Intro to Nandoo - India's only FUN Health & Wellness app focused on Mind, Body & Soul Fitness. Aaj Ka Gyaan - as in this podcast is focused on Mind Fitness - wherein we break down complex business & political topics spawning across the globe in a simplistic manner. Previous Gyaan's have ranged from "Why you can't listen to Cardi ben & Bruno Bhai on Spotify India" "Why China is collecting the world's trash" "Why Norway is both the Cleanest & Dirtiest Country in the World" --- you know what --- just listen to our podcast and you'll get the drill!

Intro

The Story:
Here’s the thing, Malaysia’s state-owned investment fund, 1MDB, was supposed to promote development. Instead, it has spurred a criminal and regulatory investigations around the world. To give you a quick gist, of the $8 billion raised for it, nearly $4 billion was pocketed – But guess what, its still a baby when you compare it to our 2G scandal which was $40 Billion being siphoned off! Check our Gyaan archives for more deets on it.
 
Back up, 1MDB sounds like some storage capacity, can you tell me what it means? 
It’s a government investment company which also goes by the name of 1 Malaysia Development Bhd. 1MDB wanted to revitalize Malaysia by building a new financial district, revamping its power plants – you know things that will bring in more better paying jobs and boost the economy. But an initial red flag was that 1MDB failed to attract foreign investment and so, it had to start raising debt. Quick side note  - debt raising is basically a country promising to pay the money back from the increased taxes it will collect when the said paying jobs roll in.  You should almost always focus on getting investment vs. debt when looking for funding – country or individual.
Anyway, it raised nearly $8 billion in debt from a TON of foreign countries with Goldman Sachs playing the lead broker for 1MDB.

Hmmm okay so what happened then? 
Well, the Govt. put a businessman by the name of Low Taek Jho (known as Jho Low and NOT to be confused with J Low!) in charge to properly diversify the funds raised in project. And Jho Low DID diversify the funds – just in the bank accounts of Malaysia’s ministers, PM and his own personal account.
 
Interesting and where is all this money? 
Scattered all over the world in various shell accounts of these minsters. Quite a few went into the Fendi, Gucci & Prada bags bought by the PM’s wife. The PM’s son went an extra mile and invested $60 million in the Wolf of Wall Street movie and  Jho Low was like “hold my cutting” and went above & beyond by buying a $200M super yacht that did nothing by just chilled on the waters of Bali – ALL of this at the expense of Malaysia’s tax payers!
 
Nandoo this sounds like chillar, why are you covering this? 
YES – it is chillar compared to the $40 billion involved in our 2G scandal (YAY us?) but the problem with 1MDB is that these folks borrowed money from foreign countries – like Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, US, Germany, etc. And these countries are hella mad and going Rihanna mode with “B!^%$ better have my money!”  as in – I don’t care what your ministers did with all this money, I want MY money back or else…And so, Jho Low, PM, his fam and all other ministers are basically screwed with multiple international cases against them. While they wont be able to give the money back, they are in for some deep sheeet
 
Bottomline:
When you deal with global investments, you better be ready to pay up. If you think about it, one “good” thing with 2G scandal was that it involved only Indians and Indian ministers. No foreign party was involved which means, when things got crazy, nothing super terrible happened to anyone.

Tomorrow’s Gyaan:
Why Spain experienced a decline in child birth after instituting Paternity Leave

