# Instagram ads row, Jhiram Ghati verdict, and China at BRICS summit

An episode of [3 Things](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1406730235), 9 Sep 2026, 21 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/75011423/3_things_2026_september_9_v1.mp3

First, we speak with The Indian Express’ Amaal Sheikh about The National Human Rights Commission issuing notices to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, and the Delhi Police regarding paid Instagram advertisements that allegedly directed users to Telegram channels offering child sexual abuse material. Next, we speak to The Indian Express’ Jayprakash S. Naidu about the recent convictions made in the Jhiram Ghati massacre, one of the most audacious attacks carried out by Maoists in the country, which nearly wiped out the entire Chhattisgarh Congress leadership in 2013. (11:36) And, in the end, we talk about Chinese President Xi Jinping attending the upcoming BRICS Summit with a sizeable business delegation and the expected developments on the sidelines of the summit. (18:15) Hosted by Niharika Nanda Produced by Shashank Bhargava, Ichha Sharma, and Niharika Nanda Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: In this episode, we talk about one of the most
[0:02] Speaker 1: audacious attacks carried out by Maoists in the country 13
[0:06] Speaker 1: years back in Chhattisgarh's Jeeram Ghati and the.
[0:09] Speaker 2: Recent convictions made in the case.
[0:11] Speaker 1: We also talk about India-China relations and the developments that
[0:15] Speaker 1: are expected to happen on the sidelines of the upcoming
[0:17] Speaker 1: BRICS summit.
[0:19] Speaker 2: But we begin today.
[0:20] Speaker 1: By focusing on a case about digital safety which involves Instagram,
[0:24] Speaker 1: Telegram and India's struggle to act on reports of child
[0:27] Speaker 1: sexual abuse material. Hi, I am Niharika Nanda and you
[0:34] Speaker 1: are listening to 3 Things, the Indian Express News Show.
[0:42] Speaker 1: Earlier this week, the National Human Rights Commission issued notices
[0:45] Speaker 1: to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the Ministry
[0:49] Speaker 1: of Information and Broadcasting and the Delhi Police over paid
[0:52] Speaker 1: Instagram advertisements that allegedly directed users to Telegram channels offering
[0:57] Speaker 1: child sexual abuse material.
[1:00] Speaker 3: So BBC essentially came up with an investigation where they
[1:04] Speaker 3: found that There were some paid advertisements that Meta was
[1:08] Speaker 3: running on Instagram, which allegedly used terms like a rape
[1:14] Speaker 3: video or child video and prompted users to click on
[1:19] Speaker 3: these advertisements, which then directed them to a Telegram channel
[1:25] Speaker 3: where child sexual abuse material was being circulated.
[1:30] Speaker 1: That's The Indian Express's Amal Sheikh, who writes on law
[1:34] Speaker 1: for the paper.
[1:36] Speaker 3: Now, the investigation basically noted that since it was a
[1:41] Speaker 3: paid advertisement, they had essentially passed Meta's advertisement review systems
[1:47] Speaker 3: and were only running until someone reported it or it
[1:51] Speaker 3: was found by the company. That's what was happening on Instagram.
[1:55] Speaker 1: Since then, the National Human Rights Commission has asked for
[1:58] Speaker 1: the concerned departments for.
[1:59] Speaker 2: An action-taken report.
[2:01] Speaker 1: It also raised questions about whether Meta complied with its
[2:04] Speaker 1: legal duty to report such offences under the POXO Act
[2:08] Speaker 1: and whether platforms can continue to claim the protections of
[2:11] Speaker 1: an intermediary when their AI systems do more than simply
[2:15] Speaker 1: host content. So to understand what exactly has the NHRC
[2:19] Speaker 1: asked in the Instagram ads case and why is India
[2:22] Speaker 1: struggling to take action against child abuse videos, my colleague
[2:25] Speaker 1: Shasharma speaks with Amal in this segment.
[2:29] Speaker 4: Amal, we understand that under Section 19 of the POXO Act,
[2:33] Speaker 4: a person who knows or identifies that a POXO offence
[2:36] Speaker 4: has occurred or is likely to occur must report it
[2:40] Speaker 4: to the Special Juvenile Police Unit or the local police.
