THE announcements of Musk's SpaceX-Starlink's tie-up with Jio Reliance (Jio is a trademark of Reliance Industries) and Bharti Airtel, the two dominant players, raise a number of questions. The two key questions are: i) Will it mean a greater monopolisation in telecom services? ii) Will satellite spectrum be given to Starlink without auction? It also raises questions about whether such satellite spectrum, a country's critical resource, should be given out for commercial operations in this way.Top 4 Telecom Companies Market Share

INDIA'S forest cover is on the decline. But government agencies consistently present data that support a false narrative of the country’s forests doing well with regard to both carbon sequestration and forest cover. Forest Survey of India (FSI) has the responsibility of publishing ‘India State of Forest Report (ISFR)’ every alternate year. The ISFR 2023 reported a 1,445 square kilometres (sq. kms) increase in total forest and tree cover compared to 2021, with 156 sq. kms attributed to natural forest cover and the remainder to tree cover outside forests.

THE finance minister's recent budget discussed a significant focus on nuclear energy, particularly the use of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) and the need to amend India's nuclear liability law: The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010. Though this has been a demand of the US nuclear industry for a long time, it has been on the back burner as the US nuclear industry has iteself been in a crisis for quite some time. Westinghouse emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection only in 2018 and commissioned the Vogtle nuclear plant in Georgia, US, in 2023.

INDIA is having an excellent first month of 2025 as regards space ventures, not only by the traditional state-sector but also by the nascent but growing private sector in space technology.NVS-02 NAVIC SATELLITEAs this piece goes to press, on January 29, 2025 ISRO successfully placed its NVS-02 satellite in geo-stationery transfer orbit (GTO) of around 36,500 km above Earth in its GSLV F15 mission from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, aboard its larger GSLV (geo-synchronous launch vehicle) rocket.

THE 18th All India People's Science Congress (AIPSC) which is the bi-annual meeting of the All India People's Science Network (AIPSN) was held from December 27-30, 2024, at Kolkata in the West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences. Activists and intellectuals, along with those in academia, together deliberated on the issues at the intersection of science, technology, and society. More than 500 delegates from 43 member organisations which are part of AIPSN attended, representing states and union territories spread across the country.