Migrant workers with no access to rations, families stuck in 60 sq. ft. shanties, domestic workers with no means to pay rent; the media has been abuzz with narratives on the quandaries of the informal sector following the national lockdown. While the Central and State governments tried to address their issues through measures like free rations and cash transfers, there have been "inadequacies and lapses", according to the Supreme Court. The absence of a comprehensive database on the sector contributes to these lapses to a large extent.

In the fight against COVID-19, India announced INR 1.70 lakh crore (0.8 per cent of GDP) stimulus package. The package covers food, cooking gas, and direct cash transfers to low-income households. It includes insurance cover for health workers and wage support to low-wage workers. Later on, in May 2020, the government announced INR 20 lakh crore (10 per cent of GDP) to revitalise the economy. This package is inclusive of the INR 1.7 lakh crore to make India self-reliant.

The temperature in the Indian subcontinent is set to increase 4 degree Celsius or more by the turn of the century, with frequent heatwaves persisting over longer durations. This and more such acute insights were revealed in a recent study released by the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India. Based on a thorough assessment of the observed changes and future projections of temperature, rainfall, sea level, and extreme weather events such as droughts, floods, and heatwaves, the report is a clarion call for immediate action.

The Government of India plans to integrate 175 GW of variable renewables into the grid by 2022. At the same time, India's power consumption is steadily increasing. Hence, to ensure energy security and better utilisation of intermittent renewable generation, energy storage systems at the grid-scale are required. There is a range of grid-scale storage options, which can be incorporated in the Indian power grid.

Agro Photovoltaics (APV) is a unique model of collocating food and fuel. While safeguarding traditional livelihood, it creates new income avenues for farmers. In this Op-ed, the authors observe that government initiatives such as PM-KUSUM can act as catalysts to take this model forward, empowering farmers along the way.

This is CSTEP's Annual Report for the year 2019-20.

In this year’s annual report, we look at an Evolved CSTEP. We trace our journey, highlight our biggest impact stories, reflect on where we are in achieving our vision, and our efforts towards consolidating research to better enable this. Over the last year, we have consolidated our research into five areas: Energy & Power; Climate, Environment & Ecosystem; Artificial Intelligence & Digital Lab; Materials & Strategic Studies; and Computational Tools.

The emergence of app-based cab aggregators (CA) has disrupted the urban transportation system and transformed how people make travel choices in Indian cities. These choices impact public transport ridership, vehicle ownership, congestion, parking etc. Understanding the extent of these impacts is critical for efficient transportation planning and policy. Shared mobility platforms such as Ola and Uber have made commuter travel habits trackable and collect real-time data at every point of a commuter’s journey.

According to Niti Aayog, the demand for energy in India is set to grow from the current level of 5,311 TWh to 18,635 TWh by 2047, an increment of 3.5 times. As demand for energy observes an unprecedented increase, it becomes pertinent to explore novel sources of energy, such as distributed renewable energy systems (DRES).

The domino effect set in motion by COVID-19 is a blunt reminder that under-prepared systems will have to bear devastating shocks. Climate change is one such inexorable force that not only amplifies existing risks but also creates new risks to natural and human systems.

India is blessed with abundant sunlight. Tapping even 0.1% of the incident solar energy in 2019-20 would have given us nearly 3.5 times the total energy generated from all sources in the year! Currently, India's solar-energy generation utilises only about 0.001% of the incident solar energy. Leveraging this immense potential is crucial to power the country via clean energy.