1.Southwest Monsoon 2025: India To Experience Above-Normal Rainfall This Monsoon: IMD

Southwest Monsoon 2025: India will experience above-normal cumulative rainfall this monsoon, the India Meteorological Department said on Tuesday, ruling out the possibility of El Nino conditions during the entire season. Most parts of India, except regions like north-east are likely to experience normal to above normal rainfall this year.

A normal monsoon is defined as rainfall between 96% and 104% of the Long Period Average (LPA), while anything 105% or more is considered above normal.

“The LPA of the season rainfall over the county as a whole for the period 1971-2020 is 87 cm,” the IMD said.

2.Airbus Plans To Buy $2 Billion Of Parts From India Every Year
Airbus plans to bolster its sourcing from India to $2 billion a year by 2030 — a jump of almost 43% from the current levels — as it eyes growing sales in the South Asian nation’s booming aviation market.

The Toulouse, France-based firm sourced $1.4 billion of products from India in 2024, an increase of 40% from the previous year. That compares with $500 million worth of procurement from India in 2019.

The decision to boost sourcing reflects India’s growing importance, with its domestic aviation market ranked the world’s third largest. Airbus in 2022 estimated India will need 2,210 new aircraft over the next 20 years.

3.India bets on ‘frugal innovation’ to catch up in global AI race

India is betting on the tradition of “frugal innovation” and its huge tech talent pool to catch up in the global artificial intelligence arms race, as it seeks a share of the fast-developing industry.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, start-up founders and policymakers believe the world’s most populous country can be competitive in AI by creating cheaper large language models trained on Indian languages and by building AI “applications” to solve specific problems.

“If DeepSeek has been built at a reasonably low cost, we should be able to as well”, said Abhishek Singh, the bureaucrat picked by Modi to lead the government’s AI mission in 2024.

Singh is sifting through 67 bids from tech start-ups and research labs seeking funding for domestic AI models. Those approaches came after the government issued a rallying call for ideas in January in a push to create a homegrown rival to China’s DeepSeek, which claims to have built a competitive model at a small fraction of the usual cost.

The government had taken a “strategic call” to build Indian models and was “helping to build the ecosystem” with its five-year $1.2bn AI strategy that it launched last year, said Singh. It has made available 10,000 graphic processing units (GPUs) — the chips needed to power advanced AI — to Indian researchers and start-ups and plans to provide initial funding for a few promising ideas.

But for India to have a chance to catch up in a field that has been dominated by the US and China, Indian companies need to take larger bets to fund innovation, according to executives and policymakers.

India’s tech giants have announced relatively little major investments in AI compared with their global peers. Google, Microsoft, Meta and Amazon plan to spend as much as $300bn on AI this year, while Chinese eCommerce giant Alibaba has said it will invest $53bn over the next three years.

Of the $43bn worth of AI investments made globally in 2024, India garnered just $179.3mn, compared to China’s $3.3bn and US’s $34.2bn, according to data compiled by Tracxn.

While a 2024 Stanford University AI Index report ranked India at the top in AI skill penetration, the country is far behind in terms of the total AI patents granted globally between 2014 and 2022 — 60 per cent were from China, 20 per cent from the US and only 0.22 per cent from India.

Read on (FT Gift article)

4.Pressure on Harvard

President Donald Trump yesterday suggested he could revoke Harvard's tax-exempt status and classify it as a political entity after the university said it wouldn't comply with requests to overhaul its policies and programs. Trump's comments came a day after his administration said it would freeze $2.26B of Harvard’s multiyear funding, highlighting a broader conflict over academic independence and federal oversight.

On Monday, Harvard—America's oldest and wealthiest university—became the first institution to openly reject a series of changes from the Trump administration, which claims such measures are necessary to combat antisemitism on campuses. The changes include removing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, adopting merit-based admissions and hiring practices, and banning identity-covering masks during student protests. Harvard said the requests infringed upon its independence.

The Trump administration has similarly pressured at least six other universities, including Columbia University, which conceded to a list of reforms last month. Harvard has the largest endowment in the nation at $53B—about 20% of which can be spent at the school's discretion.

5.China’s Halt of Critical Minerals Poses Risk for U.S. Military Programs; New York Times

China’s decision to retaliate against President Trump’s sharp increase in tariffs by ordering restrictions on the exports of a wide range of critical minerals and magnets is a warning shot across the bow of American national security, industry and defense experts said.

6.We’re wrong about what makes us happy: Dan Gilbert

What do you think will make you happy next year? According to Dan Gilbert’s research, your guess is probably wrong. Dan is a Harvard psychologist, bestselling author of Stumbling on Happiness, and popular TED talker, and he and Adam Grant discuss why it’s so difficult to make accurate predictions about our own future and how to figure out what actually makes us happy. The two also chat about Dan’s experience as a high school dropout-turned-professor, examine why small annoyances might hang around longer than major gripes, and determine the best way to end a conversation. Listen to this interesting conversation or read the transcript. It is worth it.

7.Latest news on Gen AI:Google created a new AI model for talking to dolphins

Dolphins are generally regarded as some of the smartest creatures on the planet. Research has shown they can cooperate, teach each other new skills, and even recognize themselves in a mirror. For decades, scientists have attempted to make sense of the complex collection of whistles and clicks dolphins use to communicate. Researchers might make a little headway on that front soon with the help of Google's open AI model and some Pixel phones.

Google’s Veo 2 video generating model comes to Gemini

Google is bringing its Veo 2 video-generating AI model to users who pay for Gemini Advanced, the company’s premium AI plan.

The expansion comes as Google looks to deliver an answer to OpenAI’s Sora video generation platform, and as competition in the space grows fiercer.

Starting Tuesday, Gemini Advanced subscribers will be able to select Veo 2 from the model drop-down menu in Google’s Gemini apps. Users can create eight-second video clips at 720p resolution with a 16:9 aspect ratio, and upload these clips to TikTok, YouTube, and more via Gemini’s “share” button.

Meanwhile, OpenAI reportedly considering its own social media platform to compete with Elon Musk's X, tied to its newest image-generation feature

And, AI startup Anthropic's premium Claude chatbot now integrates with Google Workspace, enabling it to reference emails in Gmail, search documents in Google Docs, and schedule events in Google Calendar.

8.An 85-year Harvard study found the No. 1 thing that makes us happy in life: It helps us ‘live longer’

Contrary to what you might think, it’s not career achievement, money, exercise, or a healthy diet. The most consistent finding we’ve learned through 85 years of study is: Positive relationships keep us happier, healthier, and help us live longer. Period.

9.Indian Agency Charges Gandhi Family with Money Laundering: Bloomberg

India's Enforcement Directorate has filed charges of money laundering against senior leaders of the Indian National Congress, including Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi.

The charges allege that the leaders were involved in money laundering worth about 50 billion Indian rupees, and that they used two companies to transfer ownership of real estate to themselves and other alleged conspirators.

The investigation began in 2014, and the acknowledgment and registration of the charges in court is scheduled for April 25.

10.India's first 5-star airport terminal is here: In is Bengaluru

Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport (BLR) has achieved a landmark milestone as its Terminal 2 (T2) has been awarded the prestigious 5-Star Airport Terminal Rating by Skytrax, the global aviation quality auditor. This makes it the first and only terminal in India to achieve such a feat, ahead of major hubs like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Hyderabad.

Skytrax, based in the UK, is globally recognised for assessing airline and airport quality. Their 5-star rating is reserved for terminals that provide exceptional passenger experience, comfort, innovation, and design.