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Journalism of Courage
Good morning,
Scroll through Instagram, or any social media platform for that matter, and you’ll see that food isn’t just food these days; it’s a jigsaw of carbs, fibre, fats and, above all, protein. Once the stuff of post-gym shakes and giant jars, protein is now everywhere: in bread, dosa batter, paneer, even kulfi. The big picture is India’s protein market, which is set to hit USD 1.52 billion next year. However, experts point out the real gap isn’t how much protein we eat, it’s the quality. Too much still comes from cereals that lack essential amino acids. So while brands race to “protein-enrich” everything, from pav bhaji, to McDonald’s cheese slices, the old advice still holds: simply eat food, not too much.
With that, let’s move on to the top five stories from today’s edition:
🚨 Big Story
Fuel first: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has a message for the West: don’t tell India where to buy its oil from. In a pushback to global pressure over Russian crude imports, she made it clear India will continue its purchases, underlining that energy security comes first. The timing matters as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will be attending a virtual BRICS meet, where oil, trade, and geopolitics are bound to dominate the table.
⚡Only in Express
Zen in Bihar: Japan’s captain Raiki Fujishima admits he had never even heard of Rajgir before the Asia Cup brought him here. A quick search later, he discovered that the town has centuries of ties with his home country. The sports trip has now turned into a spiritual tour for the team, complete with visits to the Vishwa Shanti Stupa and encounters with monks who’ve lived there for decades. The venue isn’t the easiest; the closest airports are hours away, the heat and humidity are punishing, and players have reportedly lost kilos in a single match. But the setting, ringed by hills and dotted with monasteries, has left the teams charmed.
💡 Express Explained
Design flaws: Punjab’s geography, marked by the five rivers, sets the stage for floods to rampage the area. Add a burst of heavy rain, weak infrastructure and poor planning, water spreads fast across its fertile plains. Rivers like the Sutlej, Beas and Ravi, along with seasonal streams (choes), make it naturally flood-prone. Broken embankments, blocked drains, and mindless construction on floodplains worsen the issue. Cities like Ludhiana and Jalandhar have their own problems: old, clogged drainage systems that simply can’t cope when the skies open up. And then there’s climate change. More intense, erratic rainfall is now the norm. We explain.
✍️ Express Opinion
Urdu filtered: Naseeruddin Shah calls out the West Bengal Urdu Academy for pulling the plug on Javed Akhtar’s event – a move that he says is nothing short of absurd. Urdu, he argues, isn’t the property of one faith, it belongs to culture, to literature, to regions, to everyone who speaks it. “This act of the Academy could well alienate the remaining few who wish to learn Urdu:Why learn it? It’s their language after all!” And what of the long line of non-believers and non-Muslims who have shaped Urdu, from Premchand and Firaq to Gulzar and even Ghalib, asks Shah.
🍿 Movie Review
Fear wears thin: The horror franchise that gave us the Warrens, possessed dolls, creaky old houses, and bone-chilling jumpscares is bowing out, but not with the bang fans hoped for. Shubhra Gupta, in her review, writes that ‘The Conjuring: Last Rites’ has nothing you haven’t seen before. “There is too much happening to too many people to make any sort of a coherent narrative, so much so that the demon-fighting itself is crunched,” she adds.
That’s all for today, happy weekend-ing!
Malavika Jayadeep
