Nepal's Gen-Z Protests Return
☕ India’s Morning Briefing: Fri, November 21
Hello, and welcome to the brief.
Good morning, friends.
Good morning. Today, Bihar’s “Survivor-in-Chief” defies political gravity for the tenth time, the Supreme Court tells Governors that “doing nothing” is not a job description, and India goes shopping for crude oil in the Caribbean. Here’s what you need to know.
Welcome to the 161st edition of The India Brief
Do not miss the deep dive in the end. It’s the best one yet!
1. 🗳️ Politics & Power
👑 Nitish Kumar Sworn in as Bihar CM for Record 10th Term
• Oath taken; Patna, Gandhi Maidan; 10th time as CM
• NDA Landslide; won 202 of 243 seats; RJD crushed (35 seats)
• New Cabinet; 26 ministers; Samrat Chaudhary & Vijay Sinha as Dy CMs
• Women turnout +7.1% vs men; decisive factor
Nitish Kumar changes alliances like a college student changes majors, yet somehow always graduates as Valedictorian. Critics call him “Paltu Ram,” but after a tenth oath, he’s just the “Permanent Ram.” The man has turned political survival into an extreme sport.
⚖️ Supreme Court Rules Governors Cannot “Pocket Veto” Bills
• Verdict; SC Constitution Bench; Governors cannot delay indefinitely
• Key Rule; Must return/refer bills; no “deemed assent” allowed
• Context; Tamil Nadu & Kerala standoffs; Governors sitting on passed bills
• Implication; Forces “Constitutional dialogue”; ends silent obstruction
2. 🌍 Global Diplomacy
🛢️ PM Modi Signs Energy Pacts in Historic Guyana Visit
• First Visit; First Indian PM in 56 years to Guyana
• The Deal; 10 MoUs signed; Hydrocarbons, UPI, Pharma (Jan Aushadhi)
• Oil Secured; 4 million barrels bought by IOCL/HPCL for 2025/26
• Strategy; Diversifying oil imports; leveraging “soft power” for resources
It took 56 years for an Indian PM to visit, but considering Guyana recently found enough oil to make a Texan blush, the timing is surely coincidental. We’re trading UPI and cheap medicines for sweet, sweet crude. It’s “Namaste” with a side of “Pipeline.”
Follow the Currency: India is hedging against OPEC+ volatility. By trading “soft assets” (Digital Public Goods, Pharma) for “hard assets” (Oil), New Delhi is locking in long-term energy security with a non-OPEC nation, reducing reliance on the turbulent Middle East.
🚫 India Withdraws from Blind T20 World Cup in Pakistan
• Decision; Ministry of External Affairs denied permission to travel
• Event; T20 World Cup in Pakistan; India was defending champion
• Precedent; Mirrors BCCI stance on Champions Trophy 2025
• Result; Major blow to tournament; highlights total diplomatic freeze
3. 🔥 Unrest
🛡️ Clashes Erupt in Manipur Over Sangai Festival Boycot
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• Conflict; IDPs clash with police; tear gas used at venue
• Boycott Call; COCOMI & displaced groups demand cancellation
• Reason; “Insensitive” to celebrate while 60,000 are homeless
• Govt View; Festival needed for economic revival and normalcy signal
Trying to host a tourism festival in a conflict zone is like throwing a pool party while the kitchen is on fire. The government wants to project “normalcy,” but the people living in relief camps are loudly reminding them that “peace” is not just the absence of gunfire—it’s the presence of justice.
4. 🌐 International Intelligence
📉 US Trade Deficit Shrinks as Tariffs Bite
• Data; Deficit fell 24% in August; Imports dropped 5.1%
• Cause; Post-tariff lull; businesses stopped stockpiling goods
• Irony; Protectionism hurts consumers, but the deficit number looks “good” on paper.
Follow the Currency: The drop isn’t efficiency; it’s friction. Companies front-loaded imports before tariffs hit. Now comes the lull, followed likely by price hikes for US consumers.
Gen Z Protests Erupt Again in Nepal
• Unrest; Clashes in Bara district; Curfew imposed
• Demands; Youth (Gen Z) demanding political reform & arrests
• Context; Follows government toppling 2 months ago; instability grows.
🔥 Fire Evacuates COP30 Venue in Brazil
• Incident; Fire in Blue Zone (Belem); 13 treated for smoke
• Status; Controlled quickly; Indian delegation safe
Irony; A climate summit threatened by disaster? The metaphors write themselves.