Episode 3: Malaysia’s 1MDB Scandal Explained

Title: Netflix has 175 days to fight off the biggest battles in its history 
The Story: 
Netflix has changed how we watch TV, no more waiting at 10 pm to watch Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki (ofc your mom and baa and DEF not for you!). Why wait when you can watch everything at any time you want! They have introduced the concept of Binge watching as well as who can forget – Netflix & Chill! Umm if you don’t know what Netflix & Chill is, ask your 21year old brother!
Anyway, the most important strategy for Netflix has been original content – finding good, quality TV shows & movies that it exclusively owns – Hello Sacred Games! It loves original content so much that is has spent nearly $12 billion JUST LAST YEAR to develop original content. It is borrowing heavily to continue creating a lot more original content so much so that it has now become the biggest creator of original content in the Western hemisphere. 
The problem is that no matter how much Netflix spends, it has no chance to catch up with its biggest rival…
Hello Disney! 
The Walt Disney Company (DIS) is one of America’s most iconic companies. Walt Disney created Mickey Mouse way back in 1928. Over the following eight decades the company built an empire. Over 160 million people visited its theme parks last year. And it’s among the world’s largest media companies.
But over the past decade a core part of its business has been disrupted. More than a third of Disney’s revenue comes from its cable business. You see Disney owns leading sports network ESPN and makes money delivering this content to millions. As you can imagine, Netflix has hit this business hard. Disney’s cable business has stagnated over the past seven years. 
But in about 175 days, Disney is set to launch its own streaming service called Disney+.
Oh And it’s pulling all its content off of Netflix. This is a big deal. WHY? Because Disney owns Marvel, Pixar Animations, Star Wars, ESPN, National Geographic, Modern Family, and even The Simpsons. Not to mention all the classic characters like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. In six of the past seven years, Disney has produced the world’s top-selling movie. Here’s a list of the five highest-earning movies of 2018:
1.	Avengers Infinity War
2.	Black Panther
3.	Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
4.	Incredibles 2
5.	Bohemian Rhapsody
All except Jurassic World are Disney productions. Clearly, Disney is king of the blockbuster. Over the past six years, its average film has raked in $1.2 billion at the box office.
Picture this…
Disney puts a blockbuster like Avengers Endgame on its platform the same day it opens in theaters. After a few weeks it’s no longer in theaters. You can’t buy it. You can’t rent it. The only way to watch is to subscribe to Disney’s steaming service, Disney+.
Another example, imagine the only place your children or grandchildren will be able to see Toy Story 4 and Frozen 2 may be on Disney+. Can you imagine how many parents will sign up for this? 
Disney has shown it can produce movies and shows people want to watch. No competitor comes within 1,000 miles of Disney’s world of content – not even Netflix! 
Disney’s ownership of iconic franchises like Star Wars gives it something no money can buy. Meanwhile, Netflix will lose a lot of its best content—and potentially millions of subscribers who switch to Disney+.
Bottomline:
Disney+ will launch in 175 days and the war between Netflix & Disney is going to boil down to quantity vs. quality. Disney will launch with only 4,000 movies and tv shows which is only 10% of what Netflix currently has. But quality wise, it will be far superior to what Netflix currently has – after all it owns all the Avengers yes unfortunately even Hawk Eye! 
Tomorrow’s Gyaan: 
Amazon uncovered!

#12 Netflix's Biggest Battle Starts In 175 Days

Title: Psstt… It’s Amazon Employees, not Alexa, that has been listening to you this whole time 

Body: 
Tens of millions of people use smart speakers and their voice software to play games, find music or trawl for trivia. Millions more are reluctant to invite the devices and their powerful microphones into their homes out of concern that someone might be listening.

Sometimes, someone is.

Nandoo, stop being so Detective Byomkesh-y and tell us the story! 
A report has come out that Amazon has been employing thousands of people around the world that listens to voice recordings captured in Echo owners’ homes and offices. The recordings are transcribed and then fed back into the software as part of an effort to eliminate gaps in Alexa’s understanding of human speech and help it better respond to commands. 

The team comprises a mix of contractors and full-time Amazon employees who work in outposts from Boston to Costa Rica, India and Romania. They work nine hours a day, with each reviewer going through as many as 1,000 audio clips per shift. 

Sometimes they hear recordings they find upsetting, or possibly criminal. Two of the workers said they picked up what they believe was an assault. When something like that happens, they may share the experience in the internal chat room as a way of relieving stress. Amazon says it has procedures in place for workers to follow when they hear something distressing, but several employees said that, after requesting guidance for such cases, they were told it wasn’t Amazon’s job to interfere.

Wait, how is this possible? 
The way Alexa (and all smart speakers) work is – they are constantly listening to you. WHY? Because they are waiting to hear the wake word – “Alexa” for echo speakers or “Hey Siri” for Apple. When the wake word is detected, the light ring at the top of the Echo turns blue, indicating the device is recording and beaming a command to Amazon servers. 

The software then learns as it goes, by spotting patterns amid vast amounts of data. The algorithms powering the Echo and other smart speakers use probability to make educated guesses. If someone asks Alexa if there’s a Gujarati place nearby, the algorithms know the user is probably looking for a restaurant, not a church or community center.

Then why hire humans to listen? 
You see sometimes Alexa gets it wrong—especially when dealing with new slang, regional colloquialisms or languages other than English. In French, avec sa, “with his” or “with her,” can confuse the software into thinking someone is using the Alexa wake word. Hecho, Spanish for a fact or deed, is sometimes misinterpreted as Echo. And so on. That’s why Amazon has recruited human helpers to fill in the gaps missed by the algorithms.



Okay Nandoo, so what should we do?
Well, honestly, nothing – if you like privacy and get freaked out thinking about people listening to your conversations, then the best thing is to not buy smart speakers. But just know – in this digital age, someone or the other IS listening to your conversations…. Including your MOTHER! (I think that’s the scariest part of all!)

Tomorrow’s Gyaan 
Apple explained!

#13 Amazon Has Been Listening To You This Whole Time

Aaj Ka Gyaan: Different Ways Money Gets Laundered

The Story:
Let’s say you’ve given up your law-abiding lifestyle to pursue a life of crime- you’ve just made your first big hit, perhaps from selling drugs, taking a bribe, or other corrupt acts.

Thing is you can't just spend it or deposit it in your bank account without attracting attention from authorities. That money trail might serve as evidence of the crime you committed. So you need to get that dirty money clean. 

There are three steps to any money laundering scheme:
1.	Placement, where funds are moved from direct association with the crime
2.	Layering or disguising the money trail to foil any authorities
3.	Finally, integration, where the funds are once again available to spend without worry of being caught.

