Looks like the TN Bar Council has issued a fatwa against me for questioning the efficiency and vacations of the judicial system. Their main points in defence of the legal system:
1. The bureaucracy is also very inefficient. Well, I agree. Hence all the effort to do process reforms. Clearly no one in the bar council has bothered to read anything I write about government systems (or economists for that matter). This is no justification for keeping legal processes inefficient.
2. Vacations and holidays are evidently spent writing judgements. Very well, the judges are welcome to take leave like everyone else. There is no reason for the whole system to shut down for weeks on end. Incidentally, other members of society also work hard - corporate managers, scientists, politicians, journalists and even civil servants. We are all participants in building India. No one asks for the system to shut down when they go on vacation.
3. Some 73% of all cases involve government departments. Have heard such statistics thrown around before but, when I tried to substantiate it with data, I was unable to do so. I will be grateful if the TN Bar Council can give me the definite data so that we, as a country, can do something about it.

newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai… I am hardly the only person arguing for legal system reform and the ending of the system of long vacations. Here is @bibekdebroy , Chairman of EAC-PM, making the same point

The new ASI dig at Rakhigarhi is throwing up some amazing finds from early, mature and late Harappan periods. Some are multi-storey buildings. These are just from a small area; there still are huge unexplored mounds. 1/n



Sanjay Manjul and his team have also found evidence of a “stadium” with layered seating on both sides. Also piles of terracotta balls near the gates. Were these used for slings against attackers? 2/n

What happens in US universities if you do not follow the official line. This "cleansing" first happened in humanities and social sciences, now STEM. The spectacular decline of these institutions could not have faster. 1/n

https://twitter.com/MartinKulldorff/status/1767312395959980034

My family is well known for its opposition (often armed) to Western hegemony but we always had great respect for their universities. My great grandfather Nalinaksha, a revolutionary, won a scholarship to LSE in 1920s. Despite writing part of his thesis in a London prison.... 2/n

Now that India's strong growth performance is no longer in doubt, let me deal with some common questions raised about India's economic performance: "FDI is going to Vietnam and not coming to India"; "Bangladesh now has a higher per capita income" and so on. 1/n At the onset,let it be clear that B'desh and Vietnam are friendly countries & we do not grudge them their good fortune. Nonetheless, as shown below, India consistently gets far more FDI than Vietnam and the gap, if anything, is widening in the long run. (World Bank data) 2/n

I am just making a common-sense point on the Apple alert issue. Just read the language of the notification. It is full of loaded language like "because of who you are or what you do" - hardly a technical alert. Also odd how it states "state-sponsored" without any proof 1/n Email version of the alert mentions that some unnamed "experts" would be needed to help the supposed target of this "state-sponsored" cyber attack/hack. This is suspicious; surely Apple, the world's largest company, would be recommending its own support team and not "experts" 2/n

Spent my Sunday retracing on foot part of the trail that INA and Japanese troops had followed on the Kohima campaign of 1944. Beautiful place but must have been very tough in monsoon conditions 1/n

I have trekked in many places, but this trail is very special as Netaji personally used this route into India. Even in dry conditions, sections can be very slippery because of the kind of soil. 2/n

Income tax return statistics were recently used by some commentators to suggest that India's income inequality worsened between 2013-14 & 2021-22, & that gross income of lowest 25% of taxpayers actually declined. This is inaccurate interpretation of the data on several counts 1/n At onset, note that dataset relates to tax payers, not a survey of general population; extrapolating to income distribution is tricky. Rising pool of high-income taxpayers, for instance, reflects many factors from better compliance to middle-class moving up; both good things 2/n

Now that data unequivocally endorses India's economic strategy during Covid, here is the theory of why heuristic based decisions under Uncertainty are fundamentally superior the usual Risk-tree strategies taught in universities 1/n
At that time, when I explained decision making in an uncertain, complex world using the "dog-and-frisbee" analogy, some people mocked this. I hope they will now recognise that the heuristic of iteration & flexibility is vastly superior to "predictive modelling" 2/n

Am starting a series on impossible-to-translate Bengali words. Am writing in Roman script so that non-Bongs can enjoy the fun and have a shot at giving translations in other languages. Also open to suggestions on words for future postings

Today's word: Kebla Word of the day (on popular demand): Nyaka

....... even better, its variant: Nyaka-chandi

What is unsaid is that these are the descendants of language, sociology and anthropology departments that were used by colonial powers to deconstruct and delegitimise indigenous cultures of the colonised peoples

https://twitter.com/richarddawkins/status/1606379832455188482

The so-called progressive intellectual tradition is deeply steeped in the justification of colonialism in garb of “liberating” indigenous people from “superstition”. Marx, the Mills, even Keynes were enthusiastic supporters of colonial occupation of India

Facebook has just informed me that my post on 26/11 Mumbai attacks is against their "Community Standards" on spam........ really??? And how is it spam? or "false advertising"? Evidently Indians are not allowed to even remember atrocities inflicted on us.

