Written by: Aarthi Ramnath, Raghav Bikhchandani & Yash Budhwar
India’s alarming new Immigration and Foreigners Bill
The context: In 2021, the Indian government introduced new rules for lifelong Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) visa holders—requiring them to get special permission for research or new reporting. In the years since, the government has revoked visas or OCIs of journalists and academics who are critical of its policies—especially around Kashmir and minorities.
What happened now: Earlier this week, the government introduced a new draft bill—the Immigration and Foreigners Bill, 2025—in the Lok Sabha. It imposes sweeping restrictions of foreign visitors—giving the government almost unlimited power.
Deportation zindabad! The government will be able to ban foreigners from entering or staying in the country for any variety of vague reasons: “threats to India’s national security, sovereignty and integrity, over their relations with a foreign state, if there is a public health issue, or ‘on such other grounds as the Central Government may, specify’.”
Held hostage? The government can also bar a visitor from leaving the country “if their presence is required by any authorised agency or on any other grounds specified by the government.”
Zero privacy rights: Overseas visitors will have to give up all “biometric information” on demand. Existing provisions mainly allow their photograph, handwriting specimens and signature to be taken.
Harsher penalties: Immigration officers will no longer need a warrant to arrest any foreigner who enters India without valid documents. The punishment: up to five years in prison and a fine of Rs 5 lakh. Overstayed on your visa? You face up to three years in prison and a fine of Rs 3 lakh. Plus this: Officers don’t need a warrant—and they can be arrested if there is merely a “reasonable suspicion” that the person does not possess valid documents.
Also this: There’s no appeals process—if the immigration officer doesn’t approve your entry or thinks your documents are invalid or forged, their decision is “final and binding”—you’re sh*t outta luck!
Point to note: This draft bill is intended to replace four existing immigration laws—three of which date back to the British Raj, and the World Wars—but none of them are this draconian. This is a pattern not an exception. The government has consistently outdone the Raj—making colonial laws even worse. For example: The new sedition law.
The key challenge: Critics say the bill violates various articles of the Constitution—including Article 14 that guarantees equality before law to “any person in India”, including foreigners.The bill will be first debated in parliament before being put to a vote. It remains to be seen whether BJP allies will offer the necessary support.
Reading list: The Print offers the most comprehensive analysis of the bill and the parliamentary discourse, while Economic Times and Business Today summarise the most alarming bits. For more on the recent targeting of OCI card holders, check out this Newslaundry story from last year.
Meanwhile in Washington: The Trump administration is deploying random immigration clauses to deport Palestine activist and Columbia grad Mahmoud Khalil. It is invoking a provision that allows it to deport a green card holder if secretary of state Marco Rubio “has reasonable grounds to believe that your presence or activities in the United States would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.” See? Americans are also champs at framing autocratic laws with ambiguous, sweeping language. (The Guardian)
The mystery of the Jaffar Express hijack: How many died?
The context: Baloch Liberation Army militants hijacked the train while it was passing through the Bolan Pass—carrying 500 passengers from Quetta to Peshawar. Initial reports suggested that at least nine security personnel and the driver were killed. The silver lining: 104 hostages, including women and children, managed to escape.
What happened now: Pakistani forces have freed the remaining hostages on the train—or at least those who are alive. The military puts the number at 346 hostages. The official death toll: At least 27 hostages and one paramilitary soldier—plus all 33 militants:
The Pakistani military said in the statement that "after a prolonged, intense and daring operation, the security forces successfully eliminated all 33 terrorists including suicide bombers, while rescuing the hostages in a phased manner."
But, but, but: The Baloch Liberation Army claims it executed a total of 100 passengers. And eyewitness testimony suggests the number is higher:
The attackers began separating the passengers according to ethnicity by checking their identity cards, removing ethnic Punjabi passengers and those suspected of being part of the Pakistani military, and executing them. “They killed so many people,” Sarwar said. He could not count how many people were slain, he said, but he witnessed the fighters “just taking groups of people aside from the railway track and shooting them”.
Al Jazeera has the latest reporting—and witness accounts.
Brazil COP30: Save the planet, raze the Amazon!
Irony is entirely dead—and likely extinct as the dodo. Brazil is building a four-lane highway straight through protected rainforest—to accommodate attendees at COP30. Yes, that’s the annual meeting of 197 nations—who gather to figure out how to fight climate change.
The more worrying bit: Each highway spawns a large number of smaller roads—which do even more damage. Recent research shows that “first-cut roads, initially constructed in undisturbed forests, lead to a proliferation of secondary roads, significantly increasing access to remote areas and greatly accelerating deforestation.”
Wtf is up with Lula? Environmentalists hailed the election of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2022—when he ousted Jair Bolsanaro, notorious for the wanton destruction of the Amazon rainforests during his regime. But Lula has instead embraced the Trump slogan—‘Drill, baby, drill!’ He is pushing for exploratory oil drilling at the mouth of the Amazon River. In fact, Brazil has moved swiftly to ally itself with an expanded bloc of oil producers—called OPEC+. In other words, the highway is an omen of things to come. Mongabay has more on the oil angle. Grist reports on the highway—and the carbon footprints of climate change summits.
