopedia. That is definitely not the case in India. Consumer price (CPI) inflation came in at 3.93% in May 2026, higher than 3.48% in April. pib.gov.in. The Indian rupee has fallen to over 95 to one dollar from about 88 in 2025. bankbazaar.com. If the rupee falls further it could cancel out any fall in the price of oil and increase consumer prices by increasing the cost of transport. "India's economy is expected to maintain growth of above 7% in 2026-27 (FY 27), supported by strong domestic consumption and investment, even as global growth could slip below 3%...the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry said. Morgan Stanley's prediction is not a "bull case scenario", it is bull something else. It is an irresponsible incitement of Indians to invest in the stock market. "This should not be called a share market. This should be called a poison market. This is poison and it will kill everyone one day," said Shankar Sharma. "if you close the stock market for 10 years in India, then India will really grow." India Today. Earlier he said, 'India cannot afford to offer foreign capital fully convertible currency exits amid a balance of payments deficit. A price must be extracted for exits. A crashing stock market is that price. In fact, a crushed stock market almost always guarantees massive foreign inflows." Mint. The rupee is sinking mainly because Indian stock markets are overvalued compared with their peers." Foreign investors (FPIs) have withdrawn $53 billion from Indian markets in the last 18 months. But the market is barely down. Because, "Fund managers have convinced investors that they should not try to time their entry into markets and invest a regular sum every month. This has induced a rising SIP (Systematic Investment Plan) inflow, up from Rs 200 billion/month at the start of 2025 to Rs 320.8 billion in March 2026." And this has allowed FPIs to exit at a high price, wrote Swaminathan Aiyar. The stock market exuberance is despite the May 2026 Consumer Confidence Surveys by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) which show that the Urban Current Situation Index has fallen to 90.7 from 95.7 two months earlier. A reading below 100 is negative and 90.7 falls in pessimistic territory. The Rural Current Situation Index has fallen to 95.2. TNIE. "India ranks as the second-most optimistic country among 30 markets in the April 2026 wave of Ipsos' What Worries the World survey, with 72% of urban Indians saying the country is moving in the right direction. This places India among a small cluster of high-confidence economy." Ipsos'.com. But now, "The Future Expectations Index for urban India dropped to 118.7, its lowest reading since September 2023." "Worsening expectations threaten consumption demand - the largest component of growth in India." So, why did Morgan Stanley make such a ridiculous suggestion? Is it, like our 'godi (lapdog) media', trying to flatter our government, or is it trying to push up our stock prices to boost profits of US investors? Either way, it's unethical. Even wrong.        

Aiming high.

"India's higher nominal GDP growth in FY 27 is likely to help the government keep its fiscal deficit under control," "while real economic growth may moderate from FY 26 levels amid global headwinds, higher inflation is expected to lift nominal GDP growth, supporting tax collections and helping the Centre manage its finances." ET. High inflation reduces the value of the rupee and the value of our earnings and wealth but is great for our rulers. That's what matters in India. "Given wages (after inflationary erosion is accounted for) have not grown across livelihoods, households have been forced to meet consumption expenses through borrowing." This "explains the fall in India's household net financial savings, to a historical low of 5.2% of gross national disposable income (GNDI) in FY 23 from its longstanding average of 7-8%," And, "resulting in a combined household debt - outstanding secured and unsecured loans - breaching 40% of GDP by the end of 2023," wrote Prof Deepanshu Mohan & Srisonia Subramoniam. "Bank lending accelerated in the April-June quarter of FY 27, but deposit mobilisation continued to trail credit growth, widening the funding gap across the banking system and highlighting mounting pressure on banks' liability franchises, according to the Times of India." ET. "Earlier this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India aims to achieve developed country status by 2047, the centenary of its independence from the British Empire." "While the country has 167 billionaires, more than 129 million people still live below the poverty line," and "over half the country's fifth grade students struggle to read at a second-grade level." Restrictive labor laws mean that "while 46% of India's labor force works in agriculture, the share of manufacturing workers declined from 12% to 11% between 2023 and 2024." World Finance. "The just-released sixth National Family Health Survey shows that India's child malnutrition rate was at a substantial 32% in 2023-24," "far higher than sub-Saharan Africa's 20-22% levels." Wasting was at 19% compared to just 7% in 35 African nations. Even malnutrition among adults is higher. The number of women with body mass index below 18.5 (the threshold for adult malnutrition) has risen from 18.7% in 2019-21 to 19.7% in 2023-24, while that of men has risen from 16.2% to 19.7%, a rise of 15%. TNIE. India must grow at 8% per annum over two decades to become a developed economy. "Yet, from 2014-2024, the economy grew at only 6.2% annually (base 2012), compared to 7.8% per annum over 2004-2014." In 2024, there were 330 million non-farm workers in India's 610 million workforce and about 28 million educated youth were looking for jobs. "Shockingly, 40% of all youth (15-29 years) in the workforce are in unpaid family labor," wrote Profs Santosh Mehrotra & Jajati Parida. "In May, the NCRB reported that 63% of all suicide victims came from economically insecure households." These problems are being created by India's success in services. "India's services exports, which were almost nothing in 1995, have risen to $418 billion in 2025-26, nearly as large as goods exports (442 billion). Add $144 billion that India gets from remittances from Indians abroad - you could call this labor exports - and you find that goods exports have become a minority." "In 2025-26, low-skilled goods exports totaled $187 billion against $254 billion for high-skilled manufactures and $412 billion from services (mostly high-skilled)," wrote Swaminathan Aiyar. Fall of low-skilled exports means lower earnings for low-skilled workers. Which explains rising malnutrition among children and adults. The solution seems to be simple. Intense education and high nutrition for our children and we can expand high- skilled exports. But then, 28 million educated youth are still looking for jobs. Developed country? First get to sub-Saharan level.    

