About the extent of freedom of speech.

Living in free societies entails a gamble, a wager, about the net effect of freedom. Certainly if I
have the freedom to paint the front of my house with a giant pornographic image and walk down
the street spreading lies about minority groups, I will be causing harm. On the other hand others
will use their freedom to spread useful and true information. The wager of a free society is that
there will be more of these good people, and that their information will be better and more
convincing, than the people like me who spread pornography and lies.

When you try to have something (and this is true for anything but it is also true for freedom),
without having the cost, you will eventually lose that thing you wanted (see Venezuela with their
experiment in free food and money). If you allow speech but prohibit "lies" all you are doing is
allowing the government to pick and choose what is true and what is false. They might start off
with good intentions but the government is often wrong about truth, and there are some truths
which are extremely hard to hear.

What happens when the government wants drugs to be illegal and makes it a crime to advocate
for legalization or that the harm of drugs is not as extreme as the government says it is?

What happens when the government wants to open the countries borders to immigrants and
labels any concerns as "racist"?

What happens when the government decides that abortion should be illegal and says anyone
advocating in favor of it is advocating in favor of murder and thus inciting violence.

Yes, freedom is a gamble. Yes, freedom has a price associated with it. Yes, you being free also
means that the assholes of the world are free. But sooner or later, depending on who the
government of the day is, depending on where you live, depending on who is powerful and who
is weak, you are eventually going to be the asshole too.

About the rhetoric of fascism in case of the USA

Rhetoric of fascism is about the exceptional role of a state and how every aspect of a society should be
controlled and regulated by it. Consider the idea of what the U.S. government has done with the idea of
terrorism. It's an enemy with no face and no clearly defined way to stop it. Thereby the government
uses this concept to steadily tighten it's control over their population, track, and monitor it's citizens as a
means to 'stop terrorism', but in reality use it to control their citizens with their own consent under a
guise of their protection. Just food for thought.

MAKING INDIA A E-SWARAJ ( SOVERIGN )

 This article is about information technology field in which india needs to become sovereign as we
know India is a sovereign nation; is it digitally sovereign, too? In This article examines the degree
to which India is self-reliant in electronic hardware. After all, for a country to be self-reliant in the
information age, it has to either attain indigenous capability in electronic manufacturing and
services or be equipped to protect data and mitigate the threats associated with supply chain
vulnerabilities. This article refers to self-reliance in electronic hardware as electronic sovereignty
or e-Swaraj.
Information and communication technologies (ICT), and the Internet in particular, have become
major driving forces of socioeconomic development: by one estimate, a 10-percent increase in
mobile and broadband penetration increases the per capita GDP by 0.81 percent and 1.38
percent, respectively, in developing countries.India, too, has taken steps to utilise ICT for
development. Transforming the country into a digitally empowered society and knowledge-driven
economy is at the heart of Digital India, which is among the Modi governments flagship
programmes.
The initiative seeks to guarantee the availability of government services and information on a
247 basis irrespective of the users geographical location. For this programme to succeed, it is
necessary to set up information networks and ensure their interconnection with almost all
systems of the state like transport, energy, railways, banking, government institutions or public
services. This interconnection is bound to deepen with the advancements in technology and
Internet of Things.
ICT systems and digital technologies are the mainstay of an information society as these
networks and physical infrastructure form the digital highways on which data flows. Most
equipment and technology for setting up such infrastructure in India are currently procured from
global sources.
These systems are vulnerable to cyber threats just like any other connected system but perhaps
the most important known attack vector is through the digital supply chain, information
infrastructure and various networks and systems of government and the private sector that
extensively leverage latest technology and commercial electronic components, viz. hardware,
software and firmware sourced from global sources. Global procurement has an inherent
advantage of getting state-of-the-art technology at competitive prices.

Threats

Lack of Indigenous Capability

Lack of Policy Guidelines:
Non-Availability of Testing Facilities:
Lack of Coordination:
Non-Availability of Standards:

The National Cyber Security Policy promulgated in 2013 also articulates

the method for reducing supply chain risks:
Create and maintain testing infrastructure and facilities for IT security product evaluation and
compliance verification as per global standards and practices.
Build trusted relationships with product/system vendors and service providers for improving end-
to-end supply chain security visibility.
Create awareness of the threats, vulnerabilities and consequences of breach of security among
entities for managing supply chain risks related to IT (products, systems or services)
procurement.

Role of digital india programme:

 The government has launched the Digital India and Startup India programmes to boost digital
economy and local entrepreneurship ecosystem. Indian companies which saw growth a few years
ago are today facing competition from international companies which have deep pockets and
access to technology.
To have a thriving local digital economy and technology, the government must implement policies
that enable and nurture local digital talent and give domestic companies a level-playing field.

