Rush Hour: Adani exits Sri Lanka power projects, Jamia students detained during protest and more

Adani Green Energy has announced its withdrawal from two proposed wind power projects in Sri Lanka, a month after Colombo began negotiations to reduce costs. In January, the country revoked a power purchase agreement with the Adani Group amid concerns over high tariffs.

Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s government had launched inquiries into Adani Group projects after a United States court indicted Gautam Adani in November over alleged corruption in India’s solar sector. Dissanayake pledged to cancel the project during his election campaign, calling it a threat to Sri Lanka’s energy sovereignty.

Activists had also argued that smaller providers offered cheaper alternatives. Despite reports of cancellation, Adani maintained that the project was under review. In June 2022, an official of the country’s electricity board, deposing before a parliamentary committee, alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi pressured Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the Sri Lankan president at the time, to grant the project to the Adani Group. Read on.

The Delhi Police on Thursday detained several students of Jamia Millia Islamia during protests against show-cause notices issued to two PhD scholars for organising a demonstration on December 15. Organised under the banner of “Jamia Resistance Day”, the event marked the fifth anniversary of violence on campus during the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act movement.

The students,…

Read more