So what are the options?
•	Shell Company: It's fairly easy and there are plenty of law firms who can help. It should take them only a bit longer than signing up for a new email address. Launderers may turn to historic tax havens like Switzerland, or places where you can set up anonymous shell companies like the Cayman Islands or the U.S. states of Delaware and Nevada. Once a shell company is established, make up some fake transactions for goods or services that you pay for with your dirty money. Suddenly that dirty money looks legitimate. It also helps to find people who work in banking who don't care if you're a shady client. After the fall of the Soviet Union launderers sought out weak spots throughout Europe where oversight was poor. Billions have been funneled through banks in Cyprus, Malta and the Baltic nations of Estonia and Latvia. 

•	Stock Market: If you prefer to use the stock market you can try a technique called mirror trading. In this method you use your money to purchase shares. And then you sell same shares worth the same amount somewhere abroad. The trades functionally cancel each other out, but you've successfully turned your rubles into clean euros. A similar method is a back-to-back deal, where, say, a Russian takes out a loan in one country, say Austria, that's guaranteed by a deposit of dirty money back home in Russia. She then defaults on the loan, the bank in Austria seizes the Russian deposit, but she still ends up with the proceeds of the loan in Austrian Euros with no strings attached.

•	Casinos: Another method of money laundering is mixing dirty money in with clean. Cash businesses like restaurants and casinos are particularly attractive to launderers. A common scheme is to buy a bunch of casino chips, make a few small wagers, then cash everything else out as winnings. Or, you can just own the whole casino. Macau has been beset by laundering schemes despite China's repeated attempts to stop it.

Bottomline:
If you really want to, there are multiple ways to launder money. Unfortunately for you, there’s no guarantee that you won’t get caught and given all our luck & just general un-savviness, literally 0 chance we would be able to pull any of this off!  

Tomorrow’s Gyaan: 
How China plans to rate it’s 1.3 billion people

#16 How Money Gets Laundered

China wants to grade its 1.3 billion people based on how good or bad of a citizen they've been. Critics of China's plan have pointed to the Black Mirror episode where everyone gets rated in their daily interactions. You wanna a cookie with that? It's on the house.

Minor difference from Black Mirror: 
In China's version, your friends or colleagues wouldn't grade you - that would be done by the state. A dozen cities are already testing different systems with the government aiming to create a nationwide network by 2020.

Here’s the quick take: 
China’s social credit system was first outlined in a 2014 government document where the guiding ideology of the social credit system is described as

"Keeping trust is glorious and breaking trust is disgraceful." The idea is to use the central and local government information to blacklist millions of people from doing things like booking flights and taking high-speed train trips.

How citizens are judged in the trials varies from place to place. For example, in Hangzhou donating blood or voluntary work is seen as "pro-social", while violating traffic laws counts against someone's standing.
	
In Zhoushan, cell phone usage while driving or walking dogs without leashes hurts your credit rating. In Yiwu, your score can be boosted by helping the elderly or protecting public property. Even foreigners are subject to scrutiny. In Yiwu, a bad credit score can result in visas and residence permits being denied or revoked.

It's still unclear how exactly the program will work nationally, but unsurprisingly technology is helping to make it all possible. There are doubts, however, that China will be able to combine diverse local networks into a universal system. So far, the reaction to the trials has been mixed.
	
Criticism has been harsher overseas. Rights groups see the social credit system as a sinister move to expand the state's already tightening control over China's people and even what they think.

Tomorrow’s Gyaan: Mozambique’s Scandal Explained

#17 How China Plans To Rate Its 1.3B People

Hold up Nandoo, ofc I KNOW where Mozambique is, but my brother is a dumbass, can you please – FOR HIM, tell us again where Mozambique is? 
Of course – Mozambique is a super tiny African country in the Southeast of Africa. It’s top right of South Africa, location wise. It’s famous for two things:
On a serious note – A 16-year civil war that ended in 1992 and claimed the lives of 1 million people which then turned it into one of the world’s poorest nations. BUT it just discovered oil deposits in the north, so it soon might start getting richer
On a lighter note – if you are a fan of Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) then he did a movie called Johnny English – a very Mr. Bean type spy who messes up everything – including a messed up mission in Mozambique which still gives him the jitters. Watch: Johnny English and Johnny English Reborn right after you are done with this Gyaan. YES – even if you are at work!
 
The Story: 
Six years ago, 3 government – owned Mozambican companies started taking out private loans worth $2B to fund tuna-fishing. But here’s the problem, the Govt. “forgot” to declare $1.2B of this loan when it was getting audited by the IMF – International Monetary Fund – basically an international organization that gives loans to poor countries for redevelopment and should be notified of all previous loans.
 
When the IMF found out, ~$850M of that loan seemed to be unaccounted for – as in, no one knows where it went.
 
