Demonetisation: Human behaviour is like War

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has equated demonetisation as war, a war against blackmoney. Recent events prove that people believe Mr. Modi that this is war and are behaving as such.

The ban on Rupees 500 and 1000 notes has indeed created a warlike situation. The huge inflation during the UPA days, when food inflation was around 18%, had resulted in greater requirement of 500 and 1000 rupee notes. So when the Government announced that all the 500 and 1000 rupee notes had to be deposited in the banks, people were forced to deposit those. And since new notes were not printed, the Government only allowed people to withdraw 2000 rupees per day from an ATM, if you were able to beat the queue.

The situation is very tough as people don't have cash in hand. Most of the economy runs in cash. People often stand in queue in front of the ATMs for hours and return empty handed when the ATMs run out of cash. So there are frequent fights, fisticuffs, hurling of abuses at each other and at bank staff that goes on. A recent report also brought out the further ugly side of people. One person in West Bengal while standing in a queue fainted and the people didn't care to pick him up. The person lay there for 20 minutes before police found and shifted him to a hospital where he was declared brought dead.

In a war zone people don't grieve over dead bodies as they don't have time to retreat in view of the approaching army. They just move on to save their lives. Their survival instincts take over and ensure that they can do anything to survive. In one instance of a airline crash, the survivors were known to have turned cannibals and ate the dead people.

Our present situation has become similarly bad. Scarcity has induced a warlike situation and now people don't care to help someone who is exhausted and falls down resulting in deaths that could have been avoided.

Life and death has no value for people today. Concern for life has vanished. The cash scarcity will continue for many more months as some reports say that the total capacity to print notes is only 300 crores a month whereas the total number of notes to be replaced is 2300 crores. Since this situation will remain for atleast six months, there may be longterm implications as people will henceforth get used to only thinking about themselves and not concerned about others. A community succeeds if it stays united. When people lift each other up, then society moves up. When people only mind their narrow selfish interests, it causes great harm to society as the society is torn apart. In such times, it is easy to sow seeds of conflict. Government should be worried that terrorists can take advantage of such conflicts.

Surgical Srikes: Another take

With the DGMO press conference announcing Indian soldiers to have crossed the Line of Control (LoC) and inflicted large casualties on militants preparing for infiltrating to India, all hell have broken loose.

It has been proclaimed as the ruling party's answer to Pakistan and even the Modi Government's 56 inch chest bravado. In many circles it has been said that for the this has happened for the first.

Unfortunately, the situation is such that everybody in India has to agree and praise the Government of its "guts" and "attacking" Pakistan. Else, one will be immediately branded as anti-national.

It has been said that Indian soldiers have crossed the LoC and moved upto 500meters and in some cases upto 2 kilometers and attacked the terrorists and successfully come back.

After the initial brouhaha about these "surgical strikes", voices have been raised about the authenticity or the extent of these operations and have asked for the video proofs, which the army is supposed to have documented during the surgical strikes. No one would have demanded for publishing the videos, if it would not have been announced that there are video recordings of the operation. By the way, no name has been given to this operation. All operations ie significant actions have a code name.

Military observers will vouch that these kinds of actions have happened in the past. Earlier it used to be frequent. However, after the setting up of barbed wire fences and more patrolling, these situations have reduced. In one earlier instance, Pakistan troops had entered India and cut off the head of one soldier. So our troops are boiling and are capable of cross-border incursion and striking down targets if and when they are given orders.

India has field guns, like the Bofors, which can fire and strike some 28kms into the enemy territory with precision. These field guns were not used. Our soldiers have shoulder fired missile launchers which can strike down enemy posts across the border. Snipers can even take down militants some 7kms away. These snipers check the wind velocity, terrain and fire accurately from a distance of 7kms and instantly neutralise the target.

Recently, the former home mininster Mr. Chidambaram said that in January 2013, Indian soldiers had crossed the LoC and carried out operations. This was done without fanfare as the army chooses not to publicise such events. The then ruling party, the congress led UPA Government didn't choose to announce it. Now the BJP-led NDA has made it a policy and is reaping the political benefits.

