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Supreme Court cracks down on tiger safaris The Supreme Court has banned safaris in critical areas of the Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand. They will be only allowed in buffer or peripheral zones adjoining the reserve. The order comes after the Court discovered that the government had turned a blind eye to the cutting of over 6,000 trees to build a zoo (?!!) inside the park. The justices were outraged: On the “huge devastation” caused by the illegal felling, the court said it was “amazed at the audacity” of former Uttarakhand Forest Minister and Congress leader Harak Singh Rawat and ex-Divisional Forest Officer Kishan Chand for giving the forest and wildlife conservation laws a complete go-by and throwing the public trust doctrine “into the dustbin.” The Court also signalled that it may ban all safaris—even in the bordering zones. For now, it has allowed safaris in rescue and rehabilitation centres—for injured or orphaned tigers—in these areas. But bringing in injured tigers from zoos to include them in the safari is no longer permitted. Read more of our Headlines That Matter here: https://splainerlite.substack.com/p/farewell-nikki-haley You can subscribe for a free one-month subscription of splainer worth Rs 299 with this link: https://splainer.in/referral/PAXNPEU

The real lesson of self-help guru Jay Shetty Jay Shetty—the celebrity guru of the moment—has been exposed as a fraud by The Guardian. The real lesson, however, lies in the dazzling success of Shetty—which teaches us what it takes to make a multimillionaire guru. Short answer: something resembling a pyramid scheme. First, meet Jay Shetty The Jay Shetty backstory #1: The official version of Shetty’s life is that he grew up in an ordinary Indian family in the UK—trying to get his MBA and make money like any good Indian-origin boy. Then at the age of 19 (or 21), he attended a lecture by an ISKCON monk named Gauranga Das—that changed his life. After three years spent living as an ascetic in Das' ashram in India, Shetty realised his true purpose was to share the spiritual wisdom he had found. The Jay Shetty backstory #2: According to The Guardian investigation, Shetty grew up in an ISKCON family. In fact, he was a true Hare Krishna believer—knew Gauranga Das long before he went to business school. There may indeed have been an epiphany—but on an ISKCON trip to France not a lecture hall. And he spent those three years not roughing it in India—but at Bhaktivedanta Manor, a sprawling Tudor estate in his hometown, Watford. Story of his success: Soon after leveraging his ISKCON network to promote his YouTube videos, Shetty caught the eye of socialite/ media entrepreneur Arianna Huffington (also a queen of self-help). He moved to New York, wrote his first book—‘Think Like a Monk: Train Your Mind for Peace and Purpose Every Day’—and the rest is history. Where he is now: Shetty’s people have issued strenuous denials—but the story has gone viral. This is more than just a story of a ‘spiritual guru’ exposed to be a charlatan. Shetty’s fall exposes the business of self-help—which now operates as a very profitable pyramid scheme. Read our Big Story—our one big explainer of the day—to find out more: https://splainer.in/sections/2024/The-Self-help-Hustle/big-story

PCOS linked to suicide risk The context: Polycystic ovary syndrome or PCOS is a common health condition among women that leads to irregular periods, acne, obesity, and cysts in the ovaries. It is also the leading cause of infertility. What happened now: A new study shows that women with this condition are more vulnerable to suicide. Specifically, those with PCOS had an 8.47-fold higher risk for suicide attempts. A possible reason: concerns over infertility and body image worries. Why this matters: It confirms earlier research that found PCOS can lead to depression and self-harm. Read more here: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/feb/05/women-polycystic-ovary-syndrome-higher-suicide-risk-study In other worrying news: for human health, real-life versions of ‘Jaws’ are on the rise across the world: “Along with the tally of fatal shark attacks, which jumped from five to 10 between 2022 and 2023, researchers also charted an increase in the number of non-fatal global shark attacks over that same time period. In 2023, there were 69 confirmed shark attacks worldwide, which was higher than the previous five-year average of 63 attacks.” Australia accounted for the highest unprovoked attacks (22%) and four deaths. According to researchers, surfers were bitten the most. This is most likely because the sharks mistook them for prey and got “test bites”. Read more here: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/deadly-shark-attacks-doubled-2023-international-file/

Paytm debacle: Guide to the fintech tamasha: The RBI suddenly brought down the axe on India’s biggest fintech success story—shocking the entire startup community. But as with most biz journalism, much of the coverage is Greek to the layperson. We explain what happened and why it matters—to the person who lives outside this bubble. Wtf is the Paytm bank? There are many different parts to the Paytm empire. This scandal focuses on its payments bank. Let us explain. Say hello to the payments bank: In 2015, the RBI gave 11 entities a payments bank license.These are limited banks that cannot accept more than Rs 200,000 in deposits. And they cannot make direct loans to their customers—but they can act as a platform for other banks who can. The aim: financial inclusion of those unable to access a normal bank account. The bigger banking dream: But the real money in the fintech business is in lending. So in 2015, companies like Paytm took a payments bank licence as a stepping stone—toward becoming a full-fledged bank. According to RBI rules, if the payments bank ran smoothly for five years, it could get converted into a Small Finance Bank. And that would mean Paytm could even get into the lucrative lending game. But for now—since it wasn’t allowed to lend—the Paytm Payments Bank built partnerships with other NBFCs—and took a commission on each loan. And it worked out quite well. Those millions of payment wallets became a funnel for future banking customers. You open the wallet to pay for stuff—and soon enough you’re taking a personal loan to buy something else on your wishlist. More importantly, small merchants are now low-hanging fruit—who live in a Paytm world. Read our Big Story—our one big explainer of the day—to find out what went wrong with Paytm here: https://splainer.in/sections/2024/Paytm-For-Your-Sins/big-story?ShareLink=b1958b28-41b9-421d-af91-0749698dedeb&utm_id=OpenShareLink&utm_source=774bad0a-a4ab-4a93-9ae7-b7aa9616d85a&utm_medium=link