Court Wants to Ban Social Media for your Kids
☕ India’s Morning Briefing: Sun, December 28
Hello, and welcome to the brief.
Good morning.
The fog outside is thick enough to chew, but the news is clearer than ever. While North India shivers in a “grey-out,” the boardrooms are heating up over silver, and the courts are trying to parent the internet. Grab your chai—it’s time to decode the chaos.
Welcome to the 194th edition of The India Brief
Deep Dive: The Shine Comes Off the Solar Dream?
Yesterday, silver prices hit a record ₹2.42 lakh per kg in India. If you think that just means your aunt’s anklets got more expensive, look closer. This price surge, combined with China’s export ban starting January 1, 2026, is a geoeconomic earthquake that threatens to derail India’s green energy transition.
The Mechanism of the Crisis Silver is the most conductive metal on Earth at standard temperatures. It is the “veins” of every solar panel. Specifically, it is used in the “silver paste” that is screen-printed onto the silicon wafers to collect the electrons generated by sunlight. The industry is currently shifting from PERC (Passivated Emitter and Rear Cell) technology to TOPCon and HJT cells. Don’t get in the complex terminology, understand the why. So, why? Because they are more efficient. The catch? They use 50% to 200% more silver per cell than the old tech (precise percentages vary by design and material).
The China Factor China is a major player in the entire solar supply chain, but crucially, it dominates the processing of silver into high-purity paste. By implementing export controls (requiring licenses) starting January 1, 2026, Beijing is effectively putting a valve on the global flow of this critical material.
Domestic Priority: China is installing solar at a pace that dwarfs the rest of the world combined. They need the silver for themselves.
Strategic Leverage: By controlling the input, they control the output price of competitors.
The India Impact: India is in the middle of a solar manufacturing boom. Companies like Reliance, Tata Power, and Adani are building gigafactories under the PLI scheme to reduce dependence on Chinese panels. But if they cannot get the silver paste (or have to pay double for it), their manufacturing costs explode.
Tariff Shock: If the input cost rises, the cost of electricity generated rises. This endangers the low solar tariffs (₹2.50/unit) that DISCOMs are used to (just a potential risk factor, not a claim).
Import Dependency: We are effectively trading dependence on Arab oil for dependence on Chinese processed minerals.
The Future: Thrifting vs. Panic The industry will accelerate “thrifting”—using copper or aluminum instead of silver. But copper oxidizes and is harder to print. That tech is years away from mass scale. For 2026, the “Green Transition” is going to be expensive. The trade war has moved from the chips in your phone to the roof of your house.
🇮🇳 The India Brief: Top 20 Stories
📉 ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Silver Crisis: China Chokes Solar Supply
🇨🇳 The Ban: China’s policy to restrict silver exports will come in effect from Jan 1; requires licensing.
☀️ Impact: Solar/EV manufacturing costs in India set to skyrocket.
📉 Reaction: MCX futures jumped ₹18,210 in a single session.
🛢️ Price Surge: Futures hit record ₹2.42 lakh/kg; global prices near $80/oz.
The Wit: China locking away the silver is their way of telling our solar ambitions to “stay in the dark” unless we pay the premium.
The Chessboard: This is resource nationalism weaponised. With China controlling silver processing and India ramping up solar gigafactories, this export curb is a calculated chokehold to stall Indian manufacturing competitiveness and raise input costs.
Reliance vs Govt: The $247M Standoff
💰 Dispute: $247 million government claim vs. RIL cost recovery.
⏳ Timeline: International arbitration ruling expected early 2026.
📜 Core: $247 million claim by the government, which argues that Reliance owes it additional profit petroleum from the KG-D6 deepwater gas block.
💰 Stance: According to Reliance, petroleum exploration is inherently risky, with private operators bearing the entire financial burden.
🤝 Stakes: Defines future investment climate for E&P sector.
The Wit: A 13-year dispute ending in 2026? In the Indian legal timeframe, that’s practically “speedy justice.”
The Signal: This verdict will be a bellwether. If RIL loses, it sets a rigid precedent for cost-recovery audits, essentially telling global oil majors that the government retains the right to micromanage their balance sheets.
Tata Steel Faces €1.4 Billion Lawsuit
👨⚖️ Lawsuit: Dutch NGO sues Tata Steel units for €1.4 billion.