Oral proof is absolute.

"Within hours of India and Japan unveiling a series of agreements on defence, critical minerals, artificial intelligence, energy security and economic resilience, Beijing cautioned that cooperation between countries should not target a third party or 'create exclusive small groupings'." "Chinese officials may not publicly acknowledge it, but much of the summit agenda touched areas where China currently enjoys significant leverage. The push for diversified supply chains and reduced dependence on any single country was especially notable." ET. "At the invitation of the President of the Republic of Indonesia, H.E. Mr Prabowo Subianto, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will pay a visit to Indonesia from 6-8 July, 2026. This will be the Prime Minister's fourth visit to Indonesia." mea.gov.in. "If India and Indonesia finally seal a long-discussed BrahMos missile agreement, it will mark far more than another defence success for New Delhi." "The Philippines has already acquired BrahMos batteries and Vietnam has now joined the list." "Malaysia and Thailand have also reportedly shown interest." "Long range coastal missile batteries allow relatively smaller powers to exploit that geographic advantage without matching China ship for ship." ET. Poking China in the eye may be so satisfying but, "A tribal organisation in Arunachal Pradesh's upper Subansiri district has alleged that the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) has gradually occupied parts of its ancestral land along the India-China border, prompting calls for an official verification and an immediate response from the state and Central governments." MC. In June 2020, an unprovoked attack by the PLA barbarians, armed with nail-studded clubs, resulted in the death of 20 Indian soldiers at Galwan Valley in Ladakh. BBC. China is estimated to have lost over 40 soldiers. All those nations with BrahMos missiles will not come to the aid of India, so we must deal with our existential enemy China by ourselves. "On the one hand, India increasingly seeks a greater role in world affairs. On the other hand, its response to major international crises remains cautious and selective." "It seeks a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. Its capabilities, however, remain those of a rising power still undergoing economic and technological transformation." DH. "For more than a decade now, India has sought to build its 'strategic autonomy'. New Delhi has booked a place at every high table - the Quad with Washington, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization with Beijing, BRICS with Moscow, and the I2U2 Group with Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi." "Officials, cultivated the art of the rhetorical win, and crafted exquisite put-downs for neighbors and superpowers alike." The result is that, "India has friends everywhere, but leverage nowhere," wrote Mihir Sharma. In a WSJ piece, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent quotes a sentence by Alexander Hamilton on 5 December 1791 which said that every nation "ought to endeavor to possess within itself all the essentials of national supply," wrote Aditya Sinha. To that end India started the Atmanirbhar (self reliance) Bharat Abhiyan on 13 May 2020 with an allocation of Rs 20 trillion. tribal.nic.in. The problem is that in 2024-2025, 93% of India's permanent magnet imports, 70% of bulk drugs and intermediaries and 87% of some antibiotic categories, all came from China. How can India become strong when the government does not consider any of us as citizens? Every Indian has to acquire all kinds of identity documents but not one certifies citizenship (ABP). Despite providing 15 documents a man could not prove his citizenship as the Gauhati High Court "held that oral testimony alone, without relevant documentary evidence to back it up, was not sufficient to establish the link between father and son." ET. Actually, oral testimony is conclusive. Just take swabs from the mouths of both men and test for DNA. Simple and conclusive.. Most worrying: if our soldiers are not citizens why are they dying to protect India? And our leaders. Who probably are the only citizens.      

