On July 15, India will launch its second mission to the moon – the Chandrayaan-2. This is a milestone for science and a triumph for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Once it lands on the Moon, as scheduled, in September 2019, the instruments onboard Chandrayaan-2’s two space probes – the lander Vikram and the rover Pragyan – are equipped to make far-reaching scientific discoveries on the lunar south pole, a location no other country has visited before. The poles of the Moon read more

High on the agenda of the recently concluded G20 2019 Assembly in Japan, was a discussion on increasing the share of hydrogen – the cleanest and the most abundant element in the universe – in the global energy budget. In Tokyo, the Paris-based International Energy Agency, presented a report on the significance of hydrogen in the global energy transition to clean and renewable energy systems, the challenges in executing it, and recommended pathways to realize it. Several global innovation efforts are focused read more

Data storage and data protection are the urgent focus areas of governments and private institutions around the world. The current debate generated by India’s stand on data localisation, has its origin in the provisions of local laws on data of countries like China, Russia and now India, in contrast to the laws of the US, Japan and some EU nations. Foreign governments and companies have strongly opposed India’s localisation norms. At the recently-concluded G20 Summit in Osaka in June 2019 read more

In the last three months, 2 million residents amassed on the streets of Hong Kong to protest an extradition bill effectively imposed by Beijing on the island city. The Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation (Amendment) Bill 2019 (“Bill”) was introduced in March 2019 by the Hong Kong government, led by Chief Executive Carrie Lam. The bill mandates that the territories with which Hong Kong has no formal extradition accord, including mainland China and Taiwan, will read more