Be still, my beating titanium heart…
Here’s some brilliant news for heart disease patients waiting for a transplant organ. An Australian man in his 40s survived more than 100 days with an artificial heart made of titanium! Also: It looks seriously awesome:
Called BiVACOR Total Artificial Heart, the device has no valves or mechanical parts that could wear out. Here’s how it works:
The implant pumps blood around the body using a motor with a special mechanism that avoids any mechanical wear between its parts. It uses magnets to suspend the motor's rotor, which means the parts don't rub or wear over time.
Yup, that’s the same magnetic levitation principle used in high-speed trains.
What’s next: Only five people have received these hearts so far. That’s not a large trial size. Also: This test device is “powered by an external rechargeable battery that connects to the heart via a wire in the patient's chest.” So not exactly conducive for a normal life. The coolest bit: “The hope is that in the future, the patient won't need to carry around a battery — and could even place a wireless charger over their chest, similar to how a mobile phone can be charged wirelessly.” Whoa! (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
what caught our eye
business & tech
- From sports to tech, they train ‘em young in China. In this case, Beijing’s municipal government has launched a new program to get six-year-olds familiar with all things AI.
- TikTok’s gotta new idea in order to deter kids from the endless scroll—lulling them to sleep through a full-screen wind down message.
- A day after announcing a service distribution deal with Airtel, Elon Musk’s Starlink has inked a similar partnership with Jio. Still pending since 2022: official approval for Starlink to operate commercially in India—talk about putting the cart before the horse lol!
- Another issue: these partnerships are supposed to help serve rural areas with low connectivity. One small problem: they can’t afford the Rs 30,000 set-up cost.
- Trump is coming for Mukesh-bhai! Washington wants a level playing field for US e-commerce giants like Amazon and Walmart.
- But, but, but: with Ambani and Mittal locking in deals with Musk’s Starlink, India might just be buying its way into Trump’s good books.
- A new memoir by a former Facebook employee contains numerous allegations of sexual harassment and unprofessional behaviour she faced from senior leadership like Joel Kaplan and Sheryl Sandberg—NBC News has the story.
- Also getting hit by the tariffs? Financial markets are on edge—S&P 500 is down 9%, volatility is up 80%, and Wall Street is bracing for more economic shocks.
sports & entertainment
- Legendary West Indies cricketer Andy Roberts has made his disdain for the ICC clear, labelling them the ‘Indian Cricket Board’—in light of India’s ‘undue advantage’ throughout the Champions Trophy.
- Out of the $10 billion Spotify paid to music rights holders in 2024, half went to indie record labels and artists—up $500 million from 2023.
- The opener of the upcoming Red Lorry Film Festival in Mumbai will be…’September 5’. Variety has the exclusive.
health & environment
- A new study has found that whales—when migrating—have ‘conveyor belts’ that move nutrients across the ocean thanks to…their urine!
- The Guardian has a must-read on the devastating environmental cost of building El Salvador’s Bitcoin City—from razed mangroves to displaced residents.
- Smog might be worse than we thought—turns out water vapour skews pollution estimates, especially on cold, humid mornings.
meanwhile, in the world
- The all-important court case on the White House’s bid to deport Mahmoud Khalil is underway. And it has been revealed, shockingly so, that he is yet to have a private meeting with his lawyers.
- The threat of deportation doesn’t just end with Khalil though. The White House is also putting pressure on Columbia University as it seeks to deport many more pro-Palestinian students.
- Even more died from Syria’s latest bout of violence than previously thought—disturbingly, the number has been revised up to at least 1,383—with 231 security personnel and 250 pro-Assad fighters also dead.
- Acute malnutrition in Rohingya refugee camps has hit its worst levels yet—over 15% of children in Bangladesh camps are now malnourished as UN food aid dwindles.
- As for the Donald’s ‘Tariff Pe Tariff’ sh*tshow, he’s now imposed sweeping tariffs of 25% on all imports of steel and aluminium. Canada has already retaliated.
- The EU is hitting back too—slapping a 25% tariff on US steel and aluminum starting April 1.
- The Demokraatit party, which has been critical of Trump’s annexation rhetoric and moderate on independence from Denmark, won the most votes in this week’s elections—dousing Donald's dreams.
- The US Space Force’s secret robotic plane—the X-37B—has returned after over a year in orbit. Universe Today has the nerdy details.
- The megalodon—the largest shark that ever lived—was even bigger than previously thought, according to new research.
meanwhile, in India
- The West Bengal village of Gidhagram saw a group of Dalit villagers enter the local temple for the first time in decades—in a historic demonstration against casteism.
- Meanwhile in Tamil Nadu, a class 11 Dalit student en route to write an exam was brutally assaulted—in relation to a prior dispute over a game of kabaddi.
- The government wants to remove GST from insurance policies to make them cheaper. But the industry wants to retain a 12% rate—for tax benefits.
- Citing defamation, the Delhi High Court has ordered the removal of a YouTube video exposè by journalist Shyam Meera about Jaggi Vasudev’s Isha Foundation.
- Darjeeling Tea hits its lowest production in 169 years, with absenteeism, ageing bushes, and steep replantation costs brewing trouble.
Five things to see
One: Donald lent a helping hand to his billionaire buddy Elon Musk—who is suffering greatly due to plunging Tesla sales—triggered primarily by his own behaviour. Being a good pal, Trump even had a marketing pitch sheet at hand—to make sure he covered all the talking points:
But our favourite bit is Donald’s big moment of discovery: “Wow… Everything’s computer!” (Associated Press)