Stop restricting foreigners.

"India's economy remains on a sustained growth path supported by strong macroeconomic fundamentals, government officials said." "The government has maintained its emphasis on capital expenditure despite an unexpected rise in fuel and fertiliser subsidies caused by a prolonged blockage at the Strait of Hormuz." "In April and May 2026,capital expenditure stood at Rs 2.51 trillion compared to Rs 2.21 trillion during the same period last year, registering a 14% jump." HT. "India's gross Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections rose 13.9% year-on-year to Rs 1,94,812 crore (Rs 1.95 trillion) in June 2026, driven largely by a sharp increase in tax revenues from imports, according to provisional data." "Total GST refunds increased 29.1% to Rs 324.36 billion in June 2026." From April to June, "gross GST collections reached 6,31,699 crore (Rs 6.32 trillion)." TOI. "India's foreign exchange reserves declined by $5.65 billion to $666.93 billionin the week ended 26 June," according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). ET. "India's external debt rose by $26.3 billion to $762.8 billion by March 2026," so that the external debt-to-GDP ratio increased to 20.8%. "Long-term external debt - with an original maturity of more than one year - stood at $613.5 billion at the end of March 2026," which is good, but "On a residual maturity basis, which includes long-term debt maturing within the next 12 months, short-term debt accounted for 42.9% of total external debt at the end of March 2026." BS. Which means $327.24 billion will need to be repaid within one year out of our reserves. Of course, India will earn more foreign exchange in that time, but should we be worried? Foreign tourists should be a lucrative source of foreign exchange. On paper, India received 18.89 million international tourists in 2023, higher than the pre-pandemic 17.91 million in 2019, but a large proportion were non-resident Indians (NRIs) and Bangladeshis, many of whom came for medical treatment. "On the economic front, foreign exchange earnings from tourism rose 31.5% to $28.08 billion but could rise to $50 billion by FY 27-28 through "policy vision and execution", thinks Dipak Deva, CEO of Travel Corporation India Ltd., wrote Varuni Khosla. "Net foreign portfolio (FPI) outflow hit Rs 2 trillion in 2026 recently, already 25% more than FPIs pulled out in all of 2025." One reason might the yield spread between US Treasuries and Indian government securities (G-Secs). "From a 21st century average of 350-400 basis points (bps), spreads have shrunk to 250 bps today." A second reason is the over-valuation of our equity markets, which is because of buying by domestic investors, resulting in a vicious cycle. "FPIs sell, saying Indian valuations are relatively high, but then domestic liquidity funds orderly exits without much price impacts," wrote Somnath Mukherjee. Foreign direct investment (FDI), which is for business, is considered more stable. In 2022, Amazon withdrew from bidding for the Indian Premier League cricket tournament. "Amazon has said its investment in India will surge past $35 billion by 2030, but much of that will go to data centers dedicated to artificial intelligence (AI) - not e-commerce." Probably because India will not allow foreign companies to hold or control inventory. ET. However, Indian quick commerce companies operate from dark stores which stock a wide assortment of goods, from fresh vegetables to mobile phones. BT. We want foreigners to give us their money but we do not welcome them as tourists or as investors. So they take our money and run. Not surprising, is it?    

Statistics or color.

