Not a safe room for sleep walkers. #oldbuilding #olddelhi #architecture #ruins #abandoned #abandonedplaces

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All the stuffed kulfis Mango, Pomegranate, Orange, Guava, Custard Apple and Apple. #food #indianfood #kulfi #icecream #delhifoodtour #dessert #foodwalk #foodtour

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Objects of worship and devotion for one day, thrown out like trash on the next. People really need to get their shit sorted out. #pollution #hypocrisy #trash #environment

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Life style habits of an average citizen who is very concerned about the environment and effects of Diwali fireworks

Life style habits of an average citizen who is very concerned about the environment and effects of Diwali fireworks: 1. Water : Pre-packaged bottled water. Plastic bottle thrown away after one use. Single use plastic cups in offices and elsewhere. Because carrying water from home or filter is too inconvenient. 2. Fruit & Vegetables : Usually bought from departmental stores which wrap them nicely in styrofoam and plastic sheets. [ 195 more words ] https://ift.tt/2z1kO2q
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Detailed carved patterns on outside of one old house in Old Delhi. There are many beautiful buildings like this in the area, but only a few are in a good condition due to lack of maintenance. #history #architecture #delhi #houses #streetphotography #pattern #design #carving #stonework #stonecarving

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Sunset at Lodhi Garden #sunset #tree #garden #history #newdelhi #phototour #phonephotography

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Fun times with @kingfisherworld at @pebblestreetcp with @delhibarcrawl #barcrawl #pubcrawl #nightout #nightlife #newdelhi #delhi

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New glass bottle of @thumsupofficial with same great taste. Hard to find it though. #softdrink #thumsup #cola #glassbottle

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Climbing up this doorway must be a serious exercise. Found this old and abandoned house in a street in Old Delhi. Street was too narrow to get whole thing in frame. #funny #olddelhi #history #oldbuilding #architecture #baddesign #india #photowalk #phototour #urbanexploration

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Bullshit for sale, for real ! Dried dung was and is still used as fuel in many parts of world. These days you can find this in some cities where it is used in some old fashioned ceremonies during this festive season. #streetphotography #streets #bazaar #market #festival #bullshit #photowalk

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Amazing performance by @bryanadams and his band. Great night of music ! Only let down were shoddy event management and local cover musician with too much pumjabi bs. Video is quite bad, but is something atleast. #BryanAdams #bryanadamsultimate #music #concert #delhi #india
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Finally got the tickets ! Bryan Adams performing live in Delhi. #BryanAdams #livemusic #music #concert

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Found this tiny snail, no longer than 4-5 mm in one of potted plants on my balcony on 2nd floor. Interesting how nature works. #nature #urbanwildlife #snail #cityanimals #newdelhi

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Music, drinks and dance to wrap up the inaugural Bar Crawl at @pebblestreetcp #barcrawl #pubcrawl #music #nightlifw #nightout #party #nightlife #newdelhi #party
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Is it a butterfly or a moth ? A beautiful creature nonetheless. #nature #insect #moth #butterfly

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Lunch of saag chicken, kofta curry, daal makkhani all cooked in desi ghee with thick pudina parantha. #food #indianfood #foodtour #foodwalk #india #travel #desighee #tourismindia

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India First

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This picture of a tree on a very cloudy monsoon day can pass for a satellite view of a river catchment area. #nature #clouds #monsoons #tree #India #Maharashtra #travel

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Sunday morning breakfast of bedmi puris with aaloo curry at @shyam_sweets , Old Delhi. #streetfood #food #cooking #fried #indianfood #foodwalk #foodtour
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Isa Khan's Tomb on a dark rainy evening. #newdelhi #monsoons #history #monument #phototour #travel #asus

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Lots of heavy reading, literally as well as figuratively. Haul from New Delhi Book Fair 2018. Not as big compared to World Book Fair or even older versions, but good enough for a short visit. #books #reading #bookfair #hindi #literature #history #hinduism

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Pretty good aaloo tikki and 7 types of gol gappa (not in picture) from Sri Ram Chat, Ambala #streetfood #indianfood #food #chaat #foodtour #foodwalk #potato

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Hauned stairway to rainy heaven. #clouds #monsoons #rainyday #stairs #hiking

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A tasty and filling lunch : Kulcha Choley, Choley (with kofta) Bhaturey and onion rings with kachaloo. #streetfood #food #indianfood #foodtour #foodwalk #newdelhi #connaughtplace