The main challenges being encountered in mitigating the supply chain

are enumerated as under:
Cost: The most preferred approach is to look inward, i.e. indigenous software, hardware. These
involve an additional cost in R&D. And R&D is both capital and time-intensive. Are we as a nation
willing to wait till an indigenous capability is developed, which may take decades? The economies
of scale will also weigh against this route.
Public Private Partnerships (PPP): It is a well-known fact that the private sector has expertise
and the wherewithal that is not available with government. Hence involvement of private industry
as a partner with government is of paramount importance. PPP is required in fields associated
with incident sharing, R&D and remedial action.
Multiple Agencies: Supply chain has multiple stakeholders spread across a vast spectrum of
engineering, technology, procurement agencies, system integrator and maintenance
organisations. It is not humanly possible to have a security vetting of all processes and
associated people.
Indigenous Capabilities in Manufacture: Current indigenous capability is at a nascent stage.
According to the Minister of Communication and Information Technology, the government will
push for setting up chip-manufacturing facilities in India.The government also offered sops for
electronics manufacturing in eight cities.
User Awareness: The common user may not be aware about the implication of security features,
and may want cheaper electronic items. The cheaper an item, the more are vulnerabilities. Most
equipment, objects and services currently available do not have the level of data security that
enables them to avoid an incident.

Recommendations:
Information security has a direct bearing on national security and the threat landscape is going to
increase further with more and more systems getting interconnected. Following are some of the
measures recommended for achieving self-reliance in core technologies and to mitigate the
threats to information systems:

Short-term Measures:
Follow Good Practices:
Import through a Central Agency
Import Classification:
Audit:
Standards:
Masking the End-User:
Malicious Code Certificate:

Long-term Measures:
 Make in India: The Make in India initiative should give impetus to the indigenous design,
development and manufacture of system, sub system, components and software. This, however,
should be restricted to sensitive portfolios only for the reasons mentioned above in the paper.
Testing Capability: At present, there is only one STQC facility, that in Kolkata. This can be
replicated in other locations. The fact that import of high-end equipment will only increase
underlines the need for setting up more domestic testing facilities. Till indigenous facility is built,
testing could be undertaken of random samples at third country premises.
Policy and Guidelines Formulation: These are a must for developing indigenous capabilities as
well as for streamlining import procedures, including testing of electronic inventory. Policies are
the pillars for mutual trust between the government and private industry.
Data Protection: Protection of a data is important, especially when the data available on the
internet is residing outside the geographical boundaries of the country.
Network Providers: Data rides on networks created by telecom service providers(TSPs). TSPs
should be held accountable for providing communication channels free from malware infections.
TSPs should devise measures to ensure that only malware-free devices are hooked to their
network.
Public- Private Partnerships: The expertise lies with private industry while formulation of
policies is the domain of the government.
Trusted Agency: Incorporating the Defence Research and Development Organization and
Department of Electronics and Information Technology in strategic projects from conceptual stage
to mitigate the problems.

Conclusion

India is experiencing a rapid transition to a digital technology-driven country. Although this shift
carries enormous possibilities for the countrys growth, it also exposes it to cyber threats. The
government has launched Digital India and Make in India programmes to digitally empower the
society, but it has apparently failed to articulate on Indias data and digital sovereignty As the
world becomes increasingly interconnected, the protection of privacy, data and digital
infrastructure of the nation would assume utmost importance. These factors would play a vital
role in its digital sovereigntyor believing that a nation has attained e-Swaraj.

SUPREME COURTS IN INDIA

The problem here is a self sustaining Supreme Court with virtually no bounds to its powers.
India is a judiciocracy where a collegium consisting exclusively of presiding Supreme Court
judges appoint their successors ! Also fun fact - nowhere does the Indian Constitution mention
this sacred 'Collegium' nor is this sort of absolute concentration of power with an institution what
our founding fathers envisaged. Believe it or not but whenever government tries to bring in an
equal say for itself and civil society in appointment of judges the Supreme Court strikes it down
citing 'independence of judiciary'. Gullible Indians who see lordships as their un corruptible
Messiahs build public opinion in SC's favour which lets it getaway with abuse of powers much
beyond its domain. Supreme Court has been slowly eating into legislature's turf for a while now
but people seem to be more than happy to bend over and oblige
The esteemed Supreme Court also recriminalised homosexuality setting aside order by a lower
court not so long ago.

AGNI 5

This missile is all about China; it has nothing to do with Pakistan.

You dont need a ballistic missile to reach Pakistan from India. In fact, the high suborbital
trajectory of a ballistic missile is useless if your target is so close. Lahore is within a stones
throw of the Indian border. Major population centers in Pakistan, such as Karachi, Islamabad,
Rawalpindi, Multan, Faisalabad are all within 100-150 km. You could launch a cheap nuclear
armed BrahMos missile from India and reach all these cities in under 2 minutes.

In fact, the original Agni I with its 1,250 km range already covers 100% of Pakistan. There was
never any need for Agni II, III, IV or V against Pakistan, they are overkill.

