Don't Protest for Humanity in India - You Might get Arrested
☕ India’s Morning Briefing: Mon, November 10
Hello, and welcome to the brief.
Good morning, friends.
While you were sleeping, Delhi’s air officially became unbreathable (and protesting it became illegal), the military planned for a very cold winter in Ladakh, and India’s top general confirmed that wars are now fought with memes.
Welcome to the 151st edition of The India Brief
Do not miss the deep dive in the end.
1. The National Stage
😷 Delhi Air ‘Severe’; Protesters Detained
AQI; ‘severe’ category, >400 in several areas
Parents, activists; protested at India Gate
Detained by police; for assembling “without permission”
Ah, Delhi. Where the air is unbreathable, and protesting for breathable air is an unpardonable offence. Glad we’ve got our priorities straight.
The Deeper Take: The government isn’t optimising for clean air; it’s optimising for public order. Detaining protestors is cheaper and faster than fixing the air, and it solves the immediate “currency” of a bad public relations narrative. It’s the election season, what else can we expect?!🔗
🏔️ PM Unveils ₹8,260 Crore Projects in Uttarakhand
25th state formation day; PM visited
Projects worth ₹8,260 crore; inaugurated
Praised state’s “bold policies”; including Uniform Civil Code (UCC) 🔗
🗺️ Kuki-Zo Groups Renew Demand for Union Territory
Kuki-Zo insurgent groups; held talks with Home Ministry
Renewed demand; for a UT with legislative assembly
Cited “impossibility of coexistence”; in Manipur post-2023 violence
The Kuki-Zo groups have officially updated their relationship status with Manipur to “it’s complicated” and are asking the Centre for a divorce and their own apartment.
Find the Pattern : This is a classic, recurring script in Indian politics. When an ethnic minority (Kuki-Zo) feels unsafe under a state government (Manipur), they bypass the state and appeal to the Centre for direct rule. It’s the same pattern we’ve seen with Gorkhaland, Bodoland, and others. 🔗
🚂 RSS Song at Vande Bharat Launch Sparks Probe
Students sang RSS song; at Vande Bharat launch in Kerala
Education Minister V Sivankutty; ordered probe
Warned school; could lose NOC for “violation of constitutional principles”
The state government is not BJP guys! What else did you expect? This is not about morals, or rights and wrongs. The LDF and the BJP/RSS are using the school, the song, and the minister’s outrage as pawns to fight for ideological control over this public, symbolic space. 🔗
2. The Front Line: Defence & Security
Massive Anti-Terror Operations Sweep Jammu
J&K Police; extend crackdown across Jammu region
Massive search operations; in Ramban, Kathua, Rajouri
Targeting; Pak-based terrorists and ‘overground workers’ (OGWs)🔗
India Gets Full Tech Transfer for Israeli Missiles
MoD; acquired full technology transfer from Israel
Covers two systems; Air Lora (quasi-ballistic) & Ice Breaker (smart cruise)
Major boost; for domestic missile manufacturing🔗
🧠 Warfare Now in “Cognitive Domain,” Says CDS
CDS Gen. Anil Chauhan; spoke at Military Lit Fest
Global power race; now in space, cyberspace
Also includes; the “cognitive domain” (information, narratives)
India’s top general just confirmed the battlefield has expanded. Wars are no longer just fought with tanks and planes, but with tweets, memes, and narrative-bending. It’s about how you think about whom.🔗
3. The Bottom Line: Economy & Tech
🔋 Ola Electric Refutes Battery Tech Leak Allegations
Dismissed reports; of tech leak from ex-LG Energy employee
Called “baseless”; claims pouch cell tech is “old”
Promoted its own; indigenous “4680 Bharat Cell” as superior
Ola’s response to tech theft allegations is basically: “Steal your tech? Why would we steal your old VCR when we’re building a streaming service? Our stuff is better.”