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Jason on Narendra Modi

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Ata

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A rainy day wouldn't stop these fishermen. #beach #rainyday #clouds #monsoons #fishing #sea #darkday #worldphotographyday #theconversationcreator @canonindia_official

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A moment of rest in between a busy day of hard labour. #bazaar #market #labour #delhi #streetphotography #theconversationcreator #worldphotographyday @canonindia_official

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15 August 2012 in Manali . Memory from @google #manali

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Hey @puma if you are trying to pitch your products to a specific local market, atleast hire people who can spell words of local languages correctly. Is is spelled as फ़र्क not फरक and is a very common word in local vocabulary.

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BJP Government Performance Analysis: Administration & Governance

This is my 2nd article in the series of articles which analyse the work of Modi government starting from 2014 till present date. This one is about administration and governance. Unlike the first one on defence, it is not that binary and there are quite a few gray areas and is subject to opinions as much it is to facts. For example, I like how NGOs have been brought under tougher checks and a lot of such organisations have been forced to shut shop. [ 4,311 more words ] https://ift.tt/2ATX8Av
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Normally this would be a small stream with maybe a trickle of water for most part of year. But in monsoons, it turns in to a raging, fast flowing river. Lovely place and time to have a cup of chai. #monsoon #travel #india #Maharashtra #weather #water #waterfall
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Clear streams like this used to be almost perennial water sources for countless villages. Uncontrolled construction, deforestation and pollution have destroyed most of them and threaten the remaining few. #environment #water #monsoon #nature #conservation #india #ecotourism
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A History of how India zeroed on Rafale and why the Congress charge of corruption in the Rafale Deal is absolutely bogus

