Week 34

Exploitation! 😡

February 27, 2021

Good Morning,

Welcome! I hope you have your “Subah Kee Chai” ready and you're excited to read your weekly 10-minute digest. 

This week was a tad bit slow, however, nonetheless, it saw the transport sector protest the new e-way bill, poor market performances, skyrocketing fuel prices, and COVID-19 cases, and a round-up of this month's movie/books/music recommendations! Before you dive in, I just want to say a big shoutout to you, for reading this newsletter! Nothing makes me happier than the ability to write this newsletter for you on a weekly basis! Thank you ❤️

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Now let’s get into the news.

Markets

Markets

Red again :( Equity indices fell sharply on Friday as a spike in global bond yields forecasted inflation causing major panic among investors across the world.

nosedived nearly 2000 points or 3.80% on Friday, while Nifty 50 dipped 550 points or 3.76%. In addition, banking and financial stocks suffered a major hit due to a mass selloff on the global front. ONGC, Mahindra & Mahindra, PowerGrid, Axis Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the top losers with their stocks falling as much as 6.34% on Friday. It was a bloodbath on Friday, as 98% of the stocks listed on the equity indices plunged. So why the crash? 

As mentioned earlier, a recent rise in US bond yields reflects a positive road to economic recovery, however, also triggers a higher inflation rate. This might prompt the central bank to raise interest rates to slow down inflation. The central bank's indirect involvement in equity markets is known as 'taper tantrum', a mistake made in 2013, which resulted in a mass selloff of equity indices forcing market prices down. Economists believe a similar incidence is occurring as the economy slowly recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the fear of foreign investors liquidating from the domestic market is another reason for a dip in equity prices. 

  Petrol

are skyrocketing! The price of petrol currently sits at INR 100 a litre in several states across India. This rapid rise in petrol prices has forced individuals to smuggle gasoline and diesel from neighbouring countries such as Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. A recent police statement highlighted that a tanker loaded with 1,360 litres of diesel was being smuggled to India from Nepal last week. The increase in petrol and diesel rates is the result of a sharp recovery in the price of crude oil, a commodity that India imports 85% of, making it the world's third-largest buyer. In addition to the sharp recovery is the stubbornly high taxes making up 60% of the price consumers pay for their petrol.

COVID-19

Cases are rising again, especially in

, as multiple new strains of the novel coronavirus were reported. While the rate of growth is not as steep as it was during the peak of the pandemic, the number of cases are still on the rise sparking concern among the authorities. In numbers, the country reported 77,284 cases between the 7th and 14th of February. In the following week (February 15th to the 21st), India reported more than 1 lakh cases, a 31% increase! Has the Government relaxed the COVID-19 lockdown rules too early? Irrespective, it is critically important to remember the slogan "I am Responsible". As an individual, it is your responsibility to wear a mask, to protect people around you, and to protect yourself from contracting the virus. Keep a safe distance! Stay Safe! No one wants another lockdown! 

Bandh! 

Another week! Another protest! However, this time it isn't the farmers protesting, it's the

. The All India Transporters Welfare Association (AITWA), a representative of India's Road Transport sector, called for a Bharat Bandh on the 26th of February to protest against the recent hike in fuel prices and the Indian government's decision to introduce a new e-way bill law. We spoke about the reasoning behind the spike in fuel prices above, however, what is the new e-way bill law and why is there a call to scrap them? 

An

is an electronic waybill for the movement of goods, and transporters of goods are required to register and generate their e-way bill on the e-way bill portal. The e-way bill is regressive in nature as it forces transporters to put their lives at risk to prevent the seller/buyer from suffering harsh tax penalties. As mentioned, the seller of goods must fill in the e-way bill portal and generate an appropriate e-way bill for the transporter to use. However, the e-way bill generated does not account for accidents, traffic, Sundays/holidays, driver's personal issues, and a number of other factors that may disrupt the journey. An error or expiry of an e-way bill for whatever reason is heavily and harshly fined up to 200% of the tax value or 100% of the invoice value as per Section 129 of the CGST Act (2017), irrespective of whether the Government is even facing a tax loss or not. This harsh tax penalty burden on buyers/sellers forces them to penalize truck drivers who ultimately suffer wage cuts and lowered payments. 

What are the protestors demanding? The

, representing the majority of truck drivers, is calling for the complete scrapping of this new e-way bill as they claim it endangers the lives of truck drivers who risk their lives driving 200 km plus every single day. Truck drivers across the nation parked their vehicles between 6 am to 8 pm as a symbolic protest, while transport godowns displayed protest banners demanding the scrapping of the new e-way bill. 

