About: the world this week, 26 November to 2 December 2023; back to war; trouble in Ireland; artificial intelligence; rat-hole mining; Hindutva; and The Railway Men – TV series.

Everywhere

Farewell to Truce

The temporary pause in the Israel-Hamas war saw a steady stream of hostages, held by the terrorist Hamas, being releasing in painfully slow bursts, every day. In exchange, Israel also released Palestine prisoners held in its prisons. There cannot be a comparison between innocent civilians kidnapped, held in captivity and exchanged for convicted criminals locked-up in jails under the law. But then the terms are negotiated.

One of the released hostages revealed that he was held for nearly 50 days in an attic by a teacher from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestine Refugees. The teacher who held him captive was a father of 10 children. He had barely been provided food or medical attention, and was locked away by the teacher. There is another story of a girl who was injured while being kidnapped on 7th October and was operated upon by a Veterinary Doctor, while in captivity. Then there is the story of two boys being branded on the leg by the heat of a motorcycle exhaust pipe so that they could be identified in case they escaped.

The hostages held in captivity has come down from 240 to about 140. And most of the women, children, and elderly have been released.

Meanwhile, Businessman, founder of Tesla and SpaceX, and owner of X, Elon Musk toured Israel with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to see a Hamas attack site, first-hand. The visit was also probably to set-right antisemitism accusations on Musk.

Musk agreed with Netanyahu that the only way for peace was to destroy Hamas, re-educate the people of Gaza, and bring prosperity. An awfully tough call.

In a horrific incident of terror in Jerusalem this Thursday, two heavily armed Palestinian terrorists opened fire on Israeli civilians waiting at a Bus Stop, killing three people – a 24 year old woman and two elderly persons – and wounding several others. However, the terrorists were quickly neutralised, shot-dead, by off-duty Israel Army personnel in the vicinity. Later, Hamas claimed responsibility.

The temporary pause in the war between Israel and Hamas, which was originally for 4 days was extended by 2 days and then by 1 more to its seventh day. And before anybody could think about further extension, Hamas violated the terms of truce and fired a rocket into Israel. Now it’s back to war and Israel has started its next stage of the fight with the objectives of getting back the remaining hostages, wiping out Hamas, and preventing a recurrence of such terror acts from the Gaza Strip.

Dublin

There is trouble brewing in Ireland’s capital, Dublin.

Three young children and two other people were injured in a knife attack in Dublin, last Thursday, which sparked unprecedented riots in the city centre. The stabbing incident happened outside a primary school, on Parnell Square, a busy thoroughfare that connects to Dublin’s main boulevard, O’Connell Street. A five-year-old girl and a female creche worker in her 30’s were critically injured. A five-year-old boy and a six-year-old girl were treated for less severe injuries.

Bystanders disarmed the suspect, who wielded a large knife, and pinned him to the ground until police arrived. He is being treated in hospital. Police said the motive remained unclear but ruled out any terrorist link.

As speculation about the suspect’s nationality spread online, anti-immigrant activists flocked to the city centre.

The suspect is originally from Algeria and has been an Irish citizen for many years. And the man who intervened and stopped the attack was a foreigner, from Brazil. Despite this, the anti-immigration rhetoric became high and grew violent. Bolstered by youth gangs, they breached the police cordon around the crime scene and roamed O’Connell Street, smashing windows, setting vehicles on fire and targeting some of the 400 police officers who tried to restore order.

“These are scenes that we have not seen in decades. But what is clear is that people have been radicalised through social media”, said an Official, who further described the rioters as, ‘a complete lunatic hooligan faction driven by far-right ideology.’

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The company called OpenAI was founded in the year 2015 by American Sam Altman, Elon Musk, and others, as a non-profit research lab, prioritising principles over profit. It wanted to develop safe and beneficial AI tools, for the benefit of humanity as a whole, unconstrained by a need to create financial return.

But in 2018, Elon Musk quit the Board of OpenAI after he said he had already invested USD 50 million. Then AI’s leaders realised that developing and maintaining advanced AI models required an immense amount of computing power, which was incredibly expensive.

A year after Musk’s exit, OpenAI created a ‘for-profit arm’, technically known as a ‘capped profit’ entity, which means Investors’ possible profits are capped at a certain amount. Any the remaining money is re-invested in the Company.

The Company created two contrasting tribes within OpenAI: ‘the serve-humanity and not-shareholders credo’, and the traditional Silicon Valley modus operandi of ‘using investor money to release consumer products as rapidly as possible hoping to corner or create a new market and becoming an industry pace setter’.

Sam Altman struck a middle ground by unveiling new OpenAI tools gradually, first to smaller groups, then to large ones, to fine-tune and refine before making them public.

