Can oil and water mix to produce gold?
And the Aurobindo link between Princeton University and a former US president
1 by 9: Oil, water and gold
In January 2019, at the Vibrant Gujarat summit, Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries said data is the new oil: “India's data must be controlled and owned by Indian people and not by corporates, especially global corporations.”
Eight months later, Nick Clegg of Facebook likened data to water: “There are many in India and around the world who think of data as the new oil, and that, like oil, having a great reserve of it held within your national boundaries will lead to surefire prosperity. But this analogy is mistaken.”
Reason enough, you would think, that oil and water won’t mix. But the COVID pandemic and China’s hara-kiri in Ladakh has provided sufficient cover for an unlikely amalgamation: Reliance and Facebook on the same side—and, impossibly, Google too.
The questions remain:
Why would the world’s 4th largest company Alphabet, which owns Google (market cap $863 bn), and the 6th largest Facebook ($512 bn)—-Silicon Valey tech majors big on sanctimony—want to tie up with the 63rd biggest company Reliance ($126.4 bn) with a sordid past, in India?
Is it just because Reliance Jio has a network up and running? With China a no-go for the American firms, are they seizing the moment of India’s current anti-China mood to put their foot in the door?
Or, is it because Reliance, once dubbed a “parallel republic of India” by Gopalkrishna Gandhi, provides a well-oiled conduit into the corridors of power, because questions won’t be asked by regulators, or because it is easy to manage government and media?
Were these deals stitched up during the lockdown or much earlier, which is why Google and FB have picked up their stake at a 15% discount to the valuation that the other 12 investors in Jio Platforms paid?
Or is it because data is the new gold, as Narendra Modi said in Texas?
Whatever it be, one thing is apparent: whether it is a Dassault that wants to make the Rafale aircraft in India, or a Facebook/Google that wants to tap into India’s huge market potential, they just can’t do without an Ambani, junior or senior.
Or an Adani.
2 by 9: One two ka four
Commerce minister Piyush Goyal showed physics was not his strong point when he held Albert Einstein guilty of the law of gravity.
The Bombay chartered accountant, whose father was a BJP treasurer, shows that accountancy may not be his forte either when he gloated that “for the first time in 18 years” India was a net exporter in June.
Goyal arrived at the conclusion after his ministry put out numbers that showed that imports were down 45.10% in June compared to exports which were down 25.92%.
In reality, exports have contracted for the fourth straight month by 12.41%; imports crashed by 47.59% due to lack of business.
“India's commerce minister is touting the rapid fall in imports because of recessionary conditions & depressed domestic demand as good news!” wrote BBC World’s business correspondent Nikhil Inamdar.
Non-gold, non-silver imports were down 41% in June which was more than the 36.7% fall in May, indicating a collapse in consumer demand, says Vivek Kaul.
3 by 9: Up, up and away
Relentless stereo-typing in the media has turned the Islamic countries of the Middle-East into some sort of a dark world, where there is nothing modern, scientific or progressive, where women are all behind a burqa.
Well, here’s the news: the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is sending a mission to Mars, the first inter-planetary mission of the Arab world. Listen to Sarah Al-Amiri, the scientist leading the mission, tell you the story of ‘Hope’.
Today, 16 July, was the day Apollo XI carrying Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin shot off towards Moon, 51 years ago. They landed four days later, spent 21 hours, and returned to Earth on July 24.
4 by 9: Act of resistance
What recourse do citizens have when even the judiciary shuts its ears and turns its eyes away from the horrific spectacle unfolding under its nose? The cowards toss between silence and compliance. The courageous fire a long shot.
While all around them cower in fear, the families of veteran journalists T.J.S. George and Sheela Bhatt show the way by picking the jailed Anand Teltumbe and Gautam Navlakha for the 2020 Shakti Bhatt Prize.
Sheela’s daughter Shakti was married to George’s son Jeet Thayil.
5 by 9: Fancy footwork
In May, Mishal Abulais hit the headlines for his Messi-esque free kick.
Now the 12-year-old boy in Malappuram in Kerala, has added Neymar, Ronaldo and others to his repertoire
Check out Mishal Abulais’ Instagram feed for more evidence of his skills.
And, finally
As Skype chats, Zoom calls and Google meets become default muscle movements, is it time to rework Mahatma Gandhi’s dictum of see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil?
Today I learned
US President Woodrow Wilson's daughter Margaret became Aurobindo's devotee in 1938 and was named Nistha. She died in Puducherry in 1944 and is buried there, writes the Congress politician and author Jairam Ramesh, as Princeton University removes Wilson’s name from its school of public and international affairs.
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