More than 90 workers of the Kaiga Atomic Power Station in Uttara Kannada district, Karnataka were poisoned as a result of their water cooler being contaminated with radioactive tritium.  Nuclear Power Corporation’s investigators suspect foul play, which was also corroborated by AEC chairman, Anil Kakodkar.

[Source: The Kaiga Incident] The Filter Coffee demands to know what happened at Kaiga.

Myth: Pubs, bars and drinking are against Indian culture.

The consumption of alcohol and other intoxicants is as ancient as Indian culture itself. People of the Indus Valley were known to produce liquor by fermenting grains and fruits. The consumption of Soma by Hindu gods is spoken of in glowing terms in the Vedas. Drinking isn’t against Indian culture. It’s one of the elements constituting our highly nuanced way of life.”

A R Hemant at Sub Terrain busts some popular myths propagated by Gujarat’s prohibition rules. The “Gandhi didn’t drink” argument is the most ridiculous one. So you don’t do anything that Gandhi didn’t do? Hmmmm…

We have fissures. Deep fissures. Fissures that splinter us. These fissures are the arcs that are just so easy to exploit. But allow me to be explicit. We are idiots. Idiots for treating these very fissures as walls. Walls that somehow protect us from those beyond. But one thing I must give ourselves credit for. We are not dumb idiots. We are actually smart idiots. We are smart enough to understand that there is a whole ecosystem of vultures out to exploit these fissures.

Dhanajay Nene makes a case for putting India first to resolve regional differences and put up an united front.

Even if Indian CEOs were paid obscene salaries, and Indians resented this, and Salman Khurshid wasn’t a sanctimonious arsehole living off the public trough, this is India, where we outperform the rest of the world when it comes to innovation in corruption and fiddling accounts.

Aadisht finds Salman Khurshid’s recent crusade against CEO pay baffling considering Indian CEO salaries are hardly topic of outrage in India.

The article gives you a blow-by-blow of China’s relative superiority — 6,000 more “airplanes” in the PLAF, 100,000 more troops…Reading this article, you get the sense that China overwhelms India militarily and that the sanest thing for the Indian army to do under the circumstances is to pack up and go home. Except, defense and national security aren’t played out on balance sheets or through inventory counts.

The Filter Coffee is disappointed by the Indian media discourse on China’s 60th anniversary.

To get off the crowd – an illegal way out is well practiced there. It is called ‘VIP line’ and costing may vary from 1200 to 1500 taka for single entry into the center. It works through long distant signal sent by a policeman or embassy staff engaged for queue management and you have to be intelligent enough to read their gesture when to forward and how to act like a VIP.

Kowshik describes the ordeal for a Bangladeshi in getting an Indian visa.

Since the The Civil Aviation Ministry and the Airport Authority of India has loosened the restrictions on height of buildings around airports, Scorpiogenius expects more high rise buildings in Kerala.

In India there doesn’t seem to be any definite pattern; haphazard has been the general rule, and Kerala has followed suit. This waiving of height restrictions means that now buildings would be allowed to rise twice as high as previously allowed. The new regulations make it possible for utilization of the land in a better, economical manner. Even though AAI primarily had Mumbai in mind while trimming the numbers, Kerala will benefit more than the megalopolis as along with the high population density we also have the highest concentration of present and planned International Airports in the country, 3 at present, 1 under serious planning and a dozen or so proposed,

Credit Card Payment Confirmation Process

I selected Visa card for cleansing my sin (actually I wasn’t guilty, will tell later). The payment was confirmed on https://migs.mastercard.com.au/ssl Why is it going to Australia? Outsourcing? And why is it mastercard site when I selected Visa? A user in India could be a little worried about this entire process (they are already paranoid about using their credit card on the net).

After the payment went thru I should have received the receipt by email. I didn’t.

Mahesh talks about paying traffic violation fine through the net.There is a lot of scope for improvement.

PS: I have seen Bangalore cops using Blackberries to enter vehicle and fine details and Bluetooth printers to hand over the receipt.No,they don’t accept fine payment by credit cards.

To be released from India, I was told, Zoey would require an export certificate from the Animal Quarantine and Certification Service (WR), Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, situated in Kopar Khairane, Navi Mumbai. The vet warned me to take every piece of paperwork I possessed, because government officials he said ‘were temperamental.’

Sonia narrates her experience dealing with Dr. SD Bhosale in obtaining an export certificate for her dog at the Department of Animal Husbandry.

Kerala is a consumer state depending others for everything. Is it not an irony that State Public sector factories manufacturing the much needed items like soap, detergents, medicines, clothes etc. remain closed here? All these prove beyond doubt that even if Centre extends all help and financial assistance development will not take place unless the Authorities possess a positive approach and show a will.

Bipin hopes that the new MP from Thiruvananthapuram will be different from the career politicians.