India Last Week #7
A round-up of research & reportage on India across climate, energy, foreign policy, politics & more over the last week
Climate, Energy & Environment -
“Indian Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday announced that state-run Bharat Petroleum Corp plans to build a new refinery and the nation is looking at signing more oil import deals with countries including Russia at discounted rates… India, the world's third biggest oil importer and consumer, emerged as the biggest buyer of Russian sea-borne oil, snapping up barrels sold at a discount as Western companies halted purchases after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.” Read more: Nidhi Verma, Reuters
“India’s EV components manufacturers, like their industrial counterparts across the world, demonstrate that the way to flourish amid the hugely cost competitive Chinese goods and their extremely agile manufacturing industry, is not to close the doors on them, but to dive right in and compete, cooperate and learn.” Read more: Mrinal Tripathi & Rohit Garg, Down to Earth
“A group of 50,000 self-employed women in India have become the first beneficiaries of a novel insurance scheme that pays out when temperatures hit certain extremes. As the temperature crossed 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) between May 18 and May 25, the women in the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra all received a flat $5 payment. "This is the first time that insurance payouts and a direct cash assistance program have been combined to supplement the income of women when it's dangerously hot," said Kathy Baughman McLeod, CEO of non-profit Climate Resilience for All, which designed the insurance scheme along with India's Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA).” Read more: Reuters
“What do Darjeeling tea, Kanchipuram silk and Odisha pattachitra have in common? They all hold unique Geographical Indication or GI tags. Geographical Indication is a form of intellectual property (IP) protection granted to products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities that are inherent to that location… According to government data, 167 products were awarded GI tags between April 2023 and March 2024, bringing the total number of GI-tagged products in India to 643.” Read more: Priyanka Shankar, Mongabay
Economy -
“Indian household debt, at 40% of GDP, is low by international standards, but household debt-service-to-income ratio, at 12%, is among the highest in the world because of high interest rates and predominantly short duration loans. Indeed, the Indian household debt-service ratio is alarmingly similar to that in the United States and Spain just before their 2008 financial crises, when high household debt-service burdens precipitated major economic downturns. The economist Rudi Dornbusch’s warning applies to India: “The crisis takes a much longer time in coming than you think, and then it happens faster than you would have thought.” The source of the impending crisis lies in a paradox: despite buoyant credit growth, household consumption is increasing at an excruciatingly slow pace. Households are struggling; their savings rates have declined and they are boosting meager consumption by borrowing money.” Read more: Ashoka Mody, The Hindu
“Indian stocks saw their worst intraday fall since March 2020. Foreign investors dumped close to $1.5 billion worth of Indian shares. Domestic investors, that have traditionally been ‘shock absorbers’ when foreign investors sell in large quantities also sold over Rs 3,300 crores.” Read more: Mitali Mukherjee, The Wire
“The declining autonomy of the statistical system and its weakening capabilities may be intertwined in a vicious cycle today. A weakened statistical system is unable to justify the estimates it generates, or explain contradictions between different data-sets. This in turn allows politicians and politically motivated technocrats to meddle in statistical affairs. Officers who can ‘manage’ political demands end up climbing the career ladder, demoralizing others.” Read more: Pramit Bhattacharya, Mint
Foreign Policy & Security —
“If normal parliamentary order returns it could complicate some of Modi’s foreign and national security policy projects by, at the very least, exposing them to heated public debate. Some initiatives could get tied up in lengthy political games. Such was the case in 2008 when Congress Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stared down a vote of no confidence to enact India’s civil-nuclear agreement with the United States.” Read more: Daniel Markey, United States Institute of Peace
“Coalition governments have generally done well in the past on foreign policy questions. Consider, for instance, the Narasimha Rao government, which did a great job in navigating the polycrisis of the early 1990s: The economic challenges, insurgency and terrorism in Kashmir, India-Pakistan tensions, loss of Russia as a major strategic partner, US pressure on India’s nuclear programme, among others.” Read more: Happymon Jacob, Hindustan Times