🏭 Claim:Health/Environmental damage in Velsen-Noord, Netherlands.
🛡️ Defense: Tata calls claims “unsubstantiated and speculative”.
🇳🇱 Risk: Threatens viability of European operations amid green transition.
The Wit: Running a steel plant in Europe is harder than finding a quiet spot in Mumbai. €1.4 billion is a lot of “green” steel to sell just to break even on legal fees.
The Chessboard: This mass-claim lawsuit represents the growing “litigation risk” for Indian multinationals in Europe. It forces a hard look at whether the cost of Western compliance is worth the asset value.
Air India’s Flying Tribute to Ratan Tata
✈️ Arrival: First custom-built Boeing 737-8 MAX (VT-RNT) arrives.
🎨 Livery: Features tribute to Ratan Tata; tail code RNT.
📈 Fleet: First “line-fit” plane; fleet crossed 100 aircraft mark.
🏭 Shift: Move from leased “white tails” to standardised products.
The Wit: Finally, a plane that isn’t a hand-me-down. Air India Express is growing up, and it’s wearing its grandfather’s name on its sleeve.
The Signal: VT-RNT symbolises the shift from “stabilisation” to “standardisation.” No more mismatched interiors; the Tata aviation empire is finally building its own coherent product identity to fight Indigo.
⚖️ POLITICS, LAW & ORDER
Madras HC Wants Social Media Ban for Kids
⚖️ Proposal: Suggests Australia-style social media ban for under-16s.
📱 Trigger: PIL regarding unchecked access to CSAM and porn.
👨👩👧 Onus: Court stressed parental controls and ISP-level filters.
🏛️ Directive: Asked Centre to explore legislation urgently.
The Wit: Suggesting an Australia-style ban here is ambitious; we can’t even get uncles to stop forwarding fake news, let alone verify the age of 500 million teenagers.
The Deeper Take: The judiciary is stepping into the legislative vacuum. While a blanket ban is logistically impossible in India, this pressure might force the government to fast-track the Digital India Act with stricter age-gating norms.
CBI Moves Supreme Court to Keep Sengar Jailed
⚖️ Appeal: CBI moves SC against HC suspending Kuldeep Sengar’s sentence.
🔙 Context: Ex-BJP MLA convicted for the 2017 Unnao rape, whose life sentence was suspended after the HC held the offence non-aggravated, noting he had already served over 7 years.
🏛️ Stance: Agency argues heinous crimes warrant no appellate leniency.
🔍 Optics: Proactive move to counter “protecting own” narrative.
The Signal: The agency is drawing a hard line. Allowing a convict in such a high-profile case to walk free on technical grounds would have been a PR disaster for the government’s “Nari Shakti” image.
Delhi Police Detains 1,000 Before New Year
👮 Sweep: 966 detained; 285 arrested in Southeast Delhi.
🔫 Seizures: Arms, 12,000+ liquor quarters, and 6kg ganja.
🚓 Tactics: Massive preventive policing to sanitise streets.
The Wit: Delhi Police hosted a pre-New Year bash, but the guest list was exclusively “bad characters” and the party favours were handcuffs.
The Bottom Line: While the numbers look impressive, these periodic “purges” highlight the fragility of Delhi’s security. The sheer volume of illegal arms and drugs recovered proves the supply chain from neighbouring states remains broken.
10 Lakh Names Cut From Assam Voter List
📋 Data: Over 10 lakh names flagged for deletion/correction.
🔍 Exercise: Special Intensive Revision (SIR) to clean duplicate entries.
🗳️ Politics: Congress alleges deliberate demographic manipulation.
🚨 Context: Precursor to upcoming assembly elections.
The Wit: Deleting 10 lakh names is efficient, unless your name is on the list, in which case it’s a “clerical error” requiring three trips to the tehsil office.
The Chessboard: In Assam, voter lists are existential documents. This massive cleanup will inevitably reignite the “outsider” debate, serving as a polarizing tool for both the ruling party and the opposition ahead of the polls.
🔬 SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENT
ISRO to Launch 6 Missions by March
🚀 Roadmap: 7 missions scheduled by March 2026.
🤖 Gaganyaan: Uncrewed mission with ‘Vyommitra’ robot imminent.
🛰️ Commercial: NSIL to launch satellites; LVM3 validating reliability.
🗓️ Target: Proving high-cadence launch capability to the world.
