This Week in Explainers: How India may gain from UAE’s Opec exit

India is set to gain from the withdrawal of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec). As the war in Iran continues, the West Asian country’s move has come as a shock.

In West Bengal, voters turned up in record numbers to exercise their franchise in both phases. As many as 6.81 crore electors were eligible to cast their votes this time, with the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) deleting the names of over 90 lakh voters.  But does a higher turnout signal a mandate against Didi?

Never in their wildest dreams would a family in Mumbai have imagined that watermelon would turn out to be fatal. Four family members died after consuming the fruit at night. The tragedy has sent shockwaves across the country.

Here’s all this and more in our weekly wrap from India.

1. The UAE has left the 12-member Opec, a decision set to weaken the body. One of the world’s top oil producers, the Gulf country said it is withdrawing from Opec and Opec+ to focus on “national interests”. It said the move would provide it a chance to respond to a “new energy age” and aligned with its “long-term strategic and economic vision”.

More from Explainers

Opec, whose members work to manage the output and influence the price of global oil, is dominated by the UAE’s neighbour and rival, Saudi Arabia. The UAE’s exit could be good news for India and a big victory for United States President Donald Trump. We take a look here.

2. West Bengal’s total voter turnout reached nearly 93 per cent in both phases of the Assembly elections. This is the highest rate of polling in the eastern state since Independence, the Election Commission (EC) said. Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry went to the polls in April.

Both the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) believe the higher voter turnout in West Bengal will be in their favour. But can Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s party retain power after a rule of 15 years? Read our report here.

3. A tragedy unfolded in South Mumbai’s Pydhonie as a family of four died after consuming watermelon. Suspected food poisoning is likely to have claimed the lives of Abdullah Dokadia (40), his wife Nasreen Dokadia (35), and their two daughters, Ayesha (16) and Zainab (13).

The Dokadia family had gathered for a biryani feast with five other close relatives around 10:30 pm on April 25. They returned home in Pydhonie and the family ate watermelon around 1-1.30 am. Soon, their health started deteriorating and they were admitted to a hospital. However, none of them survived. Read the tragic tale here.

4. India and New Zealand have signed a “once in a generation” free trade agreement (FTA), which is set to be enforced later this year after New Zealand’s parliament ratifies it. This is New Delhi’s ninth such agreement in recent years with 38 developed countries.

Beyond trade and customs duties, the pact with New Zealand also takes giant leaps in the services and mobility sectors. New Zealand will levy zero tariffs on India’s 8,284 export products. The FTA, India’s first female-led deal, will benefit MSMEs, students and professionals. We explain.

5. India is already witnessing sweltering heatwaves. Temperatures have hit beyond 40 degrees Celsius, with rain in some parts bringing little relief from the extreme heat. A ‘super El Niño’ is predicted to emerge later this year, sending global temperatures up next year.

An El Niño is often associated with weaker and more unreliable monsoons, suppressing precipitation and bringing droughts. But this has not always been the case. If a ‘super’ El Niño develops this year, will it spell bad news for India’s monsoon? Read our story.

6. In a major setback for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Raghav Chadha and six other Rajya Sabha MPs from the party quit to join the BJP. The Arvind Kejriwal-led party’s strength in the Upper House has come down to three, while the saffron party’s tally has increased to 113 MPs.

Chadha has received backlash from some quarters for the switch. In fact, if the bill he proposed barely three months after he entered the Rajya Sabha in August 2022 had been passed, he would not have been able to exit the AAP. At the time, he introduced a Private Member’s Bill in the Upper House to tighten India’s anti-defection law. Read more here.

This is all we have for you this week. If you like reading our analyses, you can bookmark this page.