"US consumer spending showed little sign of buckling from the fallout of the Iran war, even as prices rose at the fastest pace in three years." "The personal consumption expenditures price index rose 4.1% from a year earlier, the most since April 2023, Bureau of Economic Analysis data showed." "Economists predict that the higher temperatures climb, the more bloated household costs like groceries may become." ET. "Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh said...he will stick firmly to the US central bank's 2% inflation target and 'disappoint' anyone who expects loose monetary policy despite President Donald Trump's call for interest rate cuts." Reuters. "US job growth slowed more than expected in June and data for the prior month was revised lower, but the unemployment rate fell to 4.2%, pointing to continued labor market stability." "A historically low level of layoffs is a big part of the strength in payrolls, which had not been mirrored in other labor market surveys, including hiring plans by small businesses." BS. "An unemployment rate of 5% is often considered full employment. This level of unemployment is enough to minimize inflation and allow workers to move between jobs, but those wanting full time jobs should be able to find it (even if it is not their preferred occupation)." A useful policy target is the "non-accelerating rate of unemployment (NAIRU), that represents the rate of unemployment that is consistent with a low, stable rate of price inflation". Investopedia. "The US economy expanded at a solid and unexpected 2.1% annual pace from January through March, the Commerce Department reported...in its first estimate of first-quarter growth." "The growth in gross domestic product - that nation's output of goods and services - marked a rebound from a sluggish 0.5% in the last three months of 2025 when a 43-day federal government shutdown weighed on the economy." msn.com. "The new Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh is unlikely to differ much from the late Alan Greenspan on how to deal with financial asset bubbles." "Some, including Warsh, defend the Fed's unwillingness to rein in the parabolic rise of often loss-making internet stocks in the late 1990s." "However, there are fewer apologists for the housing, mortgage and credit boom that followed that sharp easing." Reuters. "The measure, known as 'labor share of income', tracks how much of the nation's economic output flows to workers in the form of wages and salaries, as opposed to the share that goes to investors and corporations through profits, dividends and other capital income." "As of early 2026, American workers received 54.1% of national income," whereas "that figure topped 65% almost 80 years ago." CBS. "Tracking household incomes from from 1979 to 2024 using inflation-adjusted benchmarks," a study by Stephen J Rose and Scott Winship "finds that while the 'core' middle-class (defined as 250-500 percent of the Federal poverty guideline) shrank from 36% to 31%, this was largely because more families moved into higher income brackets. The upper-middle class, once just 10% of households in 1979, now accounts for 31%," while "the number of Americans living below middle-class thresholds has fallen from 54% in 1979 to 35% in 2024." The Print. So, does it mean that the share of the national income for American workers has fallen because the number of workers has shrunk as automation has increased productivity and the upper-middle class? Or that the investor class is doing well while the working class struggles? Perhaps it is a case of 'lies, damned lies and statistics' (wikipedia). Or, whether you are blue or red.      

Not happy hour.

"Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the Indian equity market yesterday, offloading shares worth Rs 11.405 billion, according to provisional exchange data." "Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs), meanwhile, continued to provide support, emerging as net buyers to the tune of Rs 31.5924 billion." "FIIs have remained net sellers throughout the week, withdrawing a cumulative Rs 50.476 billion over the first three trading sessions." "DIIs, meanwhile, continued to offset the foreign outflows, purchasing a cumulative Rs 128.0269 billion worth of equities." CNBC TV18. "Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) offloaded $29.28 billion (Rs 2.74 trillion) in the equity market in the first six months of 2026, according to NSDL." "In comparison, FPIs have invested around $6.8 billion (Rs 637.84 billion) in the debt market this year." BT. Higher investment in government bonds is because of the removal of taxes on profits from bonds and relaxation in the upper limit of FPI investment. A higher influx of foreign exchange supports the rupee. "An astonishing $53 billion has exited Indian stocks in the last 18 months." It is because domestic investors are keeping the share prices relatively higher, so that "India's price-earnings (P/E) ratio - the ratio of share price to net profit per share - is 22.5 on a trailing basis and 18.8 projected for the coming year." China's P/E ratio is just 12-14, Korea is 10-12 and Brazil is 8-10, wrote Swaminathan Aiyar. Curiously, the cumulative effort of the government and the RBI to keep the rupee strong against the dollar allows FIIs to get more dollars in exchange for their rupee profits. So DIIs, the RBI and the government are incentivizing FIIs to sell. India "is the fastest growing major economy with political stability, a young population, a large domestic market, and robust growth prospects. Yet India remains a paradox: It can attract much more foreign investment, but it does not." This is because of the political inability to reform labor and land acquisition laws. "Reforms create losers in the short run, while benefits accrue only later. Jean Claude-Juncker, former head of the European Commission, once said, 'We all know what needs to be done. We just don't know how to get re-elected after doing it," wrote Aiyar. Calculating the monthly per-capita consumption expenditure (MPCE) at 2023-24 prices, just the bottom 0.5% of the rural population today has the same MPCE of the bottom 10% in 2011-12 while for urban India it is 0.4%. In 2011-12, 121 million of the population fell in the bottom 10%, in 2023-24, that has fallen to 6.5 million, wrote Ashish Kumar and Payal Seth. Extreme poverty may almost have been eliminated but people aspire to a much higher standard of living, inspired by smartphones. Only salaried jobs can fulfill their dreams. But, "last year, 11.6 million Indians in their 20s were unemployed and about 6.8 million of them had been job hunting for over a year." "These numbers understate the full picture: another 78 million in the same age group were not looking for work at all as per our estimates based on the Periodic Labour Force Survey data for 2025," wrote Prof Vidya Mahambare & Asrar Alam. "The most concerning fact, set to get worse with the advent of AI, is that as education levels rise, so does the unemployment level." Even for those with jobs, salaries do not reflect company profits. "Profit before taxes for over 33,000 sampled companies nearly quadrupled between 2019-20 and 2022-23." GDP grew at 6.7% annually between 2021--22 and 2023-24 while real wages for regular workers contracted by 0.7%, wrote Ajit Ranade. Political paralysis, corporate greed, and a frustrated, defeated youth. A sad cocktail.   