[2:43] Speaker 4: And This is exactly where NHRC has placed their investigation,
[2:48] Speaker 4: that whether Meta actually reports such cases to the police
[2:52] Speaker 4: or is Meta still just an intermediary? So what did
[2:56] Speaker 4: they find out?
[2:58] Speaker 3: So NHRC doesn't really answer that. Basically, what's happening here
[3:01] Speaker 3: is Meta has been viewed or it's considered an intermediary
[3:06] Speaker 3: where they host and transmit content that users generate or
[3:11] Speaker 3: users create. So legally, they cannot be defined as a publisher.
[3:15] Speaker 3: But there has been an argument that's raised is because
[3:19] Speaker 3: these platforms use AI and with the rampant use of
[3:22] Speaker 3: AI where artificial intelligence is helping users create content, refine content, monetize,
[3:28] Speaker 3: so on and so forth, all using AI tools. So
[3:31] Speaker 3: NHRC has basically just asked regulators to examine if meta
[3:35] Speaker 3: now comes under the definition of intermediary or because of
[3:41] Speaker 3: the usage of AI do the laws apply to meta
[3:44] Speaker 3: differently or not so that's what the regulators will now examine.
[3:47] Speaker 4: Great and Amal why does the use of AI matter
[3:51] Speaker 4: here like why does AI change the legal argument?
[3:55] Speaker 3: So basically what happens is a cyber tip line report
[3:58] Speaker 3: is raised, which is basically an alert that any tech
[4:01] Speaker 3: company has. And if they identify a child sexual abuse
[4:05] Speaker 3: material is being circulated or they suspect something like that
[4:08] Speaker 3: is happening on their platforms, they raise it with the
[4:11] Speaker 3: National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in the US. Now,
[4:15] Speaker 3: what happens over there is if it appears that that
[4:19] Speaker 3: activity has been linked with a certain country, take for example, India,
[4:24] Speaker 3: the report is forwarded to the Indian authorities. And this
[4:27] Speaker 3: report essentially contains IP addresses and so on and so forth. Now,
[4:31] Speaker 3: that is just a lead that investigators must verify. These
[4:34] Speaker 3: reports also contain certain kind of photographs and videos and everything.
[4:38] Speaker 3: And they also include a code that is called a
[4:42] Speaker 3: hash code, which is basically a digital fingerprint for any
[4:45] Speaker 3: videos or images that are uploaded online. So what investigators
[4:49] Speaker 3: in India do is, While they're investigating those reports or
[4:53] Speaker 3: once those reports reach them and they classify them between
[4:55] Speaker 3: the jurisdictions and so on and so forth, they find
[4:59] Speaker 3: whether such videos or those images that they have collected
[5:03] Speaker 3: during investigation, whether the hash value from those images and
[5:07] Speaker 3: videos are similar to the ones that are mentioned in
[5:11] Speaker 3: the cybertapline report. And what it does is basically helps
[5:14] Speaker 3: them confirm evidence. Now with AI, what's happening is that
[5:19] Speaker 3: And that's a bit tricky part over here because our systems,
[5:22] Speaker 3: our identification systems are not built for AI materials. So
[5:26] Speaker 3: because much of these images and videos are being located
[5:32] Speaker 3: from the hash key that's already in the data sets
[5:34] Speaker 3: or database, any content that's generated using AI essentially does
[5:39] Speaker 3: not trigger their systems.
[5:42] Speaker 4: And here, are you talking about videos that are entirely
[5:45] Speaker 4: AI generated or even videos that are simply edited using AI? Right.
[5:51] Speaker 3: So how a hash value works is any image or
[5:55] Speaker 3: any video has a dedicated hash value. If that video
[5:59] Speaker 3: is edited in any way, refined in any way or
[6:02] Speaker 3: generated completely by an AI tool, that value significantly changes.
