#FactCheck-Claim of Jaguar Jet Failing to Land During IAF Drill Is Fake; Viral Video Digitally Manipulated

Introduction 

India envisions reaching its goal of becoming Viksit Bharat by 2047. With a net-zero emissions target by 2070, it has already reduced GDP emission intensity by 36% (from 2005 to 2020) and is working towards a 45% reduction goal by 2030. This will help the country achieve economic growth while minimizing environmental impact, ensuring sustainable development for the future. The 2025 Union Budget prioritises energy security, clean energy expansion, and green tech manufacturing. Furthermore, India’s promotion of sustainability policies in startups, MSMEs, and clean tech shows its commitment to COP28 and SDGs. India’s key policy developments for sustainability and energy efficiency include the Energy Conservation Act (2022), PAT scheme, S&L scheme, and the Energy Conservation Building Code, driving decarbonization, energy efficiency, and a sustainable future.

India’s Policy and Regulatory Landscape 

The Indian law of Energy Conservation (Amendment) Act which was enacted in 2022 aims at enhancing energy efficiency while ensuring economic growth. It works on the aim of reducing emission intensity by 2030. The Act tackles regulatory, financial, and awareness barriers to promote energy-saving technologies. Next, the Perform, Achieve, and Trade (PAT) Scheme improves cost-effective energy efficiency in energy-intensive industries through tradable energy-saving certificates. Adding on, the PLI Scheme boosts green manufacturing by attracting investments, both domestically and internationally. The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) enforces Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) and star ratings for appliances, guiding consumers toward energy-efficient choices. These initiatives collectively drive carbon reduction and sustainable energy use in India.

Growth of Energy-Efficient Technologies 

India has been making massive strides in its integration of renewable energy, such as solar and wind energies, mainly due to improvements in storage technologies. Another key development is the real-time optimization of energy usage through smart grids and AI-driven energy management. The EV and green mobility boom has been charged through by the rapid expansion of charging infrastructure and the policy interventions to support the shift. The building of green building codes and IoT-driven energy management has led to building efficiency, and finally, the efforts for industrial energy optimisation have been met through AI/ML-driven demand-side management in heavy industries. 

Market Trends, Investment, and Industry Adoption 

The World Energy Investment Report 2024 (IEA) projects global energy investment to surpass $3 trillion, with $2 trillion allocated to clean energy. India’s clean energy investment reached $68 billion in 2023, a 40%+ rise from 2016-2020, with nearly 50% directed toward low-emission power, including solar PV. Investment is set to double by 2030 but needs a 20% further rise to meet climate goals.

India’s ESG push is driven by Net Zero 2070, SEBI’s BRSR mandates, and UN SDGs, with rising scrutiny on corporate governance. ESG-aligned investments are expanding, reinforcing sustainability. Meanwhile, energy efficiency in manufacturing minimizes waste and environmental impact, while digital transformation in energy management boosts renewable integration, grid reliability, and cost efficiency, ensuring a sustainable energy transition.

The Way Forward 

There are multiple implementation bottlenecks present for the active policies which include infrastructure paucity, financing issues and even the on-ground implementational challenges of the active policies. To combat these issues India needs to adopt measures for promoting public-private partnerships to scale energy-efficient solutions. Incentives for industries to adopt green technologies should be strengthened (tax exemptions and subsidies for specific periods), with increased R&D support and regulatory sandboxes to encourage adoption. Finally, the role of industries, policymakers and consumers needs to be in tandem to accelerate the efforts made towards a sustainable and green future for India. Emerging technologies play an important in bridging gaps and aim towards the adoption of global best practices for India.

References

• https://instituteofsustainabilitystudies.com/insights/lexicon/green-technologies-innovations-opportunities-challenges/
• https://powermin.gov.in/sites/default/files/The_Energy_Conservation_Amendment_Act_2022_0.pdf‍
• https://www.ibef.org/blogs/esg-investing-in-india-navigating-environmental-social-and-governance-factors-for-sustainable-growth

Overview of the India-UK Joint Tech Security Initiative

India and the UK have been deepening their technological and security ties through various initiatives and agreements. One of the key developments in this partnership is the India-UK Joint Tech Security Initiative, which focuses on enhancing collaboration in areas like cybersecurity, artificial intelligence (AI),telecommunications, and critical technologies. Building upon the bilateral cooperation agenda set out in the India-UK Roadmap 2030, which seeks to bolster cooperation across various sectors, including trade, climate change, antidefense, the UK and India launched the Joint Tech Security Initiative (TSI) on July 24, 2024. This initiative will priorities collaboration in critical and emerging technologies across priority sectors. Coordinating with the national security agencies of both countries, the TSI will set priority areas and identify interdependencies for cooperation on critical and emerging technologies. This, in turn, will help build meaningful technology value chain partnerships between India & the UK.

