Quick notes: Gigafactory, Oil addiction...

• 30 GWh: BHEL-led consortium may build India’s first Li-ion Gigafactory



• Costly addiction to oil: In 2019, India’s demand for crude oil will grow faster than China’s. In 2018, the rupee was Asia’s worst-performing currency as higher crude prices triggered a sharp depreciation 



• One-way-street: Chinese online retailers doing brisk business in India

Under Trump administration pressure to cut its trade surplus, India has committed to buying $5 billion worth of U.S. oil and gas yearly and $18 billion worth of US arms. Does India exert such pressure on China, whose trade surplus with India is 225% higher than India's with U.S.?

— Brahma Chellaney (@Chellaney) January 16, 2019




• Local is key: Indian startups are taking baby steps towards a vernacular internet. . . Amazon spends record on lobbying in 2018.



• Solitude: If we lose our capacity for solitude, we risk getting caught up in the crowd. We risk being ‘swept away’ by what everybody else does and believes in. Before we can keep company with others, we must learn to keep company with ourselves.



• Black lotus: When Ola's Bhavish Aggarwal was stumped by an Indian monk who sold his Porsche 



• Core Right agenda for a modern India:




• Shia leader: Madrasas producing IS supporters, ban them



• Post-Work: The radical idea of a world without jobs