Nandoo, how is this possible, how can money just disappear
Well by disappear, we mean it went into the pockets of politicians and investment bankers from Credit Suisse who helped the country get the loan in the first place. If this sounds super duper familiar to you, well because it is – we covered the same topic but for Malaysia and India here (except ofc, you know our scandal was the biggest & baddest one!)
 
Accha toh abh kya hoga? 
You know all that oil that Mozambique found in the northern parts? Well, it’s probably going to be sold off to the hedge funds & private corporations that loaned out the money to Mozambique if they don’t account for the money lost AND pay back the loan with interest. You see what the issue with this is right – a handful of people pocketed the money that should have been used for the upliftment of a downtrodden country and now the very people of this downtrodden country have to suffer further because their one golden opportunity to get out of poverty might be sold off to pay for the crimes committed by a handful
 
Bottomline
People in power suck – that’s it!
 
Tomorrow’s Gyaan:
Why UK’s Theresa May has quit and “brexited” herself out

#18 Mozambique's Scandal Explained

Aaj ka Gyaan: UK PM Theresa May has BREXITED out! 

Sorry we had to!

Here’s the refresher: 
In 2016, the UK voted to Brexit (aka British exit) from the EU. Then-PM David Cameron (who was anti-Brexit) stepped down and May took over the job to figure out how to actually make the breakup happen. But this year, lawmakers voted down her Brexit deal…three times. The UK was supposed to leave the block in March, but the deadline got pushed off until October. Earlier this week, May said that she wanted lawmakers to vote on her plan for a fourth time. And that if it passed, she'd hold a vote in Parliament on whether to hold a second Brexit referendum – but nobody bought her offer. Today, she said she's "done everything I can" to deliver Brexit, but that "sadly I have not been able to do so." So she'll resign as leader of her party on June 7, but will stay on as PM until a successor is chosen.

She has not even left the building and the race for her successor has already began – talk about GOT moves! 
Potential options include Boris Johnson, a pro-Brexit former foreign secretary, and Dominic Raab, the former Brexit secretary. The new PM could attempt to figure out a deal that makes UK lawmakers and the EU happy. Or could move forward with a no deal exit, which could lead to serious trade confusion and chaos.

Here's how all this will impact you but more importantly your wallet: 

•	You might spend less on vacation. The pound’s gotten pounded (sorry) from all the Brexit drama. That’s actually good news if you’ve got a trip to the UK coming up. A stronger INR compared to pound means your money goes further in the UK. Another round of tea on you.

•	Indian companies could take a financial hit. A weaker pound means Indian products are more expensive for consumers in the UK. Which could cause sales to go down. A lot of Indian businesses also use the UK as a token mutual friend for trade with the EU. Without that connection, global trade gets even more complicated. Not exactly what anyone needs right now.

•	Stock prices might be a little shaky. When UK citizens first voted to give Brexit a thumbs up in June 2016, global markets freaked out. Then they calmed down. As a general rule, the stock market hates uncertainty. Especially when the health of businesses is at stake. PSA: Stock prices jump around all the time. Not letting that make you motion-sick is part of playing the investing game well. Over the long run, the stock market has always trended up up and up.

Bottomline: 
Brexit news might make you feel like when that person you aren’t even dating tells you it’s over: pretty confused. All eyes are on Prime Minister Theresa May and what happens next. In the meantime, try to block out the noise if new developments rock stock prices. And maybe book that vacation you’ve been thinking about to see Big Ben.

Tomorrow’s Gyaan:
Walmart one-ups Amazon: Free. One-day. Shipping

#19 Theresa May Has BREXITED Out

For the longest time, Amazon Prime’s free two-day shipping was everyone’s FAV – aunties, uncles, mamas, mamis – all would sit by the dining table and talk about how amazing their recent Amazon purchase was (and by amazing how much they saved!)
 
You could order anything—at any time of day—and rest assured it’d be delivered within two days. Doesn’t matter what it was—light bulbs, dog food, extension cord. It was amazing. Until two days just wasn’t fast enough.
 
The truth many retailers need to face today is that shoppers want to not just buy but receive their stuff just as quickly as digital transformation is happening. Shoppers now find themselves filtering items for one-day shipping, then same-day delivery. And it looks like Amazon—not to mention big stores like Walmart—were paying attention.
 
With an $800-million-dollar investment in technology, fulfillment and logistics, Amazon one-day shipping is now standard for Prime members, the race for customer loyalty in retail is getting even more expensive.
 
Amazon, is by far top dog when it comes to keeping customers connected to the digital shopping cart - Stats on Amazon loyalty show 95% of current Prime members would definitely or probably renew their memberships. Yes, Amazon’s customer loyalty is so strong that there is a sizeable chunk of the population that won’t shop anywhere else when it comes to online retail.
 
In that sense Amazon one-day shipping isn’t about improving customer loyalty, it’s about keeping it.
 
Here is the problem: 
Amazon & Walmart have a gazillion dollars lined up. But smaller digital ecommerce players don’t – and so by making consumers addicted to one day shipping, Amazon (and Walmart) are making it virtually impossible for smaller players to compete and garner the same type of loyalty & fanaticism that both these companies can afford to have.
 