The TSI will be coordinated by the National Security Advisors (NSAs) of both countries through existing and new dialogues. The NSAswill set priority areas and identify interdependencies for cooperation on critical and emerging tech, helping build meaningful technology value chain partnerships between the two countries. Progress made on the initiative will be reviewed on a half-yearly basis at the Deputy NSA level. A bilateral mechanism will be established led by India's Ministry of External Affairs and the UK government for promotion of trade in critical and emerging technologies, including resolution of relevant licensing or regulatory issues. Both countries view this TSI as a platform and a strong signal of intent to build and grow sustainable and tangible partnerships across priority tech sectors. They will explore how to build a deeper strategic partnership between UK and Indian research and technology centres and Incubators, enhance cooperation across UK and India tech and innovation ecosystems, and create a channel for industry and academia to help shape the TSI.

The UK and India are launching new bilateral initiatives to expand and deepen their technology security partnership. These initiatives will focus on various domains, including telecoms, critical minerals, semiconductors, and energy security.

In telecoms, the UK and India will build a new Future Telecoms Partnership, focusing on joint research on future telecoms, open RAN systems, testbed linkups, telecoms security, spectrum innovation, software and systems architecture. This will include collaboration between UK's SONIC Labs, India's Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), and Dot's Telecoms Startup Mission.

In critical minerals, the UK and India will expand their collaboration on critical minerals, working together to improve supply chain resilience, explore possible research and development and technology partnerships along the complete critical minerals value chain, and share best practices on ESG standards. They will establish a roadmap for cooperation and establish a UK-India ‘critical minerals’ community of academics, innovators, and industry.

Key Areas of Collaboration:

• Strengthening cybersecurity defense and enhancing resilience through joint cybersecurity exercises and information-sharing and developing common standards and best practices while collaborating with their respective organisations, ie, CERT-In and NCSC.
• Promotion of ethical AI development and deployment with AI ethics guidelines and frameworks, and efforts encouraging academic collaborations. Support for new partnerships between UK and Indian research organizations alongside existing joint programmes using AI to tackle global challenges.
• Building secure and resilient telecom infrastructure with a focus on security and exchange of expertise and regulatory cooperation. Collaboration on Open Radio Access Networks tech to name as an example.
• Critical and emerging technologies development by advancing research and innovation in the quantum, semiconductors and biotechnology niches. Promoting and investing in tech startups and innovation ecosystems. Engaging in policy dialogues on tech governance and standards.
• Digital economy and trade facilitation to promote economic growth by enhancing frameworks and agreements for it. Collaborating on digital payment systems and fintech solutions and most importantly promoting data protection and privacy standards.

Outlook and Impact on the Industry

The initiative sets out a new approach for how the UK and India work together on the defining technologies of this decade. These include areas such as telecoms, critical minerals, AI, quantum, health/biotechnology, advanced materials and semiconductors. While the initiative looks promising, several challenges need to be addressed such as the need to put robust regulatory frameworks in place, and develop a balanced approach for data privacy and information exchange in the cross-border data flows. It is imperative to install mechanisms that ensure that intellectual property is protected while the facilitation of technology transfer is not hampered. Above all, geopolitical risks need to be navigated in a manner that the tensions are reduced and a stable partnership grows. The Initiative builds on a series of partnerships between India and the UK, as well as between industry and academia.  Abilateral mechanism, led by India’s Ministry of External Affairs and the UK government, will promote trade in critical and emerging technologies, including the resolution of relevant licensing or regulatory issues.

Conclusion

This initiative, at its core, will drive forward a bilateral partnership that is framed on boosting economic growth and deepening cooperation across key issues including trade, technology, education, culture and climate.  By combining their strengths, the UK and India are poised to create a robust framework for technological innovation and security that could serve as a model for international cooperation in tech.

