August 3rd, 2026 (Monday)

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
Introducing Mehta Glasses. You have questions, they've got answers.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:05)
Hey Mehta, what's the capital of Peru?

**SPEAKER_3** (0:08)
Lima.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:09)
How do you say, where's the restroom in Spanish?

**SPEAKER_4** (0:12)
Dónde está el baño?

**SPEAKER_1** (0:14)
Hey Mehta, is a hot dog a sandwich?

**SPEAKER_2** (0:17)
Technically, no.

**SPEAKER_4** (0:18)
Spiritually, yes.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:20)
Hey Mehta, what should I do with my life? That's one of life's biggest questions.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:25)
What do you think? Ask anything with the new Mehta Glasses.
Latte for Keenan?

**SPEAKER_1** (0:33)
That's me. Hey, you're...

**SPEAKER_3** (0:35)
Yeah.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:35)
Buying a car online on AutoTrader? Really? But unlike other sites, you can start online, test drive with a local dealer, then finish online or at the dealership. Really? Wait, are you... Yep, it's Keenan.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:46)
able to finish in person without starting the process over?

**SPEAKER_1** (0:49)
Really? Your info stays with you every step of the way. Cool. Enjoy.
It's Keenan Thompson. Buy your car online on AutoTrader. Really?

**SPEAKER_2** (1:00)
Hello, and welcome to The Deep Dive. It is Monday, August 3rd, 2026, and today we're unpacking everything from escalating student protests in Ranchi to some massive geopolitical shifts in the global oil markets.

**SPEAKER_1** (1:14)
Right.

**SPEAKER_4** (1:14)
And we're not just doing a headline rundown today. We want to really get into the mechanics of why these things are happening to give you the actual context you need.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:22)
Exactly. And I think we need to start by looking at what happens when institutions fail, specifically in Sharkand right now. For five days, hundreds of students have basically taken over the Jaipals Singh Wundah Stadium in Ranchi for an indefinite sit-in.

**SPEAKER_4** (1:38)
Yeah. It's a massive mobilization.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:40)
There really is. They're protesting these alleged irregularities in the 14th Public Service Commission and the Staff Selection and Mission Recruitment Exams. Specifically, they want the April 19th prelims canceled entirely.

**SPEAKER_4** (1:50)
And they're not backing down. I mean, they've been doing these huge torchlight processions to Albert Ekachok, and they have very, very specific demands.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:57)
Right. It's not just a vague protest.

**SPEAKER_4** (1:59)
Exactly. It's not just, you know, asking Chief Minister Himant Soren to resign on moral grounds, though they do want that. They're explicitly demanding a not attempted option on their OMR sheets.

**SPEAKER_2** (2:10)
Wait, let me just pause you there, please.
Why? What does adding a not attempted bubble actually solve for them?

**SPEAKER_4** (2:17)
It's actually a brilliantly simple anti-tampering mechanism. So you know how an OMR sheet works, right? It's a standard bubble in test form.

**SPEAKER_2** (2:25)
Yeah, sure.

**SPEAKER_4** (2:25)
Usually, if you don't know the answer, you just leave it blank. But the fear is that a corrupt official could just take your blank sheet later and bubble in the correct answer for you. Oh, wow. Right. But if you're forced to bubble in a specific circle that says not attempted, it locks your answer in. It physically stops someone from altering that blank space after you hand it in.

**SPEAKER_2** (2:46)
That is incredibly smart. But it's also, I mean, it's deeply depressing that students have to design their own anti-corruption protocols, right?

**SPEAKER_4** (2:53)
Yeah, it really is. And when you hear quotes from aspirants like Ankit Kamar or Sneha or Archana Kamari, they're pointing out that these leaks are destroying lives. These are mostly farming families who are betting their entire livelihoods on passing these exams.

**SPEAKER_2** (3:09)
And the chief minister did actually order a CID inquiry into this, didn't he? So why are they so vehemently rejecting a state-led CID probe and demanding the CBI instead?

**SPEAKER_4** (3:20)
It just comes down to a total trust deficit. The CID is a state-level police agency. So for these students, having the state investigate a state exam board, it feels like asking a company's PR department to audit their own finances.

**SPEAKER_2** (3:33)
Right, they're grading their own homework.

**SPEAKER_4** (3:34)
Exactly. They want the Central Bureau of Investigation to step in and look at all the exams over the past seven years because they feel like only a federal agency can cut through whatever local political interference is happening.

**SPEAKER_2** (3:45)
And that same anxiety about the future of India's youth is playing out on the national stage right now, too, just in a very different arena. Prime Minister Modi just launched this massive initiative. It's the Nasha Mukhti Uva for Vixit Harat Sankalp Appian.

**SPEAKER_4** (4:00)
Right, a nationwide push for a drug-free youth. And the scale of this rollout is immense.

**SPEAKER_2** (4:06)
Tell me about it.

**SPEAKER_4** (4:07)
We are talking about a 100-week campaign connecting over one crore young people across 28,000 different locations. The goal is to get the youth to pledge a drug-free lifestyle.