The purpose of Agni V is against China. In terms of conventional warfare, India is weaker than
China. Nuclear weapons are the great equalizer. If both countries can turn each other into
radioactive wastelands, they are in MAD equilibrium and dont attack each other. Agni V covers
100% of Chinese territory, so now India has a land based deterrent against China. And with the
K-4 and K-15 Sagarika, it has a submarine launched version as well.

This is because China aids and abets Pakistan in attacking India. Pakistans nuclear weapons are
a gift from China, and they are squarely directed against India. Chinese aid enables Pakistans
terrorist attacks and wars against India. So with China doing its best to harm and destabilize
India, its wise for India to have credible deterrence against China. Nukes are not meant to be
used, but it tells China that there is a certain line they may not cross.

It is argued that leaving everything to the market can lead to social and
political turmoil. It is also said that the evolution of vicious politics is due
to steady march of technology. Discuss.
Today economics if evolving and leaving everything to the market as Adam Smith postulated
leads to turmoil in current scenario. This is so because -
1) Social turmoil - because as Thoman Piketty postulates the capital will favour the rich therefore
the social and economic divisions would widen.
2) Market based economics will favor capitalism and consumerism due to which the people will
think more in terms of rent seeking behavior. People will move away from social and
humanitarian concepts.
3) Political turmoil will be created because people will favour those parties which promise them
radical changes including protectionism as against liberal ideas due to widening social gaps.

The above situation is more relevant today because technology has accelerated the widening gap
in society. Due to technology as per Moore's law the world is moving to labour light industries
which will 1) increase unemployment 2) reverse globalisation 3) eliminate unskilled or low
skilled workforce.

Therefore technology will lead to political turmoil in form of protectionism till governments
solve the problems. Few methods are-
1) Identifying industries to deploy labour being rendered unemployed
2) Compulsory social welfare fulfillment to depressed and poor
3) Reducing the rich poor gap by promoting ideas and entrepreneurship

Technology is going to disrupt the way people work. During the change it is important for the
government to play a major role (Keynesian Economics) so that the political and social divisions
could be contained through government welfare and our next generation is born in harmony

On 2 October 2014, Prime Minister announced the launch of Swachh

Bharat Mission (SBM), which targets eradicating open defecation in India
by 2019. Halfway through its term in office, how close is the government
to achieving this ambitious target? What needs to be done to make this
mission successful? Examine.

A World Bank study estimates that the resulting loss to the Indian economy is 6.4% of the GDP
because of poor sanitation. Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) the programme which aims to
eliminate open defecation by 2019,conversion of insanitary toilets to pour flush toilets,
eradication of manual scavenging and Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM), started on
October 2, 2014 has reached it's half ways.

What Has been Achieved, Way to Far-

1)The rural household TOILET COVERAGE has increased from 42% at the start of Swachh
Bharat Mission Gramin to 55.34%.In the first year of the Swachh Bharat Mission, an increase of
446% in construction of toilets was observed.
2)The SWACHH BHARAT KOSH-which seeks to attract the participation of the private sector
received Rs 400 crore.Overall Rs 18,000 crore have been spent.

3)It has created AWARENESS among public by using corporate ,media and celebrities and got
tremendous response from young generation.

What Else Needs to Be Done-

1)COMMUNITY LED TOTAL SANITATION (CLTS),a fundamental pre-requisite, should be

emphasized to ensure sustainable results.

2)The fraction of SPENDING ON IEC (Information, Education, and Communication) must be

increased from the present 1% of total budget allocation, to achieve the collective behavior
change in rural india.

3)FIXING THE EXISTING MISSING LINKS like safe disposal of human waste in urban India
which is worse than in rural India.

The Centre must facilitate more the exercise of choice by states, examine the ODF district claims
critically and disseminate information to them. Annual surveys which reward genuine
performance and not a mere toilet chase will also help.

ROHINGYAS PROBLEM IN BURMA

In the new democratic Burma, the military is not under the civilian government. The military
dictator still runs things behind the curtain. The military control 25% of unelected seats in the
parliament, permanently, in accordance with the newly adopted constitution.

The head of the Burmese army also gets to choose key government ministers. The Defense
Minister, Home Affairs Minister and Border Affairs Minister will all be serving soldiers. This
puts the armed forces outside of the control of the new government. Burma now has a hybrid
system of military rule and democracy. Its democracy on a leash.

Burma is still a very conservative country, thanks to decades of isolations and propaganda fed by
the military. The military is now scapegoating the Rohingya to seize legitimate power and there
is a lot of disinformation on the ground. So Muslims are universally hated in Burma, many
Burmese nationals believe that Muslims wants a separate country and establish Islamic law.
(fake news on facebook) If Aung San Suu Kyi publically support the plight of Rohingya
minorities, she'll lose significant support inside Burma. The nationalists in Burma basically label
her as a "Cuck" for Muslims and globalist westerner. You can guess the rest.

The situation on the ground is much more complex than this article lead you to believe. Sorry
about my unorganized ramblings.
The nuclear arms race is like two sworn enemies standing waist deep in gasoline, one with three
matches, the other with five. -- Carl Sagan