Symptoms and cure for the latest disease

There is a new disease doing the rounds.
It is consuming lives in thousands.

It's addiction with politicians.The addiction has existed for long but it is recently that this addiction has gone viral. Earlier it was confined to a few people called 'staunch loyalists' but today it is pervasive in all political discussions.

 It has ruined calm and peace in people's lives.The discussions have been known to ruin  people's composure, sleep, friendship and friend circles. (oops! That got repeated) But you get the point! :)

So here are a few ways to check, if any of your loved ones are afflicted by it

1. Feverish Symptoms: Burning sensation

The subject gets incensed while reading/hearing somebody's ill remarks on Y. The subject can feel the heat rising from your gut as it starts to heat up his body starting with a tingling sensation in his ears.

As the rage slowly starts to overcome the subject at the audacity of the speaker to cast such spurious allegations on his favorite politician Y. You may see fumes form his ears. (see illustration below)

2. Inability to see or hear

No The subject don't go blind (or deaf!) with rage but it is just that The subject can see and hear some things while others he can't.
"Z is right , he said Y is good but he is damn wrong when he says X is good. I think Z has been misled."

3. Why You no sense!

The subject is unable to see any point in anybody's argument  allegations against Y. It all seems like gibberish sounds of an alien trying to communicate. (pic above)

He decides to go one step ahead and delve into the minds of X and Y finding their game-plan for elections. (Why don't they hire him as campaign manager!)

 Y thought that X would anticipate what Y thought and in anticipation said what X was thinking but X wasn't thinking what Y was saying So what Y said is not what X thought but what X didn't think so either Hence... You get the drift... 

3. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

After having ignored considered all the objections of his unknowledgable knowledgable opponent.
He immediately launches into a long tirade on X. How X is the wolf in sheep's cloth...ya da ya da ya da

Comments sound approximately like:
"Aarey bevkoof! Aankhe kholo. Clearly, X chor hain aur Y sevak  hain. X tumhe bevkoof bana raha hain aur tum ban rahe houn. Y ko support karo."

He never says "I see your objections but I prefer X over Y. Let's see what happens and hope for the best."
He feels the compelling need to write a long reply and shake the fool (oops!) esteemed colleague out of the dream he is living in.


4. The subject hates this article.

If you find any such signs or symptoms in your loved ones.
Take them in a corner and slowly whisper

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."
-Aristotle

Remind them daily and pray they get well.

P.S. A few years back, we were indifferent towards our leaders. That didn't do well.
Now moving towards the other extreme - worshiping our leaders. It is anybody's guess what that would bring.

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What do you think looking at the photo?

Behind the most powerful protest photo of the year in Ukraine

Wait a minute.
What do you think by looking at the photo?

I feel the photo creates a negative image of the officer but I am somehow not able to find a reason for it.
How I feel may not be correct all the time.

Context : 

A disheveled Ukrainian man and his son walk in the streets of Kiev, a protest site for the past four months. Both their faces are drenched in blood. They’ve come across a Ukrainian soldier or police officer dressed in riot gear. Reuters freelancer Vlad Sodel snapped the photo as the man and his son exchange glances.

My conclusion:
Without full context, the information can be misleading. So better to have no view until complete context is known. Believe me, this comes handy in more cases than you think 
It would be especially useful in avoiding media speculation. Good day! :)

Source: http://www.dailydot.com/news/iconic-kiev-photo-2-men/

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Delhi Politics: The formation of AAP government A thrilling story

Some would call Arvind Kejriwal a shrewd strategist others would say his straight talk is upsetting apple carts.
Either way, I am more than glad. As long as I get honest MPs and MLAs from AAP.

Here is my view on how BJP fell in it's own trap.

Delhi Election Results:
Election results were declared

BJP Alliance:32 seats
AAP: 28 seats
Congress: 8 seats
Others: 2 seats
In the 70 seat assembly. You required 36 seats for simple majority.

 BJP needed just 4 more candidates to make govt. The usual scenario would have been horse trading and Voila! BJP is in power. While the losers would carp over it. It would be all forgotten in a few days by the media and frankly, public memory is also not so strong nowadays.

