In our latest Advisory edition… Fida Hussain takes us through the history of Yarkandi polla—the haute cuisine pulao that journeyed from Turkistan to Leh. Part two of our Buddhist mudras series looks at sacred hand gestures that represent dhyana, the wheel of law—and the moment of Buddha’s enlightenment. Chintan’s excellent selection of Indian travel writing uncovers offbeat destinations, hidden gems in familiar cities and historical and culinary trails. We’ve ditched the cliché for the hatke—no Bollywood, Tollywood or even ho-hum ‘indie’ tracks. And as always, we’ve curated the best new shows and films to binge-watch this weekend. Read it here.
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Editor’s note: We are not diving into the Jharkhand results today. The BJP won a decisive victory—to hold on to the state. The results are over at The Hindu.
What happened: The BJP-led Mahayuti alliance—made up of amputated parts of NCP and Shiv Sena—swept the state election. They won a total of 233 out of 288 seats—of which BJP scored 132. That’s a huge jump from its total of 105 in 2019. Its buddy Shinde Sena also did well—rising from 38 before the election to 57 seats. Ajit Pawar’s NCP remained the same—up just one seat—from 40 to 41.
The biggest loser: Congress, of course. Its total dropped from 37 to 16—while Sharad Pawar’s NCP lost two seats for a total of 10. Uddhav Sena actually gained four seats—to reach a total of 20.
Women rule: Let’s start with the most important factor: women—specifically, welfare schemes for women. The Ladki Behin Yojana (which we flagged in our curtainraiser) proved to be decisive. Polling among women was up by at least 6% from 2019.
The poor decide: The BJP alliance won in the poorest regions—where its vote share jumped by 6 percentage points since the Lok Sabha elections. In contrast, the MVA lost 10 percentage points in the same areas. Why this matters: The BJP has long secured the upper class vote. This time, the poor switched sides en masse—including Dalits and other lower castes.
The Hindutva card: worked well in tandem with the welfare benefits—to consolidate the Hindu vote. It is the key reason why the BJP walloped Congress across the state:
The BJP came up with the “Batenge toh Katenge” slogan to overcome this fragmentation of the Hindutva vote and worked hard to win back Dalit and ST votes... In these polls, among the 75 head to head BJP Vs Congress seats, BJP won 64 and Congress 9, restoring the subaltern character of Hinduvta, and reiterated that politics even in a fragmented poll ran on ideology.
The welfare schemes also “allow many to convince themselves that the BJP’s successes are more about economy/governance rather than Hindutva.”
The ‘subcorporation’ strategy: The BJP alliance targetedthe Other Backward Caste vote—against the Marathas. The same strategy it deployed—with great success—in Haryana against the Jats. In Maharashtra, it created more than 20 subcorporations that offered financial aid—one subcaste at a time. Example: Sant Kashiba Gurav Yuva Finance Development Corporation for the Gurav community. Since OBCs are 38% of the population, micro-targeting won the day.
What’s next: The real battle may be over the gaddi. The BJP can’t wait to get Devendra Fadnavis back on the throne—with the RSS’ blessings. But current CM Eknath Shinde has sealed his claim to the Shiv Sena mantle—and may not go quietly to the sidelines.
Reading list: The Hinduoffers an important analysis on how welfare and women were decisive both in Jharkhand and Maharashtra. The Hindualso parses the results in terms of income. Suhas Palshikar inIndian Express lays out how the ‘jihad’ strategy helped the BJP regain ground—in both Maharashtra and Jharkhand. Vir Sanghvi in The Print points out that Modi is no longer front and centre of BJP state campaigns—yet the Congress keeps running against him. Indian Express and The Telegraphhave more on the CM fight.
COP29’s $300 billion climate finance deal
The context: COP is shorthand for the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Climate Change—an annual meeting of countries which meet to craft a shared strategy to save the planet. Theprimary aim of COP29? Laying ground rules for climate finance. So-called advanced nations havespent decades spewing emissions into the atmosphere to become prosperous. Developing countries rightly argue that they should shell out money to help them cope with global warming.
What happened now: The COP29 summit ended with a $1.3 trillion deal—with a very big catch. Wealthy nations will only shell out $300 billion in grants and low-interest loans. The rest has been left to unspecified “private investors and a range of potential new sources of money, such as possible levies on fossil fuels and frequent flyers.” Climate activists summed up the betrayal:
Rich countries have promised to ‘mobilise’ some funds in the future, rather than provide them now. The cheque is in the mail. But lives and livelihoods in vulnerable countries are being lost now.
FYI: India wasn’t happy either—and said it “could not accept” the settlement. Check out our rep Chandni Raina raging against the deal:
The Guardian has lots more on the fury on the ground. Al Jazeera explains why the deal is an ‘optical illusion’—which is what Indian delegates called it. And Hindustan Times has more on India emerging as the voice of the Global South.
Adani Green Energy is in fresh trouble
The context: The US Justice Department has accused Gautam Adani of paying Indian government officials $250 million in bribes to land solar-energy supply contracts. Of this total, $228 million was promised “to a single unnamed official” in Andhra Pradesh. FYI: These contracts were expected to result in $2 billion in profits.
