Quick notes: Cash cow | DRDO's laser weapon...

• For Korean companies, India is a lucrative cash cow: LG India reported revenue of Rs 24,366 crore and a net profit of Rs 2,203 crore last year. Royalty payments to its Korean parent reached Rs 454.61 crore. But the real headline came with its 2025 IPO: In one stroke, LG India’s market capitalisation surpassed that of its global headquarters’. And it was purely due to generous policy environment.
  
  Hyundai Motor India and its sibling Kia tell a similar tale of extraction masked as investment. Royalty payments stand at 3.5% of sales revenue, translating into thousands of crores annually repatriated to Seoul. Such an anomaly has left Tata Motors and Mahindra to fight an uphill battle against what many term subsidized Korean pricing power.
  
  Samsung India completes the triumvirate of value extractors. Its revenue for the first time crossed Rs 1.11 lakh crore during 2025, making it the only consumer-electronics firm in India to cross the trillion-rupee mark. During 2024, royalty remittances to the Korean parent hit Rs 3,322 crore, roughly 40% of that year’s net profit. Retained earnings have ballooned and been diverted to Vietnam.
  
  Profits earned from Indian consumers through high royalties, IPO cash-outs and dividend flows are effectively subsidizing Vietnamese factories that then export finished goods back into India. Why? Should Korean conglomerates plough cash extracted from India into manufacturing facilities in a smaller neighbor that then undercuts Indian industry? The optics is toxic: India as a lucrative cash cow, Vietnam as the preferred factory floor.
  
  Decades of liberalization were sold on the promise that FDI would catalyze domestic industry, transfer technology and create balanced growth. Instead, the policy has tilted towards foreign giants who repatriate profits, royalties, special dividends and IPO proceeds liberally.
  
  On the other hand, Indian firms struggle with higher compliance costs, delayed approvals, and a royalty burden that starves local innovation.



Part of what pushed this into the open is what Korean firms did here in the last year.

Hyundai and LG listed their Indian arms and between them sent about $4.7 billion back to Seoul through IPOs and special dividends. Samsung's royalty payments to its parent tripled. All within… pic.twitter.com/e2Nbsuxew6

— Amar Govindarajan (@amargov) April 22, 2026




• Draining the economy: The proof is in the math: In just the last 12 months, Hyundai and LG repatriated $4.7 billion in royalties and profits. That is nearly ₹40,000 crore leaving our economy.

Localization of parts is not the same as localization of value. You can source 85% of a car’s weight (steel, rubber, glass) in India, but if the Intellectual Property (IP), engine architecture, and software ownership sit in Seoul, the wealth generated by Indian labor and…

— vijay (@Vic_Vij) April 23, 2026




• Funding the Adversary: India’s trade deficit with China has nearly tripled since Modi took office. Bankrolling China's rise which in turn lays claim to vast Indian territories including an entire state.




• You signed a trade-deal, now we will screw you: Indian exports face rising cost pressure as EU plans carbon tax expansion



• Galgotias School of Innovation: AI making work cheaper and this is a BIG Problem for Indian IT Services




• Trump kissing Xi Jinping's ass: A quiet U.S. favor for Xi Jinping.. A U.S. quota increase at the IMF would rescue China’s bad loans.
  
  Trump is scheduled to visit Beijing in May for a summit with Xi, and he will come bearing at least one surprising gift: A budget request to Congress to hand more money to Mr. Xi’s friends at the IMF.



• Chinese satellites over Mideast battlefield put US on edge: Chinese AI company MizarVision claimed on social media to have tracked the movements of American aircraft carriers, F-22 stealth fighters and B-52 bombers by using AI to analyze satellite data.



• Microwave weapon: 20-gigawatt Chinese microwave weapon touted as ‘Starlink’s worst nightmare’ by country's media — portable 5-ton device can deliver full-minute destructive bursts



• India’s “Star Wars” LASER DEFENCE: DRDO's $3 solution to a $30,000 drone problem. 100 kW Dura-2 can melt drones in seconds.




• Pakistan Is Getting a Stealth Fighter in 2026: China is ramping up the timeline to deliver J-35A to Pak



• Lesson for India, the GREAT consumer of imported tech: Iran claims US exploited networking equipment backdoors during strikes — says devices from Cisco and others failed despite blackout in attack that 'indicates deep sabotage'



• Privacy risk: Google Chrome lacks protection against one of the most basic and common ways to track users online



• Why this Chinese EV terrifies Europe’s carmakers: Luxury car makers staring at Chinese onslaught.



• China's Geely just built one of the most efficient engines ever: Geely now holds a Guinness World Record for thermal efficiency, with its new i-HEV Hybrid system rated at 48.4%



• Raag: Kamod By Manjiri Alegaonkar

Quick notes: Golden share | Denaturalization...

