ISAS-NUS. Tracking trade, geoeconomics, supply chains, IndoPacific.Trudging academic & policy https://nitter.cf/t.co/MTxsCX5dbS nerd.
Singapore
Joined April 2011
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Amitendu retweeted
I had a traumatic train ride today. It is very sad to see how people do not respect public spaces enough. When we are in the public, we should not shout or even talk loudly and disrespect every individual’s personal space in Public. As artists, we have a 100 thoughts running. And we thrive in silence. Everyone can understand the initial excitement when travelling in a big group in a train. But imagine a group of 40 middle aged adults occupying a 56 seater coach and talking so loudly to everyone for 5 hours. Non stop. Problem in India is nobody can question them. It is an unsaid rule that the other 16 of us which aren’t part of the group should simply endure them. So I requested the TTE if I could get another seat in a different coach. He tried but unfortunately since the train was full, I had to simply stay in the same coach but a different seat. Suddenly a group of 8, that was already yapping and laughing non stop, started playing UNO. And then I requested the TTE if anything could be done. He requested them to stop and they immediately stopped. But after a couple of minutes TTE came back and mockingly asked them ‘yaake sir galaatte maadtaideera?’ (Why are you creating nuisance?) and they had a good laugh with him and said, ‘sir Neevu banni, adona’(Sir you also join, let’s play). So the concern here is not about who won. Myself, along with them, as Indians, lost the Civic sense game. When will we as a nation improve our public behaviour?
Amitendu retweeted
Please don't defend people like her, this is the reason we are losing respect as a country abroad. Our people act entitled, assert their beliefs and religious practices. And let's not forget how the fake sense of pride and nationalism, extreme religious bias and casteism has made most Indians loud, obnoxious and insensitive to major atrocities within India and across the world.
Amitendu retweeted
HNI Indian parents are actively destroying their GenZ kids with their passive income. They thought they were securing their family's future.
In reality, they just planted a generation of completely unemployable lethargic kids.
If you go to any Tier-1 or Tier-2 city today and you will see alot of 25 year old Gen Z kids trapped in the ultimate wealth dilemma
1. The Ego Trap: They refuse to take blue collar or ground level sales jobs because it hurts the family reputation.
2. The Lifestyle Trap: They refuse to take an entry level ₹30,000 corporate job because that doesn't even cover their baseline monthly expenses for cafes, fuel, and weekend trips.
3. The Entitlement Trap: They refuse to take over the traditional family business that actually built their wealth because it isn't aesthetic or is too boring.
So what do they actually do? Absolutely nothing.
They wake up at 11 AM. They live off the passive rental yield their parents built. Maybe they stroll into their dad's office for 4 hours a day to sit in an AC cabin to play Director-director and leave.
And the parents are 100% to blame.
Their obsession with providing a comfortable life and feeding their kids passive income has completely killed the family's active ambition. The father is still grinding 10 hours a day at 55, while the 25 year old son is treating life like an all inclusive resort.
If your father is funding your comfort zone, you are just a massive liability on a monthly allowance.
Worse, Indian parents actively refuse to let their kids move out of the city to struggle. Their entire logic is why leave when your father is already earning enough here?
In the US, kids are pushed out to build their own survival skills. In India, We are suffocating our kids with comfort.
Amitendu retweeted
When the incentive to cheat hits the sky, but those responsible for preventing it find the task a chore, you know that demand for leaked question papers will find adequate sources of supply. I examine the phenomena in this piece. Thanks @govindethiraj
Is India’s government recruitment system broken beyond repair? Subhomoy Bhattacharjee (@subhomoyb) writes.
The National Recruitment Agency, set up by the government in 2020, was supposed to provide a common admission process for all central government and even state government jobs.
Six years later, the Department of Personnel and Training has yet to even set up a homepage for the body.
So why should anyone expect the CBSE and the National Testing Agency, under the Ministry of Education, to fare any better?
The core of the problem is the rush for government jobs and seats in recognised institutions, Bhattacharjee writes. The demand-and-supply mismatch creates a huge opportunity for smart people to con the system.
Amitendu retweeted
After Japan battled the Netherlands to a 2-2 draw, the Japanese fans stayed behind and cleaned up every single piece of trash from their section at Dallas Stadium after the game. nitter.cf/ProfNetMedia/status/20…
Amitendu retweeted
My family runs a homestay in the hills of Darjeeling and it goes without saying that we have to deal with all kinds of people. However, we have noticed some things that seem to be uniform behaviour for all Indians:
a) They will dirty the room, and not spare even the pillows,
Amitendu retweeted
With so many reels of our tourists behaving badly abroad, here’s a lovely exception. A Bengali song bringing together people at Van Gogh Museum. Culture is spread best when it creates joy, not disruption.
