With the emergence of the shadow schooling phenomenon of private tuition or coaching beyond the school day, India is witnessing a significant transformation in its education system. Another recent Comprehensive Modular Survey (CMS) by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation indicates that one out of three students is currently relying on such coaching, with urban areas on the forefront of this trend.

Although India is increasing its levels of renewable energy, coal still takes centre stage in electricity production. A recent overview of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) cases indicated that coal mining and thermal power plants pose environmental, health and governance challenges that are of high concern and more accountability and sustainable transition policies are needed.

Clean water and sanitation will continue to be one of the most urgent public health concerns in the world in 2025. A WHO-UNICEF report identifies major progress since 2000 but notes that deep inequalities continue to erode the progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) of universal access by 2030.

Japan has already unveiled an AI-generated video that simulates an eruption at Mount Fuji and displays ash clouds drifting over Tokyo, halting transport, cutting power and advising citizens to hoard food and don protective gear. Released on the Volcano Disaster Prevention Day, the film is part of an effort by Japan to sensitise people about volcanic dangers, even as there is no imminent eruption threat.

One such brain-inspired AI architecture, the Hierarchical Reasoning Model (HRM), created by researchers at Sapient in Singapore, is proving to be a formidable competitor to traditional large language models (LLMs) deployed by leaders such as OpenAI and Anthropic. However, HRM has performed better with more advanced reasoning tests even though they are smaller and trained with less data.