Author: Priyanshu Keshri Abstract This paper examines the causal architecture of the ongoing West Asia conflict involving the United States, Israel, and Iran, and its cascading effects on global energy markets and India’s energy security. India’s structural dependence on imported hydrocarbons—crude oil import dependency reaching nearly 89 percent in FY 2023–24 – renders it acutely vulnerable to disruptions along the Strait of Hormuz, a maritime chokepoint through which substantial share of global oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) trade transits. The paper argues that the crisis, and the resulting liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) supply shock in India, is not the product of unintended confrontation but of calculated escalation rooted in four interlocking causes: contested perceptions of Iran’s nuclear ambitions, the collapse of diplomatic mechanisms such as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), militarization dynamics exemplified by the Twelve-Day War, and the broader theoretical relationship between petrostates and militarized interstate disputes. The analysis situates India’s energy predicament within a condition of “dual energy dependency,” in which continued reliance on fossil fuels coexists with an expanding renewable energy transition. Keywords: Strait of Hormuz, Iran nuclear program, energy security, petrostates, India LPG crisis, JCPOA, geopolitical escalation

Authors: Shohrah Kadwani, Swati Dahiya, Shivangi Bhupendra, Krishnapriya KS, Archit Bhattacharya, and Ayeni Sarah Biola Abstract The rapid expansion of digital health technologies through wearable devices, health applications, and AI-driven technologies has created a shift in how traditional patient health data is being handled. As health data increasingly shifts from traditional healthcare institutions to consumer-facing digital platforms, it creates regulatory challenges that existing legal frameworks were not designed to address. This paper examines how effectively the United Kingdom and European Union protect digital health data privacy in this evolving environment. This paper uses a qualitative and comparative approach to analyse the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018, the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and the European Health Data Space (EHDS). Research was conducted into legislation, academic literature and case studies, and the paper is divided into three interconnected themes: wearable technologies, public trust and consent. The findings draw on the concept of regulatory lag, and suggest that despite comprehensive legal frameworks, both jurisdictions face a common structural problem: technological innovation seems to be advancing faster than policy can respond. Wearable technologies blur the distinction between lifestyle and health data to exploit the gaps in existing regulatory frameworks, and current consent mechanisms often fail to provide meaningful user control over data. This paper argues that both the UK and EU have largely adopted a reactive, rather than a proactive approach to digital health governance and emphasises a need to incorporate stronger consent mechanisms, oversight of wearable technologies and clearer accountability structures to adapt to an increasingly digital healthcare environment. To read the full paper, download below:

Author: Soumya Jha Introduction Cross-border financial consumer disputes (CBFCD) have become structurally complex as they unfold across overlapping domestic, regional, and international legal orders, each asserting regulatory authority without hierarchical resolution. Drawing on Martti Koskenniemi (2007) and Gunther Teubner (1997), this literature review treats legal fragmentation not as a background context but as a causal mechanism producing normative indeterminacy rather than coordinated governance. Using narrative analyses, it traces three evolutionary phases,including post-2008 paternalistic redress, fintech-driven contractualisation (2013–2018), and the current geo-financial sovereignty phase. It argues that CBFCD have shifted from domestic mis-selling adjudication to sovereignty-inflected exclusions through extraterritorial enforcement, often preventing consumer remedy. Each phase is anchored to a concrete dispute, so that the doctrinal shifts are traced to their effects on the consumer rather than treated as abstract regime change. Further, it identifies five literature gaps whose convergence at the intersection of fintech governance, Global South regulatory capacity, and algorithmic accountability remains unaddressed in existing literature. Keywords: Legal Fragmentation, Cross Border Financial Consumer Disputes, Financial Governance, Fintech Regulation, Sanctions, Extraterritoriality, and Global South.

Authors: Ananya Kukreja, Isa Mathew, Jay Kalra Abstract This paper examines and compares the soft power strategies of the United States of America and China in the twenty-first century while focusing on the role of digital platforms, algorithms and influencer culture as instruments of soft power projection. Using Joseph Nye’s framework of soft power as the primary lens, the study conducts a qualitative comparative analysis of China’s statedriven model, characterised by centralised content control and platform governance, and the market-led model in the United States of America, which operates through decentralised privatesector actors and influencer economies. The paper focuses on this comparison prominently within the geopolitical context of the South Asian region, where both nations constantly compete for cultural and political influence. Keywords: Soft power; United States of America; China; Joseph Nye; TikTok; ByteDance; Influencer marketing; Algorithms; Digital diplomacy; Platform governance