Deleted by SIR.

"Recent Announcement: Marriage Certificate is Not A Proof That You Are Married. It's just a Document To Show That You Had Attended Your Marriage Ceremony," mocked journalist Rajdeep Sardesai. Memes like these have flooded social media in India after, "A passport is primarily a travel document and should not be treated as proof of citizenship, a senior external affairs ministry official said." TOI. Does that mean that there are citizens of other countries traveling with Indian passports? If so, how many? "R Rajagopal, who worked at The Telegraph newspaper, says his passport renewal was held up after his name was removed from the electoral roll in West Bengal during a controversial voter list revision. Known as the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), the exercise is being carried out by the Election Commission of India (ECI) to identify ineligible voters." BBC. Renewal of a passport requires the old passport, proof of address, which include utility bills, driving license or rent agreement, and two recent photographs. Bajaj Finance. It does not need a voter card which is now being issued by the ECI after an SIR. As per the ECI an elector (a voter) is one who is a "Citizen of India. At least 18 years of age. Ordinarily Resident of the Constituency. Not disqualified under any law." eci.gov.in. If a passport does not certify citizenship, why is Mr Rajagopal being denied one because the ECI refuses to recognize him as a citizen. Even though he undoubtedly is. So what is the recourse? Obviously a court of law. But this is where one could disappear. "Even as Supreme Court has repeatedly invoked the legal maxim 'that justice delayed is justice denied' - with CJI Surya Kant recently saying 'justice delayed is justice destroyed'," "SC took almost 14 years to decide the appeal. During the period, two out of three convicts died." "The appeal came up for hearing on 12 dates over the last 14 years." TOI. On 23 June, the Orissa High Court delivered a verdict in favor of two daily-wage sweepers after 27 years of litigation. TOI. "Indian entrepreneur Prakash Dadlani has backed Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu's argument that corruption is pushing up costs across the economy, saying it is quietly making Indian manufacturing more expensive by raising the cost of land, approvals, interest and rents." He said, "corruption is not only making homes unaffordable but is also weakening India's ability to compete with manufacturing hubs such as China and Vietnam." BT. If you can prolong a case till death, there is little fear of punishment. So, "A total of 17,043 encounter operations were carried out across Uttar Pradesh in the past nine years, in which 289 criminals were killed and 34,253 were arrested. A total of 11,834 accused were injured." NDTV. "Encounter killings, often simply referred to as encounters, is a euphemism used in India and Pakistan to refer to extrajudicial killings by security forces." wikipedia. "In 'encounter' deaths, the logic of Uttar Pradesh Police is always the same. The accused attacks the police while being taken for interrogation. In an act of defence, the police retaliate, in which the accused dies." 101reporters.com. Apparently, UP Police have changed tactics and now shoot the legs. "According to Uttar Pradesh Police data, there have been 13,000 such incidents in the last seven years, in which the accused were shot in the knee. This is called 'half fry' in UP Police parlance." Hindus are cremated after death, so the 289 dead were fully fried and the 13,000 crippled for life just half fried. How droll.