The Chessboard ♞: Ola’s response isn’t just a denial; it’s a narrative play. By framing this as “Indigenous Bharat Cell vs. Scared Foreign Rival,” Ola is elevating a corporate dispute into a nationalist issue, aligning its brand with India’s “Atmanirbhar” geopolitical ‘chess game’. Once that is done successfully, the truth hardly matters in India. 🔗
📉 FPIs Pull ₹12,569 Crore, View India as “AI-Underperformer”
FPIs sold Indian equities; net outflow of ₹12,569 crore in Nov
Total 2025 withdrawal; over ₹1.5 lakh crore
Analyst: FPIs investing in AI-driven markets, see India as “AI-underperformer”
Global investors are pulling billions out of India because... we don’t have enough ‘AI’ in our PowerPoints? Apparently, the whole ‘world’s fastest-growing economy’ story is so last year.🔗
💰 Five IPOs to Hit Market, Eyeing ₹10,000 Crore
Five IPOs; scheduled for Nov 11-14
Total fundraising; over ₹10,000 crore
Includes; PhysicsWallah (₹3,480 cr) & Tenneco (₹3,600 cr)
The IPO market is suddenly a non-stop party, and everyone is trying to cash out. PhysicsWallah is going public! Which means your edtech-bro cousin is about to become insufferable.
Find the Pattern 🗿: A massive, sudden rush of IPOs is a classic, historical pattern of a market top. This is exit liquidity. It’s a sign that private equity and VCs (like in PhysicsWallah) are ‘cashing out’ at what they perceive to be the peak of public market optimism. 🔗
🏥 India Has 2nd Highest Kidney Disease Cases: Lancet
Global study; estimates India has 138 million cases
Second only to China; (152 million)
Key drivers; diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity
We’re officially in a global race no one wants to win. The second-order effect is the staggering, long-term economic burden. This isn’t just a health crisis; it’s a workforce crisis. A sick population means lower productivity, strained public finances, and a drag on GDP for decades to come. 🔗
4. The Uplifting News
❤️🩹 Delhi Doctors Perform Asia’s First Post-Death Organ Revival
Manipal Hospital; performed Asia’s first Normothermic Regional Perfusion
Restarted blood flow; in deceased patient using ECMO
Kept organs viable 4 hours; enabling liver, kidney transplants
And Then What? : This is revolutionary. India has a massive organ shortage, relying on “brain-dead” donors. This technique expands the pool to include “circulatory death,” potentially unlocking thousands of new organs and saving countless lives annually. This changes everything. 🔗
⚽ Australian-Born Footballer Ryan Williams Joins Team India
Ryan Williams (32); gained Indian citizenship
Surrendered; Australian passport to play for Indian football team
Connection; mother born in Mumbai, grandfather played for Bombay 🔗
🌍 India Exceeds Climate Target, Joins Tropical Forest Fund
India reduced; GDP emission intensity by 36% (2005-2020)
Surpassed; its target ahead of schedule
Joined; Brazil-led Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) as observer🔗
5. The World Stage
US Senate Moves to End 40-Day Government Shutdown
US government; on day 40 of historic shutdown
Senate; moves toward vote on stopgap funding bill
FAA; had mandated flight reductions, threatening holiday travel
After 40 days, the US government might finally reopen. The final straw? Not unpaid federal workers, but the threat of the FAA cancelling Thanksgiving flights. Never mess with an American’s right to argue with their family over turkey.
The Bottom Line: The shutdown ends when the political “currency” of blame becomes too expensive. The FAA cutting flights was the tipping point. The political cost of being blamed for ruining Thanksgiving became higher for Republicans than the cost of caving on demands. 🔗
Super Typhoon Kills 2 in Philippines; 900k Evacuated
Typhoon Fung-wong; made landfall in Luzon
At least 2 dead; 900,000+ people evacuated
Suspended rescue operations for previous typhoon (Kalmaegi)🔗
BBC Director-General and News CEO Resign
BBC Director-General Tim Davie; resigned
News CEO Deborah Turness; also resigned
Reason; criticism over “misleading” edit of a Trump Jan 6 speech
The Deeper Take: The BBC’s only currency, its entire reason for existing, is institutional impartiality. By getting caught in a “misleading” edit , it looked like an activist organisation. The resignations of the two top leaders are a sacrificial offering to try and save that core currency. 🔗
6. The Deep Dive
🌍 India’s Climate Goals: A Masterclass in Manipulation?
