China: Things where its better than the rest of the world

China is a miracle story.

There are endless and infinite possibilities in terms of areas where China is better than rest of the World. Out of all the points I am going to mention, one is excruciatingly important.

China has brought over 800 million people out of poverty and hunger & given them good housing, clothing, and education. All this in three decades. It lifted over 68 million people out of poverty in just 5 years! Nothing as beneficial to humanity has happened in the history of this world.

Apart from this, here are the top most areas that come to my mind:

• Manufacturing:

• No bonus points here.
• From steel, electronics, textile to plastic products. Name any product and there is at least a 50% chance that China is an unbeatable manufacturing king in that industry!
• Bullet Trains
• It accounts for about two-thirds of the world's high-speed rail tracks in commercial service.
• It is the world's longest HSR network and is also the most extensively used.
• Picture this: China launched High Speed Train Operations Program in 2008 and by 2013, it had the World’s Largest High-Speed Train Network across the world. This speaks about endless opportunities of magnanimous possibilities in China.

Partition of India - The biggest screw up in history

History and India always walked hand in hand. And when the question about the biggest screw up in history how can as an INDIAN and the world forget about the murderous orgy created by the British. ( World may hate Hitler but we had more worse demon than him ).

PARTITION OF INDIA.

Well the divide and rule was simple and old master stroke that British played many times over their cruel reign. A country with so many cultural differences it was hardly and genius thought to divide and rule. But what the ultimate nail in the coffin was the partition of India and Pakistan.

True partition was inevitable. The Muslim community fueled by Muslim League and the personal ambitions of one man ( Muhammad Ali Jinnah) created a euphoria among the Muslim. They were made to dream up about disney land.

( HIGH VOLTAGE LINES )

One cannot blame Jinnah and the Muslims as even after 65 years of independence India is still seeing small Jinnahs. Every other day a community starts protesting for their own land and state. Does we are right blaming Jinnah when we cannot remain united in our country.

Okay coming back to the main topic the barbaric of the British.

The midnight between August 14 and 15, 1947 .. the night that created two great nations well it was not a happy start.

A botched process of partition saw the slaughter of more than a million people; some 15 million were displaced. Untold numbers were maimed, mutilated, dismembered and disfigured. Countless lives were scarred.

Caution: Sensitive graphic content ahead...

Bollywood’s passive-aggressive attitude towards Hinduism

My daughter was insisting that we watch “funny videos” on YouTube (casting on TV) while she had her scrambled egg breakfast and waited for her math teacher to show up. When I started the YouTube app, I came across the trailer of the upcoming Amitabh Bachchan-Rishi Kapoor flick, 102 Not Out. I like both the actors, so I insisted that before we proceeded to funny videos, we should watch the trailer.

They show lots of stuff in the trailer and eventually, they show that Rishi Kapoor’s character is going through some existential dilemma and he ends up sitting in a church. Something in the scene put me off and without making it apparent to my daughter, I changed the video quickly and loaded one of the funny videos she was insisting on watching.

After reading what I’m writing, you may think that I am raking up some conspiracy theory or, I’m one of those “Right Wing” Sanghis constantly demonizing minorities and claiming that Hinduism is being targeted.

My grandmother often used to say that before my birth, she had never seen a disabled person. After my birth, she could spot people with disabilities everywhere (because I was born with a disability). My disability sensitized her towards a part of worldly reality she was totally oblivious to simply because she hadn’t experienced it herself.

Something of the same sort happens when you have been sensitized towards a particular issue: you begin to recognize patterns that others can’t. Of course, sometimes you begin to see patterns where none exist because you are too eager to find those patterns. But sometimes these patterns are too obvious.

In the above-mentioned movie, why did Rishi Kapoor’s character sit inside a church? Why not in a temple? Is he a Christian? If yes, why does the theme have to be about Christian characters? Would the characters look uncool had they been temple-going Hindus? Do the makers of the movie think the urban audience won’t be able to relate to temple-going characters?

