Target Nepalis: A racism scandal at Kalinga

Written by: Aarthi Ramnath, Raghav Bikhchandani & Yash Budhwar

Target Nepalis: A racism scandal at Kalinga

The context: Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT), a private deemed university in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, was established in 1992—and became a deemed university in 2004. It is ranked #15 among all universities in India by NIRF.

What happened: On February 16, Prakriti Lamsal—a 20-year-old Nepali student—was found dead in her hostel room. The third-year BTech student had reportedly been harassed and blackmailed by fellow student Advik Srivastava from Lucknow.

This is an unverified audio recording of Advik verbally abusing Prakriti:

As per the FIR filed by her cousin, Siddhant Sigdel, Lamsal reported Srivastava to the university’s International Relations Office (IRO)—but it merely issued a warning.

What happened next: News of Lamsal’s suicide sparked immediate protests by 500-plus Nepali students—who accused the university of negligence. KIIT authorities bizarrely responded by ordering all Nepali students to vacate the campus immediately and indefinitely—essentially expelling them overnight.

Eyewitnesses and students reported that they were forced onto buses and dropped at the Cuttack railway station, 30 km away, without proper arrangements. Some students lacked train tickets, and others said they had upcoming exams scheduled for February 28.

You can see the staff driving the students away here. There are also shocking clips of racist remarks made by angry university staff—including this one in which an official says KIIT’s spending “on students’ welfare was more than the national budget of Nepal.”

The fallout: The mass eviction immediately sparked condemnation from Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli. That’s when Odisha’s Higher Education Minister stepped in—overturning the eviction. The vice chancellor then issued a statement claiming to be “extremely appalled” by this “untoward incident”—as though the university had no role in evicting the student. As part of this ‘bad apple’ strategy—three members of the staff and two security guards have been sacked. Srivastava has since been arrested for abetment of suicide.

What’s still unclear: KIIT’s justification for expelling all Nepali students—without cause. It ought to alarm any student at a private college. (Business Standard)

Meanwhile in Kerala: A video of a brutal assault—described as ‘ragging’—at the Government College of Nursing in Kottayam has gone viral. It shows a first-year student tied up, stabbed with a divider, and tortured. Dumbbells were placed on his private parts. We have not embedded the clip, but you can watch the video here. A police complaint has finally been filed—and five senior students have been arrested. The college principal and a faculty member have been suspended, as well.

Time to cancel ‘ragging’? Media reports describe the torture as part of ‘ragging’—just because the perpetrators were seniors torturing junior students. It may take more time to wipe out this institutionalised version of abuse—but we can surely cancel this grossly misleading term ASAP.

Data points to note: 40% of all college students experience ‘ragging’ but only 8.6% report it. Between 2011 and 2019, 54 students died by suicide due to ‘ragging’, and despite strict laws and helplines, cases have surged—rising by 45% in 2023–24. (The News Minute)

Jab Russia met America…

The summit between US and Russian officials in Riyadh has resulted in a “head-spinning shift in relations.” After three years of trying to turn Moscow into an international pariah, Washington is back to being besties with Putin—confirming the world’s suspicions about its reliability—either as an ally or foe. The post-meeting rhetoric was comedy gold—with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov declaring: “We weren’t just listening to each other, but we heard each other.” Aww!

The fallout: The US signalled it is eager “to explore ‘the incredible opportunities that exist to partner with the Russians,’ both geopolitically and economically.” This will involve kicking Kyiv to the side, of course:

The meeting… was the latest swerve by the Trump administration in abandoning Western efforts to punish Russia for starting Europe’s most destructive war in generations. It signaled Mr. Trump’s intention to roll back the Biden administration’s approach toward Moscow, which focused on sanctions, isolation and sending weapons to Ukraine that helped kill tens of thousands of Russian soldiers.

An unhappy Volodymyr Zelensky cancelled his planned trip to Riyadh—to hold a separate meeting with US officials. To which Donald Trump said:

I hear that they're upset about not having a seat, well, they've had a seat for three years and a long time before that. This could have been settled very easily. You should have never started it. You could have made a deal.

Well, that’s another bit of history rewritten.

Also notable: The Europeans—plus Britain—held a summit in Paris to figure how to deal with this rug-pulling move from Trump. Britain had signalled it would be ready to send troops—to ensure security guarantees made as part of any deal were kept. The plan was immediately nixed by Moscow—which said it will “not accept peacekeeping forces from Nato countries in Ukraine under any peace deal.” So that bit of defiance has been squelched, as well. BBC News has that story. (New York Times, login required, The Hindu)

Was Tata Consultancy ‘rigging’ the US visa system?

