India Last Week #16
India Last Week #16
A round-up of research & reportage on India across climate, energy, foreign policy, politics & more over the last week
Climate, Energy & Environment -
“Sources said that Tata Steel, whose four Indian plants have a combined capacity to produce 21.6 million tonnes of steel a year, is keen on producing green steel, even though it does not export much to Europe, where the ‘carbon border adjustment mechanism’ (CBAM) is likely to kick in from January 1, 2026… Sources say that Tata Steel is likely to use the electricity from the BSRs [Bharat Small Reactors] in electrolysers to produce green hydrogen and use the hydrogen to replace coking coal in the production of steel. Of course, the Atomic Energy Act would need to be amended to let the private sector own and operate nuclear power plants in India. It is learnt that the government is planning suitable amendments to the act.” Read more: M. Ramesh, Hindu Businessline
“The government plans to launch a dedicated portal for land acquisition for coal mining, said two people aware of the development, citing the biggest pain point in India’s push for the fossil fuel. The coal ministry portal will digitize records in the land acquisition process, including approvals for acquisitions and disbursal of compensation to the displaced… During FY18-22, government-run Coal India Ltd and its subsidiaries acquired 82,122 hectares of land, according to data released by the coal ministry in April last year. The move comes amid a narrowing window for coal mining as the 2070 deadline for India to phase out fossil fuels nears.” Read more: Rituraj Baruah, Livemint
“Over the past five years, the ICC has observed that climate-relevant sectors including clean energy, agriculture, and urban and rural resilience tended to receive the highest total funding, while sectors including transportation, and ocean and water ecosystems received comparatively less. Cross-cutting sectors, including finance, education, research and advocacy, jobs and livelihoods, and related projects, also received less funding… A rising determination was noticed among domestic philanthropy, particularly foundations, that, in addition to funding traditional project-based models, they are keen to invest in global solutions, position India as an innovation hub for climate solutions in the Global South, and, eventually, pave the way for greater South x South collaboration with other emerging economies.” Read more: India Climate Collaborative
“One more cheetah, Pavan, has died, forest officials from Madhya Pradesh confirmed on Tuesday (August 27, 2024). This is the eighth cheetah, part of the 20 brought from South Africa and Namibia, to have died in India. While cheetahs have died from a variety of causes, the latest is an unusual instance of an animal dying from ‘drowning’... Currently most of the cheetahs are in special enclosures and are expected to be released into the wild from October, with the cessation of the monsoons. Pavan, who is among the cheetahs from Namibia, was the only one of the cheetahs who was released into the wild. All the animals are reportedly under surveillance via radio-collars and their movement tracked.” Read more: Jacob Koshy, The Hindu
“Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed that India created “eight crore new jobs in the last three to four years”. The Prime Minister was using data from the India-KLEMS database hosted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)… What lent an element of surprise to these claims was the rise in the number of workers over the two COVID-19 years and after. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), the employment-to-population ratio between 2019 and 2023 was stagnant, if not falling, in East Asia, South-East Asia and the Pacific… data from India-KLEMS, which was designed for very different purposes and uses questionable methods, are being used to drive a specific political narrative on employment generation. But the real culprit in this episode is the Government of India, which has refused to organise the new decadal Census till date.” Read more: P. C. Mohanan, The Hindu
“India’s job challenge is stark. A recent study by Natixis, a bank, estimated that the country needs to create 115mn jobs by 2030 to absorb its growing population. That means the economy producing 16.5mn jobs per year, a significant step up on the 12.4mn annual average for the last decade… India has the potential to become the world’s research hub. But getting there warrants continued efforts to support the private sector, including by streamlining red tape around planning and foreign investment. Closer connections between India’s technical colleges, employers and investors can help support better job-matching, continued skills development, and start-up growth. In the longer term, India needs to invest in better education and support women to enter the formal workforce to shift more of its population away from precarious work. That will support income growth, and in turn drive further job creation.” Read more: Financial Times
“To improve trade competitiveness and access global markets, India should pursue unilateral liberalization of imports, especially intermediate inputs, and negotiate well-designed trade agreements. Increasing participation in global value chains will require India to eliminate tariffs and streamline rules of origin. Though domestic politics and geopolitical factors, particularly tensions with China, have impeded progress on agreements like RCEP, leveraging trade to support development remains crucial for India going forward. Undertaking strategic trade liberalization can thus help India utilize global markets to fuel its economic growth.” Read more: Pravin Krishan, The 1991 Project