What happened now: The company is also being investigated for violating intellectual property rights of a US-based Chinese company—specifically, its patents for solar cells, modules, panels etc. If found guilty of violating existing US copyright laws, Adani imports will be blocked. That will be a huge blow given the size of the US market. The Americans imported $2.3 billion in solar products last year—thanks to sanctions on China.
This isn’t good news for Adani’s plans to expand his US operations as part of a $10 billion investment in American energy and infrastructure projects. The worrying bit for all Indian companies: This increased scrutiny may be part of a broader push to ‘Make in America’—which will only get worse under Donald Trump. (Indian Express)
Big bucks bonanza at the IPL auction
The context: The Indian cricket board recently changed the rules for the IPL mega-auction. Some of these were, umm, questionable. Example: Allowing former Indian players—who haven’t played for the national team for five years—to be eligible as ‘uncapped’ players. See: Chennai Kings and MSD. Also: No foreign player will ever get a higher auction price than any Indian player—presumably to preserve the egos of Indian players and the nation’s pride.
What happened now: The two-day mega-auction bonanza kicked off in Jeddah—with lots of action:
The biggest bucks: The record for highest-ever bid was broken twice—Punjab Kings splashed Rs. 26.75 crore ($3.17 million) on Shreyas Iyer, but just a few minutes later, Lucknow had snagged Pant for Rs 27 crore ($3.20 million).
Other huge earners: Venkatesh Iyer, who returned to KKR for a whopping Rs 23.75 crore ($2.81 million), and Arshdeep Singh, who was Right-To-Matched (RTM) by Punjab for Rs 18 crore ($2.13 million). KL Rahul will now don the Delhi jersey for Rs 14 crore ($1.65 million).
As for the firangs: At Rs 15.75 crore ($1.86 million) from Gujarat Titans,Jos Buttler is the most expensive non-Indian buy. Not far behind: pacers Jofra Archer, Josh Hazlewood and Trent Boult, who received Rs 12.50 crore ($1.48 million) each from Rajasthan, RCB and Mumbai. Meanwhile,Starc got less than half the auction attention this year—Delhi was the highest bidder at Rs 11.75 crore ($1.39 million).
Why this auction matters: The mega-auction is the only time in which an IPL franchise can completely overhaul their squad for a three-year cycle. It is so important that Australia’s bowling coach Daniel Vettori skipped the ongoing Test match against India in Perth to make the picks for Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Read more: ESPNCricinfo has your bases covered—the mega auction’s broad talking points, a nerdier look at auction strategies, how the ten teams stack up so far, and some analysis on why Jeddah of all places is hosting the two-day event. The Age and NDTV have more on Daniel Vettori’s absence from the Test match.
What caught our eye
business & tech
Amazon invested $4 billion in Anthropic, OpenAI's rival—bringing its total stake in the AI firm to $8 billion.
Cybercriminals are using Spotify playlists and podcasts to spread malware and pirated content.
Meta is enhancing Threads with new features, possibly copying Bluesky to stay competitive.
sports & entertainment
Max Verstappen clinched his fourth Formula One title in Las Vegas, while George Russell claimed a hard-fought victory for Mercedes.
Andy Murray, after retiring from tennis in August, will coach his former rival Novak Djokovic at the 2025 Australian Open.
Netflix has partnered with the International Film Festival of India to host screenings, panels, and initiatives promoting talent and inclusivity at the festival.
as for the rest
Research shows that exercise, particularly sports, improves working memory.
Irony alert: Stanford professor Jeff Hancock is accused of using AI-generated misinformation to deliver his expert opinion in a lawsuit challenging a law banning deepfakes in elections.
A study suggests that five minutes of daily cold exposure may improve sleep, especially deep sleep.
Old-fashioned mafia brutality is back with a vengeance in Sicily—with people being threatened with severed horse heads and dismembered cows.
A local court in Sambhal has ordered a survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid—based on a petition claiming that it was built in 1526 on the ruins of a centuries-old Shri Hari Har Temple.
Four things to see
One: Canadian PM Justin Trudeau was slammed for dancing at a Taylor Swift concert—amid angry Palestine protestsin Montreal. (Indian Express)
Two: Hanumankind stepped out with A$AP Rocky at his Thailand concert—to perform a remixed version of Hanumankind’s hit, ‘Big Dawgs’. Watch the moment here. (Hindustan Times)
Three: In a show of solidarity, Pedro Pascal posted a series of photos from the sets of ‘Gladiator II’ featuring his co-star May Calamawy. Why this is notable: Calamawy is an Egyptian-Palestinian who has been inexplicably cut from the film—after being announced as a major lead. Note that Pedro included a photo of her wearing a keffiyeh. Screen Rant explains why this is a big deal.
Four: Aclay artefact unearthed from Aleppo in Syria reveals that humans have been using alphabets for at least 4,400 years. FYI: it was previously believed that alphabets were invented in or around Egypt, after 1900 BC. (Gizmodo)
