If winter comes, can spring be far behind? Given the 23.5 degree tilt of the earth’s axis, which produces the seasons during the course of the planet’s steady rotation around the sun, such poetic expectation of inevitable good tidings is pretty realistic. But the hope that if you build giant data centres, a boom in artificial intelligence capability and its applications would follow rests on shakier ground.
Beijing’s new export curbs on rare earths and other tech materials mark a new phase in its bid to weaponize its supply dominance. As Xi tightens control over inputs critical to the US and Trump threatens China with a 100% extra tariff, who will blink first?
Beijing is tightening its clamps on components that are integral to technology supply chains. Lithium batteries and related material, artificial diamonds that have industrial uses and rare earths like holmium, erbium, thulium, europium and ytterbium have been put on China’s export-control list.
Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) is an essential component of India's public health and social development interventions.
The enactment of India’s Mental Healthcare Act (2017) by the Indian Parliament on April 7, 2017, heralded a transformative, rights-based paradigm shift in the delivery of mental healthcare. The act unequivocally asserts that access to high-quality mental healthcare is an inherent right of individuals living with mental health conditions. Throughout the drafting process and subsequent to its enactment, the act encountered considerable opposition from various stakeholders, notably mental healthcare professionals.
India and Germany are celebrating their strategic partnership, which has been over 25 years long, and recently started cooperating in defence and dual use technologies more than before. The world is getting more and more uncertain—due to conflicts, climate issues, and technological disruptions—the two countries want to increase their partnership through practical cooperation in high-tech areas supporting civilian as well as military purposes.
The proposed 6000 MW Mithi Virdi Nuclear Power Project, once seen as a crown jewel of India-US energy cooperation, promised much on paper: clean energy, strategic diplomacy, and economic growth. But for the people of Jaspara, Mithi Virdi, Khadpar, Mandva, and Sosiya, it asked for too much in return for their land, their livelihoods, their way of life.
Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme (M-SIPS) started in July 2012 as a three-year scheme addressing India’s growing import dependency. In 2015, it underwent its first major revision, extending the program to 2020, adding 15 verticals, and simplifying approval processes to encourage faster investment. By 2017, strategic amendments further expedited procedures and extended deadlines to the end of 2018. Applications closed in December 2018, but implementation continues. In 2020, the Scheme for Promotion of Manufacturing of Electronic Components and Semiconductors (SPECS) was launched as a successor, focusing on incentivizing component manufacturing with 25% capital expenditure support.