The scariest theory known to man - by Hoang Nghiem

The one that says that at some point in the future, something is going to kill us all.

We don’t know how it will happen. We don’t know when it will happen. We don’t know why it will happen.

The worst part? We don’t even know if it will happen, which is a scary part by itself.

The theory? The “Great Filter” of civilizations.

But I’m getting too ahead of myself here. Let me give you a more formal introduction…

Disclaimer to the Quora Moderators:

All images are sourced from Google Images unless clearly stated otherwise, there is no good reason to collapse my answer unless one has overwhelming evidence that it should be. My entire answer is also original work unless clearly stated (accompanied with extracts and numerical evidence) otherwise with full links to original sources provided.

Author’s comment to the audience:

By the way, here is a good time to warn you that my answer will be long.

Actually, all my answers are much longer than your average quora answer. This particular one is 3,500 words for example.

I don’t answer a question (or a request) unless I can write a lot. If it’s annoying to you, then I probably shouldn’t be a writer that you’re following. ^_^

Here are the table of contents (for ease of navigation throughout my answer):

Chapter 1: “If the Universe is so huge, then where is everybody?”Chapter 2: “The Great Filter- the scariest theory known to man” (the part that answers the question)Chapter 3: “Identifying the Great Filter of Civilizations”

What’s wrong with Islam in the 21st century by Salman Khan

This is what’s wrong with Islam in the 21st century:

Yes! That’s the picture of a couple taking a ride in their horse carriage. That’s the analogy I wish to present here. There’s a very good reason for me picking this analogy. Let us begin.

Throughout the Islamic world, there is this mass marketing of this idea that the perfect way of life is to be found back in time. Meaning that if you wish to prosper, instead of progressing, try to live the way they lived in 7th century Arabia. Throughout the Muslim world, there are countless books, videos, TV channels, preachers and even ordinary people who mass market this nostalgic romantic view of how perfect the world was some thousand and a half year ago. As a result, instead of progressing, Muslims are encouraged to try and regress to those “glory days”. So what’s the relevance of that to a horse carriage?

Well, let’s imagine that we live in a world where a large number of us are religiously convinced that the ideal way for us to live is by using horse carriages. Do horse carriages work? YES! They do work. Will they get some work done? Of course! However, it’d be a very bad idea to bring them back and make them the norm. The people who have been brainwashed to romanticize those good old days of horse carriages must understand that the world has changed a lot. There are many problems with that old mode of transportation, for example:

They may not be structurally fit for the roadsThey may be too slow and slow down others as you bask in the “glory” of your horse carriageThe amount of horse-poop that will result from it simply might be unacceptableIt will lead to lower overall productivity for the nation’s peopleA lot of animal welfare/abuse issues might cause some serious concerns.

So you see, it’s not that horse carriages don’t work. It’s just that it doesn’t make much sense to regress back to that mode of transportation from what we currently have access to. That is the problem with Islam in the 21st century. Given that Islam, like any other religion, is more or less what a Muslim makes it to be, I guess it’s a problem with Muslims. There are progressive brands of Islam which are 21st century compatible. However, the fact remains that 99.99% of Muslims don’t belong to that group.

Merchants cant charge 2% extra on Debit Card Payments – Says RBI

Have you ever faced this situation, when you were making payment through your debit card or credit card?

“Sir How are you making payment ?

Debit Card or Cash ?”

“Card”

“Sir, There will be 2% extra charges if you pay by Debit Card ? ”

“Why extra charges ? I use it at every place and no one charges any thing extra ? ”

“Sorry Sir, this is our Policy. You can take out the CASH from the nearby ATM if you want to save that extra charges”

“Huh ! .. &^#$^&*J#^&&#%$&*N”

You often face the above situation, when you buy things like jewelry, Laptops, Mobile phones etc. I faced this 2-3 times myself, but could argue well with the shopkeeper, because I knew this is just a tactic used by shopkeepers to save on the charges they need to pay from their own pocket. Hence I never paid that extra 2% or just left the shop.

