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❔@Evening: One Gap That PM Modi Is Yet To Plug In His Glowing Legacy
1. 🕉️ Modi and the global Indic narrative
India's Prime Minister has demonstrated excellent Hindutva credentials. Yet, there is still one area where he can do more.
What's that? Trying to shift the Western global narrative that is decidedly anti-Hindu.
At the core of this failure is the government’s unwillingness or inability to bring Indic studies and Indology back home.
> "If most of the work on Hinduism/Hindutva and Sanskrit is going to be done at Ivy League institutions and Germany, India will never be able to control the narrative surrounding its core civilisation values." — R Jagannathan in Swarajya
As the West sinks deeper into its societal problems, it's going to drag India down with it by demonising Hinduism in the name of opposing Hindutva.
Swarajya editorial director says there are three things that Modi can do to effect change in this area.
1. Ask Indian businesspersons who are funding humanities studies at their alma maters in the US and elsewhere to look at what's being done with their money and who is running these efforts.
2. Make a concerted effort to bring Indic studies, and Indology, back home, and placed under the leadership of true Dharmics, not leftist Hinduphobes.
3. Indic practices like yoga, meditation, and ayurveda must be brought under Indian certifications and control.
Bottom line: India must begin to assert its cultural roots, regulate their use, and restrict their abuse.
2. 🎦 Ram Setu review: Uncompromisingly Hindu
Ram Setu is a well-made adventure movie with a strong Indian setting and a stronger Indian theme, Aravindan Neelakandan writes in his review.
> Quick points:
The film shows the Ram Setu as not just a national monument but a symbolic reassurance to women everywhere of Ram's protection.
This is, perhaps, the first Hindi movie that tells a vast audience about the destruction of the Jaffna Library and hints at what precious historical documents we may have lost in that cultural genocide.
The movie is loud with its message and that message is uncompromisingly Hindu.
As an adventure movie, it tells a far better story than, say, Indiana Jones — both in terms of values and history.
If you have kids, you can take them along to watch this movie.
Don't expect a Kantara-like experience here.
Bottom line: The film is an entertaining way to introduce the younger generation to Indian culture and the sacred landscape of the larger Indian landmass.
3. 🤝 Elon Musk's Twitter takeover
The world's richest man has completed the whopping $44 billion takeover of Twitter.
He fired the social media giant's four top executives, including CEO Parag Agrawal and legal executive Vijaya Gadde.
“Agrawal... had clashed” with Musk "publicly and privately in recent months about the takeover," a New York Times report said.
Musk also “singled out” Gadde, "criticising her for her role in content moderation decisions at the company."
“At least one of the executives who was fired was escorted out of Twitter’s office,” as per the report.
Took longer than expected. After initially agreeing to buy the company in April, Musk spent months trying to get out of the deal.
He cited concerns about the number of bots on the platform, and later, allegations raised by a company whistleblower.
When Musk said he was terminating the deal, Twitter sued the billionaire.
A court gave Musk until 28 October to close the Twitter deal or head to trial.
Grand entry: Musk tweeted a video of him walking into the Twitter HQ in San Francisco carrying a kitchen sink with the caption: "let that sink in!"
Musk also updated his Twitter profile description to “Chief Twit.”
He has promised to transform Twitter by loosening the service’s content moderation rules, making its algorithm more transparent, and nurturing subscription businesses. Read more here.
> “The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence.” — Elon Musk
4. ⚔️ BJP-RJD battle in Bihar constituency
When the bypoll was announced for the Mokama constituency of Bihar, it was believed to be a one-sided contest in favour of the Mahagathbandhan. Things are different now.
RJD's strong case: Leader Anant Singh has won the Mokama assembly seat four times consecutively since 2005.
However, he was disqualified from the assembly after his conviction in an arms recovery case.
Now his wife Neelam Devi is contesting the election on an RJD ticket.
Who's on for BJP? Sonam Devi.
She's the wife of Lalan Singh, who challenged Anant Singh twice, in 2005 and 2015.
She herself contested against Anant Singh in 2010.
What we're learning: While the past record puts RJD on a stronger footing, the bypoll might be a more even contest than previously thought.
> Battle of the bahubalis
The competition is between three bahubalis or strongmen.
Anant Singh and Lalan Singh, but also LJP leader Surajbhan Singh.
Surajbhan and his wife Veena Devi campaigned for Sonam Devi.
Surajbhan is believed to have good connect with the people of Mokama.
Besides, Veena Devi is "Mokama ki bahu" (Mokama's daughter-in-law).
> Caste factor
Bhumihars are influential for the Mokama seat. Both the major contenders hail from the Bhumihar community.
The community is generally believed to vote for the BJP en masse.
Anant himself has considerable influence on the Bhumihar votes.
How the Bhumihar votes get divided will be interesting to watch.
Meanwhile, Lalan is reportedly reaching out to Dalits, Kurmis and Dhanuks.
> Welfare delivery
Last-mile delivery of welfare schemes by the Modi government has consolidated votes for the BJP, a local resident told Swarajya.
On the other hand, locals believe that Nitish Kumar is responsible for the slow development of Mokama.
Bottom line: Watch out for the "silent voters" in a possibly even contest.
5. 🤷♂️ AAP not doing right by Yamuna?
The Delhi government has reportedly ordered the spraying of poisonous chemicals to remove froth from the Yamuna River ahead of Chhath Puja.
Context: During the annual ritual, devotees take a holy dip in the river.
In the last few years, images of devotees taking a dip amid toxic foam have struck a dismal picture of Kejriwal’s unfulfilled promises.
As a last resort, the government has ordered the use of silicone defoamer this year to hide the froth emanating from industrial waste dumped into the river.
But experts say doing so does not clean the river. Rather, it further pollutes it.
How bad is it? The chemical being used could lead to itching, irritation in the eyes, nausea, and so on to anyone who comes in contact with it.
The AAP government has denied the charges, claiming that the method to remove foam has been scientifically proven.
Environmentalists are also blaming the Delhi government for “not taking adequate action” to make Yamuna pollution-free.
Yikes! Delhi empties more than 3,500 million litres of municipal sewage into the river and over 50 per cent of the sewage is either untreated or not adequately treated and flows directly into the Yamuna.
6. 🔒 Kerala probes Byju's local office shutdown
The Kerala government is looking into the forced resignation of over 100 employees at Byju's now-shut Thiruvananthapuram office.
Context: Members of an employee welfare organisation at Technopark, where the Byju’s office was located, met with the Labour Minister.
Affected employees demanded a month’s salary and encashment of all earned leaves.
They said the company abruptly decided to shut down the Thiruvananthapuram office without prior notice.
Byju's side of things: A company official said restructuring and cost-cutting are necessary to make Byju’s profitable.
While some of the Thiruvananthapuram-based operations were being discontinued to reduce redundancy, the rest of the team was offered the opportunity to relocate to Bengaluru, he said.
Employees were given more than a month’s time to decide, he added.
Other benefits apparently offered included a decent exit package and an assured opportunity to be rehired at any other Byju’s centre.
Ever-more layoffs: In the quest to turn profitable by the end of the financial year, Byju’s has been on a layoff spree.
Just weeks ago, it fired over 2,500 of its employees across all verticals.
Earlier, it laid off about 300 employees each at WhiteHat Jr and Toppr, two of the many ed-tech companies that it has acquired.
According to an Inc42 report, the ed-tech space is among the worst-affected by the ‘startup winter’, associated with drying up of funding.
There have been more than 7,000 layoffs, with Byju’s alone contributing to more than half of this figure.
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