Quick notes: Billionaire Raj | BYD Seagull...

• Billionaire Raj: India's richest 1% earn 22.6% of total income — the highest share since data going back to the 1920s — and hold more than 40% of the wealth.
  
  The inequality gap widened after the economy’s opening up in the early 1990s, but “between 2014-15 and 2022-23, the rise of top-end inequality has been particularly pronounced in terms of wealth concentration”. “The ‘Billionaire Raj’ headed by India’s modern bourgeoisie is now more unequal than the British Raj headed by the colonialist forces”.



• “Extinction-level event for the U.S. auto sector”: Why a small China-made EV has global auto execs and politicians on edge.
  
  The China-built BYD Seagull, a small all-electric hatchback, starts at less than $10,000, and reportedly banks a profit for the Chinese automaker. That latter point — EV profits where U.S. automakers have mostly failed to turn any — combined with the expansion of Chinese automakers into Europe, Latin America and elsewhere has automotive executives and politicians, from Detroit and Texas to Germany and Japan, on edge.
  
  The rise of BYD and other Chinese automakers led Tesla CEO Elon Musk to warn that Chinese automakers will “demolish” global rivals without trade barriers.





• In One Key A.I. Metric, China Pulls Ahead of the U.S.: Talent: When it comes to the artificial intelligence that powers chatbots like ChatGPT, China lags behind the United States. But when it comes to producing the scientists behind a new generation of humanoid technologies, China is pulling ahead.
  
  New research shows that China has by some metrics eclipsed the United States as the biggest producer of A.I. talent, with the country generating almost half the world’s top A.I. researchers.



• Unlike India's toy design: Alibaba claims it will launch a server-grade RISC-V processor this year



• Domestic chips and operating system: China to pivot from AMD & Intel CPUs to domestic chips in government PCs. The transition to domestic processors will advance more swiftly for server processors than for client PCs, due to the less complex software ecosystem needing replacement. China will need to invest approximately $91 billion from 2023 to 2027 to overhaul the IT infrastructure in government and adjascent industries.



• Solar cooking - From sun to plate: Despite its advantages, solar cooking has some limitations, such as longer cooking time and the need to cook outdoors in the sun.
  
  To overcome these challenges, Saswat Sourav Panda, a resident of Puri, Odisha, integrated three solar-based cooking systems at his house for different cooking processes. A solar box cooking system is used for slow cooking, a parabolic concentrator for heavy cooking and a solar glass tube-based system for cooking even without sunlight.
  
  With a total investment of Rs. 31,000, Panda reduced his annual consumption of gas cylinders from twelve to four. “Once I started to appreciate the enhanced natural taste due to slow cooking in solar, we switched entirely”.

Jaishankar Confronts Biden Govt With CAA-Like Examples In U.S: Lautenberg Amendment, Jackson-Vanik Amendment, etc

Chas Freeman on Nuland, US, Ukraine, Gaza

Chas Freeman is a seasoned and sober former Washington official, now retired:

Canada Ramping Up Information War Against India

Watch the latest new "exposé" "documentary" against India from Canada's state broadcaster, the CBC. They interview various Khalistanis, including Pannu and Nijjar's family, while portraying the Khalistan movement in a sympathetic light, and India as an oppressor. With such slanted propaganda, Canada seems to be positioning itself as a base of operations for the Khalistan movement, hoping to incite emotions among Khalistanis to a fever pitch, with the goal of putting India and Indians under attack.

Quick notes: Semi-success | Cancer treatment...

• Semi-success: India approves three chip plants with over $15 billion in investments to realize semiconductor ambitions. Tata Electronics will partner Taiwan's Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp and will focus on 28-nanometer technology.
  
  Tata Semiconductor Assembly and Test Pvt Ltd will set up the second plant in Morigaon, Assam with focus on packaging technologies.
  
  CG Power, in partnership with Japan's Renesas Electronics Corporation and Thailand's Stars Microelectronics will set up the third factory in Sanand, Gujarat. All three factories will start construction within next 100 days.



• India makes progress with US$21bn chip proposals: The Indian government, after years of watching from the sidelines of the chips race, now has to evaluate US$21 billion of semiconductor proposals and divvy up taxpayer support between foreign chipmakers, local champions or some combination of the two.
  
  Both Tower and Tata’s facilities would produce so-called mature chips — using 40-nanometer or older technology — that are very widely used in consumer electronics, automobiles, defense systems and aircrafts, the people said.
  
  The Tata Group is also planning to build a 250-billion-rupee (US$3 billion) chip-packaging plant in eastern India that would assemble and export chips.



• Masterclass: Ashwini Vaishnav's masterclass on India's semiconductor ecosystem




• Taiwan's PSMC says chip engineer shortage top challenge in Japan: Taiwan's PSMC and SBI are jointly investing $5.3B to build a new semiconductor fab, but PSMC's Japan head says the biggest problem is a lack of engineers. Recruiting engineers from countries like India or the U.S. could be in the cards.



• Toy design? India’s homebrew RISC-V CPU goes on sale in new development board. The CPU is 32-bit and operates at up to 100 MHz, using only 256 KB of SRAM. This doesn't come close to competing with modern Raspberry Pi solutions



• The Magic of R+Cu: Tata Institute Claims Success In Cancer Treatment - With "Rs 100 Tablet". The 'R+Cu' when taken orally, generate Oxygen radicals in the stomach which are quickly absorbed to enter blood circulation. The oxygen radicals destroy cfChPs released in circulation and prevent 'Metastases' - The movement of cancer cells from one part of the body to another. The researchers claimed that R+Cu prevents Chemotherapy toxicity.



• Indigenous CAR-T Therapy Cures Patient Of Cancer: In simple language, the therapy includes genetically reprogramming a patient's immune system to fight cancer.



• Magnificent 7 profits now exceed almost every country in the world: The meteoric rise in the profits and market capitalizations of the Magnificent 7 U.S. tech behemoths — Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla — outstrip those of all listed companies in almost every G20 country. Only China and Japan have greater profits when their listed companies are combined.



• America sees surge of Chinese illegal migrants: Chinese migrants often take special “VIP” routes across the jungle that are led by guides working for the Gulf Clan, Colombia’s largest drug cartel, and are quicker and less strenuous for higher prices than the most basic routes.



• #southtaxmovement: Why south Indian states have started a tax movement

Interview with ISRO Chief Dr S Somanath