Current Affairs
International Affairs & Geopolitics
Energy Security
West Asia energy supply under siege
Attacks on South Pars & Ras Laffan
Coordinated attacks on Iran’s South Pars gas field and Qatar’s Ras Laffan LNG hub — two of the world’s most critical hydrocarbon nodes — have introduced acute volatility into global energy markets. With Ras Laffan alone supplying a significant share of seaborne LNG, disruption threatens energy-import-dependent economies across Europe and East Asia, placing renewed pressure on strategic reserves and accelerating diversification talks among consuming nations.
Defence & Aerospace
India weighs 6th-generation fighter alignment
FCAS or GCAP — a defining strategic choice
New Delhi is evaluating participation in either Europe’s Future Combat Air System (FCAS) — a Franco-German-Spanish programme — or the UK-Italy-Japan Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP). Either pathway would embed India in a next-generation defence-industrial architecture, affording technology transfer, co-development rights, and strategic alignment with key partners, while raising nuanced questions about multi-alignment doctrine and interoperability with existing platforms.
Cultural Diplomacy
AI stewards the Prambanan heritage corridor
India–Indonesia cultural partnership with technology
India and Indonesia have formalised a cultural partnership centred on the restoration of the Prambanan temple complex in Central Java — a 9th-century Hindu monument of shared civilisational significance. The collaboration integrates AI-driven structural diagnostics, photogrammetric documentation, and materials science to augment traditional artisanal methods, setting a precedent for technology-assisted heritage conservation across the Indo-Pacific.
Global Economy
WEF Davos shapes post-turbulence agenda
56th Annual Meeting — governance in fractured times
The 56th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum convened in Davos against a backdrop of fragmented multilateralism, energy disruption, and AI-driven productivity shifts. Deliberations spanned sovereign debt sustainability, green industrial policy, trade corridor realignment, and the governance of frontier technologies — reflecting a consensus that the risk matrix for 2026 is broader and less tractable than in prior cycles.
Maritime Strategy
IOS SAGAR reinforces India’s Indian Ocean posture
Second edition launched 16 March 2026
Launched on 16 March 2026, the second edition of the Indian Ocean Ship — SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) — initiative deploys Indian Navy assets on a structured passage through key Indian Ocean littoral states. The mission is designed to deliver humanitarian assistance, conduct joint exercises, and deepen interoperability with partner navies, projecting India’s ambition to serve as the principal net security provider in the region while counterbalancing expanding maritime contestation.
Labour Economics
Graduate surplus strains India’s demographic dividend
Azim Premji University — State of Working India 2026
The State of Working India 2026 Report presents a structural paradox: India’s much-cited demographic dividend is being eroded by a graduate surplus — more degree holders than the formal economy can absorb at qualification-commensurate wages. The report underscores skills mismatch, credential inflation, and the inadequacy of job creation in high-productivity sectors, urging targeted industrial policy and vocational pathway reform as urgent correctives.
Social Wellbeing
Social media dims youth happiness globally
World Happiness Report 2026 — youth under the lens
The World Happiness Report 2026 draws on its canonical index — GDP per capita, social support, life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and perceptions of corruption — to rank national wellbeing. A central analytical strand examines the measurable suppression of adolescent happiness in high-social-media-exposure cohorts, citing reduced quality of in-person social bonds and heightened anxiety as primary transmission mechanisms, with Nordic states retaining leadership in overall rankings.
