Miscellaneous Topics thread

The Strategic Issues & International Relations Forum is a venue to discuss issues pertaining to India's security environment, her strategic outlook on global affairs and as well as the effect of international relations in the Indian Subcontinent. We request members to kindly stay within the mandate of this forum and keep their exchanges of views, on a civilised level, however vehemently any disagreement may be felt. All feedback regarding forum usage may be sent to the moderators using the Feedback Form or by clicking the Report Post Icon in any objectionable post for proper action. Please note that the views expressed by the Members and Moderators on these discussion boards are that of the individuals only and do not reflect the official policy or view of the Bharat-Rakshak.com Website. Copyright Violation is strictly prohibited and may result in revocation of your posting rights - please read the FAQ for full details. Users must also abide by the Forum Guidelines at all times.
Haresh
BRFite
Posts: 1736
Joined: 30 Jun 2009 17:27

Re: Miscellaneous Topics thread

Post by Haresh »

Not to sure where to put this.

What do you think of the authors opinions?

India: It’s Worse Than You Think

https://www.unz.com/article/india-its-w ... s#comments
Vayutuvan
BRF Oldie
Posts: 14001
Joined: 20 Jun 2011 04:36

Re: Miscellaneous Topics thread

Post by Vayutuvan »

@Haresh ji,

https://www.gold-eagle.com/authors/jayant-bhandari
Jayant Bhandari is constantly traveling the world to look for investment opportunities, particularly in the natural resource sector. He advises institutional investors about his finds. Earlier, he worked for six years with US Global Investors (San Antonio, Texas), a boutique natural resource investment firm, and for one year with Casey Research. Before emigrating from India, he started and ran the Indian subsidiary operations of two European companies. He still travels multiple times a year to India.

Bhandari has written on political, economic and cultural issues for the Liberty magazine, the Mises Institute (USA), Mises Institute (Canada), Casey Research, International Man, Mining Journal, Zero Hedge, Lew Rockwell, the Dollar Vigilante, Fraser Institute, Le Québécois Libre, Mauldin Economics, Northern Miner, Mining Markets etc. He is a contributing editor of the Liberty magazine.

He is an MBA from Manchester Business School (UK) and B. Engineering from SGSITS (India).
That is all we need to know about this guy.
Baikul
BRFite
Posts: 1605
Joined: 20 Sep 2010 06:47

Re: Miscellaneous Topics thread

Post by Baikul »

Haresh wrote: 14 Jul 2025 00:02 Not to sure where to put this.

What do you think of the authors opinions?

India: It’s Worse Than You Think

https://www.unz.com/article/india-its-w ... s#comments
It’s self loathing, intellectually substandard, western dick riding, cringe inducing, poorly written and poorly analysed garbage concocted by a Nirad C. Chaudhuri from Walmart.

That’s all.
A_Gupta
BRF Oldie
Posts: 13788
Joined: 23 Oct 2001 11:31
Contact:

Re: Miscellaneous Topics thread

Post by A_Gupta »

Any thoughts here on Bhil Pradesh? And the separate religion?
ricky_v
BRFite
Posts: 1453
Joined: 11 Aug 2016 06:14

Re: Miscellaneous Topics thread

Post by ricky_v »

A_Gupta wrote: 04 Aug 2025 17:37 Any thoughts here on Bhil Pradesh? And the separate religion?
at first glance, seems a non-starter: all states were created based on language, the newer states of jk, cg, uk were created from 1 big state, this would necessitate taking districts from 4 states with different languages

Image

Image

there is no established political party fighting for such a statehood across state lines, if there is demand from the ground, then they can field their candidates and gauge interest accordingly, iirc, many seats in this belt are designated as st reserved

dont know about a separate religion, all the regions outlined above are the run-off-the-mill indian cities / towns, nothing out of the ordinary, though iirc the conversion rates are high atleast in the tribal areas of this belt
A_Gupta
BRF Oldie
Posts: 13788
Joined: 23 Oct 2001 11:31
Contact:

Re: Miscellaneous Topics thread

Post by A_Gupta »

ricky_v
BRFite
Posts: 1453
Joined: 11 Aug 2016 06:14

Re: Miscellaneous Topics thread

Post by ricky_v »

well the religion above is for the peoples inhabiting chhota nagpur mainly in jharkhand, bihar, by some stretch chhatisgarh

bhils and bhilais are in the west chiefly between the forested regions in the border of mp, gujarat, along the banks of the narmada, do not think the two are related

the nagpuriya, as the tribes are called collectively in the local language, have already agitated for and obtained their own state, there is no such movement for the bhils

incidentally, the city i grew up in would also come under the new proposed state as shown above, have never heard any lingering sentiments for statehood
ricky_v
BRFite
Posts: 1453
Joined: 11 Aug 2016 06:14

