Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, I’m your host Nelson John — This is your smart, daily briefing on what matters. From big moves in business to headlines shaping India and the world, we cut through the noise so you start your day informed and ahead.
It's Wednesday, October 29th. Let's get started!
In Delhi, a Cessna aircraft from IIT Kanpur fired silver iodide flares into clouds to trigger artificial rain that could wash away pollution. The ₹1.28-crore trial failed to bring any measurable rainfall. Moisture levels were too low, only 10–15 percent. Yet Delhi’s environment minister hailed it as a “science-first step.” Critics mocked the timing since the weather office had forecast natural rain. For a smog-choked capital desperate for relief, even failed experiments count as effort.
Down south, Bengaluru saw something equally unusual — cooperation. BJP MP Tejasvi Surya met Congress deputy chief minister D.K. Shivakumar to discuss the city’s tunnel road project. Surya argued that instead of a ₹50,000-crore car tunnel, funds should go to public transport that can move 69,000 passengers per hour, compared to the tunnel’s 1,800 vehicles. Shivakumar listened, agreed to meet again, and invited industry leaders to the next discussion. For once, the city’s politics paused to prioritize policy.
Meanwhile, New Delhi deepened its ties with Moscow. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited signed a deal with Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation to build the SJ-100 passenger jet in India — the first since the Avro of the 1960s. The move comes weeks before Putin’s India visit and despite Western sanctions on UAC. India says it recognizes only UN-mandated sanctions. The partnership fits its strategy of “multi-alignment” — buying cheap Russian oil while working with the US in the Quad. It’s both business and geopolitical signaling: India will decide its partners on its own terms.
In Gaza, the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas unraveled again. Israeli jets struck targets near Shifa Hospital after Hamas allegedly fired on its troops, killing at least 30 people. Netanyahu accused Hamas of violating the truce by returning only body parts of hostages; Hamas said it was preparing another handover before the strikes. With each clash, hopes of sustained calm fade, and humanitarian conditions worsen.
And in the corporate world, Amazon began its own experiment with efficiency. The company is cutting 14,000 corporate jobs — 4% of its white-collar staff — as AI tools take over logistics, payments, and cloud operations. CEO Andy Jassy called AI “the most transformative technology since the Internet.” Profitable yet restless, Amazon is reshaping itself for the machine age, even if it means fewer humans in the loop.
Across these stories runs a common thread: ambition amid uncertainty. Delhi tried to engineer rain, Bengaluru tried political collaboration, India asserted independence in diplomacy, Israel and Hamas tried (and failed) to sustain peace, and Amazon tested the limits of automation.
Each was an experiment — scientific, political, or technological — driven by the same instinct: to act rather than wait. Not all succeeded, but all reflected the restless urgency of our times. Whether firing silver iodide into clouds or feeding algorithms new data, humanity’s defining habit endures — the need to try, fail, and try again.