Policy UpdateRashi Kothari Background & Structural Context The rapid digitization of retail payments in India—driven by UPI, 24/7 NEFT, RTGS, and mobile banking—has fundamentally reshaped consumer financial behavior (RBI, 2023; FSB, 2023). While this digital infrastructure has lowered transaction costs…
The divide between the rural and urban areas has long been the divide in India. According to the National Sample Survey Office data, only about 24 per cent of rural households have internet access, as against about 66 per cent in urban households, while the figures released by the TRAI indicates that the broadband penetration rate in urban areas is approximately 93 per cent and in the rural areas it is about 29.3 per cent.
In the 18th Lok Sabha Elections, the overall female voters’ turnout was 65.78 percent, just .02 percent short of the overall male voters’ turnout, which amounted to 65.80 percent, marking the active participation of women in undertaking the democratic process of choosing our leaders. And in many states, women voters outperformed in comparison to the male counterpart reflecting their intent in performing their political duty. (Election Commission of India, 2026). Yet, in that same election, out of 543 Members of Parliament who were elected, only 74 women candidates were voted to power, amounting to only 14 percent. (Association for Democratic Reforms, 2026, p.24), a dip from 14.4 percent in the previous Lok Sabha elections. (PRS, May 2019).
Heatwave has no universal definition. In general, Heatwave refers to a prolonged period of excessively hot weather coupled with high humidity. Different countries have different definitions of heatwaves which is usually based on their population’s tolerance and average temperatures throughout their history. For example, In USA, common definition for heatwave is temperature above 33.2 degree Celsius (90-degree Fahrenheit) for a period of 3 days continuously whereas for Australia the definition for heatwave is temperature above 35 degrees Celsius for 5 days or 40 degrees Celsius for consecutive 3 days.
Policy Update By Ayan Bordoloi Introduction The country has a large amount of battery waste being produced every year which includes lead-acid batteries from automobiles and telecom towers, portable batteries from mobile phones and laptops, industrial batteries used to power…
India's security environment has grown more complex, with threats now surfacing across land, maritime, air, cyber and space domains at the same time. This has raised the importance of jointness and integration among the Army, Navy and Air Force. The three Services have traditionally run largely separate operational structures, coordinating through higher-level mechanisms rather than a unified command.