The context: In 2017, three former employees filed federal lawsuits against Tata Consultancy Services. US law allows employees to sue companies as whistleblowers—on behalf of the government. All three lawsuits were dismissed last February due to lack of evidence—only Anil Kini’s is currently on appeal.

The allegation: The company gamed the system by miscategorising engineers as senior managers—making them eligible for L-1A visas. They would otherwise need H-1B visas to work in the United States. The reason:

The manager visas, known as L-1As, are easier for employers to obtain and have fewer guardrails; for example, they lack even the minimal pay requirements that Congress has imposed for H-1B holders.

Kini says “his superiors ordered him to falsify internal organizational charts—to make them appear more top-heavy with managers than they really were.”

Key data points to note: The Bloomberg investigation also shows that the number of managers TCS disclosed in mandatory filings is far lower than the number of L-1A approvals it received. It also found that TCS received more than 6,500 L-1A visa approvals between October 2019 and September 2023—more than the next seven largest L-1A recipients combined (see below).

Reminder: Trump has not cracked down on H1-B visas thanks to Elon Musk’s influence. It may explain why the Justice Department has not signed on to these lawsuits. FYI: Infosys paid out a $34 million settlement last year in a case of alleged systemic visa fraud. Bloomberg News has the exclusive, but is paywalled. For a free curation, check out Economic Times.

The ICC Champions Trophy is here!

The what: Starting today until March 9, eight nations will duke it out in the ninth edition of the ICC Champions Trophy.

The format: remains the same as the last three editions—held in 2009, 2013 and 2017. The eight teams are divided into two groups of four. Each team plays three matches in the group stage—and the top two in each group qualify for the semis. You know how the rest goes—check out the full schedule here.

The happy hosts: are Pakistan and the UAE—in a logistically complicated ‘hybrid model’. But it’s a much bigger deal for Pakistan. This will be the first ICC tournament to be held in the country in nearly 30 years—since the 1996 World Cup. Tours to Pakistan were suspended after a terror attack on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore in 2009. The drought was finally broken by the Sri Lankans in 2019.

India plays spoiler: Since then, every major cricketing nation has resumed touring Pakistan—except India. In fact, the Indian cricket board has used its muscle to block its chances of hosting international tournaments. Best example: India refused to play any Asia Cup match in Pakistan in 2023. Pakistan was forced to accept the role of co-host—but even then most of the games were moved to Sri Lanka. In the end, Pakistan only hosted four games in the entire tournament.

Quote to note: Veteran cricket journalist Sharda Ugra said at the time:

The Indian cricket board is hurting Pakistan just because it can. Back in the 90s, Asian nations were a bloc and presented a united front, but things have unfortunately changed now. This is a classic bullying tactic.

What happened now: India tried screwing Pakistan over again this time, but every other team has agreed to play in Pakistan—which means only India’s games, and one semifinal, will be held in Dubai. We don’t know where the final will be played as it’s dependent on India’s performance—if we don’t qualify, it will take place in Lahore.

The favourites: Pakistan are the ‘defending champions’—from eight years ago—while India and New Zealand have the best rankings—coming into the tournament. All three are in the same group, so one big contender will face an early exit. Also looking good: Afghanistan, who is in the other group with Australia, England and South Africa. FYI: Nearly all teams have been blighted by injuries to some of their best players—we will be without Jasprit Bumrah, for instance. You can check out all the latest squads here.

The India vs Pakistan match: will take place on Sunday, February 23, at 2:30pm IST in Dubai. While recent head-to-head matchups favoured us, Pakistan traditionally have enjoyed the edge in Champions Trophy encounters—our last defeat to them in ODIs was the 2017 Champions Trophy final. Our first tournament match is against Bangladesh on February 20.

Reading list: Associated Press and Reuters have the best coverage of what this tournament means to Pakistan today, while Al Jazeera has the breakdown of the contenders. For the nerds, there’s ESPNCricinfo.

what caught our eye

business & tech

Following Elon Musk’s meeting with PM Modi, Tesla has started hiring in India—with a possible goal of entering the EVs market.
Elon Musk is a walking conflict of interest. All seven of his companies—X, xAI, Neuralink, Starlink, the Boring Company, Tesla and SpaceX—have netted a combined $20 billion in US government contracts and subsidies.
Sticking with Musk, Starlink may benefit in the Vietnamese market from the country adopting new rules that allow foreign companies to provide satellite internet services nationwide.
South Korea is set to host the world’s largest data center, a $10 billion project with the potential to hit $35 billion, tripling the capacity of today’s biggest tech giants.
Intel’s stock surged 16.1% on Tuesday—its best day since March 2020—after reports that Broadcom and TSMC are eyeing a split of the company’s assets, with the former looking at chip design and the latter at factories.
According to a hot new theory, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey is the mysterious creator of Bitcoin?
The Supreme Court has granted bail to Christian Michel James, the alleged middleman in the AgustaWestland helicopter scam.

