| Dear Express Explained reader, We produced a lot of text and digital content this week about Chandrayaan-3, India's third shot at the Moon, and the second at getting a Lander on to the lunar surface. The first attempt to reach the surface, Chandrayaan-2, ended in heartbreak in September 2019, when the Lander lost control over its speed of descent, and crashed on the Moon. This time, things are different in many respects, and the design changes in the mission bring hope and confidence that India will, around August 23, join a very select group of countries that have succeeded in making a soft landing on the lunar surface. You might want to look at the all-you-need-to-know wrap that we put together on the mission, or specific details of the two missions of 2019 and 2023, or why Chandrayaan-3 is headed to the south pole of the Moon, a dark, cold region of rugged terrain and deep craters, where no other mission has gone before, or even why India's rocket launching pad is located in Sriharikota, an island in the Bay of Bengal in the southeastern corner of Andhra Pradesh. Take your pick, and do explore the embedded links that will point you to the rest of our coverage, the details of which I have not mentioned here. And for those of you who would rather watch and listen than read, there is this video of our live coverage of the launch, which includes my conversation with Johnson TA and Amitabh Sinha that you might want to check out. Should you be buying an electric vehicle? I have been thinking about this, listening to all the wonderful reasons for dumping petrol and diesel, and getting more than a little swayed by all the smart new EVs that I see on the roads. But I continue to feel insecure about being stuck somewhere far, literally powerless in the face of India's currently non-existent public charging facilities. That leads to concern about not being able to take the car out of town on a highway ride, which in turn raises questions in my mind on whether the premium that I will pay to buy an EV (rather than a conventional ICE vehicle) will be at all worth it. Let me be clear — I have zero doubt that the future is electric; the only thing I am concerned about is whether that future is within sight yet, and whether battery electrics, the Indian government's chosen type of EV, are the best way to ride into it. Anil Sasi argued a brilliant case for caution this week, comparing the Indian EV scenario with that of other countries, and examining whether what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. He also pointed to other examples of non-ICE automobile technologies that could offer better alternatives than the BEVs that the government is currently pushing. Absolute must read. For our section on foreign policy and strategy, Nirupama Subramanian wrote this week on the special relationship between India and France. It was written ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit, during which he attended the French National Day parade and was conferred with the highest French national honour, and focussed on the broader themes in the relationship, and how the two countries view their partnership in a world that is very different from the one in which they committed to it a quarter century ago. Finally, those of you who live in Delhi were witness this week to the startling spectacle of the Yamuna flowing calm and muddy on the stretch of Ring Road close to the Red Fort. Delhi's thin, polluted apology for a river swelled to its highest level on record after unusually abundant rainfall, and left many low-lying areas flooded and its residents stranded. Mallica Joshi wrote about the river, the fort, and their centuries of history together, combining reporting with analysis and expertspeak. Do read. Keep reading The Indian Express Explained. Some of our best content is now behind a paywall, so if you haven’t subscribed to The Indian Express yet, it may be a good idea to do so soon. Click here to subscribe.
Sincerely,
Monojit If you received this newsletter as a forward, you can subscribe to it here | Do read our Explained articles here |
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حبيبي ليس يعدله حبيب *** ولا لسواه في قلبي نصيب حبيب غاب عن بصري وسمعي *** ولكن في فؤادي ما يغيب يا حبيب ...
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