• CEOs are learning to live with Trump’s turn to state capitalism. Last week Nvidia finally got permission to sell one its most advanced semiconductor chips to China. The catch: The federal government will take 25% of the revenue from those sales.
  
  The Nvidia deal says something important about the relationship between business and government under Trump. His regular intrusions into the boardroom—taking equity stakes, revenue slices or a “golden share”; prodding companies to lower prices or sell drugs through a federal website—are a sort of state capitalism, in which the state doesn’t necessarily own companies, but uses its leverage to steer their behavior.



• Trump's biggest gift to CCP yet: Trump’s decision to let China have Nvidia chips is dangerous. . . China can accelerate science and engineering with the H200 better than any of the newer hardware from Nvidia.



• Denaturalisation: Some naturalised Americans likely to lose citizenship
  
• "De-Indianise" Call: "1 H-1B Worker Equals 10 Illegal Aliens". . . Brown MAGAs go into hiding.


• Hit hard by Trump: Tata, Infosys and Cognizant to bear brunt of Trump’s $100,000 H-1B fee
  
  
  


• Worst fears coming true: China may have reverse engineered EUV lithography tool in covert lab, report claims — employees given fake IDs to avoid secret project being detected, prototypes expected in 2028



• India's Nuclear Power Push: Big goals, slow build. Nuclear energy share in total installed capacity remains limited, fluctuating between 1.9 per cent and 2.9 per cent from FY10 to FY24.



• 'Thar Desert Will Reach Delhi Soon': Around 90 percent of the Aravalli hills is in the height of 30 to 80 metres. Now they are in danger of perishing. . . BikAss Gando Thayo Che



• 73 Ragas with Abby V:




• Clerk-factory education system: Unable to learn English, Andhra student dies by suicide.



• Is Iran dying?: Who Can Solve Iran’s Many Problems? Not I, Says the President.



• The US reverse engineered the Iranian Shahed-136 drones! :

The US Marine Corps is testing a Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System (LUCAS) as a long range suicide drone. The US reverse engineered the Iranian Shahed-136 drones!

Too bad for Iran. Not only lost against Israel, got the nuclear sites hit, but also lost drone tech. #TWZ pic.twitter.com/LntStsg8vG

— Kiran Kumar S (@KiranKS) December 12, 2025




• India needs its own 'Singapore' (outside India): As global scrutiny grows, Chinese firms look to call Singapore home. "The Singapore brand is trusted worldwide. Singapore is valued for its international flavour, neutrality, and is culturally easy ‍for Chinese firms and their expats to adapt to,"



• Cover up: The UK wants Apple and Google to install “Nudity-Blocking Software” on iPhones and Android phones



• We don't want no AI: LG forced a Copilot web app onto its TVs but will let you delete it after user backlash.



• Aravallis: With one legal stroke, over 90% of the Aravalli range was erased on paper, handing it over to mining mafias, real-estate sharks & profiteers.



#SaveTheAravallis | Over 1.8 billion years old, the Aravalli Hills form a natural barrier protecting North India from desertification and severe air pollution. A recent Supreme Court definition has altered how the range is identified, leaving nearly 90 per cent of the hills… pic.twitter.com/DYmPteIXCn

— Republic (@republic) December 20, 2025




The shameless Haryana govt passes the bill that will open the ecologically sensitive Aravallis to construction... NCR to lose more green cover... #SaveTheAravallis @I_Am_Gurgaon #AirPollution pic.twitter.com/YOAtG5E1ka

— Shruti Malhotra ‏‎ (@Shruti_Malhotra) February 28, 2019




Old Arnab Goswami is back 🔥
Everyone should watch this video of Arnab Goswami and support him.

While other journalists remain silent, he is boldly raising his voice to #SaveAravalliHills pic.twitter.com/e75WO1A6SK

— Voice of Hindus (@Warlock_Shubh) December 19, 2025

Quick notes: Dimmer skies | Tech talent...

• Bye-Bye Blue Skies: India is getting dimmer. Sunshine hours have been steadily declining across most regions for the past three decades. Aerosols from sources like vehicles and industries block sunlight — a phenomenon scientists call “solar dimming”. Reduced agriculture yields and solar power output apart from damage to health.




• Top researchers consider leaving U.S. amid funding cuts: A poll from the journal Nature found that 75% of researchers in the U.S. are considering leaving the country.



• China rolls out its version of the H-1B visa: Vaishnavi Srinivasagopalan, a skilled IT professional who has worked in both India and the U.S., has been looking for work in China. Beijing's new K-visa program targeting science and technology workers could turn that dream into a reality.



• Higher studies abroad: Parents burn fortunes, US gains skills, India loses both capital & talent.