[6:07] Speaker 3: So even if a video is cropped in a way
[6:09] Speaker 3: that it completely alters the way it's viewed, that hash
[6:13] Speaker 3: value changes. So anything that is refined, cropped, changed, or
[6:18] Speaker 3: completely generated by AI will not be detected by these systems.
[6:21] Speaker 3: So it's a bit tricky that way. It may not flag.
[6:25] Speaker 3: as an offensive material. And even if it does, it's
[6:29] Speaker 3: a basically dead end because there is no other way
[6:32] Speaker 3: of investigating it further. And even if they do take
[6:36] Speaker 3: it up, it's pretty tedious, according to some of the
[6:39] Speaker 3: officials that we had spoken, because they will then have
[6:41] Speaker 3: to look into different investigative methods and different evidences.
[6:48] Speaker 4: And so are videos that are entirely generated using AI
[6:52] Speaker 4: treated differently under the law?
[6:54] Speaker 3: As of now, it's pretty hard to say. So when
[6:58] Speaker 3: we were speaking with these officers, that's what they also mentioned,
[7:02] Speaker 3: that because it's difficult to recognize these videos, it's difficult
[7:08] Speaker 3: to see where these videos are coming from, whether or
[7:10] Speaker 3: not the AI systems are constantly evolving, the tech is
[7:14] Speaker 3: constantly changing, but the infrastructure that the authorities have has
[7:19] Speaker 3: remained the same in a more traditional sense. Speaking of
[7:25] Speaker 3: whether these AI videos are treated differently in law, sure,
[7:30] Speaker 3: because even if a child is not involved in these videos,
[7:34] Speaker 3: it does not negate the fact that there is an
[7:37] Speaker 3: offence happening where such content is being generated and is
[7:41] Speaker 3: being shared. So I believe it will be treated under
[7:44] Speaker 3: the IT Act for sharing of explicit content where such
[7:48] Speaker 3: abuse material is generated, even if the child is not involved. Right.
[7:54] Speaker 4: And another obstacle that you write about is determining whether
[7:58] Speaker 4: the person shown in these pieces of content is actually
[8:02] Speaker 4: a child. So why is identifying the victim's age so difficult?
[8:08] Speaker 3: So these investigators, they're dealing with tons of images and videos,
[8:15] Speaker 3: and quite often it's of really poor quality. And sometimes
[8:19] Speaker 3: the faces of people in those images or videos are
[8:23] Speaker 3: not clearly available or visible. And even if it is visible,
[8:28] Speaker 3: sometimes it gets really difficult for these officers to identify
[8:32] Speaker 3: the age of the person in the image or the video.
[8:36] Speaker 3: And unless they are completely sure, apparently, unless they can
[8:41] Speaker 3: establish that the person in the content is a child,
[8:45] Speaker 3: they cannot really take it further.
[8:47] Speaker 4: And Amal, even after an FIR is filed... Just how
[8:51] Speaker 4: difficult is it to identify the actual offender behind an
[8:54] Speaker 4: online account? Because investigators still need to identify the account,
[8:59] Speaker 4: the device. Right.
[9:01] Speaker 3: So filing of an FIR is basically just the starting point.
[9:06] Speaker 3: After that, the investigators have to identify who controls the
[9:11] Speaker 3: particular account that's in question, where the information was obtained from,
[9:15] Speaker 3: from which platform. They have to trace IP addresses, confiscate devices,
[9:20] Speaker 3: and then analyze those devices. So what defense lawyers essentially
[9:25] Speaker 3: do is a challenge attribution by arguing that someone else
[9:29] Speaker 3: had used the particular device or the account was under
[9:32] Speaker 3: someone else's usage and the name of the account was
[9:35] Speaker 3: under someone else so proving that specific individual committed the
[9:38] Speaker 3: particular offense can be pretty hard than proving that the
[9:42] Speaker 3: content existed.
[9:43] Speaker 4: Right and circling back to the platforms say if a
[9:46] Speaker 4: platform detects suspected child sexual abuse material today what is
[9:51] Speaker 4: the ideal sequence of reporting that they need to follow?
[9:55] Speaker 5: Right.
