I have deliberately tweeted nothing about #RheaChakrobarty. I happened to catch a film called "Under Suspicion"(2000); Police captain Morgan Freeman relentlessly questions prominent lawyer Gene Hackman until he confesses to 2 murders. Turns out someone else did it. Type 1 error.
A Type 1 error in criminology is when you reject the null hypothesis. In a criminal investigation, the Null Hypothesis is that the accused is innocent. In a clinical trial, that the drug under investigation is equivalent to placebo.
The ferocity and persistence with which the media in #India are hounding Rhea Chakrbarty is on a par with the efforts being put in by #BigPharma to convince us that their product (#Coronil, #Favipiravir, #Itolizumab etc) is THE magic cure. Both may be guilty of a Type 1 error.
And just to complete the analogy, if CBI/Police/@RepublicTV/ArnabGoswami succeed in establishing some unrelated illegality on #Rhea it will be similar to @Bioconlimited reporting a significant result for some irrelevant secondary outcome having failed on the mortality outcome.
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Of all the claims that @palkisu made in her fanciful @OxfordUnion debate on India under Modi, the most egregious was the claim about how, in the much dreaded queue at the UK Border Agency at Heathrow she observed throngs of Indians proudly presenting their INDIAN passports.
No longer did they have to shamefully and hesitantly reveal their Indian-ness. The implication was that before Modi arrived on the scene (and forced us to defend Indian democracy), all of us did precisely that - hide our passports as we slipped in shamefaced and embarrassed.
what utter bollocks! what balderdash!
If at all any Indian traveller arriving at Heathrow is not so knackered and bushed after a 9 hour flight that he presentes his Indian passport with a proud flourish its because of pride that he has obtained a Visitor Visa
This #50WordEdit from @ShekharGupta really takes the biscuit. He seems to have swallowed the usual Govt hype and self-praise about the recently concluded India-EFTA trade deal, and its description as a 100 billion USD deal. Let's delve behind the deal a bit shall we?
I presented an analysis of this deal in this twitter thread done a few weeks ago when it was still under negotiation.
But to reiterate a few points:
EFTA may have Europeean in its name - European Free Trade Association - but for avoidance of doubt it is not the European Union. EFTA is a customs area of 4 countries, Switzerland, Norway, Lichtenstein (a tiny city state of a mere 40,000 people)
Tucked away in the new Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita is Sec 148, under which a policeman can order
"any assembly of five or more persons ..to disperse;..." They need not be doing anything wrong. It's enough if the policeman thinks it is likely they will.
If they don't disperse as commanded, Sec 148(2) provides for the policeman to call up members of the public to assist him in making them disperse (These could potentially be goons from some saffron dal).
Sec 149 provides for the DM to summon the help ofthe army to disperse the crowd of 5 or more people.
I think the Opposition is missing a trick. Instead of sitting on the steps to some side entrance into Parliament, they should run a 'parallel' parliament session. debating issues, considering bills clause by clause and passing resolutiions maybe even voting down bills.
It'll have no effect of course but it would make for good theatre. Put it on @YouTube. Invite journalists and experts for select committe style enquiries into policy issues, I am sure there'll be enough volunteers to provide secretarial support.
After all the suspended MPs come from almost all parts of India. Many are well-versed in Parliamentary procedure and language. Some are constitutional, legal and public finance experts. They could put on a greart show of erudition and elocution with humour and grace
I currently have family over from India, on a visit. Educated, well off. Totally unaware of current affairs; claim they never bother with news, neither TV nor magazines. But that doesn't mean they have no opinion on issues that matter. So for instance, they assert that:
1. After 70 years in which nothing happened, India is suddenly now a world power. 2. By 2050, Muslims will take over India. 3. Hindus are discriminated against in favour of minorities esp Muslims and Christians who have the upper hand because of past vote-bank politics.
All these assertions crumble under cross examination.
"So they say.. on WhatsApp.. we don't know if true or not, but why take a chance.. " is the constant refrain.
It is maddening and frustrating. Logical fact based counter argument gets you nowhere.
India has officially rejected @JustinTrudeau's allegation. They had no other option. They could hardly have said, हमने कनाडा में घुस के मारा साले को.
From the moral high ground it once occupied, India has been reduced to the level of Pakistan which routinely issued such denials.
This is a foreign policy failure for which I blame the weaponisation of the #GodiMedia which has been encouraged to turn every official statement of the Govt into a Modi MasterStroke.
The Private conversation between Mr Modi and Mr Trudeau should never have been broadcast.
Instead, the Indian side leaked it that the Indian prime minister had "read the riot act" to his Canadan counterpart about Sikh separatism, Godi Media outlets presented this as India's moment in the world soon after a successful #G2Lotus summit to act tough and muscular.