Pregnant woman deported to Bangladesh, Then Called Back
☕ India’s Morning Briefing: Thu, December 04
Hello, and welcome to the brief.
Good morning, friends.
The mood today is cautiously calibrated. While New Delhi recalibrates its fiscal architecture on “sin goods” and walks back digital surveillance mandates, the global stage is witnessing the spectacular unraveling of the French government. The Indian Rupee has hit a historic low, breaching the 90 mark, yet gold is shining brighter than ever. It is a day of corrections—political, financial, and atmospheric.
Welcome to the 174th edition of The India Brief
Do not miss the deep dive in the end
🇮🇳 The India Brief: Top Stories
Politics, Law & Governance
🚬 Lok Sabha Passes Central Excise Bill on Tobacco
The Bill; Central Excise (Amendment) Bill, 2025 passed by voice vote.
The Mechanism; Replaces expiring GST Compensation Cess with heavy Central Excise.
The Rate; 60-70% duty on unmanufactured tobacco; cigarettes taxed ₹2,700–₹11,000 per 1,000 sticks.
The Logic; Ensuring “sin tax” revenue remains intact after Cess ends in 2026.
The government looked at the expiring GST Cess and asked, “How do we keep the money flowing without calling it a Cess?” Enter the “Amendment.” It’s a classic case of changing the label on the bottle while keeping the spirit—and the tax burden—exactly 100 proof. Smokers hoping for a post-Cess discount just got a harsh lesson in fiscal gravity: Sin taxes only go up, never down. 🔗
📱 Govt Withdraws Mandatory ‘Sanchar Saathi’ App
The Reversal; DoT withdraws order mandating Sanchar Saathi installation on all smartphones.
The Reason; Official stance cites “increasing voluntary acceptance“; reality suggests massive privacy backlash.
The Timeline; Order issued Nov 28; withdrawn Dec 3 after industry and opposition pushback.
The government realized that forcing a “security” app onto everyone’s phone sounded a bit too much like 1984 for 2025. They’ve pivoted to the “it’s so popular we don’t need to force you” defense, which is the political equivalent of “I didn’t want to go to that party anyway.” A rare victory for the “Delete App” button.
🛡️ The Bottom Line: A tactical retreat. The original order overreached by mandating software at the manufacturing level, creating potential backdoors. The swift rollback suggests the government is wary of igniting a privacy rights firestorm, because that is a can a warms even the govt doesn’t want to open in public. 🔗
✝️ HC Rules on Dalit Christian Reservation
The Order; Allahabad HC directs UP Govt to cancel SC certificates of religious converts.
The Logic; Christianity has no caste system/untouchability; retaining SC status is a “fraud on the Constitution.“
The Deadline; District Magistrates given 4 months to identify and cancel such certificates.
The High Court has drawn a line in the holy water. You can save your soul or your quota, but apparently, you can’t save both. The ruling essentially tells converts, “Welcome to egalitarianism—please hand over your reservation card at the door.” 🔗
Economy, Market & Finance
📉 Rupee Breaches 90 Against Dollar
The Milestone; Rupee hits all-time low of 90.21/$.
The Cause; Relentless FII outflows (₹3,642 cr sold Tuesday) and strong dollar index.
The Inaction; Lack of aggressive RBI intervention cited by traders.
The Rupee has finally joined the “90s Club,” but unlike a vintage wine, this isn’t getting better with age. It’s a race to the bottom, and the Rupee is sprinting like it’s late for a flight. 🔗
🦄 Startups: 21 Lakh Jobs & Funding Wins
The Stat; DPIIT-recognized startups have created 21.11 lakh direct jobs.
The Surprise; Vijayawada tops the list for MeitY’s incubation funding.
The Deals; Yoodli raises $40M (Series B); Mannjal raises ₹17.5 Cr.
Who knew Vijayawada was the new Silicon Valley of the East Coast? While Bangalore complains about traffic, Vijayawada is quietly cashing government checks and incubating the future. 🔗
Disaster, Security & Science
🤝 Supreme Court on Pregnancy & Borders
The Case; Pregnant woman deported to Bangladesh.
The Action; Centre agrees to repatriate her for medical care on “humanitarian grounds.“
The Precedent; Rare deviation from strict Foreigners Act protocols.
Even the heavy hand of the state wears a velvet glove occasionally. Deporting a pregnant woman was a PR disaster waiting to happen; bringing her back is basic humanity triumphing over bureaucracy. 🔗
🌫️ Delhi Smog: Another Committee Formed
The News; CM Rekha Gupta forms “specialised committee” with IIT experts.
The Goal; Treat pollution as an “emergency mission.“
The Reality; Focus shifting to techno-fixes like cloud seeding.
If committees could filter air, Delhi would be Switzerland. We have more panels on pollution than we have clear days. 🔗
🏏 Glenn Maxwell Quits IPL
The News; Maxwell opts out of IPL 2026 auction.
The Stat; Scored just 100 runs in last 17 games.