sports & entertainment

Nike is working with Kim Kardashian on a new brand of athletic wear imaginatively called... NikeSkimms.
Steven Spielberg is back in the director’s chair for a star-studded but still untitled “event film” with Josh O’Connor and Emily Blunt, set to hit theaters June 2026.
Get hyped for the third season of David Tennant’s podcast—featuring Stanley Tucci and Ben Schwartz among the new guests. The season will be out on February 25.
An Austrian businessman wants to purchase the rights to all things James Bond—because apparently the billion-dollar, 63-year-old spy franchise is in danger.

health & environment

A new report reveals more than 370 million people worldwide need oxygen as part of their medical care every year—but fewer than 1 in 3 receive it.
Scientists in South Africa were testing a promising HIV vaccine. But, but, but: Trumps’ cuts in funding to USAID has scuppered the project.
BBC News has a must-read breakdown of collagen supplements and whether they work as skincare or are simply just marketing hype. Our Big Story has more on the ‘science’ of skincare.
The Conversation features a nerdy new theory in order to explain how water first arrived on Earth.

as for the rest

Israel continues to occupy parts of Lebanon—in violation of the ceasefire agreement.
Border arrests dropped 39% in January compared to the month before—the lowest since COVID lockdowns—giving an early read on Trump’s immigration policies in action. Meanwhile, Costa Rica has agreed to help—by serving as a “bridge” nation to repatriate illegal immigrants in the US—including from India.
In a related read, New York Times (splainer gift link) has details on the horrific conditions they will be kept in.
The I&B ministry was the one that issued the blocking orders of Vikatan magazine’s website after it published a cartoon featuring PM Modi shackled in chains, next to Trump.
The Supreme Court shielded podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia from arrest but slapped him with a gag order—barring him and his team from posting online. Free speech concerns? The SC’s own past rulings say so.
Indians are sinking over a third of their income into loan EMIs, a new study finds.
Trump’s visa rule changes just made life harder for Indians in the US—no more “dropbox” interview waivers for switching visa categories. F1 to H1B? Get ready for a full interview.
A couple in Pakistan has been arrested over allegedly abusing and murdering a 13-year-old girl whom they had employed as a maid.
Jack LaSota, the alleged leader of the ‘Zizian’ cult linked to five murders, has been arrested for trespassing, obstructing and hindering and possession of a handgun in the vehicle.
For some reason, Elon Musk’s Boring Company is planning to build a 10-mile underground tunnel in Dubai.
CEOs are dragging workers back to the office in the name of productivity, but McKinsey says that’s a myth—where you work doesn’t matter, despite execs insisting remote work makes employees lazy.
A single protein variant found only in humans may have shaped the emergence of spoken language, according to new research.

Four things to see

One: The liberal advocacy group Common Cause claims that the Washington Post backed out of publishing a political ad—titled “Fire Elon Musk”—after initially signing a $115,000 deal. The ad was to run on the front and back pages of the paper’s Tuesday edition. Reminder: Washington Post is owned by Jeff Bezos, who blocked the editorial board’s endorsement of Kamala Harris in last year’s election. As a result, the publication did not endorse a presidential candidate for the first time in 48 years. You can see the anti-Musk ad below. (The Hill)

Two: Termites live in colonies and are known to swiftly dismember any intruders—except for an extremely rare species of blow fly larvae. Researchers recently found them “thriving” inside a colony in Morocco. The best bit is how they managed this feat: with a butt shaped like a termite’s head—which you can see in all its glory below. Gizmodo has more details for nerds like us.

Three: A 20-day vintage car rally titled ‘Pearl of India’ kicked off in Mumbai on Sunday. A fleet of 23 rare cars—including a 101-year-old Bentley Tourer and a 1938 Alvis 25—are currently enroute to attend. See one of the beauties below. (Indian Express)

Four: The hype train for Christopher Nolan’s next film—a reimagining of Homer’s ‘The Odyssey’—has arrived. Universal Pictures has released the first photo of Matt Damon as Odysseus—in full (fake) Trojan War gear. He looks ridiculous. We will have to wait to see if other cast members—Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Zendaya and Robert Pattinson—are more convincing. The film will be released on July 17, 2026. (IGN)