Author: Shivendra Saxena

Mumbai: After nearly a decade of teasers, delays, and diplomatic dances, Elon Musk’s Tesla has finally touched down in India with its first showroom in Mumbai’s glitzy Bandra Kurla Complex. But while the glossy 4,000-square-foot “Experience Centre” may shine, the road ahead is anything but smooth. On offer is the Model Y, imported straight from Tesla’s Shanghai plant. Buyers can pick between a rear-wheel drive (RWD) version priced at ₹59.89 lakh and a long-range RWD model for ₹67.89 lakh. Want to go all in? Add Tesla’s full self-driving package for an additional ₹6 lakh. That’s nearly ₹74 lakh for a…

India: If there’s a word that captures India right now, it’s unrelenting. Even as the mercury climbs and global headlines swing between optimism and chaos, India seems to be quietly getting things done – taming inflation, pushing scientific frontiers, amplifying women’s voices where they’ve rarely been heard, and drilling through bedrock to lay down tracks for a future in motion. Here’s how the country clocked four big wins – each headline more surprising (and satisfying) than the last. Cooling Inflation: From Grocery Bags to Policy Wins Let’s start with a rare joy: Inflation dropped to just 2.10% in June, the…

India: In the race to make mental health care more accessible, artificial intelligence may be stumbling over its own wires. A new study from Stanford University reveals that AI Therapy chatbots – those AI-powered platforms marketed as virtual confidants – may not only fail to offer meaningful support but could actively harm users by reinforcing mental health stigma and responding in dangerously inappropriate ways. The peer-reviewed paper, titled “Expressing stigma and inappropriate responses prevents LLMs from safely replacing mental health providers,” will be formally presented at the upcoming ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency later this month. Led by…

India: If you’re somewhere between 25 and 45 in 2025, you’re likely the tired generation. Tired of trying to make sense of a world that changes faster than it updates its terms and conditions. Tired of being told you’re “young and resilient” while navigating burnout, economic instability, and a never-ending stream of crises – both personal and planetary. But you’re also awake. Not in the buzzwordy sense of “woke,” but in a lived-in, eyes-wide-open kind of way. You’re not blindly buying what the system is selling. You’re asking questions – loudly, online and offline – and carving out your own…

India: If you blinked, you probably missed it: the startup world has already pivoted from chasing hockey-stick growth at all costs to designing moonshots that might actually save the planet. In 2025, “disruption” doesn’t mean building yet another overpriced food delivery app. It means compostable circuit boards, hydrogen made from factory sludge, and yes, solar panels in your kid’s school. Entrepreneurs everywhere have traded in the pitch decks of yesterday for purpose-driven playbooks. And the headlines don’t lie. The Rise of Green Grit: Startups Saving the Planet (and Making Bank) Once upon a time, calling a startup “green” meant you…

Washington, D.C.: President Donald Trump kicked off the week with a move that might’ve triggered global panic in years past: imposing aggressive new tariffs – ranging from 25% to 40% – on goods imported from 14 countries. But in a twist that speaks volumes about investor desensitization, global markets responded with little more than a shrug. The countries on Trump’s hit list include key Asian trading partners like Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, alongside South Africa, Bangladesh, and a slew of smaller economies like Serbia, Laos, and Myanmar. In a series of formal letters sent Monday, Trump told…

USA: As fireworks lit up Washington on the Fourth of July, Donald Trump used the White House South Lawn as his political stage, signing a sweeping tax and spending package that locks in his 2017 tax cuts and slashes safety net programs by more than a trillion dollars. The move marks not just a reshaping of domestic policy, but a signal of Trump’s readiness to double down on populist economics and aggressive trade brinkmanship – with Europe now in his crosshairs. The sprawling legislation – dubbed by Trump as his “one big beautiful package” – enshrines permanent tax breaks for…

India: Bharat’s journey through the first half of 2025 has been anything but dull. You could say it’s been a crash course in resilience. Or maybe a masterclass in contradictions. Either way, these six months told the world that India can stumble and sprint in the same breath. Let’s not sugarcoat the hard parts. The year opened with tragedies that cut deep: a stampede at Tirupati’s Venkateswara Temple left families shattered, and weeks later, Prayagraj’s Maha Kumbh Mela saw another deadly crowd surge. People went to pray and never came home. Then came a horrific train accident in Pachora, passengers…

India: Twelve days. That’s all it took for Israel and Iran to rattle the world, proving once again how fast the Middle East can drag everyone else into its storms. The missiles flew, the threats piled up, and for a moment, it felt like the world was teetering on the edge of something we’d all regret.  Now, after a US-brokered pause, calling it a “ceasefire” might be a stretch, the shooting has stopped, but the fear hasn’t gone anywhere. If you look closely, you’ll see neither side is calling it over. Israel insists Iran’s nuclear ambitions have been crippled, yet…

New Delhi: It has been a week of high-stakes chess across three continents. America is juggling two of its biggest trading partners at once, and the clock is ticking faster than a teenager’s thumbs on a smartphone. Fresh off a handshake with Beijing over rare earths and a tariff timeout, the White House is now burning the midnight oil to clinch a game-changing pact with India. Meanwhile, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is telling the world that the deadline is “not critical,” but everyone knows July 9 is circled on every diplomat’s calendar. China and the Great Rare Earth Reset The…