During the debate on the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha Congress President Rahul Gandhi again attacked the Narendra Modi government on Rafale (pronounced as “Raafaal” which means gust of wind in French) fighter jet deal. Rahul Gandhi claimed that during his meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, Macron had privately told him that no agreement signed by the two countries stopped India from disclosing the aircraft's pricing. Rahul Gandhi stated that Indian Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman citing a secrecy clause while resisting attempts to disclose price of the deal had “lied to the nation”. Nirmala Sitharaman vigorously defended herself & the government saying that Rahul Gandhi’s allegations that she had lied to the country over the Rafale fighter deal were “absolutely wrong” while also saying that “It was an agreement of secrecy. I am not privy to what the French President told Mr. Gandhi. But I am referring to two particular interviews that the French President had given to Indian TV channels. In the interviews, the French President had said that commercial details of the Rafale deal cannot be revealed”. In response to these allegations on the same day (July 20, 2018) the French government foreign affairs spokesman said “We have noted the statement of Mr. Rahul Gandhi before the Indian Parliament. France and India concluded in 2008 a security agreement, which legally binds the two States to protect the classified information provided by the partner that could impact security and operational capabilities of the defence equipment of India or France. These provisions naturally apply to the IGA (Inter Governmental Agreement) concluded on September 23, 2016 on the acquisition of 36 Rafale aircraft and their weapons. Further he said “As the President of the French Republic indicated publicly in an interview given to India Today on March 9, 2018, in India and in France, when a deal is very sensitive, we can’t reveal all details,” This so called controversy which has been repeatedly debunked by a wide range of defence experts refuses to die down anytime soon. HISTORY The history of the Rafale fighter in context of India has been a long & agonizing one. Around 2001 the IAF (Indian Air Force) due to the impending retirement of the several older aircraft (MiG-21/23/27) in the near future foresaw a big reduction in no. of fighter aircraft. IAF wanted to procure 126 new aircraft under the MRCA (multi-role combat aircraft) tender which later got upgraded to the MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft). Around the same time the Dassault Mirage-2000 production line in France was going to be closed down due to lack of orders. Mirage-2000 which had performed very well in 1999 Kargil conflict was in favor with the IAF who was keen move its production line to India. However the defence ministry in the NDA government at that time due to ongoing scams was not comfortable with a single vendor purchase which they believed could lead to allegations of favoritism & kickbacks. They instead wanted to go in for a mutli-vendor tender process. In August 2007 the Request for Proposal (RFP) was sent out to six vendors: SAAB (Gripen), EADS (Eurofighter), Dassault (Rafale), Mikoyan (MiG-35), Lockheed Martin (F-16) and Boeing (F/A-18). The 6 aircrafts then underwent extensive field trials Field Evaluation Trials (FETs) with their performance being judged on a reported 643-660 technical parameters. The aircraft were flown in the high altitude/cold weather in Leh, desert/hot weather in Jaisalmer & humid climate in Bengaluru. Only two of the aircraft the Eurofighter Typhoon & Dassault Rafale in April 2011 were selected as passing this technical evaluation. Next the cheaper of these two aircraft was going to be declared the winner of this MMCRA contract. The actual purchase price of the aircraft was not going to be sole factor for judging the cheaper option but instead it would include along with price of aircraft the cost of service, maintenance & upgrade over the life span of the aircraft. IAF had had learnt from its past experiences where low cost aircraft later tuned out to have big operational costs. Come January 2012, it was announced that the Dassault (Rafale) won the competition (it was reported that it was $4-5 million cheaper than Eurofighter) as the lowest bidder. The next stage in the process would be completing negotiations for the finalizing all details of the contract including final pricing. The plan for the MMCRA was that the first squadron of 18 aircraft will be manufactured by the vendor after which the remaining 108 planes will be manufactured in India under ToT (Transfer of Technology) which was to be under HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited). Dassault claimed that 31 Million Man Hours would be sufficient to produce 108 Rafale aircraft in India while HAL concluded that the Man Hours required were going to be 2.7 times higher than what Dassault has quoted! The WikiLeaks expose uncovered the fact that former US Ambassador to India Timothy Roemer in a confidential report to the Obama administration said that “HAL was not competent to be a partner” of either of the two American companies – Boeing and Lockheed Martin – who were in the running for the prized MMRCA contract. This report caused concern within Dassault who then requested to look at the HAL facility in India. Dassault after inspecting the facility were not happy with the quality control & production-related problems over the manufacture of the Sukhoi-30 MKI aircraft being manufactured at that facility. This lead to another problem where Dassault refused to guarantee the performance of the HAL-built aircraft in India while limiting its guarantees to only the first 18 aircraft built in France. They believed that any issues arising due to issues with the HAL production line would reflect poorly on Dassault tarnishing its stellar reputation globally. Indian officials protested saying that the original RFP required the vendor to provide a warranty for HAL’s work & they couldn’t escape from this clause. When Dassault itself presented different cost figures for Rafale’s built at HAL it became clear that Dassault had been incorrectly named the L-1 vendor i.e. cost of the Rafale was now actually higher than the Eurofighter Typhoon. These issues caused the deal to become stuck in limbo for years. In his book Securing India: The Modi Way: Pathankot, Surgical Strikes And More’ strategic analyst/defence expert Nitin A Gokhale stated “The UPA government, under the overly cautious AK Antony instead of imposing a deadline for the French manufacturer to comply with the terms of the RFP, dragged its feet and allowed Dassault Aviation to get away with obfuscation. Moreover, in an unusual move, Antony instructed MoD officials to bring the file back to him after concluding the CNC to re-examine the integrity of the process before proceeding to finalise the contract, creating confusion and doubt in the minds of the officials who were negotiating with the manufacturer.” Even after the Modi government came to power in 2014 the impasse continued for couple of years after which then defence minister Manohar Parrikar realized that they were going nowhere with Dassault in regards to the MMCRA. Since the DPP (Defence Procurement Policy) rules don’t allow India to negotiate with the next lowest L-2 bidder (Eurofighter) India was now in a quandary. PM Narendra to break out this logjam in April 2015 signed a deal to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets directly from France in a G-G (government to government) deal. Modi said “Keeping in mind critical operational necessity of fighter jets in India, I have talked to him (Hollande) and requested for 36 Rafale jets in fly-away condition as quickly as possible under government-to-government deal,” Manohar Parrikar stated in Rajya Sabha in July 2015 that the deal for 126 MMRCA was officially withdrawn by the government. The deal for purchase 36 aircraft was made in April 2015 but negotiations regarding the price stretched out till September 2016 when the agreement was signed by Parrikar & his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian for a reported €7.85B (~$8.8B) [B=Billion]. The 36 aircraft were to be delivered to India within a time frame of 66 months with the first one arriving within 3 years of signing the agreement. PRICING CLAIM Congress has claimed that the original MMCRA was projected to cost $12B for 126 aircraft (~$95M/aircraft) while the Modi government ended up paying $8.8B for just 36 aircraft (~244M/aircraft). Now for the simple layman this would appear outrageous that the price has increased ~2.5x for the same aircraft under different administrations. However as they say the devil is in the details! One must note that the 2007 price of $12B was from the RFP & not the finalized contract. Dassault was chosen as the winner of the selection process & negotiations over pricing were ongoing but were never finalized. Therefore it is disingenuous to use that number to compare against the 2016 deal. One has to note that as per various news reports the price jumped higher (from original $12B) initially to $15-$18B range (January 2012) & later $20B-$30B (January 2014) once man hours from the HAL production (2.7x more were accounted for) & inclusion of costs associated with weapons, avionics, upgrades, training, support, etc. were fully accounted for. There is not a lot of clarity regarding the exact final nos. as the final negotiations were never completed & they vary depending on the sources from which they were obtained. Taking the final $20B- $30B costs the per fighter cost for MMCRA would be ~158 to 238M/aircraft close to the $244M price from 2016 deal. Further regarding the pricing I want to highlight two minor points. One the order in 2007 vs the one in 2016 was 3.5x times bigger (i.e. 126 vs 36). Everyone knows that the bigger the order you place be it for any product as small as a paper clip or as big as an aircraft, you tend to get a favorable lesser price per unit due to the larger volume of the order. Secondly one has to take into account the inflation in between the 9 years of both of the contracts which means that it would be impractical to expect same price in both situations. Two other nations have recently bought the Rafale: Egypt & Qatar. Egyptian air force has paid €5.2 billion for 24 fighters (i.e. €217M/aircraft). Qatar paid out €6.3 billion for 24 aircraft (i.e. €262M/aircraft). Now since the weapons package, training, maintenance etc. for all the 3 nations (India/Egypt/Qatar) would be different it wouldn’t be an exact comparison. Still once can see that India paid €217M/aircraft (€7.8 billion for 36 aircraft) which is in the same ballpark as other two which shows that India likely didn’t vastly overpay for the Rafale as the critics claim. Even comparing the 2 orders that India itself placed is hard to compare as both reportedly didn’t have the same exact weapons, training, sensors, etc. packages (i.e. apples vs oranges comparison). Look at the tweets below from Vishnu Som (Defence Editor with NDTV) where he says that both orders might be called by same overall name (i.e. Maruti Suzuki) but would be like ordering different configurations of the same car (i.e. LXi vs ZXi). The 2007 order was for the F2 version of the Rafale while the 2016 was for the more advanced F3 version plus https://ift.tt/2mAmuJw Maanav Hriday
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Milk kulfi flavoured with figs and served on a leaf in the traditional eco-friendly way like it was done before plastic and paper plates became popular. #kulfi #icecream #dessert #mumbai #travel #food #ecofriendly

