The Third Slip: Issue 197 - Scandals and Candles
by Chuck & Tony
Hello, Slippers! Welcome to The Third Slip - the weekly newsletter that is the equivalent of following a test match by reading some tweets from your timeline. It gives you a general feeling of unrest about the situation and the certainty that we should all be upset with the management of India.
This is issue 197 - 197, of course, is the number of unfulfilled New Year’s Resolutions you have made in your lifetime. But that doesn’t stop you from making them again and again. Much like a young Catholic with a set list of sins to make at confession, we shall emulate you by repeating the same mistake over and over again.
At Home
The latest in the Kissan Jam
Nothing’s changed. No let up from both sides. Farmers (rightly) don’t trust the government to do the right thing. And as each week passes and there’s more support for them, we’re seeing why these protests are different from the usual blame-the-Muslims tactics the BJP employs. Here’s a great read on the protestors’ resilience and why this gives some hope for India’s future.
Putting the jk in J&K
There were local elections in J&K which the BJP expected they’d steamroll, especially after attempting to marginalize / file cases against / house-arrest all opposition. But surprise, the ‘Gupkar’ alliance of several other non-BJP parties won. For what this means in more nuance, head here. Our takeaway was that this is not what Amitji had in mind, and that’s enough of a summary for us.
Cairn you beat that?
India lost a huge tax case against UK energy major Cairn. While you can read more about it here, the bigger implication is that (along with the Vodafone tax case), India’s getting a bad look as a place to do business. Not something that it can really afford… Oh yeah we forgot, the government has plans to atmanirbhar its way out of all problems.
Antinationals of the week: The UK communications regulator
Who had the temerity to fine Republic Bharat (the Hindi version of R.TV) £20k for hate speech (against Pakistanis).
When you come unstung
Perks of joining the BJP include getting your sting videos on their channels removed, as two TMC defectors found this week.
Very AMUsing
Imagine if a Jewish college in Berlin in the 1930s had a milestone year and decided to call… Okay, no never mind. Scrap that line of thought. We have no idea why we even said it. Completely no idea. Modi going to speak at AMU had nothing to do with it. *Angel emoji.*
SC on SC
A very interesting SC verdict on reservations: That the ‘open’ category should not be considered a quota for the non-reserved. This piece by PB Mehta is worth a read, beautifully summing things up: “Members of the reserved category must be fully considered as falling under the rubric of being potentially meritorious.”
Jab Hum Milein
Even as our Covid cases go reassuringly downwards, India’s likely to approve the Astrazeneca vaccine next week. Any delay is probably because the PMO wouldn’t have thought of a catchy name for the rollout (we would have chosen India Candles: Waxy Nation. That's a wick-ed joke. Not a dad joke, but a मोम joke.) Happy 2021!
Illustration by Harini Kannan.
Global gyan
BREXIT. FINALLY. 2020, YOU BEAUTY.
Forget the World Cup win, this might be England’s most nail-biting finish ever. Against all odds, against all predictions, Boris fuckin’ Johnson has managed to put together a deal with the EU, a week before the UK was supposed to leave. Yes, it’s literally the second-worst outcome, but screw the details! (Also, India might benefit). Brexit’s still an overall bad idea and makes no sense, but points to Boris for making some deal happen at all. Finally, this four-year setup gets a punchline. But maybe the joke begins only now.
Other things:
Putting the Jam in Benjamin: In Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition collapsed after failing to approve a budget for the second year in a row. Israel will now face its fourth election in two years. The struggle israel.
Oli-garchy: Kids: Allege election fraud and get tons of lawsuits thrown out, Adults: Cancel winter session of parliament amid widespread protests, Legends: Dissolve entire parliament itself because they don’t want to face dissent. Nepal is parliament-less as Prime Ministed KP Sharma Oli pulled off a move that players in this circle tend to call a “masterstroke”
Beyond the call of Duterte: In the Philippines, the police have been pushing the Manila envelope for a while. This week, a cop was recorded shooting a mother and son over an argument, the video went public and outrage rightly ensued.
Open Sesame: Sesame Street introduced two new muppets - Noor and Aziz - who are Rohingya refugees. The twins will appear in educational programming that will be shown in refugee camps.
Building trust fund: FTC gets a boost in budget, ostensibly for the antitrust fight!
Not upsetting the Apple car: Apple is making progress on its car. Secretive as always, but this could be the most interesting thing they’ve pushed out since… the iPhone?
LinkedOut: Some great reads we came across this week
This astonishing read from NY Times about How Russia wins the climate crisis. Bringing together climate change, geopolitics, geography, agriculture, migration, xenophobia and economics.
Everything you need to know about vaccinating the world (and no, that new strain doesn’t change anything)
The woes of the food delivery class in India.
In a year where their global image took a pounding, here’s a nice look at how China “censored” the virus.
An excellent long-read on India’s dark data economy.
An Oscar winner made a documentary about Jamal Khashoggi, and he’s having trouble getting a streaming platform to pick it up.
And that’s almost all for this week, and for the year! Next week, we'll have a slightly different issue with some words from us and a collection of some great links from the year. Say hello to the authors on Instagram (Chuck | Tony), Twitter (Chuck | Tony), or by replying to this email. Until next week, may you never run out of cold water. Still and Sparkling. Bye!