The Indian army is normally not partisan and doesn't favour any political party. However, if the Government of the day orders to disclose any information, then it has to.

It appears that some activity has taken place. Pakistan has announced that 2 of their soldiers have died in some local firing. We are not sure of the exact nature of the action unless the Government chooses to disclose. If the hype is more and substance is less, then we will obviously not see the videos.

In the absence of any photo or videos released by the Government, there are lot of fake photos circulated by interested parties. One of the photos shows some militants lying near a broken building. However, this photo was lifted from internet. Interestingly that photo was of militants killed by Pakistan army in 2012 after they massacred school children.

In this intensive propaganda war, truth becomes diffused and difficult to detect. So people either keep quiet or believe whatever they want to believe. This is not the last of such incidents. Many more of such incidents are likely to happen.

It is said that with the BJP on the back foot in the UP elections, they are going to create more such situations in early 2017 to influence the UP electorate.

Nico Rosberg wins the Bahrain F1 Grand Prix

Nico Rosberg won the Bahrain F1 Grand Prix. Kimi Raikkonen finished in second position as he did last year. Pole sitter Lewis Hamilton finished in Third. 

Lewis Hamilton again started from the pole for the second time this season and again he lost the lead to his teammate Nico Rosberg. In turn 1 Rosberg squeezed in and then Valtteri Bottas of Williams hit Hamilton from behind. Hamilton went down and then showing his characteristic grit moved up by overtaking other drivers. As defending champion this was a case of limiting damage ie reducing the deficit to Nico Rosberg who is leading the race by virtue of his two back to back wins.

Hamilton chose a different strategy than Rosberg. In the first pit stop, Hamilton shifted to medium tyres whereas Rosberg took the softs. As a result the gap between Rosberg and Hamilton grew. In lap 19, Rosberg was 11.3 seconds ahead of Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari, who in turn was 9 seconds ahead of Hamilton.

Disaster stuck Sebastian Vettel in the formation lap and his engine failed. This is his first DNS (Did Not Start) in his Formula 1 career. In the opening lap Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez made contact and Sainz got a puncture. In Lap 10, Jenson Button of McLaren lost the ERS and stopped. In the next lap, Esteban Gutierrez of Haas retired.

Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull finished in 4^th. Romain Grosjean of Haas finished in 5^th. It was the best finish for the Haas team and confirms that they are going to finish in good position in their debut season.

Verstappen of Toro Rosso finished in 6^th. He was followed by Felipe Massa in 7^th. Massa was 1 lap down. Daniil Kvyat of Red Bull finished in 8^th. Valtteri Bottas of Williams finished in 9^th. Vandoorne of McLaren finished in 10^th  and last points paying position. Vandoorne was drafted in place of Fernando Alonso who was declared medically unfit for the race. 

Magnussen finished in 11^th and was followed by Marcus Ericsson in 12^th.Wehrlein of Manor was 13^th followed by Felipe Nasr in 14^th.

It was a bad day for Force India. Nico Hulkenberg of Force India was 15^th followed by Sergio Perez in 16^th. Haryanto finished in 17^th.

Final Results in Bahrain F1 Grand Prix 2016

Nico Rosberg scores Surpirse win at Australia

Nico Rosberg scores surprise win at Australia

It was a poor start from Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg in the Australian Grand Prix. Ferrari cars of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen were leading the race with 1-2 positions however, Mercedes could stage a comeback following a accident between Fernando Alonso of McLaren and Esteban Gutierrez of Haas. The race was red flagged to a stop.

The Mercedes duo recovered with Lewis Hamilton finishing second to Nico Rosberg. Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari was third. Unfortunately his teammate Kimi Raikkonen didn’t finish the race.

Australian Daniel Ricciardo was the crowd favourite being the son of the soil and gave his fans some joy as hi finished in 4^th place driving a Red Bull racing car. Felipe Massa of Williams was fifth.