Good oped in @EconomicTimes that points to the surge in Indian students in the US (most in STEM and management) but at huge economic and talent costs to India. The authors call for building world-class universities at home, reabsorbing PhD talent, and turning brain drain into… pic.twitter.com/7zSDTCuyTJ

— Prasanna Viswanathan (@prasannavishy) October 25, 2025




• "India is the dumbest IPO market" "The millions and billions of small investors coming in. Someone has to extract money from them, so these IPOs come and take money from you".



• The world’s most expensive stock market: In terms of Shiller P/E (a long-term measure of valuation that uses 10-year earnings figures), India is the most expensive equity market in the world, surpassing even the US. . . Buffett Indicator.



• Dhaaru haven: India to emerge as largest global scotch whisky market. Once the FTA with the UK becomes operative, it will see a variety of Scotch whisky coming into the country.



• "India is just screwing the parts together": Are we truly manufacturing, or just assembling parts? We destroyed our electronics industry and turned to a 100% importing nation. The real state of ‘Make in India’.




• Incentive wars: Why walking away can be wiser. Karnataka’s refusal to outbid Andhra Pradesh for Google’s $15 billion AI data centre may seem like a loss, but in game theory – and governance – wisdom often lies in knowing when not to play. Around the world, multinational firms have mastered the art of triggering incentive wars between governments, extracting concessions that can erode public value. . . . The Hidden Cost of Google’s $15 Billion AI Data Center in Vizag.



• Defying China: Vietnam is building islands to challenge China’s hold on a vital waterway

Quick notes: GM corn | Whites-only...

• Arm-twisted: US trade talks may be cracking India’s opposition to GM crops. Concessions offered by the Indian trade team already included the possible easing of some restrictions on the import of GM corn. “GM is a life and death issue for Indian farmers.”... are we Trump's dumpyard?



• ‘It could feed the world’: Amaranth, a health trend 8,000 years old that survived colonization.. The Spanish believed that amaranth was a satanic food of natives. 1521: Spanish conquistadors ban amaranth cultivation under penalty of having hands severed, destroying temples where 200,000 people annually consumed tzoalli (amaranth-honey statues) during ceremonies. . . Rajgira could be game-changer for Indian farmer.




• White Right-wingers Only: Trump considers overhaul of refugee system that would favor white people. Importing white South Africans and European Nazis.



• Trump immigration plan may wipe out 15M jobs by 2035: Fewer workers in the labor force could have dramatic effects on the U.S. economy, from lower economic growth to reductions in the nation's goods and services produced.



• Soft on Beijing: Trump has purged the National Security Council of many advisers who advocated a tougher line toward China and diminished the role of the council. China hawks grow queasy over Trump’s push for deals with Beijing.



• 'DOGE was all about collecting data for Musk's Grok': Tariffs are way up. Interest on debt tops $1 Trillion. And DOGE didn’t do much.



• Japanese Monster: Shohei Ohtani’s historic performance sends LA back to World Series.




• How China Built Tech Prowess: Chemistry Classes and Research Labs. Unlike India's history debate clubs



• GOP's true colors: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat. “Im going to create some of the greatest physiological torture methods known to man. We only want true believers”. ‘I love Hitler’



• Trump Organization Expands in India: Where Many of Its Partners Face Accusations

Emboldened Evangelists

Evangelists try to conquer Silicon Valley: Many in the tech-Christian nexus are vocal Trump supporters – or at least sceptical of the more excessive liberal tendencies of Silicon Valley.


---


Christianity Was “Borderline Illegal” in Silicon Valley: To have two of the world’s richest technologists, worth a recently estimated $400 billion (Elon Musk) and $14 billion (Peter Thiel), speak admiringly about biblical teachings challenges the view that Christianity is anti-capitalist or even anti-intellectual.


---


Antichrist, who knew! Peter Thiel, the gay billionaire Christian evangelist CEO of Palantir is spreading the word about the rise of the Antichrist. This week, Thiel launched the first of a four-part lecture series about the Dark Lord.


---


"Moral crisis in tech industry": The Silicon Valley Christians Who Want to Build ‘Heaven on Earth’


---


Meanwhile...: AI Startup Founders Tout a Winning Formula—No Booze, No Sleep, No Fun... going San Francisco-sober to 'lock in' for 'grind mode'


---


Trump is seduced by Asim Munir ;) "We have a great leader coming, the prime minister of Pakistan and the field marshal. Field marshal is a very great guy, and so is the prime minister, both, and they're coming, and they may be in this room right now," Trump said. . . . Why Is The US So Fond Of Asim Munir?


---


The Stupidity of GDP per Capita: What does GDP NOT tell us?



---


Ye nahi sudhrega: India seeks people access in US trade talks after H-1B visa row. . . . . "the less Modi talks of the H1B visa the better. Everybody and his proverbial uncle in the leadership circles in the US and the West has about had it with the Indian PM’s pleadings to let in more Indian engineers and science grads as a way of pleasing his middle class voter base".