[9:55] Speaker 3: So that's where CyberTipLine reports come into picture, right? So
[9:59] Speaker 3: CyberTipLine is basically an alert, a tech platform. What they
[10:02] Speaker 3: do is if they locate or if they identify any
[10:05] Speaker 3: child sexual abuse material has been circulated on the website,
[10:08] Speaker 3: they alert it with the National Center for Missing and
[10:12] Speaker 3: Exploited Children in the United States. It's from the US
[10:16] Speaker 3: that they The activity, if it appears that certain activity
[10:20] Speaker 3: that was flagged with this organization in the US, if
[10:24] Speaker 3: that activity has been happening from a particular country, say
[10:28] Speaker 3: from India, the report is forwarded to Indian authorities. And
[10:31] Speaker 3: then it's from the Indian authorities that they identify which
[10:35] Speaker 3: jurisdiction the particular activity was happening in. And then from
[10:39] Speaker 3: the center, it goes on to different states. And then
[10:42] Speaker 3: it's under different police officials or different cyber districts.
[10:46] Speaker 4: And so what exactly has the NHRC asked the government
[10:49] Speaker 4: to do now?
[10:50] Speaker 3: So NHRC basically has asked for three things. It has
[10:55] Speaker 3: asked for the ministry and the Delhi police to file
[11:00] Speaker 3: an action taken report within the next two weeks. I
[11:04] Speaker 3: believe one week is over, so they have one week now.
[11:07] Speaker 3: And they have asked for clarity on whether reporting obligations
[11:12] Speaker 3: under the POXO Act were followed by META, which is
[11:15] Speaker 3: if they had flagged that such a content was circulating,
[11:18] Speaker 3: if they're flagged over the law enforcement, and if not, why?
[11:22] Speaker 3: And NHRC has also asked for regulators to examine if
[11:27] Speaker 3: the platforms that are using AI to generate or curate content,
[11:30] Speaker 3: do they still or can they still be treated as
[11:33] Speaker 3: an intermediary under the law?
[11:39] Speaker 1: And next, we talk about the recent convictions made in
[11:42] Speaker 1: the Jeeram Ghati massacre, one of the most audacious attacks
[11:45] Speaker 1: carried out by.
[11:46] Speaker 2: Maoists in the country.
[11:48] Speaker 1: On the 25th of May 2013, a Maoist attack killed
[11:51] Speaker 1: 27 people in Sukhma district's Jeeram Ghat, including several senior
[11:56] Speaker 1: Congress leaders. The attack took place during the Congress Parivartan rally,
[12:00] Speaker 1: making the leaders a prime target. In fact, the attack
[12:03] Speaker 1: made national headlines because it nearly wiped out the entire.
[12:07] Speaker 2: Chhattisgarh Congress leadership.
[12:09] Speaker 1: Now, while 28 people named in the charge sheet are
[12:12] Speaker 1: still at large, A National Investigation Agency court last week
[12:16] Speaker 1: convicted 10 accused in the case. So to learn more
[12:19] Speaker 1: about the attack and the court's verdict, we speak with
[12:21] Speaker 1: The Indian Express's Jayaprakash S.
[12:23] Speaker 2: Naidu.
[12:24] Speaker 1: Jayaprakash, can you begin by reminding our listeners what exactly
[12:28] Speaker 1: happened in 2013?
[12:30] Speaker 2: How was the attack carried out?
[12:32] Speaker 5: Yeah, so the Jiramghati attack took place on May 25,
[12:35] Speaker 5: 2013 near the border of Sukma and Basta districts. So
[12:39] Speaker 5: more than 150 Maoists ambushed a Congress Parivartan rally convoy.
[12:43] Speaker 5: Several Congress leaders were killed, including Mahindra Karma, who was
[12:47] Speaker 5: instrumental in founding the banned anti-Maoist militia Salwa Jurum. then
[12:52] Speaker 5: State Congress Chief Nand Kumar Patel and his son Dinesh
[12:55] Speaker 5: and senior leader and former MLA Uday Mudliar. So, according
[12:58] Speaker 5: to investigators, the attack was primarily aimed at Mahendra Karma.
