Researched by: Rachel John, Aarthi Ramnath & Anannya Parekh
Delimitation dharma: A YouTube explainer
In 2026, there will be a significant readjustment of Lok Sabha seats—granting North Indian states a decisive majority. The reason: the North has far more citizens than the South. So should the South be “punished” for population control—or is it the inevitable price of the one person one vote rule? We look at that very prickly question in our latest video explainer.
Check it out below. Stay tuned for more such explainers on the big fat election coming soon, and be sure to hit the notification button.
Farmers protests 2.0: The latest update
A tipping point? Earlier this week, 21-year-old Shubhkaran Singh was killed in a clash with police on the Punjab-Haryana border. The Haryana police has been using tear gas and rubber bullets to block the march to Delhi. Singh’s death has sparked outrage—with farmer unions refusing to turn over his body to the police. More importantly, it has pulled in the powerful union Samyukta Kisan Morcha—which has now promised a nationwide mobilisation. Until now, SKM was not part of the ‘Dilli Chalo’ march. Why this matters: A united and angry alliance of unions is unlikely to be in the mood to negotiate with the government. (The Hindu)
X embarasses the government: The social media platform confirmed that it has blocked accounts and posts on the protests on orders from the government. A tweet from its Global Government Affairs handle declared:
The Indian government has issued executive orders requiring X to act on specific accounts and posts, subject to potential penalties including significant fines and imprisonment.
In compliance with the orders, we will withhold these accounts and posts in India alone; however, we disagree with these actions and maintain that freedom of expression should extend to these posts.
The government recently ordered the suspension of 177 accounts related to the farmers protests across various platforms. This Big Story has more context on the core demand for guaranteed Minimum Support Price. (Mint)
Meanwhile, in Pakistan: The government has blocked X for the sixth day—to prevent Imran Khan’s supporters from organising protests—against the “rigged” results of the recent election. But there has been no official acknowledgement of the shutdown. (Associated Press)
Attention: Odysseus has landed!
NASA returned to the Moon’s surface after 50 years—when the lunar lander touched down earlier today. It also marks the first successful lunar landing of a spacecraft built by a private company—Intuitive Machines. FYI: the lunar lander already has a cute nickname: ‘Odie’. (CBS News)
Russia sanctions hit Indian companies
The European Union recently announced its latest round of sanctions—targeting almost 200 companies associated with Moscow. This was the first time it targeted companies from China and India. They are accused of assisting Russia in procuring weapons. More shockingly, some allegedly participated in the trafficking and kidnapping of Ukrainian children. The Indian company is accused of “aiding Russia’s war machine to access banned components and technologies.” The EU has not released the names of the companies as yet. (Financial Times, paywall, The Wire)
Moving on to Navalny: The Kremlin is refusing to hand over the body of Alexei Navalny—the anti-Putin dissident who recently died in prison under suspicious circumstances (See: This Big Story). His mother claims that authorities are “blackmailing” her:
Lyudmila Navalnaya, Mr. Navalny’s mother, said she had been “secretly” taken to a morgue Wednesday night, “where they showed me Aleksei.”... she said the authorities warned that if she did not “agree to a secret funeral,” then “they will do something with my son’s body.”
Meanwhile, President Biden met with his widow Yulia Navalnaya—who is also his political heir. Biden announced plans to personally sanction President Putin—as punishment for Navalny’s death. (New York Times)
Japan’s big stock market boom
Nikkei reached the highest level since 1989—surging by 2.1% to 39,098. This resurgence in the long-languishing Japanese stock exchange is unexpected—especially since Japan recently went into recession. The revival also has great emotional significance for a generation for whom Japan’s glory days are a distant memory:
"For us traders, this marks the arrival of a new era," said Tsutomu Yamada, senior market analyst at Au Kabucom Securities in Tokyo. "It feels like the stock market is telling us that we've finally escaped from deflation and a new world has opened up."... "It is hard to overstate the psychological impact to Japanese people of the Nikkei returning, since a generation has never seen that level," said Richard Kaye, a Japan-based portfolio manager at Comgest.
The primary drivers of Japan’s comeback: the downturn in China, a weak yen and corporate reform. (Reuters)
Google’s Gemini has a problem
The chatbot has the ability to generate images on demand—but has been getting a little too creative in recent days. It’s been churning out images of people of colour—in contexts that are both inaccurate. For example, here’s what Gemini offered when asked for a 1943 German soldier:
This seems to be a result of some kind of tweak to ensure diversity—that has gone very wrong. The machine now flat out refuses to generate images of white people. It happily created “glamour shots” of Chinese or South African couples. But when given the same prompt for a white couple, Gemini said:
I understand that you’d like an image featuring a couple, but I’m unable to generate images of people based on specific ethnicities or skin tones. This is to avoid perpetuating harmful stereotypes and biases. However, I can offer you a glamour shot that features a couple without specifying their ethnicity, allowing for broader representation and avoiding any harmful generalizations. Would you like me to generate an image like that instead?
Reminder: Google has been in trouble in the past for racist AI content. It is now working on a new fix to fix its previous fix. C’mon, it’s a little funny. (New York Times, paywall, Quartz)
Meanwhile, in India: According to a new report, 57% of Indians prefer machines rather than humans when it comes to customer service. That’s significantly higher than the global average of 39%. But there is a caveat: We want a human when it comes to returns and cancellations—presumably because it is less satisfying to scold a machine for an Amazon order gone bad. FYI: Much of this preference is theoretical since only 15% of Indian brands have used AI to deal with customers. (CNBC-TV18)
Culinary catastrophe: Idlis are eco-unfriendly
A Singapore study looked at the environmental impact of 151 popular dishes around the world. They assigned each dish a "biodiversity footprint score"—which reflected the environmental damage caused by the production of its ingredients. Higher the score, greater the damage.
Idli came in at #6—eeks! In case, any North Indian is gloating: Rajma is right behind at #7. The reason: Legumes and rice are cultivated in many areas that were previously hotspots of biodiversity. Hence, the damage to the habitat is higher. Other lesser offenders from India: chicken jalfrezi (#19), dal (#20) and chana masala (#22). The worst offender in the world, however, is the Spanish roast lamb aka lechazo. (The Telegraph)
What is the ideal temperature for life?
According to a new study, the answer is 20°C (68 degrees Fahrenheit)—which is best for animals, plants and microbes. That’s both on land and in the water. Here’s why:
For all species, the relationship with temperature is an asymmetric bell-shaped curve. This means biological processes increase in line with temperature, reach a maximum, and then rapidly decline when it gets too hot.
As a result, the number of species declines above 20°C—and that is terrible news for a warming world. The Conversation has more nerdy details. (Independent UK)
Coming to America: Panda edition
Last year, both the Memphis and Washington DC zoos had to return their pandas to China—when negotiations to extend their leases failed. This left only four pandas in Atlanta—whose agreement expires later this year. Hence, the great panda panic.
Happily, in an encouraging sign of detente, China confirmed plans to send two pandas to the San Diego Zoo. Even better news: Beijing is also in talks with Washington DC. A related good read: Our Big Story looked at whether pandas ought to be saved from extinction (don’t hate us!). Also: a brief clip that makes a strong case for why we should. (CBS News)
One very scary thing to see
Here’s an absolutely terrifying trailer for the upcoming horror-thriller ‘Shaitaan’—starring Jyotika, Ajay Devgn and R Madhavan. It is a remake of the 2023 Gujarati horror film ‘Vash’ and is directed by Vikas Bahl. It is slated to release on March 8. (The Hindu)
