NEWS BRIEFINGS: LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN INDIA

U.S. President Donald Trump is imposing a 25% tariff on steel and aluminium imports into the United States to bolster his efforts to increase domestic production. These new duties, especially on aluminium, could also potentially strain ordinary citizens in India if it drives up prices.

The February 9 resignation of Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, which conveys little remorse or admission of failure, must at least be followed by swift and constitutionally sound action from Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla to ensure that this potential first step toward resolving the prolonged conflict is effective.

Leading Indian news outlets want to join a lawsuit against OpenAI, claiming it used their copyrighted content without authorisation to train ChatGPT. They are seeking damages and a legal directive to stop the alleged misuse of their material.

The Supreme Court on Feb. 7 mandated that police must immediately inform the accused of the grounds for their arrest. The Court stated that failing to do so violates fundamental rights and invalidates the arrest.

The Tamil Nadu government told the Supreme Court that Governor R.N. Ravi behaved like a political opponent by withholding assent on multiple bills, arguing that his actions blocked duly passed legislation and undermined the authority of the state assembly. The court questioned the Governor’s decision to keep some bills pending for three years before declaring his intention to withhold assent and refer them to the President.

What does India have in common with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Nigeria, South Sudan and Ethiopia? Like these four African countries, India has been experiencing armed conflict between two ethnic groups in Manipur for over 21 months. However, unlike these nations, India possesses a significant capacity to control armed unrest, an area in which it can be considered “privileged.”

The Supreme Court has rebuked the Assam government for keeping people it has declared as “foreigners” in indefinite detention and for its slow pace in arranging their deportation. State officials claim they do not know where to send them. It exposes a fundamental problem rooted in the National Register of Citizens (NRC): if individuals are declared foreign solely because their documents are considered insufficient, what happens next?

Leaked audio recordings, known as “Manipur Tapes” and purportedly featuring the voice of Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, were examined by an independent forensic lab, Truth Labs Forensic Services. The examination concluded with over 93% certainty that the voice in the recordings belongs to the Chief Minister. Based on the report, below is an analysis of how the tapes were analysed and how forensic experts arrived at their conclusion.

The Supreme Court has ordered a forensic report on audio tapes allegedly linking Chief Minister N. Biren Singh to ethnic violence in Manipur. The state government is allegedly seeking to arrest the petitioner who raised these allegations before the court.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled India’s full-year budget in Parliament on Feb. 1. The budget seems to fall short of directly addressing critical economic challenges that impact the vast majority of the country’s populace, including youth unemployment, stagnating wages and widening income inequality.

A Delhi court labeled police action during the 2020 northeast Delhi riots a “hate crime” and demanded an FIR against the inspector of the police station. It also questioned whether officers neglected or concealed allegations involving former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Kapil Mishra, instructing the complainant to seek legal action against him.

To test the new Chinese AI, DeepSeek, Newsreel Asia interviewed the chat system to assess whether it exhibited bias in its responses or generated content. The results were striking. It appeared highly protective of its home country, yet it was also upfront about representing the Chinese government and the Communist Party of China. Newsreel Asia asked the same questions to ChatGPT-4.0 to compare the responses.

The Supreme Court noted the absence of statutory safeguards for millions of domestic workers in India and directed the Union government to consider passing a protective law. The court observed that this workforce remains exposed to exploitation and poor conditions without proper legal rights.

The government has cancelled the non-profit status of The Reporters’ Collective, stating that investigative reporting cannot qualify as a charitable activity as it does not serve a public purpose, according to a statement by the collective. The organisation has lost its tax-exempt privileges.

India has developed its first indigenous antibiotic, Nafithromycin, designed to combat drug-resistant bacteria. While it is being touted as a breakthrough, the real issue lies not only in developing new antibiotics but in ensuring their responsible use. Amid the ongoing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) crisis—a phenomenon where bacteria adapt to resist the effects of antibiotics, rendering them ineffective—this new antibiotic alone cannot guarantee a solution.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Uttarakhand government has implemented the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) from Jan. 27, 2025, becoming the first state in independent India to enforce such a law. While it appears to fulfil the letter of the Indian Constitution’s Directive Principles of State Policy, whether it aligns with the spirit of uniformity remains to be seen.