My working paper on why opinion-based global indices on issues like democracy & freedom have reduced India's rankings/scores since 2014. The paper investigates three well-known Western think-tanks and found laughably shallow, opaque methodologies 1/n

eacpm.gov.in/wp-content/upl… Problem is that these opinions find their way into concrete things into sovereign ratings through the World Bank's WGI index.The growing calls for ESG scores in investment/trade decisions will give opinion-based indices even greater currency. It is time to demand transparency 2/n

Just finished an amazing trip to Mumbai. Some incredible infrastructure being built - much of it to be finished in 24months. 13 metro lines, coastal road, new international airport, transharbour bridge to name a few. The city will be transformed within 2-3 years 1/n Metro line 3 will run from Cuffe Parade to Goregaon and will alone transform Mumbai. Built in a busy running city, underneath world heritage sites, Mithi river, bridges, it is an engineering marvel. See how close the Hutatma Chowk stn is to existing buildings 2/n

An important way that bureaucracies perpetuate their power is the system of small favours. A small wrinkle in the rule book forces the common citizen to ask for a minor favour (a permission, a signature, etc). It is dispensed freely, but sets up a patron-client relationship 1/n A good example of this is the colonial era Kursi Nashin that allowed chosen Indians to sit in the presence of a British official. It was not difficult for elite Indians to get it as long as he "behaved" - but it immediately created a favour 2/n

An excellent dissection of how India's "intellectual" class have systematically tried to tilt the narrative against India to score political points. However, it is more than just a case of ideology 1/n

quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/20… India's intellectual class is disproportionately descendants of the class who collaborated with the British occupation (my own informal research on families of present day "intellectuals" almost always leads there). 2/n

The Rupee hit 80/US$ today. However, it is appreciating against other majors: 80.2/EUR vs 88 a year ago; 0.58/JPY vs 0.68; 94.3/GBP vs 103.2; and broadly flat to 11.8/CNY vs 11.5 a year ago. RBI is using reserves to smoothen move but correctly allowing mkt adjustment 1/n The Macro vitals of the economy in good shape: latest industrial growth reading is 19.6% yoy; bank credit at 13.2%; PMI for services at 59.2; both direct & indirect tax revenues buoyant 2/n

The US is still seeing 30-40k Covid cases/day and averaging 1200 deaths a day. This makes no sense after 2 years of vaccination and very high infection rates. Germany has 200k & SKorea 380k cases/day. Here is what is happening in New Zealand.... the country we were told did everything right. Now, the country with just 4.5mn population has almost 20k cases/day and deaths rising. Meanwhile Bangladesh has 150 cases/day - even allowing for poor data, it is astounding difference

As many of you are aware, @vikramsampath is constantly attacked personally by the Left cabal for the crime of writing a book about Savarkar. The latest is that he is accused of plagerism. The evidence is very weak as explained below 1/n First, the evidence doesn't relate to any of Sampath's major works but the transcript of a speech he did at India Foundation in 2017. I also spoke at the event, and remember Vikram speaking mostly extempore with a few short passages read out. See link 2/n
indiatoday.in/magazine/up-fr…

The #EconomicSurvey2022 has just been presented in Parliament. It comes in 2 volumes- the first looks at overall macroeconomic and sectoral developments, and the second is a revamped statistical appendix #EconomicSurvey (1/16) @FinMinIndia @PIB_India @nsitharamanoffc Indian Economy is estimated to have crossed the pre-pandemic level in 2021-22 with 9.2% growth (AE). Contact intensive services still impacted. #EconomicSurvey2022 #EconomicSurvey (2/16) @FinMinIndia @PIB_India @nsitharamanoffc

Covid is seeing a big resurgence in Europe. Germany just recorded 51k cases in a day. Deaths are still low but that rises only after a lag. So, we do not know yet if the vaccine will prevent a spike in deaths. Same story in Netherlands where cases are back at peak with 12k cases/day - very high for its population size

A beautiful depiction of the idea of #KALI - Time - beautiful and energetic driver of universe, destructive & regenerative - held back (just about) by her love of Shiva (consciousness) 1/n

In the Shakta tradition, therefore, the somewhat anarchic nature of the universe is embodied in Kali/Bhawani - whereas the same idea in the Shaiva tradition is embodied in Shiva himself, just about held in check by Vishnu or Parvati 2/n