At COP26, when India made its bold promise to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2070, very few places captured the promise of this ambition as vividly as the Northeast. Nestled in the Himalayas and enriched by forests, rivers, and biodiversity, the eight Northeastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, and Sikkim…
When the UN shared the Food and Agriculture Organization’s shocking headline “Nearly 1.7 billion people live in areas where land degradation is impacting agricultural productivity and threatening food security,” it summarized a global assessment effort, but that’s a complicated technical report condensed down to a single socialize media line. However, the line encapsulates a broad…
Each year in December, Nagaland’s highlands come alive as different tribal communities, artists, tourists, and entrepreneurs converge into a vibrant ten-day celebration, Hornbill Festival. It has silently grown to become one of the most important forces for social change in India’s northeast. Reviving Indigenous Identity and Cultural Dignity In a rapidly modernizing India, tribal cultures…
When the FSSAI’s order in October 2025 banned the use of “ORS” on any beverage or product that is not in accordance with the formula of WHO’s standard Oral Rehydration Solution, it marked a concrete step toward the check on misleading labeling. While all attention was focused on the Delhi High Court’s decision upholding the…
From being a slogan, semiconductor self-reliance has graduated into a well-structured program under the India Semiconductor Mission. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology-launched ambitious initiative now looks to bring fabrication or advanced chip manufacturing to Indian soil for the very first time. Fiscal support by the government, up to 50 percent of the eligible…
In a world of monopolistic e-commerce, India’s ONDC is perhaps one of the boldest experiments in social and economic ecosystems. Conceived under DPIIT, it aims at allowing small sellers to strive against giant digital players like Amazon and Flipkart by leveling the field. Beyond policy announcements and press statements, ONDC is something bigger: it is…
While governments are struggling with high public expenditures, and urgent climate and development priorities, advanced economies began utilizing capital markets, instead of just aid budgets, to finance Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) priorities. Tools like sustainability-linked bonds (SLBs), green bonds, and carbon prices have become common methods to direct private capital toward public goods. From Niche…
In New York on September 27, 2025, India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar stepped into the assembly hall of the United Nations for the 80th session of its General Debate, under the theme “Better Together: 80 Years and More for Peace, Development and Human Rights” (The New Indian Express).His address was marked by candour, ambition…
When the COVID-19 pandemic closed 1.5 million schools in India, impacting almost 250 million students, online learning did not appear to be just an answer but a turning point in history. For the very first time, talk of “Digital India” in education was no longer wishful talk; it was a requirement. But five years down…
There was a time when IITs were seen as India’s most reliable export hubs for talent. Graduates would leave the country in search of research funding, infrastructure, and global exposure. That narrative is changing. Over the past decade, the Indian Institutes of Technology have turned into incubation engines where technology, research, and entrepreneurship converge. What…
