North Korea fires ballistic missiles hours after US raid
☕ India’s Morning Briefing: Mon, January 05
Hello, and welcome to the brief.
Good morning, family.
Sunday was a rollercoaster, that kept going down. Let’s make sense of the chaos.
Welcome to the 202nd edition of The India Brief
🏏 BCB Boycotts 2026 World Cup
🚫 Decision: Bangladesh refuses to travel to India for T20 World Cup.
🛡️ Reason: Cites “security concerns” following IPL snub of Mustafizur Rahman.
📝 Demand: BCB formally writes to ICC requesting neutral venues.
The Take: This isn’t about safety; it’s geopolitical posturing masquerading as cricket administration. By mimicking Pakistan’s playbook, the BCB risks alienating the sport’s financial engine, a game they cannot possibly win in the long run.
🛢️ ONGC Eyes Venezuelan Revival
🏗️ Asset: ONGC Videsh (OVL) has $1 billion stuck in San Cristobal field.
🇺🇸 Shift: US regime change operation could ease sanctions for Indian firms.
🔧 Plan: OVL ready to deploy rigs to revive falling production.
🎯 Goal: Recover dues and secure heavy crude for Indian refineries.
The Take: Chaos in Caracas might be a jackpot for New Delhi. If the US stabilises the oil flow (with a big ‘if’), OVL can finally cash in its bad chips, turning a geopolitical crisis into an energy security win.
🥇 PM Modi: Olympics 2036 is On
🎤 Speech: PM reiterates “full strength” preparation for 2036 hosting rights.
🏟️ Context: Inaugurating 72nd Senior National Volleyball Championship in Varanasi.
🏗️ Vision: Sports infrastructure framed as a tool for “nation-building.”
The Take: The Olympic bid is no longer a pipe dream; it’s a central policy plank. Modi is betting that soft power projection through sport will cement India’s status as a superpower, cost be damned.
🗳️ TMC’s 2026 Battle Plan
🏟️ Event: Mamata Banerjee convenes massive meet at Netaji Indoor Stadium.
🎯 Target: Setting strategy for 2026 Assembly elections.
📝 Issue: Demands ECI fix “glitches” in electoral rolls immediately.
⚠️ Threat: Warns of halting revision exercise if flaws aren’t rectified.
The Take: Didi is in war mode. By preemptively attacking the electoral roll process, she’s building a narrative of victimhood and resistance, ensuring her cadre remains mobilised against perceived central interference long before polling begins.
🤝 Thackeray Cousins Reunite Story
⚡ Alliance: Uddhav and Raj Thackeray launch joint BMC manifesto.
🗣️ Promises: Free electricity, aid for women, “Marathi Manoos” focus.
🔄 Attack: Uddhav demands cancelling 68 unopposed Mahayuti wins.
👥 Symbolism: First major collaboration between estranged cousins in decades.
The Take: Desperate times call for familial measures. The Thackerays realize that divided they fall against the BJP machine. This reunion is less about brotherly love and more about survival in the battle for Mumbai’s soul.
🏥 Karnataka protects Doctors
📜 Policy: Govt mandates term insurance for Medical Education Dept staff.
⚰️ Trigger: Death of IAS officer highlighted procedural payout gaps where due to a technical oversight, his family received almost Rs. 50 lakh less than the entitled amount.
🏥 Scope: Covers doctors, officers, and support staff in state service.
🎯 Aim: Ensuring substantial financial security for families.
The Take: A rare instance of bureaucratic tragedy spawning sensible policy. It shouldn’t take the death of an IAS officer to fix welfare gaps, but at least the state is moving to protect its frontline healers.
🚇 Metro Crime Bust
👮♀️ Arrest: Delhi Police books all-female theft gang.
🚇 MO: Creating distractions in ladies’ coaches to pickpocket.
👁️ Tech: Use of facial recognition helped track repeat offenders.
📍 Location: Gang operated out of Anand Parbat area.
The Take: Crime in the capital is evolving, but so is policing. The use of facial recognition for pickpocketing rings shows the authorities are done treating metro theft as petty crime; they are dismantling the supply chain.
🕯️ Justice for Ankita
🗣️ Protest: Demonstrations in Dehradun, Tehri, Almora.
⚖️ Demand: CBI probe into 2022 murder of Ankita Bhandari.
🏛️ Allegation: State protecting “VIPs” involved in the crime.
⚠️ Impact: Renewed pressure on Dhami government ahead of budget.
The Take: Justice delayed is justice denied, and Uttarakhand hasn’t forgotten. The persistence of these protests is a stark reminder that the “VIP culture” shielding predators is running out of road with the public.
🧬 Deeptech Boost
📜 Policy: Govt waives 3-year existence rule for deeptech startups.
💰 Benefit: Immediate access to DSIR funds and R&D support.
