Researched by: Aarthi Ramnath, Anannya Parekh & Aakriti Anand
Election 2024: The latest update
A market panic attack: The numbers on the Indian market don’t bode well for the ruling party. Yesterday, the S&P BSE Sensex fell 1,062 points—and the NSE Nifty-50 lost 345 points. The reason: Traders are worried about the BJP’s performance:
“There were murmurs [in the market] about lower than expected turnout in the polls, which could make it difficult for the Modi government to return,” said Ambareesh Baliga, an independent stock analyst, adding the confidence in the Prime Minister’s “400 plus (seats)” campaign has waned and has “unsettled investors.”
Btw, the Bernstein Global report warned precisely against this—saying delusional expectations of a massive BJP majority will result in a sharp adjustment when the results come out. But experts say individual investors are pulling out now—in anticipation of that correction. (The Hindu)
A survey of overseas surveys: A new study of surveys conducted in leading Western democracies highlights data that shows the Modi government isn’t quite as popular as it claims. According to one survey, only 10% of people in the UK view Modi favourably—followed by 22% in the US. The number dropped to 9% among young Americans.
A YouGov poll released in March had similar results:
Modi is neither well known nor popular in the United States and the United Kingdom. The survey also showed that in the US and the UK, Modi ranks below highly disliked leaders such as Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.
The bit that makes us a little sceptical about the sample for some of these surveys is this: “Further, three in every four respondents said that they are concerned about the new laws that would make it harder for Muslims to become citizens in India, referring to the Citizenship Amendment Act.” Umm, we’re shocked that so many people in the West even know wtf CAA is… Scroll has more on this study.
Speaking of Modi-ji: New day, and a new election rally. This one was a shocker: Prime Minister Narendra Modi took aim at the government’s favourite capitalists: Ambani and Adani. Here’s what he said, for those who don’t understand Hindi too well:
The shahzada (prince) should declare – during these polls, how much have they taken from Ambani-Adani (kitna maal uthaaya hai)? How many sacks of black money have been taken? Have tempos full of notes reached the Congress? What’s the deal that’s been struck (kya sauda hua hai)? Why did you stop abusing Ambani-Adani overnight? Surely something is amiss (zaroor daal mein kuch kaala hai).
We definitely didn’t see this plot twist coming. Indian Express has more.
War on Gaza: A delicate time
Biden’s big ultimatum: First, Washington Post reported that the US has hit pause on some weapons shipments to Israel—specifically dumb bombs that will be used to target civilian neighbourhoods in Rafah. That was a surprise. Then came the shocker: Joe Biden issued a public ultimatum in a CNN interview:
“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” [said] Biden… referring to 2,000-pound bombs that Biden paused shipments of last week. “I made it clear that if they go into Rafah – they haven’t gone in Rafah yet – if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities – that deal with that problem,” Biden said.
Even more interesting: For the very first time, he drew a distinction between Israel’s security and its war on Gaza—and indicated Washington may only supply defensive weapons from here on out:
“We’re not walking away from Israel’s security. We’re walking away from Israel’s ability to wage war in those areas… We’re going to continue to make sure Israel is secure in terms of Iron Dome and their ability to respond to attacks that came out of the Middle East recently… But it’s, it’s just wrong. We’re not going to — we’re not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells.
Israel’s response: has been defiant. PM Benjamin Netanyahu said in a vid: "If we have to stand alone, we will stand alone," But according to Axios, Biden’s move has rattled the military—but it too said that the troops have enough for the Rafah operation. Meanwhile, ceasefire talks in Qatar have been suspended because of Israel’s move to control the Rafah border.
Trinity College makes a big move: Ireland’s premier university has agreed to cut ties with three Israeli companies that are on the UN blacklist. Calling the move “historic”, the college board said they “are in solidarity with the students in our horror of what is happening in Gaza.” Point to note: Unlike the US, Trinity did not call the cops on its students either. (The Guardian)
Sanjiv Goenka ko gussa kyun aata hai…
On Wednesday, the Lucknow Super Giants lost by 10 wickets to the Sunrisers Hyderabad. That was bad enough—and then LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka made it worse. He berated captain KL Rahul at length on the sidelines—with the stadium and TV cameras looking on. Goenka had broken the cardinal rule of cricket fans:
Within hours, a million fingers would type their outrage and angst on social media. Coaches ticking off the team on field of play, rivals carrying their fights beyond the boundary line — from the Little Leagues to IPL — these were within tolerable limits. But a non-cricketer owner lecturing an Indian cricketing star was a transgression worthy of a send-off.
As the Indian Express explains: These business titans “own teams, not team members”—certainly not beloved players who bring fans to the stadium.
Rumours are that Rahul will be asked to step down from the captaincy for the remaining two games—to improve LSG’s chances of making the playoffs. And he certainly will be dropped for the next season. FYI: The team paid Rs 17 crore ($2 million) for Rahul at the auction. This Indian Express piece offers an interesting insight into the clash between IPL’s commercialism and the cricket fan’s mindset. You can see the scolding below:
Air India strikes: The latest update
The context: In April, several Vistara pilots refused to show up at work in protest against drastic cuts to their salaries—which has resulted in cancellations, delays, and chaos all around. All this is a fallout of the Tatas’ decision to consolidate their three airlines—Air India, Vistara, and AirAsia.