Then, OpenAI launched ChatGPT last year, creating a seismic shift in the tech industry. The Company’s most prominent investor Microsoft greatly increased its financial stake to the tune of USD 13 billion. And despite its sizeable investment it did not have a seat on OpenAI’s Board.

This probably set the stage for Sam Altman’s exit as CEO as he was seen as becoming bigger than the Company. On 17th November the Board sacked him on vague reasons. This saw Microsoft and others flare up as they believed that Sam Altman was crucial and called upon the Board to re-examine its decision.

At first the Board refused to buckle, but then 702 of the 770 employees of OpenAI signed a letter addressed to the Board threatening to quit en masse unless Altman were reinstated -a move that must be followed by the Board itself stepping down.

After 5 days Sam Altman was restored as CEO and was back in control, with most of the Board sent packing.

Turns out some Open AI researches had been concerned by the capability of a new AI model being worked on, before Altman was fired. Called ‘Q-Star’ which was able to solve maths problems it had not seen before, representing a potential break through in technology. This and other reasons of the famous ‘Facebook’ kind could be the reasons for the company Board trying to grow out of its skin and get ‘really intelligent’.

Extraction: the Rat-Hole Technique

With the best of technology machines brought from all over the world to rescue the 41 workers trapped in the Silkyara Tunnel on the Yamunotri-Gangotri Highway of the Char Dham, in Uttarakhand since 12th November having failed, it was finally left to simple ‘rat-hole miners’ to finish the job. Of course they rode on the shoulders of machines and technology that drilled before them.

A team of 12 rat-hole mining experts began manual drilling, on 27th November, to reach the trapped miners through the debris. And they did it the next day by horizontally drilling through the final 10 to 12 metre stretch of debris in the collapsed section of the tunnel. It was a stunning display of local ingenuity. This became necessary as the large Auger Drilling machine got stuck at about 40% of the necessary 86 metres of vertical drilling required to get to the trapped workers.

The rescue team then successfully pushed a series of 900 mm steel pipes through the 60 metres of debris and extracted the workers one-by-one. All the 41 workers were rescued on the night of 28th November, promptly given necessary medical attention, and driven off in waiting Ambulances.

We had these tricks up our sleeves, in India, all the time and wonder why we never used them the first instance. Interestingly, Rat-Hole Mining was outlawed by India’s National Green Tribunal in 2014 for being unscientific and unsafe.

What is Rat-Hole Mining?

Rat-Hole mining-as applied in coal mining-is a method of extracting coal by digging very small pits not more than 4-feet wide. Once the miners reach a coal seam, tunnels are made sideways to extract the coal, which is dumped nearby and later transported out. In rat-hole mining workers enter the mines and use hand held tools to dig. This is a common method abundantly used in India’s north eastern State of Meghalaya, where the coal seam is very thin and any other method risks being economically unviable. One man does the drilling while another collects the rubble and a third places it on a trolley to be pulled out. They use shovels and other specialist tools. And for oxygen, they simply use a blower.

Australian tunnel rescue expert Arnold Dix, who had rushed to the scene in the early stages, won praise for his optimistic, level-headed, and articulate approach to the rescue situation. And so did India’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) – headed by the Prime Minister. India’s former Chief of Army Staff, General V K Singh, now a Minister of State in the Government, was on the scene bringing out the best of his soldier training. And standing shoulder to shoulder was the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand State, Pushkar Singh Dhami.

Arnold Dix, a lawyer and engineering professor is also the President of the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association. He said he did not hesitate when authorities got on the phone with him after the collapse 17 days ago.

Overall, the Uttarakhand Tunnel Rescue has been an outstandingly well-coordinated rescue operation. Clarity of leadership ensured many agencies with overlapping capabilities worked seamlessly to rescue the trapped workers. Well done Team India.

Move over Hinduism, it’s now Hindutva

The World Hindu Congress (WHC) is a global platform for Hindus to connect, share ideas, inspire one another, and impact the common good. It is held once every four years. The inaugural WHC 2014 was held in New Delhi, followed by the second WHC 2018 in Chicago. The third WHC 2023 was held this year in Bangkok,Thailand between 24th and 26th November, with the theme ‘Jayasya Aayatnam Dharmah’, meaning, ‘Dharma, the abode of victory’.

The WHC 2023 adopted a resolution embracing ‘Hindutva’, or ‘Hindu Dharma’, over ‘Hinduism’, stressing that these terms should be used while referring to the faith in English. Consequently, it renounced the word ‘Hinduism’.