Amitendu retweeted
This business of arresting is the best reason to keep capital off from India. ''Brutal': Pune-based IT firm shuts down overnight, leaves 700 employees jobless. CEO arrested" moneycontrol.com/news/trends…
Amitendu retweeted
Vice-President Shri C. P. Radhakrishnan released the book 'When Audit Matters: CAG Interventions That Made a Difference', edited by former CAG Shri Vinod Rai, at Uprashtrapati Bhavan today.
Speaking on the occasion, the Vice-President said that audit is a vital instrument for strengthening democracy, reinforcing trust between the State and citizens through accountability, efficiency and fairness in the use of public resources. He also underlined that auditors themselves must adhere to the highest standards of integrity and ethical conduct.
Amitendu retweeted
I think North Indian political leaders should learn something from their South Indian counterparts. Incoming Chief Minster #Vdsatheesan calls on outgoing CM #PinarayiVijayan . But in north they go after each other like wild animals.
Amitendu retweeted
Our report (edited with @Amitendu1 ) on the rising tensions / gap between growing connectivity and lacking institutional cooperation in the Bay of Bengal — with several case studies from experts across the region:
csep.org/reports/connectivit…
Amitendu retweeted
Salvador Dalí le encantaba cenar bien.
Grupos grandes.
Mesas largas.
Vinos caros.
Los mejores restaurantes de París y Nueva York.
Y siempre insistía en pagar la cuenta.
Nadie sospechaba nada.
Cuando llegaba el momento de pagar, rellenaba el cheque con el importe total, con calma y elegancia.
Firmaba.
Y entonces, antes de entregárselo al camarero, giraba el papel y hacía un dibujo en el reverso.
Un boceto rápido.
Elefantes.
Caballos.
Figuras surrealistas.
Firmaba debajo.
Y entregaba el cheque al restaurante.
Dalí sabía perfectamente lo que iba a pasar después.
El dueño del restaurante no cobraría el cheque.
Lo enmarcaría.
Lo colgaría en la mejor pared del local.
Un Dalí original, enmarcado, dentro del restaurante.
Valía infinitamente más que cualquier cena.
Todos esos cheques con dibujos fueron guardados.
Y hoy valen una fortuna.
Hay relatos de que hizo esto muchas veces a lo largo de los años, tanto en París como en Nueva York.
En una de las noches documentadas, en el Café de la Rotonde de París, Dalí le pidió una hoja de papel al camarero, dibujó rápidamente un elefante con la trompa levantada, firmó debajo y lo entregó con total naturalidad.
La cuenta estaba pagada.
Y el restaurante había salido ganando.
Lo que hacía Dalí no era solo excentricidad.
Era entender perfectamente que el valor de su presencia y de su firma ya había superado el precio de cualquier menú.
No necesitaba dinero para pagar.
Solo necesitaba un trozo de papel y saber cuánto valía.
Amitendu retweeted
China’s Handling of Trump Visit
1. Chinese Media: No hero-worship, no emotional tone, no 24/7 coverage
2. Foreign Media: China is self-assured, seeks no US validation
3. Mature Nationalism: China's confidence stems from tech & economic domination, not headline drama
INSIGHTS:
Chinese Media
a. Xinhua, China Daily, CCTV, State Portals: Trump visit matters, but it is not positioned as "THE Event." No personality-driven coverage and no “historical breakthrough” theatrics.
b. Media Strategy: Beijing is not downgrading the importance of its relationship with the US. It is downgrading the emotional messaging that traditionally placed America has the “mother” of all nations.
c. Washington Post, ABC, Reuters: The real shift is that China has decided to act as an EQUAL. China’s posture is that of a "Civilization of Quiet Doers" that is not dying for US approval.
Chinese People
a. Trump is chaotic but useful. Trump's viral nickname “Chuan Juanguo” is all over Weibo (Chinese equivalent of Twitter).
It means: “Trump is our patriotic son, our nation-builder, whose actions accidentally helped build a stronger, more self-reliant China.”
b. People on Xiao (the Instagram of China) are more interested in CEOs like Elon Musk, Jensen Huang, and Tim Cook rather than politicians.
