‘No visa, no citizenship?’ – ‘Trans Tamil immigrant’ hit with backlash after Scottish parliament election

This article first appeared in Financial Express on May 10, 2026 An Indian-born transgender immigrant was recently elected as a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) on the Edinburgh & Lothians East list for the pro-independence Scottish Greens. The issue immediately became a matter of serious contention. While achieving firsts is typically a milestone that receives positive reception marked by thunderous applause, Q Manivannan’s recent success was largely defined by controversy.

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Why is Indian IT suffering? The brutal truth about the US AI boom and why the ‘next phase’ may belong to India

This article first appeared in The Economic Times on May 10, 2026 The Nifty IT index is down 23.34 per cent year-to-date and 19.14 per cent over the past one year. In the same period, US technology stocks are experiencing one of their strongest runs in recent memory — Google committing USD 40 billion into Anthropic, Microsoft reporting AI revenue of USD 37 billion growing at 123 per cent year-on-year, and Nvidia printing record revenues quarter after quarter. The contrast is jarring enough that serious investors are asking a question that would have seemed absurd three years ago: is Indian IT structurally finished?

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AI puts India’s USD190-billion services trade surplus at a crossroads

This article first appeared in The Economic Times on March 6, 2026 For decades, India’s services exports have quietly powered the country’s external balance — bringing in crucial dollars and helping offset the chronic deficit in goods trade. Software and consulting became the backbone of this engine, accounting for nearly 65% of total services exports. But a new question is beginning to shadow this success story: will Artificial Intelligence (AI) disrupt the very model that built India’s services dominance?.... Read more on The Economic Times 

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Homegrown Indian startup founders outperform returnee diaspora, finds study

This article first appeared in Business Standard on Feb 9, 2026

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India’s civilisational mission: Converting rhetoric on Buddhism into economic reality

This article first appeared in The Indian Express on May 1, 2026 On Buddha Purnima, India will once again invoke the Buddha as a teacher of compassion and peace. While that is fitting, it may not be sufficient. For a civilisation that holds Bodh Gaya, Sarnath and Kushinagar within its sacred geography, India still treats much of its Buddhist inheritance as a set of isolated stops rather than a single national mission. The Buddha was born in Lumbini, in present-day Nepal, but the defining arc of Buddhism, enlightenment at Bodh Gaya, the first sermon at Sarnath, mahaparinirvana at Kushinagar and the flowering of monastic learning at Nalanda, belongs decisively to the Indian landscape. If India wants to speak seriously of civilisational leadership, our Buddhist heritage must move from rhetoric to areas of concrete action... Read more on The Indian Express

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‘Global South no longer passive’: Finland’s Stubb says nations like India, Egypt and Brazil to decide ‘next world order’

This article first appeared in The Hindustan Times on April 28, 2026 Finland's President Alexander Stubb has stated that the next world order will be decided by the so-called "middle powers" in the Global South. During his visit to Egypt, the Finnish leader stated that countries such as India, Egypt, Brazil and others in the Global South can take agency and power in global politics.

Speaking at the American University in Cairo, the Finnish leader stated that the global landscape has been shaped by three main blocs: the Global West, the Global East, and the Global South.

Furthermore, quoting Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Stubb added that the global order has changed with the emergence of middle powers in the Global South.

“Within that global South, you have what Carney calls middle powers, like India, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, that will decide what the next world order looks like. So, the whole balance of the world is being realigned,” said Stubb.

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