Kejriwal declared let BJP form the govt. We will be in opposition as usual.

Suddenly BJP is in limelight. BJP does not take the chance to be seen doing exactly What he predicted and asks AAP to form the govt.

Congress extends unconditional outside support  to AAP to form the govt.

He refuses to form the govt. saying BJP is the biggest party. BJP jumps at opportunity to call him a "Shower than a Doer". Mr. Harshavardhan tweets "Why is AAP not forming the government when he has the outside support to form the government. He is running away from governance"

Congress extends unconditional outside support (they would later modify their stance to issue based support) because well, It won't be seen supporting BJP and wants to topple the government after sometime when public opinion against it subsides. It would be harder to topple govt. in case of BJP than AAP.

Kejriwal forms a minority govt. knowing fully well that this won't last more than time of  Lok Sabha elections but gives him time to show his governance to get more seats in next elections. Meanwhile as expected BJP dubs it joining hands with Congress to form the govt. (Minority government term does not register with BJP. They conveniently forget Mr. Vajpayee's 13 day government could also not prove majority.) Mr. Harshavardhan contradicts himself by denouncing AAP's decision to form government. (Wasn't he asking them to form the govt. in first place)

In the few days before vote
He goes on to deliver on water and electricity prices according to what he promised in his manifesto.

Congress is forced by public opinion to support him.

AAP wins the trust vote.

Please let me know for any factual inaccuracies.

To belong or not to belong...

We have often seen people, who just would not accept an argument even if it cannot be refuted just because they belong to the other side.
Further Many people have made opinions, just to belong to a group.

I am sure at some point in time, You must also have been reprimanded by teacher. It isn't fun, especially if you are the only one standing in class on the bench.(with raised hands! :P).
But the moment there is some other guy who also gets reprimanded. You feel - 'You are not alone in this'.
This curiously lessens the pain of being admonished. At that point you and the other guy form a group - The United Group of Being Admonished (UGOBA). The other guy is your pal sharing your hopes and sorrow (oops! blame) :)

And I got it.
Why do we need to belong
1. Survival
After all we are social animals and interdependent. Belonging to a group was one of the key element of survival long back - You simply didn't exist alone long enough in a jungle - and the instinct has remained in us.

2. Better Treatement
If I belong to your group, that makes me one of you and You are more likely to treat me with more compassion than someone who says - "Well, I haven't made up my mind about your argument. But do you mind helping me out on..."

3. Simply cos It's fun
Then there is the fun part of belonging in a group.
Well, they say- 'There is electricity in the crowds'.
If you are unconvinced - go to a bar, discotheque.

What do people pay for? The drinks, the lights, Well, Partially! But it's the environment or ambience, (to sound sophisticated! :P).
People are having fun because people are having fun.

If you don't agree try visiting the place when it's empty and see if you can enjoy the same.

There is also one big flip side to it and it doesnot affect only you but the whole society

When one does not evaluate choices and takes decisions to just belong to a group. It promotes poor alternatives for everyone.
For example: Say. If you bought a watch for a million dollars just because you could afford it. It becomes the buzz of the town. The seller would do well to crane to people who are hesitant to shell out a million dollars for a watch that even Mr. Verma (you are Mr. Verm let's say :P) bought it. Only a connoisseur of Mr Verma's league could see the value of this watch and pay for it.

I am sure, some of your admirers (after all You must be someone to pay a million dollar for a watch. :P) will want to be in your league and buy it. So a whole lot of people are duped in your name.

This goes for all things from buying watch to matchsticks, to beliefs - political or otherwise - because we influence decisions of people around us.

To conclude
It wouldn't be such a bad thing to have no preference until a strong reason comes along. For the time being it's okay to sit on the fence and watch both the groups curiously (:P) Are they just trying to belong Or Is there a solid argument here? Then you will be closer to the truth.

Let me know! :)

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Why so Gung ho?