🛰️ SpaceX Launches 29 Starlink Satellites
• Launch; Falcon 9 from Florida; Constellation nears 9,000
• Pace; 100+ launches this year; dominance continues
• Impact; Musk is building a digital shell around Earth.
⚽ Curacao Qualifies for World Cup
• History; Smallest nation ever (pop. 150k) to qualify
• Manager; Dick Advocaat led the miracle
• Vibe; Proof that you don’t need a big population, just big hearts (and Dutch dual-nationals).
5. ✨ The Good News (Because You Need It)
🐆 Cubs of Hope: Indian-born cheetah ‘Mukhi’ gave birth to five cubs in Kuno. They are healthy, proving the African cats are finally calling India home. Nature adapts.
🦅 Vultures Return: The vulture population in Madhya Pradesh hit 12,981, up from 8k in 2019. The scavengers are back, and the ecosystem is healing.
💧 Desert Miracle: IAS officer Tina Dabi’s “Tanka” project in Barmer built 87,000 rainwater tanks, securing water for months in the desert. Bureaucracy doing good.
🍔 A $40k Surprise: Pargan Singh, an Indian-origin McDonald’s worker in the US, was gifted $40,000 by his boss for 40 years of service. McWholesome.
💍 Love & Cricket: Smriti Mandhana announced her engagement to Palash Muchhal with a viral dance video featuring her teammates. Winning on and off the pitch.
🐸 New Life Found: Scientists discovered 13 new frog species in Northeast India. Our biodiversity is still full of surprises.
🦟 After 134 Years: A rare Owlfly species was rediscovered in Kerala after more than a century. Hide and seek champion.
🔋 Green Battery Tech: Indian scientists developed a new material for supercapacitors that charges EVs faster. Goodbye range anxiety.
🌞 Solar Village: Shelakewadi in Maharashtra became a 100% solar-powered village. Power to the people, literally.
👶 Tribal Pride: Janjatiya Gaurav Divas celebrations are highlighting the unsung tribal heroes of India’s freedom struggle. History reclaimed.
6. 🔍 Deep Dive
The “Festival” in a War Zone
Yesterday, heavy tear gas shelling turned the venue of the Manipur Sangai Festival in Imphal into a battleground. Protesters, led by the powerful civil society group COCOMI (Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity) and thousands of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), attempted to storm the venue. Their slogan was simple: “No Festival Until Peace.”
The Context: To understand why a tourism festival triggered a riot, you have to understand that Manipur is currently a state divided not just by ideology, but by a physical, militarized buffer zone.
1. The Geography of the Conflict (The “Bowl” Theory): Imagine a soup bowl.
The Valley (The Bottom): This accounts for only 10% of Manipur’s land but houses ~53-60% of the population. This is the heartland of the Meitei community (mostly Hindu).
The Hills (The Rim): This makes up 90% of the land but houses only ~40% of the population, because not all land is habitable. This is the domain of the Kuki-Zo and Naga tribes (mostly Christian).
The core friction: Meiteis cannot legally buy land in the hills (protected as tribal land; further nuances than a blanket ban obviously), but hill tribes can buy land in the valley. Meiteis feel “sieged” in a shrinking valley, while Kukis fear that Meitei demands for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status will let the majority community take over their ancestral hill lands.
2. The Current Status: Since the violence erupted on May 3, 2023, the state has been effectively partitioned.
Meiteis have been moved from the hills.
Kukis have been moved from the valley. (These are not to suggest state sponsored ethnic cleansing, this in the strictest legal sense is described as forced displacement that’s all)
The “Buffer Zone”: Central forces patrol the “foothills” between the two, creating a de-facto border within an Indian state.
The Human Cost: Over 260 dead, and 60,000+ displaced. These 60,000 people have been living in relief camps (schools, government halls) for over two years.
3. The Sangai Paradox: The government, currently under President’s Rule (imposed in Feb 2025 after CM N. Biren Singh resigned), pushed for the Sangai Festival to project “normalcy” and “economic revival.” For the IDPs and COCOMI, this was an insult. They argue: How can the state light fireworks when we cannot go home? The boycott wasn’t just about a festival; it was a rejection of the state’s attempt to “perform” peace without actually achieving it.
This is a battle over the definition of Reality. The State wants to define reality through events (festivals, markets, tourism) to show the world that the war is over. The People (specifically the Meitei civil society in the valley) are using the boycott to assert that reality is defined by justice and territorial integrity. By physically clashing at the festival gates, they are popping the government’s bubble of normalcy. It is a stark reminder that in Manipur, the war hasn’t ended; it has just become the background noise of daily life.
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Stay Sharp
The OneRead Team