Bottomline:
Question for you to ponder over: How can non-Amazon retailers continue to compete with Amazon, and what can they learn from Amazon’s customer loyalty efforts (even if their budgets are much smaller)?
 
Tomorrow’s Gyaan:
No Gyaan tomorrow! Enjoy Sunday with family & friends. Oh and make sure you keep that phone away – especially away from that Amazon prime shopping!

#20 Why One Day Shipping Is A Curse

Hello Nandoo-ers! Happy Monday! We are going to do something different this week – we will be covering six interesting/ unique items across the next six days of one country. Given a lot of us have either lived/ are from US, we thought why not start with good ol’ Amrika! 

The Story:
Amber Alerts Explained 

There is a system in the US, wherein if a child in your location goes missing/ is kidnapped, your phone will start beeping super loudly and you will see a message across your screen which explains the description of the child and/or the abductor. This system is called Amber Alert. 

The Origins
The Amber Alert program is an urgent bulletin system established in the United States — and since adopted in Canada. The first Amber Alert system was established in 1996 in Texas after a nine-year-old girl, Amber Hagerman, went missing. She was riding her bicycle near home when she was kidnapped and murdered. The killing remains unsolved. 

The Benefit
Speed is a factor in child safety - In cases of abductions, children are three times as likely to be murdered, often within the first six hours. Amber alerts have been credited with exceptionally fast rescue of abducted children, with most kids being returned within the first 3 hours. HOW? Well if your phon is beeping super loudly, you are more than likely to take a look at it and when you read the description of the kidnapper, you are more than likely to report it. 

The Doubts
A few critics suggest that too many Amber alerts could water down their impact and create apathy within the public. WHY? Because Fewer alerts and strict enforcement of guidelines mean that the public respond better because they understand alerts are issued only after serious consideration

State in India:
A child goes missing in India every 8 minutes. 1 lakh children go missing each year and over 45% of these kids are never found. While India does not have a formal, government run system like Amber alert, there are quite a few grassroot NGOs that are assisting with this issue - CHILDLINE 1098, Track the Missing Child & KhoyaPaya are to name a few 

However, to tackle this issue, we need a formal system that works with leading tech firms in India to create a cohesive and strategized response system. There is currently a petition being organized to get signatures and then push the Ministry of Women & Child Development to implement the Amber Alert program. If you are interested and think this would be a worthy cause, please do make sure to sign the petition at this link. 

Tomorrow’s Gyaan: 
Why US underwent a massive Oil production boom. HINT: it’s all because of farmers

#21 Amber Alerts Explained

Aaj ka Gyaan: Why US underwent a massive Oil production boom 

Lil’ Back story:
So there is something called as Mineral Rights Private Ownership – what that basically means is if you end up finding oil, diamonds, gold (i.e. any raw materials of important value) under the land on which your house is build, it should belong to you – the private owner of the land. EXCEPT in India – those minerals belong to the state – i.e. the state government where you are living. Doesn’t matter if you are the land owner. WHY? Because when the British left us, they gave the ownership of the land to all the princely states which then turned out to be the states that we live in. 

Hmm Nandoo, interesting but why are you telling me this?
Yes, yes we are getting to the point – so you know how we are covering 6 interesting topics across 6 days on 1 country – US for this time? 

Well, the US is the only country in the world which allows for Mineral Rights Private Ownership – which means if you find oil under your land, it is yours! You can sell it however you want to! 

Why is this relevant to this story? 
Well because US is now the #1 Oil producer in the world – beating both Russia and Saudi Arabia. WHY? Because of Private Ownership of Mineral Rights – you see, to become oil independent and not rely on any outside countries for their oil supplies, the US passed a regulation that allowed regular folks to scan and mine for oil if they find it under their land OR sell it to private oil companies and receive royalty for all the oil that gets pulled & sold.  Either way, if you live under a land that has oil, you are making $$$$. It’s a win-win for both the land owner as well as US that has now raced to the top of the leader board with it’s oil production! 

Coming back to India, what is the situation again? 
Tricky to say the least. If it’s an offshore oil, mineral deposit (i.e. in the oceans and seas) then it belongs to the Central Govt. If it’s an onshore oil, mineral deposit (i.e. under your land) then it belongs to the State Govt. UNLESS, you get the license to get the deposits out, you can get them cleaned and distilled from the earth’s sediments and you have paid for the minerals to the State Govt – ALL of which either cost a gazillion dollars OR are so bureaucratic that it will never happen for you!  

Bottomline:
Mineral rights is a very interesting topic especially when it involves finding, selling & making money from oil. While our mineral rights ownership are not citizen friendly, it might help that we do not have that much oil set up under our land in the first place – so I guess that’s a good thing? 