As we, Indians, celebrate Republic Day, it serves as a reminder that our nation is a “republic,” with our Constitution affirming that we, the people, “authorise” the government to govern. Gaining a clear understanding of the essence of a republic can deepen our comprehension of our role in public life.

The Madhya Pradesh government has announced plans to ban the sale of liquor in 17 religious cities across the state as part of a phased implementation of prohibition, according to media reports. This decision not only risks undermining the principles of secular governance but also carries the potential to trigger adverse social, economic and administrative consequences.

The central government appears to be aggressively promoting the Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry (Apaar), saying it aims to streamline academic tracking through unique student IDs and a comprehensive database. However, the risks and challenges associated with this system, coupled with the government’s alleged coercive tactics to secure state compliance, cast doubt on its overall benefits.

The state governments of Kerala and Tamil Nadu have objected to the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) proposed new regulations, arguing that these rules limit state authority in higher education and breach federal principles by centralising power in the appointment of vice-chancellors. They also reportedly fear that this could be an attempt to further an ideological agenda.

At the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2025, former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan said while the Indian government is investing in infrastructure, it needs to put more resources into developing human capital through better education and healthcare.

Hindi-language daily Dainik Jagran’s coverage of the 2020-2021 protests against the National Register of Citizens and the Citizenship Amendment Act (NRC-CAA), as well as the communal violence in Delhi, was “biased,” according to a study featured in the recently published book, “Inclusiveness in Indian Media Coverage.” The reportage predominantly supported the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) stance, depicting protestors negatively and associating them with violence while allocating minimal space for their perspectives, it suggests.

The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) 2025 meeting in Davos, Switzerland, which starts on Jan. 20, is attended by several Indian officials, including Union and state ministers and three chief ministers. However, its coverage within India primarily focuses on the country’s economic interests, overshadowing the theme of this year’s meeting. This theme – Collaboration for the Intelligent Age – is crucial for both India and Asia at large, as well as for the people living on this continent.

A study featured in the recently published book, “Inclusiveness in Indian Media Coverage,” examined Hindustan Times’ reporting on the Manipur violence in 2023 and found glaring lapses in its coverage. Considering that the Times is regarded as one of the better mainstream newspapers, the study could be alluding to widespread issues in the journalism practiced by traditional Indian media.

The Kerala government has informed the state’s High Court that 40 police complaints have been filed concerning sexual abuse in the Malayalam film industry since the Hema Committee report was published about five months ago. Officials said they have initiated formal investigations into each complaint.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is reportedly hosting around 8,000 students, who are underage, from Dalit and disadvantaged communities at the ongoing Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. The aim is to familiarise them with Hindu traditions and Indian culture, preventing them from becoming vulnerable to religious conversions. However, this move undermines the autonomy and sovereignty of the Dalit community and contravenes the Indian Constitution.

More than 20 months after ethnic violence erupted in Manipur on May 3, 2023, over 31,900 displaced Kuki-Zo individuals remain in relief camps in two districts of the state. Newsreel Asia has learned that in one of the districts alone, at least 90 deaths from humanitarian causes have occurred, with cancer and kidney failure death rates far surpassing national or regional averages amid a lack of government intervention.

Weeks before the assembly elections in Delhi, the Union Home Ministry has reportedly granted the Enforcement Directorate (ED) permission to prosecute former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over alleged irregularities in his administration’s excise policy. Is the timing of this move merely coincidental? Kejriwal, who is currently on bail, was previously arrested in the lead-up to the 2024 general election.

The health of Jagjit Singh Dallewal, a 70-year-old farmer from Punjab, is deteriorating as he enters the 50th day of his indefinite hunger strike on Jan. 14. He has refused medical intervention while continuing his fast to demand a legal guarantee of minimum support price for crops.

Three Indian cities—Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi—rank among the slowest globally in terms of average travel speeds, according to the TomTom Traffic Index 2025. The report, drawing from over 450 billion miles driven worldwide in 2024, shows a pressing challenge for the country’s urban hubs: the deteriorating quality of urban mobility.