The word Hindutva is more accurate as it includes the spectrum of all that the word Hindu encompasses. In contrast, Hinduism misrepresents the global Hindu community and its inherent goodness; ‘ism’ is a suffix used with terms to define an oppressive and discriminatory attitude or belief. In the mid-nineteenth century, in the United States of America, the phrase, ‘the isms’, was used to collectively refer to radical social reform movements and various non-mainstream spiritual or religious movements in a derogatory manner. The term Hinduism should be understood in such a context.

In the term ‘Hindu Dharma’, the first word, ‘Hindu’ is an unbounded word. It signifies all that is ‘Sanatan’ or Eternal. And then there is Dharma, which means ‘That, which sustains’. Hindu Dharma, thus, signifies all that, which eternally upholds everything; an individual, a family, a community, a society, and even nature–both animate and inanimate.

The word Hindutva it is not a complicated word and it simply means Hindu-ness. And Hindutva has been wrongly portrayed as the antithesis of Hindu Dharma, because of hatred and biases against the Hindu community or for political agendas.

The term Hinduism was introduced in the popular lexicon by Sir Monier Monier-Williams, a British Scholar and Professor of Sanskrit at Oxford University, in his book ‘Hinduism’ published in 1877 by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. It is said that this intellectually dishonest terminology is the seed behind the vicious anti-Hindu narratives over the last 150 years. And it is for such reasons that the term Hindutva is now preferred over Hinduism. Others have used the alternative ‘Sanatan Dharma’, often abbreviated as ‘Sanatan’. Here, the term ‘Sanatan’ works as an adjective indicating Hindu Dharma’s eternal nature.

On behalf of the global Hindu community the World Hindu Congress declared that malicious criticism of Hindutva, or Sanatan Dharma, or Sanatan, or Hindu Dharma actually targets Hindu society and all that is beautiful, just, good, and noble in it. In reality, these are attacks against goodness itself. It strongly condemned such attacks and urged Hindus worldwide for the manifestation of Hindutva through organised global efforts, and overcome those who are engaging in such anti-Hindu attacks and bigotry.

News Flashes

In India’s troubled State of Manipur, the United National Liberation Front (UNLF) the oldest valley-based militant group of Manipur, has signed a peace agreement with the Centre. And there are signs that the State will return to normally following months of violent unrest.

This week, Charles Munger, American businessman, investment genius, philanthropist and Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway passed away at the age of 99. He is a close friend and right-hand business-partner of ace-investor Warren Buffet. He has timeless investing advice and wisdom to offer, and is considered a legend.

After 99 it is 100, and Henry Kissinger the former United States Secretary of State and Nobel Peace Prize winner died at the age of 100. His was a polarising legacy.

Please Yourself

The Railway Men: The Untold Story of Bhopal 1984

Over last weekend, I sat down to watch the eminently watchable and brilliantly made 4-Episode mini TV Series, The Railway Men, on Netflix. It is a compelling saga and an incredibly moving tale of ordinary heroism.

The story is inspired by true events that happened on 3 December 1984 when a deadly gas called Methyl Isocyanide (MIC) leaked from Union Carbide’s Chemical Plant in Bhopal in India’s central State of Madhya Pradesh. The gas killed more than 15,000 people, in one of the worst chemical disasters in the world.

The story unfolds in the background of the assassination of the then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on 31 October 1984, and the horrific Sikh riots that followed in which over 8,000 Sikhs were killed in a revenge act. Rajiv Gandhi had just taken over as Prime Minister and recall that he said, “when a mighty tree falls, it is only natural that the earth around it shakes a little”.

After the deadly gas leak, brave Railway Workers risked their lives to save others in the face of the epic chemical disaster that engulfed the city of Bhopal.

The story serves to tell us how people in Industry deliberately overlook safety, how the Government failed in its paramount duty of safeguarding precious human lives, and failing to act with speed and common sense. And it’s left to simple ordinary people who steadfastedly and heroically do their jobs in the face of unbelievable Himalayan odds, to save lives. And how Indian lives were treated as if they did not matter at all.

The Series stars, Kay Kay Menon- the Station Master at Bhopal; R Madhavan – the General Manager (GM) of the West Central Railway; Divyenndu – the dacoit; and Babil Khan as the trainee locomotive driver, among others. It is created & directed by Shiv Rawali, written by Aayush Gupta, and produced by Yash Raj Films (YRF) Entertainment.

The story is inspired by heroics of real-time Bhopal Station Master Ghulam Dastagir, Rajkumar Keswani – Journalist, and Gauri Sankar- GM of Northern Railway at that time.

More stories will be rat-hole mined in the weeks ahead. Breathe the fresh air with World Inthavaaram.