Merchants cant charge any extra charges on Debit Card Payment – say RBI

Now yesterday, RBI has openly cracked down on this unfair trade practice and issued a notification saying that Shop Merchants can not charge any extra charges from customers, if payment is done through Debit Card. Below is the exact wordings from RBI Notification

4. Levying fees on debit card transactions by merchants – There are instances where merchant establishments levy fee as a percentage of the transaction value as charges on customers who are making payments for purchase of goods and services through debit cards. Such fee are not justifiable and are not permissible as per the bilateral agreement between the acquiring bank and the merchants and therefore calls for termination of the relationship of the bank with such establishments.

Why Shopkeepers Charge extra 2% on Debit Card payments ?

When you swipe your debit/credit card  for purchasing some item, the merchant has to pay some fees (1%-2%) to the Bank or the rental fees for the swipe machine. The charges goes out of their own pocket, as the cost of running the business and convenience of taking the payments (more customers will come, if card payment is there). If its a small payment like Rs 500 or Rs 1000, then its a charge of Rs 10 or Rs 20, which is fine. But when it becomes a payment of lets say Rs 30,000 (imagine buying laptop or iPad), then its around Rs 300-600 and to save that big charges, they discourage debit/credit card payment.

They often ask customers to pay by CASH and point them to nearby ATM. Almost always, customers could not refuse, because they have already made the buying decision, and dont want to argue for the small charge, and a lot of times, they finally believe that may be its not illegal, and finally give the CASH even if they do not want, or just allow the merchants to charge additional 2% charges.

But, as per RBI, its not a fair practice, because merchants already have agreed in the agreement with the card swiping machine bank that they will not charge anything extra from the customers. Here is one example of asking for 2% extra fees by some Geeta Ramani on rediff website

My worst experience was when I intended to purchase a Tata Sky card worth Rs 1000. The shopkeeper said 2.5% = 25 rupees extra. I told him — you give 10, I will give 15 rupees. He spoke quite roughly — hum kyon den? I told him it was because he was supposed to pay the bank, not I, and that I was doing him a favour and not the other way round. He said he did not earn anything from the transaction. Anyway, I did not give in. I didn’t purchase from him and purchased the same from Indiaplaza instead online without any transaction fee

What you should do, if Shopkeeper does not agree ?

RBI has clearly asked all the banks to break their relationship with those merchants who are practicing this. So, when any merchant asks you for extra 2% charges and even after the debate they do not agree, you can complain to the RBI about this and also complain to the bank. Each Bank has a “Merchant Services” section on their website and when you mail them or complain in personal to their branch, mention that you want to complain about Merchant Services. Example for ICICI bank is hereand Axis Bank is here. But

When you take this step, at-least some merchants might fear the consequences and oblige!, but now the problem is how many people will go to this extra mile . It would require some time and effort from your end.

So next time you are asked to pay extra 2% on debit card payment, you can clearly tell them about this RBI notification. If required better take the print out of the notification and keep it with you in your wallet or as an image in your smartphone.

Have you ever faced a situation where you were asked to pay extra 2% charges on debit card payments and were pointed to a near by ATM, and what did you do in that situation, please share !

Source: http://www.jagoinvestor.com/2013/09/merchants-cant-charge-2-extra-on-debit-card-payments-says-rbi.html

How 275 years ago an Indian prince defeated the Dutch East India Company

It happened when the biggest and the most valuable company in the history of the world was brought down (among other things) by a Malayali from India.

There was a moment in history when the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC) or simply the Dutch East India Company was the most well funded and powerful Business, military and naval force in the world.

Established in 1602, it had a virtual monopoly of the global spice trade for most of the 17th century and was the first truly multinational corporation in history.

