India is in precarious waters battling an economy severely hit by the COVID-19 pandemic while juggling a year full of extreme climate events like melting glaciers, soaring temperatures, and monsoon floods.

Many people have never heard of ‘esports’, although an older generation may know them as video game tournaments. However, unlike playing in a back alley arcade or in a friends house, these days some of the more larger tournaments are played in stadiums, reminiscent of cricket or football stadiums from the outside. And out of all these tournaments, none is as big as “The International”.

Since 2014 when the CSR law was introduced, several incentives have changed and there is a gradual recognition of the influence of environmental and social factors on businesses. Further, CSR regulation which initially started as a nudge has now morphed into compliance-heavy law with civil penalties.

While India is predicted to be moving towards yet another COVID-19 surge (third wave), experts believe expediting the vaccination process could help us from ill effects. However, it has been observed that only 4% of the Indians been vaccinated, with a significant proposition population hesitant to take the vaccine.

Infant health is a snapshot to the true picture of a society, and it remains to be seen how soon political will recognises ‘the fierce urgency of now’

For some time now, there has been a demand for an Indian Medical Service (IMS) similar to other all-India services such as the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and the Indian Police Service (IPS).

For the past 15 years, the learning outcomes in the educational institutions of rural India have failed to improve. It’s time that the focus is put on where it matters the most, that is teachers. By creating an enabling structure and rethinking teacher’s incentives, India has the potential to make significant impact on student’s learning outcomes

A distinctive global politics is developing around the Internet. Like global trade and environmental policy, internet governance has become a point of international conflict among states and a target of transnational policy advocates from businesses and civil society.

As IT Rules 2021 were passed as an executive order, there is still scope for legislation. Currently, it is difficult to say when the window for legislation will open up. Still, policy actors such as policy commentators, legal scholars and advocacy groups have already started pointing out many flaws in the IT Rules, 2021, seeking a more democratic route (through legislation) and hammering the policy window to open up again.

Over the past 15 years, the baton of global leadership in this industry has exchanged hands between the United States, Japan & South Korea in that order. After decades of consolidation, the DRAM market in 2019 had a volume of 62.5 billion USD, and the three leading DRAM vendors had a combined market share of 95%: Samsung and SK Hynix in South Korea (KR) and Micron in the United States (US).

Recently, the Haryana government announced that the Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Act 2020 shall come into force effective May 1, 2021. This legislation aspires to address the rising unemployment rate in the state by triggering the parochial “insider-outsider” debate and mandating reservation of new low-paid jobs in private establishments for locals.

Historically, social welfare schemes are high on the Tamil Nadu governments’ agenda. From pioneering mid-day meals in the 1960s to free colour TVs, laptops, and farm loan waivers, welfare schemes are cited as social justice. However, the 2021 assembly election set to take social welfare schemes to new heights. Stakes could not be higher for both the parties in Tamil Nadu.

While the availability of information is useful, a lack of understanding about the integrity of the information is problematic, especially during elections, as misinformation and disinformation spread faster than the truth.

Financial services and development are closely related. Apart from the World Bank, coalitions like Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion under G20 and International Network on Financial Education under Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) are guiding other countries on their respective financial inclusion strategies.

Users in India recently received an update notification from WhatsApp on changing terms and privacy policy.This notification caused a spurt of turbulence and high-octane debates amongst the Indian users on consumer choice, privacy safeguards on protecting the personal messages etc.