Excellent article, and the article is quite right that an India-Russia partnership can yield great benefits to both sides. However, Russia needs to market itself much more to Indian students and workers. This includes both making the application / visa / travel process smoother, and getting Indians to consider Russia as an attractive work destination. This could also balance the current trade imbalance - Russia could pay Indian workers in rubles, and India can then use those rubles to buy oil directly, without worrying about US sanctions.

India - local language, English and Hindi

(Language is a controversial issue in India, and the present situation is more a political compromise than what’s most useful, with many rules and exceptions, and some states / schools simply ignoring the whole compromise altogether.)

In the short-term, you are right. In the long-term, this is pretty much the end for fossil fuels. Not only is solar cheaper, it’s also more reliable now.

Yes, I pointed this out only because people often think that Facebook and Twitter are the biggest social media everywhere in the world.

That’s normal, Mr Putin seems to be living rent-free in the heads of quite a lot of Americans and Europeans.

While I agree with the overall statement, WhatsApp, Youtube and Instagram have more users, and a bigger impact on politics in India, than Facebook.

But can the Gulf countries actually say no to the US? They don’t have Iran’s drone fleet or tunnel network, and are much more dependent financially on the dollar. I get the feeling that they’re caught between a rock and a hard place here. And at least some of those ‘accidents’ and ‘friendly fire’ could be them doing what they can get away with.

The system in my country is that the QR code is meant to be public, and contains either your mobile number, or if you want to hide that, a UPI ID (which you can set and can be a random alphanumeric string). But having access to a person’s QR only lets you send money to them. The payment verification happens between the sender and the central database, on behalf of the sender’s bank, and can be done using a PIN / OTP.

For example, I go to a shop and buy sweets. The shopkeeper would have their QR code displayed prominently throughout the shop. I scan it to get their phone number / UPI ID, and then tell the app to send them so many rupees. The central database asks me to verify the payment. Once I verify, both I and the shopkeeper get an SMS saying x rupees was debited / credited. The app can also store transaction history in case there is any confusion later.

If I’m sending money to a friend, I already know their mobile number, so I can bypass the whole QR business and tell the app to just send money to their number.

See my reply to [email protected].

Thank you, but I’m from India and we’re mostly QR now. Cards exist and a few people use them, but most shops are phasing them out since they have to pay a transaction fee (QR payments are free). SEA and parts of West Asia also use QR, but the systems aren’t interconnected.

But isn’t there an annual service fee?

The way it is implemented in my country, the QR itself is just a standard QR code that tells your phone the recipient’s phone number / upi address. So you could, say, replace a shop’s QR code with yours and get any money customers send them, although it would be pretty easy for the police to find you.

Oh yes I know cards use NFC. My question was about phones.

Yes, you need a phone network, but not internet. Also there is a small charge.

As I said above, the people being forced to sell their dignity are the victims, and need help and rehabilitation. My hatred and disgust are reserved exclusively for those who exploit them, and the economic and social system which enables such behaviour.

Interesting. But why would people get a card if you already have the QR system? Isn’t it more expensive?

That makes sense. I’m in India, and I think most of Asia (except Japan) uses QR.

It can work without internet only for amounts below 2000 rupees, and only if you’ve enabled that option.

The backend is a government system called NPCI. The frontend can be any app that follows the standards laid down by NPCI. This includes Google Pay, Walmart’s Phonepay, SoftBank’s PayTM and NPCI’s own BHIM. Many banks also have their own apps, but most of these are BHIM reskins.

Isn’t the Senate your upper (smaller, less powerful) house? The Opposition Leader is the leader of the biggest opposition party in the lower (larger, more powerful) house.