India Last Week #11
A round-up of research & reportage on India across climate, energy, foreign policy, politics & more over the last week
Climate, Energy & Environment -
“Transition finance, both in concept and practice, is only a few years old, and is rapidly evolving. Hence, it is desirable to align with globally recognized good practices, investor expectations, and account for any Indian context-specific particularities, such as the 2070 pathway to net-zero emissions. It is also important to recognize that enormous capital will need to be mobilized to front-load investments in the current decade for an orderly transition. Specifically, India would require investments of over USD 10 trillion to achieve net-zero by 2070, at an average rate of about USD 200 billion per year (CEEW, 2021).” Read more: International Financial Services Centres Authority
“Although India launched the National Clean Air Program in 2019, its target of reducing air pollution by 25–30% from 2017 concentrations will fall short in protecting health and preventing possible deaths from exposure to poor air quality. Furthermore, several cities have or are currently formulating Graded Response Action Plans to tackle high exposure events. These action plans kick in at high concentrations of air pollution (often above 150 μg/m3), which, based on our results, would only yield marginal benefits with respect to daily mortality, and negative health effects could continue to accrue even at lower pollution concentrations.” Read more: Jerome de Bont et al, The Lancet
“The Ministry of Mines is in the initial stages of designing a Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme to boost the recycling of critical minerals in India, The Indian Express has learnt. This move aims to foster a circular economy and bolster domestic supply chains, following a lacklustre response to recent auctions of critical mineral blocks. The proposed PLI scheme aligns with policy recommendations from NITI Aayog, the government’s apex think tank, and complements the Battery Waste Management Rules (BWMR), 2022, which mandate phased recycling of used electric vehicle (EV) lithium-ion batteries from 2026 onwards.” Read more: Aggam Walia, Indian Express
“As deadly heat waves sweep the globe, a new initiative in India is experimenting with parametric heat insurance, in what experts hope will prove an innovative financing model to help climate-vulnerable communities mitigate losses from extreme heat. Run in partnership between the nonprofit Climate Resilience for All and the Self Employed Women’s Association, or SEWA, a women’s labor union in India, the heat insurance scheme was piloted this summer and aims to protect workers against heat-induced financial losses.” Read more: Catherine Davison, Devex
Economy -
“Why has private investment been so weak? The answer: Modinomics understands return, but is cavalier about risk. On the face of it, Modinomics is a strategy specifically designed to encourage investment, indeed to convince the whole world to “Make in India”. Yet, global investors have been reluctant to beat a path to India’s doorstep and even domestic firms have been investment-shy, especially in manufacturing.” Read more: Josh Felman and Arvind Subramanian, Indian Express
“In a first, the survey conducted in 2017–18 was junked by the government because of alleged “data quality issues”. Before that, the survey was conducted in 2011–12. Hence, no consumer expenditure data was available for over a decade to assess the impact of the economic slowdown, demonetisation, Covid-19 and lockdowns, and other policy changes…A meaningful comparison of poverty trends is not possible for several reasons, including changes in the sampling methodology… the HCES reaffirms that the administrative data on access to toilets and LPG use does not square with the survey data. The data also shows a large proportion of the population survives on very little. And if this is at odds with the poverty line, maybe it's time to revisit the poorly designed poverty line.” Read more: Ishan Anand, The India Forum
“Suzuki Motor Corp. launched a $40 million fund in India to invest in small rural businesses as the Japanese automaker aims to improve its presence in one of the world’s fastest-growing markets. Through the fund, called Next Bharat Venture, Suzuki will invest in startups related to agriculture and microfinance.” Read more: Supriya Singh, Bloomberg
“Reliance Retail Ventures is set to finally launch Chinese fast-fashion label Sheinin the coming few weeks, a year after it inked a strategic partnership with the latter, multiple executives aware of the developments said. The Mukesh Ambani-owned retailer will be selling Shein's products on its app as well as offline stores owned and operated by Reliance Retail, they said. The development comes four years after India banned Shein from selling products on its own app as part of a larger crackdown on Chinese apps in 2020 following escalated border conflicts between the two countries.” Read more: Ratna Bhushan, The Economic Times
