Search

Task Force 6: Accelerating SDGs: Exploring New Pathways to the 2030 Agenda

PM Modi's push to industries - trucking, agricultural purchases, construction - where wages are still distributed in cash towards digital payments

For long we have been fed lies. Mumbai has no scarcity of houses and the key to the truth lies in using digital technology to unlock the city's housing potential.

The bulk of the new banking consumers are digital natives and don’t think of branches as an interface for financial transactions

No one knows what an Open Standard is. If we don't define it explicitly in time, India's ambitious digital governance plans will surely derail.

India’s young women, now more educated and healthier than ever, are entering a phase of significant socio-economic progress. Many of these women also aspire to become social innovators. With gender parity in education and an increasing number of women in STEM fields, they have increased potential for social innovation. However, barriers such as gendered social norms, domestic and care responsibilities, the digital divide, safety concerns, limit

The coming together of cognitive computing, digital devices with capabilities to touch, feel, smell and hear and super-speed Internet is poised to transform telemedicine.

This brief analyses the impact of the Christchurch Call to Action, issued to gather countries and technology companies to stop the use of the internet for disseminating violent extremist content. The Call was the result of a summit organised shortly after a terrorist attack in New Zealand in March 2019. This brief finds that the Call lacks clear conceptual definitions and is singularly focused on social media platforms. It also raises questions a

What does the future hold for this long-standing relationship?

Kazim Rizvi and Shravishtha Ajaykumar, Eds., Privacy in Practice: Strategies for Data Management in India, January 2025, Observer Research Foundation.

This brief examines the reciprocal relationship between science fiction and real-world technological, geopolitical, and policy developments throughout the 20th century and into the 21st. Beginning in the 1940s, the analysis explores how the genre has evolved amid historical events such as the World Wars and the Cold War, and the rise of digital technology. The brief gives particular attention to the role of science fiction during periods of criti

Concerns remain in the developing world that about whether the ICANN/IANA transition will create a truly plural process. This issue brief discusses three challenges 'multistakeholderism' must address from the perspective of the developing world: access, equity and sovereignty.

With the new government in New Delhi, there is a renewed interest in internet and internet governance in India, according Mr. Thomas Dukes, US Deputy Coordinator for Cyber Affairs. He said the Digital India initiative has been revived and the Government's interest and investment in furthering it is clearly visible.

India must not contribute to the digital and economic rise of the same power that harms it

आव्हानांवर मात करण्यासाठी SDG 4 लक्ष्यांना आणि तरुणांना सक्षम करण्यासाठी व्यापक शैक्षणिक सुधारणा आवश्यक आहेत. तरुणांना पुढे नेण्यासाठी संधी देण्यासाठी हे प्रयत्न आवश्यक

India registered rapid economic growth over the past couple of years, with the GDP growing 7.6 percent in 2015-2016. While economic activity remains buoyant, however, the country still has a long way to go. The government must capitalise on the current economic momentum and use it to accelerate its reform agenda. One of the areas requiring regulatory attention is the property market. Despite a push for reform through the Digital India Land Record

Singapore’s centrality in India’s Southeast Asia outreach is reflected in the two countries’ cooperation in multilateral forums

Over four billion people do not have access to Internet; that makes a huge two-thirds of the global population. In India, around four of every five people lack this basic resource. Various access technologies are being developed in different parts of the world to bridge the digital divide. Amongst these technologies, the emergence of small satellites carries immense promise. These satellites are used for applications ranging from remote sensing t

Less-cash economy formalising shared economy, with an impetus to digital payments, is one of the motivations as well as goals of demonetisation

This Special Report examines key themes highlighted during a series of panel discussions exploring South Asian Perspectives on Net Neutrality, hosted by the Observer Research Foundation and the Centre for Internet and Society in New Delhi on 12 December 2015. The first panel analysed the potential effects of net neutrality regulation and zero-rated platforms on the market. The second explored viable regulatory frameworks for net neutrality that c

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the formal schooling system in India, as it has across the globe, causing massive pressure on the online education sector. This paper analyses the state of digitalised education in India. It outlines current government guidelines on digital-mode schooling, and uses the case of Maharashtra’s five-year-old efforts at digitalising government schools to gauge preparedness for implementing the guidelines. It highl

The statistics in the socio economic caste census is a stark reminder that most rural poor in India do not belong to the 'middle class' at all. It is important to face up to the stark reality. Emphasis and implementation of Digital India, Make in India, Smart cities' programmes ought to take into account the problems faced by the poor.

