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Researched by: Rachel John, Aarthi Ramnath & Anannya Parekh

This week in ‘24 Questions: Whispers and WhatsApp waterfalls

In the third edition of our weekly election special, political consultant Ritwick Shrivastav reveals the secret of the BJP’s success—an army of panna pramukhs who win elections one booth at a time. In Eye Candy, the BJP's Google ad spends reveal a very surprising pattern. 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 work remotely. But we 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.

Coming in April: The great Indian election mela

The Lok Sabha elections will kick off on April 19—and will be held in seven phases. You will have to wait until June 4 for the results. Spread over 44 days, it is the longest voting season since the first general elections in 1951-52. Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar blames the logistics of getting 968 million voters to over 1.5 million polling stations.

Point to note: Once the dates are announced, the elaborate Model Code of Conduct laid down by the Election Commission has kicked in. Of course, it remains to be seen if any of the party’s actually follow it. 

Also going to polls: at the same time: Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, and Sikkim. But Jammu and Kashmir’s dates have been put on hold for “security and administrative reasons.” Mint has details on the complete schedule.

A related read: Indian Express offers an interesting take on how regional parties will fare in this election.

Meanwhile, in Mumbai: Rahul Gandhi’s 63-day Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra came to an end with an impressive show of Opposition unity on Sunday. The closing ceremony was attended by Tejashwi Yadav, MK Stalin, Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray and Mehbooba Mufti. Missing in action: CPI(M) and the CPI. But the optics were upbeat—as you can see in the photo below. (The Hindu)

War on Gaza: A humanitarian aid crisis

In the midst of all the talk about fresh shipments for Gaza, there are reports of a bloodbath at five aid distribution centres—which resulted in 56 deaths and 300 people injured. According to eyewitness reports in Al Jazeera, Israeli forces used helicopters, tanks and drones to target thousands of people waiting on food trucks. The attacks are being described as a “new, premeditated massacre.” Israel denied the reports:

Approximately one hour before the arrival of the convoy to the humanitarian corridor, armed Palestinians opened fire while Gazan civilians were awaiting the arrival of the aid convoy. As aid trucks were entering, the Palestinian gunmen continued to shoot as the crowd of Gazans began looting the trucks. Additionally, a number of Gazan civilians were run over by the trucks.

Point to note: the overall death toll in connection to such attacks has risen to 400. A reminder: The UN has previously warned that at least 576,000 people in Gaza are on the brink of famine. (Al Jazeera) 

A problem of distribution: A fresh shipment of aid arrived on the shores of the Gaza strip—but is sitting in warehouses since there is no clear plan to distribute it. Some military experts say the NGOs are being “tight-lipped” about distribution points to avoid more attacks. Also: Activists say sending aid via one or two ships is inefficient—and hardly helpful when Israel is blocking tons of food and supplies sitting on trucks in Egypt awaiting permission to enter Gaza. (NBC News)

Hopes of a ceasefire: have risen again as Hamas has dropped its demand for a permanent ceasefire—and agreed to a 40-day pause. The Guardian explains why its negotiating position is now weak.

Vladimir Putin ‘wins’ reelection… again! 

With half the ballots counted, the Russian president has 87.3% of the vote—which is hardly surprising since no one is running against him. Most opposition candidates are dead, jailed, exiled or barred from running—including his greatest nemesis Alexei Navalny. Putin’s own spokesman admitted that the vote was “not really democracy” but “costly bureaucracy.” He will now remain in power until at least 2030.

Interesting to note: Putin is feeling so confident that he finally uttered the name of his greatest nemesis—Alexei Navalny who died in a Siberian prison (see: this Big Story). He claimed that Moscow had agreed to a prisoner exchange to free Navalny—when he unexpectedly died: “Well, such things happen. There’s nothing you can do about it, that’s life.” (CNN)

A communal attack on foreign students 

On Saturday night, a mob of 30 people attacked five international students who were offering namaz at their hostel in Gujarat University. The students were from Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka. Since there is no mosque on campus, they had gathered together to offer Ramadan prayers:

A group of around 30 people entered the area chanting ‘Jai Sri Ram’ slogans during the namaaz at around 10.30 pm and reportedly attacked the international students. Four students who were injured – two of them severely — were rushed to the municipal corporation-run SVP Hospital.

The Vice Chancellor is already in victim-blaming mode:

They are foreign students and when they go to foreign countries there is a need to be culturally sensitive. From this incident it has emerged that there is still a need for cultural orientation. We will sit with them (foreign students) and try to understand what they feel and what can be done and how to strengthen their security.

Indian Express has more on the university’s defence. See the attack below.

Content warning: The following headline contains details about child abuse that can be difficult to read.

A terrifying global network of child abuse

An investigation by a consortium of news organisations—including Washington Post and Wired—has uncovered a global network of abusers who target vulnerable children. The investigation revealed a sprawling ecosystem where boys and men (some as old as mid-40s) actively seek out mentally disturbed children on platforms like Discord and Telegram. Then they begin grooming them to sexually exploit themselves or inflict self-harm. The details of this investigation are pretty horrifying:

They have coerced children into sexual abuse or self-harm, causing them to deeply lacerate their bodies to carve “cutsigns” of an abuser’s online alias into their skin. Victims have flushed their heads in toilets, attacked their siblings, killed their pets, and in some extreme instances, attempted or died by suicide. Court records from the United States and European nations reveal participants in this network have also been accused of robberies, in-person sexual abuse of minors, kidnapping, weapons violations, swatting, and murder.

