New Delhi: India’s quest for accolades at the Paris Olympics had millions of people pin their hopes on star athletes, like Neeraj Chopra and Mirabai Chanu, who had bagged medals in Tokyo. While javelin thrower Chopra is bringing home a silver, weightlifter Chanu missed out on a medal after finishing in fourth place. India’s hockey team clinched the bronze after a turnaround in the second half of the third-place play-off against Spain.
BBC Sport‘s Joe Rindl writes that “India fought back” for the medal. While Spain was in the lead at the beginning of the game, “two penalty corner goals from captain Harmanpreet Singh ensured India won bronze for the second Games in a row”, Rindl reports.
Bloomberg takes a deep dive into Gautam Adani’s mega succession plan. Bloomberg TV’s special exhaustive package – ‘Inside Adani’ — comprises interviews of the family and analysis on the conglomerate’s future. In a rare interview, 62-year-old Gautam Adani says that he plans to step down at 70.
Journalist Anto Antony writes about “India’s richest man” and how four men from the next generation are set to take over from him in the 2030s. “Succession is very, very important for the business sustainability,” he quotes Adani, who has started making moves for the “creation of a four-way leadership structure that splits management of the businesses but requires the heirs to work together”.
Bloomberg also spoke to the successors — Pranav (45), Karan (37) Sagar (30) and Jeet (26) — the founders’ sons, who will lead different entities within the conglomerate. The four will become equal beneficiaries of the family trust when Gautam retires. Antony notes, “Such structures are often used by the ultra-rich, and help to keep business details private, to limit tax liabilities, and to protect assets from judicial or government crackdowns by placing them in a different jurisdiction.”
The Economist has its eyes and ears fixed on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s governance tactics. In a piece titled ‘India cannot fix its problems if it pretends they do not exist’, the magazine remarks, “Mr. Modi’s government has never seen a methodology it likes”.
It points out India’s dismissal of various statistics, including the democracy and hunger indexes and reports, claiming “questionable methodology”. “Denial is the first, and often the only, response of India’s government to bad news,” the piece reads, calling out the “shooting of the messenger”, denial of work permits to foreign journalists and banning of documentaries.
The Economist further argues that “pretending” that problems “do not exist” is “self-defeating for a party that likes winning elections” as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party fell short of a majority in the 2024 elections. Had the BJP-led government “received better information” about the issues of employment and hunger, the party “might have run a more effective campaign that acknowledged widespread concerns”.
In a Global Times report on India’s decision to facilitate visas for Chinese technicians, correspondent Yin Yeping quotes an Indian business representative, who claims, on the condition of anonymity that in PM Modi’s third term, “efforts will be made to boost the economy and employment, such as selectively allowing cooperation with China and prioritizing opening up visas, and the visa facilitation measure is one approach.” Yeping, however, writes that more efforts are needed from the “Indian side to win back the trust of Chinese businesses”.
Amidst an ‘AI boom’ in India, with various companies creating bots in Indian languages, the Wall Street Journal’s Megha Mandavia discusses how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming India’s technology outsourcing industry.
As AI increasingly automates low-end tasks like call centers, many jobs are at risk, with companies, like WNS, warning that “generative AI is going to replace that person very quickly”. The industry’s shift towards higher-end services is crucial, as US companies may bring operations back in-house, if Indian firms don’t embrace automation.
Teen planned attack at Taylor Swift concert, Venezuela’s Maduro suspends X
A 19-year-old Austrian has been arrested after being accused of planning to carry out an attack with explosives and knives at a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna. Three sold-out shows, which were expected to gather 195,000 people, were cancelled after the threat. To know more, read BBC’s report.
Amid wide speculation on the fairness of Venezuelan elections, President Nicolas Maduro has signed a decree to block X (formerly Twitter) for about 10 days in the country. To know more about X owner Elon Musk’s comments on the country’s elections and other reasons behind the decision, read DW’s report.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
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