| | | Good morning! | | A month after it began on February 24, Russia's invasion of Ukraine is still that, an invasion, and not yet an occupation, raising questions about not just Russian President Vladimir Putin's strategy, but also the resources at his disposal, and the combat capacity and ability of Russian troops. On Friday, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath was sworn in as chief minister for a second consecutive term (setting all manner of records), but the big news of the week really came from three other events, including two in the sporting domain. One, on March 23, India withdrew the provisions of the Disaster Management Act as applicable to Covid safety measures with effect from April 1. The move came two years after the Union government announced a hard nationwide lockdown to combat the spread of the disease — and it can be seen to mark the symbolic end of two years of trauma for the country, its economy, and its people, especially if we do the right things from now on (but more on this anon). Two, the same day, World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty announced her retirement from tennis, a move that surprised everyone given her recent form (three majors in three years) and age (25). "Ash Barty, the person, has so many dreams she wants to chase after that don't necessarily involve traveling the world, being away from my home…," she said in a video. Barty was a true (and multi-faceted) talent as evident in a data capsule created by our partners HowIndiaLives. If Barty's retirement was unexpected, it was also because, as Jason Gay wrote in The Wall Street Journal, the "expectation of great athletes now" is that they will "go forever". "Once in a while, however, a great athlete says no more, at an early age, way before they are due, and they mean it," he added in a piece headlined "Introducing Ash Barty… as herself." And while, as Gay writes, Barty "offered nothing terribly specific" as to why she is quitting now, he probably answers this himself (and a few sentences before): "Barty says she's simply ready… for what's next." | | THINK Departures offer an apt segue to the plight of India's grand old party, the Congress. As my colleague Sunetra Choudhury wrote in a deeply reported piece, the party is even at risk of not having a leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha soon. Sunetra captured the Congress's problems along several dimensions: talent management, feedback, professional decision-making, and, of course, leadership. But the Congress's problems are not new, Roshan Kishore and Abhishek Jha argued in a data journalism piece. The party's decline started in 1989, with its performance in 2004 and 2009 being exceptions. | | THINK MORE While the Congress lapses deeper into crisis, India seems well on its way to coming out of one, with Covid-19 cases almost at a two-year low. The imminent expiry of provisions under the Disaster Management Act bodes well for a country (and people) striving to return to normalcy. In a special package to mark March 24, the day India announced the lockdown in 2020, HT looked the journey of the pandemic, the country, and its people over these two years. Jamie Mullick analysed the trajectory of the three waves India has seen, and what these indicate. Binayak Dasgupta wrote about the policy response to Covid, and the relative success and failure of various measures. Roshan Kishore and Abhishek Jha explained how the "pandemic has changed how India moves, lives, works, and consumes". And Dhrubo Jyoti argued that the plight of migrant workers has given the country "lessons on empathy, governance" and "welfare nets". Where we go from here, though, depends on what we do now. And as I have repeatedly argued, booster shots for all adults should be at the heart of that response. | | KNOW The Covid crisis may have passed in India, but the government now faces the challenge of navigating a sticky foreign policy terrain in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Most recently, on Thursday, India acknowledged the magnitude and gravity of the human crisis confronting Ukraine but continued its policy of abstaining from Ukraine-related votes at the United Nations. Ashley J Tellis, the Tata chair for strategic studies at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, among the foremost experts on Asia in the US, explained how that country views India's dilemma in an interview with Prashant Jha. The US executive is disenchanted, the Hill is anxious about India's position, but ties between the two countries will remain strong, he said. | | LEARN The column I look forward to every week in HT is Anirban Mahapatra's Scientifically Speaking. It's always interesting, and educative. This week, for instance, he wrote about the appendix (not the one in books but that in the body) and how its vestigial rap may be undeserved. | | | | OUTSIDE To return (briefly) to Covid, for months after the beginning of the pandemic, Sweden was held up as the country to emulate when it came to Covid response. The country went in for none of the hard restrictions others (including India) did, and, at least for some months, did not seem any the worse for this. Then, reality hit. As a recent paper in Nature points out, the country's Covid fatality rate in 2020 was 10 times neighbouring Norway's. According to the authors, "scientific methodology was not followed by the major figures in the acting authorities —or the responsible politicians—with alternative narratives being considered as valid, resulting in arbitrary policy decisions." For those still mystified by the origins of the Sars-CoV-2 virus in Wuhan, The New York Times this week profiled Edward Holmes, the Australian biologist who is, "at the center of the debate over the origins of the coronavirus." | | WHAT I'M READING How the world really works by energy expert Vaclav Smil. From food to globalisation, energy to the environment, and material science to risk perception (all business, after all, is driven by the interplay between risk and return), Smil looks at the current technologies underlying life and work. Given that few people understand the engine behind modern society (and modern life), this is a must-read. | | WHAT I'M LISTENING TO Jazz pianist Brad Mehldau's Jacob's Ladder, an experimental and improvisational journey that combines jazz with prog-rock in a way that some may find challenging (as I did, some parts). The direct prof-rock references are to Yes and Gentle Giant but Mehldau has spoken of other influences, including Emerson, Lake and Palmer, and this is clear in the listening. It's a new album, out on digital, and I can't wait till June when the vinyl will be released. | | Were you forwarded this email? Did you stumble upon it online? Sign up here. | | | | | | Get the Hindustan Times app and read premium stories | | | | | | View in Browser | Privacy Policy | Contact us You received this email because you signed up for HT Newsletters or because it is included in your subscription. Copyright © HT Digital Streams. All Rights Reserved | | | | |