Tomorrow’s Gyaan:
What Lobbying is & How it became a $3B industry in the US

#22 Why US Underwent A Massive Oil Boom

Aaj Ka Gyaan: How lobbying became a $3B empire in the US 

This is in continuation of our 6 interesting topics across 6 days for one country (US for this week). This is article #3. For articles 1 & 2 check out our Archives section

Overview: 
There is this thing called as lobbying in which powerful entities (like corporations) hire middle men to influence a vote or a policy in the government by asking these middle men to pay in gifts and favors to the politicians in charge of making these decisions. And before you ask – YES, IT IS LEGAL IN THE US! 

Wait what – how is bribing legal in the US?! 
Here’s how – the US constitution (essentially their supreme law) mandates that every citizen has the right to free speech and the right to make a complaint, or seek the assistance of, one's government, without fear of punishment. 

And this is where lobbying comes into play – because corporations in the US are termed as “citizens”, they can essentially hire middle men or legal experts also called as lobbyists and ask them to “seek assistance” of the government (i.e. politicians) to help them with whatever it is they need help with. 

Here’s an example - let’s say, I am a big oil corporation and you are Politician Shambu. I want you to pass a bill that will allow me unlimited oil mining across the country. And so to “seek assistance” I ask my lobbyist to take you out to the fanciest pav bhaji restaurant in all of US (yes, they have those!) to talk to you about this. The $2,500 s/he spends on your pav bhaji, drinks, desert, etc. is all legal and in return, thanks to the hospitality (cough $2,500 we just spent on you), you would pass this bill and help me get unlimited mining across the country! (Okay, usually the money spent in Lobbying is much higher – think anywhere from $250,000 to $2.5 million!)  

Here’s another example – let’s say, I am still a big oil corporation and I know there is a law being passed that will essentially ban all forms of oil mining. I can then “make a complaint” by having my lobbyist reach out to you and telling you how this will impact me and my business and if I am impacted, I will not vote for you but for your opponent Politician Shikari. And all of my “support” (always in the form of money) will then be contributed to Shikari’s campaign and not to yours. (Yes, we are Tinkle fans!) What would you do – well you would make sure to not have that law passed because of the amount of money I contribute to your campaign 

All this money that is being spent is done by corporations and all this entertainment and getting politicians to vote a certain way is carried out by the middle men i.e. the lobbyists and this is what lobbying is. Corporations usually don’t get involved much other than financing it because they have other things to do i.e. run their businesses 

What’s the status of lobbying in India?
“Lobbying” is illegal but “bribing” – well we all know the status on that! 

Bottomline: 
Not sure how you feel about this, but it is interesting to see how bribing has been legalized in the US and essentially made into a $3B industry. Guess it is better to be legal so that all the bribes can be accounted for? 

Tomorrow’s Gyaan:
Connection between Akshay Kumar & US Court System explained

#23 Why Lobbying Became A $3B Empire In The US

Background:
A jury trial, or trial by jury, is a lawful proceeding in which a jury makes a decision on the verdict of the case. It is distinguished from a bench trial in which a judge or panel of judges makes all decisions.

Jury system is what is used in the US and bench trial is used in India. Reason US still relies on juries is because when the US received it’s independence from the UK (yup, we ALL have been ruled by the Brits!) they decided that it should be the common men & women who have been affected by the trials & tribulations of the Britishers that should decide the fate of these Britishers vs. learned folks who would otherwise sympathize with them. And so, to bring true justice, jury trial was instituted in the United States.
 
Interesting Nandoo but how is this connected to Aki?! 
Jury System existed in India during Nehruvian times. However, the Nanavati case (yup same as Rustom movie with Akshay & Ileana) let to its abolition. And literally that little bit is the Akshay Kumar connection!
 
If you don’t know about the movie Rustom, here are the case details:  Nanavati had killed a person named Ahuja who was having an affair with Nanavati’s wife Sylvia. The Jury had accepted that Nanavati had killed Ahuja out of rage. However, Nanavati was a Navy officer and the jury had tremendous respect for military officers. The respect doubled when they saw that a young man from a wealthy family had left his comfortable life to accept harsh life of Military. And Ahuja had been proven adulterer (which still does not justify his death)
 
Now the Jurors were in dilemma – to call Nanavati guilty would mean his death while to call him innocent would mean his life. The crime of Nanavati was not motivated for economic gains nor Nanavati was a career criminal. And he was a respectable Navy officer. And so the jury decided to let him go free. And this is why the jury system was abolished- the Nanavati case was an extremely publicized case in the Indian newspapers back then (think Vijay Mallya times Nirav Modi times Anil Ambani coverage multiplied by a billion!) And the Supreme court came to the conclusion that juries can be manipulated by emotions & media and so it should be an expert (like a judge) who should be managing & sentencing verdicts in cases. And this is how we came about with the current justice system where a judge (and not jury of peers) decide our fate.

Hmm Nandoo if the jury can be manipulated why does the US still use it? 
Humans are emotional and can be swayed in any direction based on emotional manipulation. And so, leaving the decision of someone's fate on one person vs. a number of people seems less appealing to the US court system. WHY? because the chances of manipulating a bunch of people is lower than that of manipulating one person. 