However the most interesting was Romain Grosjean’s 6^th place finish for debutant Haas team. It may be pertinent to mention that Haas had got the go ahead to debut in Formula 1 in 2015. However, they decided to prepare for one more year and race in 2016. Their strategy seems to have paid off. Unlike Manor racing, Haas also had a good outing during the testing.

Nico Hulkenberg of Force India finished in seventh followed by Valtteri Bottas of Williams in 8^th. Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen were 9^th and 10^th respectively.

Results of Australian Grand Prix 2016

Rank	Name	Team
1	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
3	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari
4	Daniel Ricciardo	Ferrari
5	Felipe Massa	Williams
6	Romain Grosjean	Haas
7	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India
8	Valtteri Bottas	Williams
9	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso
10	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso
11	Jolyon Palmer	Renault
12	Kevin Magnussen	Renault
13	Sergio Perez	Force India
14	Jenson Button	McLaren
14	Felipe Nasr	Sauber
15	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor
	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber
	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari
	Rio Haryanto	Manor
	Esteban Gutierrez	Haas
	Fernando Alonso	McLaren
	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull

Hamilton's 50th Pole in anti-climax qualifying

Hamilton Scores 50th Pole in Anti-climax Qualifying

The Australian F1 Grand Prix is the first race of the season. Today it was perhaps the most anti-climax start to a season as the Qualifying was bizarre.

Normally there is a mad race to start your last lap before the chequered flag is waved. Today there was no activity at all. Most of the drivers were eliminated. Ferrari decided that they can't better the timings and didn't come out again. There was no action. We had time to take a few winks, so to speak. Fans are asking what happened.

F1 was too complicated to understand with the frequent rule changes. The qualifying was one of the most followed aspects of the race. It used to be good to watch. Now, instead of fixing F1, they messed up with the one part of F1 which was ironically working and didn't need fixing.

They tried to create more action but forgot that these are real cars and not robots or puppet dancing. It is just terrible to watch. F1 authorities (Bernie are you listening? ) seem to be in a race to increase their stupidity quotient.

Rio Haryanto is penalised 3 grid slots for pit lane collision with Romain Grosjean in the Final Practice 3 today morning.

For the records, the following is the Qualifying results in Australian F1 Grand Prix 2016:

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
3. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari
4. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari
5. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso
6. Felipe Massa, Williams
7. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso
8. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull
9. Sergio Perez, Force India
10. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India
11. Valtteri Bottas, Williams
12. Fernando Alonso, McLaren
13. Jenson Button, McLaren
14. Jolyon Palmer, Renault
15. Kevin Magnussen, Renault
16. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber
17. Felipe Nasr, Sauber
18. Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull
19. Romain Grosjean, Haas
20. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas
21. Rio Haryanto, Manor
22. Pascal Wehrlein, Manor

Indian Grand Prix: Is there Hope?

Formula 1 boss, Bernie Ecclestone has put the ball firmly in the court of Jaypee Group when he was asked about the future of the Indian Grand Prix. The Indian Grand Prix at the Budh International Circuit was first held in 2011 and continued for the next two years. There was supposed to be a break for a year to shift the time to the beginning of the calendar. However, it remains out of the calendar till date.

Bernie Ecclestone however said that it is upto Jaypee group to agree and revive the contract. He however cautioned that time is running out and the Jaypee Group has to revert back within the next two months.

It is known that Bernie Ecclestone demands his pound of flesh and the contract is such that the circuit owner makes very little profit, if miraculously it can make any. Bernie's recent statement is more in a technical nature to squarely put the blame on the shoulders of Jaypee Group.

Bernie Ecclestone runs F1 in a very tight fisted manner and this results in many participating teams running into losses, going bankrupt and dropping out of formula 1. However, he continues to blame the teams and people of not being able to run their business. Same thing happens with the circuit owners. We estimate that it would be a miracle to find the Indian Grand Prix in the 2016 calendar.