Foreign Policy & Security -
“For Pakistan, trade with India could help stabilize a crisis-racked economy. Islamabad’s exports could increase by as much as 80 percent, based on World Bankresearch that I was involved in. This would be a boon for a country that suffers from repeated foreign exchange crises. Commodity-focused trade with India could help dampen elevated food and fuel prices, another recurring and fundamental concern. For example, Indian imports could have significantly eased the soaring prices of flour in the Pakistan side of Kashmir, which led to large-scale unrest there in May 2024.” Read more: Sanjay Kathuria, United States Institute of Peace
“India-China relations cannot be approached through a strictly bilateral prism that excludes Tibet and the Himalaya. Equally, however, Tibetology cannot be confined within the bounds of state interests and territorial conflicts on either side of the Tibetan plateau. And it cannot disregard the Tibetan community in exile.” Read more: Swati Chawla, Centre of Excellence for Himalayan Studies, Shiv Nadar University
“Since 2020, dealing with China has been the most debated topic of Indian foreign policy. That the old bilateral framework has irretrievably fractured because China violated a basic principle – non-use of force in resolving disputes – is not in doubt. The debate is about the way forward in building a new relationship based on the current realities.” Read more: Vijay Gokhale, Times of India
“Kumar is chairman of the venture capital firm Mounttech Growth Fund, which in its first round called Kavach, has already raised in excess of Rs 250 crore to invest in startups working in the field of defence, deeptech, aerospace, and space. "People think bureaucrats can't do anything except pushing files... I am eager to see how we perform in the cut-throat world of finance and startups," Kumar told TOI when asked about the venture.” Read more: Pankaj Doval, Times of India
“As Russian President Vladimir Putin accepted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s request for early discharge of Indians hired as security helpers and forced to fight alongside the Russian Army against Ukraine, it has emerged that Moscow is offering a compensation package and citizenship to the families of the deceased. Meanwhile, the families of those stuck in Russia are demanding a time-bound assurance on when they would be discharged as it has been more than six months that their relatives have been stuck in the war zone.” Read more: Vijaita Singh, The Hindu
People & Politics -
“India has transitioned from a limited government that protects all citizens' equal rights to an absolute government that points to electoral majorities as its justification for any and all state actions. The return of coalition government might nudge the pendulum in the opposite direction. But the truth is that India's regional parties, on which the BJP's governing majority now relies, have hardly been paragons of democratic virtue in their own states. This suggests there are limits to the degree to which they will recoil from a heavy-handed central dispensation, especially if they are given a free hand in their respective states.” Read more: Milan Vaishnav, Journal of Democracy
“It is a travesty in the Parliament when Opposition’s speeches are expunged but when Ramesh Bhiduri used the choicest of communal slurs against Danish Ali in the same Parliament, there was no action against him. Along the same lines, under the garb of Covid restrictions, reporters from newspapers and digital media are still not allowed in the Parliament by an Order of the Speaker. It is an unbridled, arbitrary power against which no review or appeal is available. As a result, we are left with no opinion but to bemoan this.” Read more: Rohin Bhatt, The Leaflet
"What enabled SP’s stellar performance is its construction of a narrative arc — what I call “subaltern justice”. This is done with a mix of social and economic justice calls. A large part of this subaltern comprises the victims of the informal economy — those who now have a presence both within the government and in the private sector. Holding together the economically and socially oppressed has been the key to this election for the SP. These included those who faced a job-cum-identity crisis and those who have been on the margins of the public resource distribution system and a neo-liberal economy. These were the people who related to SP’s messages and the INDIA bloc’s narrative — and circulated it further.” Read more: Arun Kumar, Indian Express