The narrative is: “These are the guys who know that our market matters.” (Example: 80% of iPhone's high-end components are made in China.)
c. Chinese netizens recognize that Trump is a “transactional visitor” and not a “friend.” Nobody in China appears interested in “Howdy Trump” style chest-thumping.
Lessons for India
a. National confidence stems from technology domination, economic resilience, and exports leverage, not headline drama.
China’s trade surplus hit $1.25 trillion in 2025. India, on the other hand, has never had a trade surplus year in its history (except in 1972 and 1976).
b. America’s giant corporations are doubling down on China for manufacturing scale. (Example: China produces more than 70% of the world’s electric cars.)
China also controls 90% of global rare earth refining – the US is begging for access to it during this visit.
c. India too has cheap labor and a large pool of engineers. But India never developed the manufacturing scale China has.
India too holds the world’s third-largest rare earth oxide (REO) reserves, plus huge reserves of critical minerals (like lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite).
But India has near-zero commercial scale refining/processing capacity. So, India is largely import-dependent (80-90% imports from China.)
China did 30 years of quiet hard work to develop its industrial ecosystems for mining, refining, and processing. It went through numerous iterations, failures, and bottlenecks. It didn’t happen overnight.
ENDQUOTE
“Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War, 5th century BC
@arabicatrader
Amitendu retweeted
My piece 4 @SIGA_Institute on
Can #MiddlePowers survive the #US-#China Crossfire? seoulinstitute.com/can-middl… @jppjagannath1 @DrJHPing @Discuss_Japan @IntlSecurity_jp @kokusai_seiji @Yuichi_Hosoya @ycapsjapan @MohanCRaja @Amitendu1 @chintamani36 @KaiserKuo
Amitendu retweeted
The global economic landscape is entering a new phase marked by fragmentation, strategic competition and evolving regional partnerships. Against this backdrop, the Second India-Singapore Futures Forum will examine how India and Singapore can deepen cooperation and strengthen resilience in an increasingly uncertain international environment.Organised by the Institute of South Asian Studies, the forum brings together policymakers, diplomats, academics and industry experts to discuss the future trajectory of India-Singapore relations across areas such as trade, technology, connectivity, sustainability and regional economic integration.The forum will feature keynote and opening addresses by:
• Ms Gan Siow Huang, Minister of State, Ministry of Trade and Industry and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore
• HE Dr Shilpak Ambule, High Commissioner of India to Singapore
• Associate Professor Iqbal Singh Sevea, Director, ISAS-NUS📅 Friday, 15 May 2026
⏰ 9.30am – 12.00nn (SGT)
📍 Della & Seng Gee Guild Hall, NUSS Guild House.
As economic and geopolitical uncertainties continue to reshape Asia and the wider global order, the forum aims to foster meaningful dialogue on how India and Singapore can continue to collaborate as trusted partners in a fragmenting global economy. We look forward to welcoming participants from academia, government, business and the wider public.
#IndiaSingapore #ISASNUS #EconomicCooperation #RegionalIntegration #GlobalEconomy #SouthAsia #ASEAN #Singapore #India #PublicPolicy
🤖 Made with AI
Amitendu retweeted
I was on a train in Tokyo. We stopped between stations. Announcement in Japanese, then in English: "We apologize for the delay. We will resume shortly."
The delay was maybe 3 minutes. Not a big deal.
When the train started moving again, another announcement: "We sincerely apologize for the delay. We were stopped for 3 minutes and 20 seconds. This is unacceptable. Thank you for your patience."
Three minutes and twenty seconds. They measured it exactly. And called it unacceptable.
When I got off at my stop, there were station staff on the platform bowing and handing out delay certificates.
I took one out of curiosity. It was an official document stating that the train had been delayed by 3 minutes and 20 seconds, signed and stamped.
The staff member said in English "for your employer. So they know the delay was not your fault."
I said I'm a tourist, I don't need it. He looked confused. "But the delay affected you. You deserve an apology."
Three minutes. They were treating a three-minute delay like a major incident.
Later I mentioned this to a Japanese friend. They said "oh yes, delay certificates are normal. Trains are supposed to be exactly on time. If they are late, they must apologize."
I said three minutes isn't late, it's nothing. My friend said "in Japan, three minutes is late. On time means on time. Not approximately on time."
They said the train company probably investigated why there was a 3-minute delay. "They will find the cause and fix it so it doesn't happen again."
I kept the certificate. It's framed in my apartment now. A reminder that somewhere in the world, people care about three minutes.
© 6IX.