The most notorious is a group called ‘764’—founded by a then 16-year-old—Bradley Cadenhead from Texas. He created “a self-described cult that prized sadistic acts.” While Cadenhead is in prison—serving an 80-year sentence—the online community he created has continued to flourish.  

The truly chilling bit: Platforms like Discord and Telegram are aware of these communities but have not been able to shut them down—due to their privacy controls. Telegram offers fully encrypted communication—while Discord “allows anonymous users to control and moderate large swaths of its private meeting rooms with little oversight.” Washington Post (splainer gift link) and Wired have more details. 

A key study into Indian ancestry

The context: Early humans—Homo Erectus—lived between 1.89 million and 110,000 years ago. Soon after Homo erectus, there were a number of different human species—whose time on Earth overlapped with one another. Among them were the Neanderthals and their close relatives Denisovans—who lived 400,000 to 40,000 years ago. Modern humans interbred with both species.

What happened now: A first-of-its-kind large genome study on Indian ancestry has revealed new details about our origins:

Most Indians are primarily a mixture of three ancestral populations: hunter-gatherers who lived on the land for tens of thousands of years, farmers with Iranian ancestry who arrived sometime between 4700 and 3000 B.C.E., and herders from the central Eurasian steppe region who swept into the region sometime after 3000 B.C.E., perhaps between 1900 and 1500 B.C.E.

An important finding: Indians have 1-2% of Neanderthal genes as well as of their close cousins, the Denisovans: 

Indians collectively carry a stunning variety of these archaic genes compared with other worldwide populations. About 90% of all known Neanderthal genes that have made their way into human populations turned up in the 2700 Indian genomes. That’s about 50% more than was recovered in a similar study of Neanderthal DNA in Icelanders that analysed more than 27,000 genomes.

Point to note: The highest percentage of archaic ancestry was found among east and northeast Indians and the lowest among north Indians. All of this is very surprising since we have never found fossil evidence of these ancient human relatives in India. But, but, but: The study is yet to be peer reviewed. 

Science has more nerdy details on the study while Smithsonian Magazine offers a good overview. A related read: Our Big Story on the debate on human evolution.

Elon Musk’s new gig: Building spy satellites

Back in February, Wall Street Journal reported that SpaceX had sealed a secret $1.8 billion contract with the US government. Now, a Reuters exclusive reveals that it is building a “powerful new spy system with hundreds of satellites”—with “Earth-imaging capabilities that can operate as a swarm in low orbits.” Why this matters:

The classified constellation of spy satellites represents one of the U.S. government’s most sought-after capabilities in space because it is designed to offer the most persistent, pervasive and rapid coverage of activities on Earth. "No one can hide," one of the sources said of the system’s potential capability, when describing the network's reach.

Reuters has lots more on the deepening ties between Musk and the security establishment.

Sticking with Big Tech: Apple is being sued over its AirTags—which is being used by stalkers. The discs are meant to help you keep track of car keys etc—but can be easily used to track humans:

Law enforcement officials have warned that the devices could be used in attempts to steal cars. And women have said they have found AirTags hidden on their cars and in their possessions, and sometimes have called the police. One woman, Ashley Estrada, told The New York Times that she had recently received a notification that an AirTag had been tracking her for four hours across Los Angeles, and that she had eventually found the device lodged behind her car’s license plate. “I felt so violated,” Ms. Estrada said.

Bloomberg News has more on the lawsuit.

More bad news for Boeing

The United Airlines-Boeing jodi is a recipe for disaster. First, part of a plane blew off in midair back in January—triggering great furore and an investigation. Now, another UA flight from San Francisco landed in Oregon—minus an external panel. No one realised it was gone—or knows when it fell off: “According to the airline, there was no indication of any damage to the plane during the flight, and the aircraft did not declare an emergency on its way to the Medford airport.” Reminder: A recent aviation authority audit found a number of lapses—including the mechanics using a hotel key card to check a door seal and using liquid Dawn soap as a lubricant. (New York Times)

Finally, RCB wins the IPL!

The women have finally managed what the men couldn’t achieve for 16 years. Royal Challengers Bangalore won the Women’s Premier League on Sunday—beating the Delhi Capitals on their home turf by eight wickets. They chased down a total of 114 with three balls to spare thanks to the heroics of Sophie Devine and Ellyse Perry. Shreyanka Patil also picked up four wickets in the match. Watch the winning moment below. (Sportstar)

Two things to see

One: A blueberry grown in Australia broke the Guinness World record for the largest and heaviest fruit of its kind. It is 39.31 mm wide—almost the same size of a table tennis ball—and weighs 20.4 grams. For perspective: A normal sized blueberry typically weighs between 1 gram and 3.5 grams. (Independent UK)

Two: The staff at a wildlife centre in Virginia have found a new way to nurse a newborn red fox—to prevent orphans from imprinting on humans. Their solution: a fox mask. Here’s the founder of the centre feeding milk to the tiny female kit. (NBC News)