“K Armstrong, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Tamil Nadu president, was reported dead on Friday, July 5, in mysterious circumstances after being hacked by a six-member gang near his residence, police said. The police informed that the BSP Tamil Nadu chief was attacked by a two-wheeler-borne gang near his house in Perambur. The assailants fled after inflicting grievous injuries. He died on the way to the hospital, they said. Meanwhile, the Chennai Police formed ten special teams and launched a hunt to trace and arrest the suspects, as per the PTI report.” Read more: Fareha Naaz, Mint
“Ambedkar and Lohia can thus both be described as what Antonio Gramsci famously conceptualized as organic intellectuals – persons who, coming from lower classes and formed by their milieus, rise to higher levels of class and status but remain connected and loyal to the milieus in which they were formed… we trace the intellectual histories of Ambedkar and Lohia and their thinking on inequality and justice throughout three crucial historical moments in the history of modern India: the nationalist struggle for independence against British colonialism; the constituent assembly debates (1946–1949); and the post-independence period (the 1950s–1960s). These historical moments were transformative and radical, and both thinkers made new attempts to identify the sources that shaped India as a hierarchical and unequal society, hoping to significantly alter and transform the nature of that society.” Read more: Priyanka ha & Christian Olaf Christiansen, Intellectual History Review
Tech -
“In the short run, more Indian imports from China, particularly in the electronic components segment, are quite likely. The reasons are not hard to fathom. For instance, as India increasingly becomes a viable destination for companies pursuing a China+1 strategy, it may see more assembly operations to start off with. This may lead to a surge in intermediate imports from China in the form of electronic inputs and components. Indeed, a recent report posits that there has been a surge in “industrial imports” from China in recent years. Therefore, we should expect more calls in India in the months if not years ahead for increasing LCR [local content requirement].” Read more: Konark Bhandari, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy
“Koo, the Indian microblogging platform created to rival X/Twitter is shutting down. The social media network gained popularity in 2021 when the Indian government was in a scuffle with X/Twitter over the non-removal of some content, with several ministers and departments of the Union government flocking to Koo… Koo had managed to secure $60 million in funding from known investors like Tiger Global and Accel after it won the Atmanirbhar App Innovation Challenge, a part of the Indian government’s “Make in India” initiative. In April last year, the company fired around 30 per cent or around 300 of its total employees amid an increase in losses, declining active users and weak global sentiment.” Read more: Indian Express
“The merger of BSNL and BBNL, with their extensive finer networks totalling 1.3 million kilometres, is viewed as a key determinant for the success of Bharat Net. By uniting their resources, BSNL has gained control of BBNL’s 5.67 lakh kilometres of optical fibre. The infusion of INR 44,720 crore into BSNL, coupled with the streamlining of decision-making processes, is expected to improve management and rejuvenate the state-owned telecom giant.” Read more: R. K. Mitra & Siddharth Subudhi, News 24
“South Korea-based HyVision will invest Rs. 40 crore in Devanahalli near Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru to establish a new camera inspection machine plant. HyVision supplies camera module inspection equipment to Foxconn. A Karnataka delegation, headed by State Minister for Large and Medium Industries MB Patil signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with HyVision in Seoul on the concluding day of their visit to Korea.” Read more: MoneyControl
Bonus -
“Dosanjh breaks new ground in cinema and music on the regular, and at a breakneck pace — he’s collaborated with Sia, Saweetie, and more. Almost a year after his Coachella debut, he sold out Vancouver’s BC Place this April — with a 54,000-strong crowd. Dosanjh’s ongoing Dil-Luminati tour is packing venues all across the US… While the US is a new frontier that Dosanjh has set his sights on, fans in India need not worry. At every new venue, “Punjabi aa gaye” (“Punjabis have arrived”) is Dosanjh’s rallying cry. Dosanjh now serves as an ambassador of Punjabi, and Indian, culture.” Read more: Sucharita Tyagi, Vox