That being said, there are still case studies on how juries react in herd mentalities & can be easily manipulated as a group. Regardless, for now, the US is sticking with it's jury trial while we are sticking with our bench trial as we assume that the education of the judge will prevent them from becoming emotional and continue remaining impartial. Does education really help with that? Not sure but thats the "formal" answer for now. 
 
Tomorrow’s Gyaan:
Why Uber’s biggest threat is NYC’s taxi drivers

#24 Connection Between Akshay Kumar & US Courts Explained

The Story
Hundreds of thousands of people in Hong Kong protested a potential new law yesterday. Organizers say more than 1 million people turned out to protest a bill that would let suspects of certain crimes be extradited to mainland China.

Hmm, but why China?
Because Hong Kong is a semi-autonomous Chinese territory (i.e. China kinda-sorta rules it). Even though Hong Kong has its own legal and political systems, many have been wary of China's influence over the region through the years – especially since President Xi Jinping has taken office. WHY? Well because he's taken a harder stance against dissent in Hong Kong – which has typically been a safe haven from China's communist rule. If you didn't know side note (and also our topic for tomorrow, how China ended up gaining control over Hong Kong from the British because of a math issue!) 

Hm. So what are protesters saying about the bill?
They're worried it would give China more control over the region. And because the Chinese legal system is seen as secretive, some think that suspects could be tortured or face other human rights abuses. Businesses are also concerned that the bill could harm Hong Kong's reputation as an international financial center, since its legal system would be more closely tied to China's.

What's the world saying about it?
Countries like the US, India, the UK, and Canada have said they're concerned about the proposal. And US lawmakers said this could "negatively impact"its relationship with Hong Kong. Meanwhile, Hong Kong says that only serious crimes would fall under this law, and it wouldn't apply to political crimes. That it would monitor cases of potential abuse for those that are extradited. And that it wouldn't let the city's reputation take a hit.

So how likely is it that this will actually take effect?
It seems that the government has enough votes to pass it – and it could vote on it sometime this month. Soooooo it is likely that more such protests will be coming about in HK more frequently

Tomorrow's Gyaan:
How the Brits had to hand over HK to China due to a math issue

#26 Why People In HK Are Protesting

Aaj Ka Gyaan: How UK had to hand over HK to China over math issue

The Story: 
Britain first took over Hong Kong island in 1842, after defeating China in the First Opium War. 
In 1898, to enforce its control of the area, the UK leased additional land, known as the New Territories, promising to return them to China in 99 years. Why 99 years you may ask – well the person drafting the treaty thought that 99 years was a LOT of time and given how things were going back then, with wars and all, thought that the world would be over by then! He thought he was being sly but unfortunately it’s just a math miscalculation 

Anyway, Hong Kong developed rapidly under UK rule, becoming one of the world's major financial and business centers. Then in 1982 (99 years later) London and Beijing began the difficult process of negotiating the territory's return to Chinese rule.

Hong Kong had developed a vastly different political and economic system from mainland China, which since 1949 had been under authoritarian one-party Communist rule and so Hong Kong became a Special Administrative Region. This means it has:
•	its own legal system
•	multiple political parties
•	rights including freedom of assembly and free speech

How is Hong Kong ruled now?
You know how in India we have a PM and President, well the leader in HK is called a Chief Executive who is elected by a 1,200-member election committee. A majority of the members of this committee are viewed as pro-Beijing.

And because of this, Political activists argue that the election process gives Beijing the ability to screen out any candidates it disapproves of. And so, this issue has led to a lot of protests – read yesterday’s Gyaan here to understand the latest protest. 

What will happen after 2047?
Well, that’s 3 years before Love Story 2050 (get it - the PC x Harman Baweja “blockbuster”) but for HK that's the date after which mainland China is no longer obliged to grant the autonomy agreed on with Britain before the handover.

And so, Hong Kong's future beyond 2047 remains unclear. While there are some who call for full independence, China has ruled out that option making it very obvious that once 2047 comes, HK will most likely be a normal province of China which will DEF lead to a TON of protests! 

Tomorrow’s Gyaan:
Why China erased the Tiananmen square massacre from all of it’s books

#27 Why UK Had To Handover HK To China Over A Math Issue

The Story:
Few issues have proven more divisive of late in Chinese technology circles than the pervasive culture of extreme overtime, known for years by the punchy moniker “996.” The three digits describe a punishing schedule of 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week. That’s 72 hours a week, often with no extra pay
 
Why is it a hot-button topic now?
Because China’s richest man -- Jack Ma, co-founder of the e-commerce giant Alibaba Group -- backed the regime as the gold standard. “To be able to work 996 is a huge bliss,” he wrote in an online post in April, arguing that great achievement came only with great sacrifice
 
What’s the big deal?
The phenomenon isn’t unique to China, of course. In Silicon Valley the likes of Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Facebook Inc. offered free food in part to encourage employees to work longer hours, especially around product-launch deadlines. A few publicized cases of Chinese tech workers dying suddenly in recent years has added to the public furor, even if direct connections to overwork weren’t established. But aside from any health effects, tech companies that encourage — or mandate — a 996 culture without proper compensation are violating China’s labor laws, which generally cap the workweek at an average of 44 hours. In addition, a corporate culture built on the precept “Enthusiasm -- or Else” can make it a lot tougher to tell who’s faking. Crazy hours often encourage procrastination, as employees stretch or put off their work to last longer, to give the appearance of dedication.
 
