What’s pushing Punjab farmers to protest?

It’s Friday, March 1, 2024. My name is Nelson John. Let's get started:Sensex and Nifty remained flat on Thursday. Both market indices marginally increased by around 0.2 percent.Ever had a single malt named Rampur? Or a gin named Ranthambore? They're all made by a distiller named Radico Khaitan. And with a topline of close to 12 thousand crores, it's doing quite well. Radico Khaitan caters to the higher end of the alcohol market, which has found many suitors. Mint's luxury and lifestyle correspondent Varuni Khosla speaks to its managing director Abhishek Khaitan to find out about the distiller's present and future plans.Placements at IIMs usually consisted of consultancies or large corporates. But a surge in mergers and acquisitions has changed that. Investment banks and private equity firms are now lining up at IIMs to hire aggressively. Mint's startups reporter Sneha Shah and workplaces and HR correspondent Devina Sengupta team up to bring you this news from our nation's top institutions. These firms are estimating that the India growth story will need more analysts and bankers. This is good news for IIM graduates, who were anticipating a muted placement season. However, companies across consulting, FMCG or banking still prefer applicants with prior work experience. What would you prefer - an electric vehicle which runs purely on electricity or a hybrid which has both an electric motor and a conventional engine? Data suggests that Indians are leaning hard towards a car that can do it both, also called the hybrid. This is despite hybrids getting no incentives or tax concessions from the government, as opposed to EVs. Hybrid cars attract 43 per cent GST, compared to a mere 5 per cent on EVs. In 2023, more than 82 thousand hybrids were sold in India. This marked a four-fold increase in hybrid sales compared to 2022. The growth in EV sales was subdued compared to hybrids. However, the number of EVs sold in 2023 was close to that of hybrids. So what’s fuelling the growth in hybrids? It is a slew of new models. The expansion in this segment is being led by Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara and Invicto, along with Toyota Hyryder and Innova Hycross. But what does a growth in the hybrid sector mean for EVs? EVs continue to be in demand but with a lack of charging infrastructure, range anxiety is still a deciding factor behind an EV purchase. Mint’s autos correspondent Sumant Banerji takes a look at India’s changing automotive landscape. He also takes on the hotly debated question - should hybrids be incentivized?Punjab - the land of five rivers, has historically been an area prone to conflicts. C Subramaniam, the agriculture minister behind India’s green revolution, wrote in his memoir that the area’s proximity to foreign invasions has made the people enterprising. Farming has been the main occupation for people here since centuries. And the area is yet again at the epicentre of the ongoing farmers’ protests. The state has been supplying food to the rest of the country for decades. Perpetual harvesting over the decades resulted in its soil getting ruined. With a depleting yield of paddy and wheat, and a lack of jobs elsewhere, farmers in Punjab are tied to their land. The increased dependence on rice and wheat at assured prices is also what makes the Punjab farmers edgy. Mint’s Sayantan Bera who writes on rural India, takes a deep dive into the issues plaguing the farmers of Punjab. He also explains why Punjabi farmers have been at the forefront of the ongoing protests. Is diversifying their crop a strategy that could work for the farmers of Punjab? Is there a solution to their issues? Sayantan tries to answer these questions in today’s long story.India is still growing, and it's growing well. The latest data shows that India's GDP grew at an 8.4% pace. That is double of what we saw in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Mint's economy correspondent Subhash Narayan writes that this growth can be attributed to robust manufacturing and construction activity. However, an erratic monsoon lead to negative growth by the agriculture sector, official data showed.We'd love to hear your feedback on this podcast. Let us know by writing to us at feedback@livemint.com. You may send us feedback, tips or anything that you feel we should be covering from your vantage point in the world of business and finance. Premium push: Radico Khaitan sees sixfold rise in shareholder value in 5 yearsI-banks at the IIMs drop an optimistic note on India’s economyHybrid cars are winning as range anxiety grips EVsA crisis is brewing in Punjab and farmers know itDecember quarter, when GDP beat every forecast