New Delhi: Chandrababu Naidu is developing a “quantum computer hub” which will rival India’s biggest tech centres, as part of his bid to transform Andhra Pradesh, which he heads as chief minister, from a “a relative industrial backwater into a high-tech hub”, reports John Reed in Financial Times.
“Naidu is seeking to build a tech park where developers and scientists can harness the nascent power of quantum computing for applications ranging from research to energy optimisation and manufacturing,” says the report.
“Indians are very strong in mathematics and very strong in English,” the Andhra Pradesh CM has been quoted as saying. “These two are a deadly combination for information technology,” adds the report.
In a report titled ‘Of mangoes and mutual funds: what India’s economy can teach the UK’, Financial Times also looks at the UPI network in India, now a global leader in fast payments, and what lessons it potentially holds for the UK. While built by the government, it is “leveraged by countless fin-techs”.
“If (UK Prime Minister Keir) Starmer and chancellor Rachel Reeves are serious about their stated mission of driving economic expansion through financial services reform and greater private investment, then taking a cue from something like UPI with all its attendant economic participation and growth benefits, would be rather more transformative than importing a few more mangoes,” writes Patrick Jenkins, referring to the India-UK trade deal which he describes as “relatively thin”.
The Economist reports that India’s gated communities promise a “rich world lifestyle with poor-world benefits”. And by “walling themselves away”, residents are reshaping a “stratified society” and reinforcing biases that are otherwise being “cast off”.
“Entry to many of these enclaves is controlled by an army of security guards (visitors are increasingly required to supply a one-time password). Staff and people delivering things are often directed to use separate lifts. Many Hindu-run complexes explicitly or implicitly prevent Muslims from moving in. Such policies eerily echo the caste- and religion-based segregation that has shaped India for centuries,” says the newsletter.
In The Guardian, Ciaran Thapar dives into the life and career of Hanumankind—“India’s hottest rapper” who wears his politics on his sleeve.
“As a rare south Asian face in globally popular rap, he feels a certain responsibility. ‘The past year has been hard’, he says. ‘I’m trying to navigate through it.’ What’s more, although he expresses a deep pride about life in India, ‘a lot of things are off. There is a mob mentality. There’s a lot of divisiveness because of religion, background, caste. It doesn’t sit well with me. I’m in a unique space to change the way people can think within my country’,” reads the profile of the 32-year-old, born Sooraj Cherukat in Kerala.
BBC zooms into Keeladi, a village in Tamil Nadu that has emerged as a political flashpoint, where archaeological finds have “sparked a political and historical battle”.
“The key finds are elaborate brick structures and water systems—evidence of a 2,500-year-old urban settlement,” notes the report.
“It gives people from the south (of India) something to feel proud about, that our civilisation is just as ancient and important as the one in the north (of India),” says the report quoting a teacher from neighbouring Kerala.
“The politics surrounding Keeladi reflects a deep-rooted north-south divide—underscoring how understanding the present requires grappling with the past,” it adds.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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