LONG READS

• For now, there’s an uneasy truce in this conflict over the future of news. What are the learnings for India?
• The temporary relief large media companies are seeking may not address structural problems. The smaller publishers, reliant on traffic from social media firms, stand to suffer the most.

• In 2006, Bihar abolished state-run mandis. What followed is a forewarning for India’s new farm laws
• The system is rigged in favour of the traders who cheat on every possible parameter—from weight to moisture level—which is why very few farmers come to Bihar’s mandis to sell produce

• Can Masayoshi Son restart 2021 with a clean slate and re-emerge as the premier venture capitalist? The jury is out
• Even if its stock price has hit dot-com bubble levels, there are aging unicorns hanging around in its Fund. Also, SoftBank’s attempt to ride the SPAC boom comes across as flawed.

• The RBI governor’s attempt to draw a line in the sand on yield curve is not going down well with the bond market
• The RBI cannot stop or even slow down the rise in yields without purchasing bonds. But by doing so, it ends up infusing more liquidity at a time when it is trying to signal normalizing liquidity.

• When the government failed to serve up data needed to make key decisions, public-spirited citizens stepped up.
• With new variants now altering the course of both the pandemic and vaccine development, transparent data has become even more important in the pandemic’s second year

Nervous markets are pushing up bond yields. Here’s why central banks won’t burst multiple asset bubbles

• An attempt to rein in MFIs in the state on the eve of elections could finally force RBI to change the rules
• Experts have pointed out that people in northeastern states are more consumerist, happy to take loans when it is easily available to spend on conspicuous consumption.

• Privatizing more PSUs is once again the flavour of the season. But data reveals govt is ignoring some hard truths
• There are only a handful of sectors where a disproportionate market share and the nature of business gives government firms a case to command a premium

• A decades-long delicate dance with Myanmar’s military and civilian leaders has now gotten complicated for India
• For now, the protesters and the military seem to be exercising restraint. Irrespective of which side comes on top in the street protests, stability is likely to go for a toss in the near term.

• Trying to start a new life is turning out to be difficult due to a collapse in demand. A ground report from Bihar.
• Consumption of drugs has spiked to dangerous levels. So much so that cough syrup brands, sedative drugs like Netravet and an adhesive named Sunfix are household names

• Companies are slowly and tentatively shifting from WFH to WFO. What are the plans and pain points?
• There’s apprehension about using public transport. Refurbishing office ventilation systems is a challenge. Whether offices would go back to 100% strength is an open question

• Past experiments have failed because of design issues. Malaysia’s ‘Danaharta’ shows a viable way ahead
• If stressed loans are transferred at too low a value, the recovery might deliver supernormal profits to buyers. This could be especially problematic if the buyers are in the private sector

• Would you claim ‘finders keepers’ on a mistaken transfer by Citibank? These asset managers did and won in court.
• The decision is the latest blow to Citigroup, which is updating its underlying controls and technology after regulators slapped it with a $400 million fine for deficiencies last year.

• Even as the cryptocurrency touches $51,000, governments will continue to protect their monopoly over money
• Governments like India are worried that cryptocurrencies will make it very easy for individuals to move their money out of the country, circumventing existing controls

• Many feel an economic downturn is the best time to start up. How do freshly minted Indian promoters fare?
• This flood of early-stage activity has prompted investors to pause and consider whether the factors boosting early-stage startups in sectors like education and health will sustain post pandemic.

• India’s processed foods rank poorly in global comparisons on healthiness. A proposed fix is mired in committees.
• India’s progressive front-of-pack labelling regulation has been stuck for five years, following fierce opposition from industry. Experts are warning that public health fallouts will show up soon

• As a changing megacity gets back to full throttle, it will have to look past trains to make commutes multi-modal
• As newer business districts emerged away from downtown, Mumbai’s commute is no longer only on the north-south axis. The east-west commutes cannot be serviced by the local trains

• Bitcoin ‘mining’ is a carbon guzzler. With renewed interest in crypto, could a green coin be the next big thing?
• The entrance of big corporations into the cryptocurrency market could boost incentives to produce a new ‘green bitcoin’ using renewable energy, sustainability experts say.

• Partly derailed by the pandemic, the L&T group company is thinking big to steer itself back on the growth track
• Many see a merger of L&T’s four tech firms in the future. Also, the pressure on CEO Chatterjee to deliver is telling; he not only has to better his peers but also compete with group companies.

• The sudden groundswell of support in western Uttar Pradesh could widen the protests. A ground report
• While farmers in Punjab and Haryana fear a market takeover, farmers in western UP are angry because the government went back on its promise to pay sugarcane growers on time