Author: Areej Mehdi, Megha Priya, Ananya Prasad Abstract Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 does something quietly contradictory. It forces qualifying companies to redirect profit toward public welfare, and in the same clause leaves those profits free to stay under corporate control. This paper argues that the contradiction was not missed by the drafters, it was left in place. Rule 4(1)(a) of the CSR Rules expressly allows a company to route its mandatory two percent spend to a Section 8 foundation that it has itself created and staffed, and the 2021 Amendment, which rewrote nearly every other compliance detail in the regime, left that permission exactly where it was. That is not an oversight. It is a decision, and this paper sets out to prove it rather than simply assert it. Applying a governance overlap mapping protocol to five NSE-listed conglomerates for FY 2024-25, the paper finds fund concentration of 90-100% across all five, and four of the five implementing foundations without a single independent trustee. Three things follow. Theoretically, the paper extends the tunneling framework into the public welfare domain and proposes welfare tunneling as its own analytical category. Doctrinally, it names captive philanthropy as a legal concept and separates out inverted circular ownership as a structurally distinct variant. And as remedies, it argues for treating captive CSR transfers as deemed related party transactions under Section 188, for mandating independent trustee quotas on recipient foundation boards, and for a public governance overlap register run by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. Keywords: Captive philanthropy, welfare tunneling, mandatory CSR, Section 135 Companies Act 2013, related party transactions, inverted circular ownership, governance overlap, Section 8 foundations, corporate social responsibility India, family conglomerates

Authors: Khushi, Sejal Sachdeva, Riya Pananilath Abstract India is a net importer of crude oil and gold, and therefore the Indian Rupee (INR) is very sensitive to changes in global commodity prices. India imports nearly 85 per cent of its crude oil and over 90 per cent of its gold, both priced in US dollars. As these commodities become more expensive, India’s import bill rises, demand for dollars increases, current account deficit increases and the Rupee depreciate. The present paper examines the impact of international crude oil prices and gold prices on the USD/INR exchange rate during the period January 2020 to March 2026 based on monthly data. The study period includes several major global disruptions, all of which have been associated with significant volatility in commodity and currency markets. The results are expected to provide a basic understanding of the influence of these two commodities on the changes in exchange rate in India and implications for monetary policy, trade strategy and financial market risk management.

Authors: Christoph Munasinghe, Yuvraj Singh, Sakshi Rajpurohit, Shivangi Gupta, Riya Bothra Abstract This paper examines how the recent US-Iran conflict affects regional stability and crisis escalation dynamics in the Taiwan Strait. Rather than treating the conflict as a direct cause of escalation in East Asia, the study uses it as a contextual stress test for US credibility, restraint, and escalation management under conditions of strategic rivalry. Drawing on deterrence theory and security dilemma logic, the paper argues that external crises can shape Taiwan Strait stability by altering Chinese perceptions of American resolve, military overextension, and willingness to absorb escalation costs. The central mechanism is therefore perceptual and signaling-based: US military action against Iran may be interpreted by Beijing either as evidence of credible deterrent capacity or as a sign of strategic distraction and vulnerability. Through a process-tracing approach focused on official statements, crisis episodes, military activity, and grey-zone coercion, the paper analyzes whether the US-Iran conflict increased the likelihood, speed, or intensity of US-China crisis interactions. It finds that escalation spillover is more likely to occur through calibrated pressure, alliance signaling, and arms-racing dynamics than through immediate military confrontation. The paper contributes to security studies by linking external crisis behavior to deterrence stability in the Taiwan Strait. Keywords: Deterrence – Signaling – External Crisis – Avoidable Confrontation – Security – Opportunism – Stability

Authors: Ananya Shetty & Srushti Shisodiya | Students, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune Abstract The free expression of political opinion is considered foundational to demo cratic socities; it is commonly reflected through observable behaviour such as voting, protesting,campaigning and public discussion. However, young citizens increasingly choose to stay silent in public spaces including family conversations, friendships, university campuses and digital platforms. This phenomenon of political self censorship which represents a significant yet under-examined challenge to democratic participation. This study examines the socio-political and psychological, institutional and structural forces. Drawing on the spiral of silence theory and socio-psychological frameworks of self censorship this paper adopts a mixed method approach, combining a systematic literature review with a questionnaire based survey. This study investigates how fear of isolation, conflict, judgement, online backlash shapes political silence among young citizens. While also exploring how gender, political identity, ideological minority status shape whose voices are expressed or suppressed in democratic spaces. Particular attention is given to the role of the digital environment where polarization, echo chamber and online toxicity may encourage selective expression or silence. While self censorship can function as a strategy of self protection it also limits civic engagement, reduces viewpoint diversity and weakens democracy. By examining the cause of political silence, the research seeks to understand how self censorship shapes democratic participation amongyoung citizens.