What happened next: Over 90 Air India Express flights—both domestic and international—were cancelled over 48 hours. The reason: 300 cabin crew members called in sick at the last minute. Yesterday, another 85 flights remained cancelled.
What happened now: Air India got tough—and sacked 25 senior cabin crew members. The termination letter took a tough tone—accusing them of “a premeditated and concerted abstention from work without any justifiable reason” (read the letter here). But everyone has now kissed and made up—after the government stepped in to play peacemaker. The employees have been reinstated—and the crew have agreed to report for duty. The company has agreed to address their unhappiness over their contracts at a future date. (The Hindu)
Two health stories of note
Cure for deafness: Thanks to an experimental gene-therapy treatment, a UK toddler can now hear without any aids. She was born deaf due to a faulty gene—which “disrupts nerve impulses travelling from the inner ear to the brain.” The doctors essentially fixed that gene:
But after receiving an infusion containing a working copy of the gene during groundbreaking surgery that took just 16 minutes, the 18-month-old can hear almost perfectly and enjoys playing with toy drums.
Why this matters: Genetic flaws are responsible for more than half of the cases of deafness in children. (BBC News)
Neuralink conquers glitch: The company displayed impressive jugaad skills with its computer-brain interface—which promises to allow humans to do stuff just by, well, thinking it. In January, the company successfully implanted a chip into the brain of a quadriplegic named Noland Arbaugh. But that implant suffered a glitch. It has “64 threads, each thinner than a human hair and each holding 16 electrodes”—which relay neural signals to the brain. Unfortunately, a number of these threads came loose. But here’s the kicker:
In response the company said it made changes including modifying its algorithms that improved bits-per-second. Even with the implant’s degraded capabilities, Neuralink was able to pull off a live demonstration of Arbaugh playing chess, a leap in the capabilities for a brain-computer interface technology.
Now, that’s very impressive! (Wall Street Journal, paywall, CNBC)
Going the distance for Taylor Swift
Thousands of North American Swifties are flying to Europe to see Taylor perform during the European leg of her Eras Tour. The reason? Concert tickets are waay cheaper than they are in the US. Here’s what the maths looks like:
They said, ‘Wait a minute, I can either spend $1,500 to go see my favourite artist in Miami, or I can take that $1,500 and buy a concert ticket, a round-trip plane ticket, and three nights in a hotel room’
The interesting bit: Americans account for 20% of the tickets for her four sold-out shows in Europe. Travel experts say this is part of a larger trend dubbed “tour tourism”—which also drove ticket sales for Beyoncé's Renaissance world tour last year. Associated Press has more on the story. ICYMI: We did a Big Story on the ‘Taylor Swift economy’.
Attention: Whales have their own alphabet!
Scientists always knew that Caribbean sperm whales are terribly chatty—making rapid clicks which sound like a blend of Morse code and popping popcorn. They have now discovered that they have a “phonetic alphabet”—individual sounds that “could possibly be combined in ways that convey meaning, as a language does.” Why this matters: “Scientists have long debated whether animals have language, with some insisting that humans are the only species capable of its complexity.” This in turn gets into debates over animal cruelty and sentience.
FYI: Even if we figure out the alphabet, it is unlikely we will know what they’re saying—because we have no shared context:
But it's challenging to know what contexts are important and what matters to the whales. "If we only ever studied North American English-speaking society in the dentist office, we'd walk away with the fact that the key part of their communication system is the word 'root canal," [biologist Shane] Gero says. "We'd just be wrong because we didn't have a comprehensive picture."
NPR has loads more nerdy details on the study.
Three things to see
One: Apple’s new iPad ad is making waves for all the wrong reasons—because it is seriously mean! You have to see it to believe it—but here’s the fallout. The company was trying to woo creators—who have been the most ardent users of its products. Instead, “they saw a metaphor for how Big Tech has cashed in on their work by crushing or co-opting the artistic tools that humanity has used for centuries.” Eeks! (New York Times, paywall, Variety)
Two: Once lost, this lovely Carvaggio has been found. ‘Ecce Homo’ was found three years ago when it was up for auction—mistakenly attributed to a little-known 17th-century Spanish artist José de Ribera. Now it’s at the Prado and will soon go on display. It has been dubbed as “one of the greatest discoveries in the history of art.” Well, okay, if you say so. (Associated Press)
Three: While Indians are the ones known for extreme jugaad—a Chinese zoo may have outdone us with their ‘panda dogs’. They dyed adorable chow chow puppies to pass them off as pandas—and even displayed them as part of a new exhibition. The justification: A spokesperson for the zoo said they didn’t have the space or facilities for an actual panda. Well, they’re definitely as cute… (Sky News)