Is this the beginning of the end?
DEF not. Advocates of 996 point to the Chinese tech sector’s phenomenal growth of the past decade, a rising tide that benefits employees as well. Digital serfs may see working at these successful firms as a privilege, and putting in extra hours for nothing as evidence of loyalty and devotion. Many hope to follow in the footsteps of internet billionaires such as Alibaba’s Ma and Pony Ma, co-founder of gaming and social media giant Tencent Holdings Co.
In fact, “997” -- seven days a week -- has come to be expected in some quarters. Some Chinese even joke about a new work ethic “007,” or midnight (00:00) to midnight, seven days a week.
 
Nandoo, my boss makes me do this sheeeeeettt
Well yeah at least now you know where your boss gets the inspiration from! If you or a friend of yours are doing the “996” there are 3 things that you could do:
Buy adult diapers – you will need it!
Get a sleeping bag – space under your desk is now your bed
Do the Nandoo for 10 mins (you like how we did this super subtle plug about us?!)
 
Tomorrow’s Gyaan:
Last China Coverage: China’s Belt & Road initiative (better known as plan to conquer the world) explained!

#29: China's 996 Regime Explained

Before we go into this story, we must say that we had the MOST amazing time researching and writing it. There are only a few stories that make you wonder “WOW, politics is shady!” Okay so here goes

Background:
Afghanistan was invaded by Soviet Union (now called as Russia) in 1979. This war lasted for 10 years and during this time, the Afghanis split – a group called as Pashtuns went to Pakistan to get shelter while the Tajiks went to Uzbekistan. In Pakistan, the Pashtuns learned cricket in their refugee camps (because Cricket is a big deal for them even though they are bad at it – sorry had to do that!) while the Tajiks learned football in their refugee camps as that is what the Uzbeks played.

After the war, both groups came back to Afghanistan and because there were more Pashtuns than Tajiks, they took over the Afghani govt. and started making cricket as part of the national sport.

Cut to today – Afghanistan – a country that has mostly been war torn is slowly becoming less and less scary and sees a path to better civilization and life in the near future. Oh and it also happens to have large reserves of natural resources that have been untouched by anyone. Natural resources that can help any country and the companies of those countries excel by 100x and meet the energy demands of its people.
You must be like “Arree but what does any of this have to do with the title!” 
Yes yes, we are getting there – okay so here goes:
 
1.Why are Asian countries extra supportive of Afghani cricket? 
To decrease the West’s influence on Afghanistan & its resources.
•	But Kyun? Because for far too long they have been in the shadows of the western countries and finally have a chance to get first cut at economy-boosting natural resources that the West would have probably robbed.
•	And How?  When you think of even us – doesn’t matter Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Tamilian, Punjabi or Telugu – when a match is on we put all religious differences aside and cheer for the team as one nation. Asian countries (e.g. India, Australia) want to create the same kind of emotions within the Afghanis. This way, they start identifying with cricket as their country uniting sport (and not football) and thus, start associating themselves with Asian countries (and not West) as having more in common with them to ultimately allow same Asian countries to be trade partners (e.g. give contracts for mining, etc.) vs. the Western ones.
 
2.Why is India extra extra supportive of Afghani cricket? 
To counter Pakistan – dushman ka dushman is FRANDDDD
•	But Kyun? You see, even though Pakistan allowed Afghanis to get shelter, Afghanistan & Pakistan are actually not friends. Because after the Soviet War, Pakistan tried and succeeded in engulfing major parts of Afghanistan’s territory!
•	And How? Because Afghanistan shares a border with Pakistan, India is super duper keen (and already has to some extent) placed our military forces in Afghanistan to counter Pakistan at the drop of a hat. And so, to let us continue doing this, we have funded a TON of non-profit development projects in Afghanistan and because Cricket is of such dear importance to the Afghan central govt. that we have allowed Afghan cricketers to come to Noida and practice their skills as well. The best analogy for this is – you want to keep an eye on your dushman PAK-esh and the perfect way to do this is by installing cameras facing in Pakesh’s house. Now it just so happens that your other neighbor AF-eena has the best view into Pakesh’s house so you get Afeena some mithai and continuously support her hobbies in exchange for using her house to keep an eye on Pakesh – Got it?

Bottomline: Not sure about you but we were mind-blown by all this political chanakya-giri that goes on at such high levels! If you think this was interesting and equally mind blown, leave us a review on Playstore saying “Chanakya-giri 4 lyfeeee” we will get the message and can source more such articles for you!

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