| Greetings from India! You're reading Meanwhile, Back Home, our daily newsletter specially curated for our overseas readers. While you were asleep, it was a whirlwind of a day here in India. We've got the top highlights lined up for you.
Welcome back, reader Back home, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, speaking in Kanpur, said the Indian armed forces forced Pakistan to “plead to stop the war” during Operation Sindoor. He hailed the operation as a turning point in India's fight against terror, backed by indigenous weapons and political will. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, addressing BSF personnel in Poonch, added that Pakistan’s surveillance network was “completely destroyed,” rendering it unable to wage informed warfare for years.
💡Spotlight Imagine a country scrapping its minimum support prices (MSP), shuttering its food procurement agency, and taxing farm incomes—all in one go. That’s exactly what Pakistan has done, driven not by choice, but by the conditions tied to a hefty IMF bailout. Here’s how the overhaul is unfolding: 📌 MSP scrapped, procurement halted Pakistan skipped announcing an MSP for the 2024-25 wheat crop and its version of India’s FCI—PASSCO—didn’t buy a single tonne. Last year, the agency procured nearly 1.8 million tonnes. This break from tradition wasn’t voluntary—it’s a key demand from the IMF under a $7.1 billion Extended Fund Facility. 📌 PASSCO dismantled The government is winding up PASSCO altogether. A consultancy is already mapping its assets for liquidation. The broader goal is ending all federal and provincial price-setting in agriculture by FY26. That's a sharp pivot from decades of state intervention. 📌 Agricultural income now taxable All four provinces have aligned farm income taxation with federal norms. From January 2025, both ordinary farmers and agribusinesses will be taxed like everyone else—something still unthinkable in India. 📌 Regulatory overhaul on the cards Pakistan has pledged to review laws that let it control prices and curb hoarding, essentially dismantling the legal backbone of its food security apparatus.
☕ Spill the Expresso The dance drama Bollywood can’t match If you’ve been craving a film that’s all heart and zero hype, Moonwalk is your ticket. Directed by debutant Vinod AK, this Malayalam gem is a love letter to Michael Jackson — but more importantly, it’s a tribute to everyday dreamers. Set in 1987 Kerala, it follows a gang of teens discovering breakdance and chasing big dreams with bare feet and bigger hearts. There are no flashy stars here, just real stories, soulful moves, and moments so relatable (yes, even jackfruit-carrying ones) they’ll make you smile. It’s honest, it’s raw, and it’s exactly what Bollywood’s missing. How to eat fish Long before Michelin-starred chefs made “nose-to-tail” a buzzword, Bengal was already mastering the art, especially with fish. In Bengali kitchens, every bit counts, right from the tiniest whitebait to the prized hilsa. But it’s the fish head that truly steals the show. Whether deep-fried with cabbage in maacher matha diye bandhakopi or simmered with rice and spices in the celebratory muri ghonto, fish heads are a prized delicacy packed with flavor and nutrition. So next time you see a whole fish served, dive in headfirst!
🚨 Must Read Trump crypto firm silent on Shehbaz talks World Liberty Financial Inc (WLFI), the Trump-owned crypto firm, remains tight-lipped about its dealings with Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif, even as its partner, Pakistan Crypto Council CEO Bilal bin Saqib, pushes for a rebrand. At Bitcoin2025 in Las Vegas, Saqib likened Pakistan to Bitcoin—both “victims of bad PR” but brimming with potential. WLFI, which lists Trump as “Chief Crypto Advocate” and his sons as envoys, signed a deal with Pakistan in April to boost blockchain adoption. But scrutiny is mounting as a US Senate subcommittee is probing potential conflicts of interest in Trump’s crypto ventures.
📚 Book Nook When NgÅ©gÄ© wa Thiong’o met Tagore In 2018, the late Kenyan literary giant NgÅ©gÄ© wa Thiong’o stood awestruck in Tagore’s grand Jorasanko home—a far cry from his own childhood in a colonial Kenyan village. But it wasn’t just the mansion that moved him; it was Tagore’s words, once read in prison, that reshaped his life. Jailed in 1977 for critiquing Kenya’s dictatorship, NgÅ©gÄ© encountered Tagore’s belief: True value lies in one’s mother tongue. That epiphany moved him. He abandoned English, writing his next novel in Gikuyu—on prison toilet paper—and championed African languages as acts of resistance. For NgÅ©gÄ©, translation wasn’t surrender to global tongues but a bridge between equals. “Languages must speak to each other democratically, not colonially,” he insisted. That’s all for now. Until next time, Aishwarya Khosla
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