Daily Briefing: India-Mauritius pact; Sunita William’s wait in space

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India has elevated its ties with the African island nation of Mauritius, a likely ally in countering China’s expanding footprint in the Indian Ocean. Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrapped his two-day visit to Mauritius yesterday, signing eight pacts—from white shipping to cooperation on financial crimes.

👉 A highlight of the PM’s visit was the newly announced projects worth a whopping 500 million Mauritian rupees (about Rs 100 crore). Crucially, India will help construct the island’s new Parliament building. PM Modi dubbed it “a gift to Mauritius from the mother of democracy.” India will also train 500 of the island’s civil servants.

👉 Reaffirming its commitment to strategic ties with Port Louis, just days before PM Modi’s visit, New Delhi had backed Mauritius’ claim over the geopolitically significant Chagos Island. Here’s a brief history of the archipelago.

Only in Express

India’s economy has been in a slump for months now. But the chief of the country’s largest bank, Challa Sreenivasulu Setty, sees no reason to worry just yet. The slowdown “could be a blip… the long-term story of India is intact”, says the Chairman of the State Bank of India. In an interview with The Indian Express, Setty outlines what India needs to progress.

Meanwhile, amid looming Trump tariff threats and a potential global slowdown, India has already begun lowering import duties and is exploring trade deals with the US, UK and Europe. For HSBC economist Pranjul Bandhari, the conditions are ripe for India to finally turn things around.

From the Front Page

Con centres: The government has brought home 549 Indians who had been conned by fake job offers and forced into cybercrime activities in Southeast Asia. A probe reveals that a bulk of them come from Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Nabbed: The Hyderabad police have arrested two women journalists from a YouTube channel based on a complaint by a Congress party worker. Their crime? Shooting a video critical of Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy.

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On the front burner: In her weekly column, contributing editor Neerja Chowdhury poses a question to the Congress and the rest of us. Should the party prioritise the statements of a habituated troublemaker Mani Shankar Aiyar? While Aiyar stoked the fire with his statements on former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s academic failures, Chowdhury says the spotlight should be on Rahul Gandhi’s hard talk in Gujarat, where he outlined a 50-year project to refashion the party.

Historic: The Gidheshwar Shiva temple in a West Bengal village, some 150 km from Kolkata, has been around for nearly 200 years. On Wednesday, it had its first Dalit visitors. Facing resistance from upper caste members for years, the 16-step climb of Dalits to the temple may pave the way for ending caste discrimination in the village.

And Finally…

“Gaali gurralu padutunnayi” in Telugu literally means “the wind horses are singing”. The phrase actually means that a cyclone is approaching. Such nuances in Indian languages are rarely documented and remain largely in the realm of spoken word. Large language models (LLM) like ChatGPT or Gemini are bereft of the peculiarities that make up Indian languages. In that sense, developing an Indian LLM becomes even more crucial. A Hyderabad-based non-profit, Swecha, which is documenting the Telugu language and all of its nuances and dialects, may show the way.

🎧 Before you go, don’t forget to tune in to today’s episode of the ‘3 Things’ podcast, where we discuss Trump’s tariff threats and the mega Maha Kumbh cleanup.

That’s all for today, folks! Until tomorrow,
Sonal Gupta

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