[13:02] Speaker 5: This was because he was the face of Salwa Jodhum,
[13:05] Speaker 5: a movement that began in 2005 and civilians were recruited
[13:09] Speaker 5: as special police officers and armed to fight Maoists. So
[13:12] Speaker 5: the conflict led to more than a thousand deaths and
[13:15] Speaker 5: displacement of over 30,000 people, with only a few eventually returning.
[13:19] Speaker 5: So the movement was struck down by the Supreme Court
[13:22] Speaker 5: in 2011.
[13:23] Speaker 4: Right.
[13:23] Speaker 2: And tell us about the investigation.
[13:25] Speaker 1: What was the timeline of the case once it was
[13:28] Speaker 1: taken over by the NIA?
[13:30] Speaker 5: Yeah, so the NIA took over the investigation just two
[13:33] Speaker 5: days after the attack. Then in 2014 and 2015, two
[13:36] Speaker 5: charge sheets were filed. At least 39 people were charge sheeted.
[13:40] Speaker 5: Of these, at least 28 were shown as wanted accused
[13:43] Speaker 5: and 11 were arrested back then. Among the prominent people
[13:46] Speaker 5: named as wanted accused were Tipri Tirupati alias Devji, a
[13:50] Speaker 5: Politburo member who surrendered in Telangana this February and Barse
[13:54] Speaker 5: Deva who succeeded Madhavi Hidma as the commander of Battalion
[13:58] Speaker 5: 1 and surrendered this January. One more person was Ganesh Uike,
[14:02] Speaker 5: a Central Committee member, who was killed in an encounter
[14:04] Speaker 5: in Odisha in December 2025. So the trial itself went
[14:08] Speaker 5: on for more than a decade and involved at least
[14:10] Speaker 5: 294 hearings. One of the accused died in custody, while
[14:13] Speaker 5: the remaining 10 have now been convicted. And the quantum
[14:16] Speaker 5: of punishment will be decided on September 16.
[14:19] Speaker 1: So what did the NIA find out while looking at
[14:22] Speaker 1: the case? What did the chartsheet say regarding the attack?
[14:25] Speaker 5: Yeah, so according to NIHR sheet, this was a meticulously
[14:28] Speaker 5: planned attack and was part of the banned CPI Maoist
[14:31] Speaker 5: Tactical Counter Offensive Campaign or TCOC. So this TCOC takes
[14:37] Speaker 5: place usually during summer when the Maoists, they, you know, regroup.
[14:41] Speaker 5: And then they plan and execute big attacks. So most
[14:43] Speaker 5: of the big Naxal attacks have taken place in this
[14:46] Speaker 5: TCOC period, which is during the summer. So on the
[14:49] Speaker 5: fateful day, Maoist commanders allegedly held meetings in early 2013
[14:53] Speaker 5: and they conspired to target what they described as class
[14:56] Speaker 5: enemies with Mahindra Karma being the specific target. According to
[14:59] Speaker 5: the charge sheet, the Maoists triggered a landmine beneath a
[15:01] Speaker 5: red bullero vehicle, creating a five foot deep crater. They
[15:04] Speaker 5: also blocked the road with a stalled truck and then
[15:07] Speaker 5: the convoy was trapped. This is when the Maoists you
[15:10] Speaker 5: know from surrounding hilltops they fired indiscriminately and threw grenades
[15:14] Speaker 5: at the 20 vehicle convoy for nearly two hours 27
[15:17] Speaker 5: people were killed including 10 security personnel and over the
[15:20] Speaker 5: period the that toll has also increased so officially we
[15:23] Speaker 5: know 27 people were killed but you know it is
[15:25] Speaker 5: said that the toll went up to 29 to 32
[15:27] Speaker 5: back then the police uh said that you know mao
[15:29] Speaker 5: is looted 9mm pistol, 2 magazines, 20 rounds, 2 AK-47
[15:34] Speaker 5: rifles with 14 magazines and 455 rounds, 10 hand grenades
[15:39] Speaker 5: and communication sets.
[15:40] Speaker 1: And now the NIA court has convicted 10 Maoists, right?