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A skull we found in the jungle a few meters from a spooky abandoned house. Misty and a very curious day for a walk in the rain. #skull #jungle #spooky #ghostly #monsoon #rain #travel #wildlife #walks #rainyday

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Rice farming the old fashioned way in a small village near Dapoli in Konkan Maharashtra. This is just subsistence farming and most of produce is consumed by farmers themselves. Cattle still play an important role in tilling the land and in many other ways. #farming #village #travel #monsoon #rain #farming #cattle #Maharashtra #konkan #india #clouds

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Train journey on a rainy monsoon day in Konkan Railways. #Maharashtra #konkan #train #monsoon #travel #greenery #water

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Nitin

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Two fresh and delicious fruit kulfis for this hot and humid weather. White one Coconut and other is Mango kulfi. Handmade with all natural ingredients. #icecream #dessert #foodwalk #food #summer #foodtour #delhi

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A hidden waterfall in Himalayan mountains of Uttarakhand. #mountains #hike #himalayas #uttarakhand #forest

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Cooling for Raspberry Pi

Few days back I noticed that my Raspberry Pi is running quite hot. Sometimes crossing 80 degrees. This is quite rare but since it is running for days without a break in this hot weather, I planned to do something to bring temperature lower. But problem is that Raspberry Pis don't come with any kind of cooling kits which are easily available. [ 1,412 more word ] https://ift.tt/2MzTgq3
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Rice served with spinach, chickpeas, spinach, carrot pickle and onion in a clay cup. All food cooked on charcoal fire from a shop unchanged since 1951. #olddelhi #streetfood #food #india #foodwalk indianfood

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Sunita

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