References

• https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/india-uk-launch-joint-tech-security-initiative-101721876539784.html
• https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-india-technology-security-initiative-factsheet/uk-india-technology-security-initiative-factsheet
• https://www.business-standard.com/economy/news/india-uk-unveil-futuristic-technology-security-initiative-to-seal-fta-soon-124072500014_1.htm
• https://bharatshakti.in/india-uk-technology-security-initiative/

Introduction

Targeting airlines and airports, airline hoax threats are fabricated alarms which intend to disrupt normal day-to-day activities and create panic among the public. Security of public settings is of utmost importance, making them a vulnerable target. The consequences of such threats include the financial loss incurred by parties concerned, increased security protocols to be followed immediately after and in preparation, flight delays and diversions, emergency landings and passenger inconvenience and emotional distress. The motivation behind such threats is malicious intent of varying degrees, breaching national security, integrity and safety. However, apart from the government, airline and social media authorities which already have certain measures in place to tackle such issues, the public, through responsible consumption and verified sharing has an equal role in preventing the spread of misinformation and panic regarding the same.

Hoax Airline Threats

The recent spate of bomb hoax threats to Indian airlines has witnessed false reports about threats to (over) 500 flights since 14/10/2024, the majority being traced to posts on social media handles which are either anonymous or unverified. Some recent incidents include a hoax threat on Air India's flights from Delhi to Mumbai via Indore which was posted on X, 30/10/2024 and a flight from Nepal (Kathmandu) to Delhi on November 2nd, 2024.

As per reports by the Indian Express, steps are being taken to address such incidents by tweaking the assessment criteria for threats (regarding bombs) and authorities such as the Bomb Threat Assessment Committees (BTAC) are being selective in categorising them as specific and non-specific. Some other consideration factors include whether a VIP is onboard and whether the threat has been posted from an anonymous account with a similar history. 

CyberPeace Recommendations

1. For Public 

• Question sensational information: The public should scrutinise the information they’re consuming not only to keep themselves safe but also to be responsible to other citizens. Exercise caution before sharing alarming messages, posts and pieces of information
• Recognising credible sources: Rely only on trustworthy, verified sources when sharing information, especially when it comes to topics as serious as airline safety.
• Avoiding Reactionary Sharing: Sharing in a state of panic can contribute to the chaos created upon receiving unverified news, hence,  it is suggested to refrain from reactionary sharing.

2. For the Authorities & Agencies

• After a series of hoax bomb threats, the Government of India has issued an advisory to social media platforms calling for them to make efforts for the removal of such malicious content. Adherence to obligations such as the prompt removal of harmful content or disabling access to such unlawful information has been specified under the IT Rules, 2021. They are also obligated under the Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 to report certain offences on their platform. The Ministry of Civil Aviation’s action plan consists of plans regarding hoax bomb threats being labelled as a cognisable offence, and attracting a no-flyers list as a penalty, among other things.

These plans also include steps such as :  

• Introduction of other corrective measures that are to be taken against bad actors (similar to having a non-flyers list).
• Introduction of a reporting mechanism which is specific to such threats.
• Focus on promoting awareness, digital literacy and critical thinking, fact-checking resources as well as encouraging the public to report such hoaxes

Conclusion

Preventing the spread of airline threat hoaxes is a collective responsibility which involves public engagement and ownership to strengthen safety measures and build upon the trust in the overall safety ecosystem (here; airline agencies, government authorities and the public). As the government and agencies take measures to prevent such instances, the public should continue to share information only from and on verified and trusted portals. It is encouraged that the public must remain vigilant and responsible while consuming and sharing information. 

References

• https://indianexpress.com/article/business/flight-bomb-threats-assessment-criteria-serious-9646397/
• https://www.wionews.com/world/indian-airline-flight-bound-for-new-delhi-from-nepal-receives-hoax-bomb-threat-amid-rise-in-similar-incidents-772795
• https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2024/Oct/26/centre-cautions-social-media-platforms-to-tackle-misinformation-after-hoax-bomb-threat-to-multiple-airlines
• https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/transportation/airlines-/-aviation/amid-rising-hoax-bomb-threats-to-indian-airlines-centre-issues-advisory-to-social-media-companies/articleshow/114624187.cms 

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