Narendra Modi’s thirst to supercharge economic growth is matched by US desire to inject AI into world’s biggest democracy

India celebrates 80 years of independence from the UK in August 2027. At about that same moment, “early versions of true super intelligence” could emerge, Sam Altman, the co-founder of OpenAI, said this week.

It’s a looming coincidence that raised a charged question at the AI Impact summit in Delhi, hosted by India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi: can India avoid returning to the status of a vassal state when it imports AI to raise the prospects of its 1.4 billion people?

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© Photograph: Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty

© Photograph: Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty

© Photograph: Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty

Google, Anthropic and OpenAI bosses to mingle with global south leaders wrestling for control over technology

Silicon Valley tech billionaires will land in Delhi this week for an AI summit hosted by India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, where leaders of the global south will wrestle for control over the fast-developing technology.

During the week-long AI Impact Summit, attended by thousands of tech executives, government officials and AI safety experts, tech companies valued at trillions of dollars will rub along with leaders of countries such as Kenya and Indonesia, where average wages dip well below $1,000 a month.

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© Photograph: Seshadri Sukumar/Zuma Press Wire/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Seshadri Sukumar/Zuma Press Wire/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Seshadri Sukumar/Zuma Press Wire/Shutterstock

Rastlos reist Friedrich Merz durch die Welt. Zwischen den rivalisierenden Großmächten sucht er Partner, die noch etwas von Regeln halten. Dabei ist nicht einmal klar, wie es in Europa weitergeht.

Der US-Präsident will Indiens Premier dazu gebracht haben, kein russisches Öl mehr zu kaufen. Experten tun sich allerdings schwer, seine Ankündigung ernst zu nehmen.

The agreement was short on details, but President Trump said India had promised to stop buying Russian oil and would buy more U.S. farm goods and other products.

© Eric Lee/The New York Times

In Delhi feiert die EU das Freihandelsabkommen als historischen Befreiungsschlag. Die Erwartungen sind groß, auch die deutsche Autoindustrie hofft auf Impulse. Ob die Goldgräberstimmung anhält, wenn die Europäer Indiens raue Wirklichkeit kennenlernen?

The bandhgala jacket will no longer be part of the formal uniform for Indian Railways staff, following claims it symbolises a ‘colonial mindset’

It is one India’s most ubiquitous garments, with origins in the grand Mughal courts and Rajasthani kingdoms of times past, and still widely favoured by sharply dressed grooms at wedding receptions.

But this week, the distinctive high-collared bandhgala jacket – known to many as the “princely jacket” in a nod to its royal origins – found itself at the centre of a lively debate after it was denounced by the Indian railways minister as a symbol of a “colonial mindset”.

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© Photograph: Danita Delimont/Alamy

© Photograph: Danita Delimont/Alamy

© Photograph: Danita Delimont/Alamy

Delhi is world’s second largest purchaser of Russian crude, which is now cheaper than oil from Middle East

Russia is already working to circumvent the latest US sanctions to ensure India can continue to import high levels of cheap Russian crude oil, according to industry analysts.

Since the outbreak of the Ukraine war, India has become the world’s second largest purchaser of Russian crude oil, which has been heavily discounted due to the impact of western sanctions.

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© Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters

© Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters

© Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters

Friedrich Merz besucht Indien noch vor China. Premier Modi weiß das zu schätzen. Heikle Themen werden umschifft – stattdessen winkt ein Milliardengeschäft für die mitgereisten deutschen Unternehmer.

Auf seiner Indien-Reise darf Merz auch die Heimat von Premierminister Modi besuchen. Eine Ehre für den Kanzler. Der ist aber vor allem an der Wirtschaft des Landes interessiert.

A globally unique programme allowed the poor to demand – and get – jobs, empowering rural women. Narendra Modi courts trouble by hollowing it out

Few countries have attempted anything as ambitious as India’s rural jobs guarantee. Under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, any adult in the countryside who demanded work was entitled to a job on local public works within 15 days, failing which the government had to pay an unemployment allowance. Enacted in 2005, MGNREGA created the world’s most far-reaching legal right to employment. It generates 2bn person-days of work a year for about 50m households. Over half of all workers were women, and about 40% came from Dalit and tribal communities.

For a country where vast numbers rely on seasonal farm work, the scheme mattered. It stabilised incomes, raised rural wages, expanded women’s bargaining power and reduced internal migration. Households could demand up to 100 days of paid work at a statutory minimum wage, turning employment into an enforceable right. The World Bank derided it as a “barrier to development” in 2009 – but praised it as “stellar” five years later. India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, has however replaced this rights-based system with a centrally managed welfare scheme, VB-G RAM G, a shift opposed by the Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz and the inequality scholar Thomas Piketty.

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© Photograph: Anil Ghawana/Alamy

© Photograph: Anil Ghawana/Alamy

© Photograph: Anil Ghawana/Alamy

Opposition claims SIR process being used to disenfranchise minority groups to benefit Narendra Modi’s government

India’s political opposition has warned that democracy is under threat amid a controversial exercise to revise the voter register across the country, which critics say will disenfranchise minority voters and entrench the power of the ruling Narendra Modi government.

An debate erupted in India’s parliament last week over the special intensive revision (SIR) process, which is taking place in nine states and three union territories, in one of the biggest revisions of the country’s electoral roll in decades.

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© Photograph: Shaikh Azizur Rahman/The Guardian

© Photograph: Shaikh Azizur Rahman/The Guardian

© Photograph: Shaikh Azizur Rahman/The Guardian

Italian prime minister’s charity sale may also feature presents from Narendra Modi, Viktor Orbán and Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Passing on unwanted presents might be considered a little discourteous – unless it’s done the right way.

Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, will offload 270 gifts given to her by world leaders during her travels abroad, which could include a chainsaw-wielding statuette of Javier Milei, the Argentinian president, or a pair of blue python skin shoes with gold heels, in a charity auction.

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© Photograph: X

© Photograph: X

© Photograph: X

Der indische Premier Narendra Modi empfängt Kremlchef Wladimir Putin mit allen Ehren – und einem Bekenntnis zum Frieden. Das Signal in Richtung Westen ist trotzdem: Hier treffen sich zwei, die viel gemeinsam haben.