“The record of Indian aviation is abysmal: no airlines survive from the boom of the 1990s. Jet Airways and Kingfisher, two beloved full-service airlines, both collapsed. Go First, a low-cost carrier, is on the verge of liquidation. SpiceJet, another one, is having trouble paying its bills. IndiGo’s main competitor, Air India, the formerly state-owned carrier that was privatised in 2022, is in the midst of a costly turnaround. India’s aviation sector is highly regulated, its infrastructure dreadful and the average passenger as sensitive to price as a white tiger to sunlight…. How, then, has IndiGo thrived? Like its passengers, it prizes frugality. In “Sky High”, a new book about IndiGo’s rise, Tarun Shukla, an aviation journalist, recounts a story from 2004 when the founders were negotiating an initial order with an Airbus representative over lunch. At the end of the meal Mr Bhatia reached for his wallet. Mr Gangwal stayed his hand: “Not us, he will pay.”... To keep prices low, IndiGo started with an initial order of 100 planes, unheard-of for a startup airline and even more absurd in India, where the total fleet at the time numbered just 158 planes. Carefully structured contracts with engine-makers kept it from bleeding money when engine troubles grounded planes.” Read more: The Economist
Foreign Policy & Security -
“An inter-ministerial panel has cleared five-six investment proposals in the electronics manufacturing sector, which include some pure-play Chinese companies and others with connections to the neighbouring country, people familiar with the matter said. The development is significant as these are among the first such approvals in recent times given border tensions and the scrutiny that investments from China have been attracting in India… These clearances come amid increasing pressure from the electronics manufacturing industry to approve investments with Chinese links to help broaden and deepen supply chains in India… The government appears to now be slowly opening up for Chinese investment with proper safeguards in place, as it’s of the view that local value addition must increase for self-sufficiency in electronics manufacturing to become a reality.” Read more: Kiran Rathee, Economic Times
“An object fell from an IAF fighter aircraft in the Pokhran area of Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer district on Wednesday. The incident occurred in an isolated area and there was no damage to life or property, authorities said. “An inadvertent release of an air store from an Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter aircraft took place near Pokhran firing range area, due to technical malfunction, today,” the IAF posted on ‘X’. The IAF said it has ordered an inquiry into the incident. It, however, did not reveal the exact nature of the “air store”.” Read more: Indian Express
“India and Japan have just concluded their 2+2 ministerial dialogue. On the one hand, the talks demonstrated significant progress in the relationship over the past few years—a positive trend from Australia’s point of view. On the other, it is difficult to avoid the sense that most of the accomplishments were the low-hanging fruit in the relationship, and progress in further deepening ties would require significant political investment on both sides, which is not yet visible…. As well as security cooperation, India is clearly interested in technology transfers from Japan—an area that New Delhi has been keen to develop with other strategic partners, especially those with access to high-end technology such as its Quad partners, the United States, Japan and Australia. Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar emphasised this point in his statement, asking that Japan ‘look into the current regulatory bottlenecks’ that might be standing in the way of such technology sharing. India has stressed that, rather than simply buying Japanese defence platforms, it is more interested in joint research, design, development, testing and production.” Read more: Rajeswari Rajagopalan, The Strategist
“The smooth-flowing, gently curving highway winds its way along the bottom of the hills of Mizoram towards the international border with Myanmar, 200 km away… This and other highways--broken by swathes of crumbling hills where work is continuing or the fragile hillsides, causing regular delays and traffic pile ups while debris is cleared--represent perhaps India’s single biggest investment in Mizoram’s history, as per the National Highways Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL), a fully owned company of the Indian government’s Ministry of Road Transport & Highways. The effort is to create a smooth run to the international borders through which, India’s political leaders and planners hope, trade will flow and help the state--among India’s poorest and least developed--to finally grow, Mizoram chief minister Lalduhoma said.” Read more: Sanjoy Hazarika, IndiaSpend
“India and the US have signed a Security of Supply Arrangement (SOSA) and Memorandum of Agreement regarding the Assignment of Liaison Officers, the latest in a series of bilateral military agreements that have enhanced defence and security cooperation between the two countries over the past decade…. Under SOSA, the US and India will provide reciprocal priority support to each other for goods and services that promote national defence. It will “enable both countries to acquire the industrial resources they need from one another to resolve unanticipated supply chain disruptions to meet national security needs”, the US Department of Defense (DoD) said in a statement…. The Memorandum of Agreement regarding the Assignment of Liaison Officers is a progression on a decision taken earlier to increase information-sharing between India and the US, and to post Indian armed forces officers in key strategic US Commands. India will deploy the first Liaison Officer to the US Special Operations Command headquarters in Florida.” Read more: Amrita Nayak Dutta, Indian Express
People & Politics -
“On August 5, Guwahati experienced one of the worst urban floods in its living memory. A two-hour downpour left shops and homes inundated… In the face of mounting criticism, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma blamed a private university located in neighbouring state of Meghalaya for the flood. Indeed, he went a step ahead and accused the University of Science and Technology Meghalaya of “flood jihad”. The USTM’s campus, Sarma alleged, was built by cutting trees and destroying hills in the Ri Bhoi district, triggering floods in Guwahati… In accusing the USTM of a sinister plot, Sarma was echoing social media accounts that claimed in 2022 that miscreants had destroyed a river embankment in Assam’s Silchar as part of a “flood jihad” against Hindu residents of the town.” Read more: Rokibuz Zaman, Scroll
“The Bombay High Court on Thursday pulled up Maharashtra Police over the delay in registering an FIR in the sexual assault case of two kindergarten students in Badlapur and directed the government to take action against the school authorities for not reporting the crime. The court also sought an explanation from the police for the delay in recording the second victim's statement… The High Court said it would not hesitate to take action against the police if it was found that there was dereliction of duty. The court said such lapses discourage people from coming to the police.” Read more: Abhishek De, India Today
“A shocking example of caste discrimination has emerged from Akouna Gram Panchayat in Satna district of Madhya Pradesh, where the first Dalit woman Sarpanch in a Thakur-majority area is reportedly continuously being humiliated. The issue came to light prominently on Independence Day, August 15, when she was prevented from hoisting the national flag… Shraddha was elected as the Sarpanch of this village in July 2022. The village has approximately 1,600 voters, 50% of whom are from the Thakur community, while the rest belong to Dalit, Adivasi, and OBC communities. She won the election by a thin margin of 58 votes. Infuriated by her victory, the caste Hindus had tried to create ruckus and instigate others, Shraddha said. However, things were controlled after intervention by SDM and the DM.” Read more: Geetha Pillai, The Mooknayak
“Partha told me he had left the RSS behind almost 40 years ago, and he said it as if he had firmly closed the door to that chapter of his life. But RSS people like to say that an RSS man will always be an RSS man, and there is a reason for this – it seduces through community and family, exerting a gravitational force on individuals. That was why, even though he had left the RSS, he thought about it often. He was once an insider marked for future greatness. Now, thanks to his book, he was an outcast… Partha corresponded about Hindu fundamentalism with writers and researchers, and read independent riot investigations. Many of them pointed to truths he knew and understood intimately – riots were incited by newly formed communal organisations that consisted of people associated with the RSS and its political arm, the BJP. The organisations were not usually RSS, but the people were, and they operated as representatives of newly formed bodies.” Read more: Rahul Bhatia, The Guardian
Tech -
“According to a report in Moneycontrol, the popular messaging app is facing increasing scrutiny from the Indian government over its alleged role in facilitating criminal activities such as extortion and gambling. The Indian government too is reported to have launched an investigation into the platform, with the potential for a ban depending on the findings. According to the report, “The government is investigating Telegram over its alleged misuse in criminal activities such as extortion and gambling, a government official said, adding the messaaging app could even be banned depending on the probe’s findings.” The Indian government’s investigation is being conducted by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).” Read more: Times of India
“In May 2021, Gatoes became the first startup from Jammu and Kashmir to reach $1 million in gross merchandise value. The number has since more than doubled, Gulzar said, without sharing the exact figure… Fundraising in a conflict-ridden region is a big challenge, said Gulzar. Besides his initial investment, Gatoes has been funded by an angel investor, whose identity the company did not wish to disclose. “Now we mostly get funds from a Kashmiri who lives abroad. He has been kind enough to mentor us and help us financially,” Gulzar said. Building an app-based business in a region with extremely limited connectivity also means the founders have to be extremely hands-on with their business. Just last month, Majeed received a call on his private mobile phone from a man in his 60s, from Srinagar’s Nishat area. He asked Majeed how he could order his favorite shawarma using Gatoes. “I guided him through the entire process on the phone. I helped him download the app from the [Google] Play store, then instructed him till he made the order,” Majeed said. The call lasted nearly 30 minutes. “He told me I helped him like a son and gave me a lot of blessings”.” Read more: Gafira Qadir, RestofWorld
“Tata-owned BigBasket, the largest e-grocer known for slotted deliveries, is set to become a full-scale quick commerce platform as the burgeoning sector sees rising demand for rapid deliveries, blurring the divide with horizontal ecommerce platforms. The move marks a key shift in strategy for the firm that started in 2011 and has seen several cycles of hyperfunded grocery models emerge during the past decade… BB Now has been in operation for about 2.5 years but the Bengaluru-based firm has sharpened its focus on the quick vertical over the past year amid a surge in demand and a rush of capital into Zomato-owned Blinkit, Zepto and Swiggy Instamart — the top three in the segment.” Read more: Digbijay Mishra and Pranav Mukul, The Economic Times
Bonus -
“Chinese and Indian inventors are responsible for 20 percent of all U.S. patents; around half of all international students come from China and India and are disproportionately concentrated in STEM fields; and immigrants from these two countries account for eight in ten H1-B visas issued each year. In the face of these numbers, and with China and India accounting for one-third of the world’s population, limiting each country to seven percent of the United States’ total annual pool of green cards makes little sense.” Read more: Devesh Kapur & Milan Vaishnav, Foreign Affairs
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Need Fresh Start With China: Former Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale | StratNewsGlobal