Facebook to buy Whatsapp for 19 billion dollars

From the numerous articles throwing mind numbing numbers of How Whatsapp was gonna become the next big thing with its 450 mn users, so many messages,pics.... I could make out two reasons for the acquisition

1. Facebook is buying it to earn more from the increased usage and new users it gets?

The most convincing comment on the topic is:
Facebook is paying $42 per user with the deal, compared with a market value per user of $170 for Facebook and $212 for Twitter, Deutsche Bank's Ross Sandler said in a note.

Well, It looks great! when you put it that way but aren't you assuming Whatsapp user can be monetized the same way as a facebook user (believe me, it's tough and I will tell why) and a whatsapp user is not already a Facebook user. I believe that is too long a stretch...

Let us talk about profits, if you don't mind– Facebook makes profit of 2.25$ per user per year (2.7 bn pretax profit from 1.2 bn users). How much does Whatsapp make per user?

From a forbes article, which says 50 mn dollar annual revenue from 450 mn users.That’s .11 dollar revenue earned per user per year. Profits not disclosed, but surely will be lesser than revenue. So let's work with this only assuming tooth fairy pays for the expenses of Whatsapp.

So you think you can earn 2.25$ profit (20 times more profit)(Remember profit! Here revenue is mere .11 dollars ) from a Whatsapp user. 

All the while you are assuming Facebook user and Whatsapp user inhabit distinct worlds, So they cannot be the same. Now Would you say Facebook is paying cheap?

Why you cannot easily make 2.25$ profit from a Whatsapp user?

Currently Whatsapp revenue source is membership fee paid by its users 99 cents a year. To earn 2.25$ profit. It has to go up by more than 20 times. Will I pay more than 20$ to use Whatsapp? I am not so sure.

Another source of revenue could be ads but there is a problem too.
Whats app is a mobile messaging service like Yahoo Chat, Google Hangout etc. and do not show any ads because well, the chat interface does not have the real estate for putting an ad between conversation.

 Facebook earns from displaying related ads among your posts (Facebook had to bring ads from the fringes to centre to create more user interaction with posts. See the Suggested posts in your Newsfeed!)

So the big question is Will I stay with Whatsapp if it started showing ads to earn revenue while other messengers do not? 

2. Facebook is buying Whatsapp to remain the leader?

Some say the fast pace of growth of Whatsapp was a threat to Facebook.User engagement over Whatsapp was higher than Facebook (by 13%). So Facebook bought it to remain a leader.

Now I think if you pay 19 billion dollars to remain in business where you earn revenue of 7.8 bn dollars. Your forego more than 2 years of revenue to stay the leader. That's a pretty expensive deal, if you ask me.

I am reminded of this lesson from Warren Buffett citing caution to invest in businesses which demand a lot of investment but make little money from those investments.

"There are businesses which continue to demand sizeable investment from time to time just to remain in business. They are not worth investing."

So Yup! I am not gung ho over the acquisition. 

It reminds me of Microsoft's acquisition of Skype for 8.5 bn dollars. Wonder, Was there an article of jump in Microsoft profits after!

Source links:

1. Why Facebook is buying WhatsApp for a whopping $19bn http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/tech-news/internet/Why-Facebook-is-buying-WhatsApp-for-a-whopping-19bn/articleshow/30714970.cms
2. Wall Street sees sense in Facebook's $19 billion WhatsApp purchase http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/20/us-whatsapp-facebook-research-idUSBREA1J0Z720140220
3. Facebook's new 10-year plan? SMS -- aka WhatsApp http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2014/02/20/5-key-reasons-whatsapp-is-worth-19bn-to-facebook/
4. Why Microsoft Is Buying Skype for $8.5 Billion
   http://gigaom.com/2011/05/09/why-microsoft-is-buying-skype-for-8-billion/

Tabling the Lokpal Bill

Can the Lokpal Bill be introduced in Delhi Legislative Assembly?