You saw the headlines today: India has triumphantly surpassed its climate targets. We are joining a forest fund and leading the good fight. But is this a true green revolution, or just some masterful administrative jujutsu?
Let’s apply the Incentive Analysis Lens. The “currency” India is optimizing for isn’t just decarbonization (which is hard); it’s diplomatic capital (which is smart). The win is achieved by framing the goals perfectly.
First, we pledged to cut our “emissions intensity“. This doesn’t mean we cut our total pollution. In fact, our absolute emissions (long term trend) are still rising. It just means our GDP is growing faster than our emissions. We’re not polluting less; we’re just getting richer, faster; which is a whole another deep dive to get into.
But the real masterpiece is the “installed capacity“ target. We hit our goal of 50% non-fossil capacity. This means, on paper, our grid could be 50% clean. But “capacity” is just the showroom; “generation” is the highway. While our clean capacity is 50%, our actual clean generation (what we use) is stuck at a measly ~23%. Why? Because when the sun sets, we’re still firing up record amounts of coal.
This strategy allows India to walk into COP30, claim the moral high ground, and demand climate finance—all without turning off the coal. It’s not a lie. It’s just brilliant, cynical, and terrifyingly effective.
🏥 The 138 Million Person Problem We Built Ourselves
Today’s Lancet study is staggering: 138 million Indians now have chronic kidney disease (CKD), second only to China’s 152 million. This is not a coincidence. This is the Meta-Narrative of modern development playing out in our bodies.
Let’s be sharp. In absolute numbers, we’re #2. But proportionally? The Lancet study found the highest prevalence in North Africa and the Middle East (18%). South Asia sits at 16%. Our “uniqueness” isn’t the rate, it’s the scale. Our massive population turns a high prevalence into a civilization-level crisis.
So why us? Why not Scandinavia? They have CKD (Stockholm’s prevalence is ~6%), but they also have universal healthcare that catches it early and urban design that encourages activity.
Why not other tropical countries? Because their crisis is often different. In Sri Lanka, there’s an epidemic of “CKDu” (CKD of unknown etiology), linked to agricultural communities, pesticides, and irrigation water—not just lifestyle. In Vietnam, a primary cause is glomerulonephritis.
India and China’s crisis is largely self-inflicted. The main drivers are diabetes and hypertension. We are the global epicentres of a new disease pathway: development-fueled self-destruction (or DfSD as I call it).
We swapped traditional diets for a flood of cheap, ultra-processed foods (UPFs), which are directly linked to higher CKD risk. And we’ve engineered activity out of our lives. Our cities are built for cars, not people. It’s not just that the weather is harsh; it’s that our infrastructure is hostile. In some areas, pedestrians and cyclists account for a terrifying 93% of road fatalities.
This isn’t a problem we can “solve” with “belief change” or a new yoga app. It’s a systemic failure. The fix is hard policy: mandatory front-of-pack food warning labels like “THIS WILL HURT YOU” (which FSSAI has been slow to implement) and urban planning that treats pedestrians as citizens, not obstacles. We can’t jog our way out of a crisis we built with concrete and high-fructose corn syrup.
Q: Given that our ‘modern’ diet and city design are fuelling this 138-million-person health crisis, are we prepared to accept the tough policies (like food warning labels and anti-car infrastructure) needed to fix it?
Comment with your thoughts.
Stay sharp,
Aditya S.
Editor, The India Brief