Till now India has seen cyber-security only as a simple issue of a malware or a virus. But cyber-security is about protecting India's digital assets from cyber invaders, as India is rapidly turning into a digital society.

As industries slowed to a near halt in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the digital economy received a boost—especially from consumers forced to rely on virtual means to meet their needs. Businesses turned to the virtual workspace, adopting new productivity tools to retain their workforce. This brief studies the case of Africa, where tech played a role in pandemic response, and e-commerce players reported increases in orders and custo

India can proposition an Aadhaar-based alternative — one that is seen to be a ‘privacy first’ solution that lets governments retain jurisdiction over their data, while allowing indigenous enterprises to flourish.

As India jostles for a greater say on the global stage, platforms like Brics allow New Delhi to amplify its profile and work with other nations on key issues

Eleven million people in Afghanistan are experiencing food insecurity, and 97 percent of the country’s population are on the brink of universal poverty by mid-2022. Every year, about 250,000 people suffer the devastating impacts of environmental disasters such as floods, droughts, avalanches, landslides, and earthquakes. The circumstances are climacteric, as agriculture is the biggest livelihood provider in the country and influential in its ec

India is increasingly vulnerable to cyber attacks that range from intrusions that affect the integrity of data to large-scale attacks aimed at bringing down critical infrastructure. This vulnerability is largely a function of India's digital economy, which is a "net information exporter" that relies heavily on devices manufactured outside the country. Another complicating factor is the density of India's cyberspace, which does not permit a unifor

Human civilisation is at a new moment of transition across social norms, economics, governance, and the environment, and is facing the dawn of a new era of inter-planetary human migration (to Mars). In the future, historians will look to the first half of the 21st century to tell the story of how these changes started and unfolded through five domains of conflict. These domains touch on the unravelling of governance structures in need of

The adoption of digital payments has risen exponentially over the past decade in many countries including India and those in the African continent. In India, the growth has run parallel to rapid mobile penetration, aided by initiatives like Aadhaar, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), and IndiaStack, as well as the unintended push factor created by demonetisation in November 2016. This brief discusses the landscape of fintech—‘finan

The rapid growth in military cyber capabilities of the countries in the Indo-Pacific combined with the use of assets from the cyberwarfare toolbox—in domestic and interstate contexts—is adding uncertainty to already competitive political, military, and economic relations. This issue brief assesses the cyberwarfare context in the Indo-Pacific, and reviews the military cyber capabilities of the region’s countries and their commitment to inter

The rapid growth in military cyber capabilities of the countries in the Indo-Pacific combined with the use of assets from the cyberwarfare toolbox—in domestic and interstate contexts—is adding uncertainty to already competitive political, military, and economic relations. This issue brief assesses the cyberwarfare context in the Indo-Pacific, and reviews the military cyber capabilities of the region’s countries and their commitment to inter

In a stratagem that would make Sun Tzu proud, the government first velvet-gloved an iron fist and then clamped down hard on digital freedom and enterprise

India’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), known as India Stack, has not only had a profound impact on the country’s economy but also has potential significance for global economic integration. This brief elucidates how this framework has facilitated financial inclusion, spurred innovation, and propelled economic growth in India. It highlights the foundational role of the India Stack in transforming the country’s financial landscape, and

It has overcome sceptics to widen its ambit of partnership and also set a focused strategic agenda

Elevate digital cooperation to an interministerial level, promoting India’s advancements globally

At some point in the near future, everyone will have a smart digital device. The new digital divide will be of those with access to interactive digital content and those without.