[15:44] Speaker 1: Can you tell us a bit about the verdict and
[15:46] Speaker 1: what the court said?
[15:48] Speaker 5: Yes, so 10 people have been convicted. All of them
[15:50] Speaker 5: are tribals and most of them are described as foot soldiers.
[15:54] Speaker 5: This also includes women. Their punishment is now scheduled to
[15:56] Speaker 5: be decided by the court on September 16th. The problem
[15:59] Speaker 5: here is again that the big fish, you know, the conspirators,
[16:02] Speaker 5: they have gotten away while the foot soldiers, they have
[16:05] Speaker 5: been convicted. Nevertheless, they were involved in the crime, but
[16:08] Speaker 5: that is what is being talked about right now. One
[16:10] Speaker 5: more important point, the court has also asked the NIA
[16:13] Speaker 5: to submit a detailed report based on the recent Supreme
[16:16] Speaker 5: Court guidelines. That report is important because it will help
[16:19] Speaker 5: the court decide whether the death penalty should be imposed.
[16:22] Speaker 1: But Jayaprakash, we understand that former Chief Minister Bhupesh Bhagel
[16:26] Speaker 1: has expressed concerns regarding the investigation.
[16:30] Speaker 2: So, what did he say?
[16:32] Speaker 5: Yeah, so both the Congress party as well as former
[16:34] Speaker 5: CM Bhupesh Bhagel have alleged that the BJP never wanted
[16:37] Speaker 5: to investigate what they describe as a larger conspiracy behind
[16:40] Speaker 5: the attack. When the Congress came to power in Chhattisgarh
[16:43] Speaker 5: in 2018, a second FIR was registered in the case
[16:46] Speaker 5: to probe the larger conspiracy. However, Bhupesh Bhagel has alleged
[16:49] Speaker 5: that since the BJP returned to power in 2023, there
[16:51] Speaker 5: has been no progress in this case. On the other hand,
[16:54] Speaker 5: the present Chief Minister Vishnudev Sai has said that if
[16:57] Speaker 5: Bhagel has any evidence, then he should have given it
[16:59] Speaker 5: to the NIA. Why did he hold back the evidence?
[17:01] Speaker 1: And there has been a major crackdown on Maoist groups
[17:05] Speaker 1: under the current government.
[17:07] Speaker 2: But when the UPA was.
[17:08] Speaker 1: In power at the centre, what steps did it take
[17:11] Speaker 1: to tackle the Maoist insurgency?
[17:13] Speaker 5: So one strategy of the UPA government that proved effective
[17:16] Speaker 5: was the establishment of security camps in core Maoist zones.
[17:19] Speaker 5: The strategy was broadly described as clear, hold and develop.
[17:22] Speaker 5: The idea was that the security forces would first enter
[17:24] Speaker 5: Maoist strongholds and push the Maoists out. They would then
[17:27] Speaker 5: establish camps and hold the territory. After that, civil administration
[17:31] Speaker 5: could come in with roads, schools, hospitals and other infrastructure.
[17:34] Speaker 5: Over the last decade, more than 200 camps were established.
[17:37] Speaker 5: This work was further expedited in 2024 and within two years,
[17:40] Speaker 5: 120 more new camps were established. This led to the
[17:43] Speaker 5: killing of more than 500 Maoists and within the March
[17:46] Speaker 5: 26 deadline set by Union Home Minister Amit Shah to
[17:48] Speaker 5: eradicate left-wing extremism, the CPI Maoist group was entirely dismantled.
[17:53] Speaker 3: Right.
[17:53] Speaker 1: And Jayaprakash, now coming back to the Jhiram Ghati massacre,
[17:57] Speaker 1: how do we see this case moving ahead?
[18:00] Speaker 5: As I mentioned earlier, people like Devji and Barse Deva
[18:03] Speaker 5: have now surrendered, but they are also among those shown
[18:05] Speaker 5: as wanted accused in the case. So the next important
[18:07] Speaker 5: question will be what the government does with them. Will
[18:10] Speaker 5: they be prosecuted in the Jhiram Ghati case or will
[18:12] Speaker 5: they be let off? So that will be something to
[18:14] Speaker 5: watch going forward.