Re: Miscellaneous Topics thread

Post by ricky_v »

i am currently visiting the city that i grew up in, some jumbled, random reflections of what i feel would be true for all lower tier 2 / upper tier 3 cities, the main thing to notice is that the city has not fundamentally changed, yes, there are more flyovers, the roads are widened in certain places, and there are the usual remnants of the changes in purchasing habits, large brick and mortar plazas giving way to glass and glitz malls themselves now joining the earlier plazas in decrepitude and the blossoming of smaller kirana stores almost everywhere, but the city remains the same

now i have seen the older pictures in the local museums of the city in the before times, and strikingly, the core remains unchanged, give or take the ubiquitous 3g/4g towers and the presence of more motor cars on the roads, and i think to myself, if someone from the 1960s or 70s city would somehow time travel to today's time, would he find much difference from his times? - probably yes, telecom and friends is a relatively newer beast, physically though on a surface level, the city is the same only spammed with the same layout throughout, and i look at the videos of chinese cities which are unrecognisable from their earlier iterations, and i wonder if residents of tier 1 or upper tier 2 cities face the same query that i posit above

in the earlier noughts, there was a whiff of optimism, there was a spate of geocities discussion, but i think we are unlikely to ever fully change ala the chinese, it would be utilitarian, functional and with little thought paid to aesthetics

now, india by prior estimates was hurtling towards a fall in demographics from 2080 onwards, and that was the best case scenario, i think that liberation in lifestyles of the current milieu and even one deviation above may lead to a crash much sooner, will the much vaunted demographic dividend pay out handsomely by then? that is anybody's guess i suppose

i fear that our peak is nearer and we may not have enough time to sufficiently convert our current demographic leverage to a stable, medium income economy by then

in george martins dying of the light, a melancholic space opera, a rogue planet is observed to be in an orbit that would only bring it near civilisation for a certain period of time before it moves out into a region of dark space with no stars, so, many revel on that planet indulging in all excesses without abandon as the twilight of the planet draws near
Tanaji
BRF Oldie
Posts: 5019
Joined: 21 Jun 2000 11:31

Re: Miscellaneous Topics thread

Post by Tanaji »

Ricky saab,

There are 2 levels to this. GoI has been rightly focusing on poverty alleviation - and in this it has seen more success than failure. One could argue this is because of the huge amount of social security spending that we so in form of MNREGA or housing or medical insurance or Ladki Bahin type - but the net impact has been that the bottom rung is being lifted up. If one speaks to the lower section, there is cause for optimism - they have phones , two wheelers and aspire to education.

The rich are where they are - getting richer due to the new opportunities available in all respects - the number of companies opening up is increasing, their discretionary spending is increasing, luxury travel is increasing.

The gloom is with middle class. They are the ones hit by taxes and have to bear the brunt of paying for the various schemes. Education costs are through the roof. So they respond with marrying late, having no more than one kid etc etc.

Simplistic, but that’s my view and largely agree with your observations
But
Vayutuvan
BRF Oldie
Posts: 14001
Joined: 20 Jun 2011 04:36

Re: Miscellaneous Topics thread

Post by Vayutuvan »

What is the definition of Indian middle class? I realize that it is a range low-rich, upper middle class, middle middle class, and lower middle class etc.

At what income/wealth level, folks get a maid to clean their home (most likely a flat) and at what level they employ maid cum cook? As the nominal per capita goes up, the gap between PPP and nominal narrows. That means those who are employing household help have to do chores themselves. Currently furniture will be brought home by labor hands employed by the store. They also will assemble on site. Usually that is all included in the price. Going forward, upper middle class folks have to do assemble stuff at home. If they want somebody to deliver and assemble, then they will have to pay as the labor costs will be going up.

In many cities including 2nd and 3rd tier, the cost of living has gone up tremendously. Public spaces are limited and of poor quality. Tier one cities are unlivable IMHO. Which tier cities are going to grow (unplanned obviously as our babucracy is incompetent and corrupt to some extent).
Post Reply