While complicated, it is important to understand the significance this holds in the overarching power tax authorities and the Indian government has over farmers, truck drivers, etc. who negligently get exploited for capital gain. What do you think of the new e-way bill and the spike in fuel prices? Let me know by replying to this email! 

Sports 

Test 3

Winner! Team India convincingly came out victorious against England in the

to go 2-1 up in the 4-match series. A total of 30 wickets fell in the two days, out of which 28 belonged to the master spinners in both teams. The high wicket count was also a consequence of a terrible display of batting technique from both sides. Joe Root, the England skipper, surprisingly revealed the long-lost bowling technique that helped him pick up a record five wickets on Day 2. On the other hand, however, India's win over England made Indian skipper

the most successful captain in Indian Test match history. The skipper surpassed MS Dhoni's 21 win record as Indian captain, after registering 22 wins in 29 games. Records continued to be broken! Veteran Indian bowler

became the fourth-highest wicket-taker for India with 599 international wickets. The position was previously held by Zaheer Khan (597 wickets). What a game it was! On to the final test scheduled to take place from the 4th to the 8th of March at the Sardar Patel Stadium. 

Yusuf Pathan 

On Friday, Indian all-rounder, and one of the most enjoyable players to watch,

announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. The 38-year veteran was part of the famous T20 World Cup-winning Indian team in 2007, and also one of the key players in the 2011 ODI World Cup. Yusuf Pathans career is nothing short of pure brilliance, with 57 ODIs, a total of 810 runs, and a strike rate of 113.60. He also featured in 22 T20 International Competitions in which he scored 236 runs. Yusuf Pathan's influence was reflected in Kolkata Knight Rider's famous IPL win in 2012. A dominant force in the IPL, Yusuf Pathan scored 3204 runs in 174 IPL matches and picked up 42 wickets. He also holds the record for the fastest century by an Indian in the IPL and he has won the man of the match award 16 times, the third most among Indian players. Thank you for the memories! Yusuf Pathan, a true Indian legend! 💪

Monthly Recommendations

Movies

1. Greenland (Amazon Prime) 

2. What Men Want (Netflix) 

3. Shutter Island (Netflix) 

4. News of the World (Netflix) 

5. Escape from Pretoria (Amazon Prime) 

TV Shows/Documentaries

1. Behind her eyes (Netflix) 

2. Wanda Vision (Disney+) 

3. Crime Scene - The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel (Netflix) 

4. Superstore (Netflix) 

5. The Great Escapists (Amazon Prime) 

Books

1. Bigger Government by Marc Robinson 

2. Impact by Sir Ronald Cohen 

3. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennet 

4. The Fifth Vital by Mike Majliak 

5. Think again by Mike Grant 

Music

1. Deep Pockets - Drake 

2. I Hear Music - Bobby McFerrin 

3. Moonwalking in Calabasas Remix - DDG ft Blueface 

4. In this Shirt - The Irrepressibles 

5. Purple Yellow Red and Blue - Portugal. The Man 

6. On Track - Tame Impala 

7. Cobra Clutch - Ghostface Killah 

8. Opaul - Freddie Dredd (Lo-Fi Remix) 

9. Bussdown - Headie One ft Rich the Kid 

10. Coffee - beabadoobee 

11. Hadal Ahbek - Issam Alnajjar 

12. Where Have You Been - Rihanna 

13. She Don't Dance - Everyone You Know 

14. Collard Greens - ScHoolboy Q ft Kendrick Lamar 

Other News

1. On Thursday, a London Court rules that fugitive

will be extradited to India in connection with the infamous Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam. Once extradited, he will face charges of fraud, money laundering, alleged intimidation of witnesses, and disappearance of evidence. 

2. The RBI Governor stated that private bidders for state-owned banks must be

to ensure that the lenders have robust risk buffers. 

3. The

, a famous hotel chain in India, made its debut in Rajasthan after unveiling The Leela Palace Jaipur. 

4. In March 2021, the construction of the

will conclude making it the world's highest rail bridge, a huge milestone for Indian engineering. The bridge stands 359 metres above the Chenab river. 

5. The

, which represents print media businesses, demanded Google to increase publisher share of advertising revenue to 85%. 

Quiz

Quiz time! Let's run it! 

What three-letter word can be placed in the blanks below to make four different words? 

___less

___ure

___orse

___ing 

Get thinking! 

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Quiz Answer: "END" endlessendureendorseending

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Written by: Adnan Bahrainwala (Founder of Subah Kee Chai)