Following are the objections to the tabling

1. Section 239 AA 3C

2. Transaction Business Rules (TBR) of 2002 Rule 55(1)

Following are the facts

1. Section 239 AA 3C

If any provision of a law made by the Legislative Assembly with respect to any matter is repugnant to any provision of a law made by Parliament with respect to that matter, whether passed before or after the law made by the Legislative Assembly, or of an earlier law, other than a law made by the Legislative Assembly, then, in either case, the law made by Parliament, or , as the case may be, such earlier law, shall prevail and the law made by the Legislative Assembly shall, to the extent of the repugnancy, be void;

                        Provided that if any such law made by the Legislative Assembly has been reserved for the consideration of the President and has received his assent such law shall prevail in National Capital Territory ;

                       Provided further that nothing in this sub-clause shall prevent Parliament from enacting at any time any law with respect to the same matter including a law adding to, amending, varying or repealing the law so made by the Legislative Assembly.

Source: http://delhiassembly.nic.in/constitution.htm

2. Transaction Business Rules (TBR) of 2002 Rule 55(1)

Official Source not found yet.

“The Lieutenant-Governor shall refer to the Central government every legislative proposal which relates to any matter which may ultimately necessitate additional financial assistance from the Central government through substantive expenditure from the Consolidated Fund of the Capital or abandonment of revenue or lowering of rate of any tax.”

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/centres-consent-needed-for-jan-lokpal/article5683029.ece

How is a bill passed in Vidhan Sabha?

There are 3 stages

1. Introduction

2. Consideration

3. Voting on the bill

What is a money bill?

In the Westminster system, a money bill or supply bill is a bill that solely concerns taxation or government spending, as opposed to changes in public law.

News:

Lokpal bill was defeated at the introduction stage by 42 against and 27 in favour.

The following content is seperate from facts and meant as optional reading.

Questions to consider on the tabling of Lokpal Bill:

Does the Lokpal Bill violate any provision of law made by Parliament (With reference to Section 239 AA 3C)?

How do Transaction Business Rules affect the functioning of Delhi Govt. (TBR 2002 Rule 55 (1))?

Factual Additions or Rectifications ( in case of error) are invited. Provide credible links to support the rectifications.

Please don't send speculations, conjectures or views. The post is intended as an unbiased collection of facts on displayed issues (News over Views).

Reliance Gas pricing

Facts of the case
1. Current gas prices of $4.2 per million British Thermal Units (mBtu) valid till 31st March 2014
2. Rangarajan Committee approved pricing of $8.40 mBtu to hold from 1st April 2014

3. Vikram Singh Mehta, (Chairman, Brookings ,India and Former Chairman, Shell Group ) has claimed the following:
Gas prices across the world :
US: 4$ mBtu (approx.)
Europe: 8$ mBtu (approx.)
Japan: 14-16$ mBtu (approx.)
Import price of gas to India: 16$ mBtu
"Reliance buys from Shell to run its refineries at 16$ mBtu"



Source:
1.http://www.thehindu.com/business/Industry/higher-gas-price-for-ril-gets-cabinet-nod/article5479309.ece
2. http://www.thehindu.com/business/Industry/ril-to-give-135-million-bank-guarantee-for-higher-gas-price/article5364171.ece
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4yeZDFI2j4 : Vikram Singh Mehta, Chairman, Brookings India
Former Chairman, Shell Group

Kids and adults

 

I am not very fond of kids and by kids I mean the school going ones (babies are lovable :P). I found it strange why women love kids so much. I mean here is a school going kid who is adamant (most of the times), irrational and a total tantrum machine. Who would love that? Not me! I am sure.

But as I have matured I found one thing that kids are better at than adults
It is expressing - love, joy, hate, anger, surprise, simply anything on all issues even small ones.

Say there is a group of adults working on some project and I feel, I am working hard, being on time while one guy shows up late, talks a lot on his phone while we do project. Basically Does not contribute 100% to the project. What would I do? Tell him "Hey buddy you are wasting our time Attend your calls later.Focus on project."

No Sir!. I am not gonna act like a non adjusting person, the one who complains in the group. I will keep a smiling/OK face (depending on what I am always like :P) all the while cultivating a grudge - That guy doesn't work much. Remember to give him a taste of his own medicine when time comes.

What would a kid do in a similar situation?
He would not conceal his irritation. Let his pal know he is angry, tell him straight, argue, fight.But after all that they are pals again. No grudges. No remembering to give his friend a hard time.

I think Kids are smarter that way. No wonder they are loved by all. :P

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