🚨Big Story

India’s Semiconductor Ambitions

Prime Minister Narendra Modi returned from his two-day state visit to Singapore with a major win. First, both countries elevated their relationship to that of a “comprehensive strategic partnership.” In doing so, they signed four memorandums of understanding (MoUs), including a very significant agreement on semiconductor industry cooperation. Now, that’s a big deal.

Chipping away: Semiconductor chips are integral to nearly everything, from their role in national security to technological progress in artificial intelligence. And of late, they’ve acquired a key pedestal in geopolitics. India, however, is a latecomer to this high-tech and costly industry, importing around 80% of its required semiconductors. The promise of a booming domestic semiconductor industry would potentially reduce its import bill, while also creating jobs. 

Why Singapore: Singapore boasts a well-established semiconductor industry, a legacy of the early vision of its first Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew. Today, the city-state accounts for approximately 10% of global semiconductor output and 5% of global wafer fabrication capacity.

We break down the promise and challenges of this new partnership.

Closer home: The Maharashtra government  approved a semiconductor manufacturing project in Raigad, a joint venture between Israel’s Tower Semiconductor and the Adani Group. With an investment of Rs 83,947 crore and the potential to create 15,000 jobs, here is why this project could be a game changer for the state.

Dive deeper: In today’s episode of the 3 Things Podcast, Indian Express’ Shubhajit Roy discusses PM’s visits to Brunei and Singapore. Tune in to find out why these trips are important and how they’ll strengthen India’s relationships with both nations.

⚡Only in Express

Best of both sides: West Bengal enacted an anti-rape bill introducing harsher punishments, including the death penalty. But do stringent laws truly deter sexual violence? We explore two opposing viewpoints: one argues that tougher laws are merely a political reaction to public outrage, while the other contends that wherever punishment is swift and harsh, the incidence of crime is much lower.

📰From the Front Page

The Hindenburg Impact: With Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch at the center of a political firestorm, the parliamentary watchdog for government spending, Public Accounts Committee (PAC), has decided to include a review of SEBI’s performance in its agenda. She is expected to be summoned during the review process.

Also read: As Sebi continues to be engulfed in controversies, its officers staged yet another protest outside its Mumbai headquarters on Thursday, a day after the regulator denied allegations of ‘toxic’ work culture by a section of its employees.

Good news!: Access to toilets and better sanitation services under the government’s Swachh Bharat Mission may have averted around 60,000 to 70,000 annual infant deaths between 2014 and 2020, a study published in the journal Nature has found. The study shows that the district’s average toilet coverage was below 40 per cent in 2003, and by 2020, it had gone up to over 60 percent.

📌Must Read

The “freebies” effect: Freebies have always been at the center of debate in electoral politics. Now, for the first time in modern India, the average household spending on food has declined to less than half of overall monthly household expenditure, owing to the free distribution of wheat and rice under different government schemes. This is a marker of significant progress, notes an Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) working paper. 

An AI treaty: In another first, the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom are expected to sign the Council of Europe’s “legally binding” international treaty on the use of artificial intelligence (AI). The agreement is being touted as foundational in the development of AI, amid concerns that disparate regulations proposed by individual countries could hinder the evolution of this path-breaking technology.

‘Men lurking around prepared to cash in on somebody else’s efforts‘ is how Irish missionary Colm O’Connell, known as the father of Kenyan running, had put it. While he was expressing anguish after the killing of athlete Agnes Tirop in 2021, his words ring true even now, after the horrific murder of Ugandan marathoner and Olympian Rebecca Cheptegei. Cheptegei is the fourth female athlete to be murdered by a male partner in Kenya over the last three years.

👉And Finally…

Actor, superstar, Thalapathy, and the GOAT: If cinema is magic and actors are the magicians who make people believe in the wonders on screen, in Tamil cinema, Vijay is among the greatest of magicians. Nearing the final act of his enviable film career before a foray into politics, the superstar is leaving behind a rich, 32-year-old legacy. 

Delhi Confidential: Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan decided to walk the extra mile to visit the flood-hit areas of Andhra Pradesh on Thursday. First he took a life boat to reach Jakkampudi village in Vijayawada and then waded into the water to meet the people affected by the floods. He assured them of all-possible help from the Central government.

That’s all for today.

Until next time,

Ayesha Jain and Aradhana Kalia 

Business As Usual by Unny