Indian Inequality

 

Two maps which striked me a lot on how Income and Govt spend inequality are there in India. 

I really hope the states of UP, Bihar, MP buckle up and make people productive !! 

Feb 2024 - Interesting things

 

How India has been urbanising . A clear expansion on cities like Delhi, Hyderabad , Jaipur etc. 

It is said that eating food of 30+ different plants is good for gut health. 

Electoral Bonds - Biggest scam of this time

 

January 2024 recommendations

 

I decided to list down the things i liked and would like to recommend to others. It may be podcast, youtube videos, Movies , Songs and writeups. 

Movies : 

I had some good free time this month due to holidays and less work. I liked Salaar,Irugupatru, Hi Nanna, Mission Impossible Dead reckoning,  How is it for a Monday(Telugu- English) , Awe (Telugu). 

In Salaar, Prabhas got one of the best role for him which utilizes his cutout (i like how he is named that too in that movie for a while :P ) and the Kateramma fight was brilliantly executed , the high of Shreya Reddy shouting on top of her lungs screaming "Salaar Devaratha Raisaar" are some peak points, for me and Prashant Neel is probably the best SSR school topper now in India .

Irugupatru deals with married couples , so may be not everyones cup of tea but i liked how simplistic the topic was dealt. Hi Nanna, kudos to Nani for doing it and director Shoryuv for ensuring an emotional movie had enough high points to be hooked to . I watched Mission Impossible so that its checked off my the list and it was fun and as expected. 

One movie which i liked how a acquintance of mine , Sripal Sama executed and made such a wonderful film called " How is it for a Monday" , intertwining Telugu customs , Telugu NRIs and a very very good message . I even tried to nod like Kaushik ghantasala in that "Nenu Nasagaadina " scene quite a few times. 

Awe was another movie wanted to watch since long time and i now understand why it was so highly critically rated . Brilliantly made right from start to end with enough cues to keep hooked and some loose ends too. 

Music :

I am now hooked to Guntur Kaaram (Dum Masala, Mawa enthaina) and Hi Nanna albums . 

Podcast: 

Iam now commuting to office more due to new rules and have more time to finish pending podcast episodes. 

My favorite Telugu podcast "harivillu" by Nag Vasireddy where he is back with a review of 2023 movies with guest Yaswant Aluru. I am mind blown by the analysis and thoughts of Yaswanth and out of those 23 movies discussed, i had similar thoughts about 20 movies. 

I am a fan of Amit Varma podcast and i finished the KP Krishnan's one (probably the longest one i heard till now ) which is just great for anyone to understand the inner workings of a govt servant. Another one of India's pension crisis where as usual Ajay Shah keeps you hooked on to the subject. Another one with Pritika Hingaroni on citi planning . Lately, i think iam getting more interesting in cities planning and public safety. 

I heard couple of episodes from Ideas of India by Sruthi Rajagopalan , the year 2023 in review, Rahul sagar on hidden 19th century India  ( where he discusses some interesting things about how Indian monarchs did public policy in British Raj and lot more on Madhav Rao, the Diwan of Travancore ) and listened to a bit of Alain Bertaud episode too where he discusses some interesting points of city planning) . 

As usual , i finished Decoding Democracy episodes as soon as they are out. This is a treasure for every folk out there interested to public policy. Available on Spotify and Amazon too .

And finished all pending episodes of Morgan Housel podcast. I do think i am reading the book at free of cost.

I noticed that my org has now tied up with linkedin learning and also has some good book summaries available. 

On Youtube, i started watching Eco India series by scroll Link  . I do think we are getting over scared on Climate Crisis and doing so less on mitigation front. And Along with Waning Antibiotic resistance and Plastics, Climate Crisis will change lives so soon that when it hits the fan, we will be in a pandemic . 

I was so much fascinated by credit card and became a junkie recently that i started exploring credit cards for no particular reason, more on that later. 

Paytm payments bank going down has impacted me a lot and currently in mitigation efforts. 

I ordered a new fastag from ICICI and it arrived . 

I changed my UPI credit card linkage to Phonepe ( It already gave me decent cashback for this linkage than paytm ever gave me ). 

I am in process of changing my mutual fund auto pay mandates to my ICICI account . 

I am now looking for a digital account and if you have any suggestions, please do let me know. As of now, i am looking at Kotak 811(suggested by a friend) and Jupiter app ( Federal bank- i liked the jupiter app and their philosophy)  

Credit card comparison - India

 

Top Iphone tricks that will save you some time !!

 

• Set up a text replacement for your email. I never have to type my full email anymore, just @@.

• Tap the status bar (where the clock and battery are) to scroll up to the top on any app

• Settings -> Accessibility-> Touch -> Backtap
• Allows number of things to be set up by double/triple tapping the back of your phone.

• When marking up a photo, you can use the pen to draw the rough shape you want (eg an approximate circle, rectangle etc), but if you keep your finger on the screen the phone will convert it from your rough shape to a properly drawn one

• In the calculator app swipe left with one finger to delete one character

Annual Budget 2022 - India - Environment and Climate Change

 

There are some really good steps that are being taken and fund allocated in this year's budget by our Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman. 

Listing down some of them :

1. Proposal to launch a Hydrogen Energy Mission in 2021-22 for generating hydrogen from green power sources.

2. Proposal to provide additional capital infusion of Rs 1,000 crores to Solar Energy Corporation of India and Rs 1,500 crores to Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency.

3. Creation of Energy Service Company (ESCO) business model to facilitate capacity building and awareness for energy audits, performance contracts, and common measurement & verification protocol.

4. An amount of Rs. 2,217 crores for 42 urban centres with a million-plus population has been set aside for tackling air pollution.

5. To reduce the carbon intensity of the country the finance minister has proposed the issuance of sovereign green bonds as a part of government’s borrowing programme. This will bring in much needed funding into the country for its public sector. Private capital will now have to increase their funding as well to meet the net zero challenge.

6. Proposal to bring a battery swapping policy.

7. Action plans for ten sectors such as electronic waste, end-of-life vehicles, used oil waste, and toxic & hazardous industrial waste.

8. 19,500 cr allocation for PLI manufacture of solar PV modules.

9.Promotion of greener public transport through special mobility zones with zero fossil fuel policy.

10.Thermal Power Plants are mandated to use 5-7% biomass pallets