Researched by: Rachel John, Aarthi Ramnath & Anannya Parekh
This week in ‘24 Questions: The Muslim vote
We published the second edition of our weekly election special on Sunday. And it has some excellent stuff. This week, we have a must-read that draws a straight line between your taxes and the latest PM Yojana—and how the BJP has gamed the revenue distribution system to win elections. Also worth your time: Eye-opening charts on the Muslim vote. Plus an excellent round up of election stuff to read and watch.
Reminder: All through the election season, we will send you an exclusive election goodie bag right in your inbox each week—with deep dives that DECODE the important issues—without boring you to death; creative (and shareworthy) infographics that offer the perfect EYE CANDY; our pick of the best YouTube analysis in our WATCHLIST; and a weekly roundup of the most taaza election khabar plus the best reads of the season to understand the STATE OF PLAY.
There’s more! Join our new Whatsapp channel here—to get the best bits of the election coverage out there! Coming soon: A town-hall in Bangalore! More deets soon.
The big picture: We’re a tiny team straining to put out the best—be it in our weekday edition, weekend Advisory or the weekly election special. If you can, please level up to a founding member subscription—which helps us pay the added bills—and comes with free subs for you and your friends:)
As always, thank you for your continued support. With your help, we hope to kick ass this election season, splainer style!
Splainer is hiring: A key role in the newsroom
We are hiring for the key position of a News Editor to join our brilliantly talented editorial team. This is a ‘teaching’ newsroom—where learning new things is a big part of the job. We also pride ourselves on a warm, friendly work culture. But, but, but: This is not an average newsroom gig with a boiler-plate desk job. What we’re looking for:
- Someone with 1.5 to 2 years of experience in a newsroom or related field. This is not an entry level position.
- Excellent research skills are a must—especially the ability to break down complex jargon into accessible language.
- Someone who is interested in—and has some knowledge of—hard news issues in politics, economy and law. This job isn’t for someone who prefers culture/lifestyle topics.
- A person who enjoys juggling a couple of different roles. Example: working closely with the production team that creates our awesome videos. Or managing relationships with content partners.
- Willingness to work in a startup environment where we all do a bit of everything—and are eager to take initiative and responsibility.
- A knowledge of and love for splainer is a huge plus—since we’re not the usual news product.
Please note there is a six-month probation period and the pay will be industry standard. We are an equal opportunity employer and are preferably looking for someone based out of Bangalore. Please send your resumes and cover letter—telling us why you want this job—to talktous@splainer.in. We will reach out to you if you’re shortlisted.
The Citizenship Amendment Act is here!
The context: Back in December 2019, the government passed the Citizenship Amendment Act—which offers citizenship to undocumented Hindus, Sikhs, Parsis, Jains and Christians from neighbouring countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan. The notable exception: Muslims. The government claims the law is not discriminatory—but it clearly marks Muslims as a ‘special category’ of citizens. It also makes migrants in the North East vulnerable to harassment and deportation. Soon after the law was passed, protests spread across the country—and some of them even turned violent. Around 100 people lost their lives. A number of activists like Sharjeel Imam and Gulfishma Fatima are still in prison under anti-terror laws.
What happened now: Although the government passed the law, it was never implemented. The Home Ministry kept requesting extensions to frame the rules—until yesterday. They state the following:
- To establish identity, a person can submit a birth certificate, tenancy records, identity papers, any licence, school or educational certificate issued by a government authority in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
- The applicants need an “eligibility certificate” issued by a “locally reputed community institution” that confirms they belong to the listed communities.
- They will have to fill out an application on an online website.
Point to note: There are several petitions challenging the CAA before the Supreme Court—which is yet to take up the matter. According to legal experts, the government should not have implemented a law that is still in the courts. (The Hindu)
Supreme Court keeps SBI on the hook
The context: Last month, the Supreme Court scrapped the electoral bonds program (explained here)—deeming it unconstitutional. It also ordered the State Bank of India to publish details of all donations to date. Predictably, the bank asked for time till June 30 to complete the “time-consuming exercise.” By sheer coincidence, the Lok Sabha elections will be done and dusted by then.
What happened now: The top court rejected SBI’s application for an extension of the deadline. A bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud gave the bank 24 hours—i.e. until the end of the day today—to reveal the required details. But there’s an important catch:
Chief Justice Chandrachud said the judgement had not asked the bank to “match” information to ascertain who contributed to which political parties. “We did not tell you to match the details. We had only asked you to do a plain disclosure. We just wanted you to comply with the judgement.
What this means: The SBI will publish two lists—one with the date of purchase, name of purchaser, and the denomination. The other will have details of every bond encashed by the parties, the date of encashment, and the denomination. In other words, NGOs will have to work way harder if they want to figure out exactly who gave how much to whom:
We don’t expect watertight proof but yes, broad trends in funding will emerge. I am confident some amount of matching will be possible if no major obstacles and roadblocks exist in the data or have been created in it. If that be the case, we will take whatever constitutional actions are available to us.