🎯 Goal: Accelerate AI, space, and quantum computing ventures.
🗣️ Statement: Minister Jitendra Singh calls it a move for “early momentum.”
The Take: Finally, the government realizes innovation doesn’t watch the calendar. Removing the age limit for funding allows brilliant ideas to get capital before they die on the vine of bureaucracy.
World Watch: Top Global Stories
🛢️ The Oil Quarantine
⚓ Strategy: US Sec State Rubio announces blockade of Venezuelan oil.
🎯 Goal: Prevent resource theft; secure assets for future govt.
🚢 Control: US Navy enforcing maritime cordon in Caribbean.
📉 Impact: 300 billion barrels of reserves effectively under US management.
The Take: It’s not just a raid; it’s a foreclosure. By locking down the oil, the US ensures the new regime, whoever it is (cough, puppet), will be financially tethered to Washington, securing energy dominance in the hemisphere.
🇨🇳 China Furious
🗣️ Demand: Beijing calls for “immediate release” of Maduro.
😡 Rhetoric: Terms US action “reckless use of force” and “piracy.”
💰 Stake: China is Venezuela’s largest creditor (oil-for-loans).
⚠️ Fear: Loss of strategic foothold and billions in investments.
The Take: Beijing is fuming because its checkbook diplomacy just got checkmated by a Black Hawk helicopter. They aren’t just losing an ally; they’re losing face and a massive energy asset to their primary rival.
🚀 North Korea Fires Back
📏 Launch: Pyongang fires ballistic missiles hours after US raid.
📍 Range: 900km flight; landed in Sea of Japan.
⏱️ Timing: Just before South Korean President’s trip to China.
📩 Message: Condemns US “hegemony” and “encroachment of sovereignty.”
The Take: Kim Jong Un is nervous. When dictators start disappearing in the night, the surviving ones tend to launch missiles to remind the world they have nukes and aren’t to be trifled with.
🇪🇺 Europe Divided
🇬🇧 Split: UK says “no tears shed”; France/Spain cite international law.
⚖️ Dilemma: Dislike Maduro but wary of unilateral military intervention.
🗣️ Stance: Calling for democratic transition, not US occupation.
😬 Reality: Caught between Atlantic alliance and legal / moral principles.
The Take: Europe is wringing its hands while America flexes its muscles. They want the result (Maduro gone) but hate the method, leaving them irrelevant spectators in a raw display of hard power.
🏭 China Manufacturing Up
📊 Data: Official PMI rises to 50.1 in December.
📈 Shift: Returns to expansion territory after months.
🏭 Driver: Stimulus measures stabilizing domestic demand.
⚠️ Caution: Trade war risks with US loom large.
The Take: A flicker of life in the dragon economy. Beijing’s stimulus is working, barely, but with US tariffs on the horizon, this recovery looks as fragile as a Ming vase in an earthquake.
The Good Stuff: Top Happy News
📚 Culture Fest: Delhi’s ‘Shabdotsav’ connects youth with literature and heritage. Link
🌍 Global IIT: IIT Madras launches foundation to take research to the world stage. Link
The Deep Dive: The Masterclass
Operation Absolute Resolve: Sovereignty, Suspended
The Event In a move that makes Hollywood scripts look subtle, US Special Forces executed “Operation Absolute Resolve” this weekend, extracting Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from Caracas and depositing him in New York. This wasn’t a war; it was a raid. By bypassing the UN and traditional declarations of conflict, Washington has reasserted the “Big Stick” policy with 21st-century precision. The operation utilized cyber-warfare to blind Venezuelan defenses and elite Delta Force operatives to breach the presidential compound, all while the world slept.
The Strategy: Oil Quarantine The follow-up is as critical as the capture. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced an “oil quarantine.” This isn’t just sanctions; it’s a physical blockade. The US Navy effectively now manages Venezuela’s primary asset, 300 billion barrels of crude. The logic is brutal but effective: starve the remnants of the regime of revenue while securing the oil for a future, US-approved government. This turns Venezuela from a sovereign state into a managed asset, ensuring that whoever takes the throne next does so with American permission and American purse strings.
The Global Fallout For India, this is a complex windfall. ONGC Videsh (OVL) has $1 billion stuck in Venezuela. With the US managing the sector, the path to recovering those dues and restarting imports of heavy crude, vital for Indian refineries, suddenly looks clearer. However, the precedent is chilling. The African Union and China are alarmed because the operation establishes that sovereignty is no longer a shield against American interests. If you cross a line, you don’t just get sanctioned; you get extracted. The era of multipolar politeness is over; raw power is back on the menu. Wind back the clocks to 1914.
Sign-Off: Question of the Day
How much power is too much power?
Stay sharp,
Aditya S.
Your humble editor,
OneRead