Modi’s effusive response to Trump sets India up for more humiliation


---


'Clog The Toilet': Racist Campaign Against Indian H-1B Holders


---



Decouple at cultural level:

Navarro et al are doing us a great favor.

Our decoupling should happen at a Culture level and not just Economic.

Culture is the super structure and the foundation.

Our focus should be to create an elite class whose aspiration is not US mimetics.

Education holds key

So, IKS.

— Raghava Krishna | రాఘవ కృష్ణ (@Anviksiki) August 30, 2025





We are welcoming their universities.

Without even insisting on our learning paradigm.

They educate us on their paradigms, instill their values, norms, behaviors.

They own and curate our aspirations.

And then shut doors.

Globalism for export, nativism for policy.

We must…

— Raghava Krishna | రాఘవ కృష్ణ (@Anviksiki) September 21, 2025

Quick notes: State capitalism | EnCharge AI...

• USA copying China? A generation ago conventional wisdom held that as China liberalized, its economy would come to resemble America’s. Instead, capitalism in America is starting to look like China - 'State capitalism with American characteristics' - a sea change from the free market ethos the U.S. once embodied. . . . Trump reviving crony capitalism.



• Reverse privatization: Trump says U.S. govt has gained 10% stake in Intel. . . Inside Intel’s tricky dance with Trump



• Consumers bearing the burden of tariffs: Walmart says tariff costs are rising 'each week' and will continue



• India pauses plans to buy U.S. arms after Trump's tariffs: Discussions on India's purchases of Stryker combat vehicles made by General Dynamics Land Systems and Javelin anti-tank missiles developed by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin have been paused due to the tariffs.



• Fistful Of Dollars: Rice for Vietnam farmers displaced for Trump Golf Club.



• Confine solar to rooftops and canals: India's largest solar energy project threatening Ladakh nomads and Pashmina wool.



• The Shipping Container That Might Replace Solar Farms: 0.59 acres per MW. As opposed to Solar PV's 0.97 acres per MW. . . . How a Stirling Engine works




• EnCharge AI: Princeton researcher Naveen Verma’s startup claims their chip tackles AI workloads with performance per watt up to 20 times better than competing chips.



• Power hungry toy: AI's soaring energy consumption is causing skyrocketing power bills for households across the US — States reporting spikes in energy costs of up to 36%



• Raja Koduri is back in the GPU business: Unveils new startup, Oxmiq Labs, bringing 500 Years of combined experience via world-class GPU & AI architects



• AI pervert: Meta AI chatbots gave false medical advice and flirted with minors — now the company is restructuring its AI division again - fourth restructuring in six months.



• Open-source in AI: Huawei is making its Ascend AI GPU software toolkit open-source to better compete against CUDA. . . Chinese censorship bias in LLMs



• Think beyond cars:

"Urbanism works when it creates a journey as desirable as the destination." pic.twitter.com/mnepPaP5cX

— 𝚃𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚜 𝙶𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚌𝚘𝚎 🚇 (@grescoe) August 30, 2022




• India's ethanol drive imperils its push for edible oil self-sufficiency: Depressing oilseed prices and prompting farmers to plant more corn and rice in place of soybeans and groundnuts



• Milk may not help the elderly: People who live in countries with the lowest rates of hip fractures also tend to drink the least milk. Drinking more milk was not associated with lower fracture risk  

Quick notes: Neglected ally | Cow abuse...

• America returns to its neglected ally: For destabilising Iran, America needs land access. This is how the Pakistanis were used during the Afghan wars, targeting the Russians.
  
  From Iran's nuclear programme to Afghanistan's lithium reserves, Pakistan's unique positioning at the crossroads of America's most pressing strategic concerns has transformed it from a neglected ally into an indispensable partner. . . After 25+ years of progress, India-US ties take a U-turn, history repeats 
  
  
  



• "The U.S. is not an ally of India": "The U.S. is absolutely uninterested in India based supply chains. Trump is uninterested in that. He is incapable of long-term strategic relations and any of that. India should not presume that the U.S. will do great favors to India. Thats is not going to happen". . . . listen to him, India. Stop being naive.



exactly. the intangibles sold to India are now invisible. but they could attract 50% punitive retaliatory taxes, couldn't they? https://t.co/gXOZDm5wAS

— Prof राजीवः श्रीनिवासः (@RajeevSrinivasa) August 10, 2025



• Trump Wants Big Pie Of India's Economy: They want their companies like Amazon to have more facilities for operations. They want unlimited data flow for Google. So, it is beyond tariff, it is beyond trade. The US wants a big pie of the domestic economy.



