Facebook Censorship in India

Facebook removes posts, images and videos posted by it's users if a government asks it to do so. And guess what? Indian government is number 1 in doing so. Turkey takes the second position and Pakistan the third. Since this years May, (What a coincidence!) Indian govt forced Facebook to remove about 5,000 posts, Pakistan about 1500, according to a Facebook report. You should realise you're not doing a good job, when your country is top on the list where it is followed by Turkey and Pakistan.

Conflict of Identities

Recently, I came across an article in local Marathi language newspaper, which is famous in India's financial Capital Mumbai, promoting a view that Marathi people should feel proud about their language. That article didn't stop there, it also expressed contempt towards non-Marathi people in Mumbai and the author feared that non-Marathi people in Mumbai want to separate it from the rest of the Maharashtra state. A few of Maharashtra's political parties are responsible for creating this issue of Marathi vs non-Marathi people in Mumbai.

The National Pride

I recently got in a lot of debate about nationalism, and in my previous blog post, I also talked about how India overcelebrated success of it's mars mission which is a clear sign of this nationalism. And the question again rose in my mind, answer to which I couldn't previously find and still cannot- Why do we feel proud and celebrate it when somebody accomplishes something and also happens to be born in the same geological area as us?

India's Mars Mission

This Wednesday, Indian space agency ISRO, successfully entered it's spacecraft, Mangalyan,(Hindi for Mars craft) in an orbit around Mars. With this achievement, India became the fourth country to send probe to Mars, first Asian nation to send a spacecraft to study mars, first nation to get successful on the first attempt.

Kashmir floods, Politics and The Global Warming

Massive floods hit northernmost parts of India and Pakistan, known as Kashmir, this week.  There are about 400 confirmed deaths,More than 2,500 villages are affected, leaving 80,000 people homeless. Infrastructural damage has been estimated to reach $100M. Kashmir being one of the favorite tourist destination would suffer much more in tourism losses.

Human Effects on Earth: Are We Destroying Our Planet?

Humans have affected the life on earth more than anything else. Humans are responsible for the extinction of many species. We have been destroying natural habitats of many species. We cut down trees, we destroy forests and we build houses, factories and cities. We are making changes in the nature so as to make it more livable and comfortable for us, but in doing so we are making it uninhabitable for other organisms. Is doing so entirely wrong?

India's Independence Day

On August 15, India celebrated its 68th independence day. It did so pretty much like any other national holiday. The only difference between independence day and any other national holiday was that everyone listened to the speech of newly elected prime-minister in the morning, changed whatsapp profile picture to a tricolor, and enjoyed a patriotic feeling of living in the worlds greatest country.

Anti-intellectualism and the "Belief "

Asimov has put it very beautifully in a single sentence. This is the very root of almost all of the humanities problems. This anti-intellectualism has increased very much since Asimov's time. This is something very very sad. Our scientific advancements are at the all time high.

God, Morality and Religion

In my previous post, God and Morality, I expressed my views regarding how there is not any relation between the two concepts. But in that post, I didn't talk about one thing and that is Religion.

The Israel-Gaza conflict

Another war broke out between Israel and Gaza. As if world didn't suffer from enough wars and conflicts this year, there's another one. Instability in Ukraine following Russia's annexation of Crimea, internal conflict in Syria, ISIS threatening Iraq and now Israel-Gaza war, too much conflicts, wars and instability we have seen this year. 2014 might be the year known for this.

The Subsidy Fiasco

Every government in the world tends to give free or cheap things to it's citizens. For example India passed Food security bill last year, which made basic food items extremely cheap for poor people. US made healthcare cheaper. Governments always provide people services, that's what they are there for. But the problem is that they provide services cheaper than the market rate.

The Dirty Indian Politics

Just a few months ago, India elected narendra modi of Bhartiya Janta Party as it's prime minister, in hope that the new government will immediately stop inflation by using some magic stick (Yes, they are that innocent and economical illiterates). They did so, partially because both Modi and BJP highly criticised the earlier government of Indian National Congress, lead by Dr. Manmohan Singh, who himself is an expert in economics.

Gandhi and the Modern India

I recently watched the movie 'Gandhi'. It was an amazing movie. It gave an insight of all the Gandhi's principles. One of the most amazing dialogue was this- "they will arrest me, they will torture me, they will kill me. That way they will have my dead body but not my obedience."

Iraq Crisis and the US

Iraq is in the state of total chaos. ISIS terrorists have seized major cities like Mosul. Iraq military doesn't look strong enough to eliminate this national threat. Barack Obama announced that he will not be sending any troops to Iraq. Just days after, ISIS terrorists  acquired a major oil refinery in Iraq, which had a significant impact on global oil market, causing oil prices to rise up by 5$ per barrel.

Importance of Education

Education is important in any society. It is perhaps the most important thing our governments should be focusing on. Because if there is anything that can be a solution to all the problems in the world, it is education. You can take almost any problem and at the root of that problem will be the failure of education system.

India and human rights

India is a democratic country. Worlds biggest democracy! Freedom is a basic human right given to it's every citizen. But, how is the state doing in protecting rights of it's citizens? Not good.

God and Morality

One of the least asked but most discussed questions of the human history is  'does the god exist?' with the two clearly defined groups - theists and atheists- one always chooses to be either of them. Which is acceptable because everyone has a right to have their own opinions.

Why we should reduce our CO2 emissions

Climate change has been in news and has become a topic of debate recently. But what I don't understand is that how can you debate over what is fact. Science has proven again and again that not only global warming is happening, it is happening because of CO2 emissions for which we are responsible. If you are still against it this is a video you must watch.

Technology and India

India, the worlds largest democracy (by size) recently underwent elections, electing Narendra Modi of Bhartiya Janta Party as it's prime minister, what made these elections so special was that these were the first general elections since the rise of social media. Modi really did use the power of social media to his advantage.

Computers and the apocalypse

It has long been feared that robots and computers will one day take over earth defeating the human race which created them, artificial intelligence will take over the natural one. This, being one of the popular apocalyptic theories has some real side unlike others.