🌿 Assam brewed something new

Good morning.

It’s Tuesday. The week has barely started, and India already has something worth talking about.

Let's get into it.

The Monsoon is Active. Some States are getting too much of it.

A depression over south Jharkhand and adjoining north interior Odisha is pushing the monsoon into an active phase across central India. 

The sharpest alerts are for Chhattisgarh, Konkan, Gujarat, Coastal Karnataka, Madhya Maharashtra, Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim.

If you are travelling to or through any of these regions this week, check alerts before you leave. Read IMD’s latest update →

In 2007, Purnima Devi Burman was laughed at for trying to save a nesting tree for the hargila - a stork villagers called dirty and a bad omen. She went door to door anyway, not with lectures, but with cooking competitions, rangoli, and folk prayers.

The Hargila Army today has 20,000 women. The nests went from 18 to 485. The bird's IUCN status improved from Critically Endangered to Near Threatened. Science helped. But a change in story did the real work. Read the story →

Chota Tingrai Tea Estate in Tinsukia, Assam, has commercially produced India's first batch of matcha - the result of a decade-long collaboration with Japanese tea experts. 

The first 5kg lot was auctioned at the Guwahati Tea Auction Centre on July 3. Matcha is currently in global shortage due to soaring demand. Assam just entered that market.

Your next matcha latte might say "Made in India." Read the full brew →

What happened?
The World Bank classifies economies into four income groups - low, lower-middle, upper-middle, and high. India as a country sits in the lower-middle bracket. But five of its states have individually crossed the upper-middle income threshold of $4,496 per capita.

Goa, Sikkim, Delhi, Karnataka, and Telangana have crossed the World Bank's upper-middle income threshold. Three more states narrowly missed.

What does it mean?
India is not one economy. It is 28+ economies moving at different speeds. The southern and western states - driven by services, tech, and tourism - are pulling ahead. The gap between them and states like Bihar and UP is widening.

Why it matters:
For policymakers, a signal. For investors, a map. For everyone else, a reminder that India's economic story is not uniform - and the states that get it right are already living in a different India. Read More →

Which national park is most famous for this animal?

A) Kaziranga
B) Gir
C) Ranthambore
D) Sundarbans

Scroll to the bottom for the answer.

🏏 Australia won their seventh Women's T20 World Cup title, beating England in the final. Seven titles in the history of the tournament. Australia is simply built different.

⚽ Neymar has retired from international football after Brazil's exit from the World Cup at the hands of Norway in the Round of 16. A complicated legacy, an undeniable talent.

🚢 Maersk has ordered 1,000 Made-in-India shipping containers from DCM Shriram Group - the first order of its kind after India launched its first domestically manufactured EXIM-grade container.

🎬 Alia Bhatt's Alpha opened strong in its first weekend. Fans have opinions. Most of them positive.

🕌 Iran held a state funeral for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran on Monday, with millions gathering to mourn. His son Mojtaba was notably absent from the procession.

🗣️ Assam's Assembly has introduced Hindi as an official language for proceedings for the first time in 89 years - a significant shift in one of India's most linguistically diverse states.

💼 AI hiring in India is now outpacing overall IT recruitment, according to a new report. The skills the market wants have quietly changed.