000-tobecategorised

As much as 80 per cent of the overall intelligence gathered by various agencies comes from open sources. It's no longer dependent on signals, field agents, and informants.

https://theprint.in/opinion/indian-universities-must-teach-osint-to-students-its-the-new-intelligence-currency/2589578/ 

When publicly available information is collected and analysed to produce actionable intelligence, it is known as Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT). The sources for collecting such information are wide-ranging, including, but not limited to, media outlets, social media, commercial satellite imagery, academic and grey literature, commercial aviation and shipping data, as well as the deep and dark web.

With more individuals and organisations actively engaging in digital platforms, the intelligence community found itself with a new and vast resource of publicly available information, allowing analysts to monitor digital resources for gaining insights into strategic and tactical events. In recent years, commercial satellite companies like Planet Labs and Maxar Technologies have launched fleets of high-resolution imaging satellites, making geospatial data publicly available. 

Many countries, including the US, the UK, Israel and France, have taken significant steps to institutionalise OSINT within their intelligence and national security frameworks.

Despite its growing importance, the OSINT ecosystem in India remains fragile. No public or private university in India offering courses in Political Science, International Relations (IR), Defence, or Security Studies has included Intelligence Studies in their curricula. 

As a result, most Indian students graduate without even a basic understanding of the intelligence framework. Meanwhile, intelligence agencies in the country primarily recruit candidates either through dedicated examinations such as the Intelligence Bureau – Assistant Central Intelligence Officer (IB-ACIO) or by deputing officers from police and defence services, who were originally selected through broader civil or defence examinations

Indian intelligence agencies should establish dedicated OSINT units and allow the lateral entry of experts in the domain. The growing community of self-taught youth on social media platforms should be recognised and harnessed through fellowships and training

by Mohit Vashisth and Nikita Vats

15/04/2025

Back in 2020, a bright IIT graduate had an idea. No, it wasn’t another biryani delivery app or an “Uber but for cows” pitch. He simply developed an app that could auto-fill your ticket details faster than the IRCTC app. Anyone who has tried booking a tatkal ticket during peak season, knows what a herculean task this is. But instead of acknowledging the efforts of this guy, the Indian Railways sued him. Yes, IRCTC filed a case and he got arrested. Interestingly, Piyush Goyal was in charge of the railway ministry during that time. He could have begun his start-up mission right there, but instead lost the opportunity. https://thewire.in/business/india-start-up-innovation-piyush-goyal-hate 

Now in the Startup Mahakumbh Piyush Goyal is forced to scold Indian entrepreneurs for making “only food delivery apps” and converting jobless youth into “cheap labour.”

China was also known for its cheap labour three decades ago, but its determination to change the lives of its people paid off. World Bank data tells us that in 1980, India’s per capita income was $266 while that of China was only $194. But by 2000, things took a turn, and India was at $1357 and China at $4450. In 2022, India’s per capita income was $2388 while China had raced much ahead at $12,720.

Piyush Goyal says our startups should work in deep tech, semiconductors, and AI.

A semiconductor startup-founder explained the problem with this grand plan on Reddit. Writing an open letter to Goyal, he said his startup was eligible for some tax benefits. But Goyal’s department kept his application pending for two years before finally rejected it, saying: “Additional documents required.” A few hours later, a facilitator called him and said, “If you take our help in preparing the documents, you’ll get guaranteed results.”

So there is a space for bribes in our system, but not for working by the rules.

An innovation climate doesn’t build itself – you have to create it. Abhijeet Kumar writes in Business Standard that in 2023, only 5% of Indian startup funding went into deep tech, whereas China invested 35% in deep tech. In 2024, China waived $361 billion in taxes and fees for high-tech firms. They also gave $80.7 billion in research and development deductions. In 2024, China’s total R&D spending was $496 billion. Meanwhile, in India’s 2025 budget, a fund of just $23.45 billion was made for private-sector-driven R&D. Indian startups are already suffering from a funding shortage – and on top of that, there are regulatory concerns. Whereas in China, the state itself backs startups – it even directly invests in many of them.

by Kavita Kabeer

16/04/2025

 Is Digital India a Failure? Are there Gaps in UPI, ONDC and OCEN? Detailed Analysis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnEyFSToGbg
Think School Today QR codes EVERYWHERE, chaiwalas accept digital payments, and as of 2025, more than 2 billion people in India have a bank account with UPI transactions crossing ₹23 TRILLION!! But it pains me to say that after the phenomenal success of UPI, there are gaps, failures and glorified announcements that the media forgot to follow up on!!! And 2 of these glorified initiatives are the ONDC and OCEN initiative!!! These 2 initiatives have failed so badly that ONDC's app is worse than a college student’s first-year project and OCEN has been ignored by the biggest banking players of the country!!
we (think school)ourselves made a video on how revolutionary this initiative was!!! 
Where are the biggest gaps in UPI?
Why are ONDC and OCEN slowing down?
And what are the lessons that we need to learn from this slowdown of ONDC and OCEN!!