Best of the Week: Kota holds its breath as NEET protests rage

Dear reader,

The NEET controversy has spilled far beyond Delhi's protest sites. While students continue demonstrations across the country demanding accountability over the alleged paper leak, India's coaching capital, Kota, is grappling with a quieter fallout: uncertainty.

The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which has emerged as the face of the protests, remains firm on its key demands after another round of talks with the Centre. It wants Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation, a fresh NEET exam, withdrawal of cases against protesters, an apology for alleged police action, and ₹1 crore compensation for families of aspirants who died by suicide after the exam was cancelled.

In Kota, where nearly 60% of students prepare for medical entrance exams, coaching institutes and hostel owners fear repeat aspirants may stay away this admission season. Career Point founder Pramod Maheshwari expects student numbers to fall to 70,000-80,000 from around one lakh in recent years, largely because students are hesitant to invest another year amid uncertainty.

While institutes such as Allen say admissions remain broadly on track, others report weaker enrolments and a noticeable shift towards engineering courses. Hostel owners, many of whom rely on repeat NEET aspirants, say parents are adopting a wait-and-watch approach until there is clarity on the exam's future.

Protest timeline

• 20 June: CJP begins protests at Jantar Mantar, demanding Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation and a re-NEET.
• 28 June: Activist Sonam Wangchuk begins a hunger strike in support of students and demands education reforms.
• 20 July: March to Parliament ends in clashes, intensifying the agitation as protests spread nationwide.
• 23 July: Wangchuk ends his 26-day fast after talks with Union ministers. The Centre announces fast-track courts, proposes a tougher anti-paper leak law and opens talks with CJP.
• 24 July: CJP reiterates its non-negotiable demands and warns of a fresh nationwide protest if negotiations fail.

On to the best of Mint’s journalism from this week:

Trump's tariff threat rattles Indian pharma

Indian drugmakers are scrambling after Donald Trump proposed tariffs of up to 200% on generic medicines imported into the US, with a two-year window to shift manufacturing to America. The announcement triggered a sell-off in pharma stocks, though analysts called it an overreaction, arguing the plan would be difficult to implement given the US's dependence on low-cost Indian generics. Companies are now weighing limited US manufacturing for high-margin products while accelerating expansion into other markets. Most believe any tariff burden would ultimately be passed on to US consumers, rather than prompting a large-scale relocation of production.

Infosys picks an insider for an AI-era reset

Infosys has named three-decade veteran Ashiss Kumar Dash as CEO-designate, betting on an experienced insider to lead the company through AI-driven disruption and a weak demand environment. The announcement came alongside its slowest June-quarter performance in six years, though the company still outpaced three of its four larger peers. Revenue rose 2.8% year-on-year to $5.08 billion, while management cut its FY27 growth guidance to 1.5-3%, citing macro uncertainty. AI revenue climbed to $417 million, but headcount fell and shares slipped 5% in US trading, reflecting investor concerns over slowing growth and an increasingly cautious outlook.

When a meal is all that stands between a child and hunger

Two-year-old Bhagat Singh cannot walk. At just 6.6 kg, he is classified as a severely acute malnourished (SAM) child, one of millions caught in India's persistent nutrition crisis. A Mint ground report from Madhya Pradesh reveals how poverty, stagnant wages and meagre diets leave children surviving on little more than rotis, pulses and subsidised grains. The latest NFHS-6 survey paints a grim picture: nearly 40% of children under five in Madhya Pradesh are underweight, while almost 85% of Indian toddlers do not receive an adequately diverse diet. Nutrition experts blame a mix of inadequate public spending, delayed funding for anganwadis, the growing popularity of cheap junk food, and the absence of protein-rich foods like eggs in school meals across several states. For many families, the free meal at an anganwadi is no longer a supplement but the day's main source of nutrition.

Two-wheeler makers ride into FY27 with confidence

TVS Motor and Bajaj Auto kicked off FY27 with record quarterly revenues, signalling strong demand despite inflation, higher fuel costs and supply chain disruptions. TVS posted a 34% rise in revenue and 65% jump in profit, while Bajaj Auto reported 65% revenue growth and a 44% increase in profit. Both companies expect demand to stay strong, helped by GST cuts, tax relief and robust exports, though TVS flagged uneven monsoon risks. Electric vehicles remained a key growth driver, with TVS' EV sales soaring 86%, while both companies announced capacity expansion plans to meet rising domestic and export demand.

India's first private rocket in orbit

Six years of work, and it all came down to a few sleepless weeks. Skyroot Aerospace founder Pawan Kumar Chandana was running on three to four hours of rest a night before Vikram-1, India's first privately built orbital rocket, successfully placed satellites in space. The relief, though, is short-lived. Skyroot's already gearing up for another Vikram-1 launch this year, while racing to develop the more powerful Vikram-2, targeted for next year. What does this milestone really mean? Beyond the technical win, it's a signal, to investors, to global customers, and to India's own spacetech ecosystem, that private companies here can genuinely compete on the world stage. Chandana credits IN-SPACe's support as crucial.

Twin governance hurdles for Tata Sons

The Maharashtra charity commissioner's intervention is creating ripple effects across the Tata Trusts. A probe into the 1989 transfer of Ratan Tata's Tata Sons shares has delayed the transfer of his stake to two charitable foundations under his will, with executors awaiting regulatory clearance. Separately, the watchdog's order barring Sir Ratan Tata Trust from holding board meetings has cast uncertainty over vice-chairman Vijay Singh's reappointment, as his term ends on 14 August. The twin developments have exposed governance challenges at the trusts that collectively control 65.9% of Tata Sons, leaving both succession and board decisions in limbo.

Rural India is feeling the inflation pinch way more than cities

While urban India's inflation has been fairly tame, rural households are staring at a very different reality. Rural inflation jumped to 4.74% in June, nearly a full percentage point above urban's 3.92%, the widest gap in 18 months. The divergence is due to food, mostly, since it carries far more weight in rural budgets. But it's not just food anymore. LPG shortages from the West Asia war, soaring gold prices, even clothing and footwear, everything's costing rural households more. Onion prices alone jumped to 5.9% versus just 2.4% in cities. With monsoon rains patchy and kharif sowing already lagging, could rural inflation climb even further?

While robots fight in Shenzhen, India builds their brains

Picture this: 32 humanoid robots throwing punches in a Shenzhen ring while thousands cheer. Now picture a quieter scene, an unassuming Bengaluru office where engineers are teaching robots to think, not fight. That's CynLr, one of several Indian startups betting that the real race isn't building flashy humanoids, but giving them intelligence. Can a robot learn to pick up a crumpled cloth the way a child learns through touch? That's the problem CynLr, Addverb, Mowito and BotForge are each tackling differently. But can India build robotics' AI brain without the industrial backbone that powers China, Germany or Japan? The missing piece, experts say, is synchronisation between industry, academia and government.

Synthite's next $500 million won't come from spices alone

Ever wondered what connects a Marc Jacobs perfume and your packet of Kurkure? Meet Synthite, a Kochi-based company that's spent 54 years turning spices, roots and flowers into scents, flavours and colours the world doesn't know it's using. It just crossed $500 million in revenue, and now wants to double that by 2030. But can it? Synthite's bread-and-butter, commodity spice extracts, is maturing fast. So it's betting big on higher-value natural solutions, colours, fragrances, nutraceuticals, competing against giants who've had decades of a head start. Managing director Aju Jacob is candid: "We are not starting from zero."