In an article, ‘One Man’s Quest to Build India’s Most Livable City’, published in The New York Times (NYT), journalists Mujib Mashal and Hari Kumar write Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has “25,000 workers building his dream capital” Amaravati with waterways, bike lanes and a Quantum Valley tech hub.The article adds that the journalists visited the construction site of what they call “the most ambitious city-building project in modern India”. Mashal and Kumar write that the engineers are in the process of building a building which will host “India’s largest quantum computer.”“Sixty percent of the new city is expected to be covered by water or greenery, and it will include nearly 2,000 miles of cycling lanes.”
This city, the duo mentions, is Naidu’s personal “redemption project” and “legacy” after losing Hyderabad in 2014. Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated that year, and Hyderabad served as the joint capital for both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for 10 years.
Naidu’s son Nara Lokesh tells NYT that after losing Hyderabad in 2014, they arrived in Vijayawada. “It was nothing but a tin shed. And I had tears… It hurt, but that’s what gave us that fire, that energy to say ‘I will beat them.’”
The journalists write that Naidu’s mantra is “Speed, speed, speed” and quotes official Vijay Rama Raju V who shares that project aims “to showcase a new standard that modern India can deliver”.
Moving away from Naidu’s redemption project, The Economist focuses on how Indian laws are being perceived in the country’s diversity.
In an article titled ‘Should every Indian follow the same rules?’, the British weekly news and international affairs publication writes that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is bringing out uniform civil codes which replace religion-based “personal laws with a single rulebook for marriage, divorce, inheritance and adoption”.
It mentions that while these codes are introduced by the BJP as a “matter of universal human rights, in particular women’s rights,” this is actually “a process of imposing on religious minorities the laws and customs that Hindus already follow”.
Uttarakhand’s all-Hindu drafting committee “basically copy-pasted” what used to be Hindu personal laws, “and imposed them on religious minorities”, Saumya Saxena, a legal scholar, tells The Economist.
The article mentions that these codes do not “pick the most woman-friendly bits from India’s varying traditions”, as it notes that under the Muslim personal law, women can “generally escape toxic marriages faster than Hindu wives can” as well as they are protected by “protected by mehr”.
The Uniform Civil Code (UCC), it adds, fails to fix the exclusion of “widows, wives and mothers from inheriting ancestral property”.
The article moves to another provision, the live-in registration rules, which it calls as making private relationships “everyone’s business” and states that Uttarakhand was “only a practice round for the BJP’s dream of making India a Hindu nation”.
The BBC reports the tensions simmering within India’s largest conglomerate the Tata Group. An article, ‘Tata Group Chairman N Chandrasekaran to step down in February,’ by journalist Sharanya Hrishikesh mentions that Chandrasekaran will “not seek reappointment when his term ends in February”.
Hrishikesh writes that the 63-year-old Tata Group chairperson will not seek reappointment “after the board of Tata Sons could not reach a resolution on a five-year extension of his term”.
She writes that this resignation points towards “tensions that have been playing out at the group for months” after a “boardroom power battle erupted between trustees”. The article further expands on the group’s structure as the Tata Trusts owns “66% of the group’s parent company, Tata Sons” which has at times led to “governance issues”. “The news sent shares of listed Tata companies plunging.”
As the tension keeps boiling, BBC also reports on India’s expanding economic ties which will create new opportunities for Jersey businesses in the country.
In an article titled ‘India trade an ‘opportunity’ for Jersey businesses,’ journalist Jake Wallace writes “Jersey businesses could gain access to new opportunities in India” as “the island joined a UK trade agreement” with India. Wallace writes that the UK-India Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement came into force on 15 July, which gives Jersey “access to lower trade barriers when exporting goods to India”.
The article quotes a States report which describes India as “a potential opportunity for Jersey businesses,” as it cites “a market of 1.47 billion consumers and high economic growth”. It further notes that Jersey inclusion in this has given the island “scope for future growth and development of stronger trading links over time”.
Wallace further quotes the State report that says while the current trade is “modest,” with imports valued at about £630,000 and exports at about £16,500 between 2018 and 2022. It adds that the government would “raise awareness of the opportunity”, while stressing that existing controls would prevent harmful products from entering Jersey.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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