• Experts warn Trump: Caving on Nvidia H20 export curbs may disrupt his bigger trade war



• Blessed to have engineers at the helm: China is developing nation-spanning network to sell surplus data center compute power



• Cow abuse: Coca-Cola under fire after undercover investigation reveals disturbing scenes at farm: 'A habitual offender'. Investigators also recorded pregnant and sick cows being whipped, punched, kicked, and beaten with metal objects, including shovels, wrenches, and pipes. The abuse was carried out by various staff, including owners, managers, and ranch hands. . . . blacklist Coke!



• Shut humanities department in STEM institutions:

Recently at IIT Gandhinagar Muhammad Luqman won gold medal for ground breaking research on clothes worn by Sunni Ulema in Kerala. Yes.

Who was his guide? Prof Madhumita Sengupta. In her studies she researched colonial history, but instead of using it for decolonisation of India,… pic.twitter.com/1Y3S1pH9D6

— Eminent Intellectual (@total_woke_) August 2, 2025




• SEBI, Jane Street and India’s Regulatory Dilemma: Watch at 2x




• Evangelicals lobbied hard for this: Texas law will require Ten Commandments to be posted in every public school classroom

Quick notes: Hiring Indians | Baloch and Israel...

• 'Put America First': Trump's big warning to tech firms against hiring Indians.. Doesn't want Google, Microsoft to hire Indians.
  
  
• US driving India into China's lap? Trump's renewed interest in Pakistan has India recalibrating China ties.
  
  
• China proving to be tough: Trump’s U-turn on Nvidia spurs talk of grand bargain with China. . India takes note.
  
  
• Trump eases China chip restrictions: Trump caving on Nvidia H20 export curbs may disrupt his bigger trade war. . . Dissenters warn H20 reversal is a dangerous mis-step.
  
  
• Reality check for India: Far from being supportive, the US under Trump has ended up re-hyphenating Pakistan with India. The two superpowers, the US and China, seem to have an unstated common interest in keeping India down a notch.



• Indians' propensity to be duped: How Jane Street Made $4.3 Billion in India—Then Got Banned!




• Aljazeera: "Israel is trying to hijack the Baloch struggle"



• Balochistan Studies Project: Pakistan fears MEMRI's support for a free Balochistan



• Balochistan Studies Project: Chinese Communist Party fears MEMRI's support for a free Balochistan



• Arjun Nimmala: First-gen Indian-American MLB first-round pick



• MP Tejasvi Surya Speaks: Bengaluru’s Tunnel Road: A Roadblock, Not a Relief.

Quick Notes: Jane Street | Hydrofoil ferry...

• Jane Street's cash machine came to an abrupt halt: Foreign funds and proprietary traders using algorithms made $7 billion in the 12 months to March 2024 alone. That bonanza may be coming to an end.
  
  
• Manipulating Indian derivatives markets: How US-based Jane Street siphoned Rs 36,000 cr from Indian markets.
  
  
• Indian casino is a train-wreck: Indian retail investor losses on derivative trades widened in 2024-25 by 41% to 1.06 trillion rupees. India is the world's largest derivatives market, accounting for nearly 60% of the equity derivatives traded globally in April.



• Prada on backfoot: High Fashion's habit of 'borrowing' from India isn't new. Prada's Kolhapuri chappals are just the latest

Prada is at Centre of GI tag violations for its flat leather sandals that bear a striking resemblance to traditional Kolhapuri chappals.

Indian shops sell it for ₹1,000 and Prada is selling it for ₹1 lakh.

Indian artisans need good marketing or else this theft will continue. pic.twitter.com/F3rkAa75Zr

— News Arena India (@NewsArenaIndia) June 28, 2025




• How America's Debt Spiral Could Spark The Next Crisis: America's debt problem is no longer linear; it is exponential.



• Blue superhighway: Could the Electric Hydrofoil Ferry change the way we commute? Fast, sustainable mode of transit




• Unicorn: India's Rapido is outpacing global giants like Uber and Ola in user growth, while also achieving profitability . . . A ride-hailing unicorn is gaining users faster than Uber, disrupting the San Francisco titan’s effort to conquer a key growth market  



• AI's energy problem: Google’s carbon emissions went up again as its AI push continues



• Distress in Hi-tech jobs: Salesforce CEO Claims Half of the company’s work is now done by AI



• The ‘Trump Pump’: How crypto lobbying won over a President. For years, cryptocurrency companies had endured a sweeping crackdown in Washington — a cascade of lawsuits, regulatory attacks and prosecutions that threatened the industry’s survival. Mr. Trump wasn’t an obvious sympathizer. He had once dismissed Bitcoin as a “scam.”
  
  
• One Way to Win Trump Over: Nominate Him for the Nobel Prize 

Are we being hoodwinked?

Is this the deal? India, Vietnam and China all get to pay the same 20%.