It had a great run and was the Apple or Google of its day - only more successful, profitable[1]- paying on average, an 18% dividend for almost 200 years.

Adjusted to inflation, it had the market capitalisation of over 7 Trillion[2]Dollars (in today’s money) - making it perhaps the most valuable company in the history of companies.

The Dutch made most of their money from India - By the early 18th century, the Dutch economic and political power in southern India was at its peak. The Dutch had thrown the Portuguese out, Defeated the Mighty Zamorins of Calicut and even turned the powerful kingdom of Kochi into a Vassal State where the crown even bore the Dutch emblem of VOC.

The Dutch East India Company is dead today - in large parts, thanks to this Indian from Kerala.

Among the many mistakes that ultimately lead to their downfall, perhaps the biggest was committed by Dutch Governor Gustaaf Willem Van Imhoff in 1739.

During the ensuing negotiations between Governor Imhoff and Marthanda Varma, the ruler of Travancore, regarding the Dutch interests in Kochi, when Governor Imhoff threatened Marthanda Varma, that his forces will rake Travancore down to dust.

In his reply - Varma quipped and I quote:

With all due respect to you sir, then I will invade Holland[3].

Obviously miffed, the Governor of the Mighty Dutch empire walked off from the meeting, determined to teach this local king of a small Indian kingdom a lesson.

Soon, a large contingent of Dutch artillery forces landed in Colachel, lead by Captain Eustachius De Lannoy. Their intention was to make a quick dash and capture the capital of Travancore - Padmanabhapuram[4].

On the 10th of August, 1741, both Armies met in the now famous Battle of Colachel.

Within no time, the Dutch faced a crushing and decisive defeat - most of their soldiers fled and their commander, Eustace De Lannoy was captured along with his deputy.

Marthanda Varma made the Dutch sign a peace treaty, taking over most of the Dutch forts in the Malabar region of India and bringing to an end, the Dutch monopoly in the Spice Trade with India.

What’s more, Marthanda Varma even made Eustachius De Lannoy join his forces as a trainer and used him to modernise the Army of Travancore - which later became the Madras Regiment[5]of Independent India[6].

The Dutch Black Pepper trade monopoly was taken over by the State of Travancore - which made them rich.

In case you wonder how rich - Marthanda Varma re-consecrated an old Temple of Lord Padmanabhaswamy (Lord Vishnu) and regularly donated to it in his lifetime.

Recently, 5 of the 8 sealed chamber Vaults of this temple were opened by the authorities[7]- which yielded a smallish treasure in Gold and Jewels, estimated to be worth a little over USD 22 Billion[8](making it the richest institution and place of worship in the world). Experts believe that the remaining sealed vaults hold treasures worth a Trillion dollars[9].

While Marthanda Varma, an Indian, had his thuglife moment in world history - the Indian Historians didn’t think of his achievements as important enough to even deserve a mention in our school textbooks.

At this point and in protest, I would like to dedicate two words to them for this grave oversight - in Malayalam of course - Poda Maire (Respectful Translation: Attend acceleration, oh you thick specimen of human hair)

Thank you for reading. Cheers and peace.

A special note to people like Anmol Jadhav - Marthanda Varma was born in 1705.

Footnotes

[1] Apple's $700 billion market cap is nothing compared to Dutch East India Company at its peak

[2] This was the most valuable company in history (Worth 10 times as much as Apple) | Sovereign Man

[3] By Sweat and Sword

[4] Rajeev Sreenivasan recalls the Battle of Colachel

[5] Selfless service

[6] How 275 years ago an Indian prince defeated the Dutch East India Company

[7] Slideshow : Treasure hunt - The treasure trove of Padmanabhaswamy temple will make you feel so poor

[8] Marthanda Varma and the temple of gold

[9] A One Trillion Dollar Hidden Treasure Chamber is Discovered at India's Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple