CounterCurrents: Cashless Is Not Casteless

Dear Friend,

The 'Demonetisation' is creating a new class, the plastic/digital money holding class. Satya Sagar argues that this class is a continuation of India's age old malady, the caste system. He writes, "the most apt way to describe what is happening in India today is perhaps through a completely new term –dwijitalisation. It captures well the long-term implications of Narendra Modi’s push for a digital economy in a country that has long been ruled by the dwij – or twice born castes as the Hindu elite call themselves. Under the new rules of the dwijital economy only the dwij– at the top of the social, economic and political ladder – will climb still higher, while kicking the ladder down to ensure no one can follow."

Time and again 'magic bullet' break throughs on 'carbon capture' in fighting climate change come through. Ugo Bardi University of Florence, expertly argues that most of them are misleading. 

And also more stories from around the world. 

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Cashless Is Not Casteless
by Satya Sagar 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/09/cashless-is-not-casteless/

The most apt way to describe what is happening in India today is perhaps through a completely new term –dwijitalisation. It captures well the long-term implications of Narendra Modi’s push for a digital economy in a country that has long been ruled by the dwij – or twice born castes as the Hindu elite call themselves. Under the new rules of the dwijital economy only the dwij– at the top of the social, economic and political ladder – will climb still higher, while kicking the ladder down to ensure no one can follow.




Carbon Capture Finally Cracked? Why You Can’t Fight Climate Change With Coke or Pepsi
by Ugo Bardi 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/09/carbon-capture-finally-cracked-why-you-cant-fight-climate-change-with-coke-or-pepsi/

Time and again 'magic bullet' break throughs on 'carbon capture' in fighting climate change come through. Ugo Bardi University of Florence, expertly argues that most of them are misleading. 





Squeeze And Wiggle: Transport Chaos In London
by Dr Binoy Kampmark

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/09/squeeze-and-wiggle-transport-chaos-in-london/

The strike, instigated by the Rail Maritime and Transport union and Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association, had been calculated to cause maximum inconvenience. Their grounds remain traditional: a persistent dislike for the closing of ticket offices, and the reduction of staff numbers at stations.




Standing Rock And The Return Of The Nonviolent Campaign
by George Lakey  

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/09/standing-rock-and-the-return-of-the-nonviolent-campaign/

Nonviolent campaigns are often dramatic and catch the attention of millions—think of Standing Rock water protectors resolute in the face of a brutal police force. All the more puzzling that the concept of a “nonviolent campaign” is little known and often ignored when people talk about how to mobilize power, for example, to prevent Donald Trump from erasing gains made in addressing climate change.




Laudato Si Supplement
by Rachel Olivia O'Connor 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/09/laudato-si-supplement/

It is estimated that the population of the world reached one billion for the first time in 1804. It would be another 123 years before it reached two billion in 1927, but it took only 33 years to rise by another billion people, reaching three billion in 1960; it’s interesting that “33 years” is how long Jesus lived.




Russia:Enemy Of Western Democracy?
by Jon Kofas 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/09/russiaenemy-of-western-democracy/

There are fundamental policy considerations at work that go to the heart of America’s inability to live without demonizing its former Cold War rival. There are ideological, political, geopolitical, economic, cultural and institutional issues involved that demand a continued Russian-American confrontation. Even if there is amelioration of US-Russian relations by the Trump administration, in order to weaken or slow down China’s global ascendancy, the US will find it difficult to let go of its Cold War rival





Policy Making As Violence – The Case Of The Carmichael Mine
by Dr Richard Hil 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/09/policy-making-as-violence-the-case-of-the-carmichael-mine/

In March 2016, a meeting was held with the Wangan and Jagalingoutraditional owners whose land will be destroyed by the proposed project. In resolving to oppose the mine, traditional owners – who have said no to Adani three times – noted that there are inadequate funds to proceed with the project. Quite simply, no-one wants to fund it: “No banks will give them money and most financial analysts and energy agencies say the mine will not be built.”





Fifth Indo-Pak Peace Calendar Launched In Toba Tek Singh

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/09/fifth-indo-pak-peace-calendar-launched-in-toba-tek-singh/

On January 8, Aaghaz-e-Dosti, a joint Indo-Pak Friendship initiative, launched its 5th Indo-Pak Peace Calendar in Toba Tek Singh in collaboration with Youth for Human Rights Pakistan. Aaghaz-e-Dosti has started series of calendar launch on 1st January from Lahore and in the series, these Peace Calendars will be launched in several others cities of Pakistan and India in coming days to foster peace building efforts between the two nations.





NHRC Indicts Chhattisgarh Police For Sexual Violence Against Adivasi Women In Bastar
by Women Against Sexual Violence and State Repression 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/09/nhrc-indicts-chhattisgarh-police-for-sexual-violence-against-adivasi-women-in-bastar/

The NHRC order is an explicit acknowledgement of grievous rights abuses, and gives us reason to hope not only of justice for the violated women, but an end to the reign of terror created by the police and security forces in the name of anti-Maoist operations.





Watch Dangal, Uncover The Logic Of Contemporary Right-Wing Ideology!
by Chepal Sherpa 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/09/watch-dangal-uncover-the-logic-of-contemporary-right-wing-ideology/

Dangal represents that blueprint of the new ‘post-truth’ discourse set by the rightwing political formations. Let us take dominant discourse and the ideological edifice of today’s ruling classes. The trope is not very different from what is being said in Dangal. Let us say that Geeta is symbolic of our society. We are being told that this society had certain level of “purity”, “originality”, in its “ancient” days.





Why Opinion Polls Heavily Favoring BJP May Be A Good News For Mayawati
by Ravikiran Shinde 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/09/why-opinion-polls-heavily-favoring-bjp-may-be-a-good-news-for-mayawati/

Regardless of whether SP splits or not, Muslims looking to Mayawati appears very likely. Incessant infighting in SP, an irrelevant Congress, combined with a trove of opinion polls and channels giving BJP the edge, may well lead Muslims to coalesce into BSP en masse. This is why opinion polls showing BJP doing well in UP may not be a bad thing for Mayawati