President Trump announced that a trade agreement with China has been signed and claimed the deal would begin to “open up” China. The strange part? We haven’t heard any details—except that it supposedly addresses rare earth disputes. On the Chinese side, it’s total radio silence.… pic.twitter.com/6xvfYXVqKC

— Lei's Real Talk (@LeisRealTalk) July 3, 2025

---

What's the point of Quad if Trump equates India-Pakistan? If the only superpower, which calls India an ally, sees the region through an India-Pakistan prism, it is unacceptable. Rather than endorse India's sphere of influence, this undermines it.

---

Trump Baffles With Sudden U-Turn on China Buying Iranian Oil: President Trump appeared to undermine years of US sanctions on Iran, giving its biggest customer China the green light to carry on buying its oil. . . . . India restricted from buying Iranian oil while China is free?

---

Elon: America is going bankrupt quickly, but everyone is whistling past the graveyard.

---

Old pal of Elon Musk has ominous warning for Trump: “I’ve had my share of blowouts with Elon over the years,” neuroscientist Philip Low told Politico. “Knowing Elon the way I know him, I do think he’s going to do everything to damage the president.”

NEW: Poll finds that 40% of voters say they are likely to support Elon Musk's "America Party" if he decides to launch it, according to Quantus Insights.

The poll comes as Musk has threatened to launch his own political party over recent disagreements with the Republican Party.… pic.twitter.com/bsdraGwpGq

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) July 2, 2025

---

India caught in the middle: Rare earth curbs to hit EV, RE, defence sectors

---

Time for Swadeshi platforms: Congressional staff members were informed that WhatsApp can no longer be used on their government-issued smartphones or other devices.

---

Will Modi sarkar cave in?

After chickening out to China, Trump wants to "open up" India: The White House’s demands to “open up India” as it seeks a major trade victory — have made it that much harder for Modi’s govt to sell the deal to a domestic audience.

“Nothing riles Indians more than the idea that their govt was bullied by a foreign leader”

#WATCH | "...We just signed (trade deal) with China. We're not going to make deals with everybody... But we're having some great deals. We have one coming up, maybe with India, a very big one. We're going to open up India. In the China deal, we're starting to open up China.… pic.twitter.com/fJwmz1wK44

— ANI (@ANI) June 26, 2025

---

India gets no favours from Trump: Efforts to strike a trade “mini-deal” are dragging on. The Trump administration is asking India to lower its trade barriers, while only offering to give up some of its newly-imposed tariffs, in return.

“Whatever the government [in India] does, it will be seen as they basically capitulated to Trump’s demand. So they are in a no-win situation.”

The president has complicated matters by repeatedly taking credit for brokering peace between India and Pakistan this spring.

“The more he repeats his claim, the more a prospective U.S.-India trade agreement smells like coercion, not cooperation.”

---

Threat of more tariffs hangs over trade partners: These governments have been hesitant to strike a deal with the Trump administration, worried that they only will be hit by more levies down the road. For some foreign governments, these national security tariffs are potentially more concerning than the reciprocal tariffs Trump is threatening to apply to all their US exports.

---

Maybe India can learn from EU: EU to accept Trump's universal tariff but seeks key exemptions. Everyone knows Trump will eventually break his own deals, so keep it small.

---

GMO junk: Trade deal hits hurdle over US demand of low duties on agricultural, genetically modified food

---

Trump looking at deporting Musk

Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame!

And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 30, 2025

Quick notes: Ziroh | Meta whistleblower...

• Ziroh: India startup Ziroh runs AI models on CPUs instead of GPUs. Called Kompact AI, the technology is aimed at bringing AI training and inference to SMEs which cannot afford GPUs... Solve AI for those with accessibility challenges.



• Bombshell testimony: Whistleblower claims Meta helped China develop advanced AI. “The greatest trick Mark Zuckerberg ever pulled was wrapping the American flag around himself and calling himself a patriot and saying he didn’t offer services in China while he spent the last decade building an $18 billion business there”.
  
  China is developing AI models for military use, relying on Meta’s LLaMA model.



• Meta Fights To Stop Potential Breakup Of Instagram And WhatsApp In A High-Stakes Trial



• ‘The Tsunami Is Coming’: China’s Global Exports Are Just Getting Started. A staggering $1.9 trillion in extra industrial lending is fueling a continued flood of exports that could be spread even wider across the world by the Trump tariffs.



• Do Bangladesh a favour: Help the tribals carve out its hills tract.

Rather than spending billions on innovative and challenging engineering ideas we might as well break up Bangladesh and have our own access to the sea . The Chittagong hill tracts were always inhabited by indigenous tribes which always wanted to be part of india since 1947 . There… https://t.co/rcjs6msae7

— Pradyot_Tripura (@PradyotManikya) April 1, 2025




• 'Dukaandari hi karna hai?': Piyush Goyal is right. India needs an ecosystem that better enables deep-tech innovation. India’s venture capital landscape prioritises quick returns over patient capital.
  