The Election Commission has been directed to post the information on their website by March 15. (The Hindu)
And the Oscar goes to…
‘Oppenheimer’ which won seven awards including Best Picture, Best Director for Christopher Nolan and Best Actor for Cillian Murphy. The big surprise of the night: Emma Stone beating favourite Lily Gladstone for Best Actress. The Guardian has the complete list of winners. CNN has the best looks from the red carpet. Here are some of the highlights of an Oscars which was praised by most—for a change!
One: There was the inevitable Barbenheimer moment—but it was funnier than expected thanks to Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling:
Two: The red carpet looks were fabulous—and worth mentioning—again, for a change. The one we loved most: Michelle Yeoh:
The sculptural design made everything more flamboyant—including the boring black dress. Bravo Sandra Hüller!
The perfect fashion moment—the fabulous contrast between Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo on stage together:
Also: the men are seriously upping their game. This is one of the ‘Try Guys’ Eugene Lee Yang:
Also this: Emma Stone also had this wardrobe malfunction moment:
Three: Gaza made its presence felt. The ceremony was delayed when pro-Palestine protesters shut down a key part of the red carpet—creating traffic jams. Several actors also wore solidarity pins calling for a ceasefire. Only director Jonathan Glazer’s speech focused on the conflict—which is notable since he won best international film for Holocaust movie ‘The Zone of Interest’ (video is here):
Right now, we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people. Whether the victims of October 7th in Israel, or the ongoing attack on Gaza, all the victims of this dehumanisation, how do we resist?
Four: The ultimate show-stealer: Messi—the furry star of ‘Anatomy of a Fall’:
Five: The other show-stealer: A very naked John Cena. At least Messi was wearing a bow tie:)
Six: Jimmy Kimmel also took some time out to read Donald’s review of his performance:
Deadline has more on the snubs and surprises from the night.
Rural India is flocking online
According to a new industry report, there are more than 820 million active users—a 3% increase from last year. More than half of them (442 million users) are in rural areas. And they are driving the growth across streaming, social media, online gaming, net commerce, digital payments and online learning and more. FYI: The number of active rural users exceeds that of urban users. But, but, but: The rest of rural India is still not online because the internet remains English-driven. (Economic Times)
A flurry of airline-related news
One: Scary flights from hell have become the norm these days. A Latam Airlines flight bound for Auckland experienced a “strong movement” caused by a “technical problem.” Fifty people were treated for injuries—and 12 are in serious condition. What one passenger said:
The plane made a “violent drop” for just a second or two, said Brian Jokat. “The plane just dropped,” Mr. Jokat, 61, said. “It felt like coming over the top of a roller coaster and heading down — and then it straightened up immediately.”
Reuters has more details.
Two: The planned Navi Mumbai airport is going to be a “tourism zone”—with amusement parks, hotels and restaurants. It will be spread over 1,000 acres–and be manned by special “tourism police”—who “will be specially trained in assisting tourists.” Umm, creepy. (Mint)
Three: Gautam Adani plans to spend Rs 600 billion (60,000 crore) over the next ten years to expand seven existing airports owned by the Adani Group. These include Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Mangaluru, Jaipur, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram—plus the Navi Mumbai airport. (Mint)
A big global mental health report
The ‘Mental State of the World’ report shows that people in less developed countries have better mental health than those in wealthier parts of the world. The Dominican Republic, Sri Lanka and Tanzania had the highest average score—while the UK, Australia and Ireland scored among the lowest. The likely reasons:
“The younger you get your smartphone, the worse off you are as an adult,” said [founder of Sapien Labs, neuroscientist Tara ] Thiagarajan. The more you break down the demographics, the more you find that the consequences of smartphone use are concentrated on young females. But looking at another potential causal factor they recently published on, the consumption of ultra-processed foods, those effects are universal across all demographics. “It affects everything, every aspect of mental functioning,” said Thiagarajan.
BTW: India is in the bottom half of the list but we don’t know why. Vox has more on the report and the methodology used.
The Kate Middleton sitch gets weirder
The context: Let’s review. First, the Palace puts out a photo of Kate and the kids–to reassure everyone she is doing just fine after her abdominal surgery. Reminder: she has not been seen in public for over two months–spurring all sorts of conspiracy theories–including the claim that she’s dead. Hence, this photo:
But this ‘proof of life’ backfired—when all the big news agencies like AP and Reuters issued a ‘kill notification’ (you cannot make this up). They retracted the photo saying it clearly looked “manipulated.” Haw! Disaster!
What happened next: To clean up the mess, the Princess of Wales sent this ‘clarification’ on Twitter: “Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing. I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused.” Sadly, no one is buying it. If anything, the tweet made everything sound even more shady—and the story has gone way beyond the tabloids. Even the New York Times (splainer gift link) offered an elaborate analysis of the photo:
FYI: The Verge has an even more detailed breakdown. (Hollywood Reporter)
One space thing to see
Get your amateur astronomer skills ready. In the weeks to come, there will be a new bright spot in the night sky. It’s called T Coronae Borealis—which is “a nova, a nuclear explosion bursting forth from the pallid corpse of a long-dead star.” It was last seen 80 years ago—and will next be seen 80 years hence. NASA has this very cool gif of what a nova looks like. (New York Times)