The Wit: ISRO has a busier calendar than a wedding planner in December. Six launches in three months, and seven including the recent bluebird one? Even my delivery service isn’t that reliable.
The Lens: This isn’t just science; it’s market positioning. By mixing strategic missions with commercial launches, ISRO is proving it can sustain a “launch-on-demand” tempo, essential to compete with SpaceX in the heavy-lift market.
Crisis: 162 Tigers Died This Year
⚰️ Stat: 162 tiger deaths recorded in India in 2025.
📍 Hotspots: MP (54) and Uttarakhand (19) lead the fatalities.
📉 Cause: Infighting due to overpopulation.
💀 Irony: Conservation success creating a “problem of plenty.”
The Wit: We have more tigers than before, but we also have more dead tigers. The toughest predator for a tiger right now is apparently “habitat management.”
The Signal: The high mortality in MP suggests we’ve hit carrying capacity. Without functional corridors to disperse populations, our reserves are becoming gladiator arenas where tigers kill each other for space.
🌏 World Watch: Top Global
Thailand and Cambodia Declare Ceasefire
🕊️ Deal: Agreement to pause military movements/airspace violations.
🔫 Context: Follows weeks of clashes over Preah Vihear border.
🌏 Impact: Stabilises ASEAN supply chains; reduces immediate war risk.
🤝 Fragile: Underlying territorial dispute remains unresolved.
The Wit: They agreed to stop shooting, once again; which in geopolitics is basically a “save the date” until they start shooting, once again.
The Signal: A band-aid on a bullet hole. Nationalism drives this conflict, and without a permanent border demarcation, this truce is merely a pause button, not a stop button.
Kyiv Bombed, Rebel Leader Assassinated
💥 Attack: Massive Russian missile strike rocks Kyiv.
☠️ Death: RVC (Russian Volunteer Corps) leader Denis Kapustin killed by drone in Zaporizhzhia.
🚁 Tactics: Decapitation strike on anti-Putin Russian resistance.
🕵️ Timing: Escalation ahead of potential Trump-Zelenskyy talks on 28th.
The Wit: Moscow sending a “loud” message right before a peace summit. Subtlety left the building years ago.
The Lens: Killing Kapustin removes a key symbol of armed resistance. Putin is signalling that he can reach high-value targets at will, raising the cost of leverage for Ukraine before any negotiations begin.
Sudan Collapses: 1,000 Days of War
🇺🇳 Appeal: UN cites “unimaginable suffering” as war hits 1,000 days.
🏥 Crisis: Health system collapsed; famine and disease rampant.
🔥 Reality: Fighting intensifying in Darfur despite cease-fire pleas.
📉 Apathy: Global attention deficit allows atrocities to continue.
The Wit: Another UN appeal. At this point, the warlords probably have these statements on auto-mute.
The Bottom Line: Sudan is the forgotten war. The complete collapse of state infrastructure creates a vacuum that will export instability and refugees across the region for decades.
CERN Solves a Big Bang Mystery
⚛️ Find: LHC proves fragile nuclei form after cooling, not in heat.
🔥 Process: Solves paradox of how matter survives Big Bang conditions.
🌌 Impact: Validates cosmic evolution models of early universe.
🔬 Tech: ALICE experiment data unlocked the mystery.
The Wit: The LHC found that delicate things only survive once things cool down. There’s a life lesson in there.
The Lens: This bridges the gap between primordial chaos and structured matter. It confirms that the universe didn’t just bang; it had to chill out before it could build anything lasting. Remember that for the rest of your life.
🌈 The Good Stuff: Top 10 Happy News
🏏 Prodigy: 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi wins Bal Puraskar and breaks List-A records. Link
🤖 Innovation: Teenager Arnav Maharshi awarded for creating AI rehab tool for paralysis. Link
🥛 Kindness: 10-year-old Shravan Singh honoured for serving soldiers during border ops. Link
🏊♀️ Olympian: Swimmer Dhinidhi Desinghu receives Bal Puraskar for Olympic achievements. Link
✍️ Sign-Off
Question of the Day: With silver prices skyrocketing, would you invest in physical metal, the companies mining it, or just buy a really nice set of solar panels now before they get too expensive?
Stay warm, stay informed, and check your voter roll.
Aditya S. Editor-in-Chief, OneRead.News