Foxconn Exit Scuppers Gujarat Chipmaking JV; Govt Canceled Academic's OCI Card Without Reason, Says HC, Sets Aside Order

Army’s strength flagging, Iron Age Tamil site contemporary with Bronze Age Indus Valley, Blockages in river system imperils Himachal valleys, Met to return 15 antique sculptures to India

A newsletter from The Wire | Founded by MK Venu, Seema Chishti, Siddharth Varadarajan, Sushant Singh, Sidharth Bhatia and Tanweer Alam | With inputs from Kalrav Joshi | Editor: Pratik Kanjilal

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Snapshot of the day

July 10, 2023

Pratik Kanjilal

Heavy rain has shut down north India and killed at least 22. Schools are closed in the National Capital Region today, Punjab, Delhi and Uttarakhand are flooded and Himachal Pradesh is in a state of emergency with flash floods, landslides and collapsing buildings. Bad weather was caused by the interaction of monsoon winds with a western disturbance. Such incidents of sudden, intense rainfall have occurred every year since 2013, reports the Indian Express. Himachal Pradesh received 135 mm of rain on a single day, far above the record of 105 mm over the last six decades. (Also see The Long Cable below.) 

Setting back Prime Minister Modi’s push for making microchips in India, Foxconn today bailed out of a $19.5 billion joint venture with Vedanta for making semiconductors and displays in Gujarat. Government intervention had apparently deadlocked talks for involving European chipmaker STMicroelectronics as an investor.

Over 150 killed, at least 250 injured and over 60,000 displaced ― the numbers of the Manipur crisis are overwhelming, and behind them lie stories of unfathomable pain. The Army complains about the partial withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). A young officer says that there is now a very thin line between a commendation and a court martial, reports The Hindu. Troops have been sensitised “not to take any action” that could alienate citizens. 

After cases lodged against an academic and two Kuki activists for interviews they gave to The Wire, an FIR has been registered in Imphal against a fact-finding team from the National Federation of Indian Women, comprising General secretary Annie Raja, National Secretary Nisha Siddhu and advocate Deeksha Duivedi. Their ‘crime’? Saying that the violence of June 3 was “state-sponsored” and that the abortive resignation of Chief Minister N Biren Singh was stage-managed. A delegation of Left MPs has also returned and declared that the Biren Singh government is an impediment to peace.

The Manipur High Court has directed the state government to partially lift the internet ban in the state. Ironically, the World Bank had agreed to provide $46 million in financial assistance to Manipur for promoting digital skills and securing the foundations for digital government in the state, through the Manipur Infotech eNabled Development Project. 

In the first ever ruling of its kind, the Delhi High Court today set aside the Union government’s order canceling the Overseas Citizenship of India status of an Indian origin academic. The government had claimed that Ashok Swain, a professor in Sweden, was “indulging in activities which are prejudicial to the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India, security of India, friendly relationship of India with any foreign country” but gave no reasons to back this claim. “This is hardly an order,” Justice Subramonium Prasad told the government’s counsel. “It does not give any reasons. It hardly gives any indication of application of mind on the matter.” The government has been given three weeks to “pass a detailed order giving the reason for exercising its power under Section 7(D)(e) of the Citizenship Act”.

The legality of demolishing houses belonging to persons accused of crimes – a rising trend across the country – has been raised in the Supreme Court by senior advocate Dushyant Dave.

Even before West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose was to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah, presumably to submit a report on panchayat poll violence in the state which cost 18 lives, the state Election Commission had ordered repolling in 696 booths in 19 districts. 

China may face increased resistance against its claims in the South China Sea, after India supported Manila. The South China Morning Post wonders “how far New Delhi, which is locked in a prolonged border stand-off with Beijing in the Himalayas, would go in abandoning its neutrality.” 

Bhutan has moved to resolve border issues with China, and India’s Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra and Bhutanese King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuk met not in Thimphu, but in Gelephu, a town at the India border. 

Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy is running for POTUS. He’s a practising Hindu, which puts off many conservative Christian voters, but the New York Times reports that his technique is “to confront the issue directly and argue that he has more in common with observant Christians than they might think.” Back in India, though, Christians remain under attack. 

Indian refiners who enjoyed significant discounts on Russian crude oil now face higher, opaque shipping rates arranged by Russia. Despite billing below the $60 per barrel price cap imposed by the West, Russia charges $11-19 per barrel for delivery to India’s west coast, twice the normal rate. Involving tankers from a reported ‘shadow fleet’, these routes exceed rates for comparable distances like from the Persian Gulf to Rotterdam.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City will return 15 sculptures to India, which were smuggled out of the country by former Manhattan antiques dealer Subhash Kapoor, who is now serving a sentence in Tamil Nadu for looting temples. These are part of a lot of 150 objects dating from the 1st century BCE to the 15th century CE, the rest of which were confiscated by the US authorities. The 15 antiquities will reach India in the next three to six months. They were connected to Kapoor by a joint investigation by the International Consortium of Journalists, Indian Express and Finance Uncovered of the UK.

PM Modi had declared that India is Open Defecation Free in October 2019, but new data from WHO and Unicef reveals that at least one-sixth of the rural population must still seek out open spaces and a quarter don’t have even basic sanitation access. The government asserts that villages self-certified their status, enabling the country to declare itself ODF. 

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami had promised a Universal Civil Code while campaigning in the last Assembly elections. He may have a draft ready by the third week of the month ― the first in a BJP-ruled state ― and could call for a special session of the Assembly. The draft reportedly contains problematic clauses about live-in relationships, including the compulsion to declare one’s profession, Aadhaar and parental approval. This is apparently to protect women’s rights when relationships go wrong, and the inheritance of children if all goes well. However, the main effect of state scrutiny and the involvement of parents would be to discourage such relationships. 

The Railway Board has slashed by up to 25% the fares for AC chair car and executive classes of all trains, including Vande Bharat ― which the PM so enjoys flagging off ― in which occupancy has been under 50% in the last 30 days.  

After Sharad Pawar, who had said that he is “neither tired nor retired”, visited the constituency of Chhagan Bhujbal, the NCP rebel said that the departures from the party were not caused by him, but because of conflict in the Pawar family.

In notionally dry Gujarat, an auto driver who was caught transporting a bottle of liquor grabbed the evidence from the police and smashed it to smithereens on the road. The indefatigable police have gathered the fragments of glass and swabbed up the alcohol to present as evidence in court.