  Despite these challenges, India has seen pockets of quality startup success. Space startup Digantara has embarked on a very impactful journey. Likewise, Skyroot Aerospace and Agnikul Cosmos are making strides in space.



• Raag Chhaya Nat: Jayshree Patnekar




• No excuse not to screw the adversary: The greatest flaw in the Indian institutional strategic mindset is that it is not strategic, because it is too set along linear lines. If India trades with China, it cannot also undermine it in various military ways, etc. China believes in just the reverse– that good economic relations is no excuse for not screwing the adversary in every other respect. The twain don’t meet, and is the reason why the Indian government learns nothing and the country is supine, keeps getting it in the neck everytime.
  

  ---

  But the troubling and worrying question is this: Is there any original software written in India? China seems to have these inventors and innovators coming out in droves. They are adding high-octane fuel to the already astounding pace of progress by that country. India is near zero in this realm of technology creation. But, how is it that the even more, bureaucracy-wise, turgid “state socialism with capitalist characteristics” ideology and system in China is now the source of endless and astonishing new technologies?

  ---

  In the sheer mass and the drudgery of the Communist system in China, Deng’s successors still found that the country needed to catch up with the tech front rankers. So, the next thing they did was fast-forward the process by simply getting the very best brains from all over the world via its “Thousand Talents” programme which has spawned its adjunct — “Thousand Young Talents” programme for Chinese youth which is now advancing the economy with technology inventions and innovations.
  
  And here’s India, which has yet to find its Deng.

Quick notes: Tariff pressure | Dr Chetan Nayak...

• US push for grand trade agreement with India The US is pushing India to negotiate a "large" and "grand" bilateral trade agreement while seeking opening the agriculture sector for American businesses, saying "it just can not stay closed".



• Hurting everyone else but sparing China: Donald Trump makes Chinese stocks (somewhat) great again.



• ‘Closest target’: Why is Trump targeting allies while sparing China?



• Dr Chetan Nayak: The man behind Microsoft’s decadeslong quest to build a quantum computer



• Sweatshop advocates: Mr. Amitabh Kant, Advocating an 80-90 Hour Week is Abetting Multiple Offences



• WIN-WIN!: Solar panels above waterways and farms... Gujarat innovation spreads world over!




• Nvidia, AMD, Broadcom and now Intel: Major US tech firms now have Chinese-descent individuals as their CEOs, shows how valuable China’s talent is for the tech industry.
  
  
• Astonishing, if true: China’s in-House EUV machines reportedly entering trial production in Q3 2025, utilizing an approach that offers a simpler, efficient design; SMIC & Huawei to benefit greatly
  
  
• Han juggernaut: Why a Chinese Gadget Company Can Make an Electric Car and Apple Can’t
  
  
• China Piles the Pressure on India in Its Own Backyard: China has also poured billions into 46 commercial ports across the region, 36 of which are capable of hosting naval assets



• 'India Has Missed Every Bus': "India has missed every bus; not just one. We don't know which bus is coming next. I know for sure it will miss that too. To imagine that by 2047, we will be better than the US or China is just living in a dream world".



• Shiv Kailash: Rishab Rikhiram Sharma

Socialism thriving in South Block

• Bharatiya Janata Party (Socialist): There is nothing remotely close in our budgets to describe the BJP as a “Right of Center” or “Far Right” party. Economically speaking, it’s even to the left of what the Congress was between 2005 and 2014. Right of Center used to mean something – balanced budgets, reducing regulations, minimum government, etc.



• National Pension Scheme: New 'Universal Pension Scheme' for all Indians being planned.



• Leftist under the hood: How Modi govt’s policies show socialism is our true national ideology.



• Lot of socialism in our political class: Ruchir Sharma



• Sarkari Yojana for Gig-worker: More government, less growth, fewer opportunities .

Trump Threatens BRICS Nations With 100% Tariffs

Donald Trump threatens BRICS countries—including Russia, India—with 100% tariffs if they act to undermine US dollar

“We require a commitment from these countries that they will neither create a new BRICS currency, nor back any other currency to replace the mighty U.S. Dollar or, they will face 100% Tariffs, and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful U.S. Economy.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the U.S. of “weaponizing” the dollar and described it as a “big mistake.”

Russia has specifically pushed for the creation of a new payment system that would offer an alternative to the global bank messaging network, SWIFT.

Trump threatens 100% tariff on the BRIC bloc of nations if they act to undermine US dollar

Quick notes: FTA | Pedestrian hell...

• Free-Trade-Agreements never benefited us: India-UK FTA negotiations to restart in early 2025
  
  
• India should not be pushed into joining trade blocs: It must assess existing FTAs, and should build a larger team of expert negotiators



• Trump unpredictable, Modi dependable? On trade, it’s just the opposite.