The Impact; big blow to “entertainment quotient.”
Maxwell leaving the IPL is like a rollercoaster shutting down for maintenance. It was a wild ride 🔗
🌏 Jaishankar on H-1B
The Quote; Nations restricting talent will be “net losers.“
The Target; Trump admin restrictions.
The Strategy; Framing migration as “economic necessity” for the West.
Linking migration to “competitiveness” speaks the language of the US business lobby. 🔗
♿ SC: Accessibility in Exams
The Order; UPSC directed to strictly follow scribes/screen reader norms.
The Petitioner; Mission Accessibility.
The Impact; Level playing field for disabled candidates.
A strong reinforcement of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act. The judiciary stepping in where the executive lagged. 🔗
🌍 World Watch: Top 10 Global Stories
🇰🇷 South Korea: “People’s Sovereignty Day”
The News; President Lee designates Dec 3 to mark failed martial law anniversary.
The Pivot; Considers apology to North Korea for drone provocations by his predecessor.
The Context; Sharp turn from hawkish to dovish policies.
Seoul is celebrating the day they reminded their President that “Squid Game” isn’t a governance manual.
The Signal: A massive geopolitical pivot. Apologizing to Pyongyang validates the North’s complaints and complicates the US-Japan-Korea alliance. 🔗
💾 Tech: Marvell Buys Chip Startup Celestial AI
The Deal; $3.25 Billion acquisition ($1B cash + stock).
The Tech; Photonic Fabric (light-based data transfer).
The Goal; Break the “memory wall” in AI computing.
Silicon is hitting limits; the future is optical. Marvell is betting the house that light-speed transfer is the only way to scale AI clusters.
Btw yeah, even I read it wrong at first. It’s Marvell, the leader in data infrastructure semiconductor solutions, and not Marvel, the superhero franchise :P 🔗
🇬🇧 UK/Germany: The Royal Reset
The Visit; German President Steinmeier in London; first in 27 years.
The Optics; King Charles hosts banquet; “Kensington Treaty” focus.
The Goal; Post-Brexit repair of defense ties.
Nothing says “we’re friends again” like a German President and a British King toasting in a castle renamed to sound less German. 🔗
🛰️ Space: The Junk Problem
The Study; Nature paper calls for “recyclable” spacecraft.
The Issue; Satellite constellations (Starlink) threatening Hubble.
The Threat; 39% of Hubble images could be ruined by trails.
We polluted the Earth, now we’re trashing the view. 🔗
🇸🇾 Middle East: The Syria Buffer
The Talk; Netanyahu asks Trump to support Syria buffer zone.
The Shift; Trump tells Netanyahu to “take it easy“ on new Syrian leadership.
The Goal; Preventing Iranian entrenchment near Golan. 🔗
🧸 The Good Stuff: Top 10 Happy News
🕶️ Vision for the Blind; Bengaluru student Tushar wins ₹25L Samsung award for AI navigation tool ‘Percevia’. 🔗
💧 Water Positive; Delhi Airport becomes India’s first to replenish more water than it consumes. 🔗
🔍 The Deep Dive: The Masterclass
The Fiscal Vice: Why Your Neighbours Cigarettes Are a National Asset
The Headline: The GST Compensation Cess is dead. Long live the Central Excise.
The Context For years, every time you bought a luxury car or a cigarette, you paid a “Cess” on top of GST. This money was ring-fenced to compensate States for revenue losses post-2017 GST implementation. That promise—and the loan backing it—ends in 2026. Logic dictates the tax should vanish, right? Wrong.
The Mechanism (The “Bowl Theory”) Imagine the government has two bowls.
Bowl A (GST Cess): Money here must go to pay off specific loans. It dies when the loan is paid.
Bowl B (Central Excise/Divisible Pool): Money here goes into the main kitty. Crucially, 41% is shared with States, and the Centre spends the rest.
Yesterday, the government essentially poured the liquid from Bowl A into Bowl B. By passing the Central Excise (Amendment) Bill, 2025, they replaced the dying Cess with a permanent Excise Duty of equivalent value.
Why It Matters
The “Sin” Floor: The government has established the tax burden on tobacco as a “floor,” not a ceiling. If the cess expired without this, prices would drop, consumption might rise (bad for health), and revenue would collapse (bad for finance).
Fiscal Federalism: This is a win for States. The old Cess wasn’t shared (it was compensation). The new Excise Duty is shared. Your smoking habit now directly funds your State’s treasury.
The Precedent: This decouples “Sin Goods” from GST logic. Expect similar structural rigidity in petroleum taxation down the line. It is a cynical but brilliant piece of fiscal engineering to prevent a revenue cliff.
🎧 Sign-Off
Question of the Day: If the Rupee is at 90 and Gold is at 1.3 Lakh, are we experiencing inflation or just a very expensive reality check?
Stay Sharp. Aditya S. Editor-in-Chief, OneRead.News
Ps: We will be on off tomorrow. See you day after :)