[18:20] Speaker 1: And in the end, we talk about India-China ties ahead
[18:23] Speaker 1: of the BRICS summit. The 18th BRICS summit is going
[18:26] Speaker 1: to be held in New Delhi on 12th and 13th September,
[18:29] Speaker 1: which Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to attend with
[18:33] Speaker 1: a sizable business delegation. Considering this, the Ministry of Commerce
[18:36] Speaker 1: and Industry has reached out to consult with Indian industry groups.
[18:40] Speaker 1: The Indian Express's Ravi Dutta Mishra and Pratyush Deep reported
[18:43] Speaker 1: that indications are that the high-level talks with Chinese counterparts
[18:47] Speaker 1: On the sidelines of the BRICS summit could see the
[18:50] Speaker 1: Indian side flagging concerns over investment restrictions faced by companies
[18:54] Speaker 1: in China and custom roadblocks on imports of high-tech items
[18:58] Speaker 1: from the country. A government official said that the China
[19:01] Speaker 1: desk of the Commerce and Industry Ministry has been working
[19:04] Speaker 1: on several restrictions.
[19:06] Speaker 2: On key tech-related.
[19:07] Speaker 1: Items imposed by Chinese customs, which was hurting Indian manufacturing.
[19:11] Speaker 1: The Indian automobile industry has already been finding workarounds due
[19:15] Speaker 1: to delays in exports of rare earth magnets from China.
[19:18] Speaker 1: It is likely that the Indian side will push for
[19:20] Speaker 1: some measure of reciprocity in easing procedural bottlenecks and restrictions
[19:25] Speaker 1: on sourcing norms. A senior executive in the renewable energy
[19:28] Speaker 1: sector with sourcing exposure in China told Ravi and Pratyush
[19:32] Speaker 1: that Beijing's growing restrictions on export of critical technologies and
[19:36] Speaker 1: raw materials across several sectors have become a high priority
[19:40] Speaker 1: for the government ahead of the BRICS summit. The executive
[19:43] Speaker 1: said that restrictions could undermine India's efforts to build domestic
[19:46] Speaker 1: manufacturing capabilities. However, official trade data shows that that China
[19:50] Speaker 1: has stepped up.
[19:51] Speaker 2: Imports from India in recent months.
[19:54] Speaker 1: India's exports to China jumped over 28 percent.
[19:57] Speaker 2: To $ 5.
[19:57] Speaker 1: 55 billion in April to June this financial year, as
[20:01] Speaker 1: compared to the same period last year. The export jump
[20:04] Speaker 1: to China also helped cushion India's fishery exports hit by
[20:08] Speaker 1: the US tariffs. Amid signs of easing trade ties, a
[20:12] Speaker 1: top Commerce Ministry official was expected.
[20:14] Speaker 2: To visit Beijing this week.
[20:16] Speaker 1: However, the talks were learnt to have been postponed due
[20:19] Speaker 1: to border-related talks between India and China. As for the
[20:22] Speaker 1: Chinese embassy in India, Chinese Ambassador to India Zhu Fihong
[20:26] Speaker 1: met Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agarwal on 1 September and the
[20:30] Speaker 1: two sides exchanged views on economic and trade relations and
[20:33] Speaker 1: other issues of mutual interest. You were listening to 3
[20:39] Speaker 1: Things by The Indian Express. Today's episode was edited and
[20:43] Speaker 1: mixed by Suresh Pawar. and produced by Ichha Sharma and me,
[20:48] Speaker 1: Niharika Nanda. If you like the show, then do subscribe
[20:51] Speaker 1: to us wherever you get your podcasts. You can also
[20:53] Speaker 1: recommend the show to someone you think will like it.
[20:56] Speaker 1: Share it with a friend or someone in your family.
[20:58] Speaker 1: It's the best way for people to get to know
[21:00] Speaker 1: about us. You can also tweet us at Express Podcast
[21:04] Speaker 1: and write to us at podcasts at indianexpress.com.

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