• Stranglehold on market, breach of Antitrust Laws: Zomato and Swiggy coerced restaurants into entering exclusive agreements that would deny them space to shift elsewhere if they wanted to join competing platforms.



• China is bombarding tech talent with job offers: And the West is freaking out. Chinese companies are trying to poach engineers in high-tech Western industries by offering to triple their salaries as Beijing seeks to catch up with Silicon Valley in the battle for tech supremacy.
  
  Executives at Zeiss SMT, which makes indispensable components to build the world’s most powerful semiconductors, got some troubling news last fall. Staff with access to sensitive Zeiss know-how received LinkedIn messages, emails and calls from Huawei representatives, offering them up to three times their salaries to join the Chinese company.
  
  
• Huawei trying to poach TSMC employees with 3X salary: Desperate times call for desperate measures
  
  
• China's CATL open to building US battery plant if Trump allows: In an August interview Trump was open to Chinese firms building cars in the US
  
  
• CATL electric bus batteries set for 1M miles, megawatt charging: New-gen LFP bus batteries last 15 years, CATL claims—20% longer. CATL claims a 22% boost in energy density by volume, and 175 Wh/kg by weight



• Anywhere but India: Chip makers expand in Vietnam — companies move to Southeast Asia as US-China tensions simmer



• Why it is so difficult to walk in Indian cities: The main problem is that too much focus is given to solving the problem of car congestion on roads. "To improve the flow of traffic, authorities often narrow down footpaths or eliminate them entirely. It might seem counter-intuitive, but allowing the congestion to persist and focussing on improving infrastructure for pedestrians will help solve the traffic problem in the long run". Cities can also implement their own Non-Motorised Transport Policy (NMTP) to create better infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians.



• The families fleeing Delhi to escape deadly smog... Also fighting "walking pneumonia" cases this season.... Why and what will fix it.... Why Indian capital lags behind Beijing in the battle to breathe..




• ED raids e-commerce sellers linked to Amazon, Flipkart: The livelihoods of small shopkeepers are at stake due to anti-competitive practices, particularly from quick-commerce companies.



• Australia approves social media ban on under-16s.. lessons for India.

Quick notes: Predatory MNCs | Thorium solved...

• E-commerce MNCs a threat to India: Amazon not doing India a favour by investing billions of dollars: Piyush Goyal.... “If you made ₹6,000 crore loss in one year, does that not smell of predatory pricing to any of you? Where did that loss come from?” The role of e-commerce in the Indian economy needs to be carefully evaluated and made citizen-centric to ensure there is no social disruption that may affect about 100 million small retailers across the country, the Minister said.




• Waqf through the ages: How Rs 1-lakh crore property owner board acquires land... Entire village's land snatched away overnight, shocking reality of Thiruchendurai



• Time To Shut Down Coaching Classes? Nobody wants to learn from the Chinese, but see how Xi Jinping addressed it in 2021. He demolished his entire tuition and coaching industry overnight. Reasons given: It was straining the finances of families, causing inequality, wasting families' time and taking young people away from more fun things. Everything, including coaching centres for China's famed UPSC equivalent, Gaokao, was banned. There was to be no tutoring for profit, no IPO listings, no share sales, limits on online learning, no mergers, acquisitions, foreign collaborations. End of story.



• Thorium solved?: China to launch world’s first thorium molten salt power station<. Moving away from the water cooling model, this design significantly reduces the chances of meltdowns. Further, thorium reactors generatw less toxic and short-lived radioactive waste than uranium-fueled ones, thereby easing long-term disposal. They offer several potential advantages over traditional uranium reactors, including increased safety, reduced waste and improved fuel efficiency.... Thorium MSRs are a type of advanced nuclear technology that use liquid fuels, typically molten salts, as both a fuel and a coolant.




• AI's insatiable energy demand: Amazon's purchase of a data center campus adjacent to a nuclear power facility speaks to a broader issue that Amazon and other tech giants are grappling with: the insatiable demand for energy from AI... not just power, AI is guzzling water too.



• Beijing increases its influence in Nepal: Tibetans in Nepal not free to celebrate Dalai Lama's birthday.



• Foxconn: Southern states look to outfox each other in hunt for a Foxconn ‘city’... 1. Land is all our politicans can think of. 2. And why no Hindi state or BJP ruled state in this race?



• Environmental concerns persist as Amaravati 'world city' rises: “Amaravati is likely to be an environmental disaster in making. There are a series of environmental issues involved, revolving around forests, water bodies, wetlands, floodplains and the riverbed. It is a flood-prone area. Flood mitigation measures are going to be expensive”.... Rains turn Vijayawada into a lake.