A lot is riding on the AI boom, and it isn’t just the stock market surge. AI is being touted as an elixir for a number of serious economic challenges, according to Ruchir Sharma, chair of Rockefeller International.

In a Financial Times column on Sunday, the market veteran pointed out that the “immigration boom-bust cycle” that the U.S. is experiencing now is unprecedented in scale, swinging from a net gain of more than 3 million in 2023 to an expected trickle of just 400,000 this year. The drastic throttling in the labor force could slash U.S. growth potential by more than 20%. “Yet increasingly the response to this risk, too, is a shrug. AI is going to make human labor less necessary anyway,” Sharma quipped...

An Austrian anthropologist couple’s deep bond with the Adivasis of a remote tribal village of Telangana, and their groundbreaking work in anthropology catalysed transformative changes, from literacy programmes to land rights advocacy. Their immersive work not only preserved the Raj Gond community’s heritage but also sparked progress that continues to uplift future generations...

In recent months, the Indian diaspora in the United States has been shaken by a troubling surge in violent incidents, many of them fatal. These cases ranging from the shooting of Chandrashekar Pole, a student working at a Dallas gas station, to the brutal beheading of motel manager Chandra Mouli Nagamallaiah have sparked widespread concern across both Indian and American communities. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, over 842 Indian students died abroad between 2018 and 2024, with the United States accounting for 141 of those deaths. While many were attributed to accidents or health issues, the recent escalation in violent deaths, particularly in 2025, demands a deeper understanding. These incidents are not isolated; they are symptomatic of broader structural vulnerabilities, racial tensions, and institutional gaps that shape the immigrant experience in America.

Indian nationals in the US often occupy labour-intensive roles in sectors such as hospitality, retail, and fuel services and industries that are frequently underregulated and prone to risk. These jobs, typically involving night shifts, solitary work environments, and minimal security, expose workers to unpredictable and sometimes dangerous interactions. Loïc Wacquant suggests that immigrant labour is often relegated to “zones of relegation” social and spatial margins where protections are weak and exposure to violence is high. The murder of Nagamallaiah, who was killed by a Cuban immigrant with a criminal record recently released from ICE custody, underscores how systemic failures in immigration enforcement can have fatal consequences. Similarly, the killing of Rakesh Patel, a motel owner shot while investigating a disturbance outside his business, illustrates how routine responsibilities can become life-threatening in volatile environments....

Noted author Ghazala Wahab’s The Hindi Heartland: A Study has a lot going for it. Her previous book, Born a Muslim, was a runaway hit. Consequently, she can be sure that a section of her readers will pick up this book too. If we take the region — the proverbial cow belt — she puts in the spotlight, it’s a sizeable population we are talking about. The Hindi heartland spreads across the States of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar and accounts for 42.2% of India’s population...

Visitors to the coastal city of Kochi (formerly Cochin) in Kerala often make their way to the picture-perfect neighborhoods of Mattancherry and Fort Kochi. They step into the four-hundred-year-old Paradesi Synagogue, stroll through the narrow, colorful lanes of Jew Town, and peep into old Jewish houses now transformed into shops selling clothes and trinkets. Leaving Synagogue Lane, they feel they’ve seen all there is to know about Kerala’s Jewish past. They couldn’t be more wrong...

Homegrown software maker Zoho is on a rampage with its set of India-made software that is taking on the global giants. Recently, Zoho's Arattai app had witnessed a reckoning of sorts as it topped the App Store charts on Apple App Store and Play Store, while also receiving many positive recommendations from its initial set of users.

​In a matter of days, we have a new Zoho app called Ulaa browser, which has taken over the App Store rankings. While Arattai was meant as a WhatsApp alternative for the masses, the Ulaa browser is aimed at taking a similar sort of competition to Google Chrome on Android and iOS...