Indian stock markets are no longer being managed by visionaries. They’re being micromanaged by bureaucrats who treat traders like tax-paying lab rats. This government keeps bragging about India becoming a global financial superpower while simultaneously strangling the very people who keep the markets alive. Retail participation exploded because ordinary Indians finally took risk, learned markets, provided liquidity, and believed they could build wealth outside traditional systems. And what did the government do? Tax them from every possible angle and regulate them into exhaustion. STT. GST. Capital gains tax. Constant derivatives crackdowns. Random rule changes every few months. Policies designed by people who probably think option Greeks are a college fraternity. The hypocrisy is insane. They celebrate record demat accounts on stage while quietly making active participation more expensive, more difficult, and less rewarding every single year. You cannot build a world class capital market with a third world policymaking mindset obsessed with extraction over growth. Every new announcement feels less like economic reform and more like a desperate cash grab from the only section of young Indians still willing to take financial risk in this economy. And the scary part? This slow destruction won’t show up immediately. Liquidity dries slowly. Innovation dies quietly. Risk appetite disappears gradually. One day the government will wake up wondering why participation collapsed after spending years treating traders and investors like enemies instead of economic contributors.

Brigadier VK Joshi, 70, served the Army for three decades, survived war and multiple counterinsurgency operations, but lost his life to a stray bullet in a pointless clash between a group of urban dehatis. A Delhi-registered Fortuner overtook a Scorpio N on Mussoorie Road in Dehradun, which hurt the ScorpioN occupants ego. The ScorpioN occupants gave chase. When the Fortuner didn’t yield, the ScorpioN group of urban dehatis pulled out a pistol and started firing. At that very moment, Brigadier Joshi was out on his morning walk. A bullet from that reckless exchange found him. His friends rushed him to the hospital, but he was declared dead on arrival. A life of service ended by someone else’s arrogance. As far as the urban dehatis are concerned, I'm sure they'll be out on bail in no time.

Parents who let their underage children drive 4-wheelers need to be put behind bars. This is the only way we can stop mindless accidents that are claiming lives on Indian roads every day. In this particular case, a 42-year-old businessman named , Srinivas Tandle was riding his cycle on Kaylan Ring Road near Mumbai on Tuesday (24th March). A 17-year-old underage boy rammed his car into the victim, leading to the latter's death. The accused fled the crime scene but was apprehended the next day. The boy did not buy this 4-wheeler. His parents bought it. They allowed him to go on a joy ride. And the result is deadly! There is a reason why minors do not have voting rights or are not allowed to drive vehicles. It is because they lack the decision-making skills needed for their age. But irresponsible parents regularly endanger the lives of others by handing bike/ car keys to their underage children. Such parents need exemplary punishment. #accident #rashdriving

the impact ai summit in delhi was a perfect demonstration of why india keeps losing in tech and i’m tired of pretending it wasn’t a disaster. let me paint the actual picture: > cash-only payments at a “digital india” upi ?? > pm visit → main hall cleared for hours, everyone else just stood around doing nothing > exhibitors locked out of their own stalls > 3-hour queue just to enter > a founder’s product got stolen during the summit > no wifi at an ai event. > can’t take your keys if you came via car/bike > no laptop/camera at tech event > people were asked to sit on the ground > speaker lineup with consultants/bureaucrats who’ve never shipped a real product > the registration system crashed multiple times. people who registered weeks in advance couldn’t get in. vips walked past massive queues while founders and builders stood outside in the heat. 🤡 and 27 countries witnessed all of this live networking areas? no space to stand. many demos didn’t work because there was no stable internet. 5g?? this is what happens when optics matter more than execution. when innovation becomes photo-op the sad part is india has insane talent. founders building world class products. engineers and researchers doing real work. leave India for a sec, im at network school and the youngest crowd is all Indians. but we keep shooting ourselves in the foot with performative nonsense. the west isn’t winning because they’re smarter. they’re winning because they care about details. because they respect builders. because their tech summits actually work. same story when @sama came to india last time. boomer uncles asked the dumbest questions. and when he said it’s hard for india to build foundational models, we took it on our ego. rn, every founder who attended left embarrassed. imagine international delegate left with stories about our “infrastructure.” many friends and young builder lost a little more faith. this wasn’t just bad planning. it was a signal of what we value. and clearly, it’s security theater and photo-ops over builders. we can do better. we have the talent. we have the market. we have the potential. what we don’t have is execution and respect for the people building the future. maybe one day we will do better. till then if you’re a founder, ignore the noise. keep building.

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I have been on a rant for the last two days, mostly because I feel helpless. @vivbajaj articulated it well. This move almost voids 10 years of my efforts in understanding the most seeked profession in the world. The hidden changes in trading structures and costs i foresee makes the risks completely not worth providing liquidity for. The blatant excuse of saving retail by charging then more tax rather than making markets more friendly but harder to enter is so finger in face. The only winner is the coffins of the govt in the short term, In the long term everyone loses.

Got up this morning with a mix of hopelessness, rejection, uncertainty and sadness. And one question kept coming back to me. Do I really deserve this? The constant burden of paying massive taxes in so many forms. Abnormal and ever changing regulatory compliances. A permanent fear about what tomorrow may bring. Do we deserve this? Not able to breathe properly, thanks to rising pollution.Not able to walk properly, thanks to poor infrastructure.Not able to sleep peacefully, thanks to the constant anxiety of regulatory actions and uncertainty. Do we deserve this? Sometimes I feel the answer is uncomfortable. Maybe we do, because our future is often decided by a few individuals,who do not believe in listening,do not believe in inclusion in decision making. Progress cannot be built by fear. A nation cannot grow when its entrepreneurs and professionals live in constant worry. We don’t need favours. We only need fairness, stability and a voice at the table without getting punished for poor conduct of others. Increasing STT is not just a solo event. It is clear reflection of our society where anything can be done at the preface of morality. What is funny is that the highest contributor of losses of retail investors is taxes itself apart from the fees earned by institutions where government is also one of the share holders via public institutions like LIC etc. I guess I have to accept this because we have a healthy democracy up and running and have right to speak what we want to, only till we get some notice from some corner. Still love my country, I am hopeful.