The metaverse—an immersive, persistent and networked virtual environment first conceptualized in Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash (1992)—integrates Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Extended Reality (XR) to enable users to “live” within a digital universe through avatars. Unlike traditional Web 2.0, the metaverse creates a powerful sense of “being there” through immersion, embodiment, and decentralization. [...]
India has long been hailed as a moral and material sanctuary for displaced populations in South Asia. Despite not being a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol, the country has crafted a robust historical identity as a haven for persecuted communities. From the Zoroastrians fleeing Iran in the 8th century, to [...]
Tensions between India and Pakistan have escalated following terrorist attacks in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 28 civilians. India accuses Pakistan of sponsoring these attacks, threatening several countermeasures. India has suspended the Indus Water Treaty, and in response, Pakistan has closed its airspace to Indian international flights. It is feared that India might strike Pakistan with [...]
The Supreme Court of India’s 2018 judgment in K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India was a watershed moment in India’s constitutional history. It recognized the right to privacy as an intrinsic part of the fundamental right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution. This was a significant shift, given that [...]
With India launching into its 18th general elections on April 19, the imperative that voters turn out to the polls has dominated public discourse. As India is the world’s largest constitutional democracy, each citizen must responsibly and proactively participate in the process that will decide the next five years of the nation’s governance. The incumbent [...]
The path toward gender equality is rife with hurdles at every turn, and despite significant progress over the years, setbacks often accompany our victories. The Surrogacy (Regulation) Act of 2021 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘SRA’) permits married couples and divorced or widowed women aged 35 to 45 years to utilize surrogacy for having children. [...]
On September 18, 2023, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a speech in the parliament of Canada claiming to have “credible information” on the role of “agents” of the government of India in the targeted killing of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar (leader of a Sikh separatist movement in India, whom India claim as a [...]
The father of the Constitution of India, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, emphasised the centrality of equality as a measure of societal progress when he stated, “I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved.” In a significant stride toward advancing gender equality, the president of India gave assent to [...]
Six years after the Indian Supreme Court recognised a fundamental right to privacy, the country finally has comprehensive data protection legislation in the form of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, of 2023 (DPDP Act). The draft Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2023 (DPDP Bill 2023) was introduced in the lower house of the Indian [...]
The Nepal Supreme Court’s June 28 ruling requiring the government to register same-sex relationships follows an arduous struggle to achieve marriage equality in the South Asian nation. This historic order is expected to have an impact on an upcoming verdict regarding a similar plea at the Supreme Court of India. Despite India’s decriminalization of queer [...]