“India took a stern view of the Russian Army’s continued recruitment of Indian nationals for the conflict, saying it was not in “consonance” with the India-Russia partnership… In a particularly strong statement on Wednesday, the MEA had said that India has also demanded a “verified stop” to any further recruitment of Indian nationals by the Russian Army. “Such activities would not be in consonance with our partnership,” the MEA said in the statement, indicating that bilateral ties were under a strain over the continued deployment of Indians at the Russia-Ukraine warfront.” Read more: Vijaita Singh & Suhasini Haidar, The Hindu
People & Politics —
“This election was about The Supreme Leader seeking post-facto public approval for the brick by brick dismantling of the republic and popular endorsement for the proposed mutilation of India’s constitutional democracy. The Indian public refused to give him that authorisation. If the contest was a shade more fair, he would have been sitting in the Opposition.” Read more: Yogendra Yadav, Indian Express
“To imagine that Modi would be at the mercy of coalition partners is to overestimate the commitment to democratic morality in the likes of Naidu, Nitish, Eknath Shinde and Chirag Paswan, the foursome on whose support his government depends. As long as they are kept in good humour with pelf and power, they would not raise their voices for democracy, the rule of law, violations of human rights, or any anti-people policy.” Read more: Anand Teltumbde, The Wire
“For so many years, the BJP has sought to defend itself against concerns of democratic erosion by pointing to the electoral support it receives. In this way, the BJP constructed its “democratic legitimacy” from its extraordinary performance in elections. But, democratic legitimacy is not about just winning elections. It is about winning fair elections. In the run-up to the elections, two Opposition Chief Ministers were jailed and countless important Opposition political leaders had to fight against investigative agencies or the tax department. The once-hallowed Election Commission of India (ECI) seemingly acted in a partisan manner in not censuring the Prime Minister and others for blatant violations of the Model Code of Conduct. The traditional media often refused to cover the campaign of the Opposition parties and concerns. This fed into the perception that elections were meant to be a foregone conclusion, a performative exercise.” Read more: Yamini Aiyar & Neelanjan Sircar, The Hindu
“Sitting in his room at the Western Court MP Hostel along Janpath, Chandrashekhar Azad fields calls on a phone that does not stop ringing. Two Uttar Pradesh Police personnel are sitting on the couch next to him. There is a beeline of journalists, fellow MPs, politicians, and political workers waiting to meet him. Among them is Manoj Kumar, the newly-elected Congress MP from Bihar’s Sasaram — one of the 19 SC seats the INDIA bloc flipped from the BJP during this Lok Sabha election. After an endearing embrace, Mr. Azad introduces him to the room: “He used to be a state unit president of Azad Samaj Party (the party Mr. Azad founded) — a Majboot Chamar.” Then he turns to Mr. Kumar, “This is our moment. So what if we are from different parties, we are stepping into Parliament together now.” Mr. Kumar replies, “What can I say? Iss baar Chamaron ne Samvidhaan bacha diya hai bhai saab (This time the Chamar people have rescued the Constitution).” Read more: Abhinay Lakshman, The Hindu
Tech -
“In India’s case, the use of state coercion in the proliferation of digital infrastructure has proved to be a pain point for citizens. Examples range from official diktats for the denial of services and welfare benefits to those without Aadhaar to local campaigns by panchayat officers and community health workers to compel enrollment for the new digital health IDs under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM).” Read more: Smriti Parsheera, India in Transition
“Today, Koo faces several challenges, starting with engagement. The company’s active user base dropped from 7.2 million to 2.7 million between June 2023 and February 2024, according to Inc42… Experts told Rest of World that Koo was unable to disassociate itself from being dubbed a “right-leaning” platform, due to its early users being top politicians from the ruling party.” Read more: Varsha Bansal, Rest of World
“In India, AI-aided voicing is already being used in corporate films, audiobooks and commercials, industry insiders say. The situation is alarming enough to merit a pushback from the Mumbai-based Association of Voice Artists, whose 1,000 or so members work in advertising, film and television.” Read more: Nandini Ramnath, Scroll
Bonus -
“Five karigars in a carrom board karkhana (factory) in Meerut work eight hours on five consecutive days to ready a batch of 40 boards. Each of the craftsmen in this workshop knows all that it takes to make the striker and coins shuttle swiftly between a carrom board’s frame. It’s a game that supports a maximum of four players – but there are five artisans here working on each board. They help make the sport of carrom possible, but have never played it themselves. “I have been making carrom boards since 1981, but I have never bought a board or played carrom. Where is the time to spare?” asks 62-year